Connect with us

International

Gundlach Warns US Is On A “Roadmap To Losing Global Reserve Currency Status”

Gundlach Warns US Is On A "Roadmap To Losing Global Reserve Currency Status"

DoubleLine Capital Founder & CEO, Jeffrey Gundlach, sat down with Yahoo Finance’s Julie LaRoche yesterday for a lengthy interview discussing the outlook for…

Published

3 years ago

on

Gundlach Warns US Is On A "Roadmap To Losing Global Reserve Currency Status"

DoubleLine Capital Founder & CEO, Jeffrey Gundlach, sat down with Yahoo Finance's Julie LaRoche yesterday for a lengthy interview discussing the outlook for the US Dollar, the economic recovery, currencies, and Fed expectations... among other things.

As usual, the new bond king was not shy of expressing his strong opinions, warning that:

"We're running our economy in a way that is almost like we're not interested in maintaining global reserve currency status."

Gundlach noted that in the aftermath of the pandemic, the strongest economy "by far" has been China, not the US.

"China's made no secret of the fact that they want to be a global player and have at least a seat at the table of global reserve currency status," he said, adding that China has "made no secret of the fact that they want their military to be dominant, maybe the biggest in the world."

Combine this with the fact that the US is "growing debt like crazy," and it's clear the dollar is headed towards losing its reserve currency status, Gundlach said.

"And so as long as we continue to run these policies, and we're running them more and more aggressively-- we're not pulling back on them in any way-- we are looking at a roadmap that is clearly headed towards the US dollar losing its sole reserve currency status."

Watch the interview below:

Full Transcript:

(emphasis ours)

JULIA LA ROCHE: Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Live. I'm Julia La Roche. And we're having a fascinating discussion with DoubleLine Capital Founder and CEO Jeffrey Gundlach. Jeffrey, you're just making a point about your strongest conviction on the future of the US dollar. I want to explore this a bit further and help our viewers understand what some of the longer term implications of this might mean, especially for the standing of the US globally.

JEFFREY GUNDLACH: Well, the US has enjoyed the status of sole reserve currency globally for decades. And it's an incredible benefit. We also have the biggest military in the world, which just kind of goes hand in glove with being a reserve currency, I think.

But in the aftermath of the lockdowns and pandemic that continues to wear on, the strongest economy in the world, by far, has been the Chinese economy. And the US economy has bounced back with a lot of consumption. A lot of that consumption is going to China. It's one of the reasons China has such a strong economy.

So what we're seeing is the United States is starting to fall behind in economic growth. That's not a new thing. That's been going on for a generation-- the US falling behind. But the Chinese economy is growing so rapidly that the estimates as to when the Chinese economy will be the largest in the world keep getting pulled forward. 20 years ago, it was thought to be 2050 the Chinese would be bigger than the US, and then it was 2040.

And now, the estimates are maybe it's in the 2020s-- maybe even 2028, the Chinese economy gets bigger. And China's made no secret of the fact that they want to be a global player and have at least a seat at the table of global reserve currency status. And they're spending like crazy on military and have also made no secret of the fact that they want their military to be dominant, maybe the biggest in the world.

Also, they have huge savings in China. They have a culture of savings-- the gold medalists of saving historically. And so when you put all those things together with the US growing debt like crazy-- we have debt to GDP that is fueling the majority of our so-called economic growth. So is it really economic growth when you borrow money or print money, send checks to people who turn around and buy goods on Amazon, in addition to maybe paying down debt speculating, and these goods come in from China?

So we're running our economy in a way that is almost like we're not interested in maintaining global reserve currency status or the largest military or global, call it, a superiority or control. And so as long as we continue to run these policies, and we're running them more and more aggressively-- we're not pulling back on them in any way-- we are looking at a roadmap that is clearly headed towards the US dollar losing its sole reserve currency status.

And I feel that as long as we run these policies, it's almost certain that that's going to happen. And because of that, the dollar should be going down. The value of the dollar is so high because we enjoy global reserve currency status. And we don't really respect it enough. We take it for granted, I guess.

