Tag Archives: Pension Crisis

Aug 28 2017

President Trump Reverses Obama Executive Order Blocking Military Surplus From Police Purchase…


RE-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 28, 2017 by

Today President Trump has issued an executive order revoking a previous Executive Order #13688, put in place by President Obama, which blocked local and state law enforcement from purchasing military surplus gear.  Effective with today’s order local law enforcement will have access to U.S. military equipment.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited two studies which concluded that the use of military-style equipment can have positive effects, reducing citizen complaints and assaults on officers.

EXECUTIVE ORDER – By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Revocation of Executive Order 13688. Executive Order 13688 of January 16, 2015 (Federal Support for Local Law Enforcement Equipment Acquisition), is hereby revoked.

Sec. 2. Revocation of Recommendations Issued Pursuant to Executive Order 13688. The recommendations issued pursuant to Executive Order 13688 do not reflect the policy of the executive branch. All executive departments and agencies are directed, as of the date of this order and consistent with Federal law, to cease implementing those recommendations and, if necessary, to take prompt action to rescind any rules, regulations, guidelines, or policies implementing them.

Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

DONALD J. TRUMP – THE WHITE HOUSE, August 28, 2017.

Overall, the militarization of our local and state police forces presents a complex dynamic. On one hand we want our law enforcement to have the most effective tools needed to deal with threats and public safety. On the other hand seeing an MRAP vehicle in the local police parade on the 4th of July is not something to be cheering about.

This can be a slippery slope if not well managed, and local people need to be engaged with their public officials to express valid opinions and concerns.

Aug 28 2017

North Korea Launches Another Missile – Attempts Escalation By Crossing Northern Japan…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 28, 2017 by

Beijing (China) is attempting to “trigger” President Trump’s internal neo-con and militaristic opposition. Stay frosty, avoid emotional reports demanding military engagement, and remain steady with a high altitude perspective.

Multiple reports now confirming that North Korea has conducted a missile test. The flight path escalates the issues by crossing over part of Northern Japan. In essence, Beijing China just threw an elbow at President Trump. [The likely “Why” follows breaking report]

TOKYO (Reuters) – North Korea fired a missile that passed over northern Japan early on Tuesday, the Japanese government said. The government’s J-Alert warning system advised people in the area to take precautions, but public broadcaster NHK said there was no sign of damage.

The Japanese military did not attempt to shoot down the missile, which passed over Japanese territory around 6:06 a.m. local time (2106 GMT). (Reuters)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking to reporters in Tokyo after the launch, said the missile appeared to have passed over airspace and that the government was urgently collecting intelligence on the incident and doing everything to ensure the safety of its citizens, according to remarks broadcast on NHK, Bloomberg News reports.

Beijing China controls Kim Jong-un. Period.

Looking at the big picture, there’s no single event being responded to by this missile launch; rather, what we are seeing is a reaction to: A.) the cumulative effect of very strategic recent geopolitical maneuvering by President Trump (Venezuela, Pakistan, India etc); and, B.) the words spoken by the administration -including Trump, tillerson and Haley- that are removing China’s panda face.

Remember, China doesn’t draw a distinction between Peace and War.  It’s yin/yang. All actions toward China’s larger objectives are viewed as natural to achieve victory.  War or Peace it makes no difference to them; they don’t accept mutually beneficial outcomes. Either they win, or they lose.  All action to achieve victory is part of same world view.

When you accept this approach, you being to understand what happens when a nation built upon such outlooks feels squeezed. They fight back harder. To them it’s a zero-sum battle.

China’s objective is conquest.  China’s tool for conquest is economics.  President Trump entire geopolitical strategy of using economics in a similar way is an existential threat to China’s endeavor.  Communist Beijing calls the proverbial shots.

President Trump is putting on a MASSIVE economic squeeze.

♦Squeeze #1. Trump and Mnuchin just sanctioned Venezuela and cut off their access to expanded state owned oil revenue.  Venezuela now needs more money.  China and Russia are already leveraged to the gills in Venezuela and hold 49% of Citgo as collateral for loans outstanding.  Now China and Russia will need to loan more, directly.

♦Squeeze #2.  China’s geopolitical ally, Russia, is already squeezed with losses in energy revenue because of President Trump’s approach toward oil, LNG and coal.  Trump, through allies including Saudi Arabia, EU, France (North Africa energy), and domestic production has driven down energy prices. Meanwhile Russia is bleeding out financially in Syria.  Iran is the financial reserve, but they too are energy price dependent.

