MAGA Brilliant – Multidimensional Economic Policy – Trade Shift to Durables…

Go through the archives and you’ll note a strategy unfolding that few, including us, could fully conceptualize when it first appeared.  Way back when candidate Trump first began to put his economic plans into platform outlines the subtle signature was there, but few were paying attention.
In order to reverse three decades of middle-class economic erosion, there were indicators that Trump’s strategy was a radical change in approach.  In essence the strategy was to split the economic policy into two areas and sequence the policy: highly-consumable goods (first) and durable goods (second).
Both product sectors have historically been viewed and approached by economic policy makers using a single financial strategy.  That singular approach gave rise to Wall Street benefiting and Main Street suffering.  Investment-class gained; middle-class suffered.
Trump outlined an approach –albeit vaguely– that was multidimensional.
His policy would first target multinational corporations, using the U.S. Treasury (Mnuchin) to weaken their grip and influence; simultaneously, he would use energy policy to drive down domestic prices in highly-consumable products (fuel, food, energy sector).  These sectors are not measured in fed inflation indexes; however, if lowered, these facets of consumer spending can also increase the amount of disposable income available for workers.
In essence, expand the economy by lowering the aggregate cost of living for the middle-class who live paycheck-to-paycheck.  Use monetary policy, fiscal policy and trade policy), to entice domestic investment and create jobs; and ultimately put upward pressure on wages.
That’s where we are now.
(more…)

More MAGAnomic Winning – NY Fed Raises GDP Forecast, DOW Closes New Record…

Almost too much winning… almost, but I think we can take it.  The New York federal reserve has raised their anticipated fourth quarter GDP growth forecast to 3.8%.  That’s only a week after previously raising it to 3.2%.
The Stock Market closes again at yet another all time high today:

Yup, as widely anticipated, the impact from Trump’s MAGAnomic policies are creating a massive upward dynamic on the Main Street economy.  The increase in consumer confidence; the recent increases in wages; the increase in disposable income as an outcome of lowered energy costs and downward prices on high consumables (fuel, food, etc.); the increases in housing starts; the reductions in imported durables; the expansion of exports in energy products and agriculture, and the expanding domestic investment, are all factors in expanding the GDP.
The NY Fed have revised their projection upward to 3.8%, and THAT’S BEFORE they get a first analysis on holiday spending (due out the end of the month); and well before they can quantify the November and December retail sales results which account for two-thirds of GDP math.   So don’t be surprised, as we shared on their last revision, if you see that GDP growth number go much higher.
Oh, the winning…. squeeze the kids.  REMEMBER:
(more…)

NAFTA Round #5 Reaches Impasse on Critical Auto Sector – Canada/Mexico Balk At Rules of Origin…

$64 billion of the current annual trade deficit with Mexico stems from the auto sector alone.
For over a decade auto manufacturers have moved to Mexico in order to import parts from Asia, assemble and install them, and then ship the completed cars into the U.S. through NAFTA without duties (tariffs).
The U.S. auto ancillary business groups (parts suppliers) have been pushed out of competition in the auto sector by this corporate profit strategy.  Thousands of U.S. jobs have been lost in both the plant assembly and the ‘auto-parts’ manufacturing sector.
CTH has called attention to this bastardized supply chain for years.  Foreign auto-parts, made by foreign workers, assembled into U.S. owned manufacturing, and sold as U.S. automobiles. The weird supply chain and assembly process is essentially a multinational corporate scheme (in the auto sector) which exploits one of the loopholes in the 25-year-old NAFTA agreement.
If the assembly plant was on U.S. soil the foreign (mostly Asian) parts would be taxed as imported parts.  However, so long as the assembly is in Mexico (or Canada), the origin of the parts is currently irrelevant, and the finished automobile crosses the border into the U.S. avoiding the taxes using NAFTA.
(more…)

President Trump Holds Higher Approval Rating Than: Macron (France), May (Great Britain), Merkel (Germany)…

While the U.S. media loves to talk about President Trump’s approval rating when it’s bad news, what they fail to discuss is how President Trump has consistently higher approval ratings than: •President Macron, France; •Prime Minister May, Great Britain; or •Chancellor Merkel of Germany.
According to Zogby Analytics:

♦ President Trump approval 42 percent
♦ Chancellor Merkel approval 40 percent
♦ President Macron approval 28 percent
♦ Prime Minister May approval 28 percent

That means President Trump has the highest approval rating compared to the leaders of largest economic countries in Europe.  However, this shouldn’t come as a surprise because it was evident in Germany’s recent election that Merkel -in victory- had less support in Germany than President Trump holds in the U.S.  Go figure
(more…)

Pocahontas Financial Control Scheme Returns To Bite Its Creator…

Everyone is aware how apoplectic the Democrat loonery became when their best laid schemes to put Hillary in the White House ran into the reality of electoral Cold Anger carried by the deplorables.  Lots has been written about the gobsmacked reaction to the election, yet few have outlined the underlying policy reasons for the scope of the panic.
The desperate need for post-election control showcased the lefts’ reaction to fear.  However, it is only by looking at the policy groundwork they lost where a political observer can evaluate the scale of defeat.  Democrats created a continuum pathway that is now entirely controlled by the very nemesis of their controlling belief system.

