Tag Archives: NAFTA

Dec 12 2016

Trump Officially Nominates Retired Marine General John Kelly As Homeland Security Secretary


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by Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge Dec 12, 2016 7:47 AM

This morning Trump has confirmed his intention to nominate retired Marine General John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security, a pick that had been rumored for days.  In a statement, Trump highlighted Kelly’s experience in defending the homeland from threats of terrorism and said that he was the right person to “spearhead the urgent mission of stopping illegal immigration and securing our borders.”

  “Gen. John Kelly’s decades of military service and deep commitment to fighting the threat of terrorism inside our borders makes him the ideal choice to serve as our Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.”

“He is the right person to spearhead the urgent mission of stopping illegal immigration and securing our borders, streamlining TSA and improving coordination between our intelligence and law enforcement agencies. With Gen. Kelly at the helm of DHS, the American people will have a leader committed to our safety as well as one who will work hand-in-hand with America’s rank-and-file TSA, ICE and Border Patrol officers.”

Per The Hill, Kelly vowed to “take back sovereignty at our borders and put a stop to political correctness.”

 “The American people voted in this election to stop terrorism, take back sovereignty at our borders, and put a stop to political correctness that for too long has dictated our approach to national security,” Kelly said in a statement. “I will tackle those issues with a seriousness of purpose and a deep respect for our laws and Constitution.”

JOhn Kelly

 Before retiring last winter, Kelly served as the head of U.S. Southern Command, where, among other things, he oversaw Guantánamo Bay.  According to The Hill, Kelly built a reputation as a blunt critic of the Obama administration and was often accused to taking actions intended to obstruct the administration’s efforts to close Guantánamo.  John Kelly’s son, Robert, was killed in combat in Afghanistan.

Immigration hard-liners had been routing for Trump to appoint Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as head of the Department of Homeland Security.  Kobach was generally viewed as the candidate most likely to draw the hardest line on illegal immigration after helping to draft one of the toughest pieces of immigration law in the country, Arizona’s SB 1070, which requires law enforcement officers to demand to see the immigration papers of anyone they suspected of being in the country illegally.

By choosing Marine General John Kelly, immigration experts fear that the Trump administration will focus more on border security, as it relates to terrorist threats, but will not emphasize the deportation of the millions of illegal citizens already in the country.

Still others, including the ever skeptical New York Magazine, view Kelly simply as a “Trojan Horse” who has a better chance at Senate Confirmation for the top DHS position but will then use that role to appoint an immigration hard-liner, like Kobach, to the Deputy Secretary position.

 Perhaps most important, Kelly is not Kris Kobach, the fiery crusader against immigration “amnesty,” alleged voter fraud, and nefarious Muslim plots to rob Americans of their priceless heritage of freedom. The name of the Kansas secretary of State, who is a big-time national celebrity among hard-core conservatives, had often been mentioned in connection with the DHS gig.

But before anyone starts celebrating over Kobach’s continued confinement in Topeka, it might be wise to pay attention to some intel the Washington Examiner provided earlier this week:

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and retired Marine Gen. John Kelly are likely to be tapped for secretary and deputy secretary of homeland security, according to a top transition official familiar with the president-elect’s current thinking, but the source would not reveal which of the two men is favored for the top post and which is likely to be deputy secretary.

If that is correct, it is entirely possible Team Trump decided to make the less controversial Kelly — who faces a much easier Senate confirmation — the figurehead at the top of DHS, while installing Kobach as his deputy with special responsibilities for immigration and anti-terrorism policy. And there is also the option of placing Kobach at the Justice Department with authority over enforcement of immigration and voting laws. Crediting the upcoming administration with a “moderate” cabinet appointment might be accurate but also misleading.

With one more pick officially on the record, all eyes turn to the Secretary of State position.

Dec 12 2016

Global Bond Rout Returns With A Vengeance, Sending 10Y Yields To Highest In Over Two Years


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by Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge Dec 12, 2016 7:02 AM

The global bond rout returned with a bang, sending 10Y US Treasury yields as much as six basis points higher to 2.53%, the highest level in over two years. The selloff happened as oil prices surged by more than 5% following Saturday’s agreement by NOPEC nations agreed to slash production, leading to rising inflation pressures. At last check, the 10Y was trading at 2.505%, up from 2.462% at Friday and on track for its highest close since September 2014, according to Tradeweb.

“There’s been some pretty decent cheapening across global bond markets,” said Craig Collins, managing director of rates trading at Bank of Montreal in London. The spike in oil prices since OPEC announced a cut in output has led to further cheapening, while in Europe “you had the ECB last week, all contributing to the steepening that we’ve seen.”