♦Squeeze #3. Trump and Tillerson just put Pakistan on notice they need to get involved in bringing their enabled tribal “extremists” (Taliban) to the table in Afghanistan.  Pakistan’s primary investor and economic partner is China.

♦Squeeze #4. China’s primary economic threat (competition) is next door in India.  President Trump has just embraced India as leverage over China in trade and pledged ongoing favorable trade deals.  The play is MFN (Most Favored Nation) trade status might flip from China to India.  That’s a big play.

♦Squeeze #4.  President Trump has launched a USTR Section 301 Trade Investigation into China’s theft of intellectual property.  This encompasses every U.S. entity that does manufacturing business with China, particularly aeronautics and technology, and also reaches into the financial services sector.

♦Squeeze #5.  President Trump, Secretary Ross, Secretary Mnuchin and USTR Robert Lighthizer are renegotiating NAFTA.  One of the primary objectives of team U.S.A. is to close the 3rd party loopholes, including dumping and origination, that China uses to gain backdoor access to the U.S. market and avoid trade/tariff restrictions. [China sends parts to Mexico and Canada for assembly and then back-door entry into the U.S. via NAFTA.]

♦Squeeze #5. President Trump has been open, visible and vocal about his intention to shift to bilateral trade renegotiation with China and Southeast Asia immediately after Team U.S.A. conclude with NAFTA renegotiation.

♦Squeeze #6.  President Trump has positioned ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) as trade benefactors for assistance with North Korea. The relationship between ASEAN nations and the Trump administration is very strong, and getting stronger. Which leads to…

♦Squeeze #7.  President Trump has formed an economic and national security aliance with Shinzo Abe of Japan.   It is not accidental that North Korea’s Kim Jong-un fired today over the Northern part of Japan.  Quite simply, Beijing told him to.

Add all of this up, and you can see the cumulative impact of President Trump’s geopolitical strategy toward China.  The best part of all of it – is the likelihood China never saw it, meaning the sum totality of all of “it”, coming.

Just like Trump’s economic council (a bunch of globalists and Wall Streeters) thinking they were pulling POTUS Trump away from “America First”, only to realize he was simply giving them that impression so that he could advance his agenda….

By the time they realized, it was too late.  Well, so too did China not quite realize the scope and totality of how well thought out and strategic President Trump’s geopolitical economic doctrine really is.

You know why?  Because President Trump doesn’t tell anyone what the final product is, they only know the piece of the puzzle they carry. The picture, the big objective, is inside his head and he doesn’t share it with anyone.  That’s what living amid the Apex Predators in brutal rabid-dog-eat-rabid-dog Manhattan teaches you.  Oh, and he ain’t flinching or moderating his will one bit in carrying it out and putting it all together.

What happens when you surprise Beijing China with a massive awakening that suddenly has them peering toward a horizon showing potential economic defeat?

Well, for that answer we go full circle and remember how China perceives any action as a natural evolution of struggle, so long as it takes them toward victory…

Stay steady.  Avoid the chaff and countermeasures.  It’s all about the economics and the tectonic financial plates he’s shifting.

Aug 28 2017

Next Target for North Korea Sept 11th/12th


Armstrong Economics Blog/North Korea

Re-Posted Aug 28, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Our models seem to be right on target for the escalation of military threats from North Korea. We gave a out two targets for the opening of  window for a conflict on our war model to watch are August 12/13, 2017 and September 11/12, 2017. We must be on guard for this is the prime period where a confrontation could emerge.

This time he fired a missile over Japan. True, he could hit South Korea and Japan before they could launch any counter-measure. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the “most serious and grave” threat to the country. There is no question he is doing this to show strength to retain control. There are always people within who would assassinate him if he appeared weak.

We expect tensions to rise into the next target September 11/12th

Aug 28 2017

Is the Stock Market Really Overvalued?


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Aug 28, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

All we have been hearing since 2011 is how the stock market is going to crash and then there will be hyperinflation and all sorts of strange relationships that never materialize. They simply focus on the level of the stock market in nominal terms without adjusting it for inflation or showing how it has performed relative to the rest of the economy. Here is a chart of the stock market expressed as the total value of shares traded annually as a percent of GDP. Sorry, this illustrates that the retail market is not in crash mode just yet and it is still nowhere near the overbought levels of 2007.

