Alphabet Tumbles On Cloud, Revenue Miss; Expects Surge In 2025 CapEx

Silicon Valley is still reeling from the sudden rise of China's "budget" AI startup DeepSeek, which rocked the industry when it said it had created an AI model that rivals cutting-edge programs at a fraction of the cost. Google parent Alphabet has been among the companies that are feeling the heat. That's because Wall Street had been pushing Alphabet and other tech giants to justify their high levels of spending on AI, and the pressure may ratchet up this quarter. Investors will be listening for any clues Alphabet executives give about their plans for capital expenditures this year. In her first earnings call with the company in October, Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi said she expects Google’s spending to increase considerably next year. Will she reaffirm that guidance today and will she give more specifics?

But while we wait for the call, the company has released its Q4 earnings and they are a mess, with the company missing on top line revenue, and on cloud sales, while guiding sharply higher on CapEx, sending GOOGL stock tumbling 7% after hours.

Here is what GOOGL reported for Q4:

• EPS $2.15 vs. $1.64 y/y, just beating estimate $2.13
• Revenue $96.47 billion, +12% y/y, but missing estimate $96.62 billion
  • Google advertising revenue $72.46 billion, beating estimate $71.73 billion
  • Google Cloud revenue $11.96 billion, missing estimate $12.19 billion
  • Google Search & Other Revenue $54.03 billion, missing estimate $53.29 billion
  • YouTube ads revenue $10.47 billion, beating estimates $10.22 billion
  • Google Network Revenue $7.95 billion, missing estimate $8.14 billion
  • Google Subscriptions, Platforms and Devices Revenue $11.63 billion, missing estimate $12.03 billion
  • Other Bets revenue $400 million, missing estimate $591.9 million

While revenue in search, advertising and YouTube businesses was better than forecast, traders are focused on the Google Cloud revenue number, which was 1.9% below the consensus forecast. Google Cloud operating income was a 2.7% beat at $2.1 billion, up from $864 million a year earlier.

Despite the disappointing cloud results, Alphabet revenue was up 12% year-over-year overall. In a statement, the company flagged search and YouTube ad revenue as bright spots for the quarter.

Here are the segment operating results:

• Operating income $30.97 billion, +31% y/y, beating estimates of $30.72 billion
  • Google Services operating income $32.84 billion, beating estimates of $32.32 billion
  • Google Cloud operating income $2.09 billion, beating estimates of $2.04 billion
  • Other Bets operating loss $1.17 billion, above the estimate loss $1.21 billion
• Operating margin 32%, above the estimate 31.9%

“Our results show the power of our differentiated full-stack approach to AI innovation and the continued strength of our core businesses,” CEO Pichai said in a statement.

Google's Q4 capital expenditures were $14.28 billion, above the estimate $13.21 billion. Some more thoughts from UBS on the lousy quarter:

• YouTube beat at up 13.8% versus a bogey of up 11%, or in line with Street.
• Search was in line at 12.5% versus a bogey of up 12% while GCP came in at up 30% versus a bogey of up 35%.
• Operating income came in stronger at $31 bn versus a bogey of over $30.5 bn.
• Management mentioned that “AI-powered Google Cloud portfolio is seeing stronger customer demand, and YouTube continues to be the leader in streaming watch-time and podcasts. Together, Cloud and YouTube exited 2024 at an annual revenue run rate of $110 bn.”

But while the company's historical numbers were disappointing, the one number that everyone was focused on was Google's full year capex guidance, which the company said would be $75 billion for 2025; this is well above the $57.9 billion expected, and furthers the narrative that the hyperscalers are not paring back spending (post DeepSeek fears) at least not just yet.

Alphabet’s announcement that it plans to invest $75 billion in capital expenditures this year is notable. As Bloomberg notes, The company has been under pressure to show how its heavy investments in AI are translating into concrete results for the business -- and that pressure is likely to intensify in the wake of DeepSeek’s breakthrough. But while GOOGL continues to spend like a drunken sailor, it has so far failed to show any outsized returns for this massive spend, something which the market will sooner or later start to notice..

It may already be noticing: Alphabet shares are down 7.5% as investors appeared happy to fade the move over $200 given full valuation.

Looking ahead to the earnings call, the most important things on the call will be commentary on: 1) AI overviews and impact on engagement/monetization; 2) cost savings/budgeting (especially under the new CFO); and 3) directional capex commentary.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/04/2025 - 16:27
https://ift.tt/1GF04cC
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/1GF04cC
via IFTTT

Alphabet Tumbles On Cloud, Revenue Miss; Expects Surge In 2025 CapEx

Last Rites...

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

“We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could have gone to some great parties. Did that instead.” — Elon Musk

“In private meetings and at public events, elected Democrats appear leaderless, rudderless and divided. They disagree over how often and how stridently to oppose Mr. Trump. They have no shared understanding of why they lost the election, never mind how they can win in the future.” — The New York Times

Maybe that’s because the four years of “Joe Biden” was little more than a vaudeville show in front of the curtain, distracting you from what was going on backstage — the world’s biggest political racketeering operation as conducted by a vast bureaucracy gone wild and mad: the blob in florid, mature efflorescence, doing its blob-thing to the max, looting and punking the nation. Now it is all being uncovered, disclosed, unmasked.

Think of the Democratic Party as the entertainment arm of the overall operation.

Its aim has basically been to induce you to doubt your sanity.

You were asked to swallow one fabulous absurdity after another — lockdowns, vaccines that don’t prevent illness, mostly-peaceful arson, US soldiers in puppy masks, pronoun police, shoplifting-is-reparations, the wide-open border — an epic acting-out of manifold mental illness in living color. The climax was drag-queens in the primary schools, obese men in fright-wigs presenting nightmare varieties of Mom-as-monster, often with some exposure of their male junk as part of the act. Suburban mothers watched approvingly, insisting on video that this was all wholesome, edifying fun for the kiddies (while some of the more insane moms went even further at home, coaxing their little kids toward medical “transitioning”).

Can you grok how insane all this was? So, if you were a Democratic Party strategist, perhaps the first thing you’d consider these days is to stop being insane. Second, at this particular juncture, you might consider apologizing to the people of this land for your heinous antics of recent years — like an alcoholic parent who has acted very badly against the family — and promise to make the effort to get your shit together. This is obviously the part that Democrats are struggling with now, and it explains why they pretend to be at such a loss to make course corrections. Of course, any further failure to come to grips with all this will lead to the death of the Democratic Party. Never in history has a political faction gone out in such pathetic ignominy.

Yet it is not just this feckless party that needs to expiate its shame, it is also America’s thinking class as a whole, its “experts,” its managers, its educated elites, its doctors and lawyers, its curators of “news” and opinion, and most of the denizens of showbiz. For the moment, they are all cowering and shuddering before the juggernaut of Mr. Trump, who they so grievously underestimated.

