NEC Director Larry Kudlow Discusses Trade Confrontation…


National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow appears on Bloomberg News to discuss U.S-China trade confrontations, the use of tariffs, and the potential for negotiations between the two nations:

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Obviously – with the ongoing issues surrounding NAFTA, and China’s exploitation of the fatal flaw therein, in combination with President Trump confronting the dragon behind the false Panda mask, the fight for MAGAnomic America-First policy execution is entering a new phase….

The multinational interests who benefited from the prior U.S. global trade approach are increasingly desperate. There are trillions at stake.

Kudlow

Bernie Sanders Admits the Democrats Are a Failure


 

Bernie Sanders is probably the only Democrat who has been honest enough to admit that the Democratic Party has been a complete failure. It’s focus on Marxism and creating class warfare has been a serious issue that will fuel civil unrest as the Socialist agenda continues to implode. Sanders recently said: “The business model, if you like, of the Democratic Party for the last 15 years or so has been a failure. People sometimes don’t see that because there was a charismatic individual named Barack Obama.” When we look at the total seats held in both the Senate and House by each party, the bear market in the Democrats becomes obvious. The Democrats actually peaked with the first election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. They have been gradually declining ever since.

 

 

Bernie pointed also to the Democratic Party’s many state legislative losses to Republicans. He has pointed out that the Republicans control most of the state legislatures throughout the country. What Bernie fails to grasp is that government is far too corrupt to actually govern and provide any true improvement in the lifestyle of the average person. The entire Socialist agenda has been devastating on absolutely every front. The introduction of Social Security shifted the focus away from inter-family security being replaced by the state. Kids no longer save to take care of their parents for that is the government’s job. Eastern Europeans still rely upon the family as you also see in China. In the USA, an amazing amount of children are still living with their parents into the 30s all because of taxes.

On top of that, the tax burden upon people has steadily risen. During the 1930s, it took just one person to earn a salary to support a family. It was the Democrats who imposed the income tax all the way down creating the Payroll Tax. They changed the definition of the rich from $5 million to $250,000 just to collect more taxes. What they have done is not just caused more children to be living with their parents into their thirties, but young families cannot survive unless the wife also works. That may be great for the Women’s Liberation Movement, but it has also robbed women of even the luxury to stay home and raise their children during the formative years. It now takes two incomes to sustain what one used to do before the income tax.

The Democrats also seriously altered the black family, which was once stronger than even the white community because they needed each other. With the introduction of welfare, they began to pay girls for the number of children they had and created an incentive not to get married. Similar programs in New Zealand provided total care for a girl if she had no idea who the father of the child was. Even the white community found the number of women who had no idea who the father was rose dramatically because they received free housing. The guy just ran out the back door when the social worker arrived. The ethnic background or race does not matter – it is economic incentives to undermine the family structure. Today, the black family has fallen to the bottom compared to whites and Hispanics all because of decades of economic incentives not to have a family structure. Studies now show the net effect of such social policies. “The United States shows striking racial and ethnic differences in marriage patterns. Compared to both white and Hispanic women, black women marry later in life, are less likely to marry at all, and have higher rates of marital instability.” Instead of blaming race, we need to look closer at the failure of Socialism.

The only message of the Democrats is also the same – vote for them because you are the victim of the rich. Instead of being like King Midas where everything he touched turned to gold, everything they have touched has crumbled to dust. Have Democratic policies ever worked? Communism failed. Behind the old Iron Curtain, the people as a whole learned the hard way that government is not something you can trust. Unfortunately, Europe and North America must learn the same lesson. The first major reform is not to simply lower taxes, but to prohibit direct taxation as was originally set forth by the Founding Fathers until the Marxists amended the Constitution and have ever since been destroy our culture. One of the primary reasons corporation have moved offshore is not because they will pay wages that are cheaper. The number one reason is for consistency. It is always a battle over taxes. How can you invest in a plant and assume your profit margin will be XYZ, and then the Democrats raise the taxes when they get back in. Other countries office 25-year tax guarantees NOT to raise their tax rate. Would you sign a lease for an apartment that said if the landlord needs money, he can raise your rate any time he desires and if you refuse to pay he can throw you in prison? Welcome to the American tax system.

