Future Activity Indicators Suggest Overall Growth
Future activity indicators suggest overall growth. In the March 2024 Manufacturing Business Outlook released by the The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, survey results report manufacturing activity in the region continued to expand overall, according to firms responding to the survey. The survey’s indicator for general activity edged lower but remained positive, while the index for shipments ticked up and the index for new orders turned positive. Future activity indicators rose, suggesting more widespread expectations for overall growth over the next six months.
US Raw Steel Production Down from Previous Week
In the week ending March 16, 2024, US raw steel production was 1,714,000 net tons, at an ACUR of 77.2 percent. Production for the week was down 1.2 percent from the previous week ending March 9, 2024.
US Drill Rigs Running Up from Previous Week
There were 629 drill rigs operating in the US last week, up seven rigs from the previous week, down 125 rigs from one year ago. Canadian drillers capped eighteen rigs, to 207, down eighteen rigs from one year ago.
Biden Weakens America’s Global Clout
By Walter Russell Mead in the WSJ March 19, 2024
“…Over the weekend Niger’s government responded to American accusations that it was negotiating to sell uranium to Iran by ending military cooperation with the US. The decision is another win for Vladimir Putin’s effort to extend Russian power, a welcome boost to Iran, and a serious blow to America’s plans for combating the return of jihadist violence across a swath of Africa.
It is also one more sign that the Biden administration is losing its ability to shape international events. In blowing off President Biden, Niger’s military juntas joining a global =trend. Mr. Putin renews his threats of nuclear use, rejects talks of diplomacy and hints at even greater ambitions as he grinds out bloody conquests in Ukraine. Iran is helping one of its proxies close to the Red Sea while another fires missiles and rockets into Israel. North Korea is beefing up its nuclear and conventional forces. China is massively boosting defense spending while pressing its advantages across the Indo-Pacific and into the Western hemisphere. From Haiti to Sudan, warlords and gang bosses thumb their noses at American diplomatic efforts to restore stability.
The administration’s declining power to deter our adversaries is the biggest problem for American foreign policy, for world peace and, potentially, for President Biden’s re-election. Like a scarecrow that no longer keeps hungry birds from pecking at the corn, team Biden is losing the ability to prevent hostile powers from picking at the foundations of the American-led world order.
It isn’t all President Biden’s fault. American foreign policy has been on a losing streak since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and some bills for past foolishness are coming due on his watch. Under presidents of both parties, we haven’t kept pace with China’s military buildup even as we allowed the industrial infrastructure that supports our military power to decay. Mr. Putin attacked Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014. The US and European allies failed to respond effectively in either case.
Internal American politics continue to diminish America’s global clout. The possibility that Donald Trump will return to the White House in 2025 and reverse many Biden-era policies undercuts Team Biden’s credibility with friends and foes alike. Polls showing rising isolationist sentiment in the US have many foreign leaders believing that America is a diminishing force in global affairs.
But if the erosion of America’s deterrent power isn’t all President Biden’s fault, his policies are not reversing the decline. From the catastrophically bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan to the delay in sending advanced weapons to Ukraine in the face of Mr. Putin’s threats, President Biden’s White House takes step after step that cumulatively teach friends and foes to see the US as a declining power that is easily cowed and in retreat.
The shockingly inadequate fiscal 2025 defense budget request the administration released last week is an incitement to our enemies to step up their war plans. Team Biden is telling the world that America is cutting defense in real terms even as threats of war mount on every side. In his most recent State of the Union address, President Biden compared 2024 to 1941 as a year of critical danger for freedom worldwide. In 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt more than quadrupled defense spending. Nothing could be further from the Biden plan.
A declining real defense budget is one of the many signals the White House is broadcasting to the world. We have made clear to Mr. Putin that his nuclear threats over Ukraine weaken our resolve rather than stiffen our spine. North Korea believes it has nothing to fear from the US. Then there is the Middle East. The Red Sea is nearly closed. Gaza is in flames. A quasi-war simmers on Israel’s northern border. Iranian militias gather strength in Iraq as Iran’s ally Bahar al-Assad tightens his grip on Syria. Iran aids Russia’s aggression in Ukraine while simultaneously strengthening ties with criminal groups and rogue regimes in the Western hemisphere.
As China thinks about the consequences of blockading Taiwan, it is carefully watching how Team Biden handles Iran. So far, it sees little to fear…”
The idiot politicians are aiming to allow illegals to carry guns. Let that sink in for a minute…think about it again.
That Ocasio-Cortez woman is a real meathead. She believes the RICO statute is a crime “category,” not a crime. When you are elected to represent the citizens of the United States, you should have some knowledge of the laws and statutes of our nation. She is a bartender that somehow got lucky, but I am hearing the people in her district are not pleased with her. Hopefully, she will be gone when her term is up…along with the rest of the “squad.”
“KEEP AMERICA GREAT”
Have a great weekend…. God bless America!
Buy American made products whenever you can, it’s good for you, good for your friends and neighbors and good for our country.
If you are hiring…try to hire a veteran…. they are loyal, disciplined, hardworking…and they deserve our support.
By the way, if you wish to comment on my rants or offer any other insights you may have, you are encouraged to email me.
TEDDY ROOSEVELT ON IMMIGRANTS IN AMERICA…1907
In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag…We have room for but one language here and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