They know — they can see in plain view — that he is coming for them, and many might find themselves called to account in a rebalanced justice system. Many of them committed crimes against the nation and its citizens. The raft of lawyers fired out of the DC federal district this weekend for cause —namely, for conducing overtly malicious prosecutions under dubious predication — are an early sign. Ditto, the warning issued to Chuck Schumer concerning his 2020 incitement of violence against Supreme Court justices. Imagine, too, how many officials in the public health agencies need to answer for their roles in Covid-19 — the creation of it in their labs, the worthless vaccines, and the deadly treatment protocols they insisted on.

Now, the fate of the blob itself is a thing somewhat apart from the fate of this evil vaudevillian Democratic Party fronting for it. A purge of the blob is pretty clearly underway. USAID was shot dead like a rabid dog over the weekend. The agency had gone completely rogue, serving (Mike Benz explains) as the pivot between every nefarious operation coming out of the CIA, the DOD, and the State Department’s many black box units. The billions of dollars laundered out of USAID went to support hundreds of NGOs, many of them dedicated to harming the life of this nation, such as the orgs that handed out money to illegal aliens and advice on evading detection in-country. And these many NGOs represented an employment racket for the “elite overproduction” of grads coming out of universities with useless degrees and Maoist political training. There was, of course, a giant revolving door between these NGOs and the activist ranks of the Democratic Party.

The country needs a functioning, sane, opposition party to whomever is in power, since power inevitably corrupts.

Like any other powerful office-holder, Mr. Trump needs a governor and guard-rails on his actions. Something will have to take the Democratic Party’s place, maybe even a group that uses the same name for convenience and the sake of tradition.

But it will have to jettison just about everything the party stands for in its current incarnation, its insane ideas and policies. It might also consider the value of not lying about everything it does.

Tyler Durden Mon, 02/03/2025 - 16:20
https://ift.tt/HeKrZAY
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/HeKrZAY
via IFTTT

Last Rites...

Rickards: A US Recession Is Coming

Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

The new Trump administration is off to a fast start. All of the key nominations for the Trump cabinet and White House staff have been made, the Senate confirmation hearings (where needed) have mostly been held and some of the key positions have already been filled. Trump signed a large pile of Day One executive orders over the course of January 20 and 21 immediately after the inauguration. More executive orders are in the pipeline.

This all stands in sharp contrast to Trump’s 2016 transition process where the nominees were not well chosen, confirmation went slowly, and the deep state holdovers from the Obama administration were still in place. What a difference four years makes.

We are extremely optimistic about Trump’s economic plans. Whether by executive order, regulatory processes or legislation, Trump will be pursuing lower taxes, less regulation, and higher tariffs on foreign trading partners in order to promote high-paying jobs in the U.S.

Some complain that Trump’s America First policies may hurt growth in places like China, India and Brazil. That’s entirely possible but too bad. China needs to figure out how to Make China Great Again. That’s China’s job, not the job of the United States.Trump’s job is to Make America Great Again and he’s off to a good start.

The U.S. Consumer of Last Resort

Simply put, the U.S. consumes more than it produces. Americans buy consumer goods and solar panels from China, semiconductors from Taiwan, steel from Japan and automobiles from Korea. The difference is purchased from abroad and paid for with U.S. dollars, which foreign central banks use to load up on U.S. debt.

The U.S. runs a trade deficit along with a budget deficit and is in debt to the world. Those days are over. Asians, Africans and Latin Americans can still sell goods to the U.S. but they’ll have to manufacture those goods in the U.S. to get over high tariff walls. The result is good paying jobs in America.

With higher earnings, Americans can save more. Foreign investment in the U.S. will also rise as foreign manufacturers build here to avoid tariffs. Eventually, higher savings and higher investment will close the production gap and reduce the trade deficit. Among other consequences, look for a stronger dollar as the world scrambles for dollars to invest here. That makes the rest of the world cheaper for U.S. consumers and reduces inflation also. It’s a win-win-win policy.

3 Threats on the Horizon

The fact that Trump’s policies are sound, and the long-term economic prospects are good, should not divert us from the fact that there are serious economic challenges in the near-term. These will not be Trump’s fault because they have been years in the making. But the damage may emerge early in Trump’s term.

This scenario is not unlike the start of Ronald Reagan’s first term in 1981. The U.S. had its worst recession since the end of World War II during 1981-82. (We’ve had worse recessions since, but 1981-82 was the worst up until that time).

It took a few years for Reagan’s policies to take effect. The period 1983-1986 was one of the strongest growth spurts in recent history with 16% compounded real growth. But we had to get through a rough patch first.

Here’s a summary of three economic threats to investors that may emerge over 2025 before we get to higher ground expected in 2026 and beyond:

1. Stock Market Crash

Markets are at or near all-time highs based on every available metric: P/E ratios, the CAPE ratio, market cap/GDP ratio, concentration risk, etc. This stock market bubble is amplified by indexing, investor complacency and analyst euphoria. When such conditions have existed in the past, they have always been followed by market crashes of 50% to 90% unfolding over several years. Examples include the Dow Jones Industrial Average (1929), the Nikkei (1989), NASDAQ (2000), and the S&P 500 Index (2008).

We are now positioned for an historic crash. The specific cause does not matter – it could be war, natural disaster, a bank or hedge fund collapse or other unexpected event. What matters is the super-fragility of the market when the trigger is pulled. This is why Warren Buffett has over $300 billion in cash and why central banks are buying gold.

Investors should prepare now; don’t be the last one to know. Strategies include reducing allocations to stocks, increasing allocations to cash and purchasing some gold (up to 10% of your investable assets) to participate in a flight to quality.

2. A U.S. Recession Is Coming

This is problematic for stocks independent of any crash potential. Inflation has persisted, energy prices are back up to interim highs, unemployment is going up, job hiring is frozen, and the manufacturing sector is contracting.

Federal reserve rate cuts won’t help. They do not provide “stimulus.” Rate cuts are a sign of economic weakness, not strength. The Fed is not leading the interest rate market. They are following the market down.

Of course, a recession could trigger a market crash. But even if it does not, recessions are typically associated with 30% declines in stock valuations over a year or less. The investment strategy for a recession is substantially the same as the crash strategy.

3. Currency Wars Are Back and Trade Wars Are Coming

The super-strong dollar today makes it difficult for other countries to buy U.S. goods. Tariffs will make the global dollar shortage worse as foreign investors seek dollars to jump the tariff walls and invest directly in the U.S.

Both the strong dollar and the coming U.S. tariffs invite retaliation by trading partners who will put up their own tariff walls. The result will be a global contraction in trade that could resemble the trade collapse of the 1930s during the Great Depression. U.S. stocks fell 85% from October 1929 to June 1932 during that episode of trade wars. A repeat could be on the way if economies such as China (that should be boosting consumption) choose to fight trade wars instead.

We’ll be closely monitoring all these threats and provide you with the best in analysis and recommendations in the coming weeks and months.

