Tag: finance

Putin To Call Trump, May Schedule Meeting

While the rest of the developed world woke up in a cold sweat on the first official morning of the Trump presidency, the Kremlin said that Russia’s Vladimir Putin was ready to meet President Trump but preparations for the possible meeting may take months, not weeks, according to Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

“This will not be in coming weeks, let’s hope for the best – that the meeting will happen in the coming months,” Peskov told BBC, according to TASS. It was unclear if the previously reported plans on behalf of the Trump administration to meet with Putin in Iceland have been scrapped.

Peskov added that no negotiations between Moscow and Washington on the matter were underway, but this may change once Trump and Putin have a phone conversation in the near future.“President Putin will call President Trump after the inauguration to congratulate him. It’s a protocol thing that has to be done,” he said. “We expect that they may discuss their positions on a possible meeting.”

Peskov said that it would be “a big mistake” to think that Russia-U.S. relations will be “free of contradictions and disputes,” during a Trump presidency. “We indeed are the two biggest countries in the world. And we can’t live without frictions, conflict of interests,” Peskov was quoted by Interfax was saying on Saturday. Critics of Trump worry about a possible departure from former President Barack Obama’s guarded policy towards Russia, with some even accusing him of being in cahoots with the Kremlin.

Meanwhile, in a scathing farewell letter by Russia’s PM to Barack Obama, former president Dmitry Medvedev accused the US of warmongering, and steamrolling US-Russian relations in a blind attempt to promote its own interests while ignore the rest of the world:

“Everyone is aware that the United States has always tried to” steer” almost all global processes, brazenly interfering in the internal affairs of various countries and waging multiple wars on foreign soil. Iraq, the Arab Spring, Ukraine, and Syria are just a few examples of such reckless policies in recent years. We can still see their consequences, which range from the complete collapse of the political systems in these countries to wars which claimed tens of thousands of lives.”

 

There is only one explanation for such actions: the interests of the United States. An explanation which is entirely defensible in America itself, though much less so in other countries.

 

But the real issue lies elsewhere– the failure to understand one’s own true interests.

Medvedev conclude that “we do not know yet how the new US administration will approach relations with our country. But we are hoping that reason will prevail. And we are ready to do our share of the work in order to improve the relationship. America’s neoconservatives are hopeful that behind his pro-Russian bluster, Trump will settle in the same mold as his predecessor, keeping Europe on edge courtesy of constant NATO encroachment, and the revenue for US military and defense companies rolling.

via http://ift.tt/2k0cF5h Tyler Durden

Globalization’s Reality – World Trade Has Increased By Less Than 1% Annually In The Last Decade

Submitted by Eric Bush via Gavekal Capital blog,

There are fears that the world is on the precipice of turning back the clock on globalization. In some ways, the case can be made globalization has been retreating since the financial crisis.

One of the strongest supporting data points of that argument is world trade data.

According to the CPB World Trade Monitor, the value of world exports (volume * price) has increased by less than 1% annually since making a high on 7/31/2007 compared to more than a 5% annualized growth rate since 1991 (beginning of the data series).

If we look at just volume data, the story doesn’t improve very much.

World export volume has increased at less than 1.5% annually since 7/31/2007. This is about 1/3 of the annual growth rate world export volumes has increased by since 1991.

Even with extraordinary global monetary easing in the post financial crisis world, world trade has been unable to find the extra gear it hit during the pre-crisis era.

* * *

So next time the mainstream media, economists, and liberal left blame Trump for collapsing world trade, let's look in that rear-view mirror of reality… and see what global trade did during Obama's "free trade is awesome" reign.

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500,000 Women Swamp Washington For Anti-Trump Protest March – Live Feed

Hundreds of thousands crowds of women, many wearing bright pink knit hats and carrying Starbucks lattes, swamped into downtown Washington, arriving by bus, train and car on Saturday for a march in opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump one day after the Republican took office.

Cited by AP, a city official in Washington said the turnout estimate for the Women’s March on the National Mall now stands at 500,000 people, more than double the initial predictions. Kevin Donahue is Washington’s deputy mayor for public safety and justice. He says on Twitter that organizers of the march are increasing the turnout estimate to half a million.

The Washington event is expected to be the largest of a series of marches planned across the world in cities including Sydney, London, Tokyo and New York to criticize Trump’s “often angry, populist rhetoric.”

Today’s Women’s March on Washington, which will feature speakers, celebrity appearances and a protest walk along the National Mall, is the brainchild of Hawaiian grandmother Teresa Shook and is intended as an outlet for women and their male supporters to vent their frustration and anxiety over Trump’s victory. According to organizers, several hundred thousand people are expected to attend.

Many participants wore knitted pink cat-eared “pussy” hats, a reference to Trump’s claim in the 2005 video that was made public weeks before the election that he grabbed women by the genitals. The march spotlights the fierce opposition Trump faces as he takes office, a period that is typically more of a honeymoon for a new president. The women said they hoped to send a unity message to Trump.

Among the prominent democrats praising the rally were Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. The former secretary of state thanked attendees on Twitter for “standing, speaking and marching for our values.” She says it’s as “important as ever.” Clinton is also reviving her campaign slogan and says in the tweet she believes “we’re always Stronger Together.”

Actress America Ferrera said “every single one of us” is under attack by President Donald Trump. Ferrera was speaking at the start of a rally that is opening the Women’s March on Washington. She says people are gathered in the capital and across the country to say to Trump, “We refuse.” The “Ugly Betty” star says the marchers reject demonization of Muslims. She says they also refuse to give up their “right to safe and legal abortions.” Ferrera says the U.S. won’t ask LGBT Americans to go backward and won’t go from a nation of immigrants to “a nation of ignorance.”

