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Post by domeplease on Nov 28, 2018 12:45:54 GMT -5
JUST SOME OF DO ME's HEROES:
--11-18-18 BRAVO—BRAVO—BRAVO!!!: www.msn.com/en-us/news/poverty/this-kid-fights-hunger-and-homelessness%e2%80%94and-he%e2%80%99s-only-4-years-old/ar-BBPLgeR?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=U147DHP
Austin Perine is not your typical
superhero. Oh, sure, he looks the part, with his signature cape flapping against his blue shirt. He has an archnemesis, as all good heroes must. He even uses a catchy name for his heroic alter ego: President Austin.
But two things set this caped crusader apart: His adversary is not confined to the pages of a comic book—President Austin’s foes, hunger and homelessness, are very real. Also, he’s only 4 years old.
Our hero’s origin story started last February in the Perine family living room in Birmingham, Alabama. Austin and his father, TJ Perine, were watching a program on Animal Planet about a mother panda leaving her cubs.
'I told him that the cubs would be homeless for a while,' TJ says. 'Austin didn’t know what homelessness meant, but he was sad and wanted to know more.'
Seeing this as a teachable moment, TJ took Austin to the Firehouse Ministries, a local shelter that provides housing, food, and other services for chronically homeless men.
As they drove by the red-brick building, they saw a group of 25 homeless men standing on the street corner. 'Dad, they look sad,' Austin said. 'Can we take them some food and make them smile?'
That day, Austin used his allowance to buy each man a Burger King sandwich and handed the food out himself. Seeing what their presence meant to the men at the ministry, Austin and TJ returned the next week. Austin again dipped into his piggy bank to buy sandwiches, which he handed out along with his new catchphrase, 'Don’t forget to show love!' Here are more inspirational kids who are changing the world.
After he returned every week for five weeks, word of Austin’s acts of kindness spread through social media and national news outlets. Burger King jumped aboard, agreeing to
donate $1,000 a month for an entire year toward the cause.
Soon, churches and shelters across the country began inviting Austin to come distribute food in other poverty-prone areas. He’ll have visited at least 15 locations by the end of this year, including Skid Row in Los Angeles and parts of Puerto Rico affected by Hurricane Maria.
Whereas before Austin and TJ could feed 25 to 50 people at a time, now, thanks to corporate and community support, they can feed 800 to 2,000 people at once.
But Austin isn’t just filling bellies. He’s improving the lives of those he meets. On that first trip to Firehouse Ministries, TJ and Austin talked to a man named Raymont, who was estranged from his family.
The respect Austin bestowed on 41-year-old Raymont touched the man, and he shared with TJ just how grateful he was to be treated so considerately by a 4-year-old stranger.
Raymont and TJ kept in touch. With help from TJ’s mother, Audrey Perine, who worked at the Alabama Department of Transportation at the time, TJ helped Raymont collect all the credentials he needed to get a driver’s license.
The license helped Raymont get a job. And with money in the bank, he was able to rent his own apartment. All that was made possible because a little boy took the time to care.
Austin’s passion has become his family’s calling. After raising money through a GoFundMe page, Audrey established the Show Love Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting homelessness.
She serves as president, and TJ left his job as a project manager for a hospital chain to oversee public relations for the foundation full time.
He’s in talks with the city of Birmingham to secure the red-brick building where it all started—Firehouse Ministries is moving—as the site of their own shelter, which would offer medical and mental health care as preventive steps against homelessness.
As for President Austin, he continues to give out food, smiles, and his inspirational message of love. 'It makes me feel like I’m saving the day.'
11-28-18 BRAVO: www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/paradise-high-students-and-staff-receive-dollar1000-checks-from-san-diego-man/ar-BBQazMM?li=BBnbcA1
A San Diego man has decided to help out Paradise High School students and staff by giving $1,000 checks out after the Camp Fire ravaged their community.
The checks were given out at the nearby Chico High school on Tuesday evening. As many as 980 students and 105 staff members, from the principal to the janitors and the bus drivers, were expected to receive them.
Bob Wilson, chairman of Ducket-Wilson Development Company and owner of six Fish Market seafood restaurants, said he made the decision to help the Paradise High community after reading an article that told of the loss of a high school experience for the kids there in the burned-out California town.
"I made the decision within two or three minutes of reading the news, that I would like to give these kids something," Wilson told NBC News on Monday. "So they could have some good times and I could put a smile on their faces and maybe lift their spirits."
School Principal Loren Lighthall said he believes as many as 900 students lost their homes in the fire, which killed 88 and took out nearly 14,000 residences, fire and law enforcement officials said.
"Bob's donation puts money in each kid's pocket right now for food, gas, clothes, for essential things," he said.
11-19-18 BRAVO!!!: www.cnbc.com/2018/11/18/michael-bloomberg-donates-unprecedented-1point8b-to-johns-hopkins.html
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is donating $1.8 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University.
Bloomberg and the Baltimore university said Sunday that the gift is the largest ever to any education institution in the U.S.
University President Ronald Daniels is calling the gift "transformative." He says the contribution will allow Hopkins starting next fall to eliminate student loans in financial aid packages and commit to admitting the highest-achieving students regardless of ability to pay.
Bloomberg says America is at its best when it rewards people "based on the quality of their work, not the size of their pocketbook."
The 76-year-old founder of the global finances services company Bloomberg L.P. is among the world's richest people. He is also weighing a run for president in 2020.
--11-20-18 BRAVO!!!: www.cnbc.com/2018/11/20/bezos-day-one-fund-gives-97point5-million-to-help-the-homeless.html
Jeff Bezos named 24 organizations that will receive a collective $97.5 million in grants for their work to help the homeless population, the Amazon CEO announced Tuesday.
The announcement comes one week after Amazon's HQ2 decision launched fears around displacement of affordable housing in the two locations it plans to move — Long Island City in New York and an area of Arlington, Va.
Bezos, the wealthiest man in modern history with a net worth of more than $125 billion estimated by Forbes, launched the $2 billion "Day One Fund" in September.
At the time, Bezos said the fund would be split between the Day 1 Families Fund, whose goal would be to help homeless families, and the Day 1 Academies Fund, with the aim of creating high quality, non-profit preschools for low-income communities. Tuesday's announcement was for the recipients of the Day 1 Families Fund grants.
The 24 organizations are spread throughout 16 states and the District of Columbia. READ MORE…
11-21-18 BRAVO!!!: www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs/wyoming-billionaire-pledges-protect-30-planet-2030?utm_source=Weekly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=202eeca850-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_WED1121_2018&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fcbff2e256-202eeca850-40201173
If you follow global conservation and don't already know the name Hansjörg Wyss, there's a good chance you soon will.
Born in Bern, Switzerland, the 83-year-old entrepreneur and businessman first made his fortune in the Belgian steel industry before establishing the U.S. division of Synthes, a multinational medical device manufacturer best known for producing internal screws and plates used to help mend fractured bones. (The company has since been acquired by Johnson & Johnson.)
Now, Wyss — an avid outdoorsman and not-all-that improbable resident of the quaint mountain town of Wilson, Wyoming — is set to help mend the planet's most fractured natural areas with the establishment of the Wyss Campaign for Nature, a special project of the Wyss Foundation that aims to conserve and protect 30 percent of the planet's lands and oceans by 2030.
This is double the amount of the planet's surface that's currently protected.
