For more than three decades all U.S. economic policy was elevating Wall Street and diminishing Main Street. As a result the middle America blue-collar workers have not had wage gains keeping up with inflation for over 30 years… Then came the era of Trump.
MAGAnomic policy is based around a very simple free-market process. Increase domestic economic investment; expand new business and expansion in existing business; that expands the need for employment; drive those jobs, jobs, jobs and watch wages rise naturally as employers compete over an increasingly valuable labor pool.
Business Insider – The pharmacy-chain owner Walgreens Boots Alliance announced Thursday that it will make investments of about $150 million to boost mainly its in-store wages in fiscal 2019 in wake of President Donald Trump’s tax reforms.
[…] US retailers are scrambling to keep workers as they look for opportunities with higher pay and attractive benefits. The US unemployment rate fell to a 48-year low of 3.7% in September. According to the Bureau of Labour statistics, there were 757,000 retail-job openings across the United States in July, which is about 100,000 more than a year ago.
The surge in the number of retail jobs has allowed workers the opportunity to move around within the industry. As a result, companies are raising wages to try and retain workers. Earlier this month, Amazon hiked its minimum wage to $15 per hour, effective November 1. That followed wage hikes from places like Target and Costco.
On Thursday, the company said sales jumped 10.9% year-over-year to $33.4 billion, just missing the Wall Street estimate of $33.77 billion. It earned $1.48 a share, or $1.4 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.45. (read more)
We discussed the new dimension that would occur between two economic engines (Main Street -vs- Wall Street) as three decades of policy shifted. CTH outlined statistical and measurable KPIs that would become visible in the space between the policy shifts.
Part of those discussions focused on energy costs, product costs (we explained how inflation would be weird), and importantly, wage rates. It takes several months of policy emphasis (actual outcomes), before the labor market wage rates would grow. We anticipated seeing that impact in Q2 of 2018, which is April-June 2018. Well:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has just released their second quarter analysis of wage and benefit rates for American workers. –SEE HERE– This is only the beginning of what is to come:
Overall wage rate growth in Q2 now at 2.8% year-over-year. That is great news. However, the better news is the red emphasis, White and Blue Collar middle-class wage rate growth is well over 3%. The wage growth is broad-based amid almost all sectors. [Trucking and transportation at 3.4% (Table 8)]
As the wage rate increases, and as the economy expands, the governmental dependency model is reshaped and simultaneously receipts to the U.S. treasury improve.
More money into the U.S Treasury and less dependence on welfare/social service programs have a combined exponential impact. You gain a dollar, and have no need to spend a dollar – the saved sum is doubled. That is how the SSI and safety net programs are saved under President Trump.
When you elevate your economic thinking you begin to see that all of the “entitlements” or expenditures become more affordable with an economy that is fully functional.
As the GDP of the U.S. expands, so does our ability to meet the growing need of the retiring U.S. worker. We stop thinking about how to best divide a limited economic pie, and begin thinking about how many more economic pies we can create.
The economic models of the entire last generation+ are based on the assumptions of continuing globalist economics which advances, and has advanced, the interest of Wall Street over Main Street. They were driving a “service-driven economy” message.
The investing class economy, ie. another name for a ‘service-driven economy’, has been the only source of historic reference for approximately three decades. These talking heads convinced themselves that a “service driven economy” was the ONLY economy ever possible for the U.S. in the future.
Back in January 2017 Deutsche Bank began thinking about it, applying new models, trying to conceptualize and quantify MAGAnomics, and trying to walk out the potential ramifications. They began talking about Trump doubling the U.S. GDP growth rate when all U.S. investment groups couldn’t yet fathom the possibility.
It’s like waking up on Christmas morning every day to see the pontificating Fed struggling to quantify analysis of their surrounding reality based on flawed assumptions. They simply have no understanding of what happens within the new dimension.
Monetary policy, Fed control over the economy, is disconnected and will stay that way for approximately another 12-14 months, until Main Street regains full operational strength –and– economic parity is achieved.
