Monthly Archives: January 2019

Jan 4 2019

Decepticon Senator Mitt Romney Given Seat on Foreign Relations Committee…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 3, 2019 by 

A predictable assignment for a Decepticon tool placed to protect the interests of the multinationals.

A committee position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ensures that Mittens can prosper from the indulgences of foreign lobbying efforts.

WASHINGTON DC – Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is getting a high-profile perch as he joins the Senate during his latest clash with President Trump.

Romney was named on Thursday to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, giving him an opening to wade into several looming foreign policy battles between Congress and the White House.

Romney had reportedly expressed an interest in gaining a seat on the committee, where two Republican members retired at the end of the last Congress, opening up space on the panel.  (read more)

 

Jan 4 2019

Not Senator McSally….


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 3, 2019 by 

Senator Sinema:

(link)

As many may reference, when CTH notes an opposition member with exceptional agitprop skills -regardless of opinion toward them as an opponent- CTH gives them credit.  This is very well played.  Ms. Sinema has intelligent political skills.

It is a skill few have mastered:  Take every aspersion cast against you; embrace them with humor; amplify them in your own way; and then turn the outcome to your advantage.  President Donald Trump also has this political skillset

Jan 4 2019

President Trump Posts Border Wall Meme on Instagram That Will Make Democrats Go Bananas….


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 3, 2019 by 

Oh dear.  U.S. President Donald J Trump just posted a graphic on his Instagram accountthat will likely make his political opposition go bananas.  Epic:

(Link)

From all appearances President Trump is not backing down from his demand for border security that includes a border wall physical barrier.  And while Democrats thought they had him painted into a zero-sum corner, well, there’s every indication the White House is prepared to let the partial government shutdown go on for months if needed.

This position now puts all the pressure on Nancy Pelosi.

It looks like President Trump tasked Chairman Kevin Hassett, of the White House Council of Economic Advisors (CEA), to run the numbers on how the prolonged government shut-down might have an impact on the economy.

Hassett’s rough estimate, calculated from the withdrawal of income from the furloughed federal employees, is around 1/10th of one percent per pay cycle (every two weeks) in GDP impact.  Little to no actual economic effect.

.

Simultaneously, all of the economic adversaries, like China, are watching this and realizing that President Trump doesn’t bluff.  As they are engaged with representatives from the U.S. delegations they carry the concern that President Trump’s team is not afraid to embrace any political confrontation in their determination to achieve victory.

Methinks this won’t work out the way the Democrats originally had planned…

Jan 4 2019

Beyond Expectations: ADP December Payroll Report – 271,000 Job Gains Recorded…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 3, 2019 by 

Tomorrow, Friday January 4th, the U.S. Labor Department will release the December jobs report which will offer an in-depth look at the labor market including: job additions, the unemployment rate, the labor participation rate and actual wage growth.

In the interim, the ADP National Employment Report provides a monthly snapshot of U.S. nonfarm private sector employment based on actual transactional payroll data. Their review of national payroll ledgers shows a stunning; 271,000 jobs added in December.

(link to ADP data – link to pdf)

FOX Business – […]  “We wrapped up 2018 with another month of significant growth in the labor market,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Although there were increases in most sectors, the busy holiday season greatly impacted both trade and leisure and hospitality. Small businesses also experienced their strongest month of job growth all year.”

The better-than-expected number can be attributed to good weather last month and strong holiday hiring, despite a tumultuous month for the markets, according to Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi.

“Businesses continue to add aggressively to their payrolls despite the stock market slump and the trade war,” he said in a statement. “Favorable December weather also helped lift the job market. At the current pace of job growth, low unemployment will get even lower.”   (more)

Also released today was an interesting snippet from inside the Bureau of Labor Statisticsreview of metropolitan unemployment regions:

…In November, Ames, IA, had the lowest unemployment rate, 1.2 percent.

El Centro, CA, and Yuma, AZ, had the highest unemployment rates, 18.1 percent and 14.9 percent,respectively…. (link)

Jan 4 2019

Sarah Sanders White House Press Briefing – 4:30pm Livestream…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 3, 2019 by 

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers a press briefing on the day the new 116th congressional session begins.  There is somewhat of a scramble as the press briefing was only recently announced.  Anticipated start time around 4:30pm EST.

UPDATE:   SURPRISE !!!  President Trump delivered the briefing:

Fox News Livestream Link – PBS Livestream Link – Global News Livestream Link

Jan 4 2019

Resistance Day #1 – Speaker Nancy Pelosi Takes Control of House of Representatives…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 3, 2019 by 

Today the official first day of the 116th congressional session begins with Speaker of The House Nancy Pelosi taking control over the House of Representatives. Speaker Pelosi delivers the first of many speeches to her audience.

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Jan 4 2019

Not A Parody – British Army Recruitment Posters Reflect How Far the U.K. Has Fallen…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 3, 2019 by 

Former British Prime Minister Winston S Churchill famously said: “It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.”  Perhaps, in an ironic way, that is exactly what the British Army are doing as they reveal an ad campaign to recruit the finest young men and women the U.K. has for military service:

This is not a parody; these recruitment posters are very real. The stereotypical traits of British Millennials are accepted as the standard and re-branded as strengths.

The indulgent trait of self-centeredness becomes “self-belief;” the generational obsession with phones and gadgets becomes “focus”; and those with a propensity for compulsive selfie-taking are now cast with internal “confidence.”