The Right to Privacy Means Nothing


QUESTION: Has the world lost sight of what is a Protection Priority??
Equifax CEO Richard Smith Resigns after Backlash Over Massive Data Breach Equifax that compromised the PERMANENT data (SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS ) of 143 million Americans. AND IS REWARDED $18.4 million. (including a $7.6 million bonus.)
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has to testify next week on Capitol Hill regarding recent revelations about uses of people’s data (where they shop, eat, play) that they made public in the first place.
What are our security priorities??

MG

ANSWER: Our entire loss of privacy rights should be a major class action lawsuit. To sign up for anything, they have tremendous detailed legal agreements where effectively you waive all your rights to privacy. It is a situation where UNLESS you waive your rights, you cannot participate in the digital world. My personal legal theory is straightforward. I will be glad to help any law firm that wishes to bring such an action. You CANNOT possibly waive any Constitutional right whatsoever BECAUSE such an act of waiver means that every person in this country, even if not a citizen, can constructively amend the Constitution. That means the Constitution is a scrap of paper with no substance. The only authority to amend anything in the Constitution remains Article Five and that requires two-thirds of Congress to vote for such a change.

Constitution Article Five

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

The Constitution is NEGATIVE meaning it is a restraint upon government. Any waiver means you are amending the Constitution to give them more power than the Founders granted. That is an un-Democratic result. Justice Jackson explained that these constitutional principles in the Bill of Rights “grew in soil which also produced a philosophy that the individual[‘s] . . . liberty was attainable through mere absence of governmental restraints.” West Virginia State Bd. of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 639 (1943).

One of the greatest legal minds of today is Judge Richard Posner of the 7th Circuit. In November 1980, in Joliet, Illinois, a car turned over and caught fire. A policeman arrived and began directing traffic away from the scene. He made no effort to determine whether or not there were people in the car. There were, and they burned to death. The city was sued for damages on the ground that, by failing to save the occupants, the policeman and therefore the city had deprived them of life or liberty without due process of law. Relief was denied.

Judge Richard Posner wrote that the Constitution “is a charter of negative rather than positive liberties. . . . The men who wrote the Bill of Rights were not concerned that Government might do too little for the people but that it might do too much to them. The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted in 1868 at the height of laissez-faire thinking, sought to protect Americans from oppression by state government, not to secure them basic governmental services.” Jackson v. City of Joliet, 715 F.2d 1200, 1203 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1049 (1983). Thus the city had no constitutional duty to help the accident victims, and thus its failure to act deprived them of neither liberty nor life /Id. at 1206.

Therefore, the Constitution is unquestionably NEGATIVE and it imposes no duty upon the government to create any program even under the Socialist philosophies. Instead, it was always a restraint upon the government to ensure our liberty. Hence, you CANNOT waive any Constitutional right for that would be constructively amending the Constitution and therefore you are granting power to the government to act unconstitutio9nally which would then also violate Equal Protection of the laws for they can coerce everyone to surrender a right and that means people are not treated the same.

In Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), is a landmark case in the United States that established the Right to Privacy which Facebook and just about everyone else is coercing people to surrender. The case involved a Connecticut “Comstock law” that prohibited any person from using “any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception.” They prosecuted and convicted a doctor as accessories for giving married persons information and medical advice on how to prevent conception and, following examination, prescribing a contraceptive device or material for the wife’s use. The Supreme Court held that the statute was unconstitutional, and that “the clear effect of [the Connecticut law…] is to deny disadvantaged citizens […] access to medical assistance and up-to-date information in respect to proper methods of birth control.” By a vote of 7–2, the Supreme Court invalidated the law on the grounds that it violated the “right to marital privacy”, establishing the basis for the right to privacy with respect to intimate practices. This and other cases view the right to privacy as a right to “protect[ion] from governmental intrusion.”

Can you imagine that the government passed a law which decreed you could not have sex in some particular position? The question that immediately jumps out at you is HOW can they enforce such a law? Would government then have the right to witness a private sexual act in your home to grant approval or not? You can easily see that is the problem. Yet in Switzerland, they have some strange laws. A man cannot urinate standing up after 10 PM because he might make noise that disturbs a neighbor. This is an example of intrusive government.

The Right to Privacy is critical. The government violates that law every single day. Congress can enact any law it desires even one that said every person must kill their first born male son. The burden then falls to the citizen to argue in court that the law is unconstitutional. The French system requires the court to rule BEFORE the enforcement of any act. The American system is tyranny for only if a person has enough money to defend themselves can they uphold the Constitution. This is a terrible legal system that denies Equal Protection of the Law for it obviously discriminates according to class.