In a largely under-reported story last week, President Trump installed OMB Director Mick Mulvaney as interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB.
The CFPB was created to establish power and control over almost every financial transaction in the United States.  But it is only when you review how Elizabeth Warren and the control agents structured the czar head of the CFPB that you recognize the scale of the intent carried within the construct.
When Senator Elizabeth Warren and crew set up the Director of the CFPB, in the aftermath of the Dodd-Frank Act, they made it so that the appointed director can only be fired for cause by the President.
This design was so the Director could operate outside the control of congress and outside the control of the White House.  In essence the CFPB director position was created to work above the reach of any oversight; almost like a tenured position no-one could ever remove.
(more…)

Sunday Talks: OMB Director Mick Mulvaney -vs- Jake Tapper

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney appears on CNN today with Jake Tapper to discuss the Tax Reform Bill and the current Senate version.
Tapper has the ‘Media Matters’ talking points cued up; however, unfortunately for Tapper, Mulvaney knows the intricacies and swats the annoying gnatter chat. Actually, in the $30k example provided by Tapper – Mulvaney went easy on him.


.
Interestingly, Mick Mulvaney was also appointed to be the interim head of the CFPB this week; which has ramifications for left-wing economic control loons far greater than the tax reform package.  [More on that later.]  OMB Director Mick Mulvaney also appeared on CBS with John Dickerson (below):
(more…)

U.S. Housing Starts Increase 13.7% In October – September Figures Adjusted Higher…

There is a notable intent to talk down the economy amid almost all financial news providers.  However, despite their negative tone the economic reality continues to surpass their Eeyore disposition.
October’s U.S. housing starts jumped +13.7% to 1.29 million units and now begins to catch up with the underlying economic data.
You’ll note CTH discussed how housing would be regionally specific as the larger Main Street MAGAnomic policies were implemented.
Capital expenditures by home builders and home purchasers are the biggest financial decisions for most American workers.
Due to the deliberate factors involved, home purchasing is the largest railroad car in the economic train; it is also positioned in the rear of the economic sequencing.  However, when home building takes off the entire economic train gains momentum.

(Via Reuters) […] The sharp rebound in home construction reported by the Commerce Department on Friday was also driven by robust gains in the Northeast and Midwest regions.
The broad recovery could ease concerns about the housing market, which has been a drag on economic growth since the second quarter. The report added to labor market, manufacturing and retail sales data that have pointed to strong economic momentum as the year winds down.

(more…)

Purchased Politicians, Mostly Republicans in House and Senate, Write Letters Opposing Trump on NAFTA…

Multinational corporations and foreign governments spend hundreds of millions in Washington DC lobbying House and Senate politicians to retain trade positions.  It’s generally a legal bribery business where congressional representatives get rich by selling their votes to corporations and foreign governments.
Most of you already know the game: It’s a big club, and we -the working class- ain’t in it.
Fortunately for us, President Trump won the election without funding from the big corporations and lobbyists within the U.S. political system.  As such they cannot influence Trump’s decisions on economic policy matters and trade; and President Trump rarely invites them into the White House for policy meetings.
Specifically because the lobbyists don’t have access to the White House they rely on their purchased politicians in the House and Senate to influence the administration.

The multinational corporations and multinational banks are against the U.S. removing ourselves from multilateral trade agreements.  Those institutions rely on being able to manipulate the U.S. consumer market – EXPLAINED HERE.  The biggest influence agent, and by far the biggest lobbyist spender, is Tom Donohue, President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who represents the interests of the multinational corporations and Wall St.
So when you see these letters, knowing they are written by K-Street and transcribed onto legislative letterhead by political staffers, all you need to do is look at the signatures of the politicians and you can quickly identify who has been purchased by Tom Donohue:
(more…)

Canada Admits They Will Lobby Congress To Block Trump Withdrawal from NAFTA…

No-where is Trump Derangement Syndrome more evident than in the position of activist Democrats now swearing allegiance to multinational trade deals.
It was only a short time ago when Democrat activists and liberal politicians demanded U.S. withdrawal from TPP and openly discussed how NAFTA was disastrous for the U.S. worker. Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton ran on pulling out of TPP etc.
Trump gets elected, actually fulfills a campaign promise and promptly pulls-out of TPP subsequently beginning to renegotiate NAFTA (with leveraged threats to withdraw); and suddenly, Democrats are joining arm-in-arm with corporate Republicans expressing their profound love for multinational trade deals. Go figure.

Round #5 of NAFTA renegotiation begins today in Mexico, absent any diplomatic trade ministers, and Canada announces their intent to use their access to congress as leverage over the executive branch in an attempt to work around President Trump:

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will redouble its lobbying efforts in Congress to block any Trump administration move to pull the United States out of NAFTA, sources familiar with government strategy said, as talks to modernize the treaty run into trouble.
[…] Canadian officials say there is some considerable doubt as to whether Trump could pull out of NAFTA without approval from Congress, which makes lobbying its members so important.

(more…)