…Over broken glass, through a hurricane; undeterred, determined and steadfast….
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Borrowing from Mike Vanderboegh – “This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can’t be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won’t be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.”
“But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.”
“And when we are gone, the scattered, free survivors hiding in the ruins of our once-great republic will sing of our deeds in forbidden songs, tending the flickering flame of individual liberty until it bursts forth again, as it must, generations later. We will live forever, like the Spartans at Thermopylae, in sacred memory.”
An interesting on-the-fly interview with Mark Meadows on the topics of FISA renewal and the nomination of John Ratcliffe for DNI. The incoming White House chief-of-staff notes an internal executive debate is still happening about how best to reform the FISA process as it is used upon/against American citizens.
AG Barr, Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham insufferably want a clean renewal. President Trump, the righteous House team and Senators Paul, Lee and Cruz want far more substantial reform. Senator Paul has the best proposal which is to force the DOJ, FBI or domestic intelligence apparatus to go before a traditional Title-3 court any time a U.S. citizen is identified as a target for surveillance. Save FISA for foreign targets.
Additionally, Meadows notes the shift in support for John Ratcliffe as DNI comes as an outcome of SSCI Chairman Richard Burr likely supporting the nomination. Unspoken, albeit obvious implication: McConnell green-lighted Burr to support Ratcliffe.
Most people are aware the Wuhan coronavirus has become an economic contagion within China. However, the scale of the contraction is only now being quantified and the data doesn’t match the visible reality.
When evaluating the data showing drops in exports from China is worthwhile to consider the lack of visible supply-chain disruption formerly predicted by global economic “analysts”. According to Reuters; to the extent data can be gathered from within a closed communist system; total exports from China dropped 17.2% in January and February.
The lack of factory production has cut the estimated growth rate within China by half. However, is that a cause? – or – Is that a cover? For decades corporations have moved to a supply chain process known as Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory.
If Chinese component manufactured goods were part of a critical corporate supply chain, and with more than 30-days of source disruption quantified, there would be impacts by now. Where are the crippled customers? There are no measurable, demonstrable, citations for missing component parts making downstream finished goods impossible. There are lots of anticipatory declarations, but no shortage has materialized.
(Reuters) – China’s exports contracted sharply in the first two months of the year, and imports slowed, as the health crisis triggered by the coronavirus outbreak caused massive disruptions to business operations, global supply chains and economic activity.
The gloomy trade report is likely to reinforce fears that China’s economic growth halved in the first quarter to the weakest since 1990 as the epidemic and strict government containment measures crippled factory production and led to a sharp slump in demand.
Overseas shipments fell 17.2% in January-February from the same period a year earlier, customs data showed on Saturday, marking the steepest fall since February 2019.
[…] Imports sank 4% from a year earlier, but were better than market expectations of a 15% drop. They had jumped 16.5% in December, buoyed in part by a preliminary Sino-U.S. trade deal.
[…] Soybean imports in the first two months of 2020 rose by 14.2% year-on-year as cargoes from the U.S. booked during a trade truce at the end of 2019 cleared customs. (read more)
Considering the previous questions; and evaluating what is visible – not theoretical; it seems far more likely the greatest impact from any Wuhan virus is an economic contagion internal to China.
Extending common sense, it seems more likely that Chinese consumption has stalled and dropped internal factory output, not necessarily a lack of export customers. If the world was dependent on Chinese exports that have stopped, we would see these downstream consequences in real terms of missing products; right now. That is not happening.
However, if you consider that we are in year #3 of President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign against China; and you evaluate the numerous multinational moves that took place to avoid the preceding and purposeful Trump tariffs; there’s a strong argument to be made that China’s current condition is less about Wuhan, and more an outcome of visible consequence from the internal void created by Trump’s trade strategy.
There’s not enough solid data to gauge, and it doesn’t help when analysts are over-emphasizing the minutia, but it appears to me that what’s being reported within China, about China, is more about their own economic contraction than any adverse external influence upon their largely closed system.
If I’m right, China’s lack of internal consumption is the major influence contracting their economy; and the ‘lack of exports’ are being overblown to hide that internal contraction.