Facebook and others can take all your private data and sell it for a profit. They will also turn it over the government. Therein is a serious conflict of interest. The Right to Privacy should be restored and forcing people to surrender that right to be part of the digital era is outrageous coercion. It is long beyond the time that we actually apply the Constitution as a NEGATIVE restraint upon government as it was intended. We have no LIBERTY until that is restored.

 

President Trump Proposes Additional $100 Billion in Chinese Trade Tariffs…


As CTH has continued to remind, on the issue of confronting China’s trade practices, President Trump will not back down:

WHITE HOUSE – Following a thorough investigation under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) determined that China has repeatedly engaged in practices to unfairly obtain Americas intellectual property. The practices detailed in the USTRs investigation have caused concern around the world. Chinas illicit trade practices ignored for years by Washington have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs. On April 3, 2018, the USTR announced approximately $50 billion in proposed tariffs on imports from China as an initial means to obtain the elimination of policies and practices identified in the investigation.

Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers. In light of Chinas unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTRto consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs. I have also instructed the Secretary of Agriculture, with the support of other members of my Cabinet, to use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests.

Notwithstanding these actions, the United States is still prepared to have discussions in further support of our commitment to achieving free, fair, and reciprocal trade and to protect the technology and intellectual property of American companies and American people. Trade barriers must be taken down to enhance economic growth in America and around the world. I am committed to enabling American companies and workers to compete on a level playing field around the world, and I will never allow unfair trade practices to undermine American interests.  (read more)

President Trump will not back down from his position; the U.S. holds all of the leverage and the issue must be addressed. President Trump has waiting three decades for this moment. This President and his team are entirely prepared for this.

We are finally confronting the geopolitical Red Dragon, China!

The Olive branch and arrows denote the power of peace and war. The symbol in any figure’s right hand has more significance than one in its left hand. Also important is the direction faced by the symbols central figure. The emphasis on the eagles stare signifies the preferred disposition. An eagle holding an arrow also symbolizes the war for freedom, and its use is commonly referred to the liberation fight of righteous people from abusive influence. The eagle on the original seal created for the Office of the President showed the gaze upon the arrows.

The Eagle and the Arrow – An Aesop’s Fable

An Eagle was soaring through the air. Suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt the dart pierce its breast. Slowly it fluttered down to earth. Its lifeblood pouring out. Looking at the Arrow with which it had been shot, the Eagle realized that the deadly shaft had been feathered with one of its own plumes.

Moral: We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.

Quick NAFTA Update…


Yesterday U.S. Trade Represenative Robert Lighthizer and Mexico’s Minister Ildefonso Guajardo met in Washington DC for a bilateral discussion. Likely one of the key avenues for Lighthizer to explore surrounded the upcoming election of a hardline Marxist in Mexico and how Guajardo views the impact to Mexican policy therein.

At this point it’s virtually guaranteed that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will win the election – I would VERY strongly bet on that outcome (likelihood 85%).  That puts a Hugo Chavez type ideologue, and the attached economic policies, at our southern border. [Pro-Tip: prepare your business affairs accordingly now, and avoid the chaos later]

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland arrived in Washington DC today to join Lighthizer and Guajardo and expand the informal discussion toward a trilateral trade discussion.

Thankfully Lighthizer is on his home turf because he’s now surrounded by left-wing globalist advocates from Mexico, Canada and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce via Tom Donohue.

There was some media talk, and a hint from Trump’s NEC Chairman Larry Kudlow yesterday, about the U.S. strongly wanting to have an agreement on principle utilizing the cornerstone of the Auto-Sector as a building block.

However, I cannot caution strongly enough that NEC Chairman Larry Kudlow is in love with NAFTA and POTUS Trump is not.  So filter Kudlow’s optimistic glee against his trade worship with NAFTA.

Larry Kudlow and U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue are BFF’s on NAFTA, and will extort maximum pressure on President Trump from congressional allies in that regard.

Do not be surprised to see Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and the entire Decepticon wing of the GOPe go nuclear against Trump in the near future; while Kudlow works quietly to assist the objective.  Tom Donohue has hundreds of “billions” to pass out in golden annuity parachutes for any congressperson who will destroy themselves during a suicidal charge against the Trump administration.

