The periodic survey, released on Nov. 25, reveals an upward revision in economic growth projections for both this year and the next, compared to the last time the panel of 38 professional economic forecasters was polled in September. Specifically, the current forecast calls for real inflation-adjusted gross domestic product to increase by 2.7 percent in 2024, up from the 2.6 percent the panelists expected several months ago. The economists’ prediction for 2025 is even more optimistic, forecasting a 2.0 percent pace of growth, up 0.2 percentage points from the 1.8 percent growth they expected a few months before the November election.

“In addition, the largest share of respondents—44 percent—now sees the risks surrounding the outlook as balanced, whereas a majority of respondents in the previous survey thought downside risks were more likely than balanced or upside risks,” NABE president Emily Kolinski Morris said in a statement.

Most of the panelists also expect inflation to cool further, predicting that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) will slow to 2.3 percent in annual terms by the end of 2025, and the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index, will come in at 2.1 percent by that time. Slowing inflation means more room for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, which the panelists expect will take place “gradually but consistently.”

Fed policymakers focus more on core PCE, which excludes the volatile categories of food and energy, when assessing inflation trends as this gauge provides a more stable measure of underlying inflation pressures.

This week will see the release of PCE inflation data for October, with the latest report for September showing that core PCE remained unchanged from August at 2.7 percent year over year, although it jumped by 0.3 percent month over month, up from August’s 0.1 percent increase.

While the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s inflation nowcasting model indicates a near-term increase in core PCE inflation, it hints at a gradual decline later, aligning with the Federal Reserve’s latest Summary of Economic Projections, which foresees a downward trajectory for core PCE in both 2024 and 2025.

The Cleveland Fed’s inflation model, updated on Nov. 25, estimates that core PCE inflation rose to 2.76 percent in October and will have risen to 2.90 percent by the end of November. At the same time, the nowcast sees the core PCE month-over-month readings declining from 0.24 percent in October to 0.23 percent in November, suggesting the onset of a potential downward trend, which would be consistent with the view of the NABE economists and Fed officials.

In their latest Summary of Economic Projections, released in September, Fed policymakers expected core PCE to fall to 2.6 percent by the end of 2024, a drop from the 2.8 percent they projected in June. They also lowered their projections for core PCE in 2025, expecting it to come in at 2.2 percent, lower than the 2.3 percent they forecast during the summer and 0.1 percentage point higher than the NABE panel’s prediction for next year.

The increase in optimism about the future of the U.S. economy expressed by NABE forecasters dovetails with a jump in positive sentiment expressed by consumers and members of the business community alike.

The latest S&P Global Flash PMI survey of the manufacturing and service industries, released on Nov. 22, showed a broad-based improvement in year-ahead business confidence, which was particularly notable in U.S. factories, where it hit a 31-month high.

“The business mood has brightened in November, with confidence about the year ahead hitting a two-and-a-half year high,” Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a statement. “The prospect of lower interest rates and a more pro-business approach from the incoming administration has fueled greater optimism, in turn helping drive output and order book inflows higher in November.”

The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey, released on Nov. 22, showed an uptick in consumer confidence, while year-ahead inflation expectations eased.

Called Genesis, the book is a blueprint for the godless future that Schmidt and Kissinger envision, one without any acknowledgement or inclusion of God as Creator. Instead, Schmidt and Kissinger, the latter of which is now receiving his eternal consequences in the afterlife, want the world to be godless and robotic so they and their spawn can remain on the proverbial throne forever.

The Trilateral Commission has been architecting this dystopian future for many decades, it turns out. And now its members want the general public to know about it and to prepare accordingly.

The plan is to have AI actually produce fake “superhuman” people, though they will not actually be people but rather human-like automatons that are completely obedient to the powers that be (TPTB). The reason they are fessing up at this time is probably because they no longer fear that their plans will be derailed by We the People.

“Kissinger’s co-authors, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and longtime Microsoft senior executive Craig Mundie, finished the combined work after Kissinger’s death,” writes Ryan Lovelace of The Washington Times, which obtained an advance copy of the book. “Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Mundie wrote they were among the last people to speak with Kissinger and sought to honor his dying request to finish the manuscript.”

“The authors offer a bracing message, warning that AI tools have already started outpacing human capabilities so people might need to consider biologically engineering themselves to ensure they are not rendered inferior or wiped out by advanced machines.”