As we have continued to share, CTH believes the paycheck-to-paycheck working middle-class are going to see a considerable rise in wages and standard of living. How high can wages rise?… that depends on the pressure; and right now the pressure is massive. I’m not going to dismiss the possibility we could see double digit increases in year-over-year wage growth in multiple economic sectors in several regions of the U.S.
Remember, as wages and benefits increase – millions of people are coming back into the labor market to take advantage of the income opportunities. The statistics on the invisible workforce varies, but there are millions of people taking on new jobs in this economy and the participation rate is growing.
Winnamins. We’ll need lots of them…
Forget minimum wage laws, they are inconsequential conversations when measured against the reality of how quickly wages rise in a free, fair, unregulated and growing economy.
Seriously, with full measure of optimism and appreciation – and tears of thankfulness that we are alive to experience it – these are exceptional times.
President Donald Trump heads to Richmond, Kentucky today for a packed house mid-term MAGA rally at the Alumni Coliseum. The anticipated start time for President Trump is 7:00pm EST with multiple pre-rally speakers ongoing.
President Trump walks up to the White House press pool and gives over a twelve minute impromptu press conference prior to departing for a MAGA rally in Kentucky.
The level of unfiltered access President Trump provides the media is quite remarkable. Multiple topics are covered:
ABC News executives used a video documentary and interview with First Lady Melania Trump as the baseline to construct their latest pre-election hit job against President Trump and policies antithetical to the ABC Corporate agenda. The results were predictable.
ABC used the opportunity to create an extensive and heavily spun political narrative against the administration while inserting inconsequential edited snippets of an interview with the Fist Lady.
President Donald Trump delivers remarks on the release of Pastor Andrew Brunson from prison in Turkey. In addition President Trump remarks on the missing journalist rumored to have been kidnapped, perhaps killed, by Saudi dictate.
Richard Grenell
✔@RichardGrenell
I welcomed Pastor Brunson & his wife to Germany on their refueling stop. He’s almost home thanks to @realDonaldTrump.
When I presented him with the US flag, he immediately kissed it. #agratefulnation
Tonight President Trump heads to Lebanon, Ohio, for another mid-term MAGA rally. holds a ‘Make America Great Again’ rally in Lebanon, Ohio. The venue is the Warren County Fairgrounds and the anticipated start time for President Trump is 7:00pm EST.
Very funny: “President Trump’s policies have re-jiggered the incentive system in the economy.” …Well, that’s a slightly different wording than CTH has used since 2016, but what Mr. Kudlow is highlighting is how POTUS has uncoupled the U.S. economic engine from Wall Street investment and re-coupled it to Main Street investment. [Go Deep]
Then comes the funniest pundit question ever…. “where is this disconnect coming from?”
Too funny. Long-term CTH readers likely joining me in laughing at the predictability of it all. [“Disconnect” January 2016] or [“Disconnect” July 2017]
2016 […] Understanding the distance between the real Main Street economic engine and the false Wall Street economic engine will help all of us to understand the scope of an upcoming economic lag; which, rather remarkably I would add, is a very interesting dynamic.
Think about these engines doing a turn about and beginning a rapid reverse. GDP can, and in my opinion, will, expand quickly. However, any interest rate hikes (monetary policy) intended to cool down that expansion -fearful of inflation- will take a long time to traverse the divide.
Additionally, inflation on durable goods will be insignificant – even as international trade agreements are renegotiated. Why? Simply because the originating nations of those products are going to go through the same type of economic detachment described above.
Those global manufacturing economies will first respond to any increases in export costs (tariffs etc.), by driving their own productivity higher as an initial offset, in the same manner American workers went through in the past two decades. The manufacturing enterprise and the financial sector remain focused on the pricing.
♦ Inflation on imported durable goods sold in America, while necessary, will ultimately be minimal during this initial period; and expand more significantly as time progresses and off-shored manufacturing finds less and less ways to be productive. Over time, durable good prices will increase – but it will come much later.
♦ Inflation on domestic consumable goods ‘may‘ indeed rise at a faster pace. However, it can be expected that U.S. wage rates will respond faster, naturally faster, than any monetary policy because inflation on fast-turn consumable goods become re-coupled to the ability of wage rates to afford them.