Japanese bond yields jumped, while Eurozone bonds were weaker across the board, too, with the yield on 10-year German debt up 0.05 percentage point at 0.392%. Germany’s yield curve, as measured by the spread between two- and 30-year bonds reached the steepest since 2014, based on closing prices, while a similar gauge for Japan widened for a fifth day. U.K. 10-year yields climbed three basis points to 1.48 percent, while those on similar-maturity bunds also added four basis points, to 0.40 percent

Even that bastion of negative rates, Switzerland, saw yields spike, fast approaching the psychological 0% barrier.

“It does seem to be oil-driven, but clearly the bearish sentiment around fixed income prevails,” Mitul Patel, head of interest rates at Henderson Global Investors, told Reuters.

Another fundamental catalyst behind the bond weakness remains uncertainty over Trump’s policies: the rise in oil process adds to a general selloff in government bonds that gathered pace following the election of Donald Trump in November. Investors expect Mr. Trump’s policies of cutting taxes and increasing infrastructure spending to lead to higher growth and inflation. Those policies may also encourage the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at a faster clip than previously expected, which would likely hit bonds. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates at its meeting this week for the first time in a year.

Treasurys registered their largest five-week gain in yields for six years on Friday after investors sold. The Treasury bond market will face a further test this week with a series of debt auctions. Sales of three-year notes and 10-year notes are scheduled for later Monday, followed by an auction of bonds with 30-year maturities on Tuesday. That will increase the supply of bonds at the end of the year, a period when some investors are reluctant to put money to work and many have grown wary of rising yields.

Adding to the pressure, hedge funds and other large speculators raised bearish bets on 10-year Treasuries to the highest in almost two years last week, more than doubling them to a net 228,604 contracts, according to the latest Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

Technical analysts believe that a sustained break in Treasury yields above 2.5% would open up an attempt at 3% according to Imre Speizer from Westpac Banking Corp. Forecasters in a Bloomberg survey see German bund yields climbing to 0.6 percent by end-2017. That said, both JPM and Goldman have warned that 10Y yields approaching or rising above 2.75% is where the equity rally will fizzle as tighter financial conditions from rising rates will overcome the favorable equity momentum. That level is now just 25 bps away and may be hit in the coming days.

Dec 12 2016

Football in Decline


Armstrong Economics Blog

Re-Posted Dec 12, 2016 by Martin Armstrong

football

Many are now blaming Colin Kaepernick for the sharp decline in American football ratings. Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem during the NFL preseason as a protest of the injustices against people of color. He has continued to do so in every game this season. Now, more than 40 football players have joined Kaepernick. Some are just taking a knee, and others are sitting on the bench. But the real disturbing display is that many now stand with a raised fist, including such stars like Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, Miami Dolphins running back Arian Foster, and New England Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett. Other athletes also joined the protests outside of games. Given what they make, they do not have a lot to complain about. Nevertheless, this is feeding into the civil unrest cycle that will turn bloody in the year ahead.

superbowl

Super Bowl viewership peaked in 2015 and has begun to decline from a major 26-year high. There was a surge that began with the 2007 crisis. As the economy turned down, the viewership soared from 93 million to a major high that almost reached 115 million in 2015. This year fell to 111 million, which is actually the Bearish Reversal. So if 2017 comes in under 111, this will confirm sports have begun a bear market.

The players who think they have the right to turn their sport into political protests fail to understand that people watch such things to escape. Trying to use their status to remind them of what they are trying to ignore has already set the decline in motion — right on time. It looks like sports are a great short. This was made visible by the bankruptcy of Sports Authority who closed their last store on May 18, 2016. Clearly, 2015.75 was a major turning point that is not confined to the just the peak in government. As people turn their backs on sports, it reflects that they are getting angrier at the economic situation of government. Kaepernick may be remembered as the man who killed f

Dec 12 2016

Kellyanne Conway Discusses Rex Tillerson – Potential Secretary of State…


Kellyanne Conway appeared on Fox Business with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the possibility of Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as a Secretary of State nominee. In addition, Conway discusses the current…

Source: Kellyanne Conway Discusses Rex Tillerson – Potential Secretary of State…

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Dec 12 2016

President Elect Donald Trump Invites Sea Island Attendees, Tech Executives, To Meeting at Tower…


In March of 2016 an exclusive list of top tech executives, billionaires, donors and influence agents gathered at a secretive meeting with key leaders of the Washington DC UniParty.  The meeting was…

Source: President Elect Donald Trump Invites Sea Island Attendees, Tech Executives, To Meeting at Tower…

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Dec 11 2016

Loyola University says alleged discrimination against police officer was ‘a misunderstanding’ — Fellowship of the Minds


From WWL TV: Loyola University says that a Facebook post claiming a student, who is also a police officer, was discriminated against isn’t the full story. According to the university, the story pos…

Source: Loyola University says alleged discrimination against police officer was ‘a misunderstanding’ — Fellowship of the Minds

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Dec 11 2016

KOMMONSENTSJANE – AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ATTACKS DEMOCRACIES, FORGIVES ISLAMIST TYRANNIES


When you are insane, like most of the progressive left is, there is absolutely no chance that anything remotely rational will pass by their lips as spoken words!