(Related: Just a few weeks before he died at the ripe old age of 100, Kissinger was complaining about all the migrants he helped usher into Europe because suddenly they were protesting for Palestine.)

Humans becoming obsolete

Kissinger’s perspective sees humans as irrelevant or obsolete, thanks to the rise of AI and everything technological that surrounds it. An entire section of his book is devoted to the thesis that humans need to start thinking now about “trying to navigate our role when we will no longer be the only or even the principal actors on our planet.”

“Biological engineering efforts designed for tighter human fusion with machines are already underway.”

What Kissinger et al. mean by this is that in the coming days, new brain-computer interfaces will be installed into people’s bodies to turn them into human-AI hybrid machines. Tesla’s Elon Musk, who is now part of the incoming Trump administration’s “DOGE” plan for cleaning up Washington, is at the forefront of creating these brain-computer interfaces with Neuralink.

“Such interfaces allow for a direct link between the brain’s electrical signals and a device that processes them to accomplish a given task, such as controlling a battleship,” Lovelace explains about how it works.

Kissinger et al. are also eager to see a new world order filled with genetically “superior” people whose bodies have been specifically engineered to work better with the latest emerging AI tools. When that happens, the human race will “split into multiple lines, some infinitely more powerful than others,” the book says.

“Altering the genetic code of some humans to become superhuman carries with it other moral and evolutionary risks,” the book’s authors further write.

“If AI is responsible for the augmentation of human mental capacity, it could create in humanity a simultaneous biological and psychological reliance on ‘foreign’ intelligence.”

More related news about the dystopian future (and present) the globalists are architecting can be found at Globalism.news.

Sources for this article include:

• Technocracy.news
• NaturalNews.com

Special counsel Jack Smith moved to dismiss charges against Trump over his efforts to contest the 2020 election and his handling of classified material Monday. Lofgren bemoaned the fact that Trump was not indicted until 2023, asserting the Select January 6 Committee uncovered evidence of wrongdoing during an appearance on “Chris Jansing Reports.”

“Well, it was a huge mistake. Certainly, the committee found, you know, a lot of evidence without the tools that the Justice Department has that made it clear that Trump was at the center of this wide-ranging conspiracy,” Lofgren told MSNBC host Chris Jansing. “Why the Justice Department delayed until basically our report was done is something I’ve never understood. However, Trump and his lawyers are the masters of delay. So, even had the efforts begun in advance, who knows whether they wouldn’t have been able to drag them out. Justice delayed is, of course, justice denied.”

Smith secured a superseding indictment against Trump almost two months after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trump’s claims of immunity in a case stemming from a previous indictment of the former president over his efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election. Lofgren also took aim at Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who had opposed impeaching Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol building.

“When Mr. Trump was elected president, I think it became clear that this prosecution could not go forward,” Lofgren said. “You know, it’s ironic that the top Republican in the Senate pointed out in the impeachment that he should be prosecuted, that what he did was criminal and that the court should take care of it.”

“Of course, now there is no accountability either using the constitutional method of impeachment or the courts as Mitch McConnell suggested should be the case,” Lofgren claimed. “So, there is no accountability. The conduct was criminal, and we already knew that we had elected somebody who was a criminal because he was convicted multiple times in another case. So that’s where we are in America.”

A Manhattan jury of seven men and five women convicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsification of business records on May 30 in the case which centered around a $130,000 payout to porn star Stormy Daniels as part of a confidentiality agreement.

A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia handed down indictments Aug. 14, charging Trump and other associates over Trump’s efforts to contest the 2020 election results in that state. Attorneys for former Trump campaign aide Michael Roman filed a motion for Willis’s disqualification on Jan. 8 alleging that Willis, who hired Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor to help probe and prosecute the former president, was in a romantic relationship with him, with a judge later ruling that Wade had to withdraw from the case.

An appeals court cancelled oral arguments on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified due to the relationship with Wade Nov. 18.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].

Special counsel Jack Smith moved to dismiss charges against Trump over his efforts to contest the 2020 election and his handling of classified material Monday. Lofgren bemoaned the fact that Trump was not indicted until 2023, asserting the Select January 6 Committee uncovered evidence of wrongdoing during an appearance on “Chris Jansing Reports.”

