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Boehringer Ingelheim nabs new US president and CEO; AstraZeneca vet hops aboard Novavax as CMO

Boehringer Ingelheim nabs new US president and CEO; AstraZeneca vet hops aboard Novavax as CMO

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Jean-Michel Boers

Jean-Michel Boers, who joined Boehringer Ingelheim in 1998, is stepping in as US president and CEO. He succeeds Wolfgang Baiker, who is retiring after 31 years with the company. After starting out at Boehringer Ingelheim 22 years ago in Belgium as head of business information and support, Boers has steadily worked his way up the ladder in more prominent leadership roles. He has led the US human pharma business at the German drugmaker since January 2017.

Baiker took over from Paul Fonteyne in 2018 and prior to that had been Boehringer Ingelheim’s SVP and the head of the biopharma business unit. His retirement is effective July 31.

Vaxart, which was on the initial 18-name shortlist for Operation Warp Speed, is changing CEOs as the South San Francisco biotech looks to pick up the pace on their oral tablet Covid-19 vaccine candidate. Andrei Floroiu grabs hold of the reins, succeeding Wouter Latour, who had been CEO since 2011. Latour will stay on as chairman of the board. Before taking over at Vaxart, Floroiu was an exec at Agenus and managing director at Exigo Capital.

Laurent Fischer

→ Gene therapy player Adverum, which recently reported positive interim data for its Phase I trial, has brought on Laurent Fischer as CEO. Leone Patterson, who has served as CEO for four years, will be handing the reins over and continue serving as the company’s president. Most recently, Fischer served as SVP and head of the liver therapeutic area at Allergan. Previously, he served as chairman and CEO of Tobira Therapeutics (acquired by Allergan in 2016) and has served in leadership roles at Jennerex, Auxeris Therapeutics and Ocera Therapeutics.

Stéphane Bancel continues to shore up the leadership team at Moderna as the biotech jockeys for position on their Covid-19 vaccine. Not long after David Meline joined Moderna as CFO, fellow Amgen vet Ray Jordan has assumed the role of chief corporate affairs officer. From 2012-19, Jordan was Amgen’s SVP, corporate affairs. The Big Pharma experience is extensive for Jordan, having been at J&J for 9 years and spent 17 years at Pfizer, rounding out his tenure there as VP, communications and information.

Filip Dubovsky

→ Receiving $200 million worth of backing from RA Capital this week for their Covid-19 vaccine candidate, Novavax is boosting its executive team by enlisting AstraZeneca vet Filip Dubovsky as SVP and CMO, and Silvia Taylor as SVP, investor relations and corporate affairs. Dubovsky was AstraZeneca’s head of clinical engagement and policy and deputy CMO for clinical affairs before jumping to Novavax. Taylor left Autolus as VP of global corporate affairs and communications.

 

Silvia Taylor

Novavax has also added David Mott to their board of directors. Mott hit the exit at New Enterprise Associates back in March and is chairman of the board at Adaptimmune, Ardelyx, Epizyme, Imara and Mersana.

Julia Berretta has taken the helm as CEO at Milan-based startup Epsilen Bio, a spinoff of the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget). In addition to leading Epsilen Bio, on the heels of closing €2.3 million in financing from Sofinnova Partners, Berretta is CEO of Sofinnova-backed Genespire. Berretta previously moved through the ranks at Cellectis, rounding out her tenure as VP, business development and strategic planning. Additionally, ex-Cellectis EVP and COO Mathieu Simon will be chairman of Epsilen Bio’s board.

Nicole McKnight

→ Not only is Amabiotics changing its name, they’re changing CEOs. What was formerly Amabiotics, whose microbiome-derived platform targets diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, is now Stellate Therapeutics, with Nicole McKnight as the new CEO. She succeeds Patrice Garnier, who led the biotech since 2015 and will continue as chairman and president. McKnight headed up the company’s New York office before taking over effective May 18. Stellate also named two people to their strategic advisory board, Bernard Munos and Robert Schneider.

→ Effective Sept. 7, Thomas Loewold is jumping on board at API manufacturer Cambrex as CEO and as a board member. For now, Cambrex is led by an office of the CEO that includes chairman Wayne Hewett. Loewold is currently president of the flexibles division at packaging manufacturer ProAmpac. From 2012 to 2017, Loewold held numerous positions at Thermo Fisher Scientific, eventually becoming their chief commercial officer.

