30 YEARS OF FAITH AND PERSEVERANCE By Eva Fu
TOUGH ON CHINA
Candidates' stance on Bejing may prove critical for midterm elections. p.40 MAY 20–26, 2022 | $6.95
'SHORTAGES ARE REAL'
Fertilizer crisis should be used to hasten environmental transitions, official says. p.16
SPIRALING HOME COSTS
Mounting interest rates could slam door on firsttime buyers. p.28 NO. 20
Editor’s Note
30 Years of Faith and Perseverance after decades of communist subversion of traditional culture in China, the early ’90s saw a revival of traditional values. This was a result of a spiritual practice named Falun Gong, which was introduced by its founder, Li Hongzhi, and quickly spread by word of mouth to tens of thousands of people. Those tens of thousands soon turned into tens of millions as the practice’s teachings resonated deeply with the Chinese people. Based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, the practice encourages its adherents to improve their moral character through self-cultivation, as well as their physical health through meditative exercises. Soon, the practice spread to more than 100 countries around the world. The increasing popularity of Falun Gong in China— with 70 million to 100 million people practicing, by government estimates—was interpreted by the ruling Communist Party as a challenge to its regime. Overnight, those who valued principles of goodness and kindness were subjected to statesanctioned cruelty and persecution. Despite this, however, the practice continued to flourish and withstand more than two decades of persecution. Read this week’s Insight cover story about the practice of Falun Gong, which marked its 30th anniversary on May 13, and the impact it has had on tens of millions around the world.
Jasper Fakkert Editor-in-chief
2 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
JASPER FAKKERT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CHANNALY PHILIPP LIFE & TRADITION, TRAVEL EDITOR
ON THE COVER This year marks the 30th anniversary of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that despite severe persecution in China has flourished and helped tens of millions of people to improve their health and character. SUN HSIANG-YI/THE EPOCH TIMES
CHRISY TRUDEAU MIND & BODY EDITOR CRYSTAL SHI HOME, FOOD EDITOR SHARON KILARSKI ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR BILL LINDSEY LUXURY EDITOR BIBA KAJEVICH ILLUSTRATOR SHANSHAN HU PRODUCTION CONTACT US THE EPOCH TIMES ASSOCIATION INC. 229 W.28TH ST., FL.7 NEW YORK, NY 10001 ADVERTISING ADVERTISENOW@EPOCHTIMES.COM SUBSCRIPTIONS, GENERAL INQUIRIES, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR HELP.THEEPOCHTIMES.COM (USPS21-800)IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY THE EPOCH MEDIA GROUP, 9550 FLAIR DR. SUITE 411, EL MONTE, CA 91731-2922. PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT EL MONTE, CA, AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO THE EPOCH TIMES, 229 W. 28TH STREET, FLOOR 5, NEW YORK, NY 10001.
vol. 2 | no. 20 | may 20–26, 2022
26 | COVID-19 Drug
49 | Chinese Economy
Distribution Utah’s allocation of COVID-19 drugs according to race wasn’t cleared by lawyers, emails show.
Signs of economic devastation are beginning to emerge in China.
50 | Mood Lifters
We can’t change others’ behavior, but we can control our reactions.
28 | First-Time
Homebuyers Young buyers are being shut out by rising housing costs.
52 | The Pandemic
of Fear Mandates, masks, and mass psychosis have fundamentally altered behavior.
40 | Midterm
Elections Tough-on-China stances may prove critical for midterm candidates.
44 | US Inflation
In desperation, the Biden administration is propagating inflation disinformation.
45 | Ties to China
U.S. politicians are losing votes based on their support for Beijing.
46 | Where Are All
the Workers? America’s demographics will prolong the worker shortage.
47 | Energy Tax
High gas prices could cut Americans’ spending power by almost $160 billion.
48 | Pandemic
Policy Failures Governments expropriate wealth with inflation and taxes.
56 | A Family-Friendly
Features
Estate A peaceful getaway located a short drive from the hustle of San Francisco.
12 | School Choice The pandemic and public school controversies are fueling a boom for Christian shools.
58 | Idyllic Island Life
16 | Fertilizer Crisis Shortages and high prices should be used to hasten environmental transitions, officials and activists say.
A sparkling island in the Mediterranean, full of grin-inducing surprises.
30 | Nevada Lake Reveals Secrets As Lake Mead dries up, a body in a barrel is revealed and a decades-old murder might be solved.
Dad’s Day Once a year, we get to spoil Dad, so here are a few gift suggestions.
36 | Faith and Perseverence Falun Gong adherents recall finding inner peace and moral elevation through a traditional spiritual practice.
THE LEAD
Work on the Biden administration’s controversial Disinformation Governance Board was paused about three weeks after it was announced by the Department of Homeland Security, amid concerns that the board would be weaponized by the administration against dissenting voices. Nina Jankowicz, who was tapped by the White House to lead the newly created board, told news outlets that she submitted her resignation. HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE/SCREENSHOT VIA THE EPOCH TIMES
60 | Celebrate
64 | Home Away
From Home It’s now easier than ever to find a second home in the United States or abroad.
67 | Restaurant
Manners To create adults with good restaurant manners, start while your children are young.
I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 3
SPOTLIGHT
Paying Condolences PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN AND FIRST LADY Jill Biden visit a memorial near a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 17. Biden is visiting Buffalo after at least 10 people were killed in a mass shooting at a supermarket on May 14. Suspect Payton Gendron, 18, has been charged with first-degree murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole in New York. PHOTO BY NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
4 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 5
SHEN YUN SHOP
Great Culture Revived. Fine Jewelry | Italian Scarves | Home Decor
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NAT ION • WOR L D • W H AT H A P P E N E D T H I S W E E K
The Week
No. 20
The Lake Mead reservoir, where water levels continue to drop during an ongoing drought, at the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River at the Nevada and Arizona state border. PHOTO BY PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Nevada Lake Reveals Gruesome Secrets Christian Schools See Rise in Popularity Parents and students are turning to Christian education as a result of the pandemic and public school controversies. 12
30
Fertilizer Crisis
Getting Tough on China
Shortages and high prices should be used to hasten environmental transitions, officials and activists say. 16
Candidates’ stances on China may prove critical for midterm elections, analysts say. 40
INSIDE I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 7
The Week in Short US
$4 “[Lifting restrictions on MILLION Cuba] risks sending the wrong message to the wrong people. ” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)
“It’s going to be hard to avoid some kind of recession.” Charles Scharf, CEO, Wells Fargo
About 57 percent of American CEOs responded that they expect inflation to come down “over the next few years,” while noting that the economy will suffer a “mild recession,” in a Conference Board survey.
$125
MILLION Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced $125 million in funding to boost the nursing workforce in the state, which will need an estimated 60,000 new nurses in the next 15 years.
260,450
Illegal Immigrants Border officials processed a record 260,450 illegal and inadmissible aliens during April, according to Customs and Border Protection.
77 PAYMENTS — Two key National Institutes for Health executives in positions to influence decisions about who gets grants from the agency received a total of 77 previously undisclosed royalty payments from outside firms between 2010 and 2014.
8 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
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57%
The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation paid close to $4 million in total to the brother of co-founder Patrisse Cullors, the father of Cullors’s child, and the foundation’s board secretary, new tax forms reveal.
The Week in Short US HEALTH
Missouri Bill Would Allow Doctors to Prescribe Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine A MISSOURI BILL that would
Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray explains a video of an unidentified aerial phenomenon, as he testifies at a hearing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on May 17. UFO HEARINGS
Pentagon Shows Declassified Footage of Flying Spherical Object PENTAGON OFFICIALS on May 17 showed lawmakers two videos of unidenti-
fied aerial phenomena (UAP), more colloquially known as UFOs, in the first open congressional hearing on the subject since 1966. The testimonies before the House Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee showed two videos recorded by U.S. military personnel. The first video, shot in 2021 by military personnel through the window of a U.S. Navy aircraft, showed a white-ish reflective spherical object flying past the aircraft. “I do not have explanations for what this specific object is,” Scott W. Bray, deputy director of naval intelligence involved in the UAP Task Force, the Pentagon body responsible for UAP investigations, said at the hearing. The second video, shot by an SLR camera via a night vision goggle, showed a triangular-shaped object moving in the sky while emitting light. Bray said he was “reasonably confident” that these triangles were drones flying in the area. RUSSIAGATE
FBI Deemed Trump–Russia Claims False in Less Than a Day, Agent Says FBI AGENTS TASKED with analyzing claims about Donald Trump and Russia
took less than a day to figure out that the data didn’t support the allegations, one of the agents testified in federal court on May 17. Agent Scott Hellman was part of the team that examined white papers and data on thumb drives handed in 2016 to FBI lawyer James Baker by Michael Sussmann, an attorney who was representing the campaign of Hillary Clinton— Trump’s rival for the presidency. On the first day of Sussmann’s trial for allegedly lying to the FBI by he saying he wasn’t bringing the information on behalf of a client, Hellman told the court that he and another agent took less than a day to ascertain that the information didn’t support the allegations that Trump’s business and Russia’s Alfa Bank had a secret connection.
prevent state licensing boards from disciplining doctors who prescribe ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine is now headed for Gov. Mike Parson’s desk, after the state Legislature passed it by an overwhelming majority. Sponsored by Republican state Rep. Brenda Kay Shields, state House Bill 2149 also would bar pharmacists from questioning doctors or disputing with patients regarding the use of such drugs and their efficacy. FOREIGN AID
Blinken Announces $215 Million for Global Emergency Aid SECRETARY OF STATE Antony
Blinken has announced that the United States will be offering $215 million in emergency assistance to ease worldwide food shortages, which have been worsened by the Ukraine war and resulting supply chain disruptions. “Today, given the urgency of the crisis, we’re announcing another $215 million in new emergency food assistance. And we’ll do much more. We expect our Congress very soon to approve approximately $5.5 billion in additional funding for humanitarian assistance and food security,” Blinken said at a United Nations meeting on global food security. The $5.5 billion is part of the $40 billion taxpayer-funded Ukraine aid bill that passed both the House and the Senate. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 9
The Week in Short World SCOTLAND
Investigation Underway Following Mysterious Surge in Deaths of Newborn Babies in Scotland OFFICIALS IN SCOTLAND are inves-
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at a ceremony to mark Sweden’s and Finland’s application for membership, in Brussels on May 18. NATO
Finland and Sweden Formally Apply to Join NATO FINLAND AND SWEDEN have formally applied to join NATO, driven by the
Russia–Ukraine conflict to step out of their neutrality maintained during and since the Cold War. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said it was a “historic moment” and that he warmly welcomed the two nations into the world’s biggest military alliance, a move considered to be one of the most significant adjustments to Europe’s security architecture in decades. WALES
WALES WILL ROLL OUT compulsory sex education plans that it says will
“gradually empower learners” from a young age in subjects such as equity, sex, gender, and sexuality, but child protection advocates are taking the government to the High Court in an attempt to remove its mandatory element. Kim Isherwood, who chairs the group Public Child Protection Wales, has started a legal case representing 5,000 parents and grandparents to overturn a proposal by the Labour-led administration to make a new standard of Religious and Sex Education lessons compulsory. They say that children as young as 3 will be taught “sensitive and arguably inappropriate topics,” such as gender ideology, and that parents are being disenfranchised by “being denied their time-honoured right to remove their child from A high school student in a classroom in Cardiff, Wales, on Sept. 14, 2021. sex education.” 10 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
WORLD
Aviation Associations Highlight Concerns of COVID-19 Vaccine Injuries AN INTERNATIONAL COALITION
of aviation and medical professionals from countries like the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Switzerland have published a statement raising serious concerns about the compromise in aviation safety due to COVID-19 vaccine injuries among the flight crew. Advocacy groups, scientists, and doctors are receiving reports of COVID-19 vaccine-injured airline pilots on a daily basis, the signatories claim in the statement. The coalition represents more than 30 airlines, thousands of pilots, and more than 17,000 physicians and medical scientists. Harms suffered by pilots have included blood clots, cardiovascular issues, auditory and neurological issues, and more.
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Parents Take Welsh Government to Court Over Mandatory Sex Ed
tigating a mystery surge in deaths of newborn babies, the second time the phenomenon has been reported in about six months. The probe was started after 18 infants died in their first four weeks of life in March, which caused the mortality rate to surpass a set threshold and trigger an investigation, Public Health Scotland (PHS) confirmed to local media outlets. In September 2021, 21 babies died in their first four weeks of life, similarly triggering an investigation. PHS appeared to rule out COVID-19 as a cause for the mysterious deaths.
World in Photos
1. 2.
3.
4.
1. Tourists visit the Temple of Poseidon at the cape of Sounion, some 40 miles south of Athens, Greece, on May 15. 2. Buddhist devotees and tourists release lanterns into the air at the Borobudur Temple during celebrations for Vesak Day, in Magelang, Indonesia, on May 16. Vesak is observed during the full moon in May or June. 3. Guardsmen of the 1st battalion Irish guards give three cheers during a parade on May 17 in the Quadrangle of Windsor Castle, where their new regimental colors were presented to them by Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, in Windsor, England. 4. A youth dives in the Shatt al-Arab River during a sandstorm in Basra, Iraq, on May 16.
After school in mid-March, St. Paul VI High School students pray the rosary near a Holy Family statue for peace in Ukraine in Chantilly, Va. PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. PAUL VI CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS
12 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
National Education
SCHOOL CHOICE
CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS SEE RISE IN POPULARITY
F
Parents and students are turning to Christian education as a result of the pandemic, public school controversies BY TERRI WU A I R F A X C O U N T Y , V A .—
For the first time in two decades, St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Virginia has a waitlist, which is occurring not long after a move to a larger campus that expanded the school’s capacity by 20 percent, or 200 students. Paul VI, as locals call it, has enjoyed double-digit growth for the past two years: 12 percent in the 2020–21 school year and 13 percent in 2021–22. With the current student count at 1,090, the school is anticipating another 8 to 9 percent increase in the school year 2022, according to Billy Atwell, chief communications officer of the Diocese of Arlington. In the summer of 2020, Paul VI moved its campus to Chantilly, a city about 10 miles west and much closer to the neighboring Loudoun County, from Fairfax. Before the move, enrollment from Fairfax County was a clear majority at 64 percent during the 2019–20 school year, according to Ginny Colwell, head of school at Paul VI. Since then, the proportion of students from Loudoun has grown steadily to 47 percent from 27 percent. In recent years, Loudoun County has
become a known name nationally for locals’ fight for parental rights and against critical race theory (CRT), a quasi-Marxist framework that says the United States is systematically racist and views society and institutions through the lens of race. While Loudoun County Public School officials have repeatedly denied that its schools teach CRT, parents have argued that CRT views have seeped into the daily teaching at schools under its program of “social-emotional learning,” which has taken priority over academics. For many parents, the pandemic, which caused schools to switch to virtual learning, offered them an opportunity to better understand what their children were being taught at school. That prompted growing protests against a range of ideas, including Marxist-rooted doctrines such as CRT being transmitted in classrooms. As the pandemic dragged on, more parents raised objections to COVID-19 measures implemented by schools, including virtual learning and mask-wearing. Parents, including those in Loudoun and Fairfax counties, began pressing their local public schools to reopen. Paul VI reopened with hybrid learning in the 2020–21 school year; half of
the student body would be on virtual learning at any one time, done on a rotating schedule. It returned to in-person learning the next school year. When Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order making mask-wearing optional in schools took effect on Jan. 24, Catholic schools in the Commonwealth ended their mask mandate. By contrast, Fairfax and Loudoun County public schools switched to hybrid learning in early 2021, and in-person classes in the fall of 2021. Loudoun County kept the mask mandate in schools until Feb. 17, after losing a case to parents in Loudoun County Circuit Court. Fairfax County, meanwhile, didn’t make masks optional in schools until March 1, the effective date of the change mandated by a new Virginia law. Paul VI’s Colwell said there was an above-average number of transfers from public schools this year: 60, compared to the average number of 30 to 40. More than 30 of those are from Loudoun County Public Schools and nearly 20 from Fairfax, the largest public school district in Virginia, with more than 180,000 students from 198 schools, compared to Loudoun’s 80,000 from I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 13
National Education
(Above) Travis Lassiter (R) with his wife, Rachel (2nd R), and daughters Claire (L) and Kendall (2nd L) at Evergreen Christian School in Leesburg, Va., on April 23. (Right) Students at St. Paul VI Catholic High School. Paul VI has enjoyed double-digit growth for the past two years: 12 percent in the 2020–2021 school year and 13 percent in 2021–2022.