Bolstered by a $1 billion investment, the campaign plans to reach this ambitious benchmark by "creating and expanding protected areas, establishing more ambitious international conservation targets, investing in science, and inspiring conservation action around the world."
This will all be achieved with help from major conservation players including the National Geographic Society, which will assist on the public awareness and outreach front, as well as The Nature Conservancy and a host of local project partners. READ MORE…
--11-08-18 BRAVO!!!: us.cnn.com/2018/10/18/us/cnnheroes-chris-stout-veterans-community-project/index.html
Kansas City, Missouri (CNN) — Leo Morris served in the Air Force. Karen Carter patrolled with the Coast Guard. Henry Owens enlisted in the Navy.
These veterans all served their country. They've also shared another experience: homelessness.
"You feel a sense of desperation, loneliness," said Owens, who was homeless for eight years. "I had no hope."
Today, they have another common bond: They are neighbors. Each one lives in a tiny home in the Veterans' Village in Kansas City, Missouri -- run by the Veterans Community Project.
After being wounded in Afghanistan in 2005 and returning home, Stout struggled with his injury and PTSD. He enjoyed being around veterans and got a job connecting vets to services they needed.
But he was frustrated by the gaps and inefficiencies he saw. At times, Stout used his own money to put homeless veterans up in hotel rooms.
In 2015, he and a few buddies quit their jobs and started their organization.
"We are the place that says 'yes' first and figures everything else out later," Stout said. "We serve anybody who's ever raised their hand to defend our Constitution."
Stout found that many homeless veterans didn't like traditional shelters because they were unsafe or lacked privacy. When he learned about tiny homes, he quickly realized that a cluster of them made a lot of sense.
"It provides everything these guys need to live with dignity, safely, and then fix what got them there in the first place," he said.
The first 13 homes opened in January, and 13 more will be finished this November. The houses come complete with furniture, kitchen supplies, linens, toiletries, food and even gift baskets of coffee and cookies.
The group's outreach center assists residents as well as any local veteran with a variety of issues.
"Tiny houses are the sexy piece," Stout said. "But the meat and potatoes of what we do is connecting them to the services. ... We're a one-stop shop for all things veteran."
The Veterans Village itself provides valuable support: camaraderie.
"It's very much like the barracks lifestyle," Stout said. "They're taking care of each other."
Since he moved in this summer, Owens has gone back to school and has started a lawn care business. He says the support has changed his life.
"Now I have hope," he said. "It makes me love my country again."
CNN's Kathleen Toner spoke with Stout about his work. Below is an edited version of their conversation.
CNN: How long are veterans able to stay in the tiny homes?
Chris Stout: Our anticipated length of stay is six months, but as long as they're working towards their goals, they're welcome to stay.
We see these tiny homes as an educational tool to teach them how to maintain a home, cook for themselves and live next to neighbors.
So far, eight of the original 13 residents have moved into permanent housing. They take their furniture with them, so it takes about 72 hours to prepare a home for the next resident.
In addition to the 13 homes that will open in November, another 23 are set to be finished after the first of the year, so that'll be 49 houses all together. We'll also have a community center providing medical, dental, barbershop, veterinarian care, as well as a fellowship hall, so we can have group events.
CNN: The tiny homes are for homeless veterans. What assistance does your group offer other veterans?
Stout: One of our flagship programs is our free bus passes for all veterans. We partnered with the local transit authority and they've given out more than a million rides in less than a year.
When any veteran walks in the door they can get their bus pass, housing placement, job placement, legal services, food pantry, clothing closet and emergency financial assistance.
We like to have them say, "What do you provide?" That way we can ask them "What do you need?" And then we can start being the connectors. So far, we have helped more than 8,000 veterans.
CNN: What role does the community play in your work?
Stout: We're called the Veterans Community Project because we are the community's project. We want people to feel like they have ownership in this, and we want everybody to pitch in.
When the veterans see all these volunteers show up, they'll say, "Why are they here?" And we explain, "They're grateful."
The really cool part is that we've been reached out to by more than 650-plus communities. We're working in Denver, Nashville and St. Louis. Our goal is to be in every major city moving forward.
CNN: You gave up a lot to do this work.
Stout: I gave up my job, mortgaged my house, spent my life savings -- worried my wife to death! But I get to work with a group of people that I can relate to. They're my friends.
When I see a win for them, that's huge. It's a celebration for me. That's what gets me going every day.
We all went through basic. We all served. This is just my way to serve them.
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Post by inger on Nov 28, 2018 17:56:21 GMT -5
Wonderful stories of humans helping humans. Sadly, Ruthie has a brother who is a homeless veteran and was granted similar help to what is being given in KC, but he’s such an asshole that he raised hell and just about destroyed the place.
He’s also had relatives provide him with a room and raised hell in their homes so badly, even throwing a brother-in-law through a plate glass window, that he was turned away.
The last time anyone heard from him has been about 4-5 years ago when he was living under a bridge in Elkton, MD. I’m truly saddened that no one in his family knows if he’s even still living at this point. He used to call some of them, but eventually all of the numbers have either been changed or...in some instances the relatives just stopped answering because the calls were nonsensical, such as calling and talking in “baby talk”, “Ma-Ma, Ma-Ma”, etc.
So sad that there are some of these guys in such horrible mental condition that they “almost” can’t be helped. I suppose that perhaps they must be willing to be placed in an institutional environment to get the additional help they need. How do you make sane decisions when you’re not completely sane?...