The internal contraction would be a natural outcome of President Trump’s confrontation with their economic model, which was indeed heavily dependent on exports. No-one has been able to gauge an accurate number of multinationals who shifted their manufacturing as a consequence of Trump’s confrontation with Xi Jinping; but it would make sense the shift in manufacturing would be a direct impact inside China, starting an internal set of economic dominoes falling in a specific sequence, which would ultimately lead to a drop in Chinese workers being spend their wages.
Under this scenario the Coronavirus becomes a good cover story to explain an economic contraction that is actually not related…
PS. Brazil is visiting Trump at Mar-a-lago. Brazil is #2 in the world in the production of soybeans. Brazil is also in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
7:30pm – THE PRESIDENT participates in a working dinner with the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil
White House – President Donald J. Trump will meet President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, March 7, 2020. President Trump and President Bolsonaro will discuss opportunities to build a more prosperous, secure, and democratic world.
As leaders of the Hemisphere’s two largest economies, they will also discuss opportunities for restoring democracy in Venezuela, bringing peace to the Middle East, implementing pro-growth trade policies, and investing in infrastructure. The President will use this meeting as an opportunity to thank Brazil for its strong alliance with the United States. (link)
Wow, last night’s Fox News election town hall with President Trump was the most watched town hall event in cable news history with 4.2 million viewers.
(Via Fox News) Fox News’ town hall with President Trump on Thursday was the most-watched election town hall in cable news history, according to early Nielsen media research.
The event co-moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum averaged 4.2 million viewers from 6:30-7:30 p.m. ET. The record-setting town hall dominated cable news, topping MSNBC’s 1.4 million viewers and CNN’s 1 million viewers combined.
[…] FNC’s first town hall of the election cycle with Trump brought in double the audience of the same time slot from the first quarter of 2019. It also attracted another 2 million viewers during the encore presentation of Trump’s town hall at 11 p.m. ET. (more)
As anticipated for some time…. President Donald Trump announces that congressman Mark Meadows will be joining the administration as White House Chief of Staff.
This afternoon National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow discusses the jobs report, coronavirus fears, the Federal Reserve, and the steps the Trump administration is taking to address the illness. Two background issues should be noted:
First, the Wall Street multinationals are starting to propose that the federal government should be considering ‘bailing them out’. The Coronavirus is hurting business operations overseas, and the corporations who left the U.S. to exploit overseas profits are now asking for a “bailout”. No way, no how, it should never be considered.
Secondly, there are politically manipulative localized regions, under the control of Democrats, that are cancelling public events under the auspices of Coronavirus containment. In many cases these control agents appear to be making efforts to disrupt localized economies; and create a wider, weaponized, economic impact. Watch which areas cancel which events and you will see a pattern of left-wing control of the area (ex. Miami-Dade FL, Austin TX, Chicago IL, Seattle WA, etc.)
The administration needs to be smart and wise to the underlying efforts. Shut up and listen to Trump; he’s got this. Here’s Kudlow:
Jumpin’ ju-ju bones. The Bureau of Labor Statistics highlights an excellent jobs report for February with 273,000 new jobs added; and an upward revision of 85,000 job gains in December and January. Total new jobs with revisions 358,000; that’s exceptional.
Main Street USA is very strong, exceptionally strong; and the fundamentals of the U.S. economy show balance and overall strength. Keep in mind, while all of this growth is happening the full impacts of the renegotiated trade deals have yet to kick in.
Highlighting the strength in the overall economy the construction sector added 42,000 jobs in February, following a similar gain in January (+49,000). In 2019, construction job gains averaged 13,000 per month. In February, employment gains occurred in specialty trade contractors (+26,000) and residential building (+10,000). This specific metric is important because it highlights economic expansion from U.S. workers and households having financial strength for home purchasing.
(BLS DATA) Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 273,000 in February, and the unemployment rate remains at 3.5 percent. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.0 percent.
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for December was revised up by 37,000 from +147,000 to +184,000, and the change for January was revised up by 48,000 from +225,000 to +273,000. With these revisions, employment gains in December and January combined were 85,000 higher than previously reported. (link)
Additionally, from economic reports released yesterday, productivity increased 1.2 percent in the fourth quarter; and production output increased 2.4 percent while hours worked increased 1.2 percent. This means the demand for goods and services continues to grow within the overall economy.