If they stick to their historic approach (and there’s no reason to see them changing it) U.S. CoC President Donohue will coordinate the attacks, but stay behind the curtain.  This is an issue where the Republican apparatus will willingly give up massive seats in House and Senate mid-term races to retain their access to the U.S. CoC checkbook.

Within Washington DC nothing is more important than money and several hundred million for a congressional reps family makes it easy to walk away.

The only voices on the other side of this confrontation are President Trump, Wilbur Ross, Steven Mnuchin and Peter Navarro.  Everyone else inside and outside the administration, along with Wall Street, the swamp (writ large), CONservative media, Fox News and K-Street, is essentially against them and supporting open-ended global trade with China and fully exploitative NAFTA.

From the timing of the meeting yesterday it was likely U.S.T.R. Lighthizer was testing to see if he could leverage the predictable Mexican election outcome into a renewed sense of urgency amid more reasonable business voices in Mexico…. no-one knows the outcome, but I doubt his success.

Globalists and multinational interests would rather have a Marxist in office in Mexico than run the risk of trade markets outside their control.  There are trillions at stake.

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President Trump Remarks During Tax Reform Roundtable, West Virginia – 2:25pm EST Livestream


Today President Trump is traveling to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, to deliver remarks at a tax reform meeting and roundtable.  The President is anticipated to deliver remarks to the audience at approximately 2:25pm EST:

WH Livestream LinkRSBN Livestream LinkABC Livestream Link

President Trump Signs Proclamation Instructing Secretary of Defense To Bolster DHS at Southern U.S. Border…


Today President Donald Trump signed a proclamation directing the National Guard to be deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border.  Earlier today DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen explained the process:

In a memorandum to Defense Secretary Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, President Trump states the “situation at the border has now reached a point of crisis.”  The document orders the Secretary of Defense to support the Department of Homeland Security in securing the southern border to stop the flow of drugs and people.

FROM THE WHITE HOUSEWHAT: President Donald J. Trump is authorizing the deployment of the National Guard to support the Border Patrol in its mission to protect our country and stop the stream of illegal immigration.

To give our Border Patrol agents the support they deserve, President Trump is authorizing the deployment of National Guard units to the southern border to aid their mission.

America’s Border Patrol agents work incredibly hard to do their jobs of enforcing our Nation’s immigration laws and protecting our national security. These law enforcement personnel are tasked with securing thousands of miles of border, however, and often do not have the manpower or resources necessary to stem the tide of illegal immigration into the United States.

Given the importance of secure borders to our national security, the National Guard, in coordination with governors, will remain in a support role until Congress takes the action necessary to close the loopholes undermining our border security efforts, including ending the practice of Catch and Release.

This is not the first time in recent history that the National Guard has been deployed to the southern border. In 2012, President Barack Obama authorized the deployment of guardsmen to the border. President George W. Bush also authorized deployment of 6,000 guardsmen to the border as a part of Operation Jump Start, assisting in operations which resulted in the arrest of more than 173,000 illegal aliens, the rescue of 100 persons, and the seizure of more than 300,000 pounds of drugs.

WHY: The President is taking action to protect America’s national security because congressional Democrats have obstructed efforts to secure our border.

Throughout his campaign and Administration, President Trump has called for greater resources and legal authorities to end the national security threat posed by our porous borders. The President has repeatedly outlined a series of steps that are crucial to fixing this problem, including funding to build a wall securing our southern border; greater resources for manpower and security technology; and the closure of legal loopholes that allow illegal immigration to flourish.

More than a thousand people a day and more than 300,000 a year violate our sovereignty by illegally crossing the border. With our current laws and resources, we cannot stop illegal aliens from crossing the border or remove all of the illegal aliens we catch. Of the over 75,000 family units apprehended in FY 2017, only 2,605 were removed.

Stonewalling by Members of Congress, however, has prevented our dedicated Border Patrol agents from getting the resources they so desperately need. Inaction has left glaring loopholes open and crucial legal authorities unauthorized, so the President is taking action and using his existing powers to fill these gaps.  (WH Link)

Very Important Economic Confrontation: Neil Cavuto -vs- Larry Kudlow…


Neil Cavuto is the defender of multinational Wall Street interests.  Cavuto’s boss, Rupert Murdoch has a well known insider nickname: “Mr. Wall Street”… The Murdoch operations (Fox News and Wall Street Journal among them) are ideological advocates for multinational corporations and historic globalist trade practices; to the detriment of the U.S. middle-class.  Cavuto and Murdoch are aligned with U.S. Chamber of Commerce President, Tom Donohue, in all things related to Big Multinational Trade.