At the same time, thousands of women took to the streets of European capitals to join “sister marches” in Asia against Trump ahead pf the Washington rally. Waving banners with slogans like “Special relationship, just say no” and “Nasty women unite,” the demonstrators gathered outside the American embassy in Grosvenor Square before heading to a rally in central Trafalgar Square.

Worldwide some 670 marches were planned, according to the organizers’ website which says more than two million marchers are expected to protest against Trump, who was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president on Friday.

As Reuters notes, Trump has “angered many liberal Americans with comments seen as demeaning to women, Mexicans and Muslims, and worried some abroad with his inaugural vow on Friday to put “America First” in his decision making.” The protests come a day after the nation’s capital was rocked by violent protests against the new president, with black-clad anti-establishment activists smashing windows, setting vehicles on fire and fighting with riot police who responded with stun grenades.

The protests illustrated the depth of the anger in a deeply divided country that is still recovering from the scarring 2016 campaign season. Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton, the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. party.

“It’s important that our rights be respected. People have fought hard for our rights and President Trump has made it clear that he does not respect of them,” said Lexi Milani, a 41-year-old restaurant owner from Baltimore, who had ridden down in a bus with 28 friends.

 

“I just want people to feel empowered and go home and be active. Call your Congressman, run for office,” Milani said. “I don’t want people to feel defeated.”

Washington subway trains and platforms were packed with people. The Metro sent a service alert warning of “system-wide delays due to extremely large crowds.” At least one station was closed to new passengers because of the crowds backed up on the platform.

A disparate lineup of organizations including reproductive health provider Planned Parenthood, gun-control group Moms Demand Action and Emily’s List, which promotes female candidates for office, sent large contingents to the event.

As Reuters adds, some Republicans have criticized feminist, gay-rights and other activist groups critical of Trump as resorting to a divisive style of “identity politics.” Democratic U.S. Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, a supporter of the marchers, rejected that assertion.

“It is Donald Trump who singled out Muslims for a Muslim registry. It was Donald Trump who made disparaging comments about women. It was Donald Trump who criticized a judge of Mexican heritage. That’s identity politics. We’re sending the message that we’re all Americans.”

The women have given various reasons for marching, ranging from inspiring other women to run for office to protesting Trump’s plans to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which among other things requires health insurers to cover birth control. Jesse Carlock, 68, a psychologist from Dayton, Ohio was attending her first protest in decades. “Once Mr. Trump was elected, I decided I needed to get active again, and I hadn’t been since the 60s and 70s,” Carlock said. “I’ve got to stand up and be counted as against a lot of what President Trump is saying…about healthcare, immigration, reproductive rights, you name it.”

Celebrities such as the musicians Janelle Monae and Katy Perry – both of whom supported Clinton in the election – are expected to take part in Saturday’s march. The march organizers said they had extensive security plans in place, and would have both visible and hard-to-spot security workers along the route.

Trump’s team did not respond to a request for comment about the march.

Live Feed from DC:

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Bernier’s radical bid to stabilize consumer prices (and make the CAD good as gold)

Submitted by Sprott Money News

Original available: HERE

Conservatives are rarely regarded as champions of the little guy. However last month, leadership candidate Maxime Bernier made a radical proposal to cut inflation, which would provide enormous relief to ordinary Canadians.

“Inflation is like a tax,” said Bernier, who cites Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek and the Austrian School as his key economic influences. “(It) eats away at our purchasing power, revenues and savings.”

Inflation at 2% (the BOC’s current target) may seem small, but it means prices double every 35 years. Bernier’s commitment to ask the Bank of Canada to study the benefits of adopting a 0% inflation target, has attracted surprisingly little attention. But if enacted, it would make the loony a store of value almost as good as gold.

A stable dollar would also make essentials like food, housing and consumer products more affordable to ordinary Canadians.

The higher interest rates needed to implement such a policy, would also boost savings and help to stabilize pension plans, which are increasingly underfunded, due to their inability to generate returns on their fixed income investments.

A hidden “Poloz Tax?”
Bernier’s approach flies in the face of almost all conventional economic thinking. Led by Paul Krugman, governments, tenured university professors and the big banks almost all agree , that GDP growth is best generated though a mix of increased spending financed by rising taxes, borrowing, and most recently central bank financing.

Bernier, who cut his teeth at the free market-oriented Montreal Economic Institute , prior to entering politics, will have none of it.

“You cannot create and grow wealth simply by printing more money and encouraging people to borrow and spend,” says Bernier. “The only way to create wealth is by investing more, working more and producing more.”

Bernier is a particularly strong critic of the Bank of Canada, which, under Stephen Poloz’s leadership (and others before him), has sharply increased the cost of living for ordinary Canadians.  

For example the average cost of buying an existing home has shot up by 34% since 2013, the year that Poloz took office, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.
 
“Prices don’t increase because businesses are greedy,” says Bernier. Ultimately only the central bank is responsible for creating the conditions that cause inflation.”

Benier isn’t alone in his assessment of current central bank rising prices policies; which here in Canada we might call the “Poloz Tax,” for lack of a better term.

Ben Bernanke, a former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has made similar observations. Bernier is particularly critical about the Bank of Canada’s approach because its effects are hidden to ordinary Canadians.

As John Maynard Keynes himself noted, such measures are hard even for professionals to understand, although the late economist was clear about their effect.

“By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate secretly the wealth of their citizens,” Keynes famously wrote. “The process does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.” 

Harder work, lower taxes and deregulation 
Bernier balances his sound money stance with a wide variety of proposals targeted to generate organic economic growth, based on demands created in the real economy.

These include for example measures that would encourage business investment, to better enable Canadian companies to compete on the international stage.

Bernier believes that when businesses invest in plant, equipment, software and other productivity-enhancing items, – measures which create or protect jobs and generate spin-off activity, – they should benefit from accelerated tax write-offs.

Bernier is also a strong proponent of deregulation. For example while Canada has long negotiated free trade deals internationally, domestic free trade between provinces continues to be hampered by a variety of protectionist rmeasures.