The fiscal policy impact lag, caused by the distance between federal monetary action and the domestic Main Street economy, will now work in our favor. That is, in favor of the middle-class.
Within the aforementioned distance between “X” and “Y”, a result of three decades traveled by two divergent economic engines, is our new economic dimension…
The President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (PITF) is a group of 15 government agencies specifically focused on combating human trafficking. The Task Force is a Cabinet-level entity, consisting of 15 departments and agencies, working to prosecute traffickers and protect survivors.
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[Transcript] Indian Treaty Room – 2:20 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Please. Thank you very much. Thank you. It’s a great honor. Thank you very much. Thank you to Ivanka for the wonderful introduction. She knows me well. And also, very importantly, on the tremendous work you’ve done on this on behalf of human trafficking victims and survivors all over the world. Very important subject.
And incredibly, with the age of the computer, it’s gotten worse and worse and worse every year. And we’re going to turn that around.
This is an urgent humanitarian issue. My administration is committed to leveraging every resource we have to confront this threat, to support the victims and survivors, and to hold traffickers accountable for their heinous crimes.
Before going any further today, I’d like to provide an update on Hurricane Michael, which made landfall along Florida’s great Panhandle. Incredible people in the Panhandle, and they went through a lot. Followed a really destructive path; then to Georgia and North and South Carolina.
Our prayers are with those who lost their lives and with their families. And our hearts are with the thousands who have sustained property damage — in many cases entirely wiped out — the many families who have been displaced and the businesses that have been affected by this devastating hurricane.
All residents should heed all local warnings and instructions. My administration is in constant contact with state and local authorities in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. FEMA and first responders are on the ground, and we have teams currently conducting search and rescue missions — by the way, the Coast Guard has been incredible; they’ve saved many lives — working to restore power and delivering needed supplies.
We will do everything in our power to help those in need. And we will not rest or waver until the job is done and the recovery is complete. The only thing we can say about Michael with certainty is that it was so fast, it went through like a bullet, but it was a devastating bullet. It was complete. It was winds about as big as we’ve ever seen in history. We’ve never had anything like this.
So I just want to thank everybody for working so hard and for FEMA, and first responders, and law enforcement. They have been incredible. Incredible. Thank you very much.
Today we’re gathered together for a truly important mission: ending the scourge of human trafficking.
Joining us are top officials from across our government who are deeply engaged in this effort. Also, Senator Rob Portman is with us someplace. Rob, thank you very much for coming.
I’d like to just introduce a few of the people that have worked so hard: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Secretary Nielsen. Secretary, thank you. Good job. I know you’re working very hard on this. Ryan Zinke. Ryan, thank you. Thank you. Alex Acosta. Thank you very much. Rod Rosenstein. Thank you, Rod. Alex Azar. Thank you very much. Great job you’re doing. Thank you, Alex. Elaine Chao. Thank you, Elaine. And Betsy DeVos. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Along with Ambassadors Nikki Haley — and what a job you’ve done. Thank you very much, Nikki. And you know how we feel. Bob Lighthizer. Thanks, Bob. Dan Coats. And Director Chris Wray. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chris, very much. Appreciate it very much. You really — you’re making big difference and you’ll make an even bigger different because we’re making it a lot easier for you now. We’re going to give you what you need to get this done — as much as you can. It’s a tough one.
Thank you as well to Representative Ann Wagner who has been a great leader in the fight against human trafficking. Thank you, Ann, very much. Thank you very much.
Most importantly, I want to thank the courageous survivors of human trafficking for joining us today. From the beginning of my administration, I promised we would direct the full might and force of the United States government to combat the sinister crime of trafficking. And that is exactly what we are doing.
We’re working to aggressively target traffickers and to protect the victims of this inhumane abuse. In my first month in office, I signed an executive order directing federal law enforcement to prioritize dismantling the criminal organizations that engage in human trafficking. I later hosted survivors and experts here at the White House on numerous occasions for a conversation about how we can strengthen and improve our nation’s anti-trafficking efforts.