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Post by domeplease on Nov 29, 2018 14:45:00 GMT -5
Donald Must be having Massive Mega Diarrhea Attacks as the Hounds/Karma Close in… Below are just THREE Examples of DOZENS OF LEGAL & ETHICAL ISSUES, etc. that are Circling Donald like Vultures. Couldn’t happen to a better guy!!! 11-29-18: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-11-28/donald-trump-rattled-as-mueller-voids-manafort-deal The president of the United States is slagging the federal law enforcement official investigating him. Again. On Tuesday morning, Donald Trump took to Twitter to call Special Counsel Robert Mueller “a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue” who was “doing TREMENDOUS damage to our Criminal Justice System.” By Tuesday night, he was asserting that the “Mueller Witch Hunt is a total disgrace.” We’ve been here before in this saga, of course. With the prosecutor and his team tight-lipped, these public rants are often useful barometers for gauging when Mueller’s probe of possible collusion between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia is putting extra pressure on the president. Did Trump launch a Twitter fusillade in 2017 when reports surfaced that Mueller was expanding his probe to include examining the president for possible obstruction of justice? Check. Did Trump launch against Mueller last summer after the FBI released documents disclosing how it went about wiretapping a Trump campaign adviser? Check. Did Trump launch in September, shortly after his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort pleaded guilty to two federal charges and reached a deal to cooperate with Mueller? Check. And did Tuesday’s salvo land just a day after Mueller’s prosecutors disclosed that they were voiding Manafort’s plea deal because they believed he had been routinely lying to them? Check. Trump’s hostility toward the Russia probe has been a constant throughout his presidency. But with the midterm elections come and gone, and speculation growing that Mueller may soon file a highly anticipated report about all or some portion of his investigation’s findings, the president’s recent, splenetic tweeting reveals more worry and less bravado than in the past. Manafort seems to be a pivotal reason that Trump’s anxiety is at fever-pitch. According to an article the New York Times published on Tuesday evening, one reason that Mueller’s team went sour on Manafort was that his lawyer “repeatedly briefed President Trump’s lawyers on his client’s discussions with federal investigators after Mr. Manafort agreed to cooperate with the special counsel.” In other words, Manafort was essentially a White House mole, using his plea agreement as an opportunity to feed Trump information on the outlines of at least a portion of what Mueller has been probing. That kind of information can be handy if you also happen to be drafting written responses to a prosecutor’s questions about your own activity — which Trump himself had been doing in recent weeks. He submitted a partial series of answers to Mueller’s interrogatories on Nov. 20. (The president notably declined to entertain any questions, or provide any answers, about obstruction of justice in his written responses.) Another reason that Manafort may cause Trump anxiety is that he had longstanding business and political ties to Ukraine’s pro-Putin leadership. Exactly what lobbying took place over U.S. policy on Ukraine has become another flashpoint in the Mueller probe. Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014 for intervening militarily in Ukraine and annexing Crimea; ever since, Vladimir Putin has sought to have the restrictions lifted, and reportedly raised the prospect of resolving the Ukraine conflict in a private meeting with Trump in Helsinki earlier this year. Some of Manafort’s work in Ukraine involved clients who were Kremlin allies, such as Oleg Deripaska. Manafort’s relationship with the oligarch ruptured over a failed business deal in Ukraine in which Deripaska claimed his $19 million investment went missing. Mueller’s prosecutors have already said in court that they were exploring whether Manafort acted as a possible bridge between the Trump campaign and Russians planning on trying to subvert the 2016 presidential election. Manafort and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were famously present at a Trump Tower meeting in the summer of 2016, arranged by Donald Trump Jr., in which a group of Russians offered the trio compromising information on Hillary Clinton. The president later dictated a misleading press release about the nature of the meeting in response to a New York Times inquiry about it. It’s unclear what exactly motivated Manafort to begin lying to Mueller’s team so soon after he struck a plea agreement. Perhaps he is gambling on Trump pardoning him. But surely Manafort recognizes a kindred spirit in Trump and knows that the president is just as likely to throw him under the bus as extend a helping hand? Perhaps he is looking over his shoulder at some of the enemies he made in Ukraine and within the rough-and-tumble world of the Russian oligarchy — and is watching his family’s back? Perhaps fear of those sorts of reprisals — and a failure to realize that Mueller’s team would be probing that part of his business life as well as his intersections with Trump — led him to dissemble? Or perhaps, like the president, he’s a serial fabulist and can’t help himself. READ MORE… 11-29-18: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-29/trump-s-ex-lawyer-cohen-reaches-guilty-plea-on-lying-to-congress?srnd=premium President Donald Trump’s former lawyer pleaded guilty to a new federal charge and agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, admitting that he lied to Congress about Trump’s business plans in Moscow in order to be consistent with the then-candidate’s public disavowals of any Russia ties. Entering his plea in a hastily convened hearing in a New York federal courtroom on Thursday, Michael Cohen said he made false statements to Senate intelligence committee members last year about Trump’s plans for a Moscow real estate project. Cohen, who told the investigators that the plans had been scrapped in early 2016, admitted Thursday that negotiations had in fact continued through June that year. That means the Trump Organization was continuing to pursue a business opportunity in Moscow deep into Trump’s run for president -- a deal that remained live at a time when Russians were seeking to make multiple inroads into the campaign and had, according to Mueller, began social media and hacking efforts to benefit Trump’s campaign. Trump has publicly denied having any business with Russia at the time. READ MORE… 11-29-18: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-11-29/deutsche-bank-s-troubles-are-donald-trump-s-troubles ... All of which brings us to the president of the United States. When Trump nearly went personally bankrupt in the early 1990s, he left a handful of major U.S. banks on the hook for about $3.4 billion in loans he couldn't repay (and about $900 million of which he had personally guaranteed). Hotels, casinos, real estate, an airline and other parts of his debt-ridden portfolio went into bankruptcy protection. In the wake of that collapse, Trump became a pariah among major U.S. banks, and he had to find unique ways of lining up money for the infrequent and small-bore deals he pursued thereafter. That left him borrowing money from labor unions and small, local lenders. Deutsche, keen at the time to make a name for itself in U.S. investment banking and commercial lending, was less hesitant to do business with Trump. Deutsche's first transaction with Trump involved a modest renovation loan for 40 Wall Street, a Manhattan skyscraper Trump controls, in 1998. Trump did little to merit Deutsche's involvement after that until the early 2000s, when it agreed to loan him as much as $640 million for a Chicago project — the Trump International Hotel and Tower. I was working on a biography of Trump at the time, and he told me that one of things he learned from his financial collapse in the early '90s was that he had ignored valuable business advice from his father, Fred: Never personally guarantee a loan. Yet he still went ahead and guaranteed $40 million of the Deutsche loan for the Chicago project. (Trump sued me for libel in 2006, claiming the biography, "TrumpNation," had misrepresented his business history and finances; he lost the suit in 2011.) Deutsche had a relatively intimate understanding of Trump's finances. Although Trump told me in 2004 and 2005 that his net worth was anywhere from $1.7 billion to $6 billion (and suggested it might even be $9.5 billion), my sources at the time told me his wealth was closer to $150 million to $250 million. When Trump litigated the point with me, my lawyers produced a Deutsche assessment of his finances that pegged his wealth at $788 million in 2005. Trump's relationship with Deutsche briefly soured in a dispute over the Chicago project. When the financial crisis landed in 2008 and imperiled that development, Trump sued Deutsche to avoid paying the $40 million he had guaranteed (claiming, in part, that Deutsche was responsible for the global economic distress unleashed by the crisis). A clash like that can permanently unwind a real estate partnership, but Deutsche and Trump agreed to settle, with the bank extending a loan from its private banking division to allow Trump to pay back its real estate lending unit, according to the New York Times. Deutsche's private banking arm has hung in there ever since, with Rosemary Vrablic as the Deutsche banker serving as Trump's primary liaison there. She also has helped Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and a White House adviser, as well as his mother, arrange multimillion-dollar loans and lines of credit at Deutsche. In recent years, Deutsche's private banking unit has loaned Trump money — about $300 million, according to Bloomberg News and Trump's government financial disclosure forms — for such projects as his Washington hotel and the Trump National Doral golf course. The Trump SoHo Hotel, which stripped Trump's name from the property last year, was financed in the mid-2000s in part with loans channeled through Icelandic banks that collapsed during the financial crisis. I've written extensively about Trump's involvement with the firm originally behind that project, Bayrock Group LLC, and about the murky funds from Europe used to build it. While Deutsche was closely involved with Icelandic banks at the time of the collapse, no information has surfaced that it played a direct role in the Trump SoHo. What's likely now, however, is that Trump's dealings with Deutsche — which have represented, at a minimum, a serious and long-standing financial conflict for him given the influence he wields over law enforcement and financial regulation as president — are about to draw greater scrutiny. READ MORE… |
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Post by inger on Nov 29, 2018 17:59:59 GMT -5
Are you calling Trump a Deutsche?...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2018 18:09:28 GMT -5
Some outlets are saying that the partial reason for the raids is to find Trump's involvement in the bank's loans. Sounds like conspiracy shit to me.