At first glance, Bernier’s sound money policies appear to be common sense.

However in “tax, borrow, print and spend” Ottawa, they amount to heresy. So much so, that whether Bernier can muster public support against the entrenched interest groups remains an open question.

The fate of the Canadian economy hangs in the balance.

via http://ift.tt/2kdB0I5 peterdiekmeyercontributor

German Press: “That Was No Presidential Speech; That Was A Declaration Of War”

Following yesterday’s openly confrontational, deliberately protectionist presidential address, which in various circles has been dubbed the “American carnage” speech, some of Obama’s closest foreign friends are scrambling to find a role in a world that has drastically changed in less than 24 hours. One of them is the foreign leader whom Obama spoke to last before vacating the White House, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who vowed on Saturday to seek compromises on issues like trade and military spending with U.S. President Donald Trump, adding she would work on preserving the important relationship between Europe and the United States.

“He made his convictions clear in his inauguration speech,” Merkel said in remarks broadcast live, a day after Trump vowed to put ‘America first’.

Speaking at a news conference in the south-western town of Schoental, Merkel – finding herself in a world where many of her legacy friends have been swept away by the tide of “populist anger” – suddenly struck a more conciliatory tone toward Trump than Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who on Friday said Germany should prepare for a rough ride under the new U.S. president.

“I say two things with regards to this (speech): first, I believe firmly that it is best for all of us if we work together based on rules, common values and joint action in the international economic system, in the international trade system, and make our contributions to the military alliances,” Merkel said. The conservative German leader, who is seeking a fourth term and enjoyed a close relationship with former president Barack Obama, is seen by liberals across the Atlantic as a voice of reason that counterbalances rising populist parties in Europe.

“And second, the trans-Atlantic relationship will not be less important in the coming years than it was in past years. And I will work on that. Even when there are different opinions, compromises and solutions can be best found when we exchange ideas with respect,” added Merkel.

As Reuters notes, relations with the United States, Germany’s biggest trading partner, are likely to be a hot topic in electioneering in coming months leading to a general election in September. And in the aftermath of the Trump speech, which defined Trump’s “negotiating baseline”, Merkel will have no choice but admit weakness in accepting compromises with a man who has criticized her decision in 2015 to throw open Germany’s borders to asylum seekers fleeing wars and conflicts, and has said he believes other countries will leave the EU after Britain and that the NATO military alliance was obsolete.

* * *

Yet while Merkel hopes for a fresh start with the new US president, her domestic institutions and media will be far less forgiving to any indication of weakness from the chancellor. For the best example so far, an article penned this morning by Gabor Steingart, chief in chief of Handelsblatt, Germany’s leading economic newspaper, burned all compromise bridges when he said that “that was no presidential speech; that was a veritable declaration of war.”

The savage criticism continued:”Threatening in tone. Cold and calculating in logic. Change minus the hope. Donald Trump used the traditional Inauguration Day address to settle a score with the U.S. political establishment going back decades. With four ex-presidents sitting a few feet behind him, the 45th president delivered a populist manifesto.”

He notes than any attempts at compromise will fail because “the new president loves a good fight, not consensus. He doesn’t want to hug, but to smother, to overwhelm” and add that “in domestic policy, the Trump agenda sounds like a blueprint for civil war; in foreign policy, it sounds like the dawn of a new ice age.”

Hardly an amicable setting for Merkel to be demand compromises.

For the German press what hope there is that the Trump phenomenon will be promptly overthrown lies in the face of three opponents: “Opponent No. 1: The other America. Across the country, an anti-Trump movement is growing”… “Opponent No. 2: The Media. Among publishers, producers, filmmakers and journalists, Trump has hardly any friends. CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times and Hollywood couldn’t warm to the volcanic personality of the new president.”… “Opponent No. 3: The Political Party System. Washington is having an allergic reaction to Trump. Democrats and even Republicans are cooperating on Capitol Hill to investigate the Trump team’s contacts to Russia in a special committee.”

It is clear on whose side the German economic press is; the bigger question for Merkel is whether in the aftermath of this “war” by Trump, the German people will side with her, and distance themselves from the “American populist”, or whether the backlash against the establishment will reverberate further, leading to even more pain for Merkel in the upcoming polls.

Finally, should Merkel’s “compromise” approach fail, will Germany respond to Trump’s “declaration of war” in kind, and will it be simply trade, or conventional?

Full Handelsblatt letter below:

The Demons Have Been Unchained

 

That was no presidential speech; that was a veritable declaration of war. Threatening in tone. Cold and calculating in logic. Change minus the hope. Donald Trump used the traditional Inauguration Day address to settle a score with the U.S. political establishment going back decades. With four ex-presidents sitting a few feet behind him, the 45th president delivered a populist manifesto.   

 

Until his victory, the nation’s political elite used days like these, he told America, to celebrate amongst themselves. Their triumph was not your triumph. Their well-being was not your well-being. But this time, power would transfer not just from one party to the other, but from Washington back to the people. In the people’s name, he will put America “first.” In their name, he will “take back” America’s factories. In their name, he will “exterminate” Islamic terrorism, end inner-city drug gang “bloodbaths” and get NATO partners like Germany to pay more for Europe’s security. In domestic policy, the Trump agenda sounds like a blueprint for civil war; in foreign policy, it sounds like the dawn of a new ice age. Not that he’s cold-bloodedly planning either one, but he knows where his fiery rhetoric will lead him. The new president loves a good fight, not consensus. He doesn’t want to hug, but to smother, to overwhelm. 

 

Yesterday was his day, but the days that follow may belong to his opponents. There are three main opponents that could bring him down politically.

 

Opponent No. 1: The other America. Across the country, an anti-Trump movement is growing. While only 10,000 people came to an open-air concert in Washington celebrating his victory on the night before the inauguration, 20,000 people took to the streets in New York to protest his elevation. Their signs shouted: Not My President. The security and surveillance costs around Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, at the corner of 56th Street, is costing taxpayers about a half million dollars – each day. 

