The President's Daily Brief - September 7th, 2022. American Economy Heading in the Right Direction. Former CIA Director Says Republicans Are More Dangerous Than al-Qa’ida.

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

It’s September 7th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ Welcome to a Big Five Update this morning. Five critical updates on stories we’ve covered previously that are shaping America — and the world. First, some good economic news on jobs and housing.   Second, some even better news for America’s ranchers. Third, a new California law means consumers will pay more for their burger and fries. Fourth, an Asian country is mysteriously selling more oil than they pump out of the ground.  Finally, and speaking of oil, Europe is still buying it from Russia. A whole lot of it. Plus, one more thing before I let you go. My response to a listener question about a former CIA Director who thinks Republicans are more dangerous than al-Qa’ida. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's September 7th. You're listening to the President's Daily Brief. I'm your host and former CIA officer Brian Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now. Welcome to a big five update this morning, five critical updates on stories we've covered previously that are shaping America and the world. First, some good economic news on jobs and housing. Second, some even better news for America's ranchers. Third, a new California law means that consumers will pay more for their burger and fries. Fourth, an Asian country is mysteriously selling more oil than they pump out of the ground. Finally, and speaking of oil, Europe is still buying it from Russia, a whole bunch. Plus, one more thing before I let you go, it's a response to a listener question about a former CIA director who thinks that Republicans are more dangerous than al-Qaeda. But first, let's get started with our Big Five update. We've got two pieces of good news on the economic front, more jobs and lower housing costs. Let's start with the jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor

Statistics, the U.S. added 315,000 jobs in the month of August. And that brings our total employment to just over 152.7 million people, which is right where we were at before the pandemic hit. So this is a major accomplishment, and it's really a testament to our business owners everywhere. It took us two and a half years to crawl back after China's coronavirus infected us. Two and a half years of government policies that put employers on their heels. Now, there is one strange detail about the August unemployment report, which is that while we added jobs, the unemployment rate actually went up a little bit from 3.5 to 3.7. Now, you might be asking yourself, why did the unemployment rate go up if the U.S. is adding jobs?

And that's a darn good question. So here's the answer. American businesses added jobs. It's true, about 315,000 of them. But there were an additional 780,000 workers who decided to jump back into the job pool last month. Now, there are definitely enough jobs to go around, 11.2 million jobs available all across a country. That's according to the Labor Department's latest numbers. But there's a mismatch between where the people are versus where the jobs are.

are. Now, the market will eventually work that out, of course, always does. It'll just take some time and probably some U-Haul vans. Still, this economic recovery is happening. It's slowly, surely happening, but with all due credit to, of course, business owners. All right, let's pivot to our second piece of good economic news, the price of housing. According to a new report by Core Logic, annual home price appreciation has slowed for the third month in a row, down from 18.3% in June to 15.8% in July. And between June and July, home prices actually fell a touch by 0.3%. It's a trend that we haven't seen in a long time. By the way, the Bay Area in California saw the biggest drop in single family home prices from June to July at about 3.67%. Followed by

Corderlane Idaho at 3.5%. Logan, Utah, about the same. Seattle, Washington, Napa, California, of around 3%. Now, it might seem counterintuitive to celebrate lower home appreciations and lower home prices, but we have been frothy for so long with record highs for home prices and rents that a lot of people were priced out. So a little bit of softening is actually pretty good. Now, that is not true if you are a homeowner looking to cash out at the top of the market. It's too late for that, it seems. But for most folks, especially those looking to buy a home, a little bit more sanity in the housing market is a very good thing. So if you add this housing data to our jobs numbers,

plus the manufacturing data out showing that we have some steady as she goes kind of growth, well, all told, it means that our recession might be a bit lighter than we feared. Now let's see, though, if this economic crisis in Europe throws us off. Definitely a risk for that. I'll keep you posted. Let's move on to our second Big Five update. some really good news for cattle ranchers in the Midwest, especially in Nebraska. Walmart just took an equity stake in a company called Sustainable Beef, and it's a really cool story. Let me explain some of the history. For years, ranchers across America have been frustrated

by low cattle prices, despite the rise of wholesale beef prices in your grocery store. That was especially true during the pandemic. Now, the reason, according to most folks in the beef industry, is that four meat packers in this country process around 85% of American cattle. And that's led to allegations of price fixing or some element of it. Well, a few years ago, some ranchers in Nebraska started talking to the governor there, and, well, what could they do? And the solution was Sustainable Beef LLC. It's a company based out of North Platte, Nebraska,

and it's going to be a $325 million beef processing facility. It's going to break ground next month. and it'll process 1,500 cows a day, supported by at least 20 family farms in the region, and it's expected to employ about 800 people. Now, another neat feature is that the lagoon that deals with the waste and the methane gas that comes with it, well, it'll provide about 70% of the plant's energy needs. Well, at any rate, Walmart saw this operation and decided it wanted in. Financial details haven't been released, but Walmart plans to take a seat on the board

offer up some cash and promise to buy a certain amount of the company's meat. And that's a pretty big deal for this sustainable beef company. We're talking over 10,000 stores that it can now supply. And it will also allow Walmart, consistent, high-quality beef and the ability to push down beef prices for consumers. Now, why I'm especially pleased as a man who comes from a farming and ranching family is that Americans are getting even more options that connect them directly to the ag community. Now, one of my advertisers, Moink, gives you high-quality options.