We seem to take a lot of things for granted these days in the United States relative to how we thought about things in prior decades and generations. And I believe that we're setting the stage for us to, unfortunately-- I use the word, enjoy, I guess experience, I suppose I should say, the consequences of our actions the way we've been running a non-serious economic program now really since 1980-- but it's really accelerated so much in the past decade.

And there's no signs of it abetting. So that's the reason why the dollar is going to go down. And it's already peaked. It peaked in the DXY index at 103. There was a double top in January of 2017 and then right after the pandemic hit. And now we're living down about 10% lower, and I believe the dollar is going to take out the lows of the past down cycle.

See, the dollar has been in a series of declining highs for decades. It goes back to the '80s. And for that reason, I think when we get to the next break to the lower level, the dollar is going to go past the most recent low of around 80 and even take out the low of 70. So I think there's easily 25% downside in the US dollar. And with stocks so overvalued versus historical metrics, it means that other stocks-- for US-based investors, buying stocks in foreign currencies, right now I prefer the euro, ultimately will be emerging markets maybe starting next year, that's going to be the place to be.

JULIA LA ROCHE: Hmm-- certainly an interesting thesis you lay out there. I do want to bring up the Federal Reserve again. And of course, a lot of talk lately, Jeffrey, as you know, about taper talk, if you will. And we have the symposium coming up-- the Jackson Hole symposium later this week, not that we'll get any insight on tapering there. But what are you kind of looking for from the Fed? How are you thinking about what their next move might be?

JEFFREY GUNDLACH: Well, I'm certainly of the mind that the Fed is not thinking seriously about raising short-term interest rates as long as they're doing quantitative easing. So the taper was thought to be impossible for anywhere here in calendar 2021, but there's whispering behind the scenes-- some of the Fed officials are thinking that maybe they should start tapering even as soon as next month.

I don't think that's going to happen. I think they're going to wait and see. They're clinging to this transitory or temporary inflation thesis. They've already been wrong on that. When they've talked about this bump in CPI and other inflation being temporary, they've kind of defined that as being two or three months.

But it's already been more than two or three months. Now, they're talking about six or nine months. I think if we go into December-- if we end the year 2021 with inflation on the CPI headline above 5, which is about a 50-50 proposition I think-- we're at 5.4 right now-- if it stays for the year at 5, then I think the Fed may start tapering, because the transitory inflation thesis will be very hard to defend at that point.

Keep in mind that the PPI, which is wholesale prices, which [? will need ?] CPI, on the headline are 9.6 or something like this-- I know it's 9 and change, and on the headline it's 4.3. So the Fed policy is going to depend completely on whether or not these elevated inflation levels can endure.

And with commodity prices having stabilized but not dropping, I think it's a fair bet that inflation is going to continue to be stubborn on the upside. And with that happening, taper becomes more of an issue and more talked about. But I don't expect tapering is going to happen-- I would think maybe December at the earliest.

JULIA LA ROCHE: Jeffrey, my colleague Brian Sozzi has a question for you. Brian.

BRIAN SOZZI: Jeffrey, yes, just following up on what you were saying about the Fed-- given that you do see stocks as overvalued, when the Fed does taper, how disruptive do you think that will be to stock and bond markets?

JEFFREY GUNDLACH: Well, it certainly would be negative for the stock market. I pointed out the expansion of the Fed's balance sheet goes in lockstep with the capitalization of the S&P 500. And what we saw when they tried to taper in 2018, the stock market had a sort of mini-crash-- actually went into a very compressed bear market in the fourth quarter of 2018. And it forced the Fed to completely change their activity.

So it has a negative effect on the stock market. For bonds, what's weird is when the Fed is tapering historically, yields have actually fallen. It's weird-- counterintuitive. But historically, that's been the case that yields have fallen when the Fed has tapered. And now since the Fed has been expanding the balance sheet, actually, Treasury rates have risen. They were a crazy low level once we went into lockdown-- you know, the 30-year Treasury bond actually got down to 1% on a closing basis.