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Amnesty International Attacks Democracies, Forgives Islamist Tyrannies

by Giulio Meotti

Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.

December 9, 2016 at 5:00 am

◾”Morally bankrupt.” — Salman Rushdie, author with a $600,000 bounty from Iran’s regime on his head, speaking of Amnesty International.
◾Amnesty sponsored a rally in Brussels, where Islamist speakers celebrated the 9/11 attacks, denied the Holocaust and demonized gays and Jews.
◾It seems that Amnesty turned its back on the battle of human rights in favor of a grotesque anti-Western bias. The Economist accused Amnesty of “reserving more pages to human rights abuses in Britain and the United States than in Belarus and Saudi Arabia.”
◾Amnesty’s secretary general compared Soviet forced-labor camps, where millions died of hunger, cold and executions, to a US military base where no prisoner has died, and which has prevented countless innocent civilians from being blown up.

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Dec 11 2016

Maduro Stunner: Venezuela Eliminates Half Its Paper Money After Pulling Largest Bill From Circulation


Tyler Durden's picture
by Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge Dec 11, 2016 6:31 PM

Having observed the economic chaos to emerge as a result of India’s shocking Nov. 8 demonetization announcement, and perhaps confident it can do better, today president Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Latin America’s most distressed economy, mired in an economic crisis and facing hyperinflation, likewise shocked the nation when he announced on state TV that just like India, Venezuela would pull its highest denominated, 100-bolivar bill (which is worth about two U.S. cents on the black market), from circulation over the next 72 hours, ahead of the introduction of new, higher-value notes, as large as 20,000.

“I have decided to take out of circulation bills of 100 bolivars in the next 72 hours,” Maduro said. “We must keep beating the mafias.”

To this we would add “and cue economic chaos”, but since this is Venezuela, that’s a given.

The surprise move, announced by Maduro during an hours-long speech, is likely to worsen a cash crunch in Venezuela, and lead the largely-cash based economy to a state of paralysis. Maduro said the 100-bolivar bill will be taken out of circulation on Wednesday and Venezuelans will have 10 days after that to exchange those notes at the central bank.

Critics immediately slammed the move, which Maduro said was needed to combat contraband of the bills at the volatile Colombia-Venezuela border, as economically nonsensical, adding there would be no way to swap all the 100-bolivar bills in circulation in the time the president has allotted. Indeed, if India is any example, Venezuela – whose economy is far worse than that of India, the world’s fastest growing emerging market – may have just signed its own economic death warrant.

According to central bank data, in November there were more than six billion 100-bolivar bills in circulation, 48 percent of all bills and coins. In other words, Venezuela just eliminated half the paper cash in circulation.

Authorities on Thursday are due to start releasing six new notes and three new coins, the largest of which will be worth 20,000 bolivars, less than $5 on the streets. No official inflation data is available for 2016 though many economists see it in triple digits. Economic consultancy Ecoanalitica estimates annual inflation this year at more than 500%, close to the IMF’s estimate.

Dec 11 2016

Crooked Hillary Clinton Says Fake News Stories Are Destroying America! Ain’t That Some Shit!! – YouTube


The Doctor Of Common Sense

Source: Crooked Hillary Clinton Says Fake News Stories Are Destroying America! Ain’t That Some Shit!! – YouTube

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Dec 11 2016

KOMMONSENTSJANE – NEW EPA RULES COSTS $3,080 PER PERSON


Lets hope Trump can reverse this as it will not be much longer there will be no economy here.

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New EPA rules push regulatory costs past $1 trillion, $3,080 per person

Washington Examiner

The new implementation of EPA rules on heavy trucks has boosted the 10-year regulatory burden on America past $1 trillion, 75 percent of which have been imposed by the Obama administration.

That amounts to a one-time charge of $3,080 per person, or an annual cost of $540, according to a new analysis from American Action Forum.
“In other words, each year every person, regardless of age, in the nation is responsible for paying roughly $540 in regulatory costs. These burdens might take the form of higher prices, fewer jobs, or reduced wages,” said AAF’s Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy at the watchdog group.

Stay abreast of the latest developments from nation’s capital and beyond with curated News Alerts from the Washington Examiner news desk and delivered to your inbox.
The staggering amount is likely to…

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