(FREE) PAINE IN THE MORNING: 9 things you need to know this Wednesday – April 20, 2022

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Oil From Biden’s Emergency SPR Release Is Heading For Europe – Joe Biden’s decision to release 180 million barrels of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve – one million barrels per day for 180 days, ending just before the midterm elections which the Democrats will lose in an avalanche – was meant to help lower US gasoline prices “because Putin price hike.” Instead, it is heading for Europe.

According to Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter, the Suezmax ship Advantage Spring – sailing for Rotterdam, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg – received emergency SPR sweet crude from Energy Transfer’s Nederland oil facility around April 1 for export. – READ MORE

EU To Impose Full Embargo On Russian Oil Next Week, Will Send Price Above $185 According To JPMorgan – Despite the clear intentions of western government to cripple Russian energy production, loadings of Russian oil have so far been surprisingly resilient, so much so that Russia’s current account balance is at all time highs.

According to JPMorgan, shipments in the seven days to April 16 hit 7.3 mbd, only 330 kbd below the 7.58 mbd averaged in February before the start of the war. Remarkably, JPM calculates that Russian crude exports are averaging 360 kbd above pre-invasion volumes, while exports of oil products like fuel oil, naphtha, and VGO have declined by 700 kbd – READ MORE

Biden White House: Pay higher energy taxes for green transition – The White House said Americans should pay higher taxes to ensure a rapid green transition away from fossil fuels in a report on President Joe Biden’s economic record.

The federal government can encourage such a shift through carbon taxes or a cap and trade system forcing an emissions limit on companies, said the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) report released last week. The White House added that consumers would continue purchasing “artificially inexpensive, carbon-intensive goods” without proper government policies in place. – READ MORE

Biden planning Global COVID Summit to ‘vaccinate the world’ – Despite the failure of the COVID-19 vaccines to stop infection and transmission of the virus mid alarming safety signals, President Biden is calling on the world’s political and private sector leaders to meet for a second COVID “summit” to “make new commitments and bring solutions to vaccinate the world.”

The White House said in a statement Monday that the second second Global COVID-19 Summit will be held virtually May 12. – READ MORE

Poland will not take or pay for any more COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer – Poland has informed the European Commission and the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer that it will no longer accept nor pay for any more COVID-19 vaccines for now, Poland’s health minister said Tuesday.

The decision to stop taking vaccine doses will set up a legal battle under a supply contract the European Union has negotiated with vaccine manufacturers. – READ MORE

Biden’s Child Tax Credit Backfires As Millions See Smaller IRS Refund, Owe More Money – Millions of Americans may have been unpleasantly surprised to find smaller tax refunds, or even learn they owe Uncle Sam this year, and one taxpayer advocate group says President Joe Biden’s child tax credit program is to blame.

On Tuesday, Just the News reported that the National Taxpayer Advocate released its annual Congressional report, noting that the federal program has helped create millions of backlogged tax returns at the IRS. – READ MORE

Inside The Ukraine-Induced Defense Contractor ‘Gold Rush’ At The Pentagon – The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought immense suffering to the people of that land, while sparking calls for increased military spending in both the United States and Europe. Though that war may prove to be a tragedy for the world, one group is already benefiting from it: U.S. arms contractors.

Even before hostilities broke out, the CEOs of major weapons firms were talking about how tensions in Europe could pad their profits. In a January 2022 call with his company’s investors, Raytheon Technologies CEO Greg Hayes typically bragged that the prospect of conflict in Eastern Europe and other global hot spots would be good for business, adding that “we are seeing, I would say, opportunities for international sales… [T]he tensions in Eastern Europe, the tensions in the South China Sea, all of those things are putting pressure on some of the defense spending over there. So I fully expect we’re going to see some benefit from it.” – READ MORE

The Monopoly On Your Mind: These 6 Companies Control 90% Of What You Read, Watch, & Hear – As regulations around ownership have continued to loosen over the last 40 years, the power over the media has become increasingly concentrated. A major culprit is the Telecommunications Act signed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1996, which 72% of the public didn’t even know about and no one voted on.

Today, Comcast, Disney, AT&T, Sony, Fox, and Paramount Global control 90% of what you watch, read, or listen to. These companies spend millions on lobbying each year to sway legislation in their favor. – READ MORE