Tonight President Donald Trump heads to the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, WV, for a business round table and MAGA campaign rally.  Pre-rally speakers begin at approximately 6:00pm and President Trump is scheduled to speak at 7:00pm.

UPDATE: Video Added

RSBN Livestream – Fox News Livestream – CNBC Livestream

While the moonbats demand ICE is abolished, President Trump participates in a Salute to the Heroes of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs Border Protection (CBP) event at the White House.  Anticipated start time 3:00pm EST.

UPDATE: Video Added

WH Livestream link – Fox News Livestream link – NBC Livestream Link

In an effort to avoid the land mines of social media de-platforming, cousin Joe Dan Gorman has smuggled out another set of brilliantly coded Rebel Alliance video messages from deep inside the froglegs internets.

If you poke a hole in an egg carton, cover one eye, stand naked and watch the screen through a mirror…. well, it takes some practice, but just make sure you draw the curtains to receive the transmission.

Visit Joe Dan HERE – Help Joe Dan Avoid Deplatforming HERE

Under the auspices of making moves to block election interference from outside interests the government of Justin from Canada is moving to block internet content critical of Trudeau and his policies.

Simultaneously and ironically, the same Canadian government is spending millions lobbying U.S. politicians in Washington DC to retain their one-sided NAFTA trade benefits.  Funny that, eh?

CANADA […] Among other things, the government wants to do more to ensure foreign actors or money aren’t involved in elections, require more transparency for political messaging on social media and prevent political parties from setting up ostensible advocacy groups to support them and help skirt spending limits.

[…] Among the options:

• Require the publishers of online content to identify themselves;
• Make internet companies legally liable for the content that appears on their platforms
• Require platforms to clearly identify “bots,” automated social media accounts used to amplify messages;
• Reintroduce a non-criminal remedy to investigate and respond to hate speech, along the lines of the anti-hate provision of the Canadian Human Rights Act, repealed in 2013 amid concerns it muzzled free speech;
• Require much greater transparency for political advertising on digital media;
• Design a “meaningful” way for Canadians to consent to the collection and use of their individual data, which would also apply to databases amassed by political parties.

Those proposals go considerably further than C-76. The bill would prohibit foreign entities from spending any money to influence elections and prohibit anyone from knowingly selling election advertising space to foreign entities. (read more)

Consider this phrase carefully: “Among other things, the government wants to do more to ensure foreign actors or money aren’t involved in elections” … and now contrast that statement against this:

Huh…. Not funny, that!

This might raise an eyebrow:

Did you know it’s against Canadian law for U.S. banks to operate in Canada?  Meanwhile, the Canadian government demands their banks be permitted to operate in the U.S….

Or, did you know that NAFTA is not actually a trade bloc of the U.S., Mexico and Canada?  Instead NAFTA is merely an internal agreement of trade issues only between the three nations.  This structure allows Canada and Mexico to engage with third-party-nations as brokers for access to the U.S. market.   For the last 20+ years Canada and Mexico have exploited this agreement to benefit their own economy, exfiltrated American wealth, and done so without any regard for how damaging it is to the United States.

We are the host. They are the parasites.  I digress….

Thankfully, we now have President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump is the first, and only, U.S. politician who not only understands the flawed structure – but has also stated quite openly he is no longer going to allow it.   Hence, the massive lobbying effort, and tens of millions being spent, by Canada into the U.S. seeking like-minded allies to eliminate the threat that is POTUS Trump.

Michelle Wolf gained notoriety for her obnoxious, unfunny and rude diatribe during the White House Correspondents Dinner:

(Via Mediaite) […] The comedian made a name for herself earlier this year at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where her monologue received a mix reception, especially for her jokes targeting Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who attended the event. Wolf had previously appeared as a correspondent on The Daily Show and a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Wolf’s controversial brand of comedy continued at Netflix, which debuted shortly after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in late May.  (read more)

Wolfe’s show only lasted 10 episodes and was cancelled.  According to media reports the show staff and producers found out about their termination via twitter.  Meanwhile Sarah Sanders is still White House Press Secretary.