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Post by inger on Nov 29, 2018 18:58:40 GMT -5
Meanwhile, we’re supposed to believe that none of our former Presidents has ever been a man of wealth, or been in a similar position to help his own nest egg.
I think as a person, Trump is a jerk. I also think the Bush’s and Clinton’s were jerks. Maybe the Obama’s. I don’t know if we ever had a President that I’d want to hang with on the back porch and have beer.
Even the father of our country, George Washington himself was a very wealthy man, and in spite of his austere beginnings, Abe Lincoln didn’t need to stand on a street corner selling expired flowers, either.
What’s happening is nothing new. Why else would a Millia-Billionaire want a job that pays him peanuts compared to his former day job?...
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Post by domeplease on Nov 30, 2018 11:37:55 GMT -5
Yesterday, I asked a group of my close male friends if they knew what it felt like to have their Balls in a Vise? They didn't know & didn't want to know.
I stated, "Likewise".
So we decided, the best/only way to find an answer to our my question, was to asked, DONALD." Yes Tequila you can laugh hard, for that is DAMN Funny!!!
***11-30-18: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-30/cohen-s-plea-suggests-russians-held-kompromat-on-donald-trump?srnd=premium
Michael Cohen’s latest guilty plea revealed a closely guarded Trump business secret.
But in a deeply uncomfortable turn for President Donald Trump, one of the people in the know was an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Thursday’s dramatic turn of events is problematic for Trump because it suggests the Kremlin knew something that people around Trump were working hard to hold close -- that Trump was moving forward with a Moscow business deal at the same time he was deep in the race for the U.S. presidency.
Any undisclosed foreign arrangements would raise red flags about candidates for national office, making them vulnerable to blackmail by others privy to those secrets.
Russians call such nuggets of damaging information “kompromat,” a concept that’s become familiar enough to enter the international lexicon.
Whether Russia used such information is a matter for speculation.
But Cohen’s revelation shows that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is digging deep into financial relationships between Trump’s business and Moscow, taking him to the heart of the connections he was appointed to explore between Russia and Trump’s campaign.
The Moscow real-estate deal Cohen described Thursday was under consideration through June 2016, five months longer than he’d had previously admitted.
By then, Trump was already surging toward the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidential race. Russia had already embarked on efforts to support Trump’s candidacy through hacking and social-media manipulation, according to previous filings by Mueller.
The public deserves to know if elected officials have conflicted motives or interests in their decision-making, and whether other governments have leverage over elected officials, said former Manhattan federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah.
“Trump has long acted like someone over whom Putin has leverage,” Rocah said. “Now we know he very likely did in one specific way. And I’m guessing there will be more we learn about.” READ MORE…
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Post by domeplease on Dec 1, 2018 15:33:59 GMT -5
DO ME'S NOVEMBER 2018 INVESTMENT NEWSLETTER
DO ME’S & TEQUILA’S THOUGHTS:
1.Do Me: “Well, have we taken a Roll-A-Coaster Ride with this stock market recently.
We were up +17% for the year…but NOW just under +6%; quite the drop & dropping even more/faster…
However, our Donald Moat (Well-Balanced Portfolios) appears to be somewhat holding, at least for now (???).
Tequila, by the way, why are you soaking WET?”
T: “The Moat Leaks”.
Do Me: “Oh SHIT!!!”
2. Here are, OUR two predictions for the rest of 2018 and the First Quarter of 2019.
BEST CASE (But not all likely to happen):
--Donald & China makes progress towards finalizing a Trade Agreement that both can live with (Not Likely).
--The Feds SLOW DOWN their Rate Hikes (Not Likely = They will raise rates again shortly)
--The Companies are able to find more Workers for the 7.2 Million job openings (Not Likely).
--That Americans will spend over $1 Trillion this Holiday Season (Most Likely).
If ALL of the ABOVE happens positively in the Best Case Situation, we should see a Major Stock Rally taking the Dow back to over 26,000 Plus; before, most likely, retreating once again (Because of something Donald Says/Does, etc.).
At that point (26.000 +), WE will most likely sell around 50% of our remaining holdings and run towards the Hills.
WORST CASE (Likely to happen):
--The current Trade Conflict gets worst & develops into a Major Trade War = Causing Companies to raise prices and Farmers to lose crops = job losses, etc. etc. etc. Could, even send America & maybe the World into a Recession (???).
--The Feds keep on their schedule pace & keep raising rates.
--The Job Openings Increase, finally hitting/hurting our economy Hard = Especially with Truck Drivers/Skilled Workers (in Oil, Consumer Products/Goods, Hospitality, Healthcare, Tech, Our Military, Housing etc.)
--The Donald Factor = He does something stupid and/or illegal.
-- The Mueller and ALL the other investigations of Donald go very UGLY for Donald.
***--NAFTA 2 (USMCA) is not a done deal yet. The New Mexican President MIGHT want changes to it (NOT a Trump Fan); Congress will want changes to it, etc. = So, it will be Changed, Delayed and maybe, just maybe there is an outside chance that Mexico might Cancelled it.
--Other Negative, National/International Geo-Political/Economic Event(s).
--More Unexpected Devastating/Deadly Extreme Climate Events that finally, start to have a major impact our economy.
Do Me: “Tequila, if the Worst Case happens; what are your recommendations?”
T: “Go to the Mattresses…”
Do Me: “Tequila what are you doing with my Pillow-Cases?”
T: “I am making sand bags-Moat Leaks…”
Do Me: “But you have No Sand in your cage…?”
T: “Using my Seeds.”
Do Me: “I know that OUR Donald Moat has sprung some leaks…but it shouldn’t bother you, that you have some water in your cage; think of it as a small pond…”
T: “I am a PARROT, not a F..king DUCK!!!”
***Mexico New President (The Rooster = His Nickname) will take Office on 12-01-18. Even though the USMCA was signed on 11-30-18 by all three countries; it is important to note the following:
1. The Rooster was not OFFICIALLY in Office when this New Trade agreement was negotiated and/or signed. So, The Rooster after a few weeks, could say, “ This New Agreement does not favor Mexico as much as it does America so therefore I am Cancelling it. OR, he could just leave as is.
2. What is NOT going to happen is to raise the Auto-Workers’ wages from like $4.00/hour to $16.00/hour…this would cause havoc with Workers in all other Mexican Industries still working for only like $4.00 an hour.
11-16-18: www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/heres-another-sign-the-us-economy-will-slow-next-year/ar-BBQ8DKm?li=BBnb7Kz
Juiced by President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, business investment helped deliver a robust U.S. economy in the first half of 2018, but signs have multiplied that the growth driver is faltering.
Companies face tariff-related uncertainty, cooling global demand and rising borrowing costs, while plunging oil prices are menacing the energy sector. Meanwhile, the U.S. and China are settling in for a protracted trade war, the boost from lower taxes is projected to fade next year and a politically divided Congress will probably shirk from additional stimulus.
These challenges will test corporate America’s appetite to invest in the kind of faster-growth, higher-productivity future the Trump administration has promised.
While such spending picked up in early 2018 after plodding along for years, a string of weak reports raises questions about the outlook. With firms using tax savings for buybacks and dividends rather than investment, the best gains may already be over.
Cummins Inc., Whirlpool Corp., Caterpillar Inc. and Stanley Black & Decker Inc. recently cited higher costs from the trade war.