Zomedica Pharmaceuticals, a veterinary diagnostic company, has named Robert Cohen as interim CEO of the company. Cohen takes over from Shameze Rampertab — acting interim CEO of the company — who will resume his duties as CFO. Cohen joins the company after serving as president and CEO of EmboMedics. Cohen has previously assumed leadership roles at Miromatrix Medical and Travanti Pharma and jumpstarted his career at Pfizer, where he spent a little over a decade.

Stephen Eck

→ Buoyed by cancer drug data unveiled in ASCO abstracts, particularly in the HER2 space, Maryland-based MacroGenics has welcomed Stephen Eck as CMO and SVP, clinical development. The Pfizer and Eli Lilly vet had most recently been CMO at Immatics US and president and CEO of Aravive Biologics. Prior to those roles, Eck was at Astellas Pharma as VP and global head of oncology medical sciences.

→ Effective July 6, Frank Sanders will become US president of peptide-based medicine biotech Zealand Pharma. Sanders will lead from the Boston office at Zealand, founded and based in Copenhagen and continuing to make acquisitions, such as the purchase of diabetes-focused Valeritas in February. Sanders was previously the general manager of the US commercial team at Sage Therapeutics and also held positions at J&J and GSK.

→ With a lead product candidate being prepared for clinical development to treat Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy, Colorado-based Edgewise Therapeutics has recruited Kirsten Gruis as their CMO. Gruis was the global head of the neuromuscular franchise for Roche before heading to Edgewise. She was also the CMO at Agilis Biotherapeutics and has also held leadership positions at WAVE Life Sciences, Alnylam and Pfizer.

→ A couple of staff moves are taking place at protein degradation specialist Nurix Therapeutics, which nabbed $120 million in financing and is partnered with Sanofi and Gilead. Michael Lotze moves into the role of chief cellular therapy officer and Robert Brown is on board as VP of clinical development. A longtime presence at the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Surgery, Lotze has previously been the CSO at Iovance (when it was then Lion Biotechnologies) and VP of research at GSK. Before Nurix, Brown had led cellular therapy development programs at Allogene.

Ambaw Bellette

→ Cambridge, MA-based gene therapy company FerGene, the Ferring spinout focused on treating bladder cancer, also has several new faces. Ambaw Bellette, the new chief operating officer, was the president of Photocure, also with a bladder cancer focus. Vijay Kasturi, who has been named VP of medical affairs, comes to FerGene after 4 ½ years at EMD Serono, where he eventually moved his way up to head of US medical affairs, oncology. Furthermore, bluebird bio vet Peter Olagunju is now FerGene’s SVP of technical operations. Olagunju was bluebird’s VP, global patient operations.

→ After corralling a new CFO at the beginning of 2020, anti-infective immunotherapy player Aridis Pharmaceuticals is bringing in AstraZeneca vet Hasan Jafri as CMO. Paul Mendelman had been interim CMO at Aridis since October and will now be a senior medical advisor. Jafri had been AstraZeneca’s senior medical director, clinical research and development, microbial sciences, as well as the clinical head of the antibacterial monoclonal antibodies program.

Marie-Louise Fjällskog

Marie-Louise Fjällskog is headed to immuno-oncology player Sensei Biotherapeutics as their CMO. Fjällskog swings into Sensei after a year as VP, clinical development at Merus. Previous stops include Infinity Pharmaceuticals as VP, clinical development and the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research as clinical program leader, translational clinical oncology.

Merck vet Christopher Dinsmore has signed on at Norbert Bischofberger-led Kronos Bio as their CSO. Before getting started at Kronos, Dinsmore was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Third Rock Ventures. He was at Forma Therapeutics from 2013-19, most recently as VP, head of chemistry. Before that, he spent 19 years at Merck Research Laboratories, culminating in his tenure as executive director, discovery chemistry.

→ Rare disease AI upstart Healx — which raised $56 million in Series B financing last October — has appointed Meri Williams as chief technology officer. Williams joins the company from challenger bank Monzo and has had experience serving at Marks and Spencer and Procter & Gamble.