In this interview there is a very apropos example of the twisted disconnect evident in the multinational corporate media perspective.  Please watch the part that begins around 04:55 and listen closely to Cavuto:

…”and we’re really seeing the effect on the folks who have to pay the bills for this sort of thing … we’re already seeing soybean prices coming down; we’re seeing pork related prices coming down … folks are taking it on the chin, what are you telling them?”… etc.

There it is.  Did you catch it?

In discussing futures Cavuto sounds the alarm for “Soybean prices coming down.”  “Pork prices coming down”; and “the folks “taking it on the chin.”

Now, think.  What Neil Cavuto is saying is that U.S. food futures prices are forecast to come down.  In that scenario who exactly is taking it on the chin?

Who is it that Neil Cavuto sees losing out in his position?  It’s not the family going to the grocery store… they will see lower prices… so who are these “folks” losing out?

There it is.

Right there.

It’s easy to miss the gaslighting because it is so commonplace.  Cavuto doesn’t even see himself doing it.

This is the twisted and controlled market being discussed.

Neil Cavuto is not calling for ‘free markets’, he is advocating for ‘controlled markets’, and his anxiety is because the “folks” he references as “losers” are the Multinational Corporations and Big-AG who control the Pork and Soybean market.

Cavuto’s ‘consumers’, those he is advocating for, are Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Monsanto, Cargill, Unilever, Nestle’ and ConAgra.  Those are the names of Cavuto’s folks that he sees as “taking it on the chin.”   He is NOT, repeat NOT, talking about people who shop at supermarkets and grocery stores, ie. the middle-class.

I cannot emphasize this enough… once you know how to spot this economic disconnect in the arguments by advocates for multinational corporations you can never go back to a time when you don’t see it.

This is the most important economic lesson that most Americans simply do not comprehend.  We are in an abusive relationship, and most U.S. consumers don’t even know about it.

If the U.S. were to exit NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), the price you pay for most foodstuff at the grocery store would drop 10% in the first quarter and likely drop 20% or more by the end of the first year. Here’s why:

Approximately a decade ago the U.S. Dept of Agriculture stopped using U.S. consumer food prices within the reported CORE measures of inflation. The food sector joined the ranks of fuel and energy prices in no longer being measured to track core inflation and backdrop Fed monetary policy. Not coincidentally this was simultaneous to U.S. consumers seeing massive inflation in the same highly consumable sector.

There are massive international corporate and financial interests who are inherently at risk from President Trump’s “America-First” economic and trade platform. Believe it or not, President Trump is up against an entire world economic establishment.

When you understand how trade works in the modern era you will understand why the agents within the system are so adamantly opposed to U.S. President Trump.

The biggest lie in modern economics, willingly spread and maintained by corporate media, is that a system of global markets still exists.

It doesn’t.

Every element of global economic trade is controlled and exploited by massive institutions, multinational banks and multinational corporations. Institutions like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Bank control trillions of dollars in economic activity. Underneath that economic activity there are people who hold the reigns of power over the outcomes. These individuals and groups are the stakeholders in direct opposition to principles of America-First national economics.

The modern financial constructs of these entities have been established over the course of the past three decades. When you understand how they manipulate the economic system of individual nations you begin to understand understand why they are so fundamentally opposed to President Trump.

In the Western World, separate from communist control perspectives (ie. China), “Global markets” are a modern myth; nothing more than a talking point meant to keep people satiated with sound bites they might find familiar. Global markets have been destroyed over the past three decades by multinational corporations who control the products formerly contained within global markets.

The same is true for “Commodities Markets”. The multinational trade and economic system, run by corporations and multinational banks, now controls the product outputs of independent nations. The free market economic system has been usurped by entities who create what is best described as ‘controlled markets’.

U.S. President Trump smartly understands what has taken place. Additionally he uses economic leverage as part of a broader national security policy; and to understand who opposes President Trump specifically because of the economic leverage he creates, it becomes important to understand the objectives of the global and financial elite who run and operate the institutions. The Big Club.

Understanding how trillions of trade dollars influence geopolitical policy we begin to understand the three-decade global financial construct they seek to protect.