The strength of capital expenditures -- or capex -- may be the key to determining whether U.S. growth can continue outpacing peers, how much higher the Federal Reserve can raise interest rates, and whether the dollar’s value will keep rising.
“Capex is the No. 1 story,” said David Woo, head of global rates and foreign exchange strategy at Bank of America Corp. “There are hundreds of data points coming out every month but that’s the one that I watch,” and bond traders should too.
The trade war and likely political gridlock after the midterm elections pose “the biggest uncertainty for capex and therefore U.S. rates and the U.S. dollar,” said Woo, who’s analyzed the economy and markets for almost a quarter century.
Referring to the recent slowdown in investment, Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida on Tuesday indicated incoming data will be critical to the pace of interest-rate hikes next year.
“One data point does not make a trend, but an improvement in business investment will be important if the pickup in productivity growth that we have seen in recent quarters is to be sustained,” Clarida said in a speech in New York.
Trump and Republicans sold the corporate tax cut and full and immediate expensing -- which gives companies an immediate tax break for investing -- as a way to rev up the economy and pay for the $1.5 trillion cost of the new tax law.
While few expect capex to collapse, there’s a growing debate over business investment, which encompasses spending on equipment, on structures such as factories and offices, and on intellectual property and software.
Before the recent plunge in oil prices, the energy-sector rebound helped pump up capex and manufacturing.
Then, deregulation and corporate tax cuts added a sugar high, until recently: Nonresidential investment slowed to a crawl last quarter.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow acknowledged as much, but said last week business spending is booming again.
Yet orders at U.S. factories for non-military capital goods, excluding aircraft, were weak in October for a third straight month.
The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index fell to a six-month low in October, and regional Fed gauges cooled. The economy is projected to expand at a more moderate pace this quarter and soften further in early 2019.
On Jan. 1, tariffs go up to 25 percent on $200 billion of imports from China, a critical player in manufacturing supply chains, and Trump has threatened to impose levies on everything imported from the Asian nation -- which would further elevate materials costs and worsen supply disruptions.
“I don’t count business investment as down and out,” said Ellen Zentner, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley. “But there are a lot of uncertainties about next year,” so the expansion “could slow more than anyone is expecting.” READ MORE…
***11-28-18: www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/heat-waves-mosquito-outbreaks-landslides-6-ways-climate-change-hitting-n940736
Heat waves that make Chicago feel like Las Vegas. Warming ocean temperatures that displace Maine's lobsters. A year-round spike in disease-carrying mosquitoes in Florida.
These are just some of the ways climate change could play out across the country over the coming decades, according to the federal government's National Climate Assessment, released over Thanksgiving weekend.
The last time the United States issued a version of this report, in 2014, critics said it would be stronger if it focused more on the impact of climate change on the local level.
The new version of the report does just that — giving scores of accounts of how human-caused climate change is damaging the U.S. today and how it’s projected to wreak more havoc in cities, states and regions by the end of the century. IMPORTANT: READ MORE…
11-30-18: www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/cramer-remix-what-needs-to-happen-to-avert-a-slowdown-in-2019/ar-BBQhgAG?li=BBnb7Kz
…Cramer also made some suggestions for investors who want to hedge against the risk of U.S.-China trade talks going south.
While reports have suggested that Trump will seek a truce at the Buenos Aires, Argentina gathering, Cramer thought he might use more of a stick-and-carrot approach, keeping with his plan of raising the existing 10-percent tariffs on Chinese imports to 25 percent at year-end, then offering a "carrot" by holding off on an additional round of duties.
"When we come in on Monday, you need to be ready in case President Trump spends the whole night back from Argentina tweeting about how his best friend ... President Xi forced him to ignite the 25-percent tariff fuse," Cramer said. "If he does, you're going to get a down market."
So, ahead of the summit, "you need stocks with built-in catalysts, the stocks of companies that are willing to reinvent themselves into something the market likes more than their current form," Cramer said as the major averages traded higher.
INVESTMENT ARTICLES:
--11-03-18: seekingalpha.com/article/4217511-economy-cooling-cramers-mad-money-11-1-18
President's softening stance on China and Fed not raising rates are the two events the market wants. That's what happened on Thursday when Trump tweeted China and the U.S. had their first good talk.
The ISM manufacturing Index also showed that the economy is beginning to cool. This report might be what the Fed needs to put a brake on rate hikes. Prices of oil, wood and metal are also going down which would take care of inflation.
However, the employment report on Friday could put a dent on this. With the economic data and Trump's tweet on China, the market rallied and stocks like Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) for whom China is their fastest growing market went up on good earnings along with other semiconductor stocks with Chinese exposure.
Lastly, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported and the stock went down by 7% in AH trade on guidance. Cramer said their earnings were good and it ran up going into the quarter.
He is not worried about the decline as Apple's ecosystem continues to grow and said the stock going under $200 as a buying opportunity.
Drug stocks
In times of weakness, drug stocks used to act as defensive or safety stocks as the state of the economy does not affect them. However, the scenario today might be different.
Cramer had been a fan of drug stocks, but the action in them lately has made him changed his stance.
Allergan (NYSE:AGN) had a good quarter but market is worried about CEO Brent Saunders not bringing out value fast enough. AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) is going down due to competition.
Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) has been trying to turn itself around with deals but the results are not expected soon.
When stocks like Baxter (NYSE:BAX) can lose 10% in one day, it's not worth putting money on. "Safety's last with these guys now. These stocks are something like Donna Summer, 'cause when they're bad, they're so, so bad," he concluded.
11-16-18: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-14/china-is-leading-the-world-to-an-electric-car-future?cmpid=BBD111518_BW&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=181115&utm_campaign=businessweek
The world’s biggest market for electric vehicles wants to get even bigger, so it’s giving automakers what amounts to an ultimatum.
Starting in January, all major manufacturers operating in China—from global giants Toyota Motor and General Motors to domestic players BYD and BAIC Motor—have to meet minimum requirements there for producing new-energy vehicles, or NEVs (plug-in hybrids, pure-battery electrics, and fuel-cell autos).
A complex government equation requires that a sizable portion of their production or imports must be green in 2019, with escalating goals thereafter.
The regime resembles the cap-and-trade systems being deployed worldwide for carbon emissions: Carmakers that don’t meet the quota themselves can purchase credits from rivals that exceed it.
But if they can’t buy enough credits, they face government fines or, in a worst-case scenario, having their assembly lines shut down.
--11-06-18: www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/opinion-this-is-what%e2%80%99s-happened-to-stocks-after-every-midterm-election-since-world-war-ii/ar-BBPmZiQ?li=BBnb7Kz
If the polls are correct, President Trump and Republicans are in big trouble. There’s an 85% chance Democrats will seize control of the House of Representatives from Republicans, according to statistical analysis firm FiveThirtyEight.
This is causing big-time anxiety for investors who’ve enjoyed the 28% stock market rally since Trump took office. No matter what you think of Trump, his reign as president has been great for stocks. But as the election has drawn closer, the market has fallen apart.
The S&P 500 Index (SPX) closed out October for a 7% monthly drop, nearly its worst month since the financial crisis. So what could happen this month — and the months ahead?
First, few topics stir emotion in America like politics. Many perfectly reasonable people lose the ability to think straight when they hear the name “Trump.”
As I always said at RiskHedge, politics and investing do not mix. Investor Warren Buffett often says: “If you mix politics and investing, you’re making a big mistake.”