Clinton Musil

→ Starting July 1, Clinton Musil will be the CFO at Catalyst Biosciences, which is partnering with Biogen on a preclinical candidate for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Musil was previously the CBO at Personalis and the VP of corporate development at ARMO Biosciences, shepherding their IPO and $1.6 billion sale to Eli Lilly.

→ At RenovaCare, a developer of autologous stem cell therapies, Robert Cook has been appointed CFO and board secretary, a week after the company named Jo Ellen Schweinle their CMO. Cook had held the CFO post at CorMedix and at a string of other pharmas prior to that such as BioBlast Pharma, Immune Pharmaceuticals and Pharmos Corporation.

→ Diabetes-focused medical device company Bigfoot Biomedical has reeled in Eli Lilly vet Jim Malone as CMO. During his 21-year stint at Eli Lilly, Malone, an endocrinologist, served in clinical research.

→ Stockholm-based immune-oncology biotech Alligator Bioscience has recruited Marie Svensson as CFO. She assumes her new role Sept. 1, and until then, Andreas Johannesson will continue as interim CFO. Svensson is currently CFO at InCoax Networks.

→ MicroRNA biotech miRagen Therapeutics has enlisted Lee Rauch as COO. Rauch has held posts as CBO of Global Blood Therapeutics, interim CBO of Onyx Pharmaceuticals and president and CEO of Nuon Therapeutics among others.

Bayer-partnered Dewpoint Therapeutics is adding a pair of big-name pharma vets as it looks to make drugs targeting biomolecular condensates a reality. The Cambridge biotech will add former Sanofi CEO Olivier Brandicourt and the head of Bayer’s venture arm, Jürgen Eckhardt, to its board. Though both MDs, the pair have held long careers on the business side of the industry, which is where their insight will be needed most, said Dewpoint CEO Amir Nashat.

→ New Haven, CT-based rare disease pharma Rallybio has selected longtime Pfizer vet Jackie Schumacher to lead global regulatory affairs. Schumacher was VP of regulatory and quality at Lyndra Therapeutics from 2017-19 after leaving Pfizer, where she was in the chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) regulatory organization.

Kia Motesharei

→ AI startup BioXcel Therapeutics, targeting therapies in neuroscience and immuno-oncology, has locked in Will Kane as EVP and chief commercial officer. Kane had been at Allergan since 2013 and was their SVP and head of the US general medicine business unit. He had also held positions at Pfizer and Sepracor (which is now Sunovion Pharmaceuticals).

Ionis majority-owned spinoff Akcea has welcomed Kia Motesharei as SVP of business development & corporate strategy. Motesharei hails from a 6-year stint at Merck KGaA, where he most recently served as VP and global head of licensing and business development, neurology & immunology. Prior to that, Motesharei served in roles at Dyax Corp (acquired by Shire and subsequently Takeda), Genfit and ActivX.

Bao Truong

→ China-based rare disease and oncology pharma CANbridge, which completed its $98 million Series D financing in February, is bringing Carrie Ann Cook into the fold as SVP, global head of business development. Cook is leaving Takeda, where she was senior director of the Center for External Innovation, Rare Disease. Before Takeda, she was the head of global business development and licensing, MS, medical devices and global health at EMD Serono.

David Luo

Jonathan Lim-led cancer treatment startup Erasca is making two new personnel changes. The San Diego-based biotech has named Bao Truong VP of regulatory affairs and David Luo VP of clinical research and operations. Truong and Luo are both vets of another Lim company, Ignyta. Truong had been head of regulatory affairs there, while Luo was VP of clinical operations at Ignyta at the same time. Truong was also head of regulatory affairs at Ideaya Biosciences, while Luo has also been VP of clinical operations at Synthorx.

→ Hong Kong-based pharmaceutical group Aptorum has enlisted Kira Sheinerman as senior strategic consultant — she will be based in New York. Sheinerman is the co-founder, CEO and executive director of molecular diagnostics company DiamiR Biosciences.

Martha Manning has moved on to Marinus Pharmaceuticals as VP, general counsel and secretary. Manning comes to Marinus, which focuses on developing ganaxolone to treat rare seizure disorders, from Achillion, where she was EVP, general counsel and secretary. She also had a stint at Sandoz as VP and general counsel.