“Well, it was a huge mistake. Certainly, the committee found, you know, a lot of evidence without the tools that the Justice Department has that made it clear that Trump was at the center of this wide-ranging conspiracy,” Lofgren told MSNBC host Chris Jansing. “Why the Justice Department delayed until basically our report was done is something I’ve never understood. However, Trump and his lawyers are the masters of delay. So, even had the efforts begun in advance, who knows whether they wouldn’t have been able to drag them out. Justice delayed is, of course, justice denied.”

Smith secured a superseding indictment against Trump almost two months after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trump’s claims of immunity in a case stemming from a previous indictment of the former president over his efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election. Lofgren also took aim at Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who had opposed impeaching Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol building.

“When Mr. Trump was elected president, I think it became clear that this prosecution could not go forward,” Lofgren said. “You know, it’s ironic that the top Republican in the Senate pointed out in the impeachment that he should be prosecuted, that what he did was criminal and that the court should take care of it.”

“Of course, now there is no accountability either using the constitutional method of impeachment or the courts as Mitch McConnell suggested should be the case,” Lofgren claimed. “So, there is no accountability. The conduct was criminal, and we already knew that we had elected somebody who was a criminal because he was convicted multiple times in another case. So that’s where we are in America.”

A Manhattan jury of seven men and five women convicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsification of business records on May 30 in the case which centered around a $130,000 payout to porn star Stormy Daniels as part of a confidentiality agreement.

A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia handed down indictments Aug. 14, charging Trump and other associates over Trump’s efforts to contest the 2020 election results in that state. Attorneys for former Trump campaign aide Michael Roman filed a motion for Willis’s disqualification on Jan. 8 alleging that Willis, who hired Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor to help probe and prosecute the former president, was in a romantic relationship with him, with a judge later ruling that Wade had to withdraw from the case.

An appeals court cancelled oral arguments on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified due to the relationship with Wade Nov. 18.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].

Special counsel Jack Smith moved to dismiss charges against Trump over his efforts to contest the 2020 election and his handling of classified material Monday. Lofgren bemoaned the fact that Trump was not indicted until 2023, asserting the Select January 6 Committee uncovered evidence of wrongdoing during an appearance on “Chris Jansing Reports.”

“Well, it was a huge mistake. Certainly, the committee found, you know, a lot of evidence without the tools that the Justice Department has that made it clear that Trump was at the center of this wide-ranging conspiracy,” Lofgren told MSNBC host Chris Jansing. “Why the Justice Department delayed until basically our report was done is something I’ve never understood. However, Trump and his lawyers are the masters of delay. So, even had the efforts begun in advance, who knows whether they wouldn’t have been able to drag them out. Justice delayed is, of course, justice denied.”

Smith secured a superseding indictment against Trump almost two months after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trump’s claims of immunity in a case stemming from a previous indictment of the former president over his efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election. Lofgren also took aim at Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who had opposed impeaching Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol building.

“When Mr. Trump was elected president, I think it became clear that this prosecution could not go forward,” Lofgren said. “You know, it’s ironic that the top Republican in the Senate pointed out in the impeachment that he should be prosecuted, that what he did was criminal and that the court should take care of it.”

“Of course, now there is no accountability either using the constitutional method of impeachment or the courts as Mitch McConnell suggested should be the case,” Lofgren claimed. “So, there is no accountability. The conduct was criminal, and we already knew that we had elected somebody who was a criminal because he was convicted multiple times in another case. So that’s where we are in America.”

A Manhattan jury of seven men and five women convicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsification of business records on May 30 in the case which centered around a $130,000 payout to porn star Stormy Daniels as part of a confidentiality agreement.

A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia handed down indictments Aug. 14, charging Trump and other associates over Trump’s efforts to contest the 2020 election results in that state. Attorneys for former Trump campaign aide Michael Roman filed a motion for Willis’s disqualification on Jan. 8 alleging that Willis, who hired Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor to help probe and prosecute the former president, was in a romantic relationship with him, with a judge later ruling that Wade had to withdraw from the case.

An appeals court cancelled oral arguments on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified due to the relationship with Wade Nov. 18.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has responded to these reports, outlining Monday that Moscow has not ruled out sending medium- and shorter-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region in order to mirror the United States.

