National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow appears on Fox News to discuss the June jobs report, current Federal Reserve policy, the Trump administration’s trade negotiations with China and former Reagan Economist Art Laffer receiving the Medal of Freedom.
On the China front there’s a weird, seemingly disconnected, dynamic appearing at the surface level within China.  The position of Chairman Xi Jinping and Vice-Premier Liu He seems unusually separated from Beijing messaging (more on that later). Here’s Kudlow:

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Apparently the rumors of our economic demise were greatly exaggerated.  Yes, amid the gnashing teeth of the Wall Street pundits hoping for another lucrative Fed rate decrease, the Main Street economy continues to defy expectations:

“Today’s jobs report shows the U.S. economy continues to create jobs at a strong pace even as we enter the longest period of economic expansion on record.” ~Tony Bedikian, Citizens Bank.

According to the BLS Report – June saw 224,000 jobs added; and importantly the private sector wage growth knocks a very solid +3.2% year-over-year. [Table B-8]  You might remember in the May 2019 jobs report 299,000 people moved from Part-Time to Full-Time employment.  In today’s report total payrolls added another 224,000 workers.

These are stunningly numbers.  The 224k new jobs this month is higher than same month last year (2018).  The Main Street economy is continuing to expand.  Private sector growth in wages continues to run above 3% for the 11th straight month.   Wage Growth is a critical driver because over inflation is around 1.3%. Wage growth is more than double inflation.
Key Point: Economic numbers, statistics, are subject to narrative engineering.  Those pushing a negative economic narrative are Wall Street pundits.  Wall St. has a self-interest to push negative economic news to get lower interest rates.  Lower interest rates means cheap money and a higher stock market.
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Excellent news from White House manufacturing policy advisor Peter Navarro as he discusses the re-engagement in U.S. and China trade discussions. Great INFO.
You won’t see this interview highlighted by MSM.  As we anticipated the prior 150 page agreement negotiated by USTR Robert Lighthizer and Vice-Premier Liu He, previously dismissed by Beijing after three months of intense discussions, is now the starting point for new talks.  This means the Chinese have acquiesced to the prior terms they rebuked.
The seven chapters, each assigned to a specific trade sector, are the baseline for Lighthizer and Liu He to re-engage.  Excellent news from the position of the U.S. team.

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The CNBC knucklehead injecting about a Hauwei compromise was quickly corrected by Navarro. The Commerce Department restrictions and process for 90-day licenses to do business with Hauwei remains unchanged.
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Many Democrat presidential candidates will be traveling to Iowa for July 4th events as part of their campaign effort.  Interestingly, according to the recent updates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Iowa has some of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation:

(Waterloo Iowa Headline Link)

Iowa has three of the top five lowest unemployment regions in the nation:

(BLS DATA) In May, Ames, IA, and Burlington-South Burlington, VT, had the lowest unemployment rates, 1.5 percent each, followed by Midland, TX, 1.7 percent; Iowa City, IA, 1.8 percent; and Dubuque, IA, 1.9 percent.

While Democrats have falsely been saying the economy isn’t working for all Americans, the facts are that blue-collar middle-class Americans have been the largest beneficiaries.
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Today, July 1st, is the first day of the third quarter 2019.  As typical some of the earliest economic reporting from June is released.  One of the first reports comes from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) as they compile the manufacturing sector.

As noted in the ISM review, manufacturing growth remains strong with an overall index of 51.7 (anything above 50 is growth), and the results are stronger than initially predicted by the financial media (Wall Street).
The manufacturing production index for June is 54.1 versus last month’s 51.3 (May); generally this means manufacturing outputs are growing, order backlogs are being reduced, orders are being fulfilled faster.  This is an indication that new production investment is now coming on-line and delivering actual products from orders.
In the past CTH had noted the heavy Main Street investment which began in 2017 would start to come on-line in Q2 2019, it generally takes about two years for a new manufacturing facility to start producing, and then increases in production efficiency follow.  The ISM result shows we were pretty close with that forecast.
Within the review there are particular notes for additional interest.  First, the June manufacturing employment index is 54.5, very strong; (last month 53.7).  In essence manufacturers are hiring at a fast rate.  One cause is better weather (seasonal), and the majority cause is filling the jobs from new production facilities coming on-line.
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Mike Morell was the Deputy CIA Director when President Obama and Hillary Clinton botched the joint 2011 CIA and State Department operation “Zero Footprint” in Libya.
“Zero Footprint” was the covert operation initiated by Secretary of State Clinton and CIA Director Leon Panetta.  Director Panetta left the CIA just before the operation went sideways and resulted in the attack on the Benghazi State Dept./CIA annex September 11th, 2012.  General David Petraeus was the new CIA Director when the Benghazi attack happened.  Immediately, General Petraeus became a risk.  [Deep Background]