→ No stranger to chairmanships, Dan Lynch is now chairman of the board at Waltham, MA-based Xilio Therapeutics, which changed its name (from Akrevia) in March and raised a shade more than $100 million in a round led by Takeda to get their IL-2 and aCTLA4 mAb programs into the clinic. Lynch is also chairman of the board at bluebird bio, Blueprint Medicines, Surface Oncology, Translate Bio and SpringWorks Therapeutics.

→ Duchenne muscular dystrophy-focused Solid Biosciences has appointed Ian Smith as chairman of the board. The former Vertex exec, who was ousted last year for code of conduct violations, succeeds Solid co-founder Andrey Zarur, who had been chairman since 2013.

Bonnie Bassler

→ You could say that Royalty Pharma has been kind of a big deal the past 3 weeks. Fresh off scoring a momentous $2.2 billion IPO, Pablo Legorreta’s drug royalty buyer has named Bonnie Bassler to their bord. Bassler, the chair of Princeton University’s molecular biology department, has also sat on the board at Sanofi, Kaleido Biosciences and Regeneron.

→ In the midst of the remdesivir hubbub, Javier Rodriguez has been elected to Gilead’s board of directors. Rodriguez has spent 20 years at DeVita, which provides healthcare services to patients with kidney disease, and is currently their CEO.

→ Calcification-focused rare disease upstart Inozyme Pharma has tapped Doug Treco, former CEO and co-founder of RA Pharmaceuticals, as chairman of the company’s board of directors. Treco succeeds retiring Joseph Schlessinger. In addition, the Cambridge, MA-based company has welcomed Biogen vet Lynne Sullivan as an independent director.

→ San Diego-based Arena Pharmaceuticals has chosen Katharine Knobil to be on their board of directors. Knobil, the current CMO and head of R&D at Kaleido Biosciences, had also spent more than 20 years at GSK, most recently as CMO.

Kavita Patel

Flagship‘s Sigilon, which recently bagged $80 million, has wooed Kavita Patel to its board of directors. Patel is a practicing physician and served in the Obama administration as director of policy for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement in the White House.

→ Gene and cell therapy startup Abeona Therapeutics has made some new additions to its board of directors with the appointments of George Migausky and Paul Mann as independent directors. Migausky previously served as EVP and CFO of Dyax Corp, while Mann served as CFO at PolarityTE.

ContraFect, which was given breakthrough designation from the FDA for exebacase to treat methicillin-resistant Staph aureus (MRSA), has made Lishan Aklog a member of their board of directors. Aklog, whose work as a cardiac surgeon took him to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Mount Sinai Medical Center, and Harvard Medical School, among others, is the co-founder, chairman and CEO of PAVmed.

Eric Schmidt and Peter Svennilson are now providing their capital market expertise to the board of directors at Redwood City, CA-based Revolution Medicines. Schmidt is the CFO at Allogene, while Svennilson is the founder and managing partner at The Column Group.

→ French vaccine developer Valneva has appointed Johanna Willemina Pattenier, former general manager of Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, and Sharon Elizabeth Tetlow, founder and managing partner of Potrero Hill Advisors (PHA), to its supervisory board.

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International

United Airlines adds new flights to faraway destinations

The airline said that it has been working hard to "find hidden gem destinations."

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Since countries started opening up after the pandemic in 2021 and 2022, airlines have been seeing demand soar not just for major global cities and popular routes but also for farther-away destinations.

Numerous reports, including a recent TripAdvisor survey of trending destinations, showed that there has been a rise in U.S. traveler interest in Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and Vietnam as well as growing tourism traction in off-the-beaten-path European countries such as Slovenia, Estonia and Montenegro.

Related: 'No more flying for you': Travel agency sounds alarm over risk of 'carbon passports'

As a result, airlines have been looking at their networks to include more faraway destinations as well as smaller cities that are growing increasingly popular with tourists and may not be served by their competitors.

The Philippines has been popular among tourists in recent years.