That is, global financial exploitation of national markets.

FOUR BASIC ELEMENTS:

♦Multinational corporations purchase controlling interests in various national outputs and industries of developed industrial western nations.

♦The Multinational Corporations making the purchases are underwritten by massive global financial institutions, multinational banks.

♦The Multinational Banks and the Multinational Corporations then utilize lobbying interests to manipulate the internal political policy of the targeted nation state(s).

♦With control over the targeted national industry or interest, the multinationals then leverage export of the national asset (exfiltration) through trade agreements structured to the benefit of lesser developed nation states – where they have previously established a proactive financial footprint.

Against the backdrop of President Trump confronting China; and against the backdrop of NAFTA being renegotiated, likely to exit; and against the necessary need to support the key U.S. steel industry; revisiting the economic influences within the modern import/export dynamic will help conceptualize the issues at the heart of the matter.

There are a myriad of interests within each trade sector that make specific explanation very challenging; however, here’s the basic outline.

For three decades economic “globalism” has advanced, quickly. Everyone accepts this statement, yet few actually stop to ask who and what are behind this – and why?

Influential people with vested financial interests in the process have sold a narrative that global manufacturing, global sourcing, and global production was the inherent way of the future. The same voices claimed the American economy was consigned to become a “service-driven economy.”

What was always missed in these discussions is that advocates selling this global-economy message have a vested financial and ideological interest in convincing the information consumer it is all just a natural outcome of economic progress.

It’s not.

It’s not natural at all. It is a process that is entirely controlled, promoted and utilized by large conglomerates, lobbyists, purchased politicians and massive financial corporations.

Again, I’ll try to retain the larger altitude perspective without falling into the traps of the esoteric weeds. I freely admit this is tough to explain and I may not be successful.

Bulletpoint #1: ♦ Multinational corporations purchase controlling interests in various national elements of developed industrial western nations.

This is perhaps the most challenging to understand. In essence, thanks specifically to the way the World Trade Organization (WTO) was established in 1995, national companies expanded their influence into multiple nations, across a myriad of industries and economic sectors (energy, agriculture, raw earth minerals, etc.). This is the basic underpinning of national companies becoming multinational corporations.

Think of these multinational corporations as global entities now powerful enough to reach into multiple nations -simultaneously- and purchase controlling interests in a single economic commodity.

A historic reference point might be the original multinational enterprise, energy via oil production. (Exxon, Mobil, BP, etc.)

However, in the modern global world, it’s not just oil; the resource and product procurement extends to virtually every possible commodity and industry. From the very visible (wheat/corn) to the obscure (small minerals, and even flowers).

Bulletpoint #2 ♦ The Multinational Corporations making the purchases are underwritten by massive global financial institutions, multinational banks.

During the past several decades national companies merged. The largest lemon producer company in Brazil, merges with the largest lemon company in Mexico, merges with the largest lemon company in Argentina, merges with the largest lemon company in the U.S., etc. etc. National companies, formerly of one nation, become “continental” companies with control over an entire continent of nations.

…. or it could be over several continents or even the entire world market of Lemon/Widget production. These are now multinational corporations. They hold interests in specific segments (this example lemons) across a broad variety of individual nations.

National laws on Monopoly building are not the same in all nations. Most are not as structured as the U.S.A or other more developed nations (with more laws). During the acquisition phase, when encountering a highly developed nation with monopoly laws, the process of an umbrella corporation might be needed to purchase the targeted interests within a specific nation. The example of Monsanto applies here.

Bulletpoint #3 ♦The Multinational Banks and the Multinational Corporations then utilize lobbying interests to manipulate the internal political policy of the targeted nation state(s).

With control of the majority of actual lemons the multinational corporation now holds a different set of financial values than a local farmer or national market. This is why commodities exchanges are essentially dead. In the aggregate the mercantile exchange is no longer a free or supply-based market; it is now a controlled market exploited by mega-sized multinational corporations.

Instead of the traditional ‘supply/demand’ equation determining prices, the corporations look to see what nations can afford what prices. The supply of the controlled product is then distributed to the country according to their ability to afford the price. This is essentially the bastardized and politicized function of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This is also how the corporations controlling WTO policy maximize profits.

Back to the lemons. A corporation might hold the rights to the majority of the lemon production in Brazil, Argentina and California/Florida. The price the U.S. consumer pays for the lemons is directed by the amount of inventory (distribution) the controlling corporation allows in the U.S.