A New Christian School This summer, Evergreen Christian School (ECS), a new high school in Leesburg, in Loudoun County, finishes its first school year at its current location. It was founded in 2019 and began its first year with 37 students in the ninth and 10th grades. Its enrollment for the 2022–23 school year is 80 and growing. Earlier this year, the school moved to a new building with a maximum capacity of 250 students. 14 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
Michael Dewey, head of school at ECS, said he expected to hear from parents who transferred their children there that they were “fed up with what’s going on in public schools,” given the county parents’ dissatisfaction with the state education system. But to his surprise, it wasn’t the sole driver for the move. Families told him that they had always thought about Christian education for their kids, believing it would help reinforce positive values and pass on their religious heritage. “Then, what happened in the pandemic and what’s going on in public schools put them where they decided to finally act on it,” Dewey told Insight. The 80 students he personally interviewed in the admissions process also gave him a pleasant surprise. He expected to hear from the prospective students that the school was their parents’ choice. Instead, more than half told him they had suggested the school to their parents. “That just blows me away,” he said, adding he expected to get “exiles” from public schools, yet found himself with “mission matches”—believers of solid convictions and values. He said that while higher testing scores are a usual draw for private education, faith was the dominant consideration for prospective entrants to his school because, being so
new, the school hadn’t yet proven itself with academic results. Five years ago, Lou Giuliano, chairman of the board of ECS and a business executive, began his efforts to create a Christian school in Loudoun County. “We were not doing this as a response to what’s happening in public education,” he told Insight. Instead, the initiative was based on his daughters’ and family’s positive experience with a Christian school. “We want to partner with the family and the church to be a kind of a threelegged stool to support the growth and development of children to be disciples in the future,” Giuliano said. He says students with faith are laughed at in most of today’s colleges. “They talk about what their faith means to them; they are told, ‘You are delusional.’ So how are they going to withstand that if they are not grounded and haven’t tested their own faith beliefs with people who understand both sides of the story?” The school’s “Essential Questions” project runs through all four years and culminates in a senior thesis project and oral defense before graduation. According to Dewey, it’s designed to help students articulate the Christian worldview and develop critical thinking skills. One question, according to a school brochure, asks, “Is science the enemy
FROM L: TERRI WU/THE EPOCH TIMES, COURTESY OF ST. PAUL VI CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS, TERRI WU/THE EPOCH TIMES
97 schools. From the fall of 2019 to the fall of 2021, Fairfax County public schools lost more than 10,000 students, or 5.4 percent of the population; that’s the most students lost by any district in the state, according to data from the Virginia Department of Education. Loudoun’s public schools lost 2,400 students, or 4 percent, the fourth-highest number of students lost by a school district. For students who switched to Christian or Catholic schools, the pandemic appeared to be a major driver. “Half of the public-school transfer students were unsure or would not have enrolled in the school if the pandemic had not happened,” according to a 2021 report by the National Catholic Educational Association, which examined data collected in December 2020.
National Education
Amy Rogers (2nd R), her son Tyler (R) and daughters Avery (L) and Kelsey pose for a photo with Virginia First Lady Suzanne Youngkin (C) at the Evergreen Christian School’s dedication ceremony on April 23.
of faith?” Another asks, “How has postmodern literary criticism impacted the notion of objective truth?” Amy Rogers, a mortgage adviser and mother of four, moved to Loudoun County seven years ago for its public schools. But growing frustration with the public education system caused her to move her son Tyler to ECS last year for 10th grade. Rogers has kept her two daughters in local public schools to finish their participation in existing learning programs, and her youngest daughter is homeschooled. “All A’s and no substance,” she said about Tyler’s public school education. For her, the decision to move Tyler to ECS was born out of a combination of “a huge leap of faith” and wanting to escape from public schooling. Travis Lassiter, a business development professional at a local defense firm and father of two daughters, described the school’s plan and vision as “very, very solid.” His eldest, Kendall, transferred from another Christian school in Fairfax County and joined ECS in 2021 in the 10th grade. “I felt like God was working in that area, for being able to provide Christian learning opportunities within Loudoun County,” Lassiter told Insight. “We wanted to be a part of that and be a founding family to enable that for not just our daughter, but for other people within our community as well.”
Over at St. Paul VI High School, Colwell also sees that parents have given faith a higher priority in their children’s education. “I think that we have students who are Catholic who are in the public schools, and the parents had never really come to Catholic schools but suddenly see that we are open, and we are living our faith, and they are deciding that this is important to them,” she said. Eighty-two percent of the students at Paul VI are from Catholic families. “My admissions director meets with parents, and most of them ask about the faith first before they ask about academics and sports,” she said.
Growth in Christian, Catholic Schools The median member school in the United States expanded its K–12 enrollment by 12 percent in the 2020 school year from 2019, according to the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), which serves 2,079 Christian schools in 50 states. Information about the 2021 school year isn’t yet available. “Many school leaders indicated that their growth in enrollment was attributable to their schools reopening safely for in-person instruction, as well as the school’s Christian mission which prospective families could see reflected in the school community’s care for each
other during the challenges of the pandemic,” ACSI said in an emailed statement to Insight. On the Catholic side, data from the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) shows that Catholic school enrollment in the United States experienced its first increase in two decades. Enrollment in Catholic schools for the 2021–22 year grew by 3.8 percent yearover-year to about 1.69 million across 5,900 schools. Meanwhile, Catholic schools also experienced the least number of closures in two decades; 71 Catholic schools closed or merged, compared to an annual average of about 100. In addition, more than a third of all Catholic schools had to put students on waiting lists for admissions for the 2021–22 school year. Although this year’s gains didn’t bring enrollment back to the pre-pandemic level of 1.74 million students, Catholic schools have 40,000 more than the NCEA expected, based on a 2 to 3 percent annual decline in recent years, according to Annie Smith, NCEA’s vice president of data and research. Overall, Catholic elementary schools had a 5.8 percent increase in enrollment in 2021, while secondary schools had a slight decline of 0.4 percent. According to NCEA, enrollment in the primary grades is a leading indicator of long-term secondary enrollment. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 15
A farmer harvests soybeans during in Owings, Md., on Oct. 19, 2018. PHOTO BY MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES
AGRICULTURE
FERTILIZE
Shortages and high prices should be used to hasten environm
16 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
ER CRISIS
mental transitions, say officials and activists
BY NATHAN WORCESTER
I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 17
World Food Security
“FERTILIZER SHORTAGES ARE REAL NOW.” UTTERED BY USAID’S Samantha Power in a May
18 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
climb of natural gas prices in Europe. Natural gas is used in the HaberBosch process, which generates the ammonia in nitrogen fertilizers. Those fertilizers feed half the planet. Gagliardi thinks the picture is more complicated at home, where environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) has become a controversial tool of stakeholder capitalism, often used to force divestment from fossil fuels or other industries disfavored by the left. “It’s a combination of record demand domestically and from LNG [liquid natural gas] exports combined with less than expected supply, in part due to the starving of capital for the O&G industry due to the ESG/green movement pressures on capital providers, plus pressure from Wall Street to spend less capital and return value to shareholders,” he said.
Language from Power Echoes Green Activists, EU, WEF In the case of increasing costs for oil, natural gas, and coal, some politicians and green activists have argued that those fast-rising prices mark an opportunity to accelerate a move from hydrocarbons to wind, solar, and electrification. “Big Oil is price gouging American drivers. These liars do nothing to make the United States energy independent or stabilize gas prices. It’s time we break up with Big Oil and ignite a clean energy revolution,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) wrote on Twitter in March. “I say we take this opportunity to double down on our renewable energy investments and wean ourselves off of planet-destroying fossil fuels[.] Never let a crisis go to waste,” former Joe Biden delegate and political commentator Lindy Li wrote in a Twitter post about ExxonMobil’s exit from Russia’s Far East. Mandy Gunasekara, an environmental law-
A farmer unloads corn from a bin before trucking it to a grain elevator, near Dwight, Ill., on July 19, 2021.
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1 ABC interview with former Democratic adviser George Stephanopoulos, the words briefly drowned out the din of the news cycle. They weren’t unexpected to some. Power, who served as U.N. ambassador under former President Barack Obama, mentioned fertilizer shortages after weeks of hints from the Biden administration. White House press secretary Jen Psaki repeatedly alluded to challenges obtaining fertilizer in recent press briefings. So did President Joe Biden himself in a joint statement with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “We are deeply concerned by how Putin’s war in Ukraine has caused major disruptions to international food and agriculture supply chains, and the threat it poses to global food security. We recognize that many countries around the world have relied on imported food staples and fertilizer inputs from Ukraine and Russia, with Putin’s aggression disrupting that trade,” the leaders said. In an April report, “The Ukraine Conflict and Other Factors Contributing to High Commodity Prices and Food Insecurity,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agriculture Service noted that “for agricultural producers around the world, high fertilizer and fuel prices are a major concern.” While political rhetoric has often focused on Russia, the rise in fertilizer prices didn’t begin with its invasion of Ukraine. An analysis from the Peterson Institute for International Economics shows that fertilizer prices have rapidly climbed since mid-2021, spiking first in late 2021 and again around the time of the invasion. Industry observers have pointed out that commodity prices aren’t solely affected by the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Max Gagliardi, an Oklahoma City oil and gas industry commentator who cofounded the energy marketing firm Ancova Energy, told Insight that the war and sanctions have helped drive the upward
World Food Security
An analysis shows that fertilizer prices have rapidly climbed since mid2021, spiking first in late 2021 and again around the time of the invasion.
yer who served as the Environmental Protection Agency’s chief of staff under President Donald Trump, told Insight that “it’s always been part of their plan to make the price of traditional energy sources go up, so then wind and solar could actually compete with them.” Describing how fertilizer shortages could actually help advance a particular agenda, Power sounded much like Li. She even used an identical phrase: “Never let a crisis go to waste.” Intentionally or not, this echoed a line from another high-profile Obama alum, Rahm Emanuel: “Never let a serious crisis go to waste.” Emanuel was talking about the 2008–09 financial meltdown. “Less fertilizer is coming out of Russia. As a result, we’re working with countries to think about natural solutions, like manure and compost. And this may hasten transitions that would have been in the interest of farmers to make anyway. So, never let a crisis go to waste,” Power told Stephanopoulos. Power’s language of setting crisis as opportunity parallels similar statements from environmental groups.
Writing to von der Leyen and other European Union bureaucrats, a group of European and international environmental organizations urged the EU to stay the course on environmental policy. “The crisis in Ukraine is yet another reminder of how essential it is to implement the Green Deal and its Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies,” the letter reads. The Farm to Fork Strategy confidently states that its actions to curb the overuse of chemical fertilizers “will reduce the use of [fertilizers] by at least 20 percent by 2030.” “Ploughing more farmland, as is currently being put forward, to grow crops for biofuels and intensive animal farming by using even more synthetic pesticides and [fertilizers] would be absurd and dangerously increase ecosystem collapses, the most severe threat to social-ecological stability and food security,” the letter reads. “The European Union must tackle the current challenges by accelerating the implementation of its strategies to reduce the use of synthetic pesticides and [fertilizers], to preserve its natural environment and the health of its citizens.” Numerous publications from the World Economic Forum (WEF), known for its role in orchestrating the global response to COVID-19, have made similar arguments. A 2020 white paper from the WEF and consulting firm McKinsey & Company warns of greenhouse gas emissions and potential runoff from fertilizers, advocating for an end to fertilizer subsidies in developing countries and praising China for its efforts to reduce fertilizer use. A 2018 WEF white paper co-authored with the consulting firm Accenture claims that “a 21st century approach to organic farming” should strive to close the gap in yields between organic and conventional farming. The WEF’s vision of 21st-century agriculture comes into greater focus in another 2018
USAID’s Samantha Power has mentioned fertilizer shortages, after weeks of hints from the Biden administration. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 19
World Food Security
report, “Bio-Innovation in the Food System.” It advocates for the bioengineering of new microbes to fix nitrogen more efficiently in plants. “This offers the prospect of lowering and more optimally applying nitrogen fertilizer,” the 2018 report reads. The WEF has also pushed the use of “biosolids”— in other words, sewage sludge—as fertilizer. Urine, it noted, “makes an excellent agricultural fertilizer.” Gunasekara said that fertilizer overuse and runoff presents serious risks, giving rise to toxic algal blooms in the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. However, “generally speaking, the farmers are very, very efficient with their fertilizer use. They have a built-in incentive not to waste something that is a high input cost,” she told Insight, noting that in her experience, industry and communities could work out positive solutions with regulators. Heavy-handed restrictions Mandy Gunasekara, environmental lawyer aren’t the solution, Gunasekara said. The UK Absolute Zero report, produced by academics at top British universities, Wind turbines in goes even further than some other reports in Colorado City, Texas. its opposition to nitrogen-based fertilizers and Some politicians say conventional agriculture more generally. that the fast-rising It anticipates a phaseout of beef and lamb proprices of oil, natural duction, with “fertilizer use greatly reduced,” in gas, and coal mark order to meet net-zero emissions targets by 2050. an opportunity to “There are substantial opportunities to reduce accelerate a move away energy use by reducing demand for [fertilizers],” from hydrocarbons and the report reads. toward wind, solar, and It also envisions cuts to energy in the food secelectrification.
“[Sri Lanka is] now literally on the verge of famine, because they’ve had massive crop failures.”
tor of 60 percent before 2050. That imagined energy austerity, with its many unforeseeable consequences for human life, apparently won’t last forever. The report states that after 2050, energy for fertilizer and other aspects of food production will “[increase] with zero-emissions electricity.” “A food crisis/famine advances the long-term goal of more centralized control of energy, food, transportation, etc., as advanced by the Davos crowd of the WEF. Governments must expand their powers to ‘handle’ crises, and that is what progressives love more than anything,” Marc Morano, proprietor of the website Climate Depot, told Insight.
Sri Lanka’s Organic Experiment a Stark Warning Although Power’s remarks were consistent with talking points from Democrats, the WEF, the EU, and similar factions, they came at a particularly inconvenient moment for advocates of organic fertilizer—Sri Lanka’s recent experiment with abandoning chemical fertilizer has plunged the island nation into a chaos that shows no signs of letting up. 20 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
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World Food Security
According to a 2021 report from the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service, Sri Lankan agricultural economists said a rapid shift from chemical to organic fertilizers “will result in significant drops in crop yields.” The country has since had to compensate 1 million of its farmers to the tune of $200 million, as reported by Al Jazeera. With food shortages now a reality, anti-government protests prompted Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to declare a state of emergency on May 6—the second such declaration in two months. “[Sri Lanka is] now literally on the verge of famine, because they’ve had massive crop failures,” Gunasekara said. “This administration wants to use this as an opportunity to push their Green New Deal-style farming tactics, which we’ve seen implemented elsewhere, that cause significant problems beyond what we’re currently facing from our farmers’ perspective and what consumers are going to be facing.” Morano said, “Manure cannot compete with modern chemical agriculture for the high-yield farming that the world depends on.”
Protestors rally against rising living costs, at the entrance of the president's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on March 15.
Rufus Chaney, a retired USDA scientist known for his research on sewage sludge-based fertilizers, echoed Morano’s skepticism about making up for missing chemical fertilizers with organic alternatives. “There are not enough useful (and not already being used) organic fertilizers to change the balance of any chemical fertilizer shortages,” Rufus told Insight via email. “Nearly all organic fertilizers are built on livestock manure and can only be shipped short distances before it becomes cost-prohibitive.” These realities underscore another apparent contradiction in green policy—even as climate activists push for cuts to chemical fertilizer use and a greater reliance on organic alternatives, they’re working assiduously to cull the livestock populations that provide manure for those fertilizers. In Northern Ireland, a newly passed climate act will require the region to lose 1 million sheep and cattle. The EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy even states that work on fertilizers will be focused “in hotspot areas of intensive livestock farming and of recycling of organic waste into renewable fertilizers.” “For years, we were warned that ‘climate change’ would cause food shortages, but now it appears that climate policy will be one of the biggest factors in causing food shortages,” Morano told Insight. He cited research suggesting that a move to organic farming in the UK could actually raise carbon dioxide emissions, as the decrease in domestic yields can be expected to boost carbon-intensive imports. “What the Biden admin is doing is seizing on ‘crises’ to advance their agenda. Greta [Thunberg] famously said, ‘I want you to panic.’ Because when you panic, you don’t think rationally and calmly, and you make poor choices. The only way they can sell these climate-inspired utopian energy and food production fantasies is during times of COVID crisis or wartime crisis,” Morano said.
China’s Role Scrutinized
SINCE
2021
SRI LANKA HAS HAD TO COMPENSATE 1 MILLION OF ITS FARMERS, TO THE TUNE OF $200 MILLION.