The demand is strong and production of goods and services is increasing in response to consumer demand. Increases in productivity are another key metric.
Economic analysis can get weedy…. so a simple way to look at productivity is to think about baking bread in your kitchen.
If you were going to bake 4 loaves of bread it might take you 2 hrs start to finish. However, if you were going to bake 8 loaves of bread it would not take you twice as long because most of the tasks can be accomplished with simple increases in batch size, and only minor increases in labor time. Your productivity measured in the last four loaves is higher.
Economic Productivity is measured much the same way, within what’s called a production probability equation. Additionally, if two hours of your time are worth $40, each of four loaves of bread costs $10; but if you make 8 loaves in the same amount of time the labor cost is only $5/per loaf.
Increases in productivity means total business output increased significantly as more product was demanded from within the business operation. Throughout the economy people just wanted more stuff.
Improved gains in efficiency/productivity (more bread needed) supports faster economic growth without generating higher inflation; no need to raise prices because your cost to make each loaf of bread decreases the more you make. Higher sales and lower per unit cost means more profit for the bread-maker. No need to raise prices.
Increases in productivity generally means the economy is generating more stuff. The more stuff generated the higher the value of all economic activity; this increases GDP growth.
When we see higher productivity in direct alignment with GDP increases, the increased production indicates sustainable GDP growth. This means Main Street USA is stable.
Wage growth leads to more consumer purchasing; that fuels increases in productivity and a demand for more labor, thus fueling the Main Street economic engine. Keep in mind, while all of this internal economic growth is happening the full impacts of the renegotiated trade deals have yet to kick in…. There will be more domestic manufacturing, more domestic investment and a demand for more workers; ie. more jobs and higher wages.
Earlier today President Trump traveled to Tennessee to tour some of the devastated areas severely impacted by recent tornadoes. The president met with local and state officials along with FEMA response teams while surveying the devastation prior to meeting with the residents of Cookeville, Tennessee, and Nashville suburbs.
Video and Transcript Added:
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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. This is Governor Bill Lee, and he’s done a fantastic job of working with FEMA and the federal government and state government and everybody, Bill. And this is real devastation like you’ll never seen, hopefully, again. This was about as big a tornado as you can have. It was 50 miles long, which is extraordinarily long, and a very wide one. And you see what’s happened. We saw it from the helicopter very well. You did too.
I just want to thank you very much for the great job you’re doing.
GOVERNOR LEE: We’re very grateful that you’re here, and Tennesseans are grateful for your support. We had immediate response from FEMA. You gave an emergency disaster declaration, which will be very helpful to the families in this community and all across Tennessee who have suffered great loss.
It’s been a — it’s been a painful, tragic week for our state, but Tennesseans are hopeful. God has used volunteers to bring hope to people all across our state. And your presence here reminds us that people all across the country care about what’s happening here. So we’re grateful.
THE PRESIDENT: They do. They do. Thank you.
GOVERNOR LEE: Yeah. We’re grateful. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Would you like to say something?
MAYOR SHELTON: Well, we just so much appreciate you being here and showing compassion. You called the other night and expressed your sorrow, and now you’ve shown up. A first time sitting President has ever been in our city and county, and we so appreciate that. It does show hope and compassion to our community and to our residents. And we appreciate that very much. Very much.
THE PRESIDENT: Please.
MAYOR PORTER: We live in a great community. It’s been a devastation, loss of life like our county has never seen in its history. But the outpouring of love and support from our community, our first responders — we’ve got a great group of folks — it’s been — it’s been an outstanding response for those folks and from the community, all the love and support.
You coming here today just puts a big asterisk on the end of that and shows that the cooperation we’ve had from the federal government and the state government, the Governor and you, has been absolutely amazing. We have never seen that before.
I’ve been in emergency services for 35 years before I became county mayor. We have never seen the cooperation and response that we have seen from your administration and from this state’s administration. So, thank you.
MAYOR SHELTON: Yes. And your instant declaration for our communities last night. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: They’re great people. It’s a great state. And what is the final count of death in the state itself? The entire state.
GOVERNOR LEE: We had 25 Tennesseans lost their lives in this. Many injured. Thousands without homes and power and supplies.