Since the time and since that moment — very first moment — we’ve really made tremendous strides. We’re challenging foreign regimes that facilitate this horrible evil of sex trafficking and forced labor. And we’re working to take down the criminal organizations that illegally traffic drugs and people across our border, exploiting them for their own gain. And we are pursuing criminal charges against those who perpetrate these monstrous acts and deeds.
Last year, my administration prosecuted a record number of traffickers. The Department of Health and Human Services National Human Trafficking Hotline received over 8,500 reports of potential trafficking last year. And our brave heroes at ICE have made over 1,600 human trafficking arrests. They do a great job.
I have signed several anti-trafficking bills into law, including a landmark law championed by Representative Wagner. And, Representative, where are you? Please. Fantastic job, Ann. Thank you very much. Really appreciate it. To help states and victims to fight online sex trafficking.
Under this law, victims can now bring civil suits against websites involved in sex trafficking — it’s so important — so you can bring civil suits against these websites, and states can bring criminal charges. These provisions complement existing laws that the Department of Justice used to seize and shut down Backpage.com, the Internet’s leading forum for traffickers, earlier this year. Good job, Rod. Really good job.
We also included tough forced-labor provisions in the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — USMCA, as it’s known. Great agreement. And we are taking the lead to combat this crime internationally, having invested millions in the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery. If you can believe that title — it’s to end modern slavery.
This is just a brief overview of our government-wide effort to smash these criminal networks and to help victims rebuild their lives.
Every Cabinet member here today and every member of this presidential taskforce is fully engaged in the fight. It’s very important to every one of them.
Our country will not rest until we have put these vile organizations out of business, and rescued every last victim. And we will not stop until we have stamped out the menace of human trafficking once and for all.
Again, I want to thank everybody for the incredible job you’re doing, for your good work. So important. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you.
President Trump began opening remarks, prior to Senate Bill 3508, with discussion surrounding Hurricane Michael and the ongoing recovery efforts.
The Save Our Seas Act involves the administration confronting foreign nations who dump trash and debris into the oceans. All forward U.S. trade agreements will include passages forcing trade partners to control oceanic trash and debris.
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[Oval Office Transcript] – 11:27 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Thank you very much. I very much appreciate your being here. We have hurricane reports on Hurricane Michael. Unbelievably destructive, powerful.
The one good thing we can say — we were just discussing — is that it was the fastest hurricane anybody has seen. It just was speedy. If it wasn’t, there would be absolutely nothing left. It was incredibly powerful. You’ve seen the destruction.
It’s moving through Georgia now at a much lesser pace both in terms of speed and in terms of its power — 50, 60-mile-an-hour winds. But some of those winds reached almost 200 miles an hour, which is unheard of. People are saying it’s the third most powerful that they’ve seen hit our country anywhere.
We’ve done — I’ll tell you, FEMA has gotten rave reviews. The first responders, law enforcement — everybody has gotten rave reviews. I just spoke with Governor Scott. They’re very happy. Food is being now — following the hurricane — being now brought in. We have unbelievable large amounts of water and food and everything that people can want.
The electric companies have been terrific. They’re already working. The roads are being cleared out. Many trees are in the path of the electric companies.
The roads are being cleaned right now. They’re being — for the most part, they’re open enough to get the electric companies in. And a lot of electricity is already back on. Some of the off electricity is already back on. That’s in Florida. They’re following up in Georgia.
A lot of water will be in North and South Carolina, added to the horrible situation they had with Florence two weeks ago. But they’re incredible people and they know how to do it. They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again. But they know how to do it.
So we’ve had great reports in everything. The only — the big problem with this hurricane was the tremendous power. And fortunately, it was very fast. It went through Florida very, very quickly. It didn’t linger. It didn’t come back as we had in Texas, where it actually came back a second time and then a third time. It went out, filled up, came back. This one went very quickly. But it’s tremendous destruction in the areas where it — the path that it chose is incredible, the kind of destruction. We’ve not seen destruction like that in a long time.
But it’s — the rebuilding, I can actually say — the rebuilding process and the survivor-looking process, we hope we don’t have too much of that. The area most affected was, hopefully, 100 percent evacuated, but there’s always somebody that stays. And in this case, they would have been in big trouble.