It’s also the case that earlier this year Washington deployed a new intermediate-range land-based missile system to the Philippines. The system, called Typhon, is able to fire nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles – and has gotten both Russia’s and China’s attention.

Such a Russian deployment would be in retaliation, and would likely have the blessing of Beijing in such an escalation scenario. “Of course, this is one of the options that has also been repeatedly mentioned,” Ryabkov explained.

“The appearance of such US systems in any region of the world will determine our next steps, including in the field of organizing a military and military-technical response.”

Ryabkov then stressed in the remarks to reporters that all of this depends entirely on the US policy. He urged against the expansion of missile systems to the Pacific region.

“[Russian] President [Vladimir Putin] said what he said. The issue of placement is exhaustively reflected in his statement,” he said.

“As before, what is happening depends entirely on the choice that our opponents will make at this extremely alarming, very dangerous moment, and on the line that they will pursue,” the deputy foreign minister added.

Ryabkov further noted that at the moment there are no restrictions on the deployment of Russia’s new Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile, which have been touted as hypersonic and capable of reaching over Mach 10, under existing international obligations.

Britain and France are in talks to send troops to Ukraine to deter Vladimir Putin, it has emerged.

London and Paris want to create a “core of allies in Europe” as fears intensify that President-elect Donald Trump could withdraw military support for Ukraine.

This was one of the top stories on the Drudge Report today.

Our allies in Europe are making it very clear that they plan to continue with the war no matter what Donald Trump decides to do once he is inaugurated.

NATO’s top military official is warning that Europeans may have to make sacrifices in order to support Ukraine if Trump reduces the level of U.S. funding for the war…

Europeans must be ready to sacrifice some “luxuries” to pay to support Ukraine and to prevent a “wartime scenario” coming to the nations of the continent if they are insufficiently prepared, NATO’s most senior military officer said in a speech namechecking both Russia and China as threats.

Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, who probably has no idea what a real war looks like, is also encouraging European businesses to “adjust their production and distribution lines” for a wartime scenario…

A top NATO military official on Monday urged businesses to be prepared for a wartime scenario and adjust their production and distribution lines accordingly, in order to be less vulnerable to blackmail from countries such as Russia and China.

“If we can make sure that all crucial services and goods can be delivered no matter what, then that is a key part of our deterrence,” the chair of NATO’s military committee, Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, said in Brussels.

It certainly does not sound like he expects the war to end any time soon.

In fact, it very much sounds like he expects it to escalate significantly.

Meanwhile, the New York Times is reporting that the Biden administration has actually discussed giving nuclear weapons to Ukraine…

So U.S. and European officials are discussing deterrence as a possible security guarantee for Ukraine, such as stockpiling a conventional arsenal sufficient to strike a punishing blow if Russia violates a cease-fire.

Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such a step would be complicated and have serious implications.

Needless to say, the Biden administration should not be discussing such a thing, and the New York Times should not be printing such a thing.

If the Russians think that there is even a small chance that nuclear weapons are going to be given to Ukraine, that is going to make them even more paranoid than they are now.

Most people in the western world have no idea how the Russians view this conflict.  They were promised that NATO would not expand one inch eastward, and now NATO is right on their borders and long-range missiles provided by NATO are being fired into their territory.  The Russians truly believe that they are engaged in an existential struggle with western powers, and they also truly believe that those western powers want to overthrow their government and carve their beloved homeland up into dozens of little countries.  They have seen “regime change” happen in so many other nations in recent years, and now they fear that the exact same thing is being done to them.

If the Russians feel that they have been backed into a corner with no other options, they will use nuclear weapons.

Alarmingly, it is being reported that FEMA has just released “a spine-chilling survival guide for a nuclear attack”…

As global tensions mount, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency has released a spine-chilling survival guide for a nuclear attack amid the escalating Ukraine conflict and intensifying Middle Eastern disputes.

Echoing Cold War-era preparedness, the agency’s updated advice aims to shield Americans from the horrors of a nuclear explosion. A nuclear simulation grimly tallies the death toll should Russia target Washington DC with a nuke – the numbers are staggering, reports the Irish Star.

If the Russians use nuclear weapons on U.S. soil, they won’t just hit one city.

Instead, they would hit hundreds of targets simultaneously, and America as we know it would cease to exist.