But Tennesseans have showed up. We’re the Volunteer State. We’ve shown up by the thousands to surround our neighbors and to provide hope and to provide assistance. And it’s been inspiring. And we’re going to — we’re going to overcome. This state knows how to do that. That’s who we are. That’s what we do.
And government can do so much, but only the people can really provide the hope. And they’re — and they’re doing just that in Tennessee.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. We’re going to see some of the people that really survived, some not in good shape and some in very good shape — incredibly in good shape.
But anybody in these homes — this is a swath that it went right through, on this side — on this side of the street. And obviously, anybody in these homes, for the most part, they were killed. Given very little warning. They get a phone call, “Hey, there’s a tornado,” and boom, it’s on them. They just — they just appeared. And it’s — we’re working very hard.
FEMA is doing a great job.
GOVERNOR LEE: They’re doing a great job.
THE PRESIDENT: They were told to do the absolute best.
Thank you very much. Do you have any questions?
Q Mr. President, do you have a message for the survivors?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I do have a message, and I have a message for the families of those that lost their lives: We love them; they’re special people. It’s an incredible place, an incredible state. Tremendous heart. Already, you see people rebuilding. I mean, it took place literally hours ago — a couple of days — and they’re already rebuilding. I’ve never seen — we were flying over; you see the blue roofs going up. It’s all over the place.
It’s just great people. It’s a great state. And they have great leadership in this state, and that’s why it’s working out like it is. But still, 25 people, at least, and some really very badly hurt. Very, very badly hurt.
The mayor was telling me some of the houses came down and they got here right after that happened, and the people are walking out of the houses and — you might explain that, what that looked like.
MAYOR SHELTON: It was just — you know, it’s a war zone and it’s in the middle of the night, and it’s very — very difficult to maneuver that.
But the first responders — we can’t say enough about the first responders that were here. They went in — you know, they run in when everybody else is running out. And they ran in and took care of these folks — the police and fire and EMS. And it was an amazing night.
MAYOR PORTER: We had people that were — they were so disoriented, they were wandering out down the roads and through the fields and the woods, trying to get to safety and figure out where they could go. And our great group of responders took care of them immediately. And it was — we’re so sad (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: They didn’t know what happened.
MAYOR PORTER: No.
THE PRESIDENT: They just — all of a sudden, they’re watching television or something and, all of a sudden, they’re outside, walking on the street.
There was one young boy, I heard he was taken out of the house and —
MAYOR PORTER: He was. One minute he’s in his house, the next minute he’s laying in his yard. It happened that fast.
THE PRESIDENT: A couple of blocks away.
MAYOR PORTER: Yes.
MAYOR SHELTON: Another family was — the husband huddled over the wife and child, and the roof came off and he was sucked out. They were all sucked out into the yard. They survived.
But I think it’s important to note too that, here in Cookeville, in Putnam County, while there was 25 deaths in the state, 18 of them were right here in our city and county — 8 of them on this particular street. And so, you know, we can continue to ask for prayers for our community, but these families are going to be burying people in the next — over the next week.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.
Q President Trump, have you been able to speak to any of the survivors or any of the victims’ families while you’ve been out today?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. We’re doing it and we’re doing it now. We’re going to also, I think, stop at the church where there are a lot of people huddled up in the church. It’s a cold day and they’re all huddled up. We’re going to the church also. We’re seeing some of the people over here.
Q Mr. President, on another, sort of, tragic topic regarding the coronavirus: Are you considering refer- — or deferring taxes for the airlines, cruise ships, and travel companies that are being hard hit by this?
THE PRESIDENT: We’re looking at different options. Different options.
We did get tremendous job numbers this morning. They were — you know, if you add the 80,000 to the 270 — you know, they were talking in the 350,000 range. But right now, that’s not something we want to be talking about. Okay? Thank you.
Q Mr. President, you approved federal funding in Tennessee.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Can you tell us when you would expect to see that money coming to the state?
THE PRESIDENT: Very quickly. Almost momentarily. I did it. The mayor called me. The Governor called me. We had calls from a lot of people. That was an immediate emergency. But we’ve spoken — we approved it within minutes of the call.
Q Do you know about how much?
THE PRESIDENT: To be determined. What they need — we’re going to take care of what they need.
