The President's Daily Brief - September 8th, 2022. Us Border Wars Continue to Intensify. A Future War with China?

Episode Date: September 8, 2022

It’s September 8th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ Folks, we’ve got so much great news this morning that we are doing another Big Five Update. Five critical updates on stories we’ve covered previously that are shaping America — and the world. First, a Border War update. New York City is running out of hotel rooms to house illegal migrants. They’re looking at summer camps instead.   Second, an Update on America’s Economy. Credit card interest rates just hit at a record high. Third, an update on Joe Biden’s Climate Change bill. He may have tricked a key Senator — and the oil and gas industry — to get it passed. Finally, two stories on a future War with China. Plus, one more thing before I let you go. Today it’s a personal message about the podcast. ------ 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 8th. 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. Folks, we've got so much great news this morning that we are doing another big five update, five critical updates on stories we've covered previously that are shaping America and the world. First, a border war update. New York City is running out of hotel rooms to house illegal migrants. They are looking at some. summer camps instead. Second, an update on America's economy. Credit card interest rates just hit a record high. Third, an update on Joe Biden's climate change bill. He may have tricked a key senator and the oil and gas industry to get it passed. Finally, two stories on a future war

with China. Plus, one more thing before that you go. Today, it's a personal message about the podcast. But first, let's get to our big five update. The border wars continue to be fought all around the country this morning. Texas and Arizona are still busing illegal migrants to Washington, D.C., Chicago, and of course, New York City. The goal, as we have discussed, is to force America's liberal sanctuary cities to share the burden of caring for the record number of illegals coming across the border. Mayors of these Blue State towns have been absolutely outraged, accusing Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Arizona's Governor Doug Ducey of bigotry and racism and so on. One of those mayors, Eric Adams of New York, has been especially critical.

He said that Abbott is engaging in hateful politics and will instead welcome illegal migrants with open arms. But as it turns out, those arms are getting a little bit full. The city is reporting that it has been overwhelmed by 6,300 migrants since April, about a quarter of those because of Abbott's busing. And the city is struggling to house these folks. plus the approximately 50,000 people who sleep in New York City's shelters each night. So to deal with this challenge, the city has leased 15 extra hotels,

although many of them are actually tied to the mayor's chief of staff. Interesting. That's according to the local news outlet city limits. Regardless, with those hotels filling up, Mayor Adams is looking at a very unusual solution, area summer camps. So last week, the city's Department of Social Service, contacted the American Camp Association of New York and New Jersey to discuss using their network of summer camps for illegal migrants coming through the border. Well, apparently, it is sort of a Hail Mary option. New York City has certain right to housing

laws for the homeless that, well, probably would be very problematic in this case. But because of the cost of hotels and a lack of interested properties, the city is considering, well, very strange solutions like summer camps. Now, there's no word on whether the camps have been emptied for the season or if there are fall activities for kids. And if so, well, how would that be managed with the migrants potentially mixed in? Still, it shows the depth of the crisis that we are facing and that border states face every day. It also helps explain a poll out a couple of weeks ago from national public radio. It showed that a majority of Americans, quote, see an invasion at the southern border, end quote.

Well, no matter how you might label it, I think we've got a disaster, and I will keep you posted no matter what. Second, some sobering news this morning on the economic front, specifically credit cards. The average interest rate for America's credit cards just reached the highest level since 1996, and it's likely to get even worse. So the average rate now sits at, goodness gracious, 17.96%. That's according to bankrate.com. The reason, pretty straightforward. As a Federal Reserve has raised its interest rates to curb inflation, the banks and the credit card companies have raised their rates too. And that means that the 17.96% rate is going to get even higher.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has made it very clear that the Fed is not done raising rates, not by a long shot. So you should probably expect that those credit card rates will push nearly 20%. Meanwhile, you probably won't be surprised to learn that credit card companies are making a whole lot of money off of these higher rates. Visa's last quarterly report beat estimates for expected profit, MasterCard 2. One final piece of good news to this story. So credit card balances are actually just below pre-pandemic levels, which means that many folks actually paid down their credit card debt during the last couple of years.

