What's happening on the southern border right now is nothing less than a catastrophe. But I had no bad it truly was until I looked at the data myself.
I downloaded and analyzed 23 years of Border Patrol data today. Here are six charts showing just how bad the situation is 👇
How much worse has Biden been than other presidents when it comes to the border?
In the 34 months for which data is available, Biden has had a staggering 6.7M encounters at the southern border.
In comparison, at this stage, Bush had 2.8M, Obama had 1.2M, and Trump had 1.4M.
In other words, 34 months in, Biden has had more encounters than Bush, Obama, and Trump did COMBINED during their first 34 months (6.7M vs. 5.5M).
Biden's 6.7M encounters in 34 months are also more than Trump and Obama had in the combined 144 months of their ENTIRE presidencies.
On a monthly basis, here's how bad Biden's presidency looks compared to Bush, Obama, and Trump.
Bush and Trump's worst months were better than Biden's best months. And we can only dream about returning to Obama's levels.
Notice how encounters spike starting late 2020...
On a trailing 12 months basis, Bush briefly had 1M encounters, Obama was consistently below 500k, and Trump rarely exceeded 500k.
On the other hand, Biden has had 2M encounters during nearly every rolling 12-month period of his administration, and it's now more than 2.5M.
If you look at the number of months during which there were more than 100k encounters:
Trump had only one month.
Obama didn't have any.
Bush had 21 months across eight years (96 months).
And Biden has had ALL 34 MONTHS of his presidency with 100k+.
32 out of Biden's 34 months have exceeded 150k encounters.
The only other recent president who ever exceeded that level was Bush, for four out of his 96 months.
Looking at months with 200k encounters, Biden is the only president who's reached that level. And, at 18 out of 34 months, it's been the majority of his months in office.
If anyone tells you this is a minor issue that "ultra-MAGA right-wingers" are blowing out of proportion, they aren't just wrong. They're maliciously disingenuous.
All of these charts are based on CBP data. This is real.
It's a massive problem. And we need to address it NOW.
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If China ever attacks us, farmland roughly the size of the state of Utah stops supplying them.
Read on for just how huge 🇺🇸/🇨🇳 ag trade is.
Before I get into all the back story and details here, let me just say:
Yes, you read that correctly.
The land mass in America dedicated to Chinese agriculture exports is about the size of the entire state of Utah. All 85,000 square miles of it.
You see, China has a problem: As its population has grown, it hasn't been that good at feeding its own people. By 2030, more than 40% of Chinese calories will be imported from outside the country.
And the US, aside from Brazil, is the largest supplier.
In part one, we'll cover some background on industry dynamics, including a group referred to as ABCD, a pretentious word called "oligopsony," and Chinese political theatrics.
In part two, we'll cover why all of this matters to the East Palestine region.
Let's get started.
PART ONE: AG INDUSTRY DYNAMICS
According to the USDA, there are slightly over 2M farms in the US.
There are also about 330M people in the US consuming the production thereof.
You would think it would be a highly decentralized industry, right?
I am one of those people who, most of the time, is annoyingly happy and positive about life. Think Ted Lasso with Jordans and in a board room instead of on a soccer field (sadly, though, no mustache).
But, on rare occasions, I lose that.
(1/n)
I spent the past couple days in a funk—unmotivated. Struggling. Doubting myself.
And for no good reason. It just sort of… happened.
For 3 or 4 days, I thought it wouldn’t end. Because that’s how something like that works, right? It kills the light at the end of your tunnel.
This morning, after not sleeping great, I woke up and felt completely normal.
I’m looking back on the person I was this week, and I don’t even recognize that guy. It’s just some stranger who is now shrouded in fog to me.