GOVERNOR LEE: We’ll be doing assessments, and that helps determine what the numbers will be. The way it works is, as we determine the amount, that’s how the numbers will be assessed and that’s how — what the assistance will be.
THE PRESIDENT: Much of that money goes to help the people that got just wiped out.
GOVERNOR LEE: That’s right.
THE PRESIDENT: They’re wiped out. They have nothing. And — and many people died.
Q We’ve been talking to some people out here throughout the past couple of days. Do you have any words for them that you may not be able to meet today but have been devastated by this?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I love them. I love them very much. That’s why I’m here. Some people wouldn’t be here. There was no way that I wasn’t going to stop here first. And I was going to do it yesterday, but they asked me for one more day because they — they were looking for — they were looking for bodies, believe it or not, up until just now. They now — they’ve pretty much covered everything. But — and just God be with them. And we’re going to be with them. We’re going to be with them all the way.
And I can tell you, the Governor feels the same as I do. And the mayors — I just want to congratulate you, because the job you’ve done, everybody is talking about it. They haven’t slept in 48 hours. Neither have you, come to think of it. So we’re going to go see the people now and say hello to them and do whatever you can do. It’s tough.
A lot of them have lost people within the family. One family got entirely wiped out. There was one case, though — I heard a young man was — an 8-year-old boy was ripped out, flown to a certain area, and dropped off at the street two or three blocks away. And they found him walking. And he said, “I just flew in the air.” And he was walking down the street two blocks away from his home. And how did his parents do? Do you know?
MAYOR PORTER: We don’t — we’re not for sure exactly how they turned up.
MR. HERRICK: They were found deceased.
THE PRESIDENT: They were deceased? They were dead.
MR. HERRICK: (Inaudible) only surviving member of the household, and lost his sibling as well.
THE PRESIDENT: So it took him and he said, “I was carried by the air, away from my house.” He came back. But his —
MR. HERRICK: He was (inaudible) the house over there and dropped him in the neighborhood back behind us.
THE PRESIDENT: He was over there. And his parents were killed.
MAYOR PORTER: And sister.
THE PRESIDENT: And his sister. So we’re going to go see some of the folks.
Prior to departing the White House for a visit with Tennessee disaster workers and victims, President Trump signs an $8.3 billion appropriations bill funding the ongoing efforts to combat Coronavirus. [Video and Transcript Below]
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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. Good morning. I’m going to Tennessee to meet with the governor and a lot of people. And it’s something. It’s really something. I guess some of you are coming along, I assume. Is that right?
Q No.
THE PRESIDENT: You going?
Q There’s a crew out at Andrews waiting on you.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay.
So we’re signing the $8.3 billion. I asked for 2.5 and I got 8.3, and I’ll take it.
(The bill is signed.)
Okay? So here we are, $8.3 billion. We’re doing very well. But it’s an unforeseen problem. What a problem. Came out of nowhere, but we’re taking care of it.
We have big news on the ship. And a lot of things are happening on the ship. People are being tested right now. And I just spoke to the governor of California, Gavin Newsom. We had a good conversation. We’re both working on the ship together. It’s close to 5,000 people. So, it’s a big ship. But we’re doing testing on those people. Okay?
Could I have those others papers I’m going to sign, please? These are additional papers relevant to various things.
Okay, this is it?
AIDE: Yes.
(The document is signed.)
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, give me the other one.
AIDE: These are the (inaudible) designations for the bill. There’s two of them.
(The document is signed.)
Do you have anything you want to say to the press?
SECRETARY AZAR: I just want to make it — make it clear that in terms of tests, we have provided all the tests to the State of Washington and the State of California that they’ve asked for. The production and shipping of tests that we’ve talked about all week is completely on schedule.
All of the CDC tests — the tests that are available to test up to 75,000 people — CDC has shipped to America’s public health labs. Those are out.
Then, IDT, the private contractor working with CDC to ship to the private sector and hospitals, has already shipped enough tests for 700,000 tests. And the remaining lots are arriving at CDC this morning for quality control and should get out, as we forecast, this weekend.
And then next week, we’ll keep ramping up production. So as many as 4 million tests next week are going to be driving forward.
So everything is on schedule for the tests.
Q Mr. President, why aren’t you going to CDC today?