This chart also reflects the crisis we have in liquidity. The more government tries to also regulate banks, they have been withdrawing from proprietary trading and we find the trading volume has been shrinking.

Government manipulates the statistics to always try to reflect that everything is OK and they are doing a fantastic job. Here is the ECB’s assessment of liquidity trying to pretend it’s back to normal. Real liquidity is HALF that of 2008 yet the ECB’s the Financial Market Liquidity Index is a complete fraud for it simply measures the spread between bid and ask and not the volume traded. The Index combines eight individual “liquidity” measures based upon their definition. Three of them cover bid-ask spreads: (1) on the EUR/USD, EUR/JPY and EUR/GBP exchange rates; (2) on the 50 individual stocks which form the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 index and; (3) on EONIA one month and 3 month swap rates. Three others are return-to-turnover ratios calculated for: (4) the 50 individual stocks which make up the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 index; (5)

Honestly, the bid ask spread can narrow and let a panic start and that will quickly vanish as market-makers withdraw. There is far less depth to the markets today than before back in 2007. A return on investment also means nothing with respect to liquidity.

So as long as we have analysts relying upon government statistics without thinking about their construction, this is really the blind trying to lead the blind. What a joke!

Aug 28 2017

North v South & Revising History


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Aug 28, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Robert E. Lee, before the outbreak of the war, was overwhelmingly regarded as the finest military mind in the U.S. army. Winfield Scott offered him command of all Union forces at the outbreak of hostilities. But he chose allegiance to his state of Virginia, rather than the Federal government. He didn’t fight for slavery. He freed his slaves. He was fighting for states’ rights. He was an honorable God fearing noble man. Stonewall Jackson was an extremely religious man who waged war with a passion, but also taught Sunday School to slaves. Lee and Jackson must be viewed in the context of the 19th century rather than being judged by the standards of the 21st century.

The vast majority of Confederate soldiers who did the fighting and dying during that war didn’t own slaves. They weren’t fighting to maintain slavery. They were fighting because a foreign army had invaded their land. In 1860 this nation was more an amalgamation of states than a centralized government. States still had a tremendous amount of power and leeway to run their states the way they chose. The ever increasing power of a central authority occurred during and after the Civil War. The South were not the bad guys. Their leaders, generals and soldiers were not evil. They were Americans.

The revisionist history now being peddled by the left wing media and their non-thinking acolytes lacks a factual basis, historical context and a true understanding of history. The Civil War was the climax of decades of tension between the North and the South over states’ rights, economic policies, slavery, and a myriad of other complex issues. Examined within the context of generational theory, it was a Fourth Turning that was unavoidable. It was a crucial important event in U.S. history. It wasn’t the shameful episode portrayed by the brain dead faux journalists babbling on CNN and MSNBC

….

RJB

REPLY: You are correct. Robert E. Lee wrote to the New York Times to correct what was written and he said before the war he would free his slaves within five years. Indeed, even George Washington owned slaves. You are correct that slavery was only one issue. The majority of the issue was considered to be States Rights, which was supposed to be the cornerstone of the union. Regardless of the issue be it slavery to abortion or marijuana, the issue of States Rights has been a key debate. Does the Federal government have the right to impose a law upon all States?

In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the United States Supreme Court ruled that gun ownership is an individual right under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, and the District of Columbia could not completely ban gun ownership by law-abiding private citizens.  In Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee, 14 U.S. 304 (1816), and Cohens v. Virginia, 19 U.S. 264 (1821), the Supreme Court held that the Supremacy Clause and the judicial power granted in Article III give the Supreme Court the ultimate power to review state court decisions involving issues arising under the Constitution and laws.

The Supremacy Clause has effectively nullified State’s Rights. Justice Scalia is famous for writing a letter on the subject of seceding from the union. He wrote:  “I cannot imagine that such a question could ever reach the Supreme Court.” Scalia added: “To begin with, the answer is clear. If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.”

The overwhelming number of confederate soldiers were not slave owners. They were indeed fighting for States Rights, not to own slaves they did not have. The “rich” plantation owners had the slaves – not the individual Confederate soldier. As always, everything is reduced to a single cause and effect when the issues were far more complicated. The capital is Washington , DC, only because Thomas Jefferson would not support Hamilton’s idea of a national debt unless the capitol was moves to the center of the country from New York City. It was always a contention between North and South underlying the current events, which is brewing once again.

