Yesterday while exiting the White House, President Trump told reporters he had just finished a 90 minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin:

“We had a great call with President Putin. We’re talking about peace in Syria — very important. We’re talking about North Korea. We had a call that lasted almost an hour and a half. We’ve just put out a release on the call. But we’re talking very strongly about bringing peace for Syria. We’re talking about very strongly about North Korea and Ukraine.” (transcript)

Important to note that conversation was longer than would have been possible at any of the Bilat’s (Bilateral Discussion) during the ASEAN Summit or APEC Meeting in Asia.  A further review of the White House readout:
(more…)

What a tangled web is weaved….  Hillary Clinton paid her lawyers at Perkins Coie for opposition research on candidate Donald Trump.  In turn Perkins Coie paid Fusion GPS to gather information.  Fusion GPS paid Christopher Steele to write the “Russian Dossier”.
The FBI also paid Christopher Steele.  Additionally, prior evidence surfaced suggesting the FBI used the dossier to get FISA warrants against the Trump campaign. And NOW we discover that Fusion GPS paid journalists and five media companies to participate.
Oh, if this ain’t just sketchy as all hell:

WASHINGTON – Newly filed court documents confirm that Fusion GPS, the company mostly responsible for the controversial “Trump dossier” on presidential candidate Donald Trump, made payments to three journalists between June 2016 until February 2017.
The revelation could be a breakthrough for House Republicans, who are exploring whether Fusion GPS used the dossier, which was later criticized for having inaccurate information on Trump, to feed anti-Trump stories to the press during and after the presidential campaign. The three journalists who were paid by Fusion GPS are known to have reported on “Russia issues relevant to [the committee’s] investigation,” the House Intelligence Committee said in a court filing.

(more…)

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…)

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…)

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump depart White House en route to West Palm Beach, Florida and their Mar-a-Lago resort residence where the first family will gather for Thanksgiving.
President Trump delivers remarks to the press pool and answers some questions:

(more…)

In keeping with modern presidential tradition, President Trump, First-Lady Melania Trump and their son Barron participate in the annual pardon of the Thanksgiving turkey.
Drumstick comes from Minnesota and was raised by 4-H members in Douglas County. President Trump noted that he has overturned many of President Barack Obama’s orders, but said White House counsel advised him he could not overturn Obama’s pardon last year of turkeys Tater and Tot. WATCH:

The initial report from the U.S. Border Patrol on the murder of Agent Rogelio Martiez was posted Sunday November 19th, and stated: “Agent Rogelio Martinez and his Big Bend Sector partner were responding to activity while on patrol near Interstate 10, in the Van Horn Station area. Agent Martinez’s partner reported that they were both injured and in need of assistance. Responding agents provided immediate medical care, and transported both agents to a local hospital.”
Yesterday the FBI took over the investigation and released their expanded statement:

First and foremost, the thoughts and prayers of all the federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies involved are with the family, friends and U.S. Border Patrol work force during this tragic time.

On November 18, 2017, at approximately 11:20 p.m. CST, U.S. Border Patrol Agents from the Van Horn Station in the Big Bend Sector, located two injured Border Patrol agents in a culvert area adjacent to Interstate 10, about 12 miles east of Van Horn. They provided the injured Agents with immediate medical care and transported them to a local Van Horn hospital.

(more…)

$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…)

First Lady Melania Trump and Barron Trump receive the official White House Christmas Tree for 2017; a beautiful 19-and-a-half-foot Balsam fir from Wisconsin that White House officials picked out in September.
Jim and Diane Chapman, owners of a Wisconsin Christmas tree farm, won an annual contest by the National Christmas Tree Association and got to present the tree.
After the first lady and son Barron gave their symbolic approval, the tree will be taken to the Blue Room, where it will become the holiday showpiece -complete with a nativity scene- for a first-family who have vowed to put Christmas back in the center of the winter holidays.  WATCH:

(more…)

Earlier today, prior to a closed meeting between Secretary of State Tillerson and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, President Trump delivered remarks to the full cabinet within the White House Cabinet Room.
During remarks (transcript below) President Trump announced that North Korea will be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism, re-instituting a legal designation previously dropped by the Bush administration.

.
[Transcript] 11:40 A.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. We just returned from a historic 12-day trip to Asia. Everywhere we went, the American delegation was greeted with tremendous hospitality and tremendous respect. People are respecting our country again, believe me.
(more…)