Tyler Durden Sun, 02/02/2025 - 16:20
https://ift.tt/8LRM2Pd
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/8LRM2Pd
via IFTTT

Rickards: A US Recession Is Coming

Tether Is Back On Bitcoin - Lightning Dominance Is Just Starting

Authored by Guillaume Girard via BitcoinMagazine.com,

Earlier today at the Plan B Conference in El Salvador, Tether made an announcement that has been years in the making. USDT is back on Bitcoin using Taproot Assets.

The next steps will be for Tether to mint the asset, which will be available initially via Bitfinex.

Tether's return to the Bitcoin ecosystem via Taproot Assets is not just a simple re-entry; it's a strategic pivot that could herald a new era for both Bitcoin's Lightning Network (LN) and the broader stablecoin landscape. 

Credit: https://river.com/learn/what-is-taro-in-bitcoin/

With USDT now returning to the Bitcoin network in a way that's also interoperable with Lightning (it has no direct impact on bitcoin the asset - except that it’s massively bullish), users can enjoy the benefits of near-instant, low-fee transactions, which are critical for the practical use of stablecoins in everyday commerce or remittances. The integration is particularly beneficial in regions where financial infrastructure is either lacking or prohibitively expensive.

Having said that, the Lightning Network is probably not capable of handling the activity and user flow happening on competing chains like Solana or Tron. There's also the question of how well the Lightning Network will handle the increased load of stablecoin transactions without degrading performance or leading to centralization of node operations due to the need for higher liquidity.

The answer to this lies in one simple variable: Good infrastructure - and this is where Joltz comes in.

Also present at the Plan B conference, Joltz's early bet on Taproot Assets now looks prescient. Joltz introduces some notable advancements in the Bitcoin infrastructure ecosystem with its unique features. It's one of the only self-custodial mobile wallets supporting Taproot Assets, enabling users to manage multi-asset payments and swaps directly on Bitcoin. Beyond the standalone wallet, Joltz offers a software development kit (SDK) that could be integrated by other developers, reducing the time and cost involved in adding support for these assets, as well as Bitcoin on-chain and Lightning transactions. This could be beneficial for existing crypto wallets, asset issuers, stablecoin platforms, fintechs, payment apps, and exchanges, offering them a pathway to enhance their services with less development effort. Developers who want early access to the Joltz SDK can sign up here.

Similar to how Trump promised to free Ross on Day 1, we should demand that USDT be supported everywhere on Day 1, with good UX. Joltz will deliver on that - hopefully leading the way for others to see the scale of the opportunity that lies ahead for Bitcoin.

Now: Why should you even want stablecoins on Bitcoin?

The recent surge in meme coin activity on Solana has led to significant network congestion, pushing transaction fees to record highs. Solana's daily fee revenue hit nearly $78 million in late 2024, a direct result of the meme coin boom, but this came at the cost of higher transaction fees and occasional network congestion, challenging the user experience. Similarly, Tron has faced its own challenges with transaction fees. Tron's daily fee revenue has been reported to surpass $5 million, reflecting its significant role in handling stablecoin transactions but also highlighting the pressure on its heavily centralized network. We want those fees on Bitcoin, for miners and routing operators.

LN offers nearly infinite scalability by allowing transactions to occur off-chain, only settling on Bitcoin when necessary. This approach contrasts starkly with the scalability struggles of single-layer blockchains like Solana and Tron.

Furthermore, with LN, there's potential for new financial products. Locking Bitcoin within Lightning channels can open up yield-generating opportunities like liquidity provision (leasing) or even more complex financial instruments related to routing, providing users with new ways to generate NATIVE Bitcoin Yields not based on questionable practices. (Also see my recent report on Bitcoin Stablecoins.)

The announcement today underscores a broader lesson in the crypto space: while specific chains like Solana and Tron have made strides in speed and cost, true scalability requires time and a lot of investment into infrastructure to guarantee decentralization and trustless exit: otherwise what’s the point? Centralized chains lead on Stablecoins is temporary - Bitcoin is forever.

Tether's return to Bitcoin through Taproot Assets signifies a vote of confidence in Bitcoin's evolving capabilities. It's a testament to the innovation within the Bitcoin space and a reminder of how foundational technologies like Bitcoin can adapt and expand to meet new demands despite the yapping of high-time preference critics of LN focused on chasing distractions instead of true utility (meow).

This move could very well set the stage for further innovations in decentralized finance (DeFi) on Bitcoin (BTCfi), reshaping how we think about Bitcoin as the ultimate Settlement Layer for all types of economic activity.

Welcome back Tether! <3

Tyler Durden Sun, 02/02/2025 - 15:10
https://ift.tt/hOIfom9
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/hOIfom9
via IFTTT

Tether Is Back On Bitcoin - Lightning Dominance Is Just Starting

Trade Wars Begin: Trump Slaps 25% Tariffs On Canada And Mexico, 10% On China

And just like that, the Trump trade wars have officially (re)started.

As was widely previewed yesterday, President Trump unleashed the first salvo of his latest trade war with tariffs of 25% on Canada and Mexico and 10% on China, the start of a wave of promised trade barrages against both foreign adversaries and allies.

Trump signed orders for the tariffs around 5pm ET on Saturday; they will go into effect on Tuesday, at which point they will likely escalate in tit-for-tat fashion until something breaks.

pic.twitter.com/SWZtSm6NMX

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2025

According to a fact sheet published by the White House, the tariffs are in response to the "extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs" such as fentanyl, which constitute a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

WH fact sheet on the new tariffs pic.twitter.com/Dqq30iWn5x

— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress) February 1, 2025

Perhaps the only difference from what was previously leaked is that energy imports from Canada will be spared from the full 25% levy and will face a 10% tariff. The White House officials said that was intended to minimize upward pressure on gasoline and home-heating oil prices.

The orders also include retaliation clauses that would increase US tariffs if the countries respond in kind. The tariffs issued on Saturday will be on top of existing trade levies on those countries.

White House Officials say there is a high bar for China, Canada, and Mexico to get tariffs removed. They say in President Trumps golden age it’s only legal immigration and no Americans dying of fentanyl. #Tariffs #Mexico #Canada #China

— Edward Lawrence (@EdwardLawrence) February 1, 2025

White House Officials say the Executive Orders signed adding tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China have a retaliation clause. That means if the country retaliates, then there would be consequences. The Officials say likely increased tariffs. #Tariffs #Canada #Mexico #China

— Edward Lawrence (@EdwardLawrence) February 1, 2025

The order also revoked the so-called de minimis exemption for small parcels and packages, one official said, which will apply tariffs more widely to small shipments and impact e-commerce and online retailing. The US loses a tremendous amount of tariff revenue by using the exemption, one official said.

The three targeted countries are the largest three sources of US imports, accounting for almost half of total volume.

The decision is intended to have sharp economic impacts for the nations targeted; it will likely also impact the US depending on how much of the tariff-related price increases are passed through.