And then the Fed reacted with massive stimulus. And now the 30-year Treasury bond is not tremendously higher, but it's up at about 1.85% or so. So as they've been doing this quantitative easing, stocks have gone up and bond yields have modestly gone up. And so counterintuitively, a lot of people don't understand-- they think this tapering bond yields will go up, but historically, the opposite has been the case. So it would probably mean bond yields stay subdued and stocks would fall.

JULIA LA ROCHE: Jeffrey, I have one question for you on the economy. And I'm so glad to have you here today. So we had consumer sentiment crater just the other week, yet we also have job openings at 10.1 million, which is incredibly high. And then when you look at GDP, we're essentially flat from Q4 of 2019, yet we're flat but with 5.8 million fewer workers-- so productivity has gone up. How do you kind of think about the overall economic picture here, especially given all of that as a backdrop?

JEFFREY GUNDLACH: Well, the economic picture is very, very hard to divine ever since the government got so involved in the economy. And they've made so many-- so much-- it's like pushing on, like, a waterbed or something-- you know, as you push on the side of the water bed, the other side goes up, and weird things happen, and you can't really compare it to a time period where you're not pushing on the water bed.

So it's very hard to discern what's going to happen. But certainly, the employment situation that you point out is really fascinating, and it's kind of seminal to the screwed up nature of the economy. Everywhere you go, almost any profession you ask, they say they have a hard time getting workers. Well, no surprise-- people are making more money or the same amount of money by not working. And the government continues to support that.

So what will happen when these stimulus programs ultimately end or people actually have to start paying their rent? There's going to be tremendous economic disruption. Officials have a tiger by the tail, and for now, they are not getting clawed or mauled by the tiger. But if you let go of the tail of the tiger, you're going to very likely get mauled.

And that's what's going to happen. If you end it, you don't have to pay your rent, the eviction moratorium, there's going to be all kinds of consequences to that. Rents are going to go way up if that happens, I think. Also, people are relying on stimulus. And the stimulus is responsible completely for this economic growth.

You know, GDP is 70% consumption. And as the economy has rebounded back on a GDP basis, it's done so with tremendous increase in the trade deficit. Multiple percentage points of GDP have come from an increase in the trade deficit. And that's not real GDP.

Consumption is not really the economy. The economy is about production. And when you buy goods produced in Asia with stimulus money, it shows up as GDP, but it's really Asian GDP. It's consumption in the United States.

So the economy isn't really that strong, as you point out, with five million fewer jobs. It shows up as, correctly mathematically, in the productivity equation, but it's really Chinese productivity, because, again, if you just consume goods, you're not really having economic growth. You're just having consumption, but we define it as economic growth.

So it'll be fascinating to see what happens when these programs end. I saw that the $300 unemployment supplement is being curtailed on schedule. But states still have a lot of money that hasn't been dispersed. So the stimulus state's discretion could continue longer even though it's no longer being funded weekly by the federal government. But when it all ultimately ends, we're going to see-- well, people talk about the stimulus and the Fed's low interest rates as a punch bowl-- and certainly, this has been a very deep punch bowl spiked pretty heavily with 100-proof liquor.

And once this party ends, the hangover is going to be in the form of a sharp drop in economic growth. I think one of the reasons consumer sentiment dropped so much, just cratered in the most recent reading, has to do with the fact that people are aware that maybe the stimulus is getting a little shakier in terms of our ability to predictably rely on its coming again. But also the misery index, which I think Ronald Reagan created, which is the sum of unemployment and inflation, once it goes over 10, they call it misery.

And it's at 11.3 right now-- the sum of CPI, headline, and unemployment. And maybe the consumers are feeling the inflation. I think people are starting to realize that inflation is out there. If you ask people what is the big thing that's worrying you about the economy, overwhelmingly right now, what comes across is inflation, because people see it at the gas pump, they see it at the supermarket. And as long as there's stimulus happening, I see food inflation as continuing.