The Germans are so concerned about the possibility of all-out war with Russia that they are actually creating a list of bunkers that civilians could potentially use when missiles start falling…

Germany is drawing up a list of bunkers that could provide emergency shelter for civilians, the interior ministry has said, at a time of rising tensions with Russia.

The list would include underground train stations and car parks as well as state buildings and private properties, a ministry spokesperson said.

A digital directory of bunkers and emergency shelters will be drawn up so people can find them quickly using a planned phone app. People would also be encouraged to create protective shelters in their homes by converting basements and garages, the spokesperson told a press briefing.

I don’t know if they understand what they are potentially facing.

Those shelters may do some good if conventional weapons are used, but if nukes start flying entire cities will be pounded into oblivion.

Let us hope that cooler heads will prevail.

But for now, fighting continues to rage in Ukraine.  In fact, the Russians are telling us that they hit 149 locations inside Ukraine in just one 24 hour period…

Russian forces carried out strikes on Ukrainian military airfields, personnel and equipment over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) reported.

“Operational-tactical aviation, strike drones, missile forces, and artillery targeted the infrastructure of military airfields as well as concentrations of enemy personnel and military equipment in 149 locations,” the Mod said.

Even though we have been warned about this exact scenario for many, many years, we continue to march toward the unthinkable.

I don’t understand why so many people out there want an all-out war with Russia.

I hear from readers all the time that are absolutely obsessed with “defeating” the Russians.

But there will not be any winners in this war.

When push comes to shove, the Russians will use nuclear weapons, and by then it will be way too late for the warmongers to admit that they were wrong.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

The news report from Joe Kovacs at WND is below, but I wanted to state up front that this is the way. There will be fiscal conservatives who denounce the plan because of tariffs. I’m not a fan of tariffs as a general practice, either, but we cannot bear the full burden of stopping our border invasion. Doing so would be foolish and the easiest way to “encourage” cooperation with other countries is to give them incentives. In this case, the motivator will be steep tariffs and by golly it’s going to work. Here’s the news…

‘Ridiculous’: Trump Reveals Monumental Action He’ll Take on Day One in Office

President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday evening one of the first major actions he will take on his first day in office: “Charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States” due to their “ridiculous Open Borders.”

“As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before,” Trump said on Truth Social.

“Right now a Caravan coming from Mexico, composed of thousands of people, seems to be unstoppable in its quest to come through our currently Open Border. On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders.

“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!

“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”

Trump did not limit his attention to Mexico and Canada, but turned his concern to China.

“I have had many talks with China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl, being sent into the United States – But to no avail,” he explained.

“Representatives of China told me that they would institute their maximum penalty, that of death, for any drug dealers caught doing this but, unfortunately, they never followed through, and drugs are pouring into our Country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before.

“Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America.

“Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Follow Joe on Twitter @JoeKovacsNews

Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

The win wasn’t a landslide, but it felt like one because of the towering tsunami of garbage the media and the Democrats and their prosecutors threw at Trump. They could not believe that all this lawfare and relentlessly negative publicity would create a backlash. They saw this pattern in the Republican primary – and yet they couldn’t accept the pattern would repeat itself in the general.

They knew that the Biden-Harris approval ratings were abysmal, and that the top issues, like inflation and illegal immigration, were dragging them down. But they loathe Trump so much they could not imagine he could win again – and win much more convincingly than in 2016.

So then the media had to think about the unthinkable: Doesn’t anyone care about our “news” anymore? How could our relentless anti-Trump messaging fail to land? They had to ponder whether podcasters like Joe Rogan were the wave of the future in influencing voters. They had to moan and whine that “misinformation” spread by Elon Musk’s X ruined all their objectives.

Axios.com wailed that “the big media era is over.” The young people aren’t following along. Smart sources said that “reaching people ages 35 and under with any message – or even major event – is almost impossible. Or they’ve seen an eight-second clip with no context, so they have a very different understanding of what happened than someone who saw a mainstream report.”

These “cord-cutters” aren’t imbibing the conventional wisdom. They’re in “fractured communities” on the internet. Point and laugh that these people eternally see themselves as the “mainstream,” no matter how the people vote.