Shutterstock

United brings back more routes, says it is committed to 'finding hidden gems'

This week, United Airlines  (UAL)  announced that it will be launching a new route from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Morocco's Marrakesh. While it is only the country's fourth-largest city, Marrakesh is a particularly popular place for tourists to seek out the sights and experiences that many associate with the country — colorful souks, gardens with ornate architecture and mosques from the Moorish period.

More Travel:

"We have consistently been ahead of the curve in finding hidden gem destinations for our customers to explore and remain committed to providing the most unique slate of travel options for their adventures abroad," United's SVP of Global Network Planning Patrick Quayle, said in a press statement.

The new route will launch on Oct. 24 and take place three times a week on a Boeing 767-300ER  (BA)  plane that is equipped with 46 Polaris business class and 22 Premium Plus seats. The plane choice was a way to reach a luxury customer customer looking to start their holiday in Marrakesh in the plane.

Along with the new Morocco route, United is also launching a flight between Houston (IAH) and Colombia's Medellín on Oct. 27 as well as a route between Tokyo and Cebu in the Philippines on July 31 — the latter is known as a "fifth freedom" flight in which the airline flies to the larger hub from the mainland U.S. and then goes on to smaller Asian city popular with tourists after some travelers get off (and others get on) in Tokyo.

United's network expansion includes new 'fifth freedom' flight

In the fall of 2023, United became the first U.S. airline to fly to the Philippines with a new Manila-San Francisco flight. It has expanded its service to Asia from different U.S. cities earlier last year. Cebu has been on its radar amid growing tourist interest in the region known for marine parks, rainforests and Spanish-style architecture.

With the summer coming up, United also announced that it plans to run its current flights to Hong Kong, Seoul, and Portugal's Porto more frequently at different points of the week and reach four weekly flights between Los Angeles and Shanghai by August 29.

"This is your normal, exciting network planning team back in action," Quayle told travel website The Points Guy of the airline's plans for the new routes.

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International

Walmart launches clever answer to Target’s new membership program

The retail superstore is adding a new feature to its Walmart+ plan — and customers will be happy.

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It's just been a few days since Target  (TGT)  launched its new Target Circle 360 paid membership plan. 

The plan offers free and fast shipping on many products to customers, initially for $49 a year and then $99 after the initial promotional signup period. It promises to be a success, since many Target customers are loyal to the brand and will go out of their way to shop at one instead of at its two larger peers, Walmart and Amazon.

Related: Walmart makes a major price cut that will delight customers

And stop us if this sounds familiar: Target will rely on its more than 2,000 stores to act as fulfillment hubs. 

This model is a proven winner; Walmart also uses its more than 4,600 stores as fulfillment and shipping locations to get orders to customers as soon as possible.

Sometimes, this means shipping goods from the nearest warehouse. But if a desired product is in-store and closer to a customer, it reduces miles on the road and delivery time. It's a kind of logistical magic that makes any efficiency lover's (or retail nerd's) heart go pitter patter. 

Walmart rolls out answer to Target's new membership tier

Walmart has certainly had more time than Target to develop and work out the kinks in Walmart+. It first launched the paid membership in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, when many shoppers sheltered at home but still required many staples they might ordinarily pick up at a Walmart, like cleaning supplies, personal-care products, pantry goods and, of course, toilet paper. 

It also undercut Amazon  (AMZN)  Prime, which costs customers $139 a year for free and fast shipping (plus several other benefits including access to its streaming service, Amazon Prime Video). 

Walmart+ costs $98 a year, which also gets you free and speedy delivery, plus access to a Paramount+ streaming subscription, fuel savings, and more. 

An employee at a Merida, Mexico, Walmart. (Photo by Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images

If that's not enough to tempt you, however, Walmart+ just added a new benefit to its membership program, ostensibly to compete directly with something Target now has: ultrafast delivery. 

Target Circle 360 particularly attracts customers with free same-day delivery for select orders over $35 and as little as one-hour delivery on select items. Target executes this through its Shipt subsidiary.

We've seen this lightning-fast delivery speed only in snippets from Amazon, the king of delivery efficiency. Who better to take on Target, though, than Walmart, which is using a similar store-as-fulfillment-center model? 

"Walmart is stepping up to save our customers even more time with our latest delivery offering: Express On-Demand Early Morning Delivery," Walmart said in a statement, just a day after Target Circle 360 launched. "Starting at 6 a.m., earlier than ever before, customers can enjoy the convenience of On-Demand delivery."