But unfortunately, not everybody. Bank of America study showed an increase in credit card usage in July, specifically amongst households making less than $20,000. In other words, our poorest Americans are using credit cards to make ends meet, and the cost for them to do so will be increasingly unbearable. This is an important story that I'm going to keep watching, reminding myself and all of us about the least fortunate amongst us. Third, we have an update on the Renewable Energy Revolution, and it's a newable energy revolution, and

It's not one that you or a certain senator from West Virginia will probably like if you are hoping to salvage the oil and gas industry from Joe Biden. And here are those details. About a month ago, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which was Joe Biden's $370 billion climate change bill. So the goal was and remains to push America away from fossil fuels and towards solar and wind. Well, passage of that bill was very close, a 50-50 split in the Senate. with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.

Now, the only way that that happened was with the support of a conservative Democrat Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and that is a state with a very deep history of and a reliance on the oil, gas, and coal industry. Well, Senator Manchin thought that he actually got a pretty good deal out of the whole thing, which was this. For every new wind and solar lease on federal lands and waters, there had to be a sale of drilling rights in the same. territory for oil and gas. At the time, environmentalists dubbed that a climate suicide pact.

But after studying the law's 700 pages, environmentalists think that they found a catch. The law says that the government must offer up a sale, in other words, conduct an auction process, but that Joe Biden doesn't have to actually close on that sale. He and his administration can simply say, no thanks to any offer. So here's what the government affairs director at the Environmental Group Center for Environmental Diversity said about all this. Quote, nothing in the law says that the lease sales have to be successful. The requirement is filled, even if no one actually buys them. Well, how cheeky. For what it's worth, the environmental community is not alone in this assessment. Oil and gas experts are in equal, if not nervous,

agreement. So here is Kathleen Sagamma. She's the president of the Western Energy Alliance. Here's what she said. Quote, you could drive a truck through some of the holes in that law's language, end quote. She and others anticipate legal appeals by the oil and gas industry, but cases could be very hard to win, given the law's very charitable wording. Regardless, I'll keep you posted either way. With that, we're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, I've got two more updates for you on China, some bad news, but some very good news too. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the PDB and our Big Five update. I've got two more critical pieces of news for you this morning, both regarding our potential war with China.

First, let's talk about the bad news. It appears that one of America's premier fighter jets, the F-35, has a little small part buried deep inside of it that shouldn't be there. And that's because it's made in China. The Pentagon has halted all deliveries of Lockheed Martin's F-35 after finding an alloy used. in the magnets for a pump on the fighter jet were made in China. So without getting into the technical complexities of the part, it's used in electrical power for ground maintenance, starting the main engine and emergency power. The bottom line is that the part was not supposed to be made with Chinese components, not at least without a very specific waiver, but one of Lockheemarton's

subcontractors screwed up. So our planes now have some unauthorized Chinese. gear. But not to worry, the Pentagon says, the Chinese magnet involved, it, quote, does not transmit information or harm the integrity of the aircraft. And there are no performance, quality, safety, or security risks associated with this issue. Lockheed Martin, for its part, issued a statement saying, oops, okay, well, not exactly. They promised to, quote, ensure contractual compliance within the supply chain moving forward, end quote. But until that happens, no more delivery of the F-35s. So let's hope that China doesn't invade Taiwan anytime soon.

Otherwise, we will be in a real pickle. And finally this morning, let's wrap up with some good news about those communists in Beijing, specifically pushing them out of America's agricultural industry, specifically out of Grand Forks, North Dakota. To explain the backstory here, you need to know a few quick things. Earlier this year, the subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company, Fufeng Group, bought 370 acres of land in Grand Forks for about $2.6 million. They claimed that they are going to build a wet corn mill on that property valued at $700 million

that would pump out ingredients for animal feed sold in North America. Well, the mayor of that town, a fellow named Brandon Bocensky, well, he was very excited about this deal. It would bring jobs, he said, ramp up tax revenues, upgrade infrastructure, just a real win-win. But the chairman of the Fu Fang Group, a man named Li Shu Chun, is apparently a member of or has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. That's according to a group of senators who wrote to the Departments of Defense and Treasury saying that this deal should not go through. The senators also noted that this new mill would be about 16 miles from the Grand Forreys. Air Force Base, which houses operations critical to top U.S. intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.