But so far, the reports, as you know, are very good. So I want to thank you for that.
And I don’t know if you have any questions on the hurricane. Does anybody have any questions?
Q Do you have enough time to focus on the hurricane? You have a very busy day at the White House. Obviously, Kanye West is here and —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I do. I have a very busy day today. We’re doing — as you know, we’re doing — having to do with copyright music. We’re doing, right now, the Save Our Seas Act of 2018, which is a very important thing. But I — and yesterday I had a tremendous rally in Pennsylvania, and we had thousands of people lined up. And I just couldn’t — you couldn’t tell those people — and they were there for a day and a half before.
And I couldn’t tell people that had been standing in line for a day and a half, wanting to get into the arena, that I’m not going. I went there. We had great control over what we were doing both on Air Force One, at the White House, and in Florida.
And I think you’re seeing we’re getting tremendous marks for the job that we did. And I wasn’t going to disappoint thousands and thousands of people who have been standing in line for, in some cases, a day and a half. I wasn’t going to do that.
But I think we’ve really, really done a job. This is a particularly busy day because we’re signing a number of bills. Very different kinds of bills. So you’ll be seeing me a little while later, I think with a couple of the senators standing behind me right now. And you’ll be seeing me and us in a little while.
And we’re having lunch with Jim Brown, one of the great football players of all time and a great guy, and Kanye West. He’s coming in — they’re coming in for lunch. And after that, we’re doing some additional interesting things.
But we have a busy day. But I always have a busy day.
And the economy is doing really well. Jobs are looking — we think jobs are going to be better than ever. And we think records are broken already, but we’re going to continue to break the records.
So let’s talk about the Save Our Seas Act, if we could. And again, thank you all for being here. I want to thank also the members of Congress that are with us. That’s Senator Dan Sullivan, who’s been absolutely terrific; worked along with Sheldon Whitehouse. And these two have been spearheading something that’s very important, and we want to thank you both.
Sheldon, thank you very much.
SENATOR WHITEHOUSE: Thank you, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Really do. I know you worked very hard on that.
SENATOR WHITEHOUSE: Worked well together.
THE PRESIDENT: And, Mr. Sullivan, thank you very much for being here. We appreciate it very much.
We have Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross who worked along with the senators, and Acting NOAA Administrator Admiral Tim Gallaudet. You’re here, and thank you for being here, Tim. Thank you very much. Great job you’re doing.
Every year, over 8 million tons of garbage is dumped into our beautiful oceans by many countries of the world. That includes China, that includes Japan, and that includes many, many countries.
This waste, trash, and debris harms not only marine life, but also fishermen, coastal economies along America’s vast stretches. The bad news is it floats toward us. I’ve seen pictures recently, and some of you have seen them, where there’s — a vast, tremendous, unthinkable amount of garbage is floating right into our coast, in particular along the West Coast.
And we’re charged with removing it, which is a very unfair situation. It comes from other countries very far away. It takes six months and a year to float over, but it gets here, and it’s a very unfair situation. It’s also unbelievably bad for the oceans.
Every year, over 8 million tons of garbage is dumped into our beautiful oceans. And when you think of that number — I mean, to think 8 million tons — and I would say it’s probably — Senators, I think it’s probably more than that, based on what I’ve seen and based on the kind of work that I’ve seen being done.
This dumping has happened for years and even for decades. Previous administrations did absolutely nothing to take on the foreign countries responsible. We’ve already notified most of them and we’ve notified them very strongly.
The Save Our Seas Act will help address this problem by extending the Marine Debris Program for five additional years. We also are strengthening that up to improve waste management overseas and clean up our nation’s water. We will boost the federal government’s response to ocean waste by authorizing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to declare severe marine debris events, which happen all the time. It’s incredible. It’s incredible when you look at it. People don’t realize it, but all the time we’re being inundated by debris from other countries.
This legislation will release funds to states for cleanup and for response efforts. And we will be responding and very strongly.
The legislation also encourages the executive branch to engage with those nations responsible for dumping garbage into our oceans. My administration is doing exactly that. For example, the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is the first U.S. trade agreement ever to include commitments by the parties to cooperate to address land- and sea-based pollution and improve waste management.