Still, others see the focus on Russia as a distraction from China’s maneuvering on the world stage. In 2021, China limited exports of both phosphate and urea fertilizers. The country has also stepped up its fertilizer imports. China’s export restrictions came after it rapidly emerged as “the most important and most influential country in the fertilizer business,” according to an outlook document from the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association. The Peterson Institute’s analysis shows that as global fertilizer prices shot upward in 2021 and 2022, China’s fertilizer prices mostly leveled off. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 21
World Food Security
Although the USDA’s April report did note the a population of farmers already under significant impact of China’s fertilizer export restrictions and stress. heavy fertilizer imports, its executive summaCopper theft, lack of government support, and ry drew greater attention to the Russia–Ukraine the ever-present threat of physical violence are all conflict. pushing Roos and producers like him to the brink. That summary didn’t mention China by name Yet for all the challenges in South Africa, Roos among the “countries imposing export bans and anticipates that the fallout will be worse elserestrictions.” where in the continent. Stanford University’s Gordon Chang, a China “The economy will be hit harder in countries expert, wrote on Twitter on May 6 that China has like Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—counbeen “buying chemical companies whose prod- tries where your agricultural system is more foucts are needed for fertilizer and, more generally, cused on subsistence farming,” he said. food production,” citing comments from onshorThey and other sub-Saharan African countries ing advocate Jonathan Bass. are heavily dependent on South Africa for their Chang and Bass didn’t refood supply. spond to requests for comRoos prays food riots ment by press time. won’t come to South AfChina has also been rica. The country is still buying up U.S. farmland, recovering from a wave as well as ports around of riots in the summer of the world, including ports 2021, prompted by the arin the now-food insecure rest of former South AfriSri Lanka. can President Jacob Zuma. Physicist Michael Sekora, He does predict that a former project director in some farmers in the counthe Defense Intelligence try will go bankrupt. Agency, told Insight that Back in the United States, worldwide fertilizer shortConnecticut landscaper ages could reflect China’s Adam Geriak doesn’t yet long-range technology face such stark choices. Marc Morano, proprietor, strategy. He told Insight that ferClimate Depot A key element of that tilizer prices near him are strategy is undercutting up, in line with estimates the United States whenever and wherever pos- that a Connecticut garden store provided to Insible, he said. sight. “Our ability to produce food is very much under “I do primary garden work and use organic attack right now. Some people say, ‘Oh, it’s just a fertilizers, which primarily come from poultry coincidence.’ It’s China,” Sekora said. manure,” Geriak said, noting that the price of Gunasekara said, “China has been very strategic poultry manure fertilizer may have risen, too. in making sure they shore up what they have and He doesn’t think fertilizer price increases will restricting access throughout the rest of the world. have much of an effect on him. Yet other facets “When you have people come in that are very of the current economic picture are worrisome anti-development and anti-growth, China can to him as he tries to manage his small business put its finger on the global market, making it that most effectively. much harder, and then try to use that as an ex“I’m having a hard time planning for the fuample to exert more authority and have access ture because of the uncertainty, and I think other to greater power.” owners are feeling this, too. In the previous two years, clients seemed to have open coffers. They Pain Felt Around the World wanted more projects done and there seemed “It’s been hectic,” said South African tobacco to be a lot of money going around. Clients seem farmer Herman J. Roos. to be a bit tighter now, asking how they can save Roos told Insight that fertilizer prices near him money on certain projects and such,” Geriak said. have jumped since the invasion of Ukraine, on the “Being on the verge of a recession and retireheels of steep increases over the previous year. ment accounts down may be leading to these He was able to buy all the fertilizer he needs issues.” for this year before the latest price shock. Yet he The USDA report on Sri Lanka’s organic experiexpects shortages of urea, monoammonium ment states that the country’s government made phosphate (MAP), and other fertilizers to strain impossible promises to different parties.
FROM TOP: STR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, ARIANA DREHSLER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
“Manure cannot compete with modern chemical agriculture for the high-yield farming that the world depends on.”
22 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
World Food Security
(Left) A worker transfers bags of chemical fertilizer for export in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on Jan. 31, 2020. (Bottom) Cattle ruminate in Escondido, Calif., on April 16, 2020. Organic fertilizers, built on livestock manure, can only be shipped short distances before becoming "cost-prohibitive,” an expert says.
It informed farmers that it would handle the cost of moving away from chemical fertilizers while telling consumers that rice on their shelves wouldn’t become pricier, all while attempting to realize environmental and public health benefits through a breakneck transition to organic fertilizers. “If you put too much emphasis on environmental issues and you ignore the very real impact that can have to people’s daily lives, it can have dire consequences,” Gunasekara told Insight. “Unfortunately, we’re seeing it in the most dire of circumstances, which is a suppressed food supply. I think that situation is only going to get worse because of the rise in prices for fertilizers and diesel and everything else that’s going to make it harder for farmers in the U.S. to produce, then also globally.” Josh, a farmer in Texas who raises small livestock, also believes things will get worse before they get better. He didn’t want to share his last name. “I personally think that we haven’t even begun to feel the effects of inflation in our grocery store bills, because last year, the costs to produce were one-third to half the cost farmers and ranchers are having to pay this year. That cost has to be absorbed by the buyer to make it feasible for them to even continue,” he told Insight. “My family is preparing now and stocking up our freezers and pantry because we are really concerned how bad it can get this next year.” Josh estimated that fertilizer prices near him have increased by 200 or even 300 percent, “dependent on what program you are running.” The rise in diesel prices has hurt him the most. “Farm equipment runs on diesel,” Josh pointed out. According to AAA’s gas price website, diesel in Texas is running at an average of $5.231, up from $2.82 a year ago. “I can’t imagine how anyone would profit or sustain raising crops or cattle with all these price increases that affect your overhead,” Josh said, saying he has heard about other ranchers and farmers culling their herds to avoid losses. Morano told Insight, “Food shortages are a great way to collapse the current system and install a Great Reset.” I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 23
24 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
T H G IL T O P S Downpour in Bangkok WASTE DISPOSAL WORKERS WEAR ponchos as they work down a flooded street during heavy rain in Bangkok on May 18. Thailand’s largest city has flooded in many areas after long hours of torrential rain beginning on May 17, causing traffic jams. PHOTO BY JACK TAYLOR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 25
Nation Public Health
Health care workers in Pembroke Pines, Fla., on Aug. 19, 2021. Utah kept race as a factor in its risk score calculator for months after Francis and Brown sent their messages.
C OV I D -1 9 R E S P O N S E
Utah’s Race-Based Allocation of COVID-19 Drugs Wasn’t Cleared by Lawyers Newly released emails show legal scholars expressing concern about the legality of Utah’s policy that prioritized access to crucial COVID-19 drugs to non-whites
e g a l s c h o l a r s wa r n e d officials in Utah that using race to determine which patients could get crucial COVID-19 drugs was likely illegal, but the state kept the system in place for months afterward, newly released emails show. Utah was one of multiple states to develop systems that gave people who weren’t white a better chance of getting monoclonal antibodies, a crucial treatment for COVID-19, in 2020 and 2021. As late as September 2021, Utah hadn’t had
26 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
lawyers make sure the system there complied with state and federal law, according to one of the emails. “I don’t believe this approach has been reviewed legally, but not for lack of us requesting long ago,” Dr. Brandon Webb, an infectious disease physician who helped come up with the guidelines, said in September 2021. “I’m frankly surprised that this has not yet been subject to a legal challenge.” Webb was responding to two legal scholars who said the system likely violated legal requirements. “I’m curious about whether this has ever been reviewed legally,” said Leslie Francis, a professor at
FROM L: CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, JOHN FREDRICKS/THE EPOCH TIMES
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By Zachary Stieber
Nation Public Health
the University of Utah. “There’s been a fair amount of discussion about whether the use of characteristics such as race, sex, or age in making decisions about monoclonal antibodies is prohibited under federal anti-discrimination law, even if evidence based and (as you say) targeting high risk groups. The consensus among legal academics anyway seems to be that it does violate federal law.” Teneille Brown, another University of Utah professor, wrote, “The use of non-white race really set off alarm bells, not because of clinical risk necessarily, but anti-discrimination law.” They raised their concerns with Webb and other members of a Utah workgroup that was tapped to come up with a way to decide which patients should get drugs in short supply. The emails were obtained and published by The Washington Free Beacon. Utah kept race as a factor in its risk score calculator for months after Francis and Brown sent their messages. In January, the state Department of Health stopped giving major points in its system to nonwhite people but continued awarding points to minorities. The move came after former Trump administration official Stephen Miller threatened to sue New York over a similar scheme. Miller wrote in a letter to the Utah department that the prioritization scheme constituted “blatant discrimination” and violated the U.S. Constitution. His group, America First Legal, eventually decided against suing the state, claiming victory when Utah eventually removed all mention of race over “legal concerns.” The group did sue several states, including New York, for refusing to roll back the use of race. Jennifer Napier-Pearce, a senior adviser to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, told Insight in an email that the system “was one of several factors to determine whether a person could get monoclonal antibody treatments, which were exceedingly scarce.” She said the system was adopted based on advice from the workgroup. “The index aided providers in health systems in deciding how to utilize this scarce resource. However, we later learned that, despite the inclusion of race and ethnicity in the risk score, providers reported that communities of color did not receive monoclonal antibodies proportionate to their share of COVID-test positives,” Napier-Pearce said. “When the question came to Gov. Cox, he directed the Department of Health to find a different strategy for providing the treatments to those most likely to benefit and thus to prevent hospitalizations. At the same time, the state expanded the number of sites where eligible individuals could receive the treatments, including in underserved areas of the state.”
FDA Guidance The race-based allocation was later adopted in other states, but Utah was one of the earliest—if not the earliest—to put such an emphasis on race. In one of the new emails, Dr. Mark Shah, one of Webb’s colleagues, told Webb and others that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had reviewed its system “and used it as precedent for including ‘race and other risk factors’ as qualifiers.” The FDA’s emergency use authorization for monoclonals, one of the best treatments against COVID-19 before the Omicron variant emerged, was only for patients deemed at high risk. In documents outlining the category, the FDA stated that race or ethnicity alone could make a patient high risk. State officials cited the FDA’s nonbinding guidance, including Webb. The doctor wrote to the professors who raised the concerns and told them, in part, that they “may find interesting” the FDA guidance. Webb and Shah didn’t respond to requests for comment. The FDA guidance remains in place to this day. An FDA spokesperson told Insight the guidance “acknowledges that certain factors (for example, race or ethnicity) may place an individual patient at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19,” but that “there are no limitations on the authorizations that would restrict their use in individuals based on race, gender, ethnicity, etc.” Brown, one of the professors, told Insight that she still hasn’t figured out whether the race-based system is legal. “It is complicated, and the federal courts have not resolved this,” she said. “As far as I can tell, this precise issue has not yet been decided.”
“The use of nonwhite race really set off alarm bells, not because of clinical risk necessarily, but anti-discrimination law.” Teneille Brown, professor, University of Utah
The Food and Drug Administration’s offices in Newport Beach, Calif., on May 9. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 27
HOUSING MARKET
Rising Home Prices, Interest Rates Lock First-Time Buyers Out Inventory is tight, and competition to buy a home remains fierce, experts say
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By Mary Prenon
28 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
A neighborhood in Miramar, Fla., on Jan. 26, 2021. Half of the United States’ top 10 areas with the highest year-over-year price gains were located in Florida. single-family existing-home sales prices. As of May 1, home prices nationwide were still rising by about 17 percent.
4 Million P EO L E AG D 2 T O II h av e b e n p r i c e d o u t f t h e m a r ke t , a c o r din g t o n e
e s t im a e .
“I understand that despite rising interest rates, home inventory is still very tight,” Cororaton told Insight. “On average, there are still about five offers on homes for sale, and there’s still a lot of excessive competition to purchase a home.” First-time homebuyers often find themselves in the most difficult position, Cororaton said.
“They’re competing with cash buyers, and only about 10 percent of this group is able to pay cash,” she said. In addition to that, now buyers may have to spend up to $700 more in monthly mortgage payments because of higher home costs and interest rates. Based on the current median home price of $400,000, with a 5.25 percent interest rate and 10 percent down payment, the average homeowner would be spending about $2,000 a month on principal and interest payments—not including real estate taxes. “THE HOUSEHOLD INCOME required now
for this type of arrangement would be $97,000,” she said. “Last year, when the national median home price was $326,300, the household income needed was $61,000, with monthly principal
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.S. households expect home prices to continue to rise at a faster rate over the next year and that the value of their homes will appreciate at a slower rate over the next five years, a recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicates. In addition, the survey shows that most Americans also expect rents to rise in the short- and medium-term. Current homeowners and renters expressed a lower expectation of buying a home if they were to move over the next three years. In fact, 54.3 percent said they expected to stay in their current home for more than 10 years, while only 9.4 percent felt they would stay for less than two years. Just over 43 percent of renters surveyed said they had low expectations of ever owning a home. Still, most households continued to view homeownership as a good financial investment. The average home price change expectation for the coming year was 7 percent, more than a percentage point over last year’s result of 5.7 percent, and the highest level since the survey began in 2014. Over the next five years, the household price change expectation was reported at 2.2 percent per year. Gay Cororaton, senior economist at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), indicated that 70 percent of U.S. metro areas saw double-digit increases in their median
Nation Home Buyers
“We’re still seeing a ton of demand and cash deals. Whenever there is fresh inventory, people just go crazy,” she said. “Many people think they have to buy now before the home prices and the interest rates go higher, and we’re seeing those who were ‘sitting on the fence’ start to take action. I think eventually the rising interest rates may slow down the pace a bit, but not stop it.” MEHMEDAGIC, A MANAGING broker in
and interest payments of about $1,270.” NAR now estimates that about 4 million 25- to 44-year-olds are being priced out of the market. “Inflation is still not under control, which also contributes to the problem,” Cororaton said. Half of the country’s top 10 areas with the highest year-over-year price gains were located in Florida, and half of the 10 most expensive markets in the United States were in California, with the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area coming in with a median single-family home price of $1.875 million. In Seattle, Rachael Mehmedagic (Adler), president of the Seattle King County Realtors, describes the current housing market as “a runaway train.” She told Insight the current median single-family home price in the city is $920,000, but a whopping $1.625 million in suburban areas.
Mercer Island, noted that, unlike in other areas, first-time homebuyers aren’t being deterred by the skyrocketing prices. “We’re a technology city, and a lot of younger, tech-savvy people with well-paying jobs are able to compete in this market,” she said. “Some have even paid up to $2 million for their first home. On average, she said, this year homebuyers are likely to spend up to $2,300 a month more on the same house that they could have purchased last year. For those looking for more affordable choices, the condominium market has been lagging single-family sales. “They are significantly lower in price and many people do look to condos as an alternative starter home. Condos are becoming a great option again.” Many first-time homebuyers are experiencing a similar situation on the East Coast as well. “I feel bad for those people who said they should have bought when interest rates were around 3 percent, and now they’re over 5 percent,” Melvin Vieira, president of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors, told Insight. “THIS ALSO PUTS potential buyers in a
different mindset, as many may have to start looking at lower-priced homes.” In the Boston area, Vieira said he’s beginning to see homes for sale spending more days on the market, but he doesn’t predict any kind of major slowdown. “Even anything priced over $1 million is moving quickly, with a lot of cash deals, and people in this price range don’t seem to be worrying about interest rates. Below $1 million, people are still being pushed around due to lower inventories and multiple offers.” Vieira suggests that first-time homebuyers consider multi-family dwellings, and rent out the other units to
help defray the mortgage costs. “If a renter is currently spending $2,000 a month or more, they’re not gaining any equity, but with a multi-family option, they can collect rent and also depreciate some costs,” he said. Another big problem facing the area is a lack of new home construction. “The last time we did any major building was after World War II. Now the millennial population is the largest in the country, and Generation Z is right behind them, getting ready to enter the housing market,” he said. Since people now are living longer, many seniors aren’t moving out of their homes to create housing openings; Vieira suggests more “55-plus” communities as one solution. Meanwhile, he said new apartments and condos aren’t coming online fast enough to meet the housing demands of younger people. The Federal Reserve Bank survey included homeowners across the nation and was evenly divided between males and females, with 30.9 percent reporting that they currently own or have owned a home. More than 17 percent of those surveyed had annual household incomes of $100,000 to $150,000, while 14.1 percent reported incomes of $75,000 to $100,000. A little over 10 percent indicated household incomes of $20,000 to $30,000 per year, while only 5.7 percent reported yearly household incomes over $200,000. Regarding credit scores, 49.4 percent were greater than 760. In response to the current economic situation, almost 40 percent said they believed conditions would be somewhat worse 12 months from now. Only 0.9 percent were confident the economic climate would be much better.
First-time homebuyers are finding themselves in a difficult position, as there’s still a lot of excessive competition to purchase a home, an economist says. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 29
UNSOLVED CRIME
NE VA D A L A K E R E V E A L S
GRUESOME
SECRETS
As Lake Mead dries up, murders might be solved
A rusted metal barrel, near the location of where a different barrel was found containing a human body, on the shore of Lake Mead on the Colorado River, in Boulder City, Nev., on May 5. PHOTO BY PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
30 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
BY ALLAN STEIN
I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 31
In Focus Las Vegas
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O U L D E R C I T Y, N E V.—
32 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
A sunken motor boat surfaced near the former 2021 water line in Lake Mead’s Callville Bay on May 11.
Victim Likely a ‘Low-Level’ Player LVMPD homicide detectives also believe the victim died in the mid-1970s to early-1980s, basing their opinion on the clothing and footwear found with the victim. Schumacher said the victim’s clothing and shoes were purchased at Kmart, indicating a low-level mob player or victim of a mob-associated group. Contrary to popular belief, most victims of mafia vengeance don’t end up in dirt holes in the scorching Nevada desert, he said. “When you think about the mob in Las Vegas, you typically think about dumping a body out or burying it in the desert,” Schumacher said. “The truth is, there aren’t probably as many mob victims in the desert as mythology would suggest. That said, there have been some. This is the first time we’ve come into a focus [where] you could also dump bodies out in Lake Mead. It’s the closest body of water to Las Vegas—really, one of the only bodies of water near Las Vegas because of the desert. “If you’re going to dump a body in water, then that’s the place to do it.”