We can say with confidence that the big media don’t have the same grip on public opinion that they have long imagined. When only 31% of respondents told Gallup they have a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of trust in the press, it became clear most Americans are looking elsewhere for information. No wonder Democrat-enabling journalists worry about “misinformation,” which they define as “information that doesn’t agree with our hot takes.”

But when politicians assemble in public, it’s possible they will still feel the pull of the leftist press as the most powerful players, even if the polls don’t match it. Old assumptions die hard in national politics. It would be encouraging for Trump and the Republicans to make sure that conservative journalists, radio hosts and podcasters are provided with lots of access and make the liberal journalists have to listen to conservatives. Because they tend to be incurious and intolerant of opposing views.

Finally, conservatives should enjoy how the liberals said this whole election was about “saving democracy,” and then a majority voted for Trump and GOP control of Congress. Democracy hasn’t died in darkness. The majority of people who cited “democracy” as an issue voted for Trump.

This is because the Left cannot concede that they were the ones trying to suppress the speech of their opponents, and they were the ones that were putting their opponents in jail. They were the ones raiding the home of the opposing former president with guns drawn. So, who ended up looking “authoritarian” in the end?

Democracy means the Left gets to be ridiculed and rejected, and it’s only just begun.

According to reports, America is facing an energy crisis, with demand for energy soaring due to the proliferation of AI and hyperscale data centers – which can use as much energy as almost 40,000 homes – the boom in advanced manufacturing, and the movement toward electrification.

Written by economist Ike Brannon, a senior fellow at the foundation, and economist Sam Wolf, the report explains partly why so many utilities and regional transmission organizations are having to get creative to meet demand.

“During the previous two decades, power demand in the United States scarcely grew as the U.S. shifted from a manufacturing to a services economy,” the authors wrote.

However, the sharp increase in demand is eating up the spare capacity in the U.S. power grid, which helps protect against brownouts and blackouts in the case of extreme weather and temporary outages by power plants. That increase contributed to a huge spike in capacity market prices at the most recent auction held by the Mid-Atlantic regional transmission organization PJM.

Prices jumped from $29 to $270 per megawatt-day “across the PJM region” and from $29 to $444 in parts of Virginia, home to more than half of the nation’s data centers, according to the study.

Aaron Ruby, a spokesperson for Dominion Energy, a major East Coast utility company and the primary utility in Virginia, vehemently disagreed with the study’s claim that prices could rise to 70% in the next decade, saying the number was “way off” for the commonwealth.

“We just released a 15-year plan forecasting residential electric bills through 2039, and they’re only projected to grow by about 2.5% a year, which is lower than normal inflation,” Ruby wrote in an email to The Center Square. “Our residential rates are among the most affordable in the country. They’re 14% below the national average.”

But the surge in power demand from data centers is projected to be so great the study’s authors argue the center cannot hold (while acknowledging that rate setting is “inherently political” and “difficult to forecast” and that it’s “unclear who will bear the cost of these price increases”).

“In Virginia, the high regulation of price and capacity has kept the increased demand from data centers from impacting prices paid by ordinary consumers, but such insulation cannot hold much longer without risking service interruptions or brownouts,” the report reads. “As data center growth expands, price increases may need to flow through to consumers more rapidly.”

In Maryland, electricity bills “are projected to increase by somewhere between two to 24% in 2025, depending on the region,” the authors added.

Other states like Georgia, Ohio, Texas, Illinois and Arizona may come to resemble Virginia in the years ahead, according to the study.

The report’s authors suggest that policymakers craft and implement policy that will make data centers part of the solution to the disproportionate demand they place on the grid, including charging them more for the energy they use.

“To ease the burden on households and small businesses, AI companies should be required to bear the additional costs of the energy they consume. This could include charging data centers higher fees to reflect their disproportionate impact on electricity markets,” the report reads.

Brannon and Wolf also recommend that states and local governments stop subsidizing data center construction, arguing that the economic benefits aren’t worth the cost to taxpayers and that utility providers start including minimum take clauses in their contracts with data centers.

“A minimum take clause guarantees a minimum payment from a utility user—such as a data center—regardless of how much energy it purchases, which provides the utility with a modicum of revenue certainty,” the authors wrote.

The study concludes with several other recommendations, saying that “paying for grid modernization… can be accommodated within existing rate structures, but only if the data centers bear their proportionate share of these costs.”