Parts of the US, including the Pacific Northwest and Northeast US, are deeply reliant on electricity or gas flows from Canada. And oil industry advocates have warned against even a 10% increase in the cost of crude inputs into Midwestern refineries that have few near-term options to substitute with US supplies.

For context, over 60% of US crude imports comes from Canada, so a 10% tariff on oil imports will lead to a prompt increase in the price of diesel which is the backbone of the US economy. Depending on the mood of the Fed on any given day, that may be seen as inflationary and lead to rate hikes in the near future.

CHART:

President Trump has chosen to tariff the biggest by far exporter of crude oil into his country… over 4m barrels per day (blue line) of Canadian crude fuel almost exclusively the midwestern refineries…. number 2 is… Mexico… pic.twitter.com/Y6dMLA3erT

— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) February 1, 2025

Markets have been gripped by uncertainty as they awaited Trump’s decision on the tariffs and there are looming questions about how the levies will impact stocks.

In the 10 days since Trump’s initial tariff threat on his first full day in office, the S&P 500 Index was essentially flat while equity benchmarks in Europe, Canada and Mexico were all higher. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon Index — comprised of companies that do business in China but trade in the US — jumped more than 4%.

According to Bloomberg, automakers such as General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV, which have global supply chains and massive exposure to Mexico and Canada, could see significant swings.

Needless to say, Trump's political opponents such as Jason Furman were quick to conclude that the market will punish what the Democrat economic advisor sees as bad economic and foreign policy.

Less than 2 weeks in and 25% tariffs our close allies + 10% on China.

Plus a (credible) promise that they will go even higher when there is (inevitable) retaliation.

It’s hard to decide if this is worse economic policy or foreign policy.

We’ll see if Trump caves to the market.

— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) February 1, 2025

Citing sources, Bloomberg writes that officials on the call Saturday justified the tariffs by citing the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs across the border, as well as illegal immigration. Sources added that Canada had been officially informed that the tariffs would be implemented on their goods on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to speak on the tariffs after they are implemented on Saturday. Canada is set to impose retaliatory countertariffs, the nation’s natural resources minister said in an interview on Friday.

“We will focus on tariffing American good that actually are sold in significant quantities in Canada, and especially those for which there are readily available alternatives for Canadians,” Jonathan Wilkinson said.

Former Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is among the candidates to succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister, suggested hitting Trump ally Elon Musk directly by applying a 100% tariff on Tesla cars. That will hardly help de-escalate what is now officially the first trade war of Trump's second (technically third) term.

Tyler Durden Sat, 02/01/2025 - 18:10
https://ift.tt/aMH2Z6s
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/aMH2Z6s
via IFTTT

Trade Wars Begin: Trump Slaps 25% Tariffs On Canada And Mexico, 10% On China

'Trantifa' Insurrectionist Who Went To D.C. To Kill GOP Leaders Was Inspired By Luigi Mangione

Via Headline USA,

A Massachusetts resident went to the U.S. Capitol to kill members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet was influenced by Luigi Mangione, the man charged with fatally shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, prosecutors said in a court filing.

Ryan Michael English / IMAGE: @exline_m45026 via X

Ryan Michael English, who goes by Riley English, was arrested Monday and remained in custody after an initial court appearance on Thursday. English didn’t immediately challenge the pretrial detention, court records show.

A Trantifa militant radicalized by @Reddit named Ryan Michael "Riley Jane" English has been federally charged for allegedly trying to kill members of Trump cabinet and/or burn down a conservative think tank.

From Massachusetts, English traveled to the capital on Jan. 27 and… pic.twitter.com/X2cLXqbaxN

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) January 30, 2025

English, 24, of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, was “on a mission” and “had been thinking about for this for a while because of Luigi Mangione,” prosecutors said.

Mangione pleaded not guilty in December to state murder and terror charges in a Manhattan court.

“I pushed that away because I was thinking like that is so stupid, that accomplishes nothing, that poor kid just threw his life away for like a minute of vengeance,” English said, according to prosecutors.

English was arrested on weapons charges after approaching police at the Capitol—the same site as the 2021 homicide that killed Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt.

The unhinged ‘Trantifa’ activist claimed to have gone there in order to kill billionaire investor Scott Bessent on the day that the Senate confirmed him as Trump’s treasury secretary, according to a Tuesday court filing.

Investigators said they found a folding knife, two homemade firebombs and a lighter in English’s possession.

English also claimed to have traveled from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C., intending to kill other Republican political figures—Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson—and to burn down the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, according to police.

English changed the target to Bessent, a former top financial adviser to billionare left-wing oligarch George Soros, after reading an internet post about his confirmation hearing, police said.

Ryan Michael English, a man pretending to be a woman, was arrested at the US Capitol for allegedly attempting to kiII United States Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.

English also had expressed an intention to kill Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth, Speaker Mike Johnson, and… pic.twitter.com/7BXWYhuxpi

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 30, 2025

English, who claimed to be terminally ill, “wanted to do something before I go,” according to prosecutors.

“The criminal conduct for which she [sic] is before the Court is not a momentary lapse in judgment; rather, it was a premeditated and calculated attempt to commit violence,” the prosecutors wrote, referring to English by female pronouns even as the Trump administration issued an order that federal employees discontinue a Biden administration practice of removing so-called preferred pronouns from their official emails.

Defense attorney Maria Jacob said English only went to the Capitol “as a cry for help” and didn’t intend to harm anybody.

“She [sic] was not aggressive when she approached the Capitol Police Officers,” Jacob wrote. “She never brandished any of the items as weapons and assisted police to retrieve the items on her person immediately.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Tyler Durden Sat, 02/01/2025 - 16:20
https://ift.tt/bIJrXzV
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/bIJrXzV
via IFTTT

'Trantifa' Insurrectionist Who Went To D.C. To Kill GOP Leaders Was Inspired By Luigi Mangione

US Cattle Herd Shrinks To 1951 Lows As Beef Crisis Deepens

Update: USDA figures are in: the nation's cattle herd has plunged to a 74-year low, totaling 86.7 million head.

*   *   * 

Ahead of this afternoon's 3 pm est. USDA release of official US cattle inventory data, estimates compiled by Bloomberg forecast the herd will be at its lowest level in more than seven decades. The ongoing cattle supply crunch continues to push supermarket ground beef prices to record highs.

Bloomberg cited estimates from four analysts that expect the US cattle herd as of Jan. 1 will decline by .7% from one year ago. This would mark the lowest level since 1951 and extend the decline for a sixth straight year.

We have thoroughly documented the cattle crisis resulting in higher ground beef prices at the supermarket:

• Cattle Futures Hit New Record High As Polar Blast Set To Hit Nation's Beef Supply

• US Cattle Crisis Worsens As Nation's Herd Size Continues Alarming Side Into Abyss

• Tyson Foods CEO Unsure When Nation's Collapsing Beef Herd Will Reverse

The average retail price for ground beef at the supermarket, calculated by USDA, recently topped $5.61 per pound. Before Covid, that prices was around $3.81.