So let’s steer clear of opinion and emotion. Instead, I want to focus solely on the facts that are relevant to you as an investor. As you’ll see, you don’t need to waste even one second worrying about which party will win on Tuesday. I was surprised by what we found.
Since 1946, there have been 18 midterm elections. Stocks were higher 12 months after every single one. Every single one.
That’s 18 for 18. Even though we’ve had every possible political combination in the past 72 years. Republican president with Democratic Congress. Democratic president with Republican Congress. Republican president and Congress. Democratic president and Congress.
Since 1946, stocks have risen an average of 17% in the year after a midterm. And if you measure from the yearly midterm lows, the results are even better. From their lows, stocks jumped an average of 32% over the next 12 months.
For perspective, that’s more than double the average performance for stocks in all years. We’re also entering the third year of a presidential term, which is historically the strongest year for stocks. READ MORE…
--11-25-18: seekingalpha.com/news/3411892-abb-signs-potential-1_9b-power-grid-supply-deal-china WE own ABB--currently at a great price and pays a 4.16%.
--11-16-18 IMPORTANT: www.msn.com/en-us/money/retirement/the-one-thing-married-women-should-do-to-protect-their-finances-before-they-retire/ar-BBPKN9t?li=BBnbfcN&ocid=U147DHP
--11-07-18: www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/boeing-issues-advice-on-plane-sensor-after-737-max-jet-crash/ar-BBPr0SE?li=BBnbfcN NOT good news for BA…have had problems with 737-Max-Jets earlier.
--11-12-18: seekingalpha.com/article/4221180-buy-infrastructure-reit-sea-shining-sea?ifp=0 WE own HASI & loving the Dividend of 5.73%...
Since our first article HASI has returned 102% (average 20% annually) and we have maintained a BUY since that time.
As you can see, trading has been volatile at times, but we have always been on this train because we recognize the gravy that it generates can be extremely rewarding.
Now with infrastructure become more focused, we expect to see HASI outperform through 2019. To paraphrase Congresswoman Pelosi, this sustainable energy REIT is a BUY from “Sea to Shining Sea”.
However, today we want to shed some light on the sustainable infrastructure REIT known as Hannon Armstrong (HASI). We have been covering this REIT for over three years (since February 2015) and in that first article we wrote,
HASI is clearly not a utility stock but I believe the financier of clean energy is a sound sector with similarly reliable attributes. The predictability of HASI's business model is driven by the high-quality contracts that support very stable income growth. I am recommending shares at the current price level and I believe a big part of the discounted valuation is reflected in the modest coverage (investor) base.
--11-25-18 A GOOD READ: finance.yahoo.com/news/200-trillion-gold-rush-reshaped-130031570.html
--11-07-18: seekingalpha.com/article/4218692-3-reasons-buy-and-t-6_5-percent-yield?ifp=0 We own T and buying more whenever it hits $30/share…PLUS, it has a 6.5% dividend.
When it returns to its average share price = $34.00; on the shares WE bought at $30.00 WE would make a 13% Return PLUS the 6.5% Dividend. Like MONEY in the Bank. WELL, WE hope so…
--11-07-18: seekingalpha.com/article/4219015-5-reasons-5_2-percent-yielding-dividend-aristocrat-now-biggest-holding?ifp=0
WE own ABBV and love their 4.50% Dividend. Buying more on dips…
--11-22-18: seekingalpha.com/article/4223862-canopy-aurora-just-better-quarter?ifp=0 WE OWN BOTH CGC & ACB.
--11-25-18: seekingalpha.com/article/4224244-surprising-medtronic-making-strides?ifp=0 WE own MDT
--11-25-18: www.barrons.com/articles/fintech-is-reinventing-the-installment-loan-1543014325?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo NOT GOOD FOR BANKS—Fintech Companies are taking MORE & MORE Business from Banks…
If you’ve shopped online recently, you may have seen Affirm on the checkout page, next to the familiar options to pay with a credit or a debit card.
If not, you will probably notice it over the holiday shopping season. Affirm combines the ease of paying online with the repayment schedule of an installment loan.
Yes, thanks to financial technology, a new kind of lending business has emerged.
Some people think cryptocurrencies are a bubble waiting to pop just like the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s. Using that same analogy for cryptocurrency, what about blockchain, the technology behind bitcoin and Ether? Here's what you need to know.
Affirm was founded by PayPal Holdings(ticker: PYPL) co-founder Max Levchin, along with a co-founder of the data-mining firm Palantir and a data executive at videogame publisher Ngmoco.
Yet Levchin says he didn’t start out trying to create a lender. Instead, he wanted to disrupt the credit score, a closed-off and opaque system that consistently disadvantages groups like recent immigrants and the young.
And credit scores may not even be very good at predicting creditworthiness.
Levchin developed a new way of gauging a consumer’s credit risk and started talking to financial institutions about how to use it to make better underwriting decisions.
“It was almost an academic experiment to try to be a better risk assessor and underwriter,” Levchin tells Barron’s. The response he got was disheartening: The big banks weren’t interested.
But then his interest was rekindled when he heard that millennials don’t like using credit cards because they don’t want the responsibility and don’t understand how the annual percentage rate, or APR, works.
Levchin decided that if banks weren’t interested in lending in a fairer, more straightforward way, he would build a company and do it directly.
With Affirm, an online shopper browses and buys as one normally would, entering email, address, and other personal information.
Nothing is really different until you reach the actual payment step. If a merchant has partnered with Affirm, its button shows up as an option.
If you click it, you answer a few questions and seconds later you’re shown a payment plan ranging from a few months to 36 months depending on the purchase, with interest rates ranging from zero to 30% APR.
The company has also rolled out a feature for the holiday season that lets shoppers use its website to see where they can use Affirm and browse special offers.
Affirm doesn’t disclose payment volumes, but says it has 1,200 merchant partners. Particularly among select brands where it offers 0%— products like Casper mattresses or Flywheel stationary bikes—it can feel as if Affirm has built in a selection for a younger, if higher-income market.
The company has raised a total of $720 million from prominent venture-capital firms like Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Founders Fund, which is run by Peter Thiel, the Trump-backing Facebook director who is a fellow member of what people in Silicon Valley call the PayPal Mafia. (Elon Musk is also a member.)
The idea of point-of-sale financing is not new, of course. For years, retailers like department stores offered wildly below-market interest rates to shoppers who signed up at the cash register for the store-brand credit card.
Those rates, Levchin notes, were low only because the lender expected some percentage of borrowers to fall behind on their payments, at which point huge fees or retroactive compounding interest would start to kick in.
In other words, the real money is made when the borrower falls behind, gets confused, or, even better, both.
It’s in part a testament to how opaque, frustrating, and fee-ridden the experience of carrying a balance on a credit card can be for so many people that Affirm’s model can be pitched as a do-gooder project. Yet that’s what Levchin is doing.
Affirm instead offers a loan with a specific rate that you pay back over a specific amount of time, and that doesn’t have late fees or random service charges.
“We set out to design a product where the product was fundamentally aligned with the consumer,” Levchin says.
And it is wholly unlike the previous generation of point-of-sale lending, he says: “It’s simple interest; it doesn’t compound. There are no fees, no late fees. There’s no fine print.”