Walmart  (WMT)  clearly sees consumers' desire for near-instant delivery, which obviously saves time and trips to the store. Rather than waiting a day for your order to show up, it might be on your doorstep when you wake up. 

Consumers also tend to spend more money when they shop online, and they remain stickier as paying annual members. So, to a growing number of retail giants, almost instant gratification like this seems like something worth striving for.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

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Government

President Biden Delivers The “Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President”

President Biden Delivers The "Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President"

Having successfully raged, ranted, lied, and yelled through…

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President Biden Delivers The "Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President"

Having successfully raged, ranted, lied, and yelled through the State of The Union, President Biden can go back to his crypt now.

Whatever 'they' gave Biden, every American man, woman, and the other should be allowed to take it - though it seems the cocktail brings out 'dark Brandon'?

Tl;dw: Biden's Speech tonight ...

  • Fund Ukraine.

  • Trump is threat to democracy and America itself.

  • Abortion is good.

  • American Economy is stronger than ever.

  • Inflation wasn't Biden's fault.

  • Illegals are Americans too.

  • Republicans are responsible for the border crisis.

  • Trump is bad.

  • Biden stands with trans-children.

  • J6 was the worst insurrection since the Civil War.

(h/t @TCDMS99)

Tucker Carlson's response sums it all up perfectly:

"that was possibly the darkest, most un-American speech given by an American president. It wasn't a speech, it was a rant..."

Carlson continued: "The true measure of a nation's greatness lies within its capacity to control borders, yet Bid refuses to do it."

"In a fair election, Joe Biden cannot win"

And concluded:

“There was not a meaningful word for the entire duration about the things that actually matter to people who live here.”

Victor Davis Hanson added some excellent color, but this was probably the best line on Biden:

"he doesn't care... he lives in an alternative reality."

*  *  *

Watch SOTU Live here...

*   *   *

Mises' Connor O'Keeffe, warns: "Be on the Lookout for These Lies in Biden's State of the Union Address." 

On Thursday evening, President Joe Biden is set to give his third State of the Union address. The political press has been buzzing with speculation over what the president will say. That speculation, however, is focused more on how Biden will perform, and which issues he will prioritize. Much of the speech is expected to be familiar.

The story Biden will tell about what he has done as president and where the country finds itself as a result will be the same dishonest story he's been telling since at least the summer.

He'll cite government statistics to say the economy is growing, unemployment is low, and inflation is down.

Something that has been frustrating Biden, his team, and his allies in the media is that the American people do not feel as economically well off as the official data says they are. Despite what the White House and establishment-friendly journalists say, the problem lies with the data, not the American people's ability to perceive their own well-being.

As I wrote back in January, the reason for the discrepancy is the lack of distinction made between private economic activity and government spending in the most frequently cited economic indicators. There is an important difference between the two:

  • Government, unlike any other entity in the economy, can simply take money and resources from others to spend on things and hire people. Whether or not the spending brings people value is irrelevant

  • It's the private sector that's responsible for producing goods and services that actually meet people's needs and wants. So, the private components of the economy have the most significant effect on people's economic well-being.

Recently, government spending and hiring has accounted for a larger than normal share of both economic activity and employment. This means the government is propping up these traditional measures, making the economy appear better than it actually is. Also, many of the jobs Biden and his allies take credit for creating will quickly go away once it becomes clear that consumers don't actually want whatever the government encouraged these companies to produce.

On top of all that, the administration is dealing with the consequences of their chosen inflation rhetoric.

Since its peak in the summer of 2022, the president's team has talked about inflation "coming back down," which can easily give the impression that it's prices that will eventually come back down.

But that's not what that phrase means. It would be more honest to say that price increases are slowing down.

Americans are finally waking up to the fact that the cost of living will not return to prepandemic levels, and they're not happy about it.

The president has made some clumsy attempts at damage control, such as a Super Bowl Sunday video attacking food companies for "shrinkflation"—selling smaller portions at the same price instead of simply raising prices.

In his speech Thursday, Biden is expected to play up his desire to crack down on the "corporate greed" he's blaming for high prices.