And down the road, this option at Walmart might work too. So all on all, good news that I am absolutely thrilled to relay. Moving on to your third update this morning, some very expensive news out of California. The governor there Gavin Newsom just signed a bill that sets the stage for fast food workers to earn $22 an hour starting next year. It's all based on the fast food accountability and standards recovery. Act, fast recovery act, in other words. So here's how it's going to work. The law creates a council of 11 political appointees, regardless of whether they have any business experience whatsoever. They will effectively run California's fast food restaurant industry. Of the 11 councilmen,

five will be representatives from different agencies from the state government. Four will be representatives of restaurant employees or their quote unquote advocates. I'm not really sure who exactly that is. Then there will be one councilman representing the franchisees and then another one representing the franchisors. In other words, the local guy who owns the McDonald's franchise and then a corporate guy from McDonald's. This council would be empowered to establish wage rates, set working hours, and issue rules

and regulations for all fast food restaurants whose brands have more than 100 locations nationwide. Again, it doesn't matter that the franchisee might be one guy who owns one restaurant. If that restaurant is McDonald's or Wendy's, he's stuck with this council, their rules, and their $22 an hour wage. So what does this mean for the average Californian? Well, according to research from the University of California Riverside, restaurant prices will likely increase at least 20% because of this bill. So what does it mean for the rest of the country?

Well, other Democrat governors and legislatures are looking at this and saying, this is a pretty darn good idea. Now, to be fair, what is driving this push, at least according to the proponents of the bill, is that their studies show that fast food workers are chronically underpaid. They only get about $16 an hour in California compared to other service sector workers who get around 19 an hour. So they want to raise to 22, give or take. All in all sounds like quite. an experiment. Good luck to Californians. As for the rest of you, I will keep you posted. With that, we are going to take a quick break. And when we come back, I've got two more updates

for you on oil that'll probably leave you shaking your heads. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the PDB and our Big Five update. I've got two more pieces of critical news for you. First, a story that starts simply enough. China is importing a record amount of Malaysian crude oil, around 800,000 barrels a day. according to the folks at Bloomberg News. Now that doesn't sound particularly interesting, but this next part is. Malaysia is selling, all right, 800,000 barrels a day, but they only produce around 600,000 barrels a day.

So they're selling more than they pull out of the ground. So where do you suppose those extra 200,000 barrels are coming from? I'll give you a guess. It rhymes with Russia. Well, I'm not any good at rhymes. But look, yes, the actual origin of those extra barrels is likely Russia, or possibly Iran or Venezuela. All three countries are well known to send their oil to Malaysia for a little bit of oil laundry, and this is how it works.

Ships full of naughty oil from Russia park themselves off the coast of Malaysia and await another ship, an empty ship. They unload, and then the new guy mixes it in with a dash of Malaysian oil, slaps a new label on it, and congratulations. you have an extra 200,000 barrels of legitimate oil. Buyers of this particular oil are largely from Australia, India, and Thailand. Each buys about 20% of Malaysia's oil. That's according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But if you recall, Malaysia's not the only country to do this oil laundering.

The same thing happens in the Middle Eastern country of the United Arab Emirates. They take all that naughty global oil, launder it and then sell it to, yeah, Europe, amongst others. And that is what makes this next story all the more interesting. Keep it in mind. All right, finally this morning, Europe is still openly buying legitimately labeled Russian oil. In fact, they bought more in August than July.

Official oil sales from Russia to European Union countries have recovered to about a million barrels a day since early August. That's up for. level seen in late July, and it represents a huge chunk of the block's overall supply. Russia's oil is going mostly to Italy, also the Netherlands, some to Turkey, and a bit to Croatia. But all in all, that is netting Russia a weekly oil income of around $167 million. Now, this is supposed to change, and very soon. As of December 5th, there will be a full European ban on seaborne imports of Russian oil.

There's supposed to be a big drop-off in November, so we'll probably see a last-minute rush in September and October. Still, when December rolls around, where will Europe get that extra 1 million barrels a day since they can't buy the Russian stuff? Well, the oil cartel OPEC announced this week that they're actually cutting October's output by 100,000 barrels per day. Meanwhile, it could be that there's some extra supply available because the global economy is slowing down, especially in China and in Europe itself, and that means less demand.