 

Opponent No. 2: The Media. Among publishers, producers, filmmakers and journalists, Trump has hardly any friends. CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times and Hollywood couldn’t warm to the volcanic personality of the new president. Even an unbroken Twitter assault has no chance against such a monolithic wall of media rejection. He hates them, and they hate him right back. He pushes forward his agenda, and they push back unabashedly with theirs. Trump enters The White House with the lowest approval rating ever of an elected president.

 

Opponent No. 3: The Political Party System. Washington is having an allergic reaction to Trump. Democrats and even Republicans are cooperating on Capitol Hill to investigate the Trump team’s contacts to Russia in a special committee. House Speaker Paul Ryan doesn’t see himself as a Trump follower but as a Trump successor. He is the wolf in sheep’s clothing, biding his time, waiting for an opening. Put another way: Not only Democrats are hoping for an impeachment proceeding.

 

America is now on the brink of a new period of polarization. The demons in this fraternal battle have been unchained. The greatness that Trump seeks will not be borne under these conditions. An icy wind is blowing across the land.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Gabor Steingart

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The Fake News of Fakebook: Welcome to the Machine

Sometimes we need to take a step back and gain some perspective.  As we explain in our book Splitting Pennies – the world isn’t always as it seems at first glance.  What’s happening now, is much a result of what was planned and started 50, 60, and 70 years ago by a previous generation.  Modern history and especially regarding USA really should be looked at since @ 1950, at the wind up of World War 2.  And, the most significant element in global society, is quite possibly the first form of Artificial Intelligence: The Machine.  The Machine, as referenced by Eisenhower on his farewell address as the “Military Industrial Complex” and later referenced by Pink Floyd as simply “The Machine” – is a form of AI that is very dangerous for the survival of mankind itself, let alone the waste of economic resources and others.  Economically, looking at the military, it would seem that there really is an Alien conspiracy controlling powerful countries because the Military only destroys, it doesn’t create.

This battle between The Machine and “The People” you can say took hold in America in the 50’s and peaked in the 60’s during the civil rights movement.  Sides were formed, society was polarized.  Common interests aligned themselves.  Big business sided with The Machine as they saw new opportunities for profit and consumer control.  It’s important to have this perspective; often we write about the CIA, about the big banks, they are all cogs in a larger entity “The Machine” which has an intelligence of its own.  It is not a complex intelligence, such as developed recently in computing – but nonetheless, as any intelligence is defined, it is a form of artificial intelligence.  It has a simple goal – expand, survive, grow, evolve.  Human collatoral damage, is irrelevant.  Destruction of society, destroying the planet, doesn’t matter to the survival of The Machine.  War profiteers are like hosts to a virus, that perpetuate its operations.

Of course, the best example of one of the many parts of The Machine is the CIA, but it is not the only one, nor the most significant part of the machine.  Hosts to this virus like the forces behind Black Lives Matter, and other social destructive forces, are possibly even more significant, due to the fact that they are ‘on the front lines’ stopping any change or taming The Machine.  The best explanation academically and intellectually is provided by Noam Chomsky, you can checkout his latest book here and see trailer from recent documentary below:

The Machine is now in it’s 3rd or 4th generation depending on how you calculate but in any regard, the current agents working for The Machine clearly don’t even understand their own jobs, they are just mindless government workers raised on a violent culture programmed by Quentin Tarantino, like the Rick Perry that didn’t know what his job would be, that he accepted.  The government has become so bloated and inefficient, 90% of it could be deleted and we’d still function fine.  But remember, the Government is no longer ‘for the people’ it’s ‘for The Machine’.  It’s unfair to say that specific people, or specific groups, are the sole cause of America’s decline – it’s not Globalists, it’s not ‘offshoring’ – it’s a lot more complex than that and frankly, USA is irrelevant too for The Machine.  It just so happens that the USA has had and does have the most funded, technologically advanced military in the world.  It’s just strategic positioning.  America isn’t the most powerful country in the world because of ‘freedoms’ or ‘ideals’ it was simply a geo-strategic advantage during World War 2, on a number of levels, that enabled Superpower status, and the creation of The Machine which now operates on a global level.

Fakebook is the new ‘tool’ of social control.  During the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s the CIA popularized street drugs in order to control and quell the population, as well as various diseases (AIDS) and more modern methods (Chemtrails) and other tools.  Fakebook is the current ‘drug’ of the era – what will be next?  We can get a glimpse at Darpa.

This is what TRUMP is up against.  And while politically, he’s a nobody, a rogue from the ‘forest’ who as Gingrich said “Didn’t go to the same schools, isn’t part of a secret society;” in the final analysis, TRUMP is still part of The Machine, although a failed one – relying on his persona as a reality star to build his ‘brand.’  Maybe this is why the common man can relate to TRUMP so well, he’s also been spit out by The Machine in different ways, in business – except he did it while part of the ‘haves’ and not the ‘have nots’ – probably TRUMP doesn’t know what he’s up against in the coming days and weeks ahead.  We must remember especially regarding the mindless zombies that burn down bank of america branches and McDonalds drive throughs, what is at stake for bettering the lives of all Americans is not political, it is not about liberals and their idiocy – The Machine is something far greater, it is employed by both parties, Democrat and Republican – Rich and Poor.  These are the dividing lines the Elite do not want you to understand!  As long as blacks are fighting whites, women are fighting men, homosexuals are fighting heterosexuals – the divide and conquer plan of the Elite is easy to implement.

This generation’s war for the machine is being fought in the battlefield called ‘social media’ – and the platform hosting the Fake News – Fakebook.