Live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have surged to record highs. 

The latest CFTC data via Bloomberg shows money managers boosted bullish live cattle bets by 2,764 net-long positions to 161,970 last week, the most bullish in about five years - and nearing levels of the most bullish ever on record. 

On top of all this, the nation's cattle crisis is set to worsen with new pressures: President Donald Trump's anticipated tariff war 2.0, which is expected to tighten domestic beef supplies. 

"All of the things he is talking about have potentially negative consequences more so than anything positive," Derrell Peel, a professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University, told Bloomberg in a previous report, adding, "Our fate's pretty well determined in the cattle industry in the US for the next two to four years – and it's not looking good."

About a year ago, the USDA projected that the cattle herd could begin rebuilding by 2025. However, that timeline has since shifted to 2027. The reason is primarily because of high interest rates and poor pasture conditions in the Midwest. 

"Even as the beef industry has experienced periods of growth over the past decades, the animal count has dropped almost 40% since a peak in 1975. During the current downcycle, which started in 2020, the herd has been shrinking at the fastest pace since the big farm crisis of the 1980s," Bloomberg noted.

All things point to higher beef prices this year. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/31/2025 - 15:45
https://ift.tt/1uyK8gB
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/1uyK8gB
via IFTTT

US Cattle Herd Shrinks To 1951 Lows As Beef Crisis Deepens

Apple Slides After iPhone Sales Miss, China Revenues Unexpectedly Tumble

Ahead of earnings of the world's largest company which however has been going through a painful period of remarkable underperformance vs the Nasdaq, UBS had Apple sentiment at a quite subdued 5/10, saying that a number of folks are "treating the name as a funding short – a view mirrored in its elevated short interest (though it’s not a stand-out short in our Prime book, and the recent -11% pullback may have taken out some of that caution)." That said, UBS writes that there’s "no doubt AAPL finds itself well-positioned to mediate consumer AI adoption – a fact that keeps long-onlies engaged at these multiples... which are not worrisome for a services company like the one AAPL continues to become, notwithstanding the loss of GOOGL’s TAC fee."

Still, for a stock that owes its last 50% in price upside to the euphoric post CCDC 2024 meltup, when the narrative emerged that AAPL would capitalize on the AI boom, only to find itself in a dismal position with virtually zero uptake, the downside for the company could be substantial if the market finally starts demanding some returns on the what is now becoming a very long AI hype cycle for the world's most valuable smartphone company with virtually no IRR to show for it.

Even Bloomberg admits that it’s undeniable that Apple is in a bit of a troubled period. While rivals are thriving in artificial intelligence, Apple is a clear laggard with an inferior product that has missed the boat in the age of ChatGPT, Gemini and, now, DeepSeek. While Apple Intelligence was meant to help sell iPhones, it’s likely that the year-over-year bump we may see today in revenue is stemming from other changes -- like slightly bigger screens and new camera features -- as well as pent-up demand. The AI features have rolled out slowly and are thus far not much more than a marketing gimmick.

In any case, Apple is set to report its holiday quarter earnings results, which naturally is the most important period of the year, given that the company sees most of its sales over the holidays and saves its major new products for release during the quarter. Wall Street, matching Apple’s forecast from last fall, expects Apple’s sales to increase about 4% on an annual basis as the company reports its strongest results ever. As we previewed earlier, analysts estimate Apple will report $124 billion in revenue and its best iPhone quarter since 2022. Here are the average estimates compiled by Bloomberg for the major categories:

• iPhone revenue: $71 billion
• iPad revenue: $7.35 billion
• Mac revenue: $7.94 billion
• Wearables, Home and Accessories revenue: $12 billion
• Services revenue: $26.1 billion

If these numbers hold, that would mean Apple is looking at a clean sweep of growth annually in all of its product categories.

So how did AAPL do? Well, as many warned, the two weakest links - namely iPhone sales and China - is precisely what Apple disappointed. Here are the details:

• Adjusted EPS $2.40 vs. $2.18 y/y, beating estimate $2.35
  • Revenue $124.30 billion, +4% y/y, beating estimates $124.1 billion
    • Products revenue $97.96 billion, +1.6% y/y, missing estimates of $98.02 billion
    • IPhone revenue $69.14 billion, -0.8% y/y, badly missing estimates of $71.04 billion
    • Mac revenue $8.99 billion, +16% y/y, beating estimates of $7.94 billion
    • IPad revenue $8.09 billion, +15% y/y, beating estimates of $7.35 billion
    • Wearables, home and accessories $11.75 billion, -1.7% y/y, missing estimates of $11.95 billion
• Service revenue $26.34 billion, +14% y/y, beating estimates of $26.1 billion

The one - very big - fly in the ointment was the usual suspect: China, where revenues unexpectedly tumbled, sliding a whopping 11%, and badly missing estimates of a $21.57BN print

• Greater China rev. $18.51 billion, -11% y/y, estimate $21.57 billion

Going down the line:

• Total operating expenses $15.44 billion, +6.6% y/y, above estimates of $15.34 billion
• Cost of sales $66.03 billion, +2% y/y, above estimates of $65.98 billion
• Gross margin $58.28 billion, +6.2% y/y, above estimates of $57.98 billion
• Cash and cash equivalents $30.30 billion, -26% y/y, below estimates of $36.45 billion

And so on:

Looking at a breakdown of sales by product category it goes from bad to worse, because not only did revenue from the iPhone came in much lower than expected, at $69.1 billion, below estimates of $71.0 billion but it was actually down 1.4% YoY. So much for any hopes of an AI supercycle.

The rest of the product suite was mixed with Mac and iPad revenue coming in above estimates while wearables missed. Here are the details: .

• IPhone revenue $69.14 billion, down 0.8% y/y, and missing estimate $71.04 billion
• Mac revenue $8.99 billion, +16% y/y, beating estimates of $7.94 billion
• IPad revenue $8.09 billion, +15% y/y, also beating estimates of $7.35 billion
• Wearables, Home and Accessories was another disappointment, declining considerably and missing Wall Street expectations, wit: 11.75 billion, down 1.7% y/y, and missing estimate $11.95 billion

Bottom line, there simply is not a lot of excitement in Apple’s wearables segment right now where we already know the Vision Pro has been a huge flop and is doing nothing to help the top line, while Apple only released one new Apple Watch (versus its usual two or three) during the quarter. The new low-end AirPods and hearing features for the AirPods Pro are quite compelling technology-wise, but clearly not commercially enough to grow the overall category.

Here is the full revenue breakdown by product:

But if soft iPhone sales news was bad, the devastation that is China sales was catastrophic: contrary to expectations for a modest rebound, China sales declined for a sixth consecutive quarter, down a whopping 11.1%, and printing at only $18.5BN in what is supposed to be the strongest quarter, below the $21.6BN estimate. The rest of the world saw growth, modest in the Americas at 3.9%, and stronger in Europe and APAC, both double digits.