After the Benghazi attack, the relationship between journalist Paula Broadwell and General Petraeus was used by ODNI James Clapper to remove the CIA Director.
Immediately after the election of 2012 CIA Director David Petraeus resigned (Nov 9th) and interim CIA Director Morrel took over. This is why Petraeus never testified about CIA operations to the Senate panel investigating Benghazi, Mike Morrel took his place.
Morrel’s job was to provide cover for the background operation (2010, Zero Footprint) where Obama, Clinton and Panetta provided covert weapons, including shoulder fired missiles, to Libyan “rebels”, aka Libyan al-Qaeda.  AND Morrel’s second role was to cover for the extended CIA operation (2011-2012) where the CIA was buying back those missiles and shipping them into Syria for use overthrowing the Assad regime; the second operation was based out of the secret (at the time) State Dept/CIA facility in Benghazi.
Morrel was essentially the CIA narrative ‘fixer’.  He was up to his eyeballs in the cover-up behind Benghazi 2012 and 2013.  After Acting Deputy Morrel testified to congress about the CIA involvement around Benghazi, and the issues of terrorism vs. Islamic movie (happy squirrel chase) etc. Mike Morrel was replaced at the CIA by John Brennan.
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With President Donald Trump making massive strides toward peace and stability surrounding North Korea, the media cannot accept -nor allow- the common sense solutions to succeed.  President Trump is clearly perceived as a risk because his success highlights just how useless and manipulative a professional political class of consultants, advisors and DC think-tanks really are.
The U.S. media are desperate to find something to criticize and openly cheering for failure, so long as it provides fuel for their anti-Trump narrative.  It is stunning to watch against the backdrop of President Trump cutting the Gordian knot known as North Korea.

Perhaps by training, by habit or by unintended consequence, the DC proletariat have developed a system for themselves where the process itself as the end result.  This allows them to wax philosophically about problems; but it is within the discussion of the problem itself where their industry exists.  Solutions are not wanted because that stops the process.
DC journalism has evolved into reveling about the never ending process and, as a consequence, media completely ignore the end point, miss the bottom line, don’t actually SEE the subject matter, and never actually attempt to discover solutions.
If you watch this nonsense long enough you realize those inside the industrial media complex avoid the subject matter deliberately; because if they get their heads around it and nail it home, they won’t have anything to talk about – they will have exhausted their stash.
As part of their unspoken strategy when they encounter a solution driven approach, the media (writ large) fall back on the Gruber Principle: relying on “the stupidity of the American voter” not to understand how the lies and talking points are being distributed.
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President Trump has tweeted the high-level status of the negotiation restart.  Essentially the outcome is as we expected.

• Trade talks resume from former stalled point. [Likely Vice-Premier Liu He is back representing Chairman Xi Jinping – Beijing retreat]
• Current enhanced tariff’s remain in place. [The tariffs that were raised when talks collapsed will remain raised and in force. – Beijing retreat]
• China resumes AG purchases. [Likely soy beans will be priority – Beijing retreat]
• U.S. will allow trade purchases, exports, to Huawei of non-National Security tech. [Ross likely to determine products – Trump modifies position]

From this summation it would appear President Trump has created an exit ramp for Chairman Xi Jinping that allows him to save face.  However, obviously with retention of the recent tariff increases the benefits beyond optics all favor President Trump.
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It’s looking like the handshake meeting between President Trump, South Korea’s Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is going to happen. President Trump told traveling pool: “We’re gonna see. They’re working things out right now.” Apparently the details are in rapid resolve mode.
President Trump arrived with the U.S. entourage at the Blue House in South Korea, where a reception and dinner were planned by the host nation. LPGA champion Se-ri Park and members of the K-pop band Exo were also at the reception. Video:

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After the reception the President and delegation had dinner hosted by President Moon Jae-in. The main dish was a sirloin steak made of US beef, accompanied by bulgogi sauce, pickled garlic leaves and other side dishes. There were also 12 cold Korean starters on the official menu including steamed sea urchin with tofu and pan-fried mung beans.
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President Trump will be holding a press conference this morning as the G20 summit has concluded. The presser is scheduled for 2:30am EST in Osaka Japan. There are multiple media reports that President Trump and Chairman Xi Jinping have agreed to restart trade discussions.  This will likely be a primary focus of questions as the world is watching.
UPDATE: Video Added

With the pre-G20 magnanimous panda activity by China, there’s little doubt Chairman Xi will have offered a modification in DPRK influence in exchange for a some form of trade negotiations; likely now limited to the restart.  That would present a position where Vice-Chairman Liu He can reengage with the U.S. team (Lighthizer and Mnuchin).
It would make sense for President Trump to pause any further tariff action as an act of good faith if that move can get Kim Jong-Un released. It costs the U.S. position nothing.
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