To learn about how this works regarding the financial markets, checkout Splitting Pennies – Understanding Forex, and see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

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Man Shot Outside University of Washington MILO Event, Gunman Spoke On Camera Minutes Before Incident (VIDEO)

A day of protests on the University of Washington campus turned violent Friday evening after a 32 year old man was shot in the abdomen outside of a Milo Yiannopoulos event. The victim, currently in surgery, was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, and the suspect turned himself in,  telling police he fired in self-defense. This comes on the heels of a progressively violent day on campus as Anti-Trump Protesters clashed with police and Trump supporters; throwing rocks, bricks, firecrackers, and paint. Police helicopters and the FBI bomb squad had been deployed earlier in the evening, and pepper spray was used to control the crowd.

Raw video of the shooter was discovered on a periscope stream in which he can be heard saying:

“I don’t give a fuck man, I’m just here by myself. I’m not with anybody. I am speaking my mind, alright?”

 

 

 

Minutes later, a single shot rings out, which the shooter claims was in self-defense:

 

Earlier in the evening, a high school student on the UW campus was beaten up and had paint thrown on him:

 

 

And a protester became aggressive with a man filming their group:

 

Milo’s cameraman was assaulted:

 

 Weapons have been confiscated:

According to reports from Seattle PD, anarchist protesters outside MILO’s event at Washington University tonight had baseball bats and sharpened signposts confiscated by law enforcement. Police in riot gear have formed a human wall between event attendees and protesters. –Breitbart

The Seattle cell of the “Anti Fascist” group showed up in full force waving the same flag that can be seen in Thursday night’s beating outside of the “Deploraball in Washington, DC.” This has moved beyond protesting, evolving into riots and domestic terrorism.

Here is a video recap of the incident from Seattle’s KIRO 7:

 

 

flyersThe shooting comes a week after threatening flyers began circulating in advance of the MILO event, which listed the a photo and contact info of College Republican group president Jessica Gamble, encouraging people to harass Gamble and her father.

 

 

 

 

This is some serious shit…

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Trump’s Declaration Of War: 12 Things He Must Do For America To Be Great Again

President Trump’s brief inaugural speech was a declaration of war against the entirety of the American Ruling Establishment. All of it.

As Paul Craig Roberts details, Trump made it abundantly clear that Americans’ enemies are right here at home: globalists, neoliberal economists, neoconservatives and other unilateralists accustomed to imposing the US on the world and involving us in endless and expensive wars, politicians who serve the Ruling Establishment rather than the American people, indeed, the entire canopy of private interests that have run America into the ground while getting rich in the process.

If truth can be said, President Trump has declared a war far more dangerous to himself than if he had declared war against Russia or China.

The interest groups designated by Trump as The Enemy are well entrenched and accustomed to being in charge. Their powerful networks are still in place. Although there are Republican majorities in the House and Senate, most of those in Congress are answerable to the ruling interest groups that provide their campaign funds and not to the American people or to the President. The military/security complex, offshoring corporations, Wall Street and the banks are not going to roll over for Trump. And neither is the presstitute media, which is owned by the interest groups whose power Trump challenges.

Trump made it clear that he stands for every American, black, brown, and white. Little doubt his declaration of inclusiveness will be ignored by the haters on the left who will continue to call him a racist just as the $50 per hour paid protesters are doing as I write.

Indeed, black leadership, for example, is enculturated into the victimization role from which it would be hard for them to escape. How do you pull together people who all their lives have been taught that whites are racists and that they are the victims of racists?

Can it be done? I was just on a program briefly with Press TV in which we were supposed to provide analysis of Trump’s inaugural speech. The other commentator was a black American in Washington, DC. Trump’s inclusiveness speech made no impression on him, and the show host was only interested in showing the hired protesters as a way of discrediting America. So many people have an economic interest in speaking in behalf of victims that inclusiveness puts them out of jobs and causes.

So along with the globalists, the CIA, the offshoring corporations, the armaments industries, the NATO establishment in Europe, and foreign politicians accustomed to being well paid for supporting Washington’s interventionist foreign policy, Trump will have arrayed against him the leaders of the victimized peoples, the blacks, the hispanics, the feminists, the illegals, the homosexuals and transgendered. This long list, of course, includes the white liberals as well, as they are convinced that flyover America is the habitat of white racists, misogynists, homophobes, and gun nuts. As far as they are concerned, this 84% of geographical US should be quarantined or interred.

In other words, does enough good will remain in the population to enable a President to unite the 16% America haters with the 84% America lovers?

Consider the forces that Trump has against him:

  • Black and hispanic leaders need victimization, because it is what elevates them to power and income. They will turn a jaundiced eye toward Trump’s inclusiveness. Inclusiveness is good for blacks and hispanics, but not for their leaders.
  • The executives and shareholders of global corporations are enriched by the offshored jobs that Trump says he will bring home. If the jobs come home, their profits, performance bonuses, and capital gains will go away. But the economic security of the American population will return.
  • The military/security complex has a 1,000 billion annual budget dependent on “the Russian threat” that Trump says he is going to replace with normalized relations. Trump’s assassination cannot be ruled out.
  • Many Europeans owe their prestige, power, and incomes to the NATO that Trump has called into question.
  • The financial sector’s profits almost entirely flow from putting Americans into debt bondage and from looting their private and public pensions. The financial sector with their agent, the Federal Reserve, can overwhelm Trump with financial crisis. The New York Federal Reserve Bank has a complete trading desk. It can send any market into turmoil. Or support any market, because there is no limit on its ability to create US dollars.
  • The entire political ediface in the US has insulated itself from the will, desires, and needs of the people. Now Trump says the politicians will be accountable to the people. This, of course, would mean a big drop in their security in office and in their income and wealth.
  • There are a large number of groups, funded by we-know-not-who. For example, RootsAction has responded today to Trump’s forceful commitment to stand for all of the people against the Ruling Establishment with a request to “ask Congress to direct the House Judiciary Committee to open an impeachment investigation” and to send money for Trump’s impeachment.
  • Another hate group, human rights first, attacks Trump’s defense of our borders as closing “a refuge of hope for those fleeing persecution.” Think about this for a minute. According to the liberal-progressive-left and the racial interest group organizations, the US is a racist society and President Trump is a racist. Yet, people subject to American racism are fleeing from persecution to America where they will be racially persecuted? It doesn’t make sense. The illegals come here for work. Ask the construction companies. Ask the chicken and animal slaughter houses. Ask the vacation area cleaning services.