Bodies, Barrels a Mob ‘MO’ Schumacher said one of the first mob killings involving a victim left inside a barrel occurred in New York City in 1903. That body, however, wasn’t thrown into the lake but was left on the sidewalk “for all to see.” “It became known as the ‘Barrel Murder’ of New York,” Schumacher said. The finding of prominent Chicago mobster John “Handsome Johnny” Roselli in a barrel in Miami in 1976 coincided with a government crackdown on organized crime. “The mob was fairly prominent in Las Vegas at that time. They were also in a lot of trouble because the state gaming regulators [and] the FBI were starting to increase the intensity of their focus on the mob,” Schumacher said. “The mob was facing a lot of indictments and trials, so that meant a lot of witnesses [helping the government]. They wanted to get rid of a lot of informants.” Schumacher said the general feeling is that Roselli had been “talking a little too much.” Soon after Roselli’s disappearance, his body turned up in a barrel on the surface of a bay outside of Miami.
CLOCKWISE FROM L: ALLAN STEIN/THE EPOCH TIMES, ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES
As Lake Mead in Nevada recedes further due to the ongoing drought, it slowly gives up its secrets. On May 7, two sisters walking along the sandy banks at Lake Mead National Recreation Area found human skeletal remains. It would be the second of two gruesome discoveries made at the manmade reservoir this year. A week earlier, on May 1, a woman from Las Vegas found a rusty barrel at Lake Mead’s Callville Bay. The barrel contained the skull and bones of an apparent homicide victim in disco-era clothing—Kmart brand, no less. “The first thing that crossed my mind was a question—was this a mob hit? The person was shot in the head. That’s a common technique that’s used by the mob. They were stuffed into a barrel and dumped into a lake,” said Geoff Schumacher, author, journalist, and vice president of exhibits and programs at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas. How many more bodies will surface in time, he wondered. The water level at Lake Mead has dropped to just over 1,000 feet in elevation, leaving in its muddy wake beer cans and various other debris—even a sunken motorboat near the 2021 water level at Callville Bay. Lake levels are expressed in altitude, not depth. At its highest levels, the lake is near 1,225 feet. “[Lake Mead] has lots of secrets, and they’re going to start popping up— whether it’s drowning victims or murder victims or objects of great interest or value,” Schumacher told Insight. Both findings have television’s “NCIS: Las Vegas” written all over them. In real life, detectives from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) are investigating. Schumacher said he’s conducting a separate investigation—poring over missing person reports and news articles hoping to identify the victim. “We believe this is a homicide [due to] a gunshot wound,” LVMPD Homicide Section Lt. Ray Spencer said in a May 3 statement. The Clark County Coroner’s office in Las Vegas said that “all information is still pending” regarding the victim’s identity.
In Focus Las Vegas
“A fisherman found him. They discovered it was Johnny Roselli in the barrel,” Schumacher said. “That barrel wasn’t intended to float—it was intended to go to the bottom, as the one did at Lake Mead. For whatever reason, it didn’t work, and it bobbed to the surface.” On Aug. 1, 1976, Las Vegas casino slot manager George “Jay” Vandermark was reported missing. Schumacher said Vandermark was working at the Stardust Hotel when he allegedly got into trouble with the mob and disappeared. While it’s an unlikely outcome for the barrel found at Lake Mead, “We’ll see if it’s him. It seems like a long shot, but we’ll see,” Schumacher said. Schumacher said that the Kmart clothing on the Lake Mead victim suggests several possible theories for the killing. It could be “somebody who didn’t pay their loan shark,” he said. “It could be somebody who might have been a government witness against the mob in a trial. Or it could be an informant discovered within the mob organization. It
“[Lake Mead] has lots of secrets, and they’re going to start popping up.” Geoff Schumacher, vice president of exhibits and programs, The Mob Museum
could be something not directly tied to the mob. “It could be a drug deal gone bad or a drug addict who didn’t pay or stole from the dealer. It’s hard to know until we find out the identity of the victim.” “Our particular focus isn’t on anyone who went missing but on anyone who might be related to organized crime in some way. One way to look at this is to understand this isn’t necessarily a mobster in a barrel [but] a potential mob victim.” He said the killer—or killers—probably dumped the barrel in a shallower part of the lake and didn’t understand it’s a lot deeper if you go toward the lake’s center. “They also couldn’t predict that the lake would dry up to its present degree,” he said. Schumacher said police have received numerous tips since the body’s discovery. Still, it could take months to identify the victim, even through DNA analysis. Until then, more bodies—mostly drowning victims—could “start surfacing” at Lake Mead, he said.
The opening of the Mob Museum in Las Vegas on Feb. 14, 2012. The museum, also known as the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, chronicles the history of organized crime in America and the efforts of law enforcement to combat it. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 33
In Focus Las Vegas
Retired Orlando Master Police Officer Derwin Bradley, a member of the Board of Experts of the National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington, said the barrel discovery at Lake Mead points to a mafia-related killing.
Killing, Gangland-Style
34 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
joked. “Those teeth looked like Jimmy Hoffa’s to me. I’m a dentist. I notice those things.” Patricia Breezy, a resident of Las Vegas, said “it would not surprise me” if the barrel found at Lake Mead were a mob murder. “It’s shocking anyway in this day and time to hear about some things. But to hear about it just now—and who knows how long it’s been there? So, somebody possibly could have gotten away with it, you know, because I’m not too affiliated with how it was back then, but the timeline would make sense because things were a lot different back in the ‘80s.”
How Not to Dispose of a Body “It just doesn’t sound like a mafia hit to me,” said Joseph Casaletta of Los Angeles, who came to The Mob Museum on May 12 to replace a broken mug that he gave his late dad years ago. “I don’t think they would put a body in a barrel they would find at some point. I think the mafia is much better at making people disappear. That’s just my feeling about what I know about mafia types. “If I were the murdering type, I’d make sure the body could never be found. If
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“That was my very first thought: A body in a barrel; a gunshot to the back of the head. It’s a classic gangland-style hit or assassination. Pretty cut and dried for those guys,” Bradley said. “It all depends on the message they’re trying to send and what the actual event [required]. If I want to make this person disappear, we take him out, put a bullet in him, put him in a barrel. That way, there’s no trace back to us. It would be years before they find this person—theoretically.” Bradley said that determining the victim’s identity will involve legwork, starting with missing person reports from the early 1970s. “That’s the only way you’re going to get a lead. Hopefully, from there, he will be reported missing. If he’s not from Vegas, you’ve got a big job on your hands,” Bradley told Insight. More than likely, he said, the victim crossed the “wrong” person when doing business. Given the mob origins of Las Vegas, Bradley sees all the signs of a mafia hit for reasons still undetermined.
“Remember, your average person back then is not typically prone to planning, plotting, executing a murder, and then going through the whole ordeal of dumping in a lake. A non-mob connected casino—that would be a big step for them [that would risk] being ‘dimed-out.’” Above all, “people typically don’t talk,” Bradley said. “Even with serial killers, they often don’t go through that much trouble. A private citizen—that’s a lot of work. I’m not saying they wouldn’t do it, but I don’t see Bob and Bill being that thorough.” After 28 years in the Orlando Police Department, Bradley said he’s never seen a case involving a body found in a barrel, “but we’ve seen some pretty ugly findings.” Sitting outside The Mob Museum in Las Vegas, Tera Nix, a dentist from Cleveland, told Insight she wouldn’t be surprised if Lake Mead turns out to be a dumping ground for mob victims, given its size. “I don’t know if this was an actual dumpsite, but what else would it be? You either have some random serial killer, or you have organized crime. So, we’ll know [if there are] a few more bodies,” Nix said. “Probably Jimmy Hoffa’s next,” Nix
In Focus Las Vegas
(Far Left) A wanted poster for mobster Louis "Lepke" Buchalter at The Mob Museum on Feb. 13, 2012. (Left) A series of photos of missing people on display. (Above) Graphic images of mob-associated murders on display. (Top Right) The List of Excluded Persons, commonly known as "The Black Book" that contains names of people connected to organized crime who are barred from entering Nevada casinos. (Right) The St. Valentine's Day Massacre was the murder of seven organized crime members in Chicago on Feb. 14, 1929. The actual wall with bullets in them is on display at the museum. you put a body in a lake, it [will] get found. Plus, you’ve encased the body in something that can’t be consumed by nature. That seems derelict to me.” Bronson Mack, outreach manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said the majority of future human remains found at Lake Mead will be drowning victims. “It’s an unfortunate news story that we hear every summer that somebody falls victim to drowning at Lake Mead. I don’t know how often the bodies can be recovered in those situations,” Mack told Insight. “A body in a barrel appears to be a homicide. Some of the other remains that may yet be found—[there’s a] pretty high probability some of those are the drowning victims,” Mack said.
Dark Fascination With Mafia Undoubtedly, the public has a dark fascination with the mafia. The discovery of a body in a barrel at Lake Mead has only heightened that morbid curiosity. The question is, why? Schumacher said he thinks the mob mystique keeps people enthralled with a false image of who they are. “Think of the best movies made in
A retired police officer said that more than likely, the victim crossed the ‘wrong’ person when doing business.
our country. Many were mob movies, like ‘The Godfather,’ ‘Goodfellas,’ and ‘Casino.’ And then you have television programs like ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Boardwalk Empire,’ which are highly honored.” Such charismatic figures as New York’s “Dapper Don” John Gotti only present a glamorous public facade that belies their murderous ways, he said. “I think it’s almost that twin persona,” Schumacher said. “There’s this sort of secret, subconscious feeling that it would be exhilarating and fun to be a mobster so that you could have this sort of lifestyle. People—especially men—do see these guys as untouchable iconic figures they want to emulate in their imagined life.”
1,000 FEET
SINCE 2000,
the water level at Lake Mead has dropped consistently, to its present depth of just over 1,000 feet above sea level. Given the mob origins of Las Vegas, an expert says a body found in a barrel in Lake Mead shows all the signs of a mafia hit, for reasons still undetermined. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 35
Falun Gong practitioners do exercises at an event marking the 22nd anniversary of the start of the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong, in Washington on July 16, 2021. PHOTO BY SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
RELIGIOUS
30 YEA
Faith and P Falun Gong Adherents See Moral
BY EVA
I
t was november 2020, nine months after then-22-year-old Carolina Avendano began living by herself and eight months after her city of Calgary, Canada, entered a lockdown that shut schools and most businesses. She was utterly alone. The pandemic restrictions meant she couldn’t visit her sister despite living in the same city. The prolonged isolation caught Aven36 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
dano in a crisis that she largely kept to herself. Outwardly, she was the model of productivity—living independently, working two tutoring jobs, volunteering online, while completing a double degree in math and education. But inside, she had never felt more lost and empty. “I knew I was out of balance in every sense of the word,” Avendano told Insight. Her body was sending alarm bells: She was underweight, she suffered from
an eating disorder and headaches, and her period hadn’t come for more than a year from no apparent cause. She said little about her struggles to her family, who anxiously noted that she was getting thinner even as she insisted they were exaggerating. A turning point came on a rare trip outside when Avendano randomly walked into a café and glanced at the community board for yoga and meditation classes.
FREEDOM
RS OF
erseverance Uplift Through Spiritual Practice FU
There, a blue flyer showing a man meditating by the seaside caught her eye. Avendano had never heard about Falun Gong, a spiritual practice consisting of three core values—truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance—along with five slow-moving meditative exercises. But the online meditation workshop advertised on the flyer seemed to be exactly what she needed. “What surprised me the most was that
it was learned for free, by people from all walks of life,” she said, noting that she had seen yoga classes taught at over $1,000, a price she couldn’t afford. She registered for one session that weekend and kept practicing on her own. The following Monday, she was surprised to find that her period had returned. “I was excited. And I was scared,” she said. “I’m like, whoa, I don’t want to
think it’s a coincidence. But it seems incredible.”
Beginnings Avendano’s experience bears some resemblance to that of many who took up the practice in China in the 1990s when Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, was spreading by word of mouth. The spiritual discipline’s meditative exercises and teachings, rooted in I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 37
The Lead Faith
Falun Gong adherents Mi Ruijing (Top) and Liu Yan (Above) take part in a parade marking the 30th anniversary of the practice's introduction to the public, in New York on May 13.
38 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
“I saw everything as an opportunity to bring up my character, and I learned that I have to treat everybody with kindness.” Carolina Avendano, Falun Gong adherent
Changing for the Better In the summer of 1993, Liu Yan, an engineer in Beijing, waited for two hours for a ticket for Li’s class after hearing about it from a friend. The classes were already becoming so popular that tickets were sold out months in advance. But when Liu called the hosting organization, a public university, she learned that tickets were still available. She took a day off from work, went to the university office an hour early, and was the first in line to snap up three tickets. After attending the class, she discarded various other spiritual books she had at home. “I couldn’t put it into words, but I knew that Falun Gong was the best,” Liu, who now resides in the United States, told Insight, adding that the practice’s tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance had made a strong impression on her. Liu, who had a quick temper, credited the practice for making her a better wife and bringing an immense boost to her health. The bone spurs around her waist went away, and every year, her co-workers marveled at the clean health record she got during her workplace’s annual health checks. Her parents joined her, too. For Liu’s mother, already in her 70s, her high blood pressure and throat cancer disappeared after she took up the practice, Liu said.
A Crushing Persecution Nearly 1 in 13 Chinese people would experience an abrupt turn in their lives by the end of the decade, when the Chinese Communist Party initiated an elaborate campaign seeking to crush their faith after perceiving Falun Gong’s popularity as a threat to its authoritarian rule. The persecution has resulted in millions of adherents being sent to detention facilities, where they’re subjected to torture, forced labor, and forced organ harvesting. Mi and Liu were both forced out of their workplaces and received jail sentences of two and four years, respectively, for refusing to renounce their faith. They were both emaciated by the time of their release. Both of Liu’s parents passed away while she was in prison, and she wasn’t able to be with them in their final moments. In one so-called transformation cen-
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traditional Chinese beliefs including Buddhist and Daoist ideas, seemed to resonate with a population that had been stripped of its traditional beliefs and culture during the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution launched by the Chinese Communist Party a few decades earlier. On May 13, 1992, Li Hongzhi, founder of the practice, introduced Falun Gong to his hometown of Changchun, an industrial city and the capital of Jilin Province in China’s northeastern corner. In November of that year, 28 years before Avendano’s encounter with the practice, 36-year-old health care worker Mi Ruijing was one of around 400 who went to a series of talks in Beijing in which Li taught the meditative exercises and explained the practice’s moral teachings. The class lasted for 10 days, and Mi felt a change from day one. On the way home, “it was as if I wasn’t walking but stepping on clouds,” said Mi, who now resides in the United States. “It was very light, very comfortable.” But Mi was even more appreciative of the changes she was experiencing on the inside. Previously, she had read many books about Daoism in search of the meaning of life.
She said the class brought answers to questions she’d been asking for years. She felt an excitement as if she had long been shut in a dark room and was suddenly freed and allowed to see the light. “I felt that I hadn’t actually lived for all these years and was really starting my life,” she said. During the next two years, Li would hold dozens more classes in China’s major cities, the largest ones attended by around 6,000, according to records compiled by Minghui.org, a U.S.-based clearinghouse for Falun Gong-related information. Mi attended more than 20 of them. By 1999, around 70 million to 100 million Chinese had taken up the practice, according to estimates at the time. Many were drawn to the discipline after seeing the physical and psychological improvements it brought to others they knew. Mi remembers vividly a moment when a friend accidentally burned three holes in Mi’s new outfit while helping to iron it. Mi was on the verge of lashing out before she checked herself. Instead, she told the woman that the garment could be repaired and that she needn’t worry. It was a small exercise of putting others first, Mi said, among many more that she and others would apply daily in keeping with the practice’s teachings. “If it was I who did it and someone chided me, how would I feel?” she said.
The Lead Faith
(Above) Liu Yan shows scars from a surgery needed to treat her swollen leg after she was beaten while in detention in China over two decades ago. (Right) A female Falun Gong practitioner is arrested by police in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on May 11, 2000.
ter, designed to coerce adherents into renouncing their beliefs, Liu was so brutally beaten on her legs by a wooden mop handle that blisters the size of her palms swelled up on her lower legs, and her inner thighs turned purple-black. The swelling kept increasing for days, despite a machine applied to her body to siphon out the pus. She ended up having to have surgery to treat her wounds. Two scars from the surgery remain. During her first imprisonment in a labor camp, Liu’s physical appearance changed so much that her husband, when finally allowed a visit, had to ask the guard standing by to confirm that the emaciated woman in front of him was his wife. Mi developed scabies and stomach perforation while in detention. Three-quarters of her stomach had to be removed as a result. At the end of her term, Mi was literally “skin and bones,” she said.
Online Classes It was through the recent movie “Finding Courage” that Avendano, who had begun reading more about Falun Gong and had joined a meditation group in downtown Calgary, caught a glimpse of the ongoing brutality in China. The courage and strength displayed by those incarcerated inspired her, she said. Since taking up the practice, Avendano said, she now strives to be a better daughter to her parents, both of whom suffer from depression.