And I can tell you that Dan and Sheldon were very insistent on trying to get that into the USMCA, the new agreement that we have with Canada and Mexico. And we’ll be putting it into other agreements also.
The United States has some of the most beautiful beaches and oceans in the world, and the coastlines are incredible. As President, I will continue to do everything I can to stop other nations from making our oceans into their landfills. That’s why I’m pleased — very pleased, I must say — to put my signature on this important legislation.
And again, I’d like to thank Dan and Sheldon, and all of the people — the Admiral and Wilbur — all of the people that worked so hard on this. This was a tough one, but it had great bipartisan support.
What was the final vote?
SENATOR SULLIVAN: It was unanimous consent in the Senate.
THE PRESIDENT: Unanimous.
SENATOR SULLIVAN: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Bipartisan. Did you ever think, Jon, you’d hear that? Bipartisan.
Q It’s unusual to see Sheldon Whitehouse here.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s pretty good. Can you imagine Trump and Whitehouse in the same area? It’s all right. Hey, I have a lot of respect.
SENATOR SULLIVAN: And what the President said about the administration — the Trump administration — doing a great job on this, it’s an underreported story but they are really taking the lead globally. And, Mr. President, we want to thank you for (inaudible) very bipartisan.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I want to thank you, and I want to thank Sheldon. Thank you. Come here, Sheldon. See, we can shake hands.
SENATOR SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Wilbur. Thank you. Admiral, thank you.
All right. Let’s get this done properly here.
(The bill is signed.)
So with that, we’re all completed. And I just want to say it’s an honor. And hopefully that goes a long way for our oceans.
We’ve notified other countries that have been abusers. They abuse the ocean. We have notified them already about this. And they’re doing things. They tell us they’re doing things. And I think some cases at least they are. But they will be.
And I want to thank you very much.
SENATOR WHITEHOUSE: Thank you, Mr. President. The Philippines is up next, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that’s right.
SENATOR WHITEHOUSE: The Philippines is up next. They’re one of the worst three.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s right. That’s going to be interesting.
SENATOR WHITEHOUSE: So, thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: So you’re working on that?
SENATOR WHITEHOUSE: We are.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s very good.
SENATOR WHITEHOUSE: With your trade team on the Philippine trade agreement. We’ll make sure this is part of that.
THE PRESIDENT: We’re okay with that. I understand. A lot comes from there.
Yes.
Q Mr. President, what exactly is the U.S. doing to investigate the missing Saudi journalist? You said there were U.S. investigators over there.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, we’re looking at it.
Q Could you explain what exactly that means?
THE PRESIDENT: We’re looking at it very strongly. We’ll be having a report out soon. We’re working with Turkey, we’re working with Saudi Arabia. What happened is a terrible thing, assuming that happened. I mean, maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised, but somehow I tend to doubt it. And we take it very seriously.
Q Does the U.S. have any kind of responsibility to warn him if (inaudible) were picked up?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s not our country. It’s in Turkey, and it’s not a citizen, as I understand it. But a thing like that shouldn’t happen. It is a reporter with the Washington Post, and it’s — something like that should not be allowed to happen. Something like that should not happen. And we intend to get to the bottom of it.
Yes.
Q Mr. President, you have talked a little bit about the markets. The markets are down again, today. How long do you think this correction, which you said was coming anyway, is expected to last?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re still up 40 percent for the period of time. So, I mean, the markets are way up over what they were. It’s a correction that I think is caused by the Federal Reserve with interest rates. The dollar has become very strong, which, frankly, people can debate whether or not they like a strong dollar or not.
The dollar is very strong, very powerful. And that causes a little difficulty with doing business, frankly. A strong dollar doesn’t necessarily mean all good, but we do have a very strong dollar. And we have interest rates going up at a clip that’s much faster than certainly a lot of people, including myself, would have anticipated.
I think the Fed is out of control. I think what they’re doing it wrong. Under the Obama administration, you had a lot of help because they had very little interest. You know, when you talk about economies, our economy is far better than that. But we have actually — we’re paying interest. And they weren’t. They were using funny money.