Sad Panda increasingly frustrated as disruptor Trump heaps vociferous praise on Chairman Xi, while simultaneously out maneuvering Beijing’s geopolitical economic strategy.

China expert Michael Pillsbury discusses the current environment around the Beijing leadership with Fox host Tucker Carlson.  This is really important. WATCH:

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What Pillsbury outlines is exactly what CTH predicted last year when we shared how the Red Dragon would be caught entirely off-guard.  They’ve never seen this approach before.

NOTE: The upcoming Chinese trade delegation is not showing up at the end of this month as a matter of scheduling happenstance.  What no-one in the financial/trade/economic media is connecting is the timing of their visit with USTR Lighthizers’ Section 301 Tariff hearings –SEE HERE.  August 20th through August 27th, you can guarantee the Chinese delegations will be all over those hearings; including dispatching their paid lobbyists to provide input on their behalf.

Each time China takes aggressive action (red dragon) China projects a panda face through silence and non-response to opinion of that action;…. and the action continues. The red dragon has a tendency to say one necessary thing publicly, while manipulating another necessary thing privately.  The Art of War.

President Trump is the first U.S. President to understand how the red dragon hides behind the panda mask.

It is specifically because he understands that Panda is a mask that President Trump messages warmth toward the Chinese people, and pours vociferous praise upon Chairman Xi Jinping, while simultaneously confronting the geopolitical doctrine of the Xi regime.

In essence Trump is mirroring the behavior of China while confronting their economic duplicity.

President Trump is putting on a MASSIVE economic squeeze.

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

However, China cannot engage in economic commerce with Venezuela or they risk losing access to the U.S. banking system.  Therefore all current Chinese aid to Maduro comes in the form of IOU’s.  These ongoing loans are likely impossible to be repaid.

♦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 influenced global energy prices.  Additionally, President Trump is demanding NATO countries, specifically Germany, stop supporting financial dependence on Russia.

Meanwhile, and directly connected, Russia is bleeding out financially in Syria. Iran is the financial reserve, but they too are energy price dependent and President Trump is now putting pressure on Iran vis-a-vis new sanctions and new demands on allies.

♦Squeeze #3. In 2017 Trump and Secretary Tillerson, now Secretary Pompeo, 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. The U.S. removed $900 million in financial support to pressure Pakistan toward a political solution in Afghanistan, China has to fill void.  [NOTE: Last month the World Bank began discussions about a financial bailout for Pakistan.]  Again, more one-way bleed for China.

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

♦Squeeze #5. President Trump 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.

In March of 2018 U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer completed a section 301 review of China’s trade practices.  [SEE HERE] Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the President to take all appropriate action, including retaliation, to obtain the removal of any act, policy, or practice of a foreign government that violates an international trade agreement or is unjustified, unreasonable, or discriminatory, and that burdens or restricts U.S. commerce.  However, as talks with China progressed, President Trump shelved the 301 action to see where negotiations would end-up. The May and June, 2018, negotiations between the U.S. and China provided no progress.  The 301 review of China is now pulled back off the shelf, and President Trump assembles his trade-war strategy.  The 301 tariffs/sanctions are currently being worked out with U.S.T.R Robert Lighthizer.

♦Squeeze #6. President Trump, Secretary Ross, Secretary Mnuchin and USTR Robert Lighthizer are dissolving NAFTA in favor of two bilateral agreements; one with Mexico and one with Canada.  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 #7. 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. [Current discussions with Japan are ongoing]

♦Squeeze #8. President Trump positioned the U.S. relationship with the E.U. as a massive potential loss for Europe (via Steel, Aluminum, and Auto tariffs) if they did not: (A) shift their trade relationship toward greater reciprocity; and (B) reconsider the size of their trade relationship with China.  After initially trying to push-back, Europe acquiesced.