Merchants benefit, too, Levchin says, because when buyers feel like they understand the credit terms they are using to make a purchase, they tend to buy more or buy more often, leading retailers to experience an increase of 20% to 30% in sales, he says.
Affirm isn’t alone in trying to use installment lending as an alternative to credit cards.
One company that provides what seems like a similar product is Afterpay, an Australian fintech. Like Affirm, Afterpay partners with merchants to be included as an option at the point of online sale.
But how Afterpay makes money is different. Technically, the company does not charge any interest at all—a distinction that means it isn’t subject to a whole set of regulations. Instead, Afterpay makes money from late and merchant fees.
Its business model means it benefits when customers fall behind on payments. Indeed, late payments make up about a quarter of the company’s revenues. (The rest comes from merchant fees.)
An Afterpay spokesperson says its buy-now-pay-later model is cheaper than Affirm if customers pay on time, and can even be cheaper if customers are late.
Variations on the model, if in a far less transparent form, can be found when a telecommunications company sells a new phone by tacking on a charge to each month’s bill for the life of a wireless contract.
More significant may be a limited rollout by Amazon.com(AMZN) of a monthly payment-plan option for some product lines.
Levchin says he welcomes a company like Amazon getting into the installment-lending business. It’s a sign that he’s onto something, he says—and he has a head start. The more people who are exposed to this way of paying for purchases, he says, the better.
11-25-18: www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/stocks-could-be-in-for-a-bumpy-ride-in-2019-heres-how-to-position-your-portfolio/ar-BBPXpUw?li=BBnbfcN
Increased market volatility this year has mostly prompted financial experts to repeat one piece of advice: Stay the course.
But as markets are poised for a continued bumpy ride, investors would be wise to keep another tip in mind: Diversify.
"Diversification works when you need it the most," said Chris Hyzy, chief investment officer for Bank of America Global Wealth & Investment Management.
That comes as the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 500 points on Tuesday, effectively erasing gains for the year. The S&P 500, meanwhile, fell 1.8 percent.
"Right now, we're in a little bit of a hornet's nest, where there's a confluence of events that are causing some selling and repositioning to occur," Hyzy said.
In order for investors on the sidelines to feel comfortable enough to ramp up their risk exposure, two things need to happen, according to Hyzy.
"What we need is the Fed to come out and be more balanced in their assessment, not only of the economy, but also their potential action regarding short-term interest rates," Hyzy said.
"And second, we need a resolution between the U.S. and China on a trade agreement."
Strong corporate earnings in the fourth quarter and first quarter can also help the markets establish more solid footing, he said.
How to adjust
For now, investors may want to make sure their portfolios are prepared for a bumpy ride.
"It's important to be more diversified in 2019 than you have been over the last few years," Hyzy said.
11-27-18: www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/the-us-housing-boom-is-coming-to-an-end-starting-in-dallas/ar-BBQ7svN?li=BBnbfcN
PLANO, Texas—A half-hour drive straight north from downtown Dallas sits one of the fastest-growing counties in the country. Cotton fields have been replaced with Toyota’s new North American headquarters, a Dallas Cowboys training facility and a sand-colored shopping strip with a Tesla dealership and a three-story food hall.
Yet even with the booming growth, Dallas’s once vibrant housing market is sputtering. In the high-end subdivisions in the suburb of Frisco, builders are cutting prices on new homes by up to $150,000.
On one street alone, $4 million of new homes sat empty on a visit earlier this month.
Some home builders are so desperate to attract interest they are offering agents the chance to win Louis Vuitton handbags or Super Bowl tickets with round-trip airfare, if their clients buy a home. Yet fresh-baked cookies sit uneaten at sparsely attended open houses.
The U.S. economy just had one of its best six-month stretches in a decade, as the unemployment rate hovers around its lowest level in half a century.
Still, along with a recent swoon in the stock market, the housing market—which makes up a sixth of the U.S. economy—has been a troubling weak spot.
U.S. existing home sales have declined on an annual basis for eight straight months, the longest slump in more than four years, according to the National Association of Realtors report Wednesday.
The slowdown has been driven by places that had earlier seen some of the strongest price growth during this recovery, including Seattle, Denver, New York City, Boston and the Bay Area.
Dallas, which had the second-strongest annual increase in employment of any metropolitan area in the country in September, helps explain why.
Even though the economy in the sprawling metro area has boomed, home prices have grown much faster than wages, and buyers have been straining to afford homes.
Those price challenges have been masked in part by access to cheap credit, but that era is coming to an end. Since the beginning of the year, mortgage rates have risen about a percentage point, to the highest level since 2011.
“We have this huge affordability crisis,” said Ted Wilson, principal at Residential Strategies, a Dallas consulting firm. “With mortgage rates going higher, we’re hitting a ceiling.”
New and existing home sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area fell 3.6% in October compared with a year earlier, according to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, while median home price growth slowed to less than half the pace of a year ago.
Dallas has been the “canary in the mine shaft” this housing cycle, said Paige Shipp, regional director for Metrostudy, a consultant to home builders.
Homes are taking longer to sell, bidding wars are rarer and price cuts are more common as buyers absorb the impact of higher rates.
WE SOLD THE FOLLOWING STOCKS:
GILD
AMAT
FCX
HON
GTX
REZI
ING
IOVA
BDRBF
IMLFF
SPWR
IMPORTANT—PLEASE READ:
“The above is for your information only. We are not in any way recommending these stocks for you to buy/sell.
If you decide to, it is your responsibility to do your own research, due diligence and/or seek the advice of a Financial Planner/Broker.
You need to set your own invest goals, portfolio & diversification goals according to your age, lifestyle, income, etc. when it comes to selecting stocks/funds.
Remember, investing is a risk, so do so at your own risk; you need to put the time in to do your own research.
Our thoughts/opinions are for informational and educational purposes only. And, should not be construed to constitute investment advice.
Nothing contained herein shall constitute a solicitation, recommendation or endorsement to buy or sell any security.
What is good for Do Me & Tequila might not be good for you. So be responsible, (to yourself), for your investment decisions or lack of such.
If any of what we say makes you uncomfortable, then do not read/listen to our thoughts and opinions.
Neither, Tequila or I, are compensated in any manner by the company stocks we mention in our investment emails.
Some of the time, we own stocks we mention in our investment email; however, other times we do not own any.
I hope you all do realize that Tequila is a parrot (?)...even more of a reason, to do your own research & make your own decisions.”
--“"The time to buy is when there's blood in the streets."
-Baron Rothschild
--"The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble . . . We want to buy them when they're on the operating table."
-Warren Buffet
--"Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful."
-Warren Buffett
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Post by domeplease on Dec 4, 2018 14:36:09 GMT -5
I have an CONFESSION to make: I accidently goofed and LIED (not intentionally) in a prior post. Even though it was an Accident = This is all on Me.
I stated that part of the New NFATA agreement was that Mexico had to pay their Auto Workers going forward at least $16.00/hour. THIS WAS NOT TRUE...it is only Canada & America that must do so.
My second accidental LIE was that only America's Congress had to approve the New NFATA Agreement = Instead, it is all three Countries Congresses have to approve.
I am sorry about these unintentional LIES. Again, sorry.
Side Not to Tequila: "I had asked you to check my Post for FACTS; apparently you didn't. What did you do?"
T: "I check for seeds...don't eat Facts."
