Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo for a wide-ranging discussion on current political and geopolitical events.
Topics include the U.S-Mexico border security and immigration; the 2020 democrat candidates (announced and unannounced); the bigger geopolitical issues behind the U.S-China trade conflict; Joe and Hunter Biden’s direct financial relationship to the Chinese communist government; the USMCA trade agreement; Trump’s leverage to increase an EU free economic alliance against China; and radical action by dems.

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In a remarkable admission today on Twitter AFL-CIO Labor Union President Richard Trumka supports the principle of illegal alien workers taking the jobs of American workers.  This is quite a bucket of sunlight upon a previously hidden agenda.

It is quite remarkable to see a large U.S. labor union now standing in support of illegal workers in the U.S.  There was a time, throughout the history of labor unions, when some of the strongest immigration voices were against American worker displacement.  Apparently that time is passed.
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union was recently impacted by a federal immigration authority raid in Mississippi; which resulted in almost 700 illegal alien workers being identified and removed. In addition to the unlawful border entry, most of the illegal workers used fake documents, fake identifications and stolen social security numbers to falsify employment eligibility.
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It is hard to believe but it’s been three years since we first outlined what would happen if candidate Donald Trump’s “America First” policy was implemented.  Specifically how the Federal Reserve would essentially become disconnected and functionally obsolescent for a few years.  As a result of the evidence visible, we are in a unique position to explain.
Staying in the big picture, a disconnected Fed was very predictable.  In the past 35 years the Wall Street multinationals gained as cheap money flowed overseas to start global manufacturing operations; Main Street USA suffered.  When you reverse this process by punishing the multinationals (tariffs), shifting the global supply chain, and changing the best location for investment dollars, Main Street USA benefits.  President Trump August 7th tweets statement:

Notice the “we are competing against other countries” part of the statement.  This is key to understanding what is in the future.  The Wall Street ‘multinationals’, corporations making and selling goods, are invested in production within other countries.
On one hand, Wall Street loves cheap money (low fed rates). However, on the other hand Wall Street multinationals are invested in overseas manufacturing; and those corporations don’t want to see the retention efforts of China and the EU undermined with a lower dollar value (lower fed rate).  So Wall Street is schizophrenic (check the stock market).
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White House trade and manufacturing policy advisor Peter Navarro, appears with Lou Dobbs to discuss the current status of the U.S.-China trade conflict.
Within the interview Navarro discusses the impact of China devaluing their currency as a strategy to avoid U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports.  WATCH:

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National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow on trade negotiations with China, and how the EU is positioning to off-set global economic contraction.  Additionally, Kudlow discusses the aspects of the July jobs report overlooked by Wall Street pundits.

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Do not overlook or underestimate the importance of the bigger picture behind the global economic forecasts and the collective alignment against U.S. President Donald Trump.  The ‘America First’ program is against their interests. There are trillions at stake.
Asia, primarily China, and the EU rely on common alignment with the multinationals who control Wall Street and have influenced U.S. trade and economic policy for 35 years.
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US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin returned from two days of talks in Shanghai on Thursday.  After debriefing President Trump on the results the president announced a decision to apply a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese products.

This announcement would answer the question of whether the Chinese were willing to restart discussions from the previous point of contention.  Obviously they are not.
The Wall Street financial/investment class will go bananas.  U.S. based multinationals who have invested massively in Chinese manufacturing are apoplectic.  The ‘Wall Street’ -vs- Main Street battle now enters a new phase of confrontation and adversarialism.
As we have discussed, President Trump consistently implied he did not see how any deal with China is possible unless they were willing to fundamentally restructure their trade position. It has been clear -validated by the G20 outcome- that President Trump is not going to accept anything less than a full and complete structural change in the U.S. trade position with China. Lighthizer’s severe compliance and enforcement clauses, specific to each unique trade sector, are non-negotiable.
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An excellent discussion between White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro and Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo about the current state of President Trump’s Main Street policy and economy.  The second half of the interview is the best part. Navarro outlines the background of the second quarter GDP result, and he hits the nail on the head. Hi Pete.
As CTH previously highlighted, the two primary drags on the Q2 release are also the most volatile: Export/Import contributions (-.65%), and Inventory contributions (-.86%) [table 2]. However, consumer spending was much stronger than anticipated (+4.3%) showing the internal strength of the U.S. labor market and the impact of wage growth which now exceeds 5.5 percent.  The rebound in Q3 is going to be very, very good.

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Note to Mr. Navarro: Enjoy the winning. Relax, you’re solid. Despite the financial punditry class consistently trying to downbeat the good news; you don’t have to carry the burden of adversarialism. You’re a good warrior; we know.  You don’t have to prove your salt. The American people can see the results, and the entire MAGAnomic team, including you, have our full support. Have some fun.
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We previously outlined Mr. Zhongtian Liu [HERE] as part of the early 2018 explanation for how China was exploiting the NAFTA loophole as an end-run around tariffs.  Today the Central District of California U.S. Attorney announces his indictment.

LOS ANGELES– A federal grand jury indictment unsealed late Tuesday alleges a complex financial fraud scheme in which a Chinese company exported to the United States huge amounts of aluminum – disguised as “pallets” to avoid customs duties of up to 400 percent – and “sold” the purported pallets to related entities to fraudulently inflate the company’s revenues and deceive investors around the world.
The 53-page indictment alleges that China Zhongwang Holdings Limited, Asia’s largest aluminum extrusion company; Zhongtian Liu, the company’s former president and chairman; and several individual and corporate co-defendants lied to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to avoid paying the United States $1.8 billion in anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) that were imposed in 2011 on certain types of extruded aluminum imported into the United States from China.

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In 2015 CTH outlined how candidate Donald Trump’s proposals were in-line with those who had long argued for a return of “economic nationalism”.  We also outlined when those proposals (now policy) are implemented, Fed action would be essentially irrelevant.

The Federal Reserve is pegged to the Wall Street Economy.  President Trump’s policies are pegged to the Main Street Economy.  There is a disconnect; a new dimension in U.S. economics; and very few people understand what happens in this space between them.
Thirty-five years ago Fed monetary policy impacted the U.S. economy directly because almost all activity (durable good manufacturing) was within our borders.  The natural dynamic of inflation could be influenced by the Fed.  Rate changes could offset inflation and also enhance domestic investment etc.
However, as time progressed that manufacturing activity -the basic underpinning of middle-class jobs, wages etc- shifted overseas.  When monetary policy became controlled by multinationals (Wall Street influencers purchasing politicians), capital investment moved to generate purely higher profits.  Businesses, specifically manufacturing, went abroad.  As a consequence the determination of prices, ie ‘inflation’, was no longer influenced by the Fed because the actual economic activity was/is outside the U.S. borders.
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The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released significant wage and salary data yesterday which held stunning upward revisions for 2018 and 2019.   Wage growth of 5.5% combined with low inflation remaining at 1.4 percent; the disposable income of U.S. workers jumped to a stunning 4.1%.  [Data Tables]

Within the revised BEA data, we find employee compensation rose 4.5% in 2017 and 5% in 2018.  Importantly the growth trend continued into 2019, with compensation increasing 3.4 percent in the first six months alone.  Year-over-year wages and salaries were revised upward to 5.3% for May, and 5.5% in June.  These are stunning increases in worker pay.
There are various economic indicators we have shared through the years, but wage growth is one of the more critical.  First, wage growth lags behind business activity – workers don’t get pay raises until after business volume demands/provides it.  Second, wage growth is generally uni-directional – once businesses hike pay, the increases cement.
As the Wall Street Journal put it:
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