The Braver Angels National Community Debate on “Violence in the Political Process” is two days away; Thursday, June 17, 8-10 p.m. Eastern time. To register for the Zoom event (which is free) go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/national-debate-violence-in-the-political-process-registration-156741667547and read the debate between David Amaya and David Iwinski on our home page to prepare your comments and questions.
Retail Sales Drops 1.3% in May – Retail and food sales for May fell 1.3% to $620.6 billion, the U.S. Commerce Department reports, a bigger dip than had been expected. The drop follows a revised 0.9% increase for April, though the year-over-year increase was 28.1%, comparing May 2021 to May 2020.
The Commerce Department’s Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 0.8% in May, compared with an 0.6% increase in April, and a 1.0% increase in March. The PPI was up 6.6% for the 12 months ending in May, largest increase since the data were first calculated in November 2010.
Note: There are several factors that contribute to this decline. For one thing, there is the constrained availability of sport utility vehicles and other big-ticket items caused by the semiconductor shortage (the bank TD noted: “After strong gains in March and April, inventory limitations have cooled off what had been a red-hot spring for new vehicle sales.”). For another, as there is the “reopening” of places like New York City (where they are planning to hold a ticker-tape parade on July 7 to mark the comeback), more people are buying food in restaurants rather than grocery stores. Finally, there is the increase in the number of people traveling (e.g., on June 14, 2021, TSA cleared 1,800,954 passengers; the number was 534,528 a year ago), which conceivably means vacation travel. So maybe this slight decline is a good sign, not something to wring one’s hands over.
•••
Remove Omar from Foreign Affairs, McCarthy Demands – House of Representatives Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, has called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-MN, from the Foreign Affairs committee over her comments comparing U.S. and Israeli “war crimes” to that of Hamas and the Taliban, Politico reports Tuesday morning. McCarthy has indicated to Pelosi that if Omar is not relieved of her committee post, it will happen after GOP success in the midterm elections.
•••
Biden and EU Agree to Drop Aircraft Manufacturer Subsidies – President Biden and European Union leaders reached an agreement at the NATO Summit in Brussels Tuesday to suspend subsidies to aircraft manufacturers in order to end a 17-year trade dispute in light of China’s growing economic dominance, the AP reports. The five-year suspension of aircraft tariffs would effectively end U.S. subsidies to Boeing and EU subsidies to Airbus, in an agreement Biden reached in talks with EU Council President Charles Michel and EU Commission President Ursula von den Leyen, ahead of the U.S. president’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow. The U.S.-EU agreement is said to focus on China’s “economic assertiveness,” the AP says.
Note: “Instead of fighting with one of our closest allies, we are finally coming together against a common threat,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said of the agreement, according to The Washington Post. This would seem to be a case of the U.S. and EU trying to nip China’s nascent commercial aircraft industry in the bud. The lifting of the tariffs is to last five years. The next challenge is to address the Trump-imposed tariffs on materials like steel and aluminum.
•••
Senate Approves Ketanji Brown Jackson for D.C. Circuit Court – The Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on the federal court of appeals, Monday, The Washington Post reports. Women, especially of color, have long been underrepresented on the federal bench, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said, and Democrats are “working quickly to close the gap.” Fortunately for Schumer, Mitch McConnell, R-KY, abolished the judicial filibuster; the vote approving Jackson was 53-44. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, voted with the 50 Democrats, WaPo says.
•••
Clearing a Low Bar? – All the leaders from the 30 NATO countries that met yesterday in Brussels appeared happy, and got along well with each other, including our new president, Joseph R. Biden, who did affirm U.S. support of Article 5 — the collective defense doctrine of NATO’s founding treaty — and did not, several cable news pundits noted, push the president of Montenegro out of the way. Well played, Mr. Biden.
•••
Republican Rep Challenges Metal Detector Requirement – Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-GA, has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging two fines levied against him for skirting magnetometers in the House of Representatives, Roll Call reports. Clyde has been fined a total of $15,000 for two violations. Fellow Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas also has been fined for walking around the security check.
“House Resolution 73 detains members from engaging in their duties to those they represent, in clear violation of Article 1 of the Constitution, and seeks to fine representatives, in violation of the 27th Amendment,” Clyde said in a prepared statement, “to gain undue influence over their behavior and to further Speaker Pelosi’s false political narrative.”
Meanwhile: Pelosi meets with House of Representatives’ chairs of seven relevant committees Tuesday, to discuss the Democrats’ next steps in holding a 9/11-style commission to study that “false narrative” — the 1/6 attack on the Capitol — Punchbowl News reports. The House passed a bill establishing a bi-partisan commission with 35 Republicans having crossed the aisle, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, blocked its passage with a filibuster in the upper chamber.
•••
U.S on Right Track, More or Less -- In the answer to the question posed by Morning Consult “Now, generally speaking, would you say that things in the country are going in the right direction or have they pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?”, 52% of Americans say “Wrong Track” and 48% “Right Track.” Which seems to indicate that things aren’t as politically extreme as is often the case.
Note: Things have been converging since March 20, when it was 50% wrong and 49% right. The distance between Wrong and Right during the past few months has seemed to fluctuate between a margin of error rather than as a difference of perspective. Back on January 11, there was a huge divergence, 81% wrong and 19% right (which presumably had a more than a little something to do with the event at the Capitol the previous week). Throughout the Trump years the split was more significant between the two points of view. Seems as though Biden’s approach is more generally acceptable to the public. –Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash
______________________________________________________