If the U.S. lemon harvest is abundant, the controlling interests will export the product to keep the U.S. consumer spending at peak or optimal price. A U.S. customer might pay $2 for a lemon, a Mexican customer might pay .50¢, and a Canadian $1.25.

The bottom line issue is the national supply (in this example ‘harvest/yield’) is not driving the national price because the supply is now controlled by massive multinational corporations.

The mistake people often make is calling this a “global commodity” process. In the modern era this “global commodity” phrase is particularly nonsense.

A true global commodity is a process of individual nations harvesting/creating a similar product and bringing that product to a global market. Individual nations each independently engaged in creating a similar product.

Under modern globalism this process no longer takes place. It’s a complete fraud. Massive multinational corporations control the majority of production inside each nation and therefore control the global product market and price. It is a controlled system.

EXAMPLE: Part of the lobbying in the food industry is to advocate for the expansion of U.S. taxpayer benefits to underwrite the costs of the domestic food products they control. By lobbying DC these multinational corporations [Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Monsanto, Cargill, Unilever, Nestle’, ConAgra etc] get congress and policy-makers to expand the basis of who can use EBT and SNAP benefits (state reimbursement rates).

Expanding the federal subsidy for food purchases is part of the corporate profit dynamic.

With increased taxpayer subsidies, the food price controllers can charge more domestically and export more of the product internationally. Taxes, via subsidies, go into their profit margins. The corporations then use a portion of those enhanced profits in contributions to the politicians. It’s a circle of money.

In highly developed nations this multinational corporate process requires the corporation to purchase the domestic political process (as above) with individual nations allowing the exploitation in varying degrees. As such, the corporate lobbyists pay hundreds of millions to politicians for changes in policies and regulations; one sector, one product, or one industry at a time. These are specialized lobbyists.

EXAMPLE: The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)

CFIUS is an inter-agency committee authorized to review transactions that could result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign person (“covered transactions”), in order to determine the effect of such transactions on the national security of the United States.

CFIUS operates pursuant to section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended by the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 (FINSA) (section 721) and as implemented by Executive Order 11858, as amended, and regulations at 31 C.F.R. Part 800.

The CFIUS process has been the subject of significant reforms over the past several years. These include numerous improvements in internal CFIUS procedures, enactment of FINSA in July 2007, amendment of Executive Order 11858 in January 2008, revision of the CFIUS regulations in November 2008, and publication of guidance on CFIUS’s national security considerations in December 2008 (more)

Bulletpoint #4With control over the targeted national industry or interest, the multinationals then leverage export of the national asset (exfiltration) through trade agreements structured to the benefit of lesser developed nation states – where they have previously established a proactive financial footprint.

The process of charging the U.S. consumer more for a product, that under normal national market conditions would cost less, is a process called exfiltration of wealth. This is the basic premise, the cornerstone, behind the catch-phrase ‘globalism’.

It is never discussed.

To control the market price some contracted product may even be secured and shipped with the intent to allow it to sit idle (or rot). It’s all about controlling the price and maximizing the profit equation. To gain the same $1 profit a widget multinational might have to sell 20 widgets in El-Salvador (.25¢ each), or two widgets in the U.S. ($2.50/each).

Think of the process like the historic reference of OPEC (Oil Producing Economic Countries). Only in the modern era massive corporations are playing the role of OPEC and it’s not oil being controlled, thanks to the WTO it’s almost everything.

Again, this is highlighted in the example of taxpayers subsidizing the food sector (EBT, SNAP etc.), the corporations can charge U.S. consumers more. Ex. more beef is exported, red meat prices remain high at the grocery store, but subsidized U.S. consumers can better afford the high prices.

Of course, if you are not receiving food payment assistance (middle-class) you can’t eat the steaks because you can’t afford them. (Not accidentally, it’s the same scheme in the ObamaCare healthcare system)

Agriculturally, multinational corporate Monsanto, ADM, ConAgra says: ‘all your harvests are belong to us‘. Contract with us, or you lose because we can control the market price of your end product. Downside is that once you sign that contract, you agree to terms that are entirely created by the financial interests of the larger corporation; not your farm.

The multinational agriculture lobby is massive. We willingly feed the world as part of the system; but you as a grocery customer pay more per unit at the grocery store because domestic supply no longer determines domestic price.