This is the seed of the Civil War I have been warning we can move into. These extremists are now trying top stop Columbus Day parades, blow up Mt. Rushmore, and they are trying to dig up graves of Confederate soldiers to chop up their bodies. This is going completely insane. CNN and others are fueling this discontent and supporting this type of revisionist activity exactly as ISIS and the Taliban do in the Middle East – destroy history because they disagree with the past.

Aug 27 2017

House Speaker Paul Ryan Stands Against Arpaio Pardon…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 26, 2017 by

Weasels gotta weasel.  Jeff Flake, John McCain and now House Speaker Paul Ryan all stand in opposition to President Trump pardoning Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

More fuel for the Big Ugly:

Washington (CNN) – House Speaker Paul Ryan disagrees with President Donald Trump’s decision Friday to pardon Sheriff Joe Arpaio, his spokesman said Saturday.

“The Speaker does not agree with this decision,” spokesman Doug Andres said in a statement. “Law enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the United States. We should not allow anyone to believe that responsibility is diminished by this pardon.” (read more)

Aug 27 2017

Ulterior Motives – Ford Offers Cash for Clunkers Program in U.K…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 26, 2017 by

An interesting press release from Ford Motor Co. operations in the U.K. as they announce financial incentives (additional $2,500) to trade in old vehicles for newer “cleaner” emission vehicles in the U.K.

(Via Fox Business) Ford (F) is offering car buyers in Britain a 2,000-pound ($2,570) incentive to trade in older vehicles for newer, less polluting models.

The offer announced Tuesday is available to new car buyers who trade in vehicles registered before Dec. 31, 2009. The cars will then be taken off the road and scrapped. (read more)

Pay attention to these types of stories within the auto sector.  Watch for these types of “incentives” to cross the Atlantic.  The incentives described here are wrapped around a point of cleaner emissions, ie. “climate friendly” etc.  However, as we have shared the financial branch of the auto sector is in trouble; these incentives appear to be a marketing ploy.

The auto sector, in this example Ford Motor Credit, need to keep turning out new financial products (leases and loans) to cover the deficits of previously issued financial products and the financial gaps within soon to be received via massive lease returns.

There’s an influx of over-leased vehicles coming into the secondary market.  Each of those vehicles returns with a residual financial loss attached (lower value than anticipated).  If the underwriting auto financial system doesn’t quickly turn up additional capital they will not be able to offset the looming losses.

It will be interesting to watch it play out.  The auto-finance system is trying to keep the finance bubble inflated.  Unfortunately the economic odds are not favorable toward their goals.

Aug 27 2017

Understanding the Global Economy


Armstrong Economics Blog/Uncategorized

RE-Posted Aug 27, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

It is becoming painfully obvious that the amount of sheer theft of our forecasts right down to names of publications is escalating unbelievably. I personally fear that these charlatans are only looking to exploit people and could care less what is really at stake. From outright just stealing our track record and claiming they called markets to the day of the 1987 Crash to taking the title of the Great Bull Market in History and calling it their own, are confirmations that they really cannot stand on their own.

None of these forecasts we have made for the past near 40 years was  possible without the largest database ever assembled covering the entire world. Our initial Socrates launch covers about 500 instruments around the world. No individual analyst is capable of forecasting the world without such a database and computer systems designed to do so. There is just far too much for any analyst to watch every single day. And as for forecasting things to the precise day, only the Economic Confidence Model has accomplished that and I myself remain in awe of how the world is so precise. The complexity simply masks the hidden order. This was never my theory that I set out to prove, it is something that I bumped into along the way of just trying to forecast markets for my own trading.

I have advised more governments and been called into more crisis events than anyone I know of. That does not happen out of thin air. Such levels are achieved only with long standing track records that are know to be true over the course of decades.

Anyone taking our targets to stealing our track record claiming they accomplished the same, I warn that such conduct is not that of anyone you should trust. They are simply  charlatans  looking to exploit you for money and when crisis does come, they will be clueless what to advise. This not a game. This is reality. Such people are parasites looking simply to mislead you for profit.

