Author: BlackMask Financial

https://youtu.be/qIPmOs6pC_c

The young man flanked the shattered entry of a ransacked CVS in Santa Monica, where people had swept the shelves clean of everything from diapers to detergent. The man, who did not cover his face, admitted he was a looter. He did not apologize.

© (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Looters ransack the Apple Store at the Grove shopping mall on Saturday as protesters in the nearby Fairfax district march over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 

“We’ve got no other way of showing people how angry we are,” he said. Out of the store ran another young man, this one holding a carton of eggs. He grabbed a friend and started scanning the street for targets: police cars. “We’re doing it because we can,” he said. Over in Van Nuys, a teenage boy standing outside a ravaged Skechers store held up a backpack. That was all he took. But it was enough, he said. “We are just trying to provide and take up the opportunity that we are getting right now. That’s all.” In the unprecedented reaction to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, peaceful protest marches across Southern California in the last week have already dramatically changed the debate about police brutality and race relations. But the massive demonstrations have been accompanied by looting in some cities around the Southland. Authorities believe most of the thefts and vandalism came from people not directly connected to the protests who used the teeming crowds as cover to steal merchandise. Some of the looting appears to be organized, with groups driving around hitting multiple stores. For others, it was an outgrowth over the deep anger and frustration about the way blacks and others are mistreated, and they cited a host of other issues: President Trump, the privilege exposed in the college admissions scandal, and widening inequality. “If Donald Trump is saying shoot us tonight, that is not giving us no leeway,” said a teenager holding the stolen Skechers backpack Monday in Van Nuys. “That’s just making things worse. If that’s giving permission for the police to shoot children, innocent teenagers, things like that, that’s not right.” Times reporters interviewed people of different races and backgrounds who stole from stores over the last few days. The looters, unwilling to risk prosecution, declined to provide their names. Nick Note: This is a real problem Americans are not understanding. Blacks are 12% of the US population. A black male is most likely to be murdered by another black. Blacks are over 60% of the prison population. Not because they are black. The NON PC correct answer is they commits more crimes then other ethnic groups. The latest black “hero” was a convicted drug dealer with a rap sheet a mile long. And he did not want to go back to jail. I guess he has nothing to worry about now. I agree his summary execution was wrong. But he was higher then a kite, had the coronavirus and went ape shit wild when he was placed in the squad car. At the time neck restraint was allowed  procedure. So the issue was he was restrained to long. The great plagues of Europe changed the social order. It will be no different with the plague we are facing today.

OPEC, Russia and allies were set on Saturday to extend record oil production cuts until the end of July after crude prices doubled in the past two months on the back of their efforts to withdraw almost 10% of global supplies from the market. The group known as OPEC+ was also set to demand countries such as Nigeria and Iraq, which exceeded quotas in May and June, compensate by making extra cuts in July to September. OPEC+ had initially agreed in April that it would cut supply by 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) during May-June to prop up prices that collapsed due to the coronavirus crisis. Those cuts were due to taper to 7.7 million bpd from July to December. “The agreements went ahead as planned,” Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told Shana news agency after OPEC approved extending the deal until July during a video conference, according to Reuters. “The main issue was a lack of compliance of members like Iraq with production cut quota, and it was decided that they compensate for that in coming months,” he said. In a statement Saturday posted on the OPEC website, Assem Jihad, Iraq’s Ministry of Oil spokesperson, said that “despite the economic and financial circumstances that Iraq is facing, the country remains committed to the agreement.”

The nation’s capital is bracing for the largest protest yet on Saturday since the death of George Floyd, expanding a massive fenced perimeter around the White House, even as the Pentagon sent home hundreds of active duty troops positioned outside the city. Over 10 days of protests, the security perimeter around the White House has increased, and on Thursday morning extended to the far outskirts of a park complex known as the Ellipse near the National Mall with extensive fencing and barricades. That was in anticipation of a major event on Saturday, according to the local police department. “We have a lot of public, open-source information to suggest that the event on this upcoming Saturday may be one of the largest that we’ve had in the city,” Peter Newsham, chief of police of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, said at a press conference on Thursday morning.

