President Trump will be delivering a speech today in Bismarck, North Dakota discussing the tax reform proposal with workers from the energy sector.
Expanding the energy sector of the economy, and creating new exports, has been the foundational building block for a variety of economic initiatives including the geopolitical strategy of using economics to secure U.S. national security interests.
RSBN Livestream Link – WH Livestream Link – Alternate Livestream Link
Despite the good news, the insufferable MSM are still trying to bury the cause and effect. In an effort to give a more precise picture I’m going to use a Reuters summary, and shift their text location to highlight what they bury and emphasize what they avoid:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the second quarter, notching its quickest pace in more than two years, and there are signs that the momentum was sustained at the start of the third quarter.
Gross domestic product increased at a 3.0 percent annual rate in the April-June period, the Commerce Department said in its second estimate on Wednesday. The upward revision from the 2.6 percent pace reported last month reflected robust consumer spending as well as strong business investment.
Growth last quarter was the strongest since the first quarter of 2015 and followed a 1.2 percent pace in the January-March period. Economists had expected that second-quarter GDP growth would be raised to a 2.7 percent rate.
♦[…] Businesses helped to carry the economy in the second quarter, with spending on equipment jumping at a rate of 8.8 percent. ♦[…] Trade added two-tenths of a percentage point to growth. ♦[…] Government spending contracted for a second straight quarter. ♦[…] Housing was a drag on growth in the last quarter, with investment on home building contracting at a 6.5 percent rate.
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Beijing (China) is attempting to “trigger” President Trump’s internal neo-con and militaristic opposition. Stay frosty, avoid emotional reports demanding military engagement, and remain steady with a high altitude perspective.
Multiple reports now confirming that North Korea has conducted a missile test. The flight path escalates the issues by crossing over part of Northern Japan. In essence, Beijing China just threw an elbow at President Trump. [The likely “Why” follows breaking report]
TOKYO (Reuters) – North Korea fired a missile that passed over northern Japan early on Tuesday, the Japanese government said. The government’s J-Alert warning system advised people in the area to take precautions, but public broadcaster NHK said there was no sign of damage.
The Japanese military did not attempt to shoot down the missile, which passed over Japanese territory around 6:06 a.m. local time (2106 GMT). (Reuters)
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking to reporters in Tokyo after the launch, said the missile appeared to have passed over airspace and that the government was urgently collecting intelligence on the incident and doing everything to ensure the safety of its citizens, according to remarks broadcast on NHK, Bloomberg News reports.
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Being on the leading edge of history as it unfolds is a great deal of fun. Everything is proceeding according to plan. This is The Trump Doctrine playing out on the geopolitical stage and we all have references to smile about. Swimmingly.
Remember, when President Trump gave truthful, and rightful, ownership of the Muslim Brotherhood’s extremism to the Arab Gulf States? Their first response was to refute the position. Quickly they accepted reality; and now the GCC, led by Saudi Arabia, is confronting MB’s enabler, Qatar.
Remember, when President Trump gave truthful, and rightful, ownership of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions to China? The first response was Beijing refuting the position. Eventually they accepted reality; that process is ongoing.
On Monday President Trump gave truthful ownership of the Taliban to Pakistan. Well:
KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan has rejected U.S. criticism of its efforts to fight terrorism, saying it should not be made a scapegoat for the failure of the U.S. military to win the war in Afghanistan.
U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his policy for Afghanistan on Monday, stepping up the military campaign against Taliban insurgents and singling out Pakistan for harboring them.
“It can’t be done”, they said. “There’s no way Trump can achieve 4.0% economic growth” they said. The Congressional Budget Office said economic projections were “improbable”, they said…. “Impossible”, they said.
Yeah, well, Donald Trump said: “Impossible is just the starting point“. And now:
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is on track to expand at a 4.0 percent annualized pace in the third quarter with inventory investment contributing 1.12 percentage points to growth, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDP Now forecast model showed on Thursday. (read more)
How is this possible? Well, if you’ve never had to wash your hands with Lava – it might seem impossible. For those who have washed with Lava, it’s simple common sense.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, is the growth in value of all goods and services produced within the economy over a specified period of time. A key part of that equation is the sum total of exported goods minus imported goods is part of the measure. Only the stuff created in the U.S. increases the growth dynamic. If you import more, the GDP shrinks. It’s simple arithmetic.