But I think the Fed is far too stringent, and they’re making a mistake and it’s not right.
And it’s — despite that, we’re doing very well but it’s not necessary, in my opinion. And I think I know about it better than they do. Believe me.
Q Would you consider firing the Fed Chairman? I mean, is his job secure?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I’m not going to fire him. I’m just disappointed at the clip. I think it’s far too fast. Far too rigid, far too fast.
Q Mr. President, after what happened with the Soyuz capsule today, are you at all worried that American astronauts have to rely on the Russians to get into space? Because you’ve been talking about Space Force.
THE PRESIDENT: No, I’m not worried. We have a tremendous space program going right now, in addition to which you’re going to have the Space Force. I think by next year we intend to have that. It’s already in this budget. And we’ll have our own everything. But no, I’m not at all. Not at all worried at all.
Q Will Jamal Khashoggi’s case affect the way you deal with MBS or other Saudi officials?
THE PRESIDENT: We’ll have to see what happens. A lot of work is being done on that, and we’re going to have to see what happens. I don’t like stopping massive amounts of money that’s being poured into our country on — I know they’re talking about different kinds of sanctions, but they’re spending $110 billion on military equipment and on things that create jobs, like jobs and others, for this country.
I don’t like the concept of stopping an investment of $110 billion into the United States. Because you know what they’re going to do? They’re going to take that money and spend it in Russia or China, or someplace else. So I think there are other ways. If it turns out to be as bad as it might be, there are certainly other ways of handling the situation.
But I will tell you, upfront, right now, and I’ll say it in front of senators: They’re spending $110 billion purchasing military equipment and other things. If we don’t sell it to them, they’ll say, “Well, thank you very much. We’ll buy it from Russia.” Or “Thank you very much. We’ll buy it from China.” That doesn’t help us — not when it comes to jobs and not when it comes to our companies losing out on that work.
But there are other things we can do. Let’s find out what the problem is first. Okay?
Q You mean sanctions in that case? You oppose sanctions against Saudi Arabia?
THE PRESIDENT: I oppose — I would not be in favor of stopping a country from spending $110 billion — which is an all-time record — and letting Russia have that money and letting China have that money. Because all they’re going to do is say, “That’s okay. We don’t have to buy it from Boeing. We don’t have to buy it from Lockheed. We don’t have to buy it from Raytheon and all these great companies. We’ll buy it from Russia. We’ll but it from China.”
So what good does that do us? There are other things we can do.
Q Well, do you think they should pay a price if it turns out that the Saudis are responsible?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. There’ll be something that has to take place. First, I want to find out what happened. And we’re looking. Again, this took place in Turkey. And to the best of our knowledge, Khashoggi is not a United States citizen. Is that right? Or is that —
Q Permanent resident.
THE PRESIDENT: He’s a permanent resident. Okay.
We don’t like it, Jon. We don’t like. And we don’t like even a little bit. But as to whether or not we should stop $110 billion from being spent in this country, knowing they have four or five alternatives, two very good alternatives — that would not be acceptable to me.
Okay. But we’re looking for the answer. And I think probably you’ll have an answer sooner than people think.
Thank you very much. I’ll see you in a little while.
Q We’ll see you with Kanye later? Are you going to —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. We’re going to have you come in for Kanye for just a couple of seconds, okay?
Q Okay, great.
THE PRESIDENT: He’ll be here and we’re going to do a little — you’ll have a little fun. Okay?
Everybody asks about Kanye. You know, we have Kanye West and Jim Brown coming in. And everybody wants to know about —
Q (Inaudible) Jim Brown too.
THE PRESIDENT: I like Jim Brown. That Jim Brown is some running back. Hey, do you think the NFL would be paying him a couple of dollars nowadays?
What people don’t know — he might have been — he was the greatest football player, perhaps. He may have been an even better lacrosse player. Did you know that? At Syracuse. He may have been an even better lacrosse player. And he’s a great guy. And he’s been with me for a long time. He’s been a big supporter.
Thank you all very much. You’ll come back in a little while.
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
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