The BLS noted that people were counted as “employed” if they were paid by their employer for any part of the pay period through the 12th, “even if they were not actually at their jobs.”

Reality is the weekly state jobs report showed a huge increase in weekly claims for the period  from May 15 to the end of the month. This is based on the surveys of employers (“establishment surveys”), released as part of the jobs report this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The reference period on the survey extended through May 12th. Given the issues with the pandemic, the BLS noted that people were counted as “employed” if they were paid by their employer for any part of the pay period through the 12th, “even if they were not actually at their jobs.”

The total number of jobs rose by 2.5 million in May from April, to 132.9 million jobs, following the April collapse of 20.7 million jobs and the March plunge of 1.4 million jobs. Over the past three months – the period spanning the collapse of the US labor market – employers reported shedding 19.6 million jobs. In May, the gain was a composite of diverging trends – job gains in some parts of the private sector and further job losses in other parts of the private sector and steep job losses in government The private sector added 3.1 million jobs, which whittled down total job losses since March to 18.2 million. Over half of those private-sector job gains occurred at restaurants, bars, and retailers (1.74 million combined) Governments at all levels shed 585,000 jobs in May, which increased total government job losses over the past three months to 1.57 million. In May, local governments shed 487,000 jobs; state governments shed 84,000 jobs; and the federal government shed 14,000 jobs. Hotels, air transportation, management, oil-and-gas extraction, and computer systems design shed a combined 252,900 jobs. Nick Note: If we subtract the number of people who lost their jobs after the arbitrary count off date of May 12 and subtract those people who subsequently lost their jobs (and were not counted)  the REAL unemployment rate is NOT 13.3% (a huge number as published) But over 18% and we are on rerecord predicting a 20% unemployment rate. And we predict 25% of all businesses closing permanently after they milk the SBA for all they can. Even if you take their numbers at face value a unemployment rate droppiig form 18% to 13.3 is nothing to celebrate.

 

SINGAPORE (Bloomberg) –Oil headed for a sixth weekly gain after OPEC+ reached a tentative agreement to prolong its record production cuts. Brent crude was back above $40 a barrel, while futures in New York rose 2% on Friday. After almost a week of wrangling, Saudi Arabia and Russia clinched a deal with Iraq over its compliance, paving the way for the agreement’s extension into July instead of tapering them. OPEC will meet at 1 p.m. London time on Saturday, followed by a gathering of the wider group later to sign off on the pact, delegates said. While oil has recovered rapidly from its plunge below zero in mid-April, the pace of the rebound has slowed in the past couple of weeks. Demand is quickly returning in China, but questions remain for many other nations, especially for consumption of diesel, the biggest-selling oil product globally. A continuation of crude’s price rally could also encourage more American shale producers to bring wells back and lead to a fraying of the consensus within OPEC+, leaving the alliance with a delicate balancing task. “OPEC+ will take one month at a time here,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB AB, which “makes sense since demand outlook visibility is so low.” Nick Note: Prices at these levels will open backup the frackers.Here comes a even bigger supply glut.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Thursday that she agreed with former Defense Secretary James Mattis’ criticism of President Trump, calling it “true and honest and necessary and overdue.” Murkowski, who has signaled her discomfort with the president in the past, also said that she’s “struggling” with her support for him in November — a rare full-on rebuke of Trump from a Senate Republican.

5th Avenue is the most famous shopping strip in the world. And its in ruin. The true story is not being told. As a foot note the Gucci store was untouched. That is because its located in the Trump Tower and was protected by a army of secret service agents. The poor schmucks at Macy’s the worlds largest department store and other famous brands like  Tiffany’s were left with their asses hanging out! Police protection was removed as the “demonstrators” approached. My Friend Ken is distraught as they hired the very police (off Duty)  that were supposes to be protecting and serving the city. Were paid thousands as private security.