Aug 27 2017

Yellen Reveals She Also Does Not Understand What it all Crashed in 2007-2010


Armstrong Economics Blog/Banking Crisis

Re-Posted Aug 27, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The head of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, has warned politicians against turning back financial market regulation. She has warned that any adjustments to the framework should be discreet. The Jackson Hole gathering turned out to be financially tense. Yellen admonished politicians stating bluntly that this is a question of preserving the “increased resilience of the financial system” through the course of reforms. Some were expecting Yellen to point the finger at lower interest rate monetary policy of past Chairmen, but she did not. She was addressing the issues of regulation reform being suggested by Trump’s people. Indeed, Trump has ordered that the Wall Street reforms of 2010 be reviewed.

Many suspect that Yellen’s speech will be her last. She essentially disagreed with the position of Trump and Congressional Republicans that the regulatory burden is strangling lending and has hamstrung the economy under Dodd-Frank, which gave the financial supervision far greater power, yet remain bewildered and in the dark concerning the causes of the 2007-2010 crash. Trump is absolutely correct that Dodd-Frank cannot truly function properly and it is so far off the mark, it is simply slowing down the economy. Yellen also said in Jackson Hole that some people were obviously forgetting how expensive the crisis had been.

 

The entire regulation took aim at only the results and not the cause of the crash. Nobody seems to really understand just how significant the entire economy was altered when Clinton who was in the pocket of the bakers. By the time Clinton signed the Financial Services Modernization Act, commonly known as Gramm-Leach-Bliley, repealing the key components of Glass–Steagall in 1999, nobody on Capitol Hill not even understood Larry Summers, the father of negative interest rates, really understood what he was supporting.

I wrote a full report on how they altered the economy forever changing our banking system from Relationship Banking to Transactional Banking. The arguments how this would reduce risk for banks overturning the regulation of the Great Depression, Glass-Steagall, have gone over the heads of everyone on Capitol Hill and I suspect Donald Trump as well.

There is precious little that anyone seems to comprehend about the core structural changes the Clinton put in place. Even Yellen is operating from an assumption that Dodd-Frank  is good regulation. What it did was put the burden on the people once again and never addressed the structural changes of the Clintons.

There are no mirrors in Washington. If Congress ever dared to look into a mirror they would see what they really are – a bunch of idiots and fools seeking to regulate the economy over which they never comprehend and they lack personal experience to even understand the subject matter.

The bankers argued that Glass-Steagall was holding them back. They were like a child who was asking their parent can they only eat cookies for dinner. The politicians had no idea they were altering the banking system for thousands of years ending Relationship Banking where a bank lent you money for a small business and then they reviewed you quarterly and you handed in your financial statements. The banker kept an eye on you because your loan was on his books.

Clinton changes 5,000 years of banks and gave birth of Transactional Banking where the bank suddenly didn’t care if you would repay your loan because they were selling it to someone else. They should show the movie the Big Short on Capitol Hill and then do a slide show geared for the 3 grade and force ALL politicians, and Yellen, to watch it. Maybe then they might understand what they have really done to the world economy and why economic growth today at 2% is considered a wild boom compared to 8% during the 1980s

Aug 26 2017

Understanding Gary Cohn -vs- President Donald Trump…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 26, 2017 by

Recently there has been a great deal of opinion on Chief Economic Advisor to President Trump and his recent critique of President Trump’s comments surrounding the events in Charlottesville, Virginia.  For many people the latest Cohn -vs- Trump scenario is just more proof that President Trump is succumbing to influence/pressure from the wrong side of the ideological spectrum.

This outline is intended to directly speaking toward those concerns.  However, to understand the dynamics of Gary Cohn -vs- Donald Trump it is first necessary to understand the perspective of Gary Cohn and President Trump.

Few people have an appropriate understanding of the scale, scope and seismic shift President Trump is delivering to the world of geopolitical financial influence.  A recent comment by someone who appears to understand the dynamic reads thus:

Enjoy this because we will never see this again. You’ll never see your president shift the pendulum the way Donald Trump is. The international market of high-pressure real estate development and financing incorporates every facet of business activity known to humanity and no President we have ever had has been more prepared to do what needs to be done then President Donald J Trump. In addition to trying to right the ship he has to navigate waters filled with landmines and torpedoes and those firing the torpedoes claim to be Americans. God bless this man.  ~ FromSeaToShiningSea

That’s a good a place as any to elevate the discussion, review the historic nature of the participants, and comprehend the dynamics behind: Manhattan -vs- Queens; Global finance -vs- National interests; Wall Street -vs- Main Street; and ultinately Gary Cohn -vs- Donald Trump.

