Briefly Noted: Covid, Politics, Economics ...

I want to just drop a few stories that seem significant.

This story is popping up in several places:

VAX OR STARVE: German State Allows Grocery Stores to Ban Unvaccinated

So, the state of Hesse, which includes Frankfurt—Germany’s second largest metro area—says that grocery stores can refuse access to the unvaxxed. Here’s my point: things are getting so patently wacky, spinning so far out of control, that there’s bound to be a reaction to having this Covid Cult imposed on people who long for a normal life. This may be, in the long term, a positive development because it shoves the craziness right into everyone’s faces.

The Refuge of Scoundrels.

Let’s see, that would be the Vatican, right? Only last week we saw this item:

After Meeting With Pope Francis, Pelosi Flees Rome Church Service in Security Incident

The way this worked was, after a luv fest with Bergoglio:

Nan went to St Patrick’s Catholic American Parish in Rome—run by the Paulists, a notoriously non-Catholic outfit—where she was supposed to read what we used to call the Epistle. Only she got heckled by the attendees to such and extent that she had to flee. I guess this stunt was to give her support against her local ordinary, but it may have backfired.

Nothing daunted, another scoundrel is about to make the pilgrimage. These people think Catholics are really stupid:

Biden will meet with Pope Francis to discuss ‘human dignity,’ but abortion left off agenda

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced Thursday that President Joe Biden will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on October 29 to discuss “working together on efforts grounded in respect for fundamental human dignity, including ending the COVID-19 pandemic, tackling the climate crisis, and caring for the poor.”

Pure desperation.

This next is a pretty significant political event, although you could class it under Covid:

BOOM! Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Union (SMART) with 203,000 Members Announces Stand Against Forced Vaccines

SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, is one of North America’s most dynamic and diverse unions with 203,000 members. The union consists of sheet metal workers, service technicians, bus operators, engineers, conductors, sign workers, welders, production employees and more. SMART is the largest railroad operating union in North America, with more than 500 Transportation locals.

On Thursday SMART Union General Chairperson Roy Davis sent a letter to advise Union Pacific Company that the SMART Union strongly disagrees with the company’s “unilateral” requirement for COVID vaccinations.

SMART demanded an immediate response and demands that Carrier negotiate in good faith.

Apparently the Dems figure, Why sweat the union vote when they’ve got the trans vote locked up? You thought the transport bottleneck was looking bad? Just wait.

And finally, China.

Beijing Is Trapped: China Producer Prices Surge At Fastest Pace In 26 Years

I don’t really know jack about economics, but this sounds bad. I’ve read articles suggesting that China would somehow bail out of the Evergrande debacle, but …

Here are the final paragraphs of a data rich post:

And all this is happening as China's property sector desperately needs a massive liquidity infusion which is - you guessed it - inflationary.

And while China may be facing its first "galloping inflation" PPI print since the early 90s, it's only downhill from there, because as Citigroup wrote over the weekend, power cuts (with over 20 provinces, making up >2/3 of China’s GDP, have rolled out electricity-rationing measures since August) and contractionary PMI "seem to suggest China could enter into at least a short period of stagflation."

“We think the risk of stagflation is rising in China as well as the rest of the world,” said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd.

“Persistent inflationary pressure limits the potential scope of monetary policy easing.”

And so, Beijing is now trapped: if it eases, inflation - already at nosebleed levels - will soar further crushing margins and sparking a deep stagflationary recession; if it does not ease, the property market - already imploding - will crater.

Oh, and did you hear the one about how Andrew McCabe will get his pension?