If you grow exports, and maintain a constant on imported products, the net lowering of the trade deficit adds to GDP growth. It’s not a hard equation. If our economy is making more stuff, our economy is growing.
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President Trump is anticipated to deliver remarks from Trump Tower in New York City today following meetings with national business leaders and developers. The focus is on removing regulatory hurdles for massive infrastructure development. Anticipated start time 3:45pm to 4:00pm
UPDATE: FULL VIDEO ADDED
Everything, e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g, every story, is circling the upcoming economic and financial trade confrontations. There are trillions at stake and President Donald Trump is facing off against the international “BIG CLUB”. The purchased multinational political entities who operate within the massive and institutional multinational corporate and financial networks behind the World Bank and World Trade Organization.
NAFTA re-negotiations are set to begin in Washington DC this coming Wednesday. President Trump is meeting with Trade Team U.S.A tonight.
♦ Last week Mexico’s Economic Minister Ildefonso Guajardo threatened to flood the U.S. with illegal aliens, South American gangs and massive illegal drugs shipments if the U.S. doesn’t keep favor with Mexico in the trilateral trade deal. –LINK–
♦ Now today, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland states that Canada will walk away from re-negotiated NAFTA if Chapter 19 trade dispute resolutions are not retained. –LINK–
What Canada seeks to keep is a dispute mechanism that specifically politicizes the NAFTA trade resolution process. Chapter 19 establishes a bi-national panel who make binding decisions on complaints about illegal subsidies, dumping, manipulation of trade and possible countervailing duties.
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There have been multiple media reports in the last six hours that President Trump is going to announce trade investigation/sanctions against China during a press conference scheduled for Monday.
It makes sense the previously postponed 301 trade investigation against China for violations of intellectual property rights might be announced.
Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 provides the United States with the authority to enforce trade agreements, resolve trade disputes, and open foreign markets to U.S. goods and services. It is the principal statutory authority under which the United States may impose trade sanctions on foreign countries that either violate trade agreements or engage in other unfair trade practices. When negotiations to remove the offending trade practice fail, the United States may take action to raise import duties on the foreign country’s products as a means to rebalance lost concessions. (LINK)
However, a note of caution. Substantive trade negotiations, the kind which involve economics and national security, are always fluid and subject to pause, postponement or changes in direction based on compliance – or expressions of a willingness to comply.
Remember, this is Trump. Looking out for U.S. economic interests is the baseline for trade “leverage”, a tactic and skill uniquely evident in this administration’s trade team. Section 301 is a tool, actually a massive atomic sledgehammer, to force compliance.
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It must be weird for the ordinary person around the world to view U.S. politics through the prism of the American MSM lügenpresse. We’re often left wondering if international observers realize how much deception and fraud exists in media broadcasts of President Trump.
However, that said, a few days ago CTH predicted via twitter that Friday would bring a “breaking news” revelation that President Trump’s administration had been in ongoing negotiations with North Korea. Today, exactly that happened.
(Via ABC) Despite the bombastic rhetoric exchanged between North Korean and American leaders this week, the Trump administration has been quietly engaged in back-channel diplomacy with North Korea for several months, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
The ongoing talks, which were first reported by The Associated Press, included discussions about U.S.-North Korean relations and Americans imprisoned in North Korea, the source said.
The PPI is the Producer Price Index. The CPI is the Consumer Price Index. The PPI reflects the price product producers are getting for their goods and services. The CPI reflects the price consumers are paying for their goods and services. They generally run together as lower production prices usually mean lower consumer prices.
Here again today, the fed is perplexed. With a growing economy, and with labor market tightening, the people who control the monetary policy have continued to anticipate inflation, rises in the PPI and CPI. However, as we have outlined, it’s not happening.
It’s a little wonky, but basically prices are NOT going up. The Fed is perplexed. We predicted this:
[…] The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand slipped 0.1 percent last month, weighed by decreasing costs for services. That was the largest decline since August 2016 and reversed June’s 0.1 percent gain.
In the 12 months through July, the PPI increased 1.9 percent after rising 2.0 percent in the year through June. Economists had forecast the PPI to tick up 0.1 percent last month and 2.2 percent from a year ago. (read more)
Neither the PPI nor the CPI measure changes in food or energy costs. Those high consumption sectors have always been removed from Fed measures.
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