This list of those on whom Trump has declared war is long enough, although there are more that can be added.

We should ask ourselves why a 70 year old billionaire with flourishing businesses, a beautiful wife, and intelligent children is willing to give his final years to the extraordinary stress of being President with the stressful agenda of putting the government back in the hands of the American people. There is no doubt that Trump has made himself a target of assassination. The CIA is not going to give up and go away. Why would a person take on the grand restoration of America that Trump has declared when he could instead spend his remaining years enjoying himself immensely?

Whatever the reason, we should be grateful for it, and if he is sincere we must support him. If he is assassinated, we need to take up our weapons, burn Langley to the ground and kill every one of them.

If he succeeds, he deserves the designation: Trump the Great!

Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and any other country on the CIA’s hit list should undersand that Trump’s rise is insufficient protection. The CIA is a worldwide organization. Its profitable businesses provide income independent of the US budget. The organization is capable of undertaking operations independently of the President or even of its own Director.

The CIA has had about 70 years to entrench itself. It has not gone away.

But, as Jeremiah Johnson explains (via SHTFPlan.com), it will take a complete sea change to rectify the course this country has been heading in the past eight years.  These are some of the problems that Trump will need to reverse when he becomes President Trump, many of which he promised to either change or end completely:

  1. The (Un)Affordable Health Care Act, now law, termed “Obamacare” that is the most heinous piece of legislation…a law that mandates a requirement for a citizen to have health care coverage as dictated by government requirements.

  2. “Differentially permeable” borders: where foreigners, such as Mexicans and Canadians can come and go as they please, and illegal aliens have free access…but Americans are confined until a full cavity search is conducted.

  3. An economy based not on true GNP, but on consumer spending (almost 80%); convincing one company not to pick up and relocate overseas is an illustration of the concept, and not the implementation…not yet.

  4. A reversal of the true unemployment rate, that hovers between 15 and 20%, depending on what paid “parrot” (such as Labor and Statistics) announces the phony figure.

  5. A reversal of the Entitlement Nation: the EBT and Food Stamp users, the unemployment collectors, the Social Security Disability recipients whose corpulence from overeating is termed a “disability,” the illegal aliens on the dole for all of the above, plus free healthcare, the almost 100 million no longer “in the work force.”

  6. Knocking the knees off lobbyists, NGO’s, and NPO’s who have been holding administrations hostage (the 1st), or acting as if they were a government agency (the 2nd), or with executives profiting immensely while running on slave labor using socially misfortunate people and writing it all off (the 3rd).

  7. Revitalizing a military whose Air Force is forced to scavenge parts from “the Boneyard,” and where levels of service members in terms of numbers and readiness have fallen to their lowest point since before WWII.

  8. Resetting an abysmal foreign policy where (for the past eight years) we have instituted coup d’états, undermined relations that worked throughout the world, placed ourselves in position to start a new Cold War, and turned the Middle East and Eastern Europe completely upside down.

  9. Revitalizing a crumbling infrastructure of roads, bridges, and buildings very dangerously in disrepair…where maintenance charges and fees continue to rise with very little return on taxpayer dollars and nothing changing on our highways, ports, and bridges.

  10. Permitting (yes, permitting) and encouraging American businesses to be able to start up, operate, and produce in the United States without Soviet-style restrictions, regulations, and an army of bureaucratic “flying monkeys” inserting themselves into the business’s “fourth point of contact,” preventing U.S. businesses (especially the small proprietorships and Mom-and-Pop concerns) from either starting, or succeeding.

  11. The Supreme Court: just look at them…and nothing else really needs to be said: Except that a branch of the U.S. government meant to be a “check and balance” does not need to circumvent the Constitution and be the sole arbiter and (in essence) a lawmaker to institute policy for a presidential administration.

  12. Bring about a change in the hearts of the American people.

Perhaps the most important item in that list is the last one.

When Reagan took office, we (and he) faced double-digit unemployment, double digit inflation, and enormous taxation and loss of liberties.  We faced a crumbling infrastructure, a military that was in shambles (Desert One to free the Iranian hostages, conducted with helicopters in a sandstorm as Carter approached the midnight hour to lose the election should never be forgotten).  The Soviets were strong, and we were not…having recently ended the war in Vietnam.  We weren’t doing too well, in the world and in our own minds and hearts.

Then Reagan came, and he turned it around.  He was not perfect, but he made up for his imperfections by surrounding himself with an excellent staff.  He had a heart for the United States, and the fortitude to stand up for it.  His leadership staved off the fall of the U.S., and turned things around for us.  Do you remember that Lake Placid victory of the amateur U.S. hockey team in the semifinals against the professionals of the Soviet hockey team?  Remember the moment…a small thing, perhaps, and many may discount it as being “completely unimportant” or “unrelated to problems we now face.”

But that victory was neither one of those disparaging remarks.  It was something that we all could focus upon, to form some kind of cohesive unity and think of ourselves together as Americans…to take pride in accomplishment in something…for once, after four years of Carter.  There was a sea change made.  Did it last?  Perhaps it didn’t, and yet, if the memory of those years is still alive in even one person with the hopes of a repeat…then maybe others can feel the same.