Yes, the British Army have officially accepted that a generation where everyone deserves a trophy is now the first line of national defense; and thus recruitment efforts need to be modified accordingly.

Despite my notation promising this is not a parody, I am quite sure there are reasonably grounded people reviewing this who would nevertheless believe this has to be a joke.

It’s not.

Swear.

This is very, very, disturbingly real. [See Daily Mail]  There’s even a highly produced set of broadcast commercials to support the recruitment campaign.

Great Britain has come a long way from Winston Churchill…

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

— Winston S. Churchill

 

Jan 4 2019

Yellow Vests Becoming World Wide Movement


Armstrong Economics Blog/Civil Unrest

Re-Posted Jan 4, 2019 by Martin Armstrong

The Yellow Vest Movement that began in France, is spreading. It appeared also in Belgium and it spread to Canada as well. The French arrested the leaders of the Yellow Vest Movement calling them an anti-government charging them for organizing an unauthorized protest, as authorities adopt a tougher approach to try to curb the demonstrations. During the weekend of December 15th, mimicking the Yellow Vest movement in France, protests have formed all over Canada. These are peaceful protests, unlike in France, but they have continued every weekend in various cities such as Toronto, Halifax, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Calgary etc, especially in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Alberta has long been known as the oil province of Canada and is highly commodity driven. With NDP (New Democratic Party) preventing the expansion of the TransMountain Pipeline
from Alberta’s Edmonton to BC’s Burnaby after the project has already been approved by the federal government back in 2013, many people are unemployed. With oil in Western Canada
(Western Canadian Select) hitting $11.43 a barrel in November, companies simply cannot afford to stay in business. Combining this with the announcement that the price of vegetables
increased 4%-6% as of January 1st, it’s no wonder that many Canadians are frustrated.

This is also apparent as Calgary voted a resounding NO on a bid for hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics on November 13th. An estimate of $5.11 billion was announced with additional extra
costs which were never disclosed, people voted no to the increase the taxation in order to pay for it. The wrong event at the wrong time and people simply can’t afford to foot the bill.
Bottom line, too many taxes impact quality of life and no one will take to the streets when they are fat and happy.

What’s important here is that not only has Canada joined the Yellow Vest Movement, but it’s still going strong every weekend, Christmas, New Years, the protests against rising socialism
continue. Trudeau might have his work cut out for him before the next election in Canada in October 2019.

Jan 4 2019

Plunge Protection Myths = Keynesian Economic Myths


Armstrong Economics Blog/Understanding Cycles

Re-Posted Jan 4, 2019 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: What about what China did by buying stocks a few years ago to stop the hang sang from dropping

ANSWER: Do not confuse attempts to support a market from actually being able to do so. This is the same as Keynesian economics that government could prevent recessions. Larry Summers admitted the government cannot even forecast such events. Not only during the Great Depression did companies jump in to buy their shares during the crash to try to prevent the decline. Most of the companies that took that action actually failed for they bought the stock back trying to hold the price and lost needed cash reserves. They could not sell stock again nor could the borrow.

During the collapse of the Nikkei after 1989, companies held believing that the government would support the market. When they realized the government could not then the government encouraged us to bail out the Japanese corporations. We helped well over 300 public companies issuing a note to buy their portfolios at their cost with 10-year payouts and each note had to be approved by the Japanese government individually. If the governments were able to actually prevent declines, then they would. But nobody can do that for the size of the public at large far outweighs any institution, group of institutions, or banks.

People would rather believe in conspiracy theories than simply look at the reality. Attempts to manipulate markets ALWAYS fail because the majority is far greater than any minority. The trend is made by the MAJORITY. A panic sell-off like the Crash of 1987 took place BECAUSE there was no bid – not that there was a massive short position. Scare the MAJORITY and they then try to sell, you find no bid and that is how a flash crash unfolds. This is why outlawing short positions is destructive for the only person with the courage to try to catch a falling knife is the one who is taking profit – not initiating a long position.

Jan 4 2019

Do Documents of the Government Belong to the Government or the People?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law

Re-Posted Jan 4, 2019 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Dear Marty,

Rudy Giuliani, Trump‘s lawyer and former mayor of New York, says Julian Assange of Wikileaks should not be prosecuted and compares his work to the Pentagon Papers.
Kind regards,
MS
REPLY: I totally disagree with the attempt to prosecute Julian Assange of Wikileaks or Snowden. The argument for his prosecution is based upon this notion that the documents are stolen and therefore should not be protected by the First Amendment. This interjects the very problem that Thomas Paine wrote in his Common Sense. The government is NOT the legal sovereign of the nation – that is the people. Therefore, any document that the government may have does NOT belong to it, for the government is a representative of the people. Anyone who obtains a document from the government and publishes it which demonstrates the government is acting illegally cannot be TREASON or a crime. I am offering a moral opinion. No federal judge would rule in that manner for their job is to defend the government against the people.

As the Supreme Court stated in LEGAL TENDER CASES, 110 U.S. 421 (1884) (also referred to as Julliard v Greenman);

But be that as it may, there is no such thing as a power of inherent sovereignty in the government of the United States. It is a government of delegated powers, supreme within its prescribed sphere, but powerless outside of it. In this country, sovereignty resides in the people, and congress can exercise no power which they have not, by their constitution, entrusted to it; all else is withheld.