Greater China continues to be a very weak spot for Apple and the company hasn’t done much to push new products, pricing and initiatives in that market -- or other emerging areas -- to offset the issues.

The weakness there, which Apple will try to explain away in its conference call, is because of a combination of nationalism and interest in local products, whose designs are getting better. The local players are also trying new things like foldables while Apple continues to use the same design it rolled out five years ago.

The result: revenues declining now for an unprecedented 5 quarters!

There was a slight silver lining in the company's Service revenue, which after missing last quarter, come in stronger than expected, rising to a new record $26.34 billion, 14% YoY and above the $26.1 billion expected. The question is what will happen once this last saving grace flatlines or, worse, starts contracting.

In the press release, CEO Tim Cook tried hard to stay positive, calling it the company’s “best quarter ever.”

“Today Apple is reporting our best quarter ever, with revenue of $124.3 billion, up 4 percent from a year ago. We were thrilled to bring customers our best-ever lineup of products and services during the holiday season. Through the power of Apple silicon, we’re unlocking new possibilities for our users with Apple Intelligence, which makes apps and experiences even better and more personal. And we’re excited that Apple Intelligence will be available in even more languages this April.”

And while Cook said the iPhone reached an all-time revenue record in dozens of markets and regions, the reality is that, sales declined and missed Wall Street expectations.

New CFO Kevan Parekh also got his first quote:

“Our record revenue and strong operating margins drove EPS to a new all-time record with double-digit growth and allowed us to return over $30 billion to shareholders. We are also pleased that our installed base of active devices has reached a new all-time high across all products and geographic segments.”

Elsewhere, Apple’s board of directors declared a cash dividend of $0.25 per share of the Company’s common stock. Translation: no $50 billion stock buyback announcement this quarter. .

Yet despite management's valiant attempt to put lipstick on this particular pig, investors would have none of it and after an early headfake after hours which briefly sent the stock as high as $245, AAPL is now at session lows, dropping to $234 and falling.

 

Tyler Durden Thu, 01/30/2025 - 17:00
https://ift.tt/gQeN5fP
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/gQeN5fP
via IFTTT

Apple Slides After iPhone Sales Miss, China Revenues Unexpectedly Tumble

Mexico - Friend, Enemy, Neutral, Or Something Else?

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

Mexican nationals, likely cartel members, recently crossed the border and shot and wounded an American hiker. Did they assume that Joe Biden was still president, and so it was still a veritable open season on Americans without consequences?

Mexico also recently balked at allowing a U.S. transport plane to land, returning its own nationals apprehended as illegal aliens.

Was its attitude that Alejandro Mayorkas was still Homeland Security Secretary and thus working with Mexico to ensure that millions of illegal aliens could stay in the U.S. indefinitely?

After four years of Biden’s appeasement, Mexico seems to assume that it has a sovereign right to encourage the flight of millions of its own impoverished citizens illegally into the U.S. and further assumes that it can fast-track millions of Latin Americans through its territory and across our border.

Mexico either cannot or will not address the billions of dollars of raw fentanyl products shipped in—mostly from China—and then processed for export to the U.S. by its cartels across a nonexistent border.

Mexico seems to have little concern that some 75,000 Americans on average die from mostly Mexican-imported fentanyl each year—more deaths in just the last decade than all the Americans killed in action during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War combined. Who then is our friend, and who is our enemy?

This appalling death toll is in part due to the deliberate efforts of the cartels to mask fentanyl as less deadly narcotics or camouflage the poison by lacing it into counterfeit prescription drugs.

Mexico encourages its expatriate illegal aliens to send back some $63 billion per year in remittances. That huge sum constitutes one of Mexico’s largest sources of foreign exchange, surpassing even its tourist and oil revenues.

These billions are often subsidized by U.S. taxpayers. America’s local, state, and federal governments provide billions of dollars in food, housing, and health care entitlements that allow Mexico’s citizens, illegally residing inside the U.S., to free up the cash to be sent home.

According to U.S. census data, almost every year, the trade deficit with Mexico has increased from about $50 billion twenty years ago to $160 billion today.

That astronomical figure neither includes the $63 billion American outflow in remittances nor the multi-billion income from the cartels’ illicit drug sales in the U.S.

Although one would never know it from the rhetoric of Mexican politicians, the entire Mexican economy, both legal and illicit, hinges on America accepting a worsening asymmetrical relationship.

Yet the U.S. has a lot of leverage with Mexico to ensure that it no longer assumes a permanent huge trade surplus with the U.S., turns a blind eye to massive fentanyl shipments that kill thousands of Americans, encourages its own citizens to enter their neighbor’s country illegally, and counts on massive cash remittances from the U.S.

Loud rhetoric, threats, and ultimatums do not work.

Usually, they earn Mexico’s furious retorts about Yanqui imperialism and ancient bitterness about a lost Aztlán.

Former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador used to brag about the millions of illegal aliens that were residing in the U.S. He further advised expatriate Mexican-Americans not to vote for Republicans, whom he felt one day might close the border.

Obrador rarely reflected on why millions of his own citizens were fleeing his own country—only that it was a “beautiful” thing that they did.

Did Obrador hate Trump more for challenging him by trying to stop the illegal influx or Biden for embarrassing him by welcoming millions of them into the U.S.?

So, what should be the U.S. response to Mexico’s passive-aggressive policies?

Smile, praise Mexico as our greatest trading partner, and then quietly inform them that illegal aliens will be bussed to the border.

Once there, they could be given a generous care package, escorted through a border door, and left on the Mexican side from which they entered and thus could then be escorted in caravans home in the same manner that they arrived.

To maintain cordial relations and politely gain Mexico’s attention, we need a radical change in tone and action beyond just ending catch-and-release, finishing the wall, and making refugee status requests possible only in the home country of the applicant.

Rather than worry about who is sending remittances, why not politely place a 20 percent tax (about $12 billion) on all cash sent from the U.S. to Mexico?

We could also hail our mutual friendship and then reluctantly slap tariffs on imported assembled goods until the two-way trade is roughly balanced.

Who knows, once the U.S. is respected again and not considered an easy mark, Mexico could once again become a fine and reciprocal friend to the United States.

Tyler Durden Thu, 01/30/2025 - 16:20
https://ift.tt/H0bRWD8
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/H0bRWD8
via IFTTT

Mexico - Friend, Enemy, Neutral, Or Something Else?

MSFT Tumbles On Cloud Revenue Miss

Having suffered this week from ChatCCP's arrival on the scene, traders are hoping that MSFT's earnings (and CapEx outlook) will rescue sentiment. If ASML's data is anything to go by, thing should be positive.

Out of the gate, MSFT beat expectations top- and bottom-line...

• *MICROSOFT 2Q REV. $69.63B, EST. $68.92B

• *MICROSOFT 2Q EPS $3.23, EST. $3.10

But, below the surface things were more problematic as Cloud Revenue disappointed:

• *MICROSOFT 2Q CLOUD REV. $40.9B, EST. $41.1B

• *MICROSOFT 2Q INTELLIGENT CLOUD REV. $25.54B, EST. $25.89B

Azure revenue growth slowed to 31.0% (below the 31.8% expected) and the slowest in a year...

