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--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Tensions between the U.S. and Russia have escalated after Russian fighter jets downed a U.S. drone. An allied aircraft will continue to operate in international airspace, and we call on the Russians to conduct themselves professionally and safely. What are the political and military implications of the incident, and how are the two sides responding? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, March 16th, and this is Morning Wire. The twin failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank have sent shockwaves through the banking industry, the stock market, and are now being felt in Europe. We break down the good news and the bad. And San Francisco has proposed millions in reparations for its black residents. But do the numbers add up? My point of view is $5 billion is an appropriate estimation. But again, the harm is actually priceless. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Earlier this week, two Russian jet fighters engaged an American drone over the Black Sea, raising tensions between the two nations. The surveillance drone was on a routine mission near the coast of Ukraine, but in international water when it was brought down by the jets, leaving the U.S. military scrambling to recover it. Here to discuss the geopolitical kerfuffle is communist David Marcus. Hey, Dave. Do we know why the Russians took this aggressive action?
--:-- Guest: David Marcus: Good morning. No, we don't. In fact, the Russians deny that their jets did anything but observe the drone, while the Pentagon claims that the fighters dumped fuel on it and then clipped its rear-mounted propeller, causing operators to lose some degree of control and down the drone into the Black Sea.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: The information that these MQ-9 drones gather is used in coordination with the Ukrainian military to track Russian warships. So, I mean, Russia would have an interest in stopping them. But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the incident will not stop the U.S. from engaging in this kind of drone activity. How much does this raise the stakes in a conflict that thus far is involved only military aid to Ukraine by the U.S., but not actual physical conflict between American and Russian forces or assets?
--:-- Guest: David Marcus: Both sides are condemning each other. The Americans call the actions, quote, reckless, unquote, which is at least a tick below intentional, while the Russians proclaim their innocence, basically saying the Defense Department is lying. But according to New York Times reporting, both nations are also trying to contain the fallout. This is an unmanned drone so there was no attack on American personnel, something that would be far more dangerous.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: The cost of these Reapers as they're known is 32 million bucks each. So that's a hefty price tag for the U.S. military to bear. And there are some folks like Senator Lindsey Graham who are saying, we now need to shoot down Russian jets in response. This comes at a time when some polling shows a degree of fatigue with the U.S. involvement in the war, which many analysts call a stalemate at this moment. Could this stiffen up the American public's support for Ukraine? It's certainly possible. It's curious, given that support is softening, which is clearly a hope and goal of the Russians, that they would poke the American military in this way.
--:-- Guest: David Marcus: Just this week, Florida governor and presumed presidential candidate Ron DeSantis somewhat downplayed the American national security interest in the conflict, calling it a regional dispute. And some in Congress have expressed the desire to at least audit, if not cut off, funding to Ukraine. This is going to be a talking point for hawks who argue the U.S. does have a strong interest in the fight, who will basically say, are we just going to let the Russians shoot our assets out of the skies?
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Is there any evidence that this represents a ramping up of Russian aggression, not only towards Ukraine, but also to the American military itself? Or do U.S. officials view this as just an unfortunate one-off? The latter is the position of the American military. Again, from the Times reporting, officials are blaming this on Russian incompetence. As one put it, this was not a concerted chess move by the Russians. They backed this up by saying the risky mid-air collision could have damaged the Russian jet as well.
--:-- Guest: David Marcus: But there is likely a limit to how many times Russian recklessness or incompetence will be allowed to inflict damage to the U.S. military without any strong response. Right. Now, intelligence officials told NBC that Tuesday's actions were approved by the Kremlin. Do we know how this story is playing in Russia? Russian media is saying that this is further evidence that the U.S. is pulling the strings in Ukraine, and that could anger Russians who see America as their ancient Cold War enemy, just as many Americans view Russia.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Right now, there's little to do, but wait and see how it all plays out. Well, certainly a tense moment in this politically thorny situation. Thank you for joining us, David.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire contributor, David Marcus. Coming up, the economy suffers aftershocks from SVB and Signature Bank. Looking to take your fitness routine to the next level? Nugenics has you covered. Nugenics is offering a complimentary bottle of Nugenics Total Tea when you text 231231 and enter the keyword WIRE. Nugenics Total Tea testosterone booster with testophen will help you turn back the clock, Re-energize your workouts and feel like the man you really want to be. Get your complimentary bottle of Nugenix Total Tea today. Text 231-231 and enter the keyword WIRE. Texting enrolls you in recurring automated text messages. Consent not required to purchase. Message and data rates may apply.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Amid a chaotic few days for the American banking system, some of Europe's largest banks saw their stocks tumble on Wednesday as fears of instability in the industry spread. The news comes as new Labor Department data shows unexpected signs of progress in a key inflation tracker. Here with more is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips. So Cabot, what can you tell us?
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Well, any hopes that the economy would be able to move on quickly from the collapse of those two banks have been crushed this week as it's become clear that volatility in the banking market is going to be a longer-term problem. Though markets bounced back fairly well on Tuesday, they were back down on Wednesday as uncertainty spread to Europe and rattled investors in nearly every financial sector.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: On Wall Street the biggest hit was felt in the bond market which is typically one of the most stable markets of them all. But on Wednesday the ICE B of A move index, which tracks volatility in the bond market, jumped to its highest point since March of 2020, when markets crashed at the start of the pandemic. Another similar tracker, Wall Street's VIX index, which tracks market volatility more broadly and is known as the fear gauge on Wall Street, jumped 12% on Wednesday alone.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: So Wall Street is now viewing this week as more than just a blip on the radar. And all that turmoil is likely going to have an impact on the Fed's decision to raise rates, correct?