SECRETARY AZAR: He’s actually sent me. I’m going to go down.
THE PRESIDENT: You — you can tell them.
SECRETARY AZAR: Yeah. He sent —
THE PRESIDENT: We may — we may go. There was a — they thought there was a problem at CDC with somebody that had the virus. It turned out negative, so we’re seeing if we can do it. But yesterday afternoon, we were informed that there may have been a person with — with the virus, and they now find out that that was a negative test. They’ve tested the person very fully, and it was a negative test.
So I may be going. We’re going to see if they can turn it around with Secret Service.
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, we may —
Q You may go?
THE PRESIDENT: We may we may be going. Here, Steve, this is for you after covering me so well. (Laughter.)
Q How big a — how big a hit to the economy —
THE PRESIDENT: It’s the first time I’ve ever done that to a reporter.
Q How big a hit to the economy are you expecting (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, job numbers just came out and they’re incredible. The job numbers were tremendous. And we picked up close to 80,000 new jobs from the last report. And if you add that up, it’s over 350,000 jobs. The job numbers just came out a little while ago, and they were shocking to the people that were analyzing them.
Q Do you expect more gyrations in the stock market?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I think — I think, you know, a lot of people are staying here and they’re going to be doing their business here. They’re going to be traveling here. And they’ll be going to resorts here. And, you know, we have a great place. That’s where — so, foreign people come, but we’re going to have Americans staying home instead of going and spending the money in other countries. And maybe that’s one of the reasons the job numbers are so good. We’ve had a lot of travel inside the USA.
Q Do you think that Congress or your administration needs to take more action to diminish the risk of recession?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, all we can do is do what we do. I mean, we’re getting a lot of business from people staying. In other words, they’re — it’s — I’ve always liked anyway; you’ve known that for a long time. But people are staying here and spending their money here, as opposed to going to Europe and other places.
Now, that’ll change when this goes away, and hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.
But people were — I would say virtually everybody — you saw the job numbers, I guess — people were shocked, because you add another 80 or whatever it is, a lot of — a lot of numbers from last month, where they upgraded. So the job numbers were at a level that nobody thought possible. They were really incredible.
Q No stimulus needed?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know. I mean, we’re going to see whether or not the Fed wants to stimulate. In my opinion, they should because Europe is, and China is, and everybody is but us. We have a Fed that is not exactly proactive. I’m being very nice when I say that.
Q But no fiscal stimulus?
THE PRESIDENT: I think what happens is the Fed should cut and the Fed should stimulate. And they should do that because other countries are doing it, and it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. And we have the most prime. We are considered by far the most prime. And it’s our dollar that everybody uses. The Fed should stimulate and the Fed — they should cut.
And why should Germany have an advantage over us with interest rates? So Germany — you know, Germany, just announced that they’re stimulating and they’re cutting.
Asia is. All over Asia they are. China is. China is tremendously.
And we’re really not. And we pay higher interest; we have a higher rate. And it’s ridiculous, frankly. We should have the lowest rate by far, and instead we pay more than other countries. Other countries are paying zero and less than zero. You know it very well. And we’re paying interest, which is a very conservative approach, but it’s not a good approach because we’re also competing against other countries, whether we like it or not. Even our friends, we’re competing against.
Q Mr. President, on Afghanistan, are you afraid that once the U.S. pulls out, that the Taliban will basically just overrun the Afghan government?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, eventually countries have to take care of themselves. We can’t be there for the next — another 20 years. We’ve been there for 20 years, and we’ve been protecting the country. But we can’t be there for the next — eventually, they’re going to have to protect themselves.
You know, this should have been done a long time ago. But you can only hold somebody’s hand for so long. We have to get back to running our country too. So you understand that.
Q So do you think the Afghan government will be capable, in the long term, of defending itself?
THE PRESIDENT: I’ll let you know later. You know, we’ll have to see what happens. I hope they are, but I don’t know. I can’t answer that question.
Q Mr. President, any concern that the coronavirus is —
THE PRESIDENT: It’s not supposed to happen that way, but it possibly will.
Q Any concern that the virus is more widespread than originally thought because of the lack of testing? Is that any reason why you’re not going to Atlanta today?
THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no. They had one person who was potentially infected.