“I saw everything as an opportunity to bring up my character, and I learned that I have to treat everybody with kindness,” she said. The online workshop she participated in during the pandemic was initiated by a group of volunteers, including Alexander Meltser, owner of an e-commerce business based in Florida and a practitioner of Falun Gong for over two decades. “If you cannot go outside, go inside,” Meltser said. The webinar offers a private experience, with a host presenting slideshows followed by videos demonstrating the exercises. The host also responds to questions directly on a live chat box. The volunteers piloted the online classes in India and Russia in February 2020, as countries around the world began issuing lockdown orders. Encouraged by the number of registrants, the team started to launch globally. Their website now displays in 20 languages, and more than 30,000 people in 45 countries have participated in at least one session. The team now has 100 volunteers. Avendano is among them, brainstorming ideas to streamline the online experience for the attendees. “What I value the most about the practice is that it’s open for everybody,” she said, noting that the Falun Gong teachings are available in Spanish, her first language. “I think just the power of sharing such
a beautiful practice with everybody at no cost, that really says a lot to [people].” Joseph Gigliotti, a chiropractor who hosted the workshop that Avendano first attended, told Insight: “This is a project where we can directly share with people the benefits that we’ve gotten from Falun Gong. “Our mindset was, hey, there’s people at home doing nothing. They’re stuck at home, they can’t go outside. There’s a lot of mental health issues. People are really struggling, and they feel disconnected. This is just something that they can do to help them on their inner life.” At the very end of the class, Gigliotti always asks if everyone got what they were coming for. “It’s one of my favorite parts of the webinars, to see how people answer that question. Because they’re very, very excited. They’re very happy,” he said. “A lot of people say, ‘I will continue on this journey.’” For him, the principles espoused by the practice helped lift a “dark cloud of anxiety and depression” that had hung over his head for years. “It’s like we take a shower every day to clean the external part of our body, but I really wanted to clean the inside, I wanted to clean my heart and my mind,” he said. He has been with the practice for eight years, he said, adding that those have been “the most fulfilling years of my life.” I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 39
2022 MIDTERMS
Getting Tough on China Candidates’ stances on China may prove critical for midterm elections, analysts say
U
By Michael Washburn
40 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
ment by Trump is not, by itself, a guarantee of overwhelming support from Republican voters, and the extent of Trump’s continuing influence within the party is the subject of some controversy. Candidates who want an edge with the voting public in the primaries and the midterms need to make clear that they’re well attuned to the issue—China’s role in the world—that preoccupies millions of voters and especially those in middle American states hit hard by overseas competition, experts say.
A Chinese police canine and explosives unit performs a security sweep in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on March 10.
The Foreign Policy Challenge The message of many candidates may focus heavily on economic and trade issues. But for some observers, the economic populism of candidates catering to voters who have lost jobs or fear losing jobs to overseas competition may be missing the point, given the extremely serious foreign policy and national security concerns of an Asia-Pacific region where Beijing’s expansionist aims stir continual uncertainty. Although taking a firm stand on China may be a tendency often associated with the Trump wing of the Republican Party, that doesn’t mean activism around the issue will be mostly limited to the Republican side. President Joe Biden plans to visit Asia from May 20 to May 24, and in preparation for the trip, he’s
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.s. relations with china are an issue that increasingly commands the attention of voters, who are likely to cast their ballots in the November midterm elections largely on the basis of which candidates are toughest on China, experts say. But the same experts don’t always agree as to whether jobs and trade or national security is the most important piece of the U.S.–China puzzle. “In general, I think China will be kind of like background music throughout the entire campaign coming up in the fall. It has been before and will be again. Certainly this year, with Republicans up in the polls and being identified with the Trumpian attitude toward China, we’re going to see a need for every candidate to set himself or herself up as tough on China,” said Douglas H. Paal, a distinguished fellow of the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. The question of China’s importance in the November midterms was the subject of a May 2 Wall Street Journal article that compared the number of times that leading Democratic and Republican candidates in some of the closest primary contests—those in Ohio and Pennsylvania—have made reference to China in their campaign ads. Leading the pack is Trump-backed Mehmet Oz, who has enjoyed a modest lead in polls against former hedge fund CEO David McCormick as they compete for the nomination to run for the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who’s retiring. The primary election will take place on May 17. As of May 2, Oz had mentioned China 8,351 times in his ads, significantly more than the next-highest candidate ranked in this category, Tim Ryan of Ohio, who had made reference to China 3,417 times, the Journal reported. Oz has mentioned China more than three times as often as his rival McCormick, who has mentioned China 2,580 times. As Oz’s thin lead in the polls indicates, endorse-
Nation Politics
Candidates who want an edge with the voting public in the primaries and the midterms need to make clear that they’re well-attuned to the issue of China’s role in the world, experts say.
likely to make a case that Democrats are tough on China issues, Paal said. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, such as Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) and Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), have cautioned strongly against complacency in a world where Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine may have emboldened other aggressors and the United States remains heavily dependent on China for rare earth minerals such as cobalt and lithium. The self-governed island of Taiwan, which Beijing has repeatedly threatened to unite with mainland China—by force if necessary—doesn’t really have a broad choice when it comes to political leaders in the United States, Paal said. “History dealt Taiwan a tough hand. They will always do their best to cooperate with the prevailing administration of either party in Washington,” he said. But Paal said he doesn’t consider an invasion of Taiwan likely to happen tomorrow, what with the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) coming up in the fall and the manifold preparations the much-anticipated event requires. Nor does Paal believe Beijing is yet in a position to try to use nuclear blackmail to advance its territorial aims. “They’re building [armaments] like crazy to put themselves in a more equal position, but they’re
not there yet. They’re still constructing. They’re not being presented with opportunities too good to resist right now,” he said. Nor can Beijing afford to ignore the steep consequences of the massive sanctions levied against Moscow, its banks, and its oligarchs in the wake of Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s Feb. 24 invasion. “China has to look at their own potential shortcoming, and they have to look at the consequences of economic sanctions. There are lots of reasons why, in my view, Beijing ought to be more reluctant to think about using military force against Taiwan after the invasion of Ukraine than they were before,” Paal said. But the long-term threat remains. In this scenario, opportunities exist for those politicians and candidates who can make a point of promoting strategies to lessen U.S. dependence on China, such as in raw earth minerals. “Research and development are leading to new substitutes so we don’t have to have the kind of dependency on the things we’re getting from China” that has long characterized the trade relationship, Paal said. It’s possible to develop alternate sources, following the example of Japanese manufacturers who are striving to find new ways to source the raw materials for microelectronics and cellphones.
Pennsylvania Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Dr. Mehmet Oz joins former President Donald Trump onstage during a campaign rally at the Westmoreland County Fairgrounds in Greensburg, Pa., on May 6.
I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 41
Nation Politics
“History dealt Taiwan a tough hand. They will always do their best to cooperate with the prevailing administration of either party in Washington.” Douglas H. Paal, distinguished fellow, Asia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Trade Wars Other experts acknowledge the importance of Taiwan and other foreign policy concerns, but affirm the wisdom of candidates focusing on trade and jobs and tailoring their campaign strategies accordingly, especially in the hardhit rustbelt states. “Clearly, being tough on China is likely to be a litmus test in elections across the country, particularly on the Republican side. We are at a point in time when the Republican Party, in particular, and most national security professionals in the U.S. view China as a strategic competitor, and anyone who appears not to sufficiently share that concern is going to be questioned,” said Clete Willems, a partner at the law firm Akin Gump and special assistant to the president for international trade, investment, and development during the Trump administration. The paramountcy of the trade issue isn’t going away, Willems said. While some people in Washington, including former Trump officials, view any modification of the tariffs that Trump imposed on China as a betrayal of his legacy, Willems believes it’s imperative to look at how those tariffs have played out over the past few years. Trump-era tariffs remain in place on more than $300 billion of Chinese goods. Some may have hurt China, but others have hurt U.S. competitiveness, he said. Candidates in the midterms can’t afford to ignore this reality. “You have to modify the tariffs, and not modifying them is not going to be an effective China
42 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
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A voter casts her ballot in the Ohio primary election at a polling location in Worthington, Ohio, on May 3.
strategy. Let’s be smart about how we’re tough on China,” Willems said. He said addressing abusive Chinese practices, and, in particular, Beijing’s failure to adhere to the “phase one” trade deal that is part of Trump’s legacy, will be a top campaign issue for Republicans. He expressed doubt that Democrats would be able to capitalize as successfully on this issue. “I think President Biden and the Democrats have huge headwinds due to inflation, mismanagement of the economy, and foreign policy problems, including in Afghanistan. I think they’ve failed to deliver on much of their agenda, and that’s the bigger issue,” Willems said. Stephen Ezell, vice president of global innovation policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, said it makes sense that many campaigners have focused to such an extent on China. “The United States lost as many as a million manufacturing jobs over the past decade as a result of trade with China. Clearly, that has hit the industrial Midwest the hardest. Those issues are going to find a more receptive audience there,” he said. Ezell differs slightly from other experts as to which specific China topic will be of primary concern to voters this election season. “When it comes to China as an issue, it’s going to have a lot more salience from an economic than a national security perspective,” he said. “This could change, obviously, if something were to happen in Taiwan.”
P OL I T IC S • E C ONOM Y • OPI N ION T H AT M AT T E R S
Perspectives
No.20
A person prepares to pump gas at a Shell station in Houston on April 1. Gas prices have risen 84 percent since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. PHOTO BY BRANDON BELL/ GETTY IMAGES
INFLATION DISINFORMATION
WHERE HAVE THE WORKERS GONE?
HOW GOVERNMENTS SEIZE WEALTH
The left has long told all sorts of tales about inflation. 44
Retiring boomers ensure the worker shortage will persist. 46
Government spending doesn’t prevent recessions; it exacerbates them. 48
INSIDE I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 43
THOMAS MCARDLE was a White House speechwriter for President George W. Bush and writes for IssuesInsights.com.
Thomas McArdle
Inflation Disinformation The left has long told all sorts of tales about inflation
I
t is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies,” said Arthur Calwell, leader of the Australian Labor Party in the 1960s. Calwell presided over three election defeats and thus knew what he was talking about. President Joe Biden, on the other hand, who shares with Calwell a penchant for taking orders from his party’s extreme elements, seems intent on losing on lies. In his May 10 inflation speech, apparently intended to soften the blow of the following day’s disturbing 8.3 percent consumer price index number, it was as if the president was burning the “Buck Stops Here” sign that adorned the desk of Harry Truman—and, later, Ronald Reagan. “The first cause of inflation is a once-in-a-century pandemic,” Biden said. “A second cause: Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine.” But the beginning of the worst inflation in 40 years corresponds closely to Biden becoming president, paired with a House and Senate, which, under his party’s control, passed big spending measures and new burdens for businesses. Economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found in March that “since the first half of 2021, U.S. inflation has increasingly outpaced inflation in other developed countries.” “Estimates suggest that fiscal support measures designed to counteract the severity of the pandemic’s economic effect may have contributed to this divergence by raising inflation about 3 percentage points by the end of 2021,” the economists said. In other words, the $1.9 trillion stimulus measure Biden signed in March 2021 is responsible for at least a large chunk of today’s historic inflation. When asked, “Do you take any responsibility for the inflation in 44 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
this country?” Biden replied, “I think our policies help, not hurt. ... It’s not because of spending.” But prominent Democrat economists, such as Lawrence Summers, Jason Furman, and Steven Ratner, said long ago that excess spending would cause excess demand.
This president and his aides are adding derision to deception in their message to a long-suffering populace, and the backlash the Democratic Party will endure in November will be devastating. Only last November, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chairwoman characterized as a heavyweight appointment by Biden, confidently said, “Sometime during the second half of the year [2022], we’ll see inflation rates moving back toward the 2 percent that we regard as normal.” A little later, Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman assured us that “people making knee-jerk comparisons with the 1970s and screaming about stagflation are looking at the wrong history. When you look at the right history, it tells you not to panic.” That’s the same Krugman who forecast that the Trump presidency would cause “a global recession, with no end in sight.” Biden economic adviser Gene Sperling told Fox after the May 10 speech that Biden “is doing everything he can on gas prices, not just releasing 60 million [barrels] from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), but encouraging other countries to do so as well.” Established after the 1973 energy crisis, the SPR—whose less than 600 million barrels constitute only 30
days worth of oil consumption for the country—was established for near-existential national emergencies, such as the cutoff of global petroleum supply routes in wartime; it was originally proposed by President Dwight Eisenhower following the Suez Canal crisis in 1956. What good does tapping into our emergency government stockpiles do when the Biden administration is simultaneously scrapping oil leases for more than a million acres in the Cook Inlet in Alaska, as well as halting two leases for the Gulf of Mexico and arguing in federal court that climate change predictions give the administration license to not approve any more leases anywhere? Thanks to Biden’s continuing war on fossil fuels, the United States is producing about 1.5 million barrels per day less than it was before the pandemic. Is that “doing everything he can on gas prices,” as Sperling claims? Is this the “laser-like intensity trying to deliver some easing of pressures to household budgets” that veteran Biden economic adviser Jared Bernstein of the administration’s Council of Economic Advisers touted on Fox News on May 12? The president also endorsed the Federal Reserve’s timid monetary policy, saying that “the Fed should do its job and it will do its job, I’m convinced.” Bernstein told Fox, “The fact that we have a Federal Reserve with Dr. Lisa Cook, the first black woman ever to be on a Federal Reserve Board, is, I think, a key achievement of Bidenomics ... trying to make sure that this extremely important global economic institution looks a little bit more like some of the people that it’s representing.” Racial diversity is the answer to inflation? Biden and his aides are adding derision to deception in their message to a long-suffering populace, and the backlash the Democratic Party will endure in November will be devastating.
Anders Corr
ANDERS CORR is a principal at Corr Analytics Inc., publisher of the Journal of Political Risk. He is an expert in political science and government.
Republicans Fight over China Past ties to Beijing are rightly an issue in primaries
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oliticians are bashing each other over China. Any links to the totalitarian state, past or present, are being hauled before voters for all to see. Candidates who have ever had such links must put on their hair shirts and explain themselves, usually failing in the process. Like winnowing at harvest, the bashing is a good thing in that it removes the chaff from the grain. Many of the China links indicate failures in judgment or ethics that should disqualify candidates from office. Exposing them now during the primaries, and removing those found wanting, helps their political parties—and America. The mutual thrashing of Republicans is covered in detail by Josh Dawsey in The Washington Post. He spoke with Tony Fabrizio, a pollster who works for Donald Trump. “If you coddle China, or you are soft on China, that makes you not so much America first and not so tough,” the pollster said. “Being tagged as soft on China is not a good thing. ... China has been seen as the primary world foe for at least the last decade or more.” One of Fabrizio’s recent polls shows that Republican voters view Beijing as a bigger threat than Moscow, and rightly so, given that China’s economy is approximately 10 times larger than its Russian counterpart. That translates into military power, and unlike Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is keeping his powder dry. There are plenty of China transgressions among the latest crop of candidates. David Perdue, who threw his hat in the ring for the Georgia senatorial race, is accused of a long business
career of outsourcing U.S. jobs. “As a top executive at companies including Reebok, Sara Lee and Dollar General, he was often deeply involved in the shift of manufacturing, and jobs, to low-wage factories in China and other Asian countries,” according to The New York Times.
Many U.S. politicians from both parties are too close to Beijing. This biases U.S. policy toward appeasing China to keep over $600 billion worth of trade flowing each year. David McCormick allegedly conducted business deals in China as CEO of Bridgewater, a hedge fund. On his watch, according to a Wall Street Journal source last year, Bridgewater raised the equivalent of $1.25 billion in a Beijing-approved yuan-denominated fund. In 2007, as a Treasury Department official, McCormick said in a speech in Beijing that “when China succeeds, the United States succeeds.” McCormick is running for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania against Mehmet Oz, himself accused of making money by syndicating his Dr. Oz show on China’s state television and allowing his bedding company to contract with a company in China. Oz made between $1 million and $5 million in the process. The same thrashing should happen between Democrats, although it rarely does. That lack of due diligence will cost them at the polls when they run against Republi-
cans, who will be vetted for their China ties in the primaries. Consider Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. President Joe Biden nominated him for ambassador to India in December. His confirmation has been dogged by allegations of racism and sexual harassment committed by his political adviser. Less frequently mentioned are Garcetti’s ties to China. Garcetti has been involved with Asia Society, headquartered in New York, but with multiple connections to China, including through corporate funding and Xi himself. Garcetti had a friendly meeting with Carrie Lam, former leader of Hong Kong, who answered to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Several Democratic foreign policy elites, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell are linked to Asia Society, which may have ties to the CCP. Many U.S. politicians from both parties are too close to Beijing, either directly or through nonprofit organizations that rely on donations from corporations dependent on profits from the CCP. This biases U.S. policy toward appeasing China to keep more than $600 billion worth of trade flowing each year. The scrutiny of links to the CCP among U.S. politicians will only grow. The heightened distrust that we now see for the CCP among Republican voters, we will also see among Democrats as they get spun up on the issue. The thrashing that results is a necessary part of democracy, which simultaneously rejects those unfit to serve, finds the best candidates for U.S. leadership now, and defines acceptable behavior for future U.S. leaders. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 45
MILTON EZRATI is chief economist for Vested, a contributing editor at The National Interest, and author of “Thirty Tomorrows” and “Bite-Sized Investing.”