In the name of "bringing down costs for Americans," the administration wants to implement targeted price ceilings - something anyone who has taken even a single economics class could tell you does more harm than good. Biden would never place the blame for the dramatic price increases we've experienced during his term where it actually belongs—on all the government spending that he and President Donald Trump oversaw during the pandemic, funded by the creation of $6 trillion out of thin air - because that kind of spending is precisely what he hopes to kick back up in a second term.

If reelected, the president wants to "revive" parts of his so-called Build Back Better agenda, which he tried and failed to pass in his first year. That would bring a significant expansion of domestic spending. And Biden remains committed to the idea that Americans must be forced to continue funding the war in Ukraine. That's another topic Biden is expected to highlight in the State of the Union, likely accompanied by the lie that Ukraine spending is good for the American economy. It isn't.

It's not possible to predict all the ways President Biden will exaggerate, mislead, and outright lie in his speech on Thursday. But we can be sure of two things. The "state of the Union" is not as strong as Biden will say it is. And his policy ambitions risk making it much worse.

*  *  *

The American people will be tuning in on their smartphones, laptops, and televisions on Thursday evening to see if 'sloppy joe' 81-year-old President Joe Biden can coherently put together more than two sentences (even with a teleprompter) as he gives his third State of the Union in front of a divided Congress. 

President Biden will speak on various topics to convince voters why he shouldn't be sent to a retirement home.

According to CNN sources, here are some of the topics Biden will discuss tonight:

  • Economic issues: Biden and his team have been drafting a speech heavy on economic populism, aides said, with calls for higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy – an attempt to draw a sharp contrast with Republicans and their likely presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

  • Health care expenses: Biden will also push for lowering health care costs and discuss his efforts to go after drug manufacturers to lower the cost of prescription medications — all issues his advisers believe can help buoy what have been sagging economic approval ratings.

  • Israel's war with Hamas: Also looming large over Biden's primetime address is the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which has consumed much of the president's time and attention over the past few months. The president's top national security advisers have been working around the clock to try to finalize a ceasefire-hostages release deal by Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that begins next week.

  • An argument for reelection: Aides view Thursday's speech as a critical opportunity for the president to tout his accomplishments in office and lay out his plans for another four years in the nation's top job. Even though viewership has declined over the years, the yearly speech reliably draws tens of millions of households.

Sources provided more color on Biden's SOTU address: 

The speech is expected to be heavy on economic populism. The president will talk about raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. He'll highlight efforts to cut costs for the American people, including pushing Congress to help make prescription drugs more affordable.

Biden will talk about the need to preserve democracy and freedom, a cornerstone of his re-election bid. That includes protecting and bolstering reproductive rights, an issue Democrats believe will energize voters in November. Biden is also expected to promote his unity agenda, a key feature of each of his addresses to Congress while in office.

Biden is also expected to give remarks on border security while the invasion of illegals has become one of the most heated topics among American voters. A majority of voters are frustrated with radical progressives in the White House facilitating the illegal migrant invasion. 

It is probable that the president will attribute the failure of the Senate border bill to the Republicans, a claim many voters view as unfounded. This is because the White House has the option to issue an executive order to restore border security, yet opts not to do so

Maybe this is why? 

While Biden addresses the nation, the Biden administration will be armed with a social media team to pump propaganda to at least 100 million Americans. 

"The White House hosted about 70 creators, digital publishers, and influencers across three separate events" on Wednesday and Thursday, a White House official told CNN. 

Not a very capable social media team... 

The administration's move to ramp up social media operations comes as users on X are mostly free from government censorship with Elon Musk at the helm. This infuriates Democrats, who can no longer censor their political enemies on X. 

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers tell Axios that the president's SOTU performance will be critical as he tries to dispel voter concerns about his elderly age. The address reached as many as 27 million people in 2023. 

"We are all nervous," said one House Democrat, citing concerns about the president's "ability to speak without blowing things."

The SOTU address comes as Biden's polling data is in the dumps

BetOnline has created several money-making opportunities for gamblers tonight, such as betting on what word Biden mentions the most. 

As well as...

We will update you when Tucker Carlson's live feed of SOTU is published. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/08/2024 - 07:44

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