JULIA LA ROCHE: Well, Jeffrey Gundlach, Founder and CEO of DoubleLine Capital, I thank you so very much for stopping by Yahoo Finance Live today.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/24/2021 - 16:49

Read More

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

International

Red Candle In The Wind

Red Candle In The Wind

By Benjamin PIcton of Rabobank

February non-farm payrolls superficially exceeded market expectations on Friday by…

Published

1 hour ago

on

March 11, 2024

By

Red Candle In The Wind

By Benjamin PIcton of Rabobank

February non-farm payrolls superficially exceeded market expectations on Friday by printing at 275,000 against a consensus call of 200,000. We say superficially, because the downward revisions to prior months totalled 167,000 for December and January, taking the total change in employed persons well below the implied forecast, and helping the unemployment rate to pop two-ticks to 3.9%. The U6 underemployment rate also rose from 7.2% to 7.3%, while average hourly earnings growth fell to 0.2% m-o-m and average weekly hours worked languished at 34.3, equalling pre-pandemic lows.

Undeterred by the devil in the detail, the algos sprang into action once exchanges opened. Market darling NVIDIA hit a new intraday high of $974 before (presumably) the humans took over and sold the stock down more than 10% to close at $875.28. If our suspicions are correct that it was the AIs buying before the humans started selling (no doubt triggering trailing stops on the way down), the irony is not lost on us.

The 1-day chart for NVIDIA now makes for interesting viewing, because the red candle posted on Friday presents quite a strong bearish engulfing signal. Volume traded on the day was almost double the 15-day simple moving average, and similar price action is observable on the 1-day charts for both Intel and AMD. Regular readers will be aware that we have expressed incredulity in the past about the durability the AI thematic melt-up, so it will be interesting to see whether Friday’s sell off is just a profit-taking blip, or a genuine trend reversal.

AI equities aside, this week ought to be important for markets because the BTFP program expires today. That means that the Fed will no longer be loaning cash to the banking system in exchange for collateral pledged at-par. The KBW Regional Banking index has so far taken this in its stride and is trading 30% above the lows established during the mini banking crisis of this time last year, but the Fed’s liquidity facility was effectively an exercise in can-kicking that makes regional banks a sector of the market worth paying attention to in the weeks ahead. Even here in Sydney, regulators are warning of external risks posed to the banking sector from scheduled refinancing of commercial real estate loans following sharp falls in valuations.

Markets are sending signals in other sectors, too. Gold closed at a new record-high of $2178/oz on Friday after trading above $2200/oz briefly. Gold has been going ballistic since the Friday before last, posting gains even on days where 2-year Treasury yields have risen. Gold bugs are buying as real yields fall from the October highs and inflation breakevens creep higher. This is particularly interesting as gold ETFs have been recording net outflows; suggesting that price gains aren’t being driven by a retail pile-in. Are gold buyers now betting on a stagflationary outcome where the Fed cuts without inflation being anchored at the 2% target? The price action around the US CPI release tomorrow ought to be illuminating.

Leaving the day-to-day movements to one side, we are also seeing further signs of structural change at the macro level. The UK budget last week included a provision for the creation of a British ISA. That is, an Individual Savings Account that provides tax breaks to savers who invest their money in the stock of British companies. This follows moves last year to encourage pension funds to head up the risk curve by allocating 5% of their capital to unlisted investments.

As a Hail Mary option for a government cruising toward an electoral drubbing it’s a curious choice, but it’s worth highlighting as cash-strapped governments increasingly see private savings pools as a funding solution for their spending priorities.

Of course, the UK is not alone in making creeping moves towards financial repression. In contrast to announcements today of increased trade liberalisation, Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has in the recent past flagged his interest in tapping private pension savings to fund state spending priorities, including defence, public housing and renewable energy projects. Both the UK and Australia appear intent on finding ways to open up the lungs of their economies, but government wants more say in directing private capital flows for state goals.

So, how far is the blurring of the lines between free markets and state planning likely to go? Given the immense and varied budgetary (and security) pressures that governments are facing, could we see a re-up of WWII-era Victory bonds, where private investors are encouraged to do their patriotic duty by directly financing government at negative real rates?