And speaking of that, I’d like to go. So you guys are trying to work that out. I was going to Tennessee first, in any event, and then I was stopping in Atlanta, then going down to Florida for meetings. I think that they are trying to work it out that I do go.
No, I hadn’t heard that. I heard “one person.” And because of the one person at a high level — because of the one person, they didn’t want me going. But I would prefer going. And now that the person — the test came out negative, we’re going to try and go.
The most powerful man in all of the media. Come on over here, please. He has a little something to do with the Wall Street Journal. I don’t know if you know. This is real power. Right? (Laughter.) You used to do what they did.
MR. THOMSON: Yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: Right? And he did it — he did it so well that he’s the boss at News Corp. Of course, Rupert has something to say with that, I guess. Right? Lachlan.
It’s good to have you. It’s good to have you. They treat me very nicely — the media. Right? Except for the Wall Street Journal, but that’s okay.
Q How do you keep people from panicking from (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think they’re panicking. I don’t think people are panicking. I said last night — we did an interview on Fox last night, a town hall. I think it was very good. And I said, “Calm. You have to be calm.” It’ll go away.
We do have a situation where we have this massive ship with 5,000 people and we have to make a decision. You know, that’s a big decision because we have very low numbers compared to major countries throughout the world. Our numbers are lower than just about anybody.
And in terms of deaths, I don’t know what the count is today. Is it 11? Eleven people? And in terms of cases, it’s very, very few. When you look at other countries, it’s a very tiny fraction because we’ve been very strong at the borders. But then you have a ship with a lot of Americans on it. It’s got 5,000 people on it. It’s a massive ship and — you know, and they want to come in. So we have to make a decision. We’re working with the governor of California on that.
Q Are you meeting with President Bolsonaro this weekend, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I am. We’re having dinner at Mar-a-Lago. He wanted to have dinner in Florida, if that was possible — the President of Brazil. So we’ll be doing that today.
Q Do you think the financial markets are overreacting?
THE PRESIDENT: I think financial markets will bounce back as soon as this — really bounce back. Don’t forget, they’re down probably 10 or 11 percent from, you know, where they were, but they were up 70 percent. So, you know, it’s only a — it’s a relatively small piece. I don’t like to see it happen because I was looking for 30,000 very soon. You were — you were — it seemed days away from 30,000. And now we have a little more room to make up.
But I think financially — I think the country is so strong. We’re so strong as a country now. We have never been like this. The consumer is generating so much because of the tax cuts, the regulation cuts, and, you know, the things we’ve done. So I think we’re in great shape. I mean, I think we’re in great shape.
This came unexpectedly a number of months ago. I heard about it in China. It came out of China, and I heard about it. And made a good move: We closed it down; we stopped it. Otherwise — the head of CDC said last night that you would have thousands of more problems if we didn’t shut it down very early. That was a very early shutdown, which is something we got right. Okay?
Q So looking at the Super Tuesday results, are you worried the Democratic Party is unifying around Joe Biden and that will take away your argument about Democrats being too left wing and too socialist?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, he’s left wing and he’s got all people that are left wing. And in many ways, he’s worse than Bernie. Look at what he did with guns; he put Beto in charge of guns. Beto wants to get rid of guns, right? So that’s a bad — that’s a bad stance.
And he’s got a lot of people that are left wing, and they’ll be running the government. He’s not going to be running anything. If he ever got in, they’ll be running the government. They’ve got people further left wing than what Bernie has. So, not — not going to be good. Wouldn’t be good for Wall Street, I can tell you that.
Plus, if you look at his taxes, he’s going to raise taxes incredibly. He’s going to raise taxes more than Bernie. I looked at — and he’s open about it. Bernie doesn’t like to — doesn’t like to talk about it.
I mean, Joe Biden, his tax increases are — they’re staggering. It’s ridiculous. He’ll destroy everything that’s been built.
Q Do you think sexism was a factor in Elizabeth Warren pulling out? And do you believe you will see a female President in your lifetime?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I think lack of talent was her problem. She had a tremendous lack of talent. She was a good debater.
She destroyed Mike Bloomberg very quickly, like it was nothing. That was easy for her. But people don’t like her. She’s a very mean person, and people don’t like her. People don’t want that. They like a person like me, that’s not mean.
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