Milton Ezrati
Where Have the Workers Gone?
Retiring boomers ensure the worker shortage will persist
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usinesses complain incessantly these days of labor shortages. Rising wage rates would seem to induce more people to seek paid employment, and they have to some extent. Still, a historical shortfall exists in the percentage of the population at work or actively seeking employment—a shortfall that has limited the economy’s growth potential. Because the problem mostly reflects the retiring of the huge baby-boom generation, this troublesome worker shortage seems likely to persist, probably until the end of the decade. Labor Department statistics tell the story. Roughly 15 years ago, about 67 percent of the civilian population were either working or actively seeking work. This so-called participation rate began to fall after the Great Recession of 2008–09 and continued to do so until it fell below 63 percent in 2016. Stated in percentages, this seems like a small change, but in a population of just under 350 million, this drop in participation effectively denied the economy of about 14 million workers. It’s little wonder then that the economic recovery during those years proceeded as slowly as it did. Participation rates picked up marginally as economic growth accelerated between 2016 and 2019, but then plummeted during the pandemic, hitting a low of less than 62 percent in 2020. They’ve picked up since then to nearly 62 percent, but remain a full percentage point below the late 2019 level, a loss of just under 3.5 million workers and clearly a contributor to the present constraining worker shortage. Some have attributed this drop in worker participation to the shocks
46 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
of first the Great Recession and then the pandemic. Those with a moral turn of mind have attributed it to a loss of the work ethic among the younger generation. Without disputing either of these explanations, it’s more likely that the drop in participation reflects retirements among those in the huge baby-boom generation. The oldest of that large part of the population reached age 65 in 2010. Since then, an increasing number of baby boomers have retired, a fact that not only explains the decline in worker participation,
Since more were born in the later years of the boom than in the early years, the worker shortage should intensify as the decade proceeds. but also that it began right after the 2008–09 recession. The participation decline wasn’t because Americans generally avoided work, but rather because between 2010 and 2020, the aging boomers raised the part of the population of retirement age (65) from about 13 percent to about 16.5 percent. Proof of this effect lies in the participation data for each age group. Every age category shows a rise in participation. The teen rate rose from 36 percent to just under 37 percent during the past year. People between the ages of 20 and 54, the backbone of the workforce, saw their rate rise from just over 81 percent to 82.5 percent. Even older Americans increased their partic-
ipation in the workforce. The rate for those over 55 rose from 38.2 percent to 38.9 percent. But even as each group has increased its participation, the relative growth of older groups, which for obvious reasons have a lower participation rate than younger Americans, has held down the overall participation rate. This demographic weight on the nation’s available workforce will almost certainly persist. The huge baby-boom generation was born between the years 1945 and 1962. The bulk of those born in those early years has already retired. Those born in the later years should seek to exit work during the next five or six years. Since more were born in the later years of the boom than in the early years, the worker shortage should intensify as the decade proceeds. Because the economy moves in cycles, the pressure will undoubtedly develop unevenly, but on balance, the demographics promise that this participation matter will get worse, not better, over time. Nor is there much the economy can do to alleviate this pressure. A higher rate of women’s participation might help. Because women participate in paid work at a lower rate than men—58 percent compared with 70.5 percent—there would seem to be room for women in the right circumstances to raise their participation and give the economy the working hands and minds it needs. Immigration could help as well, although to do much good, it would have to be of the sort that can replace the relatively well-educated and well-trained baby boom generation. Given the limits on these mitigators, the labor shortage seems likely to continue for quite a while yet.
EMEL AKAN is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times in Washington, D.C. Previously she worked in the financial sector as an investment banker at JPMorgan.
Emel Akan
Energy Tax
Consumers are driving less but spending much more at the pump
SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES
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etail gasoline prices have risen by $1.40 per gallon on average nationwide over the past year, squeezing consumer budgets and limiting spending on non-energy items. “If sustained, consumers will shell out nearly $160 [billion] more for gasoline relative to last year,” a new report by Deutsche Bank reads. Pump prices continue to soar, reaching another all-time high on May 12. The national average price for regular gasoline soared to $4.42 per gallon as of May 12, about 50 percent higher than last year. According to Deutsche Bank analysts, there’s a strong link between changes in retail gas prices and consumer spending on energy goods and services. They said in a previous analysis that a 1-cent increase in gas prices increases energy consumption and reduces income for non-energy-related products and services by $1.18 billion. If current prices hold, the “energy tax” may slash nonenergy spending power by nearly $160 billion, according to the report. Average diesel prices in the country also hit a record $5.55 per gallon on May 12, up by 77 percent from last year. In a high-inflation environment, consumers are driving less but spending much more at the pump, according to the analysts. Spending on gasoline and energy has decreased by 8.7 percent on an annualized basis over the past six months when adjusted for inflation, they said. Amid record gas prices, the Biden administration announced that it’s canceling oil drilling lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet. Conflicting legal views and a lack of interest among bidders were cited as reasons by the administration. Republicans, however, were out-
If current prices hold, the ‘energy tax’ may slash consumers’ non-energy spending power by nearly $160 billion. raged, blaming President Joe Biden’s energy policies for high gas prices. They have also criticized the administration for failing to release a new five-year offshore drilling plan. Gas prices have risen by 84 percent since Biden took office in January 2021. Biden has blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine for the current rise in energy prices, branding it “Putin’s Price Hike.” However, pump prices had already been rising prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Republicans blaming the Biden administration’s policy of reducing domestic oil production, including the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline and the suspension of oil and gas leases on federal lands. As part of an effort to lower gas prices, the White House announced in late March the largest-ever release from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, providing 1 million barrels of oil per day to the market for the next six months.
Oil prices eased after the United States and also members of the International Energy Agency, including Japan, South Korea, and Germany agreed to release their emergency oil stocks into the market. Oil prices have nevertheless continued to rise in recent weeks because of concerns about tighter global supply. Oil sector analysts have said that releasing oil stocks isn’t a long-term solution to supply or price woes, but only makes these countries more vulnerable during times of crisis. Analysts say that if China, parts of which are currently under pandemic lockdown, does reopen, supplies could rapidly become much tighter. The U.S. annual inflation rate slowed marginally to 8.3 percent in April, owing to decreased fuel costs after the release of emergency oil stocks. However, as gasoline prices have returned to all-time highs in May, this trend will be fully reversed in the next inflation report, ING economist James Knightley warned in a report. U.S. consumers have healthy balance sheets, as they sit on $2.3 trillion in excess savings accumulated since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Deutsche Bank analysts. On the surface, the analysts said, a high level of surplus savings would indicate that consumers are wellequipped to weather high inflation and rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. “However, nearly 70 percent of the excess savings is concentrated within the top income quintile,” they said. Lower-income households have less savings and more exposure to energy price changes, as they spend a larger share of their income on fuel and utilities. Energy consumes roughly 28 percent of lower-income households’ budgets, the analysts said. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 47
DANIEL LACALLE is chief economist at hedge fund Tressis and author of “Freedom or Equality,” “Escape from the Central Bank Trap,” and “Life in the Financial Markets.”
Daniel Lacalle
How Governments Seize Wealth
Government spending doesn’t prevent recessions; it exacerbates them
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48 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
Did you feel happy when the government gave you a check paid with printed money? Watch now as your daily groceries, gas, and power become unaffordable. purchasing power of the currency, making salaries lower in real terms. No socialist spreadsheet can erase the fact that massive deficit spending financed with newly created money destroys the poor and the middle class. Government doesn’t give excess reserves as social programs. Government takes away from the existing and future wealth of the economy via currency printing, taxation, spending, and debt, but the math never works for those who believe extractive and confiscatory policies will work. Did you feel happy when the government gave you a check paid with printed money? Watch now as your daily groceries, gas, and power become unaffordable. Government always takes three when they promise one. Huge public debt accumulation will be paid by the 99 percent via inflation, taxes, or both. Deficit spending and artificial money
creation are just two sides of the same coin—dissolving the existing wealth of a nation by issuing more promissory notes. Wealth is the same, just more units of currency in circulation. Hence, prices don’t rise, but the purchasing power of money diminishes. Governments and central banks will continue to impose demand-side policies under the excuse that it’s best for everyone and prevents a recession— the idea that it’s good for you. If citizens believe government can create wealth by money printing, governments will do it, presenting themselves as the solution to the problem they created. Now Keynesians see that there’s only one way to curb inflation: put a curb on aggregate demand. But governments aren’t going to reduce spending, so the “aggregate demand reduction” will be making everyone in the private sector poorer. Inflation has been created by using the lockdowns to massively increase government size. Yellen said inflation is a consequence of supply and demand, but if that were the case, Argentina and Venezuela would have low inflation. The problem is a rising supply of currency and a weakening demand for it. The mirage of enormous government spending and exponential currency printing is a process of expropriation. Government expands its size at the expense of the rest of the population, especially those who defend rising public expenditure programs. Demand-side policies expropriate wealth in three ways. First, on the way in, by running uncontrolled deficits financed with debt, which means higher taxes in the future. Second, by raising taxes to “reduce the deficit.” Third, with inflation. Government weight in the economy rises in all three steps. Then, when it fails, it repeats the process. If you wanted more government, this is more government: less growth, higher inflation, and poorer citizens.
DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
reasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently admitted that the chain of stimulus plans implemented by the U.S. government helped create the problem of inflation. “Inflation is a matter of demand and supply, and the spending that was undertaken in the American Rescue Plan did feed demand,” she said. Of course, Yellen went on to say that the spending was appropriate because of the collapse of the economy, as governments were trying to prevent a recession. This reminds us of a few of the problems of disproportionate government intervention and the negative impact it has on the middle class. The misguided massive lockdowns were imposed by the government. Central banks and governments have exhausted all demand-side policies at the expense of the middle class by eroding real wages and deposit savings. Even worse, governments created a much worse inflationary spiral by maintaining all “pandemic relief” packages even after the reopening, well beyond the recovery. They expected a spectacular aggregate demand increase, and they got it. Now the result is higher inflation and lower economic growth. But government size and deficit spending remain. Everything that government spends is paid for by you. There’s no free money, even for the recipients of benefits in a constantly depreciated currency. Inflation is a tax on the poor. Governments don’t avoid recessions through spending, they simply make the accumulated problems larger by constantly adding debt that central banks monetize via quantitative easing. This uncontrolled increase in M3 money supply (a broad money proxy) leads to asset inflation first and everyday goods price inflation afterward. Both consequences lead to inequality and a constant deterioration of the
Fan Yu
FAN YU is an expert in finance and economics and has contributed analyses on China’s economy since 2015.
Chinese Economy in the Danger Zone Key indicators are beginning to show the extent of the damage
NOEL CELIS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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hina’s economic situation looks increasingly precarious. Last year, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began a regulatory reset that has throttled the country’s economic outlook. Today, amid escalating COVID-related lockdowns, depressed consumer and business sentiment, and geopolitical instability, the risk of an economic contraction is clear. Global businesses need to evaluate their China strategy and brace for economic pain ahead, especially companies that are dependent on the world’s No. 2 market, such as industrial and materials firms and luxury retailers. China’s economy has slowed considerably in 2022, as local authorities have enacted lockdown measures affecting dozens of cities, including the country’s top economic hubs of Shanghai and Shenzhen, hampering factory activity and economic production. While some economists were hoping authorities would relax these measures, the CCP regime has done just the opposite. Top Beijing officials committed to China’s “zero-COVID” policy in the strongest terms at a Politburo meeting in early May. The Standing Committee, chaired by regime boss Xi Jinping, stated that the country would “exhaust all means and efforts” to stop COVID-19. And perhaps most alarmingly to economists, the CCP left out any vow to support or minimize damage to the nation’s economy. China’s 5.5 percent official projected gross domestic product growth in 2022? All bets are now off. Leading indicators are beginning to show the extent of the upcoming damage. In April, China’s services sector contracted at its quickest pace since February 2020, the early days of the pandemic. The independent Caixin China General Services Business Activity Index declined to a reading of 36 in April from 42 in March, its fourth consecutive month-
Global businesses need to evaluate their China strategy and brace for economic pain ahead. ly drop. A figure of more than 50 means the service sector is expanding, so a reading of 36 means that the country’s service sector is deep in contraction. Another economic reading of the manufacturing sector, the Caixin China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, also declined to 46 in April from 48 in March. This reading declined at its quickest pace since February 2020 and shows that factory orders are slowing down, with ongoing lockdowns being a key culprit. The bleak economic outlook has prompted the CCP to publicly state that policy help will be on the way. One such policy is tax cuts, including value-added tax (VAT) credits, which the state council recently promised to companies. Another potential policy easing is to help the technology sector. After months of rhetoric around regulating China’s “platform economy,” recent messaging from state-controlled media has moderated somewhat, including announcing official efforts to boost infrastructure development and expand logistics support to encourage
“healthy development” of this sector. Perhaps Beijing came to the realization that “gig platforms” can help ease the quality of life for consumers during the country’s draconian lockdowns. A recent front-page editorial in the Economic Daily, a CCP-controlled newspaper, confirmed the policy shift away from hardline regulatory measures against technology firms. The editorial declared that excessive regulatory measures, which began in early 2020, would end, followed by “rules and market-based” supervision of the sector. There’s more. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also recently announced support for the all-important export sector, including having the central government help with securing foreign orders of goods, keeping a stable yuan currency, and expanding government-assisted warehouse and inventory financing. But the real estate sector is unlikely to see any respite in the near future. Despite lifting home purchase restrictions across many Chinese cities, April home sales were less than half of those in the same month last year. Business website Yicai Global reported that sales at China’s top 100 developers fell by 59 percent in April from the same month in 2021 and 16 percent from the previous month. No doubt the slowing economy and ongoing COVID-19 restrictions have hurt consumer appetite to borrow and spend. Global companies with extensive China operations are likely already feeling the crunch. But one sector— luxury goods—could see continued contraction in China, despite recent measures to stimulate the economy. That’s because the ongoing clampdown on billionaire and CCP Party member malfeasance is unlikely to wane. Experts believe this could bring further depressed demand for luxury goods, similar to the one experienced during the last wave of the anti-corruption campaign in 2012. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 49
JEFF MINICK lives and writes in Front Royal, Va. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.”
Jeff Minick
Controlling Our Mood Isn’t Always Easy Our reactions to hard times are what define us as a person
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espair can be a killer. As an example, drug overdose deaths in the United States increased by 25 percent from May 2020 through April 2021, sending more than 100,000 Americans to the grave. Whatever sparked this rise in casualties, we can rest assured that most of those who died were living without confidence or faith in the future. On a much broader scale, despair and its first cousin, depression, can also gun down the human spirit. A job lost, a marriage broken, a loved one’s death— these and other tragedies can cause us to lose heart, become despondent, and surrender all hope. Those buried in that darkness often want to sleep 24/7. Some give up on personal hygiene. Others turn off their phones and feel so isolated and lost that even a trip to the grocery store or the library becomes a near-insurmountable Everest of effort. In such severe cases, those afflicted frequently turn to professionals for counseling or for therapeutic drugs to rescue them from these black storms. The training and strategies employed by these men and women can often throw these despondent souls a rope and haul them out of the abyss. Yet if these clients wish to walk in the sunshine again, they must possess the will and the desire to seize that rope. In less severe circumstances, when melancholy is a visitor rather than a permanent houseguest, those of us bitten by what Winston Churchill called his “black dog” may concoct our own therapeutics. Here are five of them—and you can dig up plenty more online—that have helped me over the years.
Step away from the self. When I used to teach, my students demanded my full attention. My forlorn mood might linger in the back of my mind, but those hours in the classroom gave me a much-need50 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
That bout with the doldrums will pass, and we can help push it out the door. ed respite from sadness. I became an actor, erecting a façade that provided a few hours of relief from the pain.
Adopt a positive maxim. Six years ago, when failure pummeled me like some heavyweight in a ring from which there was no escape, I grabbed an erasable marker and wrote “Invictus,” Latin for “Unconquered,” on the glass door of my apartment. That word stayed put for months. Sometimes I sneered at it, sometimes I could hardly stand to look at it, but in the end “Invictus” helped carry me across that desert that had become my life. ‘This too shall pass.’ Time is one of the most powerful, yet most overlooked, of the world’s cure-alls. We Americans tend to be an impatient people, as can be seen at any Department of Motor Vehicles, and we want results yesterday. But as a friend tells me about his own scuff-ups
with the blues, recognizing that his condition was a mood—and therefore temporary—kept him moving forward. The same holds true for us.
Move the body, and you move the mood. When that same friend was younger and down in the dumps, he would walk the city streets, sometimes for hours, to revive his spirits. In my case, a burst of housekeeping—dusting shelves, wiping up stains from the wooden floors, washing down countertops—is just as effective. Performing these chores at a fast clip makes me feel better and brings the added satisfaction of a sparkling kitchen or orderly bookshelves. Turn away from negative influences. Sometimes, for example, the national news takes me down. Turning off my laptop and choosing instead to pick up a book or call a friend often delivers some necessary R&R from my blue funk. Do these tactics always work? Of course not. But that brings us to the final therapeutic: Don’t give up. Remember: that bout with the doldrums will pass, and we can help push it out the door. Invictus.