That would really light a fire under the gold market.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/11/2024 - 19:00

Read More

Continue Reading

Government

Trump “Clearly Hasn’t Learned From His COVID-Era Mistakes”, RFK Jr. Says

Trump "Clearly Hasn’t Learned From His COVID-Era Mistakes", RFK Jr. Says

Authored by Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President…

Published

2 hours ago

on

March 11, 2024

By

Trump "Clearly Hasn't Learned From His COVID-Era Mistakes", RFK Jr. Says

Authored by Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Joe Biden claimed that COVID vaccines are now helping cancer patients during his State of the Union address on March 7, but it was a response on Truth Social from former President Donald Trump that drew the ire of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. holds a voter rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Feb. 10, 2024. (Mitch Ranger for The Epoch Times)

During the address, President Biden said: “The pandemic no longer controls our lives. The vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer, turning setback into comeback. That’s what America does.”

President Trump wrote: “The Pandemic no longer controls our lives. The VACCINES that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer—turning setback into comeback. YOU’RE WELCOME JOE. NINE-MONTH APPROVAL TIME VS. 12 YEARS THAT IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN YOU.”

An outspoken critic of President Trump’s COVID response, and the Operation Warp Speed program that escalated the availability of COVID vaccines, Mr. Kennedy said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “Donald Trump clearly hasn’t learned from his COVID-era mistakes.”

“He fails to recognize how ineffective his warp speed vaccine is as the ninth shot is being recommended to seniors. Even more troubling is the documented harm being caused by the shot to so many innocent children and adults who are suffering myocarditis, pericarditis, and brain inflammation,” Mr. Kennedy remarked.

“This has been confirmed by a CDC-funded study of 99 million people. Instead of bragging about its speedy approval, we should be honestly and transparently debating the abundant evidence that this vaccine may have caused more harm than good.

“I look forward to debating both Trump and Biden on Sept. 16 in San Marcos, Texas.”

Mr. Kennedy announced in April 2023 that he would challenge President Biden for the 2024 Democratic Party presidential nomination before declaring his run as an independent last October, claiming that the Democrat National Committee was “rigging the primary.”

Since the early stages of his campaign, Mr. Kennedy has generated more support than pundits expected from conservatives, moderates, and independents resulting in speculation that he could take votes away from President Trump.

Many Republicans continue to seek a reckoning over the government-imposed pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

President Trump’s defense of Operation Warp Speed, the program he rolled out in May 2020 to spur the development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines amid the pandemic, remains a sticking point for some of his supporters.

Vice President Mike Pence (L) and President Donald Trump deliver an update on Operation Warp Speed in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Nov. 13, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Operation Warp Speed featured a partnership between the government, the military, and the private sector, with the government paying for millions of vaccine doses to be produced.

President Trump released a statement in March 2021 saying: “I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the COVID-19 Vaccine, that if I wasn’t President, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful ‘shot’ for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers!”

President Trump said about the COVID-19 vaccine in an interview on Fox News in March 2021: “It works incredibly well. Ninety-five percent, maybe even more than that. I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly.

“But again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that and I agree with that also. But it’s a great vaccine, it’s a safe vaccine, and it’s something that works.”

On many occasions, President Trump has said that he is not in favor of vaccine mandates.

An environmental attorney, Mr. Kennedy founded Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit that aims to end childhood health epidemics by promoting vaccine safeguards, among other initiatives.

Last year, Mr. Kennedy told podcaster Joe Rogan that ivermectin was suppressed by the FDA so that the COVID-19 vaccines could be granted emergency use authorization.

He has criticized Big Pharma, vaccine safety, and government mandates for years.

Since launching his presidential campaign, Mr. Kennedy has made his stances on the COVID-19 vaccines, and vaccines in general, a frequent talking point.

“I would argue that the science is very clear right now that they [vaccines] caused a lot more problems than they averted,” Mr. Kennedy said on Piers Morgan Uncensored last April.

“And if you look at the countries that did not vaccinate, they had the lowest death rates, they had the lowest COVID and infection rates.”

Additional data show a “direct correlation” between excess deaths and high vaccination rates in developed countries, he said.