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Exactly. As we talked about on the show, the expectation had been that they'd continue raising rates because inflation is still hovering around 6%. But historically, they stop raising rates when there's broad economic turmoil like we're seeing this week. According to interest rate futures, which basically track what investors predict will happen with the Fed, 60% now say they don't foresee rate hikes in the near future. That number was at 30% on Tuesday, so it doubled in 24 hours.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: So after a year that saw the steepest rate increases since the 1980s, we might finally see rate hikes come to an end, or rather a pause, as many think even if they do stop the hikes, they could resume them in the summer. Now let's talk about Europe. What's going on over there?
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Yeah, when trading opened Wednesday, shares at a number of Europe's largest banks began to tumble. Societ General fell 11%, BNP Paribas dropped 10%, and Deutsche Bank 7%. But it was Swiss bank Credit Suisse that took the biggest hit, falling more than 20% to a fresh record low.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Now, there were two main reasons for that drop at Credit Suisse. First, the bank announced that they had found, quote, material weakness in their financial reporting. Specifically, they found errors in their risk assessment that they said could impact their access to capital, and more importantly, result in potential investigations and sanctions. And then the Saudi National Bank, their largest financial backer, announced they would not be offering any more cash to help prop them up.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: So that news spooked investors and resulted in a major sell-off of their stock. So switching gears, we have a little bit of positive news. We got some new figures on inflation yesterday. Tell us about that.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: So on Wednesday, the Labor Department announced that the producer price index, which tracks inflation at the wholesale level, dropped 0.1% compared to the month before. Now, that doesn't sound great, 0.1%, but projections were that it would rise 0.3%, so a drop, even a small one, is at least some good news. And one item that people will be very happy about on that front, wholesale egg prices dropped 41% last month compared to the month before after they hit record highs. So we might start to see some slight price corrections on that front, which make a lot of people happy.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Right, will make me happy. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips. San Francisco's Board of Supervisors eagerly received a list of over 100 ways the city could pay reparations to its black residents this week. But the effort is getting resistance over its hefty price tag. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce joins us to talk about San Francisco's attempts to rectify the harms of slavery. Hey, Tim. So what did the board have to say about this report?
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: Well, first, for those who don't remember, this report was commissioned by the board in 2020 and a draft was released in December. It includes dozens of ways the city might make reparations to black people for America's history of slavery and discrimination. The draft included ideas such as a $5 million payment to every eligible black adult, a guaranteed annual income of $97,000 a year for the next 250 years, or selling homes to eligible families for a dollar. The plan also floats the elimination of all debt and tax burdens for qualified residents.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Now, these proposals are unique in that no other city in America has considered anything like what's described in that draft. But board members were excited about the prospects on Tuesday. The question for them was whether reparations are good but rather how reparations are going to be paid. Here a sample of that from board member Dean Preston.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: The fundamental question here is whether the horrors of slavery upon which this country was founded, which have oppressed, beaten down, and killed Black Americans for centuries, including the related horrors of Jim Crow, lynchings, police abuse, voter suppression, urban renewal, redlining, black displacement, and everything in between. The question before us is, does that warrant reparations? And my answer is, of course. Of course. And I think the only question is how we quantify that.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Well, another question is how to pay for it. So how workable are these suggestions? That's the big question, but reparations advocates don't appear to be very concerned about that. In fact, the chair of the reparations committee that drafted the report said he wasn't concerned with feasibility at all. The charge of the committee was not to do a feasibility study. The charge was to chronicle the harm and determine the value, period. Kind of full stop.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: Now, we do have some data on how much this will cost. Stanford University's Hoover Institution analyzed the proposal and came up with a conservative estimate, $600,000 from every non-black household in San Francisco. So, not cheap. No. If any of these proposals were to actually pass, when can we expect any reparations to actually be paid out?
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Well, this report is still a draft. A final committee report is due in June. Until then, it's hard to say what from the draft makes it through to the final version. Some of the board members have said in the past that San Francisco can't afford to pay reparations right now, so this draft may be gutted by that June deadline. It's also not clear who would benefit from any of these payments. There are about 50,000 black people living in San Francisco, but it's unlikely that every black resident gets a cut. Some officials have said that the descendants of slaves and those locked up for drug crimes would have priority.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: Well, obviously, lots of unanswered questions here about how they would actually implement this and how much of these proposals make it through the process.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: It was Daily Wire reporter, Tim Pierce. Another story we're tracking this week. The Biden administration has authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 bivalent booster dose for children six months through four years of age. The decision was made after a clinical test monitored 60 children. Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more ballots to the national conversation. If you love our show and stand with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend. And if you're a Morning Wire super fan and you want to represent our show, you can shop our merch selection at dailywire.com slash shop. We have a pretty elite Morning Wire mug. We have t-shirts. We have tote bags. And you can find all of that at dailywire.com slash shop.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Well, that's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know. That's blackriflecoffee.com, promo code WIRE. Black Rifle Coffee, America's coffee.