I’m not going to go through the history of Donald Trump’s ambition to head into Manhattan as a property developer and the warnings from his Father Fred Trump about leaving Queens to engage with the sharks; the “killers”; most readers have some familiarity with the story.

Suffice to say the young man who grew up picking up good nails on job sites while learning the value of a dollar, decided he would cross boroughs into the most Machiavellian cut-throat and dangerous real-estate in the world, and conquer the killers.  He decided to prove his merit in the brutal world, amid the most brutal people, in a place where survival meant crushing your opposition before they crushed you.  Against all odds and adversity Trump scrapped, ascended and finally conquered.

Why does that matter now?

The answer is simple really. The same elemental forces Donald Trump fought and defeated for three four decades carry the same principle opposition today.  The difference is the scale is much larger, the opposition even bigger, and the consequences far greater.

Wall Street -vs- Main Street doesn’t even begin to accurately assign the scope of current opposition.  Wall St. -vs- Main St was the appropriate context to understand the 2016 presidential election.  However, the election is over, Trump won.  Now President Trump is engaged in an epic economic battle between ‘Global Multinational Financial Interests’ -vs- ‘America-First Economic Interests’.

Gary Cohn was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs for eleven years prior to joining President Trump as Chief Economic Advisor.  Gary Cohn is a financial apex predator amid a closed circle of well known multinational apex predators.

[Why Cohn joined Trump, is a weird dynamic, but at it’s core there’s a dichotomy few have noted.  Apex Financial Cohn came out of a blue collar pool within U.S. Steel, a Main Street enterprise.  Additionally, Cohn’s last twenty years of Wall Street experience shifted him onto a unique and specific track to be the top candidate for Chairman of the Federal Reserve (after Yellen).]

President Trump has been thinking about the cancer within the globalist advancement for about the same length of time Cohn was ascending amid the global financial elite.  Review interviews from 1980’s, congressional testimony from 1990’s, all the way through Trump’s 2015 announcement to run for President and you’ll see the exact same perspectives repeated for three decades.  In short, Trump knows the problem – and he’s obviously been thinking about how to deal with it for a long time.

Obviously ‘dealing with it’ means confronting the predators within the systems of greatest familiarity to Gary Cohn; not only confronting them, but deconstructing much of their enmeshed and globalist high-finance structures.  Candidate Trump knew President Trump was going to be disrupting a financial system – that carries risks of economic failure if not handled carefully.

That’s where the value of Gary Cohn comes in.  Cohn represents a stabilizing and known commodity amid the apex predators who President Trump would be confronting.  Trump needed to keep the financial system satiated and stable while creating the underlying architecture of the America-First economy.  Trump’s economic policies benefit Main Street over Wall Street and reverse three decades of Wall Street favoritism by DC fiscal policy.

President Trump needed, and needs, a steady overall financial system while the economic policy shift is taking place. Having Cohn on board while the economic shift is happening keeps the people within the system from reacting too heavily to the shifts.  That’s Cohn’s value to Trump.

President Trump’s value to Gary Cohn, and those of like-minded association, comes from their anticipation of a smooth transition in Federal Reserve Chairmanship.  However, much like Trump’s approach to conquering Manhattan – he’s also intent on severely, and yet subtlety, changing the geography of the predators themselves.  This truism is unmistakable when you look at current economic path and the way-points already passed. Things are definitively changing, bit by planned and sequential bit.

Within the circle of key Donald Trump America-First economic principals you find Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.  These two people are critical for President Trump as trade and finance act in concert with the larger America-First policy.  Ross and Mnuchin are to economic policy as Mattis and Tillerson are to foreign policy.

Additionally, people who think that President Trump is likely swayed by the influence of Gary Cohn should have noticed something recently that would put those fears to rest.  However, I totally understand why most would miss it – the media never shares it.

Think of the social circle of Gary Cohn, and the current business network of Mr. Cohn, against the backdrop of his being President and Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs for the past 11 years.   Put yourself in his shoes for the next few paragraphs.

♦Three months ago Goldman Sachs purchased almost $3 billion in bonds from Venezuela state owned national oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA.  At a discount rate of .30 on the dollar.  Goldman Sachs joined other PDVSA multinational bond holders like BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, JPMorgan Chase and Ashmore.