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Visit THEEPOCHTIMES.COM I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 51
Dr. Mark McDonald, psychiatrist and author of “United States of Fear: How America Fell Victim to a Mass Delusional Psychosis.”
THOUGHT LEADERS
The Pandemic of Fear Mandates, masks, and mass psychosis have fundamentally altered behavior
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ear,” Dr. Mark McDonald says, “is the mechanism by which people lose their ability to think rationally.”
MR . JEKIELEK: You wrote
“United States of Fear: How 52 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
all over the country. Many people—50, 60, 70 percent of them—are just not thinking clearly anymore.
DR . MARK MCDONALD: What I mean by mass
MR . JEKIELEK: What
delusional psychosis is a large group of people, a society, and specifically the United States, all at the same time individually deciding, whether consciously or not, to stop thinking rationally. I came to that conclusion by witnessing and observing behaviors, both in my day-to-day life and in my psychiatric practice, that were fundamentally bizarre to me. They weren’t grounded in reality. I’m not talking about political positions, but about basic day-to-day behaviors. They just didn’t make sense. And they were happening
were the hints that you saw? DR . MCDONALD: Regard-
less of where you fall on the political spectrum or what your ideology is about life, there are certain fundamental truths and realities we all have to agree on. I say to my patients when they come in, “Look, we may see things differently. We may have different feelings, orientations about life, but if we can’t agree on certain fundamental points of reality, then we can’t have a conversation.” It’s the same way with life. For example, there are different degrees of keep-
ing ourselves safe. Some people are more risk-averse, and some people are less risk-averse. But if we can’t agree that there’s absolutely no rational or medical reason to be wearing a surgical mask while you’re walking outside in a park by yourself—if we can’t agree on that, then there’s a breakdown in conversation. There’s a breakdown in reality. Fear is the mechanism by which people lose their ability to think rationally. To justify the behavior as rational because you’re told to do it is a false argument. And we’ve been incredibly frightened and intimidated in the past couple years. MR . JEKIELEK: Most
masking policies are gone. A lot of people are thinking,
YORK DU/THE EPOCH TIMES
In this recent episode of “American Thought Leaders,” host Jan Jekielek sits down with Dr. Mark McDonald to discuss the physical and psychological damage done to the American people by COVID-19 rules and regulations and what we as individuals can do to escape our prison of fear. McDonald is a psychiatrist and the author of “United States of Fear: How America Fell Victim to a Mass Delusional Psychosis.”
America Fell Victim to a Mass Delusional Psychosis.” What’s mass delusional psychosis?
“Okay, I guess we’re done.” DR . MCDONALD: This
sounds great. We’re all free. We’re all safe. Mandates are over. No more distancing, no more testing, no more facial coverings. We’ll just move on. The problem is that behavior has fundamentally changed. People have taken in the feeling, the experience of being afraid all of the time. So even if they’re told they can be safe now without masks, they still want to wear them. They insist on wearing them. I’m really concerned about what the next crisis will bring, the next demand for us to change our behavior. Now that the government, corporations, and media know that we will blindly follow whatever they tell us, what’s going to be the next stage? MR . JEKIELEK: I watched
a video of a group of adults and children in masks in front of New York City Hall singing about how they want to have masks. How do you help people overcome a situation like this?
DR . MCDONALD: The first
thing that you need to do as an individual is acknowledge that you’re living in a state of fear. It’s really important for people to start accepting that these behaviors— avoiding people, putting on masks, staying away from social gatherings, canceling weddings and funerals—aren’t helpful. I’m not looking for a government top-down approach to fix this problem. This is an individual issue and each individual has to confront it and move forward. MR . JEKIELEK: This
makes me think about your philosophy of psychiatry, which you discuss in your book. It would be great if you could tell us how you think about this. DR . MCDONALD: As I said,
I tell my patients when they come in that for us to work together successfully, we have to start from the same reality. If the world I live in and the world you live in are completely different, if there’s absolutely no overlap, there’s no way for us to talk about things. We
“Many people, 50, 60, 70 percent of them, are just not thinking clearly anymore.” have to accept that there are certain basic positions necessary for a healthy life. So if you allow your feelings to determine right and wrong, what should or shouldn’t be done, we’re dead in the water. If it feels better to you to eat pizza and ice cream all day and you won’t budge from that position, then I can’t help you with your diet. If you say, “I feel really good about eating it, but it’s causing me problems. I know it’s not right,” then we have somewhere to go. As we get older and become adults, it means setting aside our feelings, becoming less narcissistic, and acknowledging a reality that may not conform to our feelings. We’ve tossed that out the window now. Everything is subjective and feeling-based. Everything is
narcissistic. That’s driving a lot of these irrational mass behaviors. MR . JEKIELEK: Dr. Scott
Atlas says, and I’m paraphrasing, that during this pandemic, we’ve used our children as shields and that we should never do that. In any reasonable society, it’s the adults that need to be shields. What are your thoughts? DR . MCDONALD: Children
have been the sacrificial lambs of this pandemic. I’m going to call it a pandemic of fear, because that’s really what it is. It’s not a medical pandemic. It’s a pandemic of fear. MR . JEKIELEK: So you
think the pandemic of fear is a much more serious thing? I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 53
Nation Profile
“Now that the government, corporations, and media know that we will blindly follow whatever they tell us, what’s going to be the next stage? ” DR . MCDONALD: I know
the pandemic of fear is a more serious thing. Look at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s raw data in terms of deaths. Ninety-four percent of all of the recorded deaths were of people who were suffering from three or four serious comorbidities. And the average age of death actually exceeds the average lifespan of the American citizen. But putting that aside, the
number of people who have died in the past year just of drug overdoses has now exceeded 100,000 Americans. The increase in cancer, the increased incidence of heart disease, the increased rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide have gone through the roof. MR . JEKIELEK: When
people engage in irrational behaviors such as mask-wearing, your conten-
tion is that they should be helped. How do we do that? DR . MCDONALD: When I
wrote my first book, “United States of Fear,” my goal was to describe how we got here. What was it that led to this fear? But now when I’m asked “How do we get out of this as individuals and as a nation?” my answer is very different than it was in 2021. That’s why I started writing a second book, “Freedom From Fear: A 12-Step Guide to an Individual and National Recovery.” I’m using the addiction model to describe fear and how to treat it. What’s fundamental now is to be honest and address the psychology behind the fear and to know that the first step in freeing yourself to think rationally and make good decisions is to acknowledge that you’re scared. You may also need psychiatric help. You may need a therapist or a medication. That’s totally fine too. That’s
why people come to see me. But you have to be the one to determine your direction, not your feelings, but your mind. That’s so important. My goal is to get people to think for themselves. You also need support. You need to tune out a lot of what I call the dealer of the drug, the fear drug, which is the media. You need to shut that off. Why keep turning on the same station that’s causing you anxiety every day? That’s not a good idea. Shut it down. Go read a book. Go outside, play sports. Hang out with people who aren’t highly anxious. It’s important as well to be honest with yourself and acknowledge that by doing what you were told, you didn’t necessarily do good. You can have the best of intentions and still cause tremendous harm. You can acknowledge that you tried to do what was right. At the same time, you can apologize, not for following instructions, but for the fact that you harmed somebody—because that’s what you did. Moving forward means holding yourself fully accountable without excuses, without rationalizations. It’s the only way for you to grow and become a better person. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
54 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
THIS PAGE: DAVID RYDER/GETTY IMAGES
Students attend a choir class in pop-up tents during the pandemic, at Wenatchee High School in Wenatchee, Wash., on Feb. 26.
T R AV E L • F O O D • L U X U R Y L I V I N G
Unwind
No.20
Our fathers work hard all year to take care of us, so here’s a collection of gifts to consider for their special day. PHOTO BY U-BOAT WORX
Make Dad’s Day a Great One! A SCENIC, RESTFUL, and completely renovated estate with room for the whole family, away from the hustle and bustle of San Francisco. 56
HOME TO THE SECONDlargest natural harbor in the world, Menorca is full of delights—and is the birthplace of mayonnaise. 58
60
A SECOND HOME CAN BE a family getaway, an investment property, or part of a retirement plan; with a bit of planning, it could be all three. 64
INSIDE I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 55
A
ROSS VALLEY ESTATE
Like a jewel on a 2-acre setting, this estate was created to allow refreshing escapes from San Francisco By Phil Butler
Located only minutes from the Phoenix Lake and Mount Baldy recreational areas in the Ross Valley, this private estate offers the ultimate in luxury, convenience, and privacy.
56 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
Lifestyle Real Estate
O
JASON WELLS PHOTOGRAPHY AND GOLDEN GATE CREATIVE/TRACY MCLAUGHLIN
riginally envisioned as a weekend home away from San Francisco, this sumptuous Ross Valley estate tempts its owners and their guests to never leave. At the center of a unique private enclave, the exquisite 6,160 sq. ft. shingle-style home is surrounded by more than two acres of natural wonders. Listed for $12.5 million, the home was recently updated by acclaimed designer Nicole Hollis. Like the East Coast Hamptons, this California property is all about being spacious, inviting, and homey at the same time. One of the area’s most prominent residential estates, 80 Laurel Grove Avenue was designed to be a distinctly American-style place to live and entertain. On the inside, distinctive white marble accents shine beneath chic lighting complimented by extravagant textures to create a sense that you’re inside a piece of art. This marvelous home has a total of five luxurious bedrooms, including a brilliant master suite on the upper level. There are also five full and one half baths in all. On the ground floor, a grand living area connects indoor and outdoor private and social spaces, all of which were designed on a soaring scale. The double-sized great room flows over into the welcoming dining and kitchen space, where every convenience has been tak-
en into consideration. This level features one bedroom, an office, a media-family room, and a magnificent chef’s kitchen with professional-grade appliances. The upper level has four bedrooms, one of which is the master suite, featuring a cavernous custom-designed walk-in closet and a Carrera marble accented bathroom. This level also features laundry facilities and a glass-walled gym overlooking the rear yard, pool, and gardens. The grounds are improved with a massive in-ground pool with an integrated spa, a fully-equipped outdoor kitchen, and an outdoor fireplace shaded by old-growth trees and surrounded by sprawling lawns. A high-end sound system, kids’ playhouse, designer outdoor lighting, and mature gardens add to the enjoyment of this fenced paradise. The residence’s lower level has a music room, massive storage areas, a two-car garage, and a 900-bottle temperature-controlled wine room. This inviting property is a stone’s throw from an extensive network of hiking and biking trails in the Phoenix Lake and Mount Baldy recreational areas of Ross Valley. Phil Butler is a publisher, editor, author, and analyst who is a widely cited expert on subjects ranging from digital and social media to travel technology.
80 LAUREL GROVE AVENUE ROSS, CALIFORNIA $12.5 MILLION
• 5 BEDROOMS • 6,160 SQUARE FEET • 2-PLUS ACRES KEY FEATURES
• STRIKING DESIGN • PRESTIGIOUS LOCATION • ULTIMATE PRIVACY • POOL/OUTDOORS FEATURES AGENT
THE AGENCY TRACY MCLAUGHLIN 415-699-6680
In this view, we see the magnificent surrounding gardens and woods. The property has just over two acres of beautiful, private grounds. The chef’s kitchen features a Miele oven, a steam oven, a warming drawer, a Wolf range, and a SubZero refrigerator.
Ambient light and finely designed interior fixtures blend together to accentuate the overall sense of continuity. Here, the office’s leather and steel accents provide a subtle contrast to other design features like the wide plank oak flooring that runs throughout. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 57
Travel Mediterranean
An alley in the fishing village of Binibeca Vell.
Unspoiled Beauty
One of the Balearic Islands, Menorca offers low-key relaxation By Tim Johnson
I
t was safe passage that made the small island of Menorca famous. In the ancient Mediterranean Sea, there was no better place to ride out a storm. When the squalls buffeted and the waves hammered against your hull, there was always Mahon, one of the world’s greatest harbors, with miles of shelter. But our captain, Francisco, couldn’t have been calmer as he piloted us through an inlet called Fornells. His feet on the outer deck of the llaut, a traditional Menorcan craft, he enjoyed the fresh air while reaching through an open window to manipulate the controls. “I grew up on the water,” he told me through an interpreter. “I learned to sail as a kid. It’s very typical here on this island.” One of the Balearic Islands—a small, Spanish archipelago with four major inhabited islands
58 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea— Menorca is sometimes overshadowed by its larger neighbor, Mallorca. Its name (which is sometimes spelled Minorca) literally means “smaller island.” But despite the fact that they’re separated by just 40 miles and easily visible from one another, the two are worlds apart. Far from bustling, big-city Palma, Menorca’s entire population is less than 100,000 people, dotted with small villages and anchored by two larger towns, Ciutadella on one side, and Mahon on the other. The settlement there dates back thousands of years. Many civilizations blew through on the trade winds—Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, pirates, Moors, and Ottomans. “When you’re in the Western Mediterranean and you’re low on fuel and food and water, you always come to Mahon,” my guide Carolina said. “Deep and six kilometers [3.7 miles] long. It’s unique in the world.” The island’s earliest inhabitants came from
MADRID
SPAIN
MENORCA
Menorca is a nature lover’s paradise. It received a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve designation.
Travel Mediterranean
FROM TOP L: XAVI MARTIN/SHUTTERSTOCK, THE EPOCH TIMES, DAVID VIVES/ UNSPLASHED, LUCA FLORIO/UNSPLASHED, TERESA FERNANDEZ/UNSPLASH
Mallorca and built curious-looking tombs called “navetas,” which still dot the island. Archaeologists thought they resembled overturned ships— the word translates to “little ship” in Catalan. One has been fully restored and is open to visitors. “This could be considered the oldest building in Europe,” Carolina said as we walked around the impressive pile of stones. She noted that it dates back to 1,000 B.C. and that as many as 100 people were buried there. Later, on a walking tour of the picturesque town of Ciutadella on the other side of the island, Carolina pointed out more of the architectural quirks that spring from a very long history, including the island’s cathedral, built over a mosque—its bell tower was once a minaret. Trade brought great wealth, evidenced by two impressive palaces, owned by the two richest families in town, fronting Born Square with its obelisk and Gothic town hall. With great diversity and access to fresh ingredients from land and sea comes excellent food. Descending down a curving lane out of the labyrinthine streets of Ciutadella’s old town, I sat down to lunch at Restaurante Aquarium, with its tables spread under the sun next to the harbor. Chef Lucas Garcia came out, a bundle of energy and good cheer. He was trained at the famed Culinary Institute of America and was once employed in posh kitchens in Silicon Valley. But he eventually returned to his hometown. The seafood comes out in a flurry, all of it sourced locally—octopus, cuttlefish, mussels, and a “blind” seafood paella, with all of the shellfish already peeled and ready to eat. Garcia points out that they make a now-prized “caldereta,” a stew cooked with spiny lobster. But when
Favaritx lighthouse, located in the northeast of the island.
his grandfather, a fisherman, first came to this island, they were actually giving lobster out for free with drinks at a local bar. And while the food is good, the culinary experience on Menorca always goes beyond the food itself. There, a meal is always a social affair. “Nobody eats standing up,” he said. “It’s a cultural experience.” Those cultural and culinary experiences continued throughout my days there—wine tastings and massive meals. One day included a mayonnaise tasting, a chef making the sauce with local olive oil by hand. This simple concoction—eggs, oil, salt—was born there, but has since spread all around the world. The chef offered four types with fresh bread for dipping, including one smoked with pine needles, one with melon and fig, another with shrimp, and the last one mixed with capers. And far from the main road, deep into the rolling fields down a tiny country lane, the next day I sat down to breakfast at Son Piris, a dairy farm and cheese factory. “We have been making cheese on this island since prehistorical times,” Lucia, the owner, told me. The cows are milked twice a day and the product is still made by hand. And it remains fresh and pure. “Because we’re an island, we’re isolated from other bacteria,” she said. Menorca is smaller than Mallorca, yes. But it’s deep on history, big on experiences, and, maybe more than anything, huge on flavors. Tim Johnson is based in Toronto. He has visited 140 countries across all seven continents.
Balcony with a view: the sea at sunset in the village of Son Bou.
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Menorca is home to
types of birds and some 1,000 plant species.
If You Go Getting Around: While public transit can shuttle you around the towns, you’ll probably want a rental car to reach the rural corners of the island. Stay: Set on the water with small, comfortable rooms overlooking the pool, the sea, and the village, Hotel Artiem Carlos is within walking distance of some of Mahon’s best bars and restaurants. If you’re looking for a more pastoral luxury stay, Hotel Torralbenc offers luxury accommodations in a former farm, now converted into a high-end winery.