But if push comes to shove, Europe could always buy oil from Malaysia or the United Arab Emirates. It seems like they have extra supply. All right, I'm being a little bit cheeky here, but oil traders and industry analysts are laughing and joking about this exact same thing. Oil is a global commodity, and whatever schemes Europe or the United States comes up with in December, there will almost certainly be loopholes that you can drive an oil tanker through. The more cynical amongst us are even saying that the West will knowingly buy this Russian-Malaysian oil, but the fake label gives them enough plausible deniability that they can pretend that, well, everything is on the up and up.

Anyway, we will see what comes of it this winter, and I will keep you posted regardless. And that, folks, is your big five update for this Wednesday morning. but I've got one more thing for you before I let you go. A listener question, as always. We'll be right back. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars.

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Welcome back to the PDB, ladies and gentlemen. I've got one more thing before I let you go. Chris in Fort Collins, Colorado wrote in asking about a tweet by former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden. Here was his question. Brian, what did you think about General Michael Hayden agreeing with the journalist of the Financial Times who said that Republicans are more dangerous than al-Qaeda? Oh, man. Okay, for folks who aren't aware, here's what Chris is talking about. A couple of weeks ago, a journalist named Edward Luchet tweeted out a statement that reads as follows, quote, I've covered extremism and violent ideologies around the world all during my career. I have never come across a political force more neelistic, dangerous, and contemptible than today's Republicans. Nothing close, end quote. To which former CIA and NSA director General Michael Hayden said, quote, I agree, and I was the CIA director, end

quote. So that first tweet got 78,000 likes, and the other one by the general got 131,000 likes. So what do I think about that, Chris? Hmm, here we go. The easy response here is that both men are just dumb and wrong. The data, in fact, proves it. According to the survey company Gallup Pollard. American Party affiliation in 2021 was comprised of 43% Republicans or Republican-leaning people compared to 46% Democrat or Democrat-leaning people. Now, since then, over a million voters switched their registration from Democrat to Republican. That's according to Associated Press analysis done back in June.

We also know that the GOP put together the most diverse group of voters in the 2020 election since 1960. That's according to Edison exit polling. So taken together what this journalist and CIA director are saying is that about half of all adults in America and more every day, including the most diverse coalition of voters since 1960, are somehow worse than political Islam and its promoters in al-Qaeda, in Islamic terror group that flies planes into our buildings and murders their fellow citizens by the thousands. It is so obviously dumb and wrong to say that. And it's vile and outrageous and infuriating.

Just pick a word. It's all of them. But there's actually another word to consider, and that's calculated. General Michael Hayden and Edward Luce, they're not dumb. They're calculated. What they're doing is stoking hysteria and panic amongst Americans, especially liberals, but anybody not paying attention to facts. And if you can create enough hysteria and panic,

the resulting fear on a national level can get you a lot of power. Lots of ruthless parties and dictators have done just that. They have gained power through fear. Hayden and Luchet know this. So they are doing their part to stoke hysteria and panic and they run up to the November elections and beyond, all in hopes of benefiting their, preferred party, the Democrats. But here's what Hayden in particular knows as a former CIA director.

Once you unleash a national hysteria and panic, you lose control over it. And then, violence almost always follows. It taps into an evil part of the human spirit that becomes animalistic. People start thinking that Republicans aren't just your political opponent. They're an enemy. And then, eventually, they're not even human. History is littered with examples of this, and it ends in violence and, God forbid, sometimes genocide. It's an outcome that apparently Hayden and Luce are either happy to have or happy to risk. So, look, what do sensible people like us do to stop this? Well, here's the plan.

Simply put, get involved. If you can control mayorships, city councils, school boards, sheriff's offices, county commissioners, maybe even state legislatures, that creates layers of support at the local and state level. And not just for you and your family, but in defense of law and order, of reason for the country. Folks, you have to either run for one of these offices or get your friends to run. So how do you do that? Well, you start by leveraging people on social media that you know, your friends, people at church, people at your bowling club, whatever it takes. tell them about your fears, your concerns, tell them the need, and then pool your resources.

And if it's not you, find someone to run and then help them campaign. Nobody, folks, nobody is going to do this for you. There is no big fancy GOP party leaders that are going to come and save you. It's up to you. So friends, if this time in which we live frightens you, and look, I understand why it might, please take comfort in knowing that it's still within your power to change, to control, to defend yourself, your community, and this country. Meanwhile, I'll do my part two.

I'll be a megaphone against this tyrannical, violent, leftist garbage. And I'll keep fighting right along next to you until this madness settles down. And folks, I believe it will, so long as we all work together. And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes your morning brief. As always, we close out the show reminding each other of why we are here, talking about our country and our world. It's the creed of every good spy and every smart American. It's from John, chapter 8, verse 32. And you shall know the truth.

And the truth shall make you free. Good day.