And that takes us to our update this morning and our very good news. Mayor Botinsky put a stop to the construction work on both a water supply system and a waste water pump system for this Fufeng mill. That's because the federal government's committee on foreign investment in the United States, or CFIS, said, you know what, let's take a look at this deal again. CFAS is an agency charged with looking at these types of cases where foreign investments could affect our national security. They are now saying that Fufeng's information provided to date is insufficient. Fufeng is supposed to provide additional information by today, actually, with a subsequent review process to last for another 45 to 90 days.

Now, what they'll be looking for is whether the land purchased constitute the purchase of a U.S. business, based in part on what used to be on that barren piece of land. Sounds like a bit of a technicality, but for those of us who understand the China threat and don't want communists in our country, we'll take it. But apparently that opposition to communists does not include Grand Forges Mayor Bocensky. He said that he believed that the project would go through regardless. Quote, we see this Cephist review as a positive sign that the utmost due diligence will be completed on our proposal. proposed project, end quote. Well, you can decide if he's right that we need Communist Party members

and their companies involved in our food supply. Now, I don't think so, but as always, I defer to you. And that, folks, is your big five update for this Thursday morning. But I've got one more thing before I let you go. Come on back. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot Machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamaba's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes

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I've got one more thing before I let you go this morning. So many of you have written to offer me good cheer and encouragement these past five months, telling me how the podcast has helped you or your family or your business. And I just wanted to give you all an update on some of those stories, plus where the podcast is heading next. First, I am thrilled to say that we continue to set listenership records every week. It's measured, steady progress. But I'll tell you, it's really incredible.

In five months, we have become an increasingly. increasing presence in the world of news. We are ranked as a top 10 podcast during many weeks. We are going toe to toe with very big names with massive budgets and staffs. And that's because of you. You all are spreading the word and you're coming back, episode after episode. And, okay, I help a little bit and all that. Plus, I have a very tired editor.

His name is Eric who puts all of this together. So everybody say, thank you, Eric. I certainly do every single day. All right. I also wanted to share how some of you all are utilizing this show. I get tons of great emails about how you feel more informed about the world. Others, you all take it to work, and it fosters business conversations, even deals. And other folks, and I love this, well, you all are teachers or moms and dads educating your kids at home.

And you use this podcast as the basis for your social studies classes. What I've heard is that these parents and teachers take out maps and actually go around the world with me, digging into history and politics. So I'll tell you, as the son of a teacher and the brother of two teachers, it just makes my heart sore. So thank you, because when I am tired and I need inspiration, I think of you all. Finally, as for what comes next, our first goal is an afternoon PDB for your drive home. We're hoping for this winner, depending on our listener numbers.

then a video format of the podcast on Rumble, probably maybe YouTube. We are looking at the springtime for that. Plus, at some point, I still really want to bring you all a newsletter. Or short of that, I want to put links in the show notes of the sources that I use. I've heard from so many of you that you want to be able to have a transcript or a written product of the podcast to offer to your friends, to convince your friends of the things that we talk about. And I want the same. So keep hanging tight, we will get there.

Bottom line, folks, thank you. It is an honor and a privilege to join you during your morning coffee, your commute to work, or while you're cutting the grass. I've got listeners who are long-haul truckers. I've got guys who work on trains. I've got farmers, ranchers, new business owners, retirees. It's just a beautiful cross-section of people from around our great country who want to know more about the world. So thank you, earnestly, for letting me be a part of your lives. 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. Thank you.