The port town of Ciutadella was Menorca’s capital until the arrival of the British in the 18th century. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 59
A CAREFULLY CURATED SELECTION FOR THE WORLD’S BEST DADS
FATHER’S DAY GIFT GUIDE
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Dads have the hardest and best job of all; they are our coaches, best friends, and lifelong heroes. Show your gratitude on Father’s Day. By Bill Lindsey 1 FULTON & ROARKE SOLID COLOGNE
Cologne is a traditional Father’s Day gift, but here’s a new and much-improved idea. These solid, wax-based fragrances are easy to use and will never spill or dry up. A wide variety of scents guarantees that you can find one that he and Mom will love. $60 at FultonAndRoarke.com
2
FLAVIAR ALL ACCESS MEMBERSHIP
Keep Dad in good spirits for the coming year. This subscription club allows him to choose from more than 1,500 spirits for his Tasting Box of samples, a full bottle, or both. The annual all-access membership includes a total of eight products of his choice, delivered quarterly, and allows access to the monthly Vault of Rare Spirits. $349 at Flaviar.com
3 MANLY BANDS THE OVERLORD
A wedding band is more than jewelry; it’s a statement of faith. Manly Bands’s vast collection uses “manly” materials from tungsten to real dinosaur bone. Size exchanges are easy, and each band also comes with a silicone ring for Dad to swap in when he’s operating power tools. $275 at ManlyBands.com
4 MONTEGRAPPA AGE OF DISCOVERY FOUNTAIN PEN
Dad can chart his own course with this pen, and its con60 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
cealed mini magnetic compass. Shaped like a mariner’s telescope, it’s the first wayfinding complication ever incorporated on a Montegrappa writing instrument. It’ll keep him happily occupied during even the dullest meetings. $4,250 at Bittner.com
5 GOSUN FUSION HYBRID SOLAR OVEN
Whether Dad’s a BBQ king or a wanna-be prepper, he’ll enjoy this innovative system powered by nature. It can bake, boil, or fry a meal for eight to perfection by harnessing the sun’s rays. Rainy day? No problem— it can also be powered by the included 12V adapter. $449 at GoSun.co
6
AXIL GS EXTREME
Chainsaws, lawnmowers, and electric saws can lead to hearing loss, making this hearing protection a thoughtful gift. It blocks loud noise while amplifying soft sounds, such as Mom calling him to do the dishes, and connects to phones via Bluetooth so he can take calls and listen to music while working. $199.99 at GoAXIL.com
7
U-BOAT WORX SUPER SUB
What dad wouldn’t want his own submarine? The perfect gift for the hard-to-please guy comfortably allows him and two passengers to explore depths of up to 300 meters for
up to eight hours. The forward bubble and fighter-jet style seating ensure comfort and an unimpeded view of the wonders below the surface. Contact for pricing at UBoatWorx.com
8
CAR POOL TABLE
A game of pool will never be the same after Dad plays his first game on this billiard table. Choose from a 1965 Ford Mustang, a 1959 Corvette, a 1965 Shelby GT-350, or a 1969 Camaro Z28 pool table; they’re so authentic they come with real VIN numbers. From $17,995 at CarPoolTables.com
9
PERSONAL RISE GARDEN
Growing vegetables is a noble pursuit, but not every dad has a green thumb. This ingenious garden system uses apps that make it easy. The Wi-Fi-enabled system guides watering, feeding, and all other steps needed for a perfect harvest. $279 at RiseGardens.com
10 AVIATOR EGG POD EASY CHAIR
Invented by Henrik ThorLarsen way back in 1968, this unique chair creates a timeless, compact man cave. The innovative design influenced by a DC-3 provides privacy while Dad relaxes on the soft leather upholstery. Seen in the movie “Men in Black,” it’s perhaps the ultimate man chair. $3,815 at RusticDeco.com
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I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 61
Epoch Booklist RECOMMENDED READING FICTION
‘The Firm’
By John Grisham
The Ultimate Legal Thriller When Mitch McDeere graduates from Harvard Law School, he has the opportunity to join any law firm he likes. He prefers a small, but prominent one. His dream job becomes a nightmare as he finds himself pinned between the Mafia, the FBI, and colleague loyalty. ISLAND BOOKS, 1992, 432 PAGES
HUMOR
‘Three Men in a Boat’
By Jerome K. Jerome
Bumbling Down a River Jerome intended his book (1889) as a travel guide, but it developed into a grand comedy as three young men from London who were “all feeling seedy” set off on a two-week boating excursion down the River Thames. Along with
This week, we feature a bestselling legal drama, a collection of classic detective mysteries, and the story of how a British diplomat covertly fought the Confederacy.
a dog, Montmorency, the bachelors battle inclement weather, fumble with meal preparations, and meet with other disasters, but it’s Jerome’s deadpan prose that provides most of the hilarity. Regarded by critics and general readers alike as one of the funniest novels in the English language. WARBLER CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED, 2020, 211 PAGES
HISTORY
‘Our Man in Charleston’
By Christopher Dickey
Why Britain Never Recognized the Confederacy Robert Bunch was Great Britain’s consul (1853– 1863) in Charleston, South Carolina. He detested slavery, but concealed this to protect free black British citizens. Once the Civil War started, he reported the Southern plans to export slavery. Despite Confederate denials, they hoped to create new slave states in the Caribbean and Central America and reinstitute the Atlantic slave trade. This was a major reason Britain never recognized the South. A don’t-miss book for Civil War buffs. CROWN PUBLISHERS, 2015, 400 PAGES
62 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
Are there books you’d recommend? We’d love to hear from you. Let us know at features@epochtimes.com
SCIENCE
‘Aesop’s Animals’
By Jo Wimpenny
Zoology as Seen Through Fable In his fables, Aesop used anthropomorphic animals to deliver his message. How accurate were his depictions of animals? Wimpenny, a zoologist turned writer, answers this question through the lens of modern zoology. She uses nine fables as a springboard to examine the behavior of these animals and related species. Her approach is whimsical and amusing, yet factfilled and highly readable. She’s as accurate as she is entertaining. BLOOMSBURY SIGMA, 2021, 368 PAGES
CLASSICS
‘Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes’
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A World of Mysteries When one thinks of detectives, one
must think of Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective created by the great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He used as a premise the art of deductive reasoning for his protagonist to solve crimes. Follow the many adventures of Holmes and his assistant, Dr. Watson, as they solve all types of mysteries. WORDSWORTH EDITIONS, 2008, 1408 PAGES
‘Kim’
By Rudyard Kipling
On the Road in India Remembered today for his poetry and children’s books, Kipling also wrote novels for older readers. In “Kim,” we meet an orphan and street urchin, the son of a British soldier, who’s drawn both to the British Secret Service and to a wise Tibetan Lama. As Kim follows his quest to discover his life’s path, Kipling also paints a vivid description of India at the time: its people, its customs, and the rough, tumultuous life on its streets, as well as “The Great Game” of Russian–British espionage. This book is recommended for ages 14 to adult. PUFFIN BOOKS REPRINT EDITION, 2011, 400 PAGES
FOR KIDS
‘Tikki Tikki Tembo’
By Arlene Mosel, illustrations by Blair Lent
What’s in a Name? Written in 1968 and based on a Chinese folktale, “Tikki Tikki Tembo” beckons readers to recall through repetition the distinguished name of a family’s first-born son: “Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo.” SQUARE FISH, 2007, 48 PAGES
‘Watership Down’
By Richard Adams
Heroism and High Adventure With their warren threatened by destruction, a band of rabbits sets out on a perilous journey to seek a new home. This tale of their sometimesbrutal trek offers young readers inspiring lessons in courage, fortitude, and ingenuity. SCRIBNER REPRINT EDITION, 2005, 476 PAGES
Ian Kane is a U.S. Army veteran, filmmaker, and author. He enjoys the great outdoors and volunteering.
MOVIE REVIEWS
Epoch Watchlist
This week, we recommend a powerful drama about a convict who trains a wild mustang, as well as the critically acclaimed sequel to “Top Gun.”
NEW RELEASE
FAMILY PICK
‘Belle & Sebastian’ (2013)
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ (2022) Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is tasked to train a small group of Top Gun graduates for a dangerous mission. But lingering issues from his past may interfere with the future success of his plans. Just like the original 1986 hit film, this one comes at the perfect time. Not only is this movie’s unabashed patriotism refreshing, but it contains some fantastically shot aerial combat scenes. It also has a powerfully moving storyline, which, along with its ensemble cast, delivers some emotionally charged and realistic scenes.
ACTION | DR AMA
Release Date: May 27, 2022 Directors: Joseph Kosinski Starring: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller Running Time: 2 hours, 11 minutes MPAA Rating: PG-13 Where to Watch: Theaters
ICONIC EPIC FROM JAPAN original “men on a mission” extravaganza. This film is one of the most imitated underdog films ever. ACTION | DRAMA
‘Seven Samurai’ (1956) Seven samurai gather to defend a village from a gang of bandits. As the bandits prepare for a big assault, the samurai wonder if they
have enough time to train the villagers to defend themselves. If you’re tired of the glut of superhero franchise films, go back and watch the
Release Date: Nov. 19, 1956 Director: Akira Kurosawa Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima Running Time: 3 hours, 27 minutes Not Rated Where to Watch: HBO Max, Vudu, Criterion
In 1943, Sébastien (Félix Bossuet) is a young orphan who lives in a village in the French Alps, along with his grandfather César (Tchéky Karyo) and aunt Angélina (Margaux Chatelier). When sheep from around the village are found dead, residents go on the hunt for stray dogs. But Sébastien finds the dog first and befriends it. Will they discover his secret? This French film is both gripping and heartwarming as Sébastien’s bond with
the dog is put to the test. It’s an ultimately uplifting tale—perfect for older kids and adults. ADVENTURE | DR AMA | FAMILY
Release Date: Dec. 18, 2013 France Director: Nicolas Vanier Starring: Félix Bossuet, Tchéky Karyo, Margaux Chatelier Running Time: 1 hour, 44 minutes Not Rated Where to Watch: Tubi, Roku, Redbox
POWERFUL DRAMA ABOUT REDEMPTION AND FORGIVENESS
‘Mustang’ (2019) Roman (Matthias Schoenaerts) is a convict who enters a prison rehabilitation program that involves training wild horses. He’s paired with a mustang he names Marquis. As Roman begins to bond with Marquis, he reestablishes his relationship with his daughter, but everything is soon thrown into jeopardy. This cinematic feast is deeply stirring without being sentimental. It also doesn’t overemphasize the misery of prison life,
but instead offers an uplifting experience about family and forgiveness. DR AMA
Release Date: June 4, 2019 Director: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre Starring: Matthias Schoenaerts, Jason Mitchell, Bruce Dern Running Time: 1 hour, 36 minutes MPAA Rating: R Where to Watch: HBO Max, DirecTV, Redbox
I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 63
HOME AWAY from home By Sandy Lindsey
Low interest rates have made having a vacation home/rental property an option for many 64 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
A second home may start off as a vacation home or an income property, and later in life become your retirement home.
Lifestyle Second Homes
FROM L: JEREMY POLAND/GETTY IMAGES, THE GOOD BRIGADE/ GETTY IMAGES, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOMESERVICES
R
eal estate experts all say the three most important factors in choosing a property, particularly a second home, are: location, location, and location. With our ability to travel to the other side of the globe in a matter of hours, a second home can be anywhere. However, some practical issues need to be considered, such as how often it will be used; a second home located a few hours away by car will most likely be used more often than one that’s on the other side of the globe. Access became a real issue for many after 9/11. Finances need to be considered as well. Which raises the question: What and where is your ideal second home? Low interest rates and limited supply have made U.S. properties in some markets overvalued, while relative bargains may be available abroad. European properties have their own particular élan, such as Villa Gina on Italy’s Lake Como, near actor George Clooney’s second home. It was built in 1766 by an aristocratic Austrian family and owned in the 20th century by the family of artist Baldassare Longoni, with several of his paintings being displayed in the home. Buying in a foreign country is a longterm investment, requiring careful research; analyze the area trends over the past decade and research market forecasts. Also, look into local laws regarding everything from whether the property allows you to work in the country should you wish to inheritance laws for your heirs. Working with a top real estate attorney to decipher all the contractual jargon and terms is a must. The ultimate second home may well be a castle, and many are actually available for sale. Evoking images of a romantic past, Chateau de Bochat was built at the beginning of the 15th century for the nobility of the exclusive town of Paudex, Switzerland. Set against the backdrop of a serene lake with passing boats, lush mountains, and a private park of 3.5 acres, it’s close to the city of Lausanne, schools, and all modern amenities. But before you get your checkbook out, it must be noted that while this property inspires rest and relaxation, it’s in need of a major restoration.
Let’s Talk Dollars In an ideal world, a buyer should have their financing in place so that they can jump on notable properties, such as Algonac, the historic Delano mansion, home to former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s mother, Sarah Delano Roosevelt, in Newburgh, New York, now available for the first time in more than 60 years. One of the most popular ways to finance a second home is home equity financing of a primary residence to quickly free up a large amount of cash at a relatively low interest rate. Other options include a traditional second home loan, seller financing, developer financing, and tapping into one’s 401(k). You’ll want to talk to your accountant about tax ramifications before you do that, particularly if you’re using retirement funds to buy overseas.
A home equity loan on your primary residence may allow you to purchase a second home in a vacation destination. When considering a second home, consider its potential to generate income as a rental when you aren’t using it.
Working with a top real estate attorney to decipher all the contractual jargon and terms is a must. I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022 65
Lifestyle Second Homes
LIFESTYLE
ADD ANOTHER HOME Consider a 2nd residence for vacations, an income stream, or both
A view of the drawing room in Algonac, the historic Delano mansion in Newburgh, New York.
Co-Owners The term fractional ownership may bring up nightmares of 1980s timeshares, but going into a property with family, friends, and/or business associates may make financial sense. Traditionally, multiple owners take out a group mortgage, dividing the down payment and monthly payments among the group. However, fractional financing in shares ranging from 1/20th to half ownership might be another option, particularly if your group is relatively small. As one example, fractional financing could be used to purchase large property or even a corporate retreat such as a meticulously maintained home located in Edwards, Colorado, which sits on 145 useable acres only 30 minutes from Vail’s ski lifts, boasting a well-stocked fishing pond and 10 miles of hiking, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling trails.
The best second homes actually pay for themselves by being rental properties. Location is the key; you need a locale with an active flow of tourists. You also need the right property, with not just ambiance, but the right number of bedrooms. The Florida Keys are one area where almost anything you buy will be 66 I N S I G H T May 20–26, 2022
What Do You Want? in high demand, from a studio apartment all the way up to a 14.5-acre tropical compound with more than 1,000 feet of private beaches and a quartermile-long grand entrance surrounded by beautiful exotic trees. Properties such as this will be so booked up that you’ll find that you’re barely able to schedule it for your own use.
There’s no wrong answer: A second home can be a single-family house, a duplex, or a condominium unit. It's all about what you want and how you plan to use it.
Some Last Matters Before you pack your bags for your dream vacation home, such as Le Castelet, one of the oldest properties in Provence, France, featuring panoramic views of Cannes and ancient Roman foundations, you’ll need to deal with some additional practical concerns, such as insurance, maintenance, utilities, and furnishings. There are tax benefits to owning property both domestic and abroad, particularly if you rent it out at least part of the time, but that’s for your financial adviser to determine based on your particular situation. If you take away one thing from this article, it should be that whatever you choose, a second home should be a place where the vacation never ends. Sandy Lindsey is an award-winning writer who covers home, gardening, DIY projects, pets, and boating. She has two books with McGraw-Hill.
2 Where Will It Be? Depending on personal preferences, a second home can be located anywhere in the world. Consider how often you plan to use it and how long it takes to get there.
3 How Will You Use It? Consider if you plan to use your second home as a winter/ summer home, for retirement, or as a rental property.
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES
Make It a Moneymaker
1
Children’s Restaurant Manners How to be ‘that family’ dining in restaurants with well-behaved children
Good manners are not just for children to use at home; they allow entry to many delightful scenarios, such as enjoying a meal at a fine restaurant. Do your children a favor by teaching them proper public dining behavior. By Bill Lindsey
4 Help Them Order
1 Be Realistic Age matters—there should be different expectations for a child at age 5 versus a 15-year-old teenager. A very young child may become bored, tired, cranky, or all three at once. For this reason, it may not be appropriate to bring a very young child to a “nice” restaurant, or even the neighborhood burger joint, out of consideration to fellow diners. Wait until they can complete a semi-formal family dinner, such as during the holidays, without incident.
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2 Smiling Faces Just as in the home, children need to arrive at the restaurant table with clean hands, freshly combed or brushed hair, and clean, appropriate clothes. Dressing right is part of the overall learning experience. Firmly advise them that double-dipping from sauce ramekins or using their hands to grab bread from the breadbasket isn’t acceptable. This is also a good time to teach them that burping and boisterous behavior aren’t condoned.
3 Say Please Children need to be pleasant meal-sharers, passing the food around the table when asked, using the proper utensils to serve themselves if they’re able to do so and saying “please” and “thank you” to those who assist them if they can’t. They also need to know that being respectful and thanking servers isn’t optional. This is where it’s critical that you and all other adults at the table provide a good example.
Ordering from the menu is a big deal for kids, but they may need some helpful supervision at first. You’re not doing them any favors by allowing them to order whatever they want. For starters, they may not eat what they ordered, which is a waste of food and money. Or they could run amuck, ordering a Maine lobster or a $150 wagyu steak. Helping them choose wisely will boost their confidence.
5 No Phones or Toys Children need to respect the dining experience in any restaurant. Firmly enforce a “no phones or electronic toys at the table” rule for everyone, with no exceptions. Encourage the kids to politely interact with others at the table by being part of the conversation. Don’t allow them to sit there unhappily sulking or staring out the window. This is another opportunity for the adults to provide a good example.
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