This is still the best country in the world.  Trump’s campaign slogan was “Make America Great Again.”  Cliché, perhaps, but we must start somewhere.  Last time I checked, the preamble to the Constitution starts out with “We the people.”  Yes, we the people need to do the best we can with what we have, to be vigilant in our undertakings to prevent another eight years akin to the ones we are just emerging from, and to move forward and improve our lives.  Many will say that it doesn’t matter, and that there are forces that are out of our control that will prevent us as a nation from overcoming obstacles.

Such may be for a while, as it was under Obama.  Those times cannot last forever, and eventually the change has to occur.  We have perhaps a bigger job than those 12 items I listed for Trump to accomplish.

Number 12 is not all on him: it’s also on us.

In order for the country to succeed, the people have to return to core values of family, hard work, respect (for self and others), and faith, with one another and in God.  Trump can do a great deal, but in the end, it is we the people who will enable him to turn it around or not.  Change can’t be forced upon you by some jerk with a perfect smile who tells you that change is a movement “we can believe in,” and then assumes the role of a dictator and forces it on you.  Change is something that comes from within, precipitated by a feeling that is in one’s heart.  We have our chance to change it all, and let us wish success for this man who will become the president of the United States in a couple of days.  Let us hope that he has that feeling inside of himself and holds onto it…to unite the United States of America again.

 

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Chinese, Germans Bidding To Turn Abandoned Nuclear Wasteland Of Chernobyl Into Solar Farm

For 30 years the 1,000 square miles surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia have lay largely inhabited and remains one of the most radioactively contaminated areas in the world.  But that’s all about to change if a group of German and Chinese investors have their way about it.  According to Ukraine’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Ostap Semerak, 39 separate entities have applied for permission to install 2 gigawatts worth solar panels on the land that would otherwise lie unutilized for centuries to come.  Per Bloomberg:

Chinese and Germans are among dozens of investors taking Ukraine up on its offer to turn the grounds of one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters into a massive solar park.

 

Thirteen international investors are among the 39 groups seeking Ukraine permission to install about 2 gigawatts of solar panels inside the radioactive exclusion zone surrounding the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant, according to Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Ostap Semerak. Two gigawatts is almost the capacity of two modern nuclear reactors, although atomic power unlike solar works day and night.

 

“We have received requests from businesses that are interested in renting land for building solar power stations,” Semerak said in a phone interview from Kiev. “We are not looking to profit from land use, we are looking to profit from investment.”

Chernobyl

 

Of course, the effort to attract the new investors required a modest 85% rent reduction and guaranteed rates through 2030 to subsidize the solar farms which are otherwise not cost competive.

Chinese companies GCL System Integration Technology Co Ltd. and China National Complete Engineering Corp said in November that they plan to build a 1 gigawatt solar project on the site in several stages. A German renewables developer has applied to install 500 megawatts, Semerak said, declining to name the firm. The remaining project proposals are for plants that are about 20 megawatts in size.

 

Companies “have requested between 20 hectares and 1,000 hectares for projects,” Semerak said. In a push for foreign investment, Ukraine has lowered the rent charged for state property by 85 percent, he said.

 

The country set up a feed-in-tariff system running through 2030 that offers a fixed price which is reduced annually. Projects that sign on in 2017 will receive 17 euro cents (18 U.S. cents) a kilowatt.

That said, there is one minor issue which could disrupt the otherwise genius plan, if we understand it correctly, which is that the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development has waffled on providing financing and said loans will be contingent on “environmental due diligence.”  Seriously?

The lingering radiation at Chernobyl is a concern of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, which is considering whether to finance the solar projects. Loans will be contingent on environmental due diligence, according to spokesman Anton Usov. The projects would have to be safe to install and operate and also be commercially viable to receive funding, he said.

 

“For any project above 10 megawatts in size, you would need someone on-site almost every day,” said Pietro Radoia, solar analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “The bigger the project, the more daily small issues come up that have to be dealt with.”

After seeing some pretty ridiculous “environmental” concerns derail large M&A projects in the U.S., we would love to see the consulting report that approves this deal.

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The Geopolitics Of 2017 In 4 Maps

Submitted by George Friedman and Jacob Shapiro via MauldinEconomics.com,

International relations and geopolitics are not synonymous… at least, not the way we understand them at Geopolitical Futures. “International relations” is a descriptive phrase that encompasses all the ways countries behave toward one another. “Geopolitics” is the supposition that all international relationships are based on the interaction between geography and power.

Our brand of geopolitics takes this a step further and asserts that a deep understanding of geography and power enables you to do two things. First, it helps you comprehend the forces that will shape international politics and how they will do so. Second, it allows you to identify what is important and what isn’t.

This makes maps an extremely important part of our work. Writing can be an ideal medium for explaining power, but even the best writer is limited by language when it comes to describing geography. So this week, we have decided to showcase some of the best maps our graphics team (TJ Lensing and Jay Dowd) made in 2016… not just because these four maps are cool (though they are), but because we think they go a long way in explaining the foundations of what will be the most important geopolitical developments of 2017.

Map 1: Russia’s Economic Weakness


Click to enlarge

This map illustrates three key aspects of Russia that are crucial to understanding the country in 2017. First is the oft-overlooked fact that Russia is a federation. Russia has a strong national culture, but it is also an incredibly diverse political entity that requires a strong central government. Unlike most maps of Russia, this one divides the country by its constitutive regions. There are 85 of these regions… 87 if you count Crimea and Sevastopol. Not all have the same status—some are regions, while others are autonomous regions, cities, and republics.

The second aspect is that there is a great deal of economic diversity in this vast Russian Federation. The map shows this by identifying regional budget surpluses and deficits throughout the country. Two regions have such large surpluses that they break the scale: the City of Moscow and Sakhalin. Fifty-two regions (or 60% of Russia’s regional budgets) are in the red. The Central District, which includes Moscow, makes up more than 20% of Russia’s GDP, while Sakhalin and a few other regions that are blessed with surpluses produce Russia’s oil.