These are massive multinational banking and financial players.  However, even for Goldman Sachs a three billion bond purchase is a big stake in PDVSA.

♦Now, – What did President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin do yesterday?  President Trump dropped and executive order MOAB on PDVSA.

(Via LA Times) The Trump administration on Friday slapped sweeping financial sanctions on Venezuela, barring banks from any new financial deals with the government or state-run oil giant PDVSA.

[…] The new actions prohibit dealings in new debt and equity issued by the government of Venezuela and its state oil company. It also prohibits dealings in certain existing bonds owned by the Venezuelan public sector, as well as dividend payments to the government of Venezuela. (read more)

(Via AP) The fourth round of sanctions announced by the Trump administration is the strongest yet. They prohibit U.S. financial institutions from engaging in any new financial deals with the Venezuelan government or state-run oil company PDVSA.

This includes any transactions involving new debt or equity issued by the Venezuelan government or PDVSA. It also bans PDVSA’s American subsidiary, Citgo, from sending dividends back to Venezuela as well as the trading of two bonds recently issued by Maduro’s government to circumvent the growing financial stranglehold.

[…]  The sanctions will make it harder and costlier for Venezuela to scrounge up badly needed financing, raising the possibility that it will have to stop payment on its ballooning foreign debt. The government and PDVSA have about $4 billion in debt payments coming due before the end of the year but only $9.7 billion in international reserves on hand, the vast majority consisting of gold ingots that are hard to trade immediately for cash.

So far Venezuela has shown itself to be a reliable borrower, prioritizing bond payments to foreign lenders even while Venezuelans suffer widespread food and medicine shortages. It also has options in allies Russia and China. In the past both have stepped in to fill financial holes, albeit under increasingly exacting terms requiring Venezuela to put up part of the world’s biggest oil reserves and even a 49 percent stake in Citgo as collateral. (more)

How are all those multinational bond holders going to get their PDVSA bond returns back if the Venezuela government can’t issue additional new bonds or engage in new financial deals on behalf of its state run oil enterprise?

President Trump and Secretary Mnuchin have just increased the risk to all of the Venezuela bond holders. As SayIt2016 Rightly Explains:

[…] All of the holders of these bonds are now dependent on the deal that President Trump strikes with Venezuela. They literally are at his mercy. BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, JPMorgan Chase and Ashmore etc., as well as other countries that hold these bonds as well.

President Trump could identify all of the entities and the total amount of exposure they have on their bonds (dollar wise) whether it be Private holders, Security holders or Gov holders that hold these bonds and determine what their business product or areas of influence are.

The one holding all of the cards (TRUMP) gets to make the rules. They want something tangible from Trump, well he might want something tangible from them. Trump gets what he wants or they do not get what they want; either way the US wins.

Yep.  You see President Trump is not afraid to engage those multinational financial predators and/or make their paper finances worth-less, or worthless if need be.  He’s not beholden to them or anyone else.  Trump, Mnuchin and Ross are fearlessly engaged on America First and focused like a laser on achieving that objective.

Now think about Economic Advisor Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs COO and current personal friend of Lloyd Blankfein CEO of Goldman Sachs, sitting in the room with President Trump and Secretary Mnuchin on Wednesday and Thursday while hearing about the upcoming sanctions against Venezuela and PDVSA that Trump was going to deliver via Executive Order, and announce on Friday.  Oh, and Gary Cohn can’t say a word about it to anyone outside of the room.

If that’s not a prime example of how President Trump, Mnuchin and Ross are going about the business of America-First and Gary Cohn being completely irrelevant on the actions and policies, I don’t know a better current example to provide you.

Those Wall Street and Multinational interests that everyone rightly reviews through the prism of globalist advancement are being confronted and dismantled as part of the larger America First economic policy.  Gary Cohn has a useful purpose in that his presence settles the nerves of Trump’s domestic economic adversaries, but Cohn’s presence doesn’t change the policy direction of America First at all.

Those who hold an adverse interest position to Trump’s America really didn’t think he was serious about this MAGA economic plan.  Like all other times in the history of Donald Trump his opposition has completely underestimated him; but what they are really underestimating is his will.

In the battle of Queens -vs- Manhattan, Main Street -vs- Wall Street, Nationalism -vs- Globalism, or Trump -vs- Cohn…

…. just like Donald Trump did before, he’s winning.