President Trump and Mr. Kennedy have similar views on topics like protecting the U.S.-Mexico border and ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

COVID-19 is the topic where Mr. Kennedy and President Trump seem to differ the most.

Former President Donald Trump intended to “drain the swamp” when he took office in 2017, but he was “intimidated by bureaucrats” at federal agencies and did not accomplish that objective, Mr. Kennedy said on Feb. 5.

Speaking at a voter rally in Tucson, where he collected signatures to get on the Arizona ballot, the independent presidential candidate said President Trump was “earnest” when he vowed to “drain the swamp,” but it was “business as usual” during his term.

John Bolton, who President Trump appointed as a national security adviser, is “the template for a swamp creature,” Mr. Kennedy said.

Scott Gottlieb, who President Trump named to run the FDA, “was Pfizer’s business partner” and eventually returned to Pfizer, Mr. Kennedy said.

Mr. Kennedy said that President Trump had more lobbyists running federal agencies than any president in U.S. history.

“You can’t reform them when you’ve got the swamp creatures running them, and I’m not going to do that. I’m going to do something different,” Mr. Kennedy said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump “did not ask the questions that he should have,” he believes.

President Trump “knew that lockdowns were wrong” and then “agreed to lockdowns,” Mr. Kennedy said.

He also “knew that hydroxychloroquine worked, he said it,” Mr. Kennedy explained, adding that he was eventually “rolled over” by Dr. Anthony Fauci and his advisers.

President Donald Trump greets the crowd before he leaves at the Operation Warp Speed Vaccine Summit in Washington on Dec. 8, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

MaryJo Perry, a longtime advocate for vaccine choice and a Trump supporter, thinks votes will be at a premium come Election Day, particularly because the independent and third-party field is becoming more competitive.

Ms. Perry, president of Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights, believes advocates for medical freedom could determine who is ultimately president.

She believes that Mr. Kennedy is “pulling votes from Trump” because of the former president’s stance on the vaccines.

“People care about medical freedom. It’s an important issue here in Mississippi, and across the country,” Ms. Perry told The Epoch Times.

“Trump should admit he was wrong about Operation Warp Speed and that COVID vaccines have been dangerous. That would make a difference among people he has offended.”

President Trump won’t lose enough votes to Mr. Kennedy about Operation Warp Speed and COVID vaccines to have a significant impact on the election, Ohio Republican strategist Wes Farno told The Epoch Times.

President Trump won in Ohio by eight percentage points in both 2016 and 2020. The Ohio Republican Party endorsed President Trump for the nomination in 2024.

“The positives of a Trump presidency far outweigh the negatives,” Mr. Farno said. “People are more concerned about their wallet and the economy.

“They are asking themselves if they were better off during President Trump’s term compared to since President Biden took office. The answer to that question is obvious because many Americans are struggling to afford groceries, gas, mortgages, and rent payments.

“America needs President Trump.”

Multiple national polls back Mr. Farno’s view.

As of March 6, the RealClearPolitics average of polls indicates that President Trump has 41.8 percent support in a five-way race that includes President Biden (38.4 percent), Mr. Kennedy (12.7 percent), independent Cornel West (2.6 percent), and Green Party nominee Jill Stein (1.7 percent).

A Pew Research Center study conducted among 10,133 U.S. adults from Feb. 7 to Feb. 11 showed that Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents (42 percent) are more likely than Republicans and GOP-leaning independents (15 percent) to say they have received an updated COVID vaccine.

The poll also reported that just 28 percent of adults say they have received the updated COVID inoculation.

The peer-reviewed multinational study of more than 99 million vaccinated people that Mr. Kennedy referenced in his X post on March 7 was published in the Vaccine journal on Feb. 12.

It aimed to evaluate the risk of 13 adverse events of special interest (AESI) following COVID-19 vaccination. The AESIs spanned three categories—neurological, hematologic (blood), and cardiovascular.

The study reviewed data collected from more than 99 million vaccinated people from eight nations—Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, New Zealand, and Scotland—looking at risks up to 42 days after getting the shots.

Three vaccines—Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines as well as AstraZeneca’s viral vector jab—were examined in the study.