The third aspect follows from combining the logical conclusions of the first two observations. Russia is vast, and much of the country is in a difficult economic situation. Even if oil stays around $55 a barrel for all of 2017, that won’t be high enough to solve the problems of the many struggling parts of the country. Russian President Vladimir Putin rules as an authoritarian. This is, in part, because he governs an unwieldy country. He needs all the power he can get to redistribute wealth so that the countryside isn’t driven to revolt.

Russia is making headlines right now because of Ukraine, Syria, and alleged hacking. But the geopolitical position of Russia is better described by studying the map above.

Map 2: China’s Cage


Click to enlarge

Maps that shift perspective can be disorienting, but they are meant to be. Our minds get so used to seeing the world in one way that a different view can feel alien. But that is even more reason to push through the discomfort. The map above attempts to do that by looking at the Pacific from Beijing’s perspective.

China's moves in the South China Sea have received a great deal of attention. In a Jan. 12 confirmation hearing with Congress, nominee for US Secretary of Defense James Mattish identified Chinese aggressiveness as one of the major reasons he believes the world order is under its biggest assault since World War II. But we believe the Chinese threat is overstated. This map helps explain why.

China’s access to the Pacific is limited by two obstacles. The first is the small island chains in the South and East China Seas. When we look at this map, China’s motive in asserting control over these large rocks and molehills becomes clear. If China cannot control these islands and shoals, they can be used against China in a military conflict. (If there were small island chains off the US coast in the Pacific or the Atlantic, US strategy might look like China’s.)

The second obstacle is that China is surrounded by American allies. Some such as Japan (and to a lesser extent South Korea and Taiwan) have significant military forces to defend themselves from Chinese encroachment. Taiwan sticks out as a major spur aimed squarely at China’s southeast coast. Those that don’t have sufficient military defenses, like the Philippines, have firm US security guarantees. China is currently at a serious geographic disadvantage in the waters off its coast.

This map, though, does not reveal a critical third piece of this puzzle—the US Navy outclasses the Chinese navy in almost every regard, despite impressive and continuing Chinese efforts to increase capabilities. But looking at this map, you can see why China wants to make noise in its coastal waters and how China is limited by an arc of American allies. You can also see why one of China’s major goals will be to attempt to entice any American allies to switch sides. Consequently, China’s moves regarding the Philippines require close observation in 2017.

Map 3: Redrawing the Middle East


Click to enlarge

It has become cliché to point out that the Middle East’s current political borders were drawn after World War I by colonial powers like the United Kingdom and France, and that the region’s wars and insurrections in recent years are making these artificial boundaries obsolete. What isn’t cliché is doubling down on that analysis. We’ve drawn a new map of the Middle East based on who controls what territory, as opposed to the official boundaries recognized by international organizations like the United Nations.

The map above reveals what the Middle East really looks like right now. Many will object to some of the boundaries for political purposes, but this map is explicitly not trying to make a political statement. Rather, it is an attempt to show who holds power over what geography in the Middle East.

From this point of view, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya don’t exist anymore. In their places are smaller warring statelets based on ethnic, national, and sectarian identities. Other borders (like those of Lebanon and Israel) are also redrawn to reflect actual power dynamics. Here, a politically incorrect but accurate map is more useful than an inaccurate but politically correct one.

Just as important as redrawing the borders of countries that no longer function as unified entities is noting which countries’ borders do not require redrawing. These countries include three of the region’s four major powers: Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. The borders of the other major power, Israel, are only slightly modified. (Egypt is an economic basket case and does not qualify as a major power, even though it has arguably the most cohesive national culture in the Arab world.)

The Middle East is defined by two key dynamics: the wars raging in the heart of the Arab world and the balance of power between the countries that surround this conflict.

Map 4: Imagining 2017’s Brexit


Click to enlarge

Analyzing this map must begin with a disclaimer: This is, first and foremost, an analytical tool and a means of thinking about Europe’s future. It is explicitly not a prediction of what Europe’s borders will look like in the future.

The map identifies areas in Europe with strong nationalist tendencies. Those regions with active separatist movements are not italicized. The italicized regions are those demanding increased autonomy but not independence. In many of these regions, secessionist movements may be favored by a minority of the population. The point here is not their size, but rather that in all these regions, there is some degree of national consciousness that is dissonant with the current boundaries of Europe’s nation-states.

The European Union is a flawed institution because its members could never decide what they wanted it to be. The EU is not quite a sovereign entity, but it claims more authority than a free trade agreement. European nation-states gave up some of their sovereignty to Brussels… but not all of it. So when serious issues arose (such as the 2008 financial crisis or the influx of Syrian and other refugees), EU member states went back to solving problems the way they did before the EU. Instead of “one for all and all for one,” it was “to each their own, but you still have to buy German products.”

Brexit shook the foundations of the EU in 2016. Elections in France and Germany and domestic instability in Italy will shake those foundations in 2017. But Brexit also opened the doors to a deeper question: How will national self-determination be defined in the 21st century? Not all of Europe’s nation-states are on stable ground. The most important consequences of Brexit may end up being its impact on the political future of the United Kingdom. And in Spain, Catalonia already claims it will hold an independence referendum this year.

Brussels, meanwhile, keeps trying to speak with one voice. This map communicates just how hard that is… not just for the EU, but also for some of Europe’s nation-states.

Conclusion

The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words. Maps are worth many more. Our perspective on the world is rooted in an objective and unbiased approach to examining geography and power. Maps like these are foundational components for building that perspective. These four maps are especially helpful in thinking about the geopolitical forces that will shape the world in the year ahead.

*  *  *

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve shared some sneak peeks of our 24-page forecast, The World in 2017. If you’ve enjoyed these snapshots, you can now download your free copy of a special report that further illuminates the year ahead. The report, Top 3 Economic Surprises for 2017, contains information on what the future holds for three geopolitically important countries. Simply click here to get your free copy.

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