Within the agriculture community the (feed-the-world) production export factor also drives the need for labor. Labor is a cost. The multinational corps have a vested interest in low labor costs. Ergo, open border policies. (ie. willingly purchased republicans not supporting border wall etc.).

Remember the example of China purchasing Smithfield foods?  In these examples the state-run economic operation of China operates like a corporation. [More Here]

This corrupt economic manipulation/exploitation applies over multiple sectors, and even in the sub-sector of an industry like steel. China/India purchases the raw material, coking coal, then sells the finished good (rolled steel) back to the global market at a discount. Or it could be rubber, or concrete, or plastic, or frozen chicken parts etc.

The ‘America First’ Trump-Trade Doctrine upsets the entire construct of this multinational export/control dynamic. Team Trump focus exclusively on bilateral trade deals, with specific trade agreements targeted toward individual nations (not national corporations).

‘America-First’ is also specific policy at a granular product level looking out for the national interests of the United States, U.S. workers, U.S. companies and U.S. consumers.

Under President Trump’s Trade positions, balanced and fair trade with strong regulatory control over national assets, exfiltration of U.S. national wealth is essentially stopped.

This puts many current multinational corporations, globalists who previously took a stake-hold in the U.S. economy with intention to export the wealth, in a position of holding contracted interest of an asset they can no longer exploit.

Perhaps now we understand better how massive multi-billion multinational corporations and institutions are aligned against President Trump.

RELATED:

♦The Modern Third Dimension in American Economics – HERE

♦The “Fed” Can’t Figure out the New Economics – HERE

♦Proof “America-First” has disconnected Main Street from Wall Street – HERE

♦Treasury Secretary Mnuchin begins creating a Parallel Banking System – HERE

♦How Trump Economic Policy is Interacting With The Stock Market – HERE

♦How Multinationals have Exported U.S. Wealth – HERE

Newly Appointed NEC Chairman Larry Kudlow Talks Trade…


Replacing Gary Cohn, today is day one for Larry Kudlow to hit the airwaves as President Trump’s new Chairman of the National Economic Council.  This will be an interesting dynamic to watch.  In essence, Kudlow’s job – whether he admits it or not, is to remove the clenched grip of U.S. Chamber of Commerce President, Tom Donohue, from the republican trade and business position.

With multinational trade confrontations now taking center stage, Kudlow is going to have to slowly shift the GOPe political minds into a modern Trump-era where Main Street U.S.A. is the priority.  Wall Street needs to shift to domestic investment if they desire to remain beneficiaries.

President Trump is immovable on his trade and economic agenda. Period; end of story. Ask Gary Cohn or any other member of the disassembled manufacturing council advisory board who quit last year because POTUS Trump just wouldn’t heed their duplicitous and high-minded advice. Do you remember candidate Trump mentioning the endless talking to nowhere that he has not time for? Yeah, that.

President Trump has a 30-year-developed plan and strategy for the U.S. to recapture economic power. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and key trade strategist Peter Navarro are carrying out that plan.

Anyone thinking they would somehow disrupt three decades of trade planning by POTUS Trump is too funny to give typeset space.

POTUS would cut off his own hand before he would change direction on his economic strategy.

Remember: “America First”.   Titan-minded Trump is the most committed economic influence agent in the history of American politics.

The National Economic Council (NEC) is an entity demanded by the formal traditions of the Office of the President. The council assembles, meets, discusses, hold conferences, invite guests etc. However, for POTUS Trump it’s an exercise in formality run mostly by professionals who benefit from the indulgences of membership.

The NEC has no more influence on Trump’s economic plan than any chosen Country Club has influence over his skills on the golf course.  But it looks good.  And that’s it.

Chairman Larry Kudlow will be working overtime amid the financial-class cocktail party circuit to share an entirely different economic when it comes to trade and investment.

 

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Discusses the Big Picture Trade Confrontation With Duplicitous Panda…


U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears on CNBC earlier today to talk specifically about U.S-China trade resets, confrontation and negotiations.  Secretary Ross cuts right through the chaff and countermeasures and gets right to the primary issues.

When questioned about the myriad of downstream issues, Secretary Ross stays focused on the big picture.  GREAT INTERVIEW (there are multiple segments where it’s almost impossible not to laugh during Wilburine’s gnat-swatting):