“This quarter Microsoft Cloud revenue was $40.9 billion, up 21% year-over-year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

”We remain committed to balancing operational discipline with continued investments in our cloud and AI infrastructure.”

The reaction was not good with MSFT down over 5% in the after hours (having rallied up to erase the losses from DeepSeek Day beforehand)...

“We are innovating across our tech stack and helping customers unlock the full ROI of AI to capture the massive opportunity ahead," said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft.

“Already, our AI business has surpassed an annual revenue run rate of $13 billion, up 175% year-over-year.”

We look forward to hearing the questiohns about DeepSeek during the earnings call.

Tyler Durden Wed, 01/29/2025 - 16:10
https://ift.tt/7LsAmbB
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/7LsAmbB
via IFTTT

MSFT Tumbles On Cloud Revenue Miss

Grand DOJ Purge Continues: Acting AG Mass-Fires Lawyers Who Prosecuted Trump

It's often said that "elections have consequences." More than a dozen Department of Justice lawyers can testify that truth, having been mass-fired by the Trump administration on Monday over their participation in pressing two federal criminal cases against Trump. 

“Acting Attorney General James McHenry made this decision because he did not believe these officials could be trusted to faithfully implement the President’s agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the President,” an anonymous DOJ official told Politico, declining to name the newly-departed. All of them worked under special counsel Jack Smith, who resigned earlier this month, knowing Trump had promised to terminate him. 

Acting Attorney General James McHenry, who dropped the axe on Trump's prosecutors, previously held immigration-focused roles at DOJ (

Reuters

/Allison Shelley)  

The fired lawyers found out via electronic messages sent from McHenry on Monday afternoon. Instead of telling the lawyers they'd been terminated for cause, the notices pointed to Trump's constitutional power over personnel under Article III. At the same time, however, McHenry did cite a "cause": 

“Given your significant role in prosecuting the president, I do not believe that the leadership of the department can trust you to assist in implementing the president’s agenda faithfully.” 

Under special counsel Smith, the lawyers fired on Monday brought charges against Trump for alleged unlawful retention of classified documents and alleged interference with the transfer of presidential power following the 2020 election. The documents case was nixed by a judge who said Smith's appointment was illegal. Smith himself asked a court to withdraw the transfer-of-power case after Trump won in November. 

The firings drew howls from Trump foes, including Obama ethics counsel Norm Eisen, who said the firings are illegal in light of legal protections for career federal workers. “These are spurious terminations. The grounds are a hodgepodge of disinformation and distortion of facts and law,” he told Politico. "This will almost certainly trigger litigation and likely will be met with extreme judicial skepticism.” The termination messages informed recipients, that they may have a right to file an appeal with the US Merit Systems Protection Board within 30 days. Some observers contend that the termination notices themselves will lend strength to any appeals: 

Here’s the money line in the acting AG’s letter firing the prosecutors who worked on the Trump case. Leadership does not trust you in “implementing the president’s agenda.” DOJ supports and defends the Constitution, not the president’s agenda. pic.twitter.com/VP0kY0vpb1

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) January 27, 2025

The dumping of Trump's persecutors was just the latest step in a broader, post-election purge at DOJ. Last week, multiple top officials at DOJ's Executive Office of Immigration Review, which oversees the country’s immigration courts, were pointed to the door. Nearly two dozen more were reassigned. 

Acting AG McHenry is keeping DOJ's top chair warm for Trump nominee Pam Bondi, who merrily pummeled Democrats in her Jan. 15 confirmation hearing. Drawing a contrast with what the country witnessed during Biden's term, Bondi vowed that "no one will be prosecuted [or] investigated because they are a political opponent.” Her next step is a vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee which has yet to be scheduled.

Pam Bondi, Trump's nominee for US attorney general, at her Senate confirmation hearing 

Meanwhile, DOJ employees are feeling like they're on the wrong end of a shock-and-awe campaign. “It feels like a non-violent war. It’s just wild," one career DOJ employee told Politico. “People are just in a state of shock and devastated. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen … Nothing that happened during the first Trump administration came anywhere close to this.”

Looking at the wreckage, one former DOJ official summed up the picture like this:

“It’s got to be among the most demoralizing moments in the history of the Department of Justice. It is a flat-out purge of individuals who this administration must view either of suspect loyalty or have worked on matters they just did not like. We are in the early phases of what to me is just looking like a wholesale, politically-inspired demolition of the Department of Justice in key places.”

The former official surely didn't intend for it to sound so wonderful.

Tyler Durden Tue, 01/28/2025 - 15:45
https://ift.tt/Z6M8PyC
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/Z6M8PyC
via IFTTT

Grand DOJ Purge Continues: Acting AG Mass-Fires Lawyers Who Prosecuted Trump

7 Charged In America's Biggest COVID Tax Credit Fraud Scheme

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A group of seven who allegedly sought to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in the “largest COVID-19 tax credit scheme” by falsely claiming pandemic-era benefits were charged on Jan. 22, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

The Department of Justice in Washington on Jan. 9, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

An indictment unsealed in New York charged the seven people with “operating a multi-state conspiracy in which they attempted to defraud the United States of more than $600 million by filing more than 8,000 false tax returns claiming COVID-19-related employment tax credits,” the agency said in a statement. The fraud targeted programs like employee retention credit (ERC) and paid sick and family leave credit (SFLC), which were passed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ERC gave tax credits to businesses, incentivizing them to keep employees on their payroll, while SFLC was a reimbursement made to businesses for paying employees “on sick or family leave and could not work because of COVID-19.”

The charges were made against Keith Williams, Jamari Lewis, Morais Dicks, Janine Davis, Tiffany Williams, James Hames Jr., and Ewendra Mathurin; all of whom are either current or former residents of New York.

Between November 2021 and June 2023, the defendants “repeatedly exploited” ERC and SFLC programs, the DOJ said. “The scheme was allegedly headquartered at Credit Reset, a purported credit repair business Keith Williams owned and operated.”

The defendants acted as tax preparers and allegedly filed over 8,000 fake employment tax returns on behalf of themselves and clients, claiming COVID tax credits from the IRS. In some of the fake returns, they allegedly claimed SFLC which exceeded reported wages, according to the department.

The defendants managed to secure refund checks from the Treasury, while also profiting by charging clients a fee or percentage of the tax refunds they received, the agency accused.

“The defendants allegedly concealed their preparation of the false tax returns by not listing themselves as the paid preparer on the tax returns and by using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to obscure their IP addresses while filing the false returns,” the DOJ said.

“If a client did not have a business, members of the conspiracy allegedly would sometimes sell shell companies to them in order to file false tax returns.”