Researchers found higher-than-expected cases that they deemed met the threshold to be potential safety signals for multiple AESIs, including for Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), myocarditis, and pericarditis.

A safety signal refers to information that could suggest a potential risk or harm that may be associated with a medical product.

The study identified higher incidences of neurological, cardiovascular, and blood disorder complications than what the researchers expected.

President Trump’s role in Operation Warp Speed, and his continued praise of the COVID vaccine, remains a concern for some voters, including those who still support him.

Krista Cobb is a 40-year-old mother in western Ohio. She voted for President Trump in 2020 and said she would cast her vote for him this November, but she was stunned when she saw his response to President Biden about the COVID-19 vaccine during the State of the Union address.

“I love President Trump and support his policies, but at this point, he has to know they [advisers and health officials] lied about the shot,” Ms. Cobb told The Epoch Times.

“If he continues to promote it, especially after all of the hearings they’ve had about it in Congress, the side effects, and cover-ups on Capitol Hill, at what point does he become the same as the people who have lied?” Ms. Cobb added.

“I think he should distance himself from talk about Operation Warp Speed and even admit that he was wrong—that the vaccines have not had the impact he was told they would have. If he did that, people would respect him even more.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/11/2024 - 17:00

Read More

Continue Reading

International

There will soon be one million seats on this popular Amtrak route

“More people are taking the train than ever before,” says Amtrak’s Executive Vice President.

Published

6 hours ago

on

March 11, 2024

By

While the size of the United States makes it hard for it to compete with the inter-city train access available in places like Japan and many European countries, Amtrak trains are a very popular transportation option in certain pockets of the country — so much so that the country’s national railway company is expanding its Northeast Corridor by more than one million seats.

Related: This is what it's like to take a 19-hour train from New York to Chicago

Running from Boston all the way south to Washington, D.C., the route is one of the most popular as it passes through the most densely populated part of the country and serves as a commuter train for those who need to go between East Coast cities such as New York and Philadelphia for business.

Veronika Bondarenko captured this photo of New York’s Moynihan Train Hall. 

Veronika Bondarenko

Amtrak launches new routes, promises travelers ‘additional travel options’

Earlier this month, Amtrak announced that it was adding four additional Northeastern routes to its schedule — two more routes between New York’s Penn Station and Union Station in Washington, D.C. on the weekend, a new early-morning weekday route between New York and Philadelphia’s William H. Gray III 30th Street Station and a weekend route between Philadelphia and Boston’s South Station.

More Travel:

According to Amtrak, these additions will increase Northeast Corridor’s service by 20% on the weekdays and 10% on the weekends for a total of one million additional seats when counted by how many will ride the corridor over the year.

“More people are taking the train than ever before and we’re proud to offer our customers additional travel options when they ride with us on the Northeast Regional,” Amtrak Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Eliot Hamlisch said in a statement on the new routes. “The Northeast Regional gets you where you want to go comfortably, conveniently and sustainably as you breeze past traffic on I-95 for a more enjoyable travel experience.”

Here are some of the other Amtrak changes you can expect to see

Amtrak also said that, in the 2023 financial year, the Northeast Corridor had nearly 9.2 million riders — 8% more than it had pre-pandemic and a 29% increase from 2022. The higher demand, particularly during both off-peak hours and the time when many business travelers use to get to work, is pushing Amtrak to invest into this corridor in particular.

To reach more customers, Amtrak has also made several changes to both its routes and pricing system. In the fall of 2023, it introduced a type of new “Night Owl Fare” — if traveling during very late or very early hours, one can go between cities like New York and Philadelphia or Philadelphia and Washington. D.C. for $5 to $15.

As travel on the same routes during peak hours can reach as much as $300, this was a deliberate move to reach those who have the flexibility of time and might have otherwise preferred more affordable methods of transportation such as the bus. After seeing strong uptake, Amtrak added this type of fare to more Boston routes.

The largest distances, such as the ones between Boston and New York or New York and Washington, are available at the lowest rate for $20.

Read More

Continue Reading

Trending