🌞 What A Fool Believes – April 01 2022

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00 am ET.

• Markets: Inflation in the Euro-zone hit a new record as US markets closed out its biggest quarterly decline since the start of 2020.

The Lead: Recession Indicators

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Those low mortgage rates couldn’t last forever. Rates are now the highest they’ve been since December 2018, averaging 4.67 for a 30-year fixed home loan.

No one likes to hear that but perverting rates so low for so long has not done us any good has it? Inflation, gas prices, we don’t even have to say it. Still, consumers are still applying for new loans at record prices so the higher rates are not yet a deterrent.

To deal with high gas prices, the Biden Administration announced that it will release 180 million barrels of oil out of reserves. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. uses 8.80 million barrels of oil per day so this reserve will last us about 20 days. And then what?

“It will lower the oil price a little and encourage more demand,” Scott Sheffield, chief executive of Pioneer Natural Resources, told The New York Times. “But it is still a Band-Aid on a significant shortfall of supply.”

Meanwhile, countries that depend on Russian fuel exports had better get their rubles ready to pay for it. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that they will no longer sell oil in foreign currency. That starts today and they seem pretty serious about enforcing it.

Your Tax Dollars at War

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How much of your tax money is buying weapons? This is an uncomfortable question.

When the U.S. passed a bill to increase its debt limit, the budget included $13.6 billion in “aid” to Ukraine. It was sold to us as humanitarian aid but recent reports seem to show that most of it has been used for “lethal aid.” More than half of it was has been allocated to weapons and the build-up of NATO forces.

So then what about the humanitarian aid?

The bill does contain references to food and medical aid but not much. The State Department is supposed to take care of distributing this but there is no public accountability for it.

Why are we asking this question when Ukrainians are suffering? Because this same language was used to support Afghanistan and the U.S. didn’t really “aid” Afghanistan in the end, did it? Now is a good time to make sure the West is not flooding a country with weaponry to its detriment, especially when the majority of Americans do not support the war in this region.

Athletic Greens Is A Game Changer

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When You Wish Upon A Law

credit: Orlando fun tickets

Did Disney really want a fight with Republicans in Florida? Because it has one on its hands now.

Republicans are meeting to discuss repealing a law from 1967 that “allows Disney to act as its own government” in Florida. This means Disney World would face regulations it has happily skipped since its inception. To say that this would be a headache for Disney is an understatement.

Why would Republicans do this?

Because Disney got involved in the Parental Rights Education bill that was recently passed in Florida. The bill is called “Don’t Say Gay” by those that oppose it because while it prevents gender and sexual education in children in third grade and younger, it also puts educators at risk for litigation for discussing things that exist in the world, such as, “Timmy has two daddies.”

Recently, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that the “goal as a company is for the law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts.” This begs the question, should a company have a political goal? Can they just pick the ones that are popular? Does this violate their fiduciary to shareholders? Is this woke capitalism, which is a fundamentally flawed and contradictory concept? Oooh, this is a tricky one and we’re here for it with a bowl of popcorn!

A Master of Happiness

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A liberal arts university in New Jersey is accepting applications for their masters program in Happiness Studies.

What, you may ask, is Happiness Studies? It is one step beyond positive psychology. It is a combination of “psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, economics, theology, literature, music, and other disciplines [such as] spiritual, physical, intellectual, relational, and emotional well-being.”

Centenary, the university offering this degree, said that enrollment has been down in recent years and they are hoping to attract at least 100 new students with the Happiness program. They feel it is a good time to focus on mental health studies, what with, you know, war and pandemics and economic doom.

But how is one graded on happiness classes? Do you have to be happy to pass?

“If I had it my way, there would be no grades,” one of the professors said. “The ideal university is where all are intrinsically motivated. But to get accreditation, we need to grade.”

Tuition for the degree is $17,700.

News By The Numbers

9,000. That is how many cases of Skippy Peanut Butter are being recalled due to possible steel contamination. That doesn’t go well with jelly.

19 days. That is how long a container ship has been stuck in the Chesapeake Bay.

72 years. That is how long demography enthusiasts have had to wait for the individual-level data from the 1950 census. The government figures that is long enough to preserve people’s privacy and will release records to the public online today.

3.2%. That is how many applicants who apply to Harvard will get in this year. A recent Wall Street Journal report shows that admission to Ivy League schools is at an all-time-low average of 4% but that data is skewed because some schools like Stanford refuse to report their acceptance rates.

What’s Trending? 

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Jared Leto is trending because the movie Morbius is out today. Reviews are not great but people seem to be intrigued by Leto’s performance at least.

Crocker is trending because of this character from the Paramount+ series The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder. It is based on the Nickelodeon series and people who watched the original series have strong opinions about the new Crocker.

Harry Styles is trending because he released a new single for his upcoming album called “As It Was.”

Toyota GR Corolla Hatchback is trending because people are excited about the new Corolla, unveiled on Thursday. It is an all-wheel-drive turbocharged hatchback that they are calling “high performance.” It comes in manual transmission only. Automatic drivers need not apply.

Earthquake is trending because an earthquake hit Los Angeles right around midnight and people were wondering if it was an April Fool’s Joke. Mother Earth does not play that way.

Today’s Live Show

JOIN US TODAY AT 9AM EASTERN TIME

Join us on today’s live morning show.  Today we’re looking at how Russia’s ruble recovered it’s losses and how Putin just played everyone. We’re also looking at why President Biden is releasing 180 million barrels of oil but doesn’t have a longer term plan for American oil production. Click here to RSVP and I’ll see you at 9 AM Eastern.

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