The fraudsters reportedly filed for $600 million in tax credits as part of the scheme, of which the IRS roughly disbursed $45 million. Authorities charged the defendants with 45 counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and assisting in preparing false tax returns.

Some of the defendants also allegedly submitted false applications for loans under the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Six people allegedly involved in the PPP fraud were charged with wire fraud as well.

If convicted, defendants face prison terms ranging from three to 30 years per count, depending on the charge.

Tackling Pandemic Fraud

The DOJ had previously charged several hundreds of individuals for fraud related to COVID-19. Back in August 2023, the agency announced 718 enforcement actions for alleged COVID-19 fraud offenses involving $836 million. This included federal criminal charges against 371 defendants.

Many of the cases were linked to pandemic unemployment insurance benefit fraud, as well as fraud related to the Economic Injury Disaster Loans and PPP.

In March last year, the IRS announced that its Criminal Investigation (CI) unit had investigated 1,644 tax and money laundering cases worth $8.9 billion that were linked to COVID fraud.

The cases involved fraudulently obtained loans, payments, and credits aimed at supporting American workers and small businesses.

“In the last year alone, we have opened nearly 700 new COVID fraud investigations that collectively add up to $5 billion in potential fraud,” CI Chief Guy Ficco said at the time. “Our special agents continue to seek out fraudsters who stole money from government loan programs for their personal gain.”

This month, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) announced the introduction of the “Complete COVID Collections Act” that seeks to extend authorization of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) through 2030.

SIGPR, created as a watchdog to oversee loans provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, is scheduled to expire in March 2025. Extending the authorization allows the SIGPR to continue pursuing people who stole COVID funds reserved for small businesses, Ernst said.

“Con artists took advantage of small businesses’ pain during COVID to defraud government programs designed to help hardworking Americans,” Ernst said.

“While we are $36 trillion in debt, we especially cannot afford to leave more than $200 billion floating around, especially in the hands of fraudsters. My Republican colleagues and I are making sure that all resources are available in this fight to get taxpayers’ money back and hold these criminals accountable.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 01/27/2025 - 17:40
https://ift.tt/zoJFTgn
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/zoJFTgn
via IFTTT

7 Charged In America's Biggest COVID Tax Credit Fraud Scheme

Glug, Glug...

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

“. . .once Trump runs out of easy ways to unfuck the federal government, his administration will hit a crossroads moment, probably sooner rather than later.”

- Matt Taibbi

Glug, Glug...

That’s the sound of a swamp being drained. And much fetid water is still backed up over the 68.3 square miles that comprise the District of Columbia. You might be just realizing that the “Joe Biden” regime was not a government at all, but rather, a colossal racketeering operation. And let’s be clear and precise: racketeering is making money dishonestly. Thus: the grubby Biden Family itself at the top of that putrid food-chain, and their smalltime harvesting of mere table-scraps. Where trillions got creamed off by the big gators, the Bidens risked all for a measly few million, like newts gorging on gnats in a drainage ditch.

Are you so cynical— as the Marxians are in their so-called “critique” of capitalism — that you think all human transactions of making-and-doing are dishonest? That is yet another misreading of reality, which the recent years of nonstop official propaganda and gaslight have catastrophically aggravated to the degree that half of America can no longer think at all.

Capitalism is not a political ideology despite the “ism” incorrectly attached to it, like the tail pinned on a donkey. Capitalism is simply the management of surplus wealth. The catch is, in a hyper-complex society, the management itself becomes complex to an extreme. And that can easily lead to mismanagement, which will deform and pervert the very mechanisms that superintend wealth, sometimes so badly that the wealth disappears altogether.

These are the dynamics faced by the newborn Trump command. Both political parties, per se, have fallen into a dismal habit of racketeering in this sclerotic state-of-empire. But now Mr. Trump has seized control of the Republican apparatus, at least, and the Party’s entrenched ol’ crocs and pythons descry that under DJT the regular feeding frenzy is over. Hence: the hand-wringing over Pete Hegseth setting foot in the Pentagon, as he will sometime this dawning day. The dollars pounded down that rat-hole in this century could have funded start-ups of several empires, but instead the swag just landed in the index funds of countless board members parasitically lodged in a dark cosmos of G.I. procurement circle-jerks. A lot of that can and will be stopped. And the ones who just won’t quit are liable to be found out.

Now, the Democratic Party faces more perplexing quandaries. It, too, is constructed as a gigantic grift machine. But if you subtract the employees of the multitudinous NGOs and non-profit orgs set up in recent years to receive government largess — which have spawned like smelts in the San Joaquin delta — you would eliminate much of the party’s rank-and-file. (The rest are apparently embedded in government itself and the teachers’ union.) A whole lot of activists would lose their platforms for activism in the process.

These crypto-bureaucracies have become the places where the Democratic Party stashes the “elite over-production” of Woked-up Marxian semi-morons from America’s diploma mills — in which orgs they are lavishly paid to conduct the aforementioned propaganda and gaslighting operations that wrecked so many American minds. The funding spigot to many of those is getting shut down. It will result in an employment crunch for a large cohort of professional crybabies. They could possibly adapt to their new circumstances by ceasing to be crybabies, and finding other, more useful things to do. That would portend some very significant cultural shiftings, which might include the death of the Democratic Party as we’ve known it. Or, they could all just join Antifa (if they’re not already in it) and go make trouble in the streets.

The first seven days of Mr. Trump have been sheer razzle-dazzle. He and the people around him have torn through the zeitgeist like front-end-loaders through a homeless encampment. He has yet to meet a crisis. Some of the obvious traps are avoidable. For instance: seeking further injury to Russia as a way of ending the stupid Ukraine war — started by us in 2014, thanks a lot Victoria Nuland & Company — since both the US and Russia are just about unconditionally desirous of stopping the damn thing as soon as possible. It’s had no benefit for anybody but the Raytheon war lobby and the Zelensky regime’s legion of grifters. Mr. Trump’s recent tough talk has been entirely for show, just a mass of rhetorical lube to un-stick the lingering “Joe Biden” stasis in that sad-sack corner of the world.

If crisis awaits, it’s probably lurking in the financial realm, where the operations of debt have put nearly every country on Gawd’s Green Earth behind the eight-ball. There is just too much of it that everybody knows can’t possibly be paid back — or soon even serviced — and the grand managers of these matters are finally out of tricks for pretending things can go on. Nor, here in America, can Mr. Trump cut spending fast enough to rebalance accounts. And if he somehow could, government employment has become such a big piece of the total economy that we would land post-haste in a new great depression That predicament is yet-to-be faced, but hold your breath because it is hard upon us.

Meanwhile, this is the week when the most hardcore of Mr. Trump’s cabinet warriors go ‘splainin’ before committees in the US Senate: Bobby Kennedy, Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Kash Patel. Prepare for some heat and light. And then, the deluge.

Tyler Durden Mon, 01/27/2025 - 16:20
https://ift.tt/TLmvXWD
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/TLmvXWD
via IFTTT

Glug, Glug...