♦Squeeze #9. President Trump has positioned ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) as trade benefactors for assistance with North Korea. Last year the KORUS (South Korea and U.S.) trade deal was renegotiated, and announced in March. The relationship between ASEAN nations and the Trump administration is very strong, and getting stronger. Which leads to…

♦Squeeze #10. President Trump has formed an economic and national security alliance with Shinzo Abe of Japan. It is not accidental that North Korea’s Kim Jong-un fired his last missile over the Northern part of Japan. Quite simply, Beijing told him to.  However…

♦Squeeze #11. President Trump cut-off the duplicitous Beijing influence over North Korea by engaging directly with Kim Jong-un.  The open exchange and ongoing dialogue has removed much of the ability of Beijing to leverage the DPRK nuclear threat for their own economic benefit.  This dialogue was as much, if not more, about dismantling the Beijing geopolitical influence as it was about denuclearizing the Korean peninsular.  However, no-one caught on to that part of the strategy.

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

Now they do, and, as Mr. Pillsbury notes from his travel and engagement, China is not quite sure how to respond.

Only President Trump could use economic leverage with such incredible insight and strategy toward achieving dual results benefiting the U.S. economy and U.S. national security position.  It really is stunning when you stand back and look at how it has all played out…. in the open…. and yet seemingly no-one saw what he was doing.

Just brilliant.

Freight hauling trucks are like the lymphatic system within a healthy economy.  As the economy writ large needs to move stuff around, it’s the truckers who git-r-done; and no time in U.S. economic history has there been such a demand for haulers.

In a stunning Wall Street Journal Report they note Analyst group ACT Research says manufacturers are on track for 450,000 orders for heavy-duty trucks this year, easily breaking a 14-year-old record. In July alone, North American fleets ordered more than 52,000 trucks, the largest order in history.   Whoot, Whoot !!

(Via WSJ) An unprecedented run of orders for big rigs has pushed the backlog at truck factories to nine months, according to industry analysts, the largest since early 2006, when truckers stocked up to get vehicles in place before tougher environmental restrictions would take effect. Typically the backlog is about five months for the truck industry’s manufacturers, analysts said.

Economic analysis can get weedy…. so a simple way to look at productivity is to think about baking bread in your kitchen.

If you were going to bake 4 loaves of bread it might take you 2 hrs start to finish. However, if you were going to bake 8 loaves of bread it would not take you twice as long because most of the tasks can be accomplished with simple increases in batch size, and only minor increases in labor time.  Your productivity measured in the last four loaves is higher.

Economic Productivity is measured much the same way, within what’s called a production probability equation.  Additionally, if two hours of your time are worth $40, each of four loaves of bread costs $10; but if you make 8 loaves in the same amount of time the labor cost is only $5/per loaf.

From 2007 through 2017 the average rate of productivity increase was 1.3%.  However, in the second quarter of 2018 productivity jumped to 2.9%.  That means total business output increased significantly as more product was demanded from within the business operation.  Throughout the economy people just wanted more stuff.

Improved gains in efficiency/productivity (more bread needed) supports faster economic growth without generating higher inflation; no need to raise prices because your cost to make each loaf of bread decreases the more you make.  Higher sales and lower per unit cost means more profit for the bread-maker.  No need to raise prices.  Without inflation, there’s no motive for the Fed to raise interest-rates.

Increases in productivity generally means the economy is generating more stuff.  The more stuff generated the higher the value of all economic activity; this increases GDP growth.

When we see higher productivity in direct alignment with GDP increases, the increased production indicates sustainable GDP growth.

BLS Report: “Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 2.9 percent during the second quarter of 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, as output increased 4.8 percent and hours worked increased 1.9 percent.” (link)

We made 4.8 percent more stuff, and only worked 1.9 percent longer.  The net is a 2.9 percent productivity increase.

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The future’s so bright…

…he’s gotta wear shades!

Departing the White House for New York and New Jersey, President Trump delivers impromptu remarks and holds a brief unscheduled presser prior to climbing aboard Marine-One.