SPEAKING ABOUT LYING:
--12-03-18 DONALD JUST CANNOT STOP LYING: www.msn.com/en-us/news/factcheck/ap-fact-check-trumps-mangled-truths-on-russia-probe-cohen/ar-BBQpl0b?li=BBnb7Kz
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump can't seem to get his facts straight when it comes to the Russia investigation.
Facing pressure as his former advisers are caught lying by special counsel Robert Mueller, Trump is launching fresh attacks on the probe as politically biased and Mueller as hopelessly "conflicted."
This runs counter to ethics experts in Trump's Justice Department who concluded that Mueller — a Republican — could fairly lead the probe into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.
Trump also suggests that the crimes of his longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, have "nothing" to do with him. That's also wrong.
Cohen was the first to implicate the president in open court of a crime. Last week, Cohen also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his efforts during the 2016 campaign to line up a Trump Tower Moscow project, saying he did so to align with Trump's "political messaging."
Meanwhile, Trump displayed a slippery grasp of the environment as well as trade policy. He also spread around to his millions of Twitter followers a wildly false claim that people in the country illegally get more aid from the federal government than Americans get in Social Security benefits.
A look at his statements and the reality:
RUSSIA INVESTIGATION
TRUMP, on Cohen: "He was convicted with a fairly long-term sentence on things totally unrelated to the Trump Organization — having to do with mortgages, and having to do with cheating the IRS perhaps. A lot of different things.
I don't know exactly, but he was convicted of various things unrelated to us. ...So, very simply, Michael Cohen is lying and he's trying to get a reduced sentence for things that have nothing to do with me." — remarks to reporters Thursday.
THE FACTS: Cohen definitely was in trouble for what he did for Trump. He pleaded guilty in August to several criminal charges and stated in open court that Trump directed him to arrange payments of hush money to porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal to fend off damage to Trump's White House bid.
Cohen said one payment was made "in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office," and the other was made "under direction of the same candidate."
The Justice Department says the hush money payments were unreported campaign contributions meant to influence the outcome of the election.
That assertion makes the payments subject to campaign finance laws, which restrict how much people can donate to a campaign and bar corporations from making direct contributions.
It is true that Cohen did not identify Trump, but there was no ambiguity in court documents or in his statement.
Cohen's extraordinary statement at his August plea hearing marked the first time any Trump associate, in open court, has implicated the president himself in a crime.
Cohen's guilty plea last week, meanwhile, featured Trump and conversations he and his family had with Cohen about a possible Russian business deal during the 2016 campaign at a level greater than previously known.
Trump is, however, correct that other previous charges which Cohen admitted to didn't involve the candidate or the campaign and were for tax deception.
TRUMP: "The Phony Witch Hunt continues, but Mueller and his gang of Angry Dems are only looking at one side, not the other. ...Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue." — tweet Tuesday.
THE FACTS: Trump makes a baseless charge that Mueller is a "conflicted" prosecutor whose team is a bunch of "angry" Democrats.
Mueller, a longtime Republican, was cleared by the Justice Department to lead the Russia investigation. The department said in May 2017 that its ethics experts "determined that Mr. Mueller's participation in the matters assigned to him is appropriate."
The issue had come up because of his former position at the WilmerHale law firm, which represented some key players in the probe.
Some on Mueller's team owe their jobs largely to Republican presidents, while some others have indeed given money to Democratic candidates over the years.
But Mueller could not have barred them from serving on that basis because regulations prohibit the consideration of political affiliation for personnel actions involving career attorneys. Mueller was appointed as special counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, a Trump appointee.=
THE FIRST BUSH PRESIDENT
TRUMP, on the passing of former President George H.W. Bush: "As a young man, he captained the Yale baseball team, and then went on to serve as the youngest aviator in the United States Navy during the Second World War." — statement Saturday.
THE FACTS: Trump mixes up Bush's timeline, in which he put off college to enlist in the Navy after the U.S. entered World War II. Bush joined the Navy in 1942 upon graduating from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, at age 18, six months after the December 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. He was the youngest pilot in the Navy at the time.
Bush received an honorable discharge in 1945 and enrolled at Yale, where he was captain of the baseball team. "A lot of us on the team were veterans and we had come back from the war, so maybe that made it a little less apprehensive," Bush told The Associated Press in 2007. "On the other hand, it didn't deduct from our enthusiasm and our desire to win, which we did not do."
TRADE
TRUMP: "Billions of Dollars are pouring into the coffers of the U.S.A. because of the Tariffs being charged to China, and there is a long way to go. If companies don't want to pay Tariffs, build in the U.S.A. Otherwise, lets (sic) just make our Country richer than ever before." — tweet Thursday.
THE FACTS: That's not how it works. Yes, money from tariffs is going into the federal treasury, but it's coming from U.S. businesses, not from overseas. Tariffs are paid by the importer, not the exporter or government in another country.
Beyond that, tariffs paid by U.S. companies tend to result in higher prices for consumers. So a tariff is a transfer of wealth from business to government, and sometimes from consumers to government as well. It is not a foreign payment to the U.S.
TRUMP, on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement: "The USMCA is the largest, most significant, modern and balanced trade agreement in history.
All of our countries will benefit greatly. It is probably the largest trade deal ever made, also." — signing ceremony Friday.
THE FACTS: It's not the largest trade deal ever made. It covers the same three countries as its predecessor, NAFTA. In contrast, the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations concluded in 1994 created the World Trade Organization and was signed by 123 countries.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found the following year that the WTO's initial membership accounted for more than 90 percent of global economic output.
TRUMP, on the pact with Canada and Mexico: "This is a model agreement that changes the trade landscape forever." He also referred to the pact as a "landmark agreement." — ceremony Friday.
THE FACTS: Actually, the pact preserves the structure and substance of NAFTA, which was unquestionably a landmark, whether for better or worse.
In one new feature, the deal requires that 40 percent of cars' contents eventually be made in countries that pay autoworkers at least $16 an hour — that is, in the United States and Canada and not in Mexico — to qualify for duty-free treatment.
It also requires Mexico to pursue an overhaul of labor law to encourage independent unions that will bargain for higher wages and better working conditions for Mexicans.
But the agreement is largely an incremental revision of NAFTA. Philip Levy, senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a trade official in Republican President George W. Bush's White House, says: "President Trump has seriously overhyped this agreement."
MANUFACTURING
TRUMP: "Remember the previous administration said, oh, manufacturing jobs, that will never happen. I kept saying, what's he talking about? Manufacturing, we got to make things, right? They said manufacturing jobs would never come back.
You'd need a magic wand. Well, we found the magic wand. And they're great jobs. They're high-paying jobs. They're brilliant jobs. They're important jobs." — Biloxi, Mississippi, rally on Nov. 26.
THE FACTS: No magic wand has swept across manufacturing.
Yes, manufacturing jobs have been added under Trump, but the sector is nowhere close to its old glory.
As of October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 8.53 percent of the 149.8 million U.S. jobs were in manufacturing. Back in October 2008, 9.65 percent of U.S. jobs were in manufacturing.
Even if factories keep hiring workers, factories are unlikely to return to the prominence of Trump's childhood because so many other segments of the U.S. economy — such as health care — have grown.
In 1946, the year Trump was born, nearly a third of U.S. workers had manufacturing jobs.
Growth in manufacturing employment began in President Barack Obama's second term, when 386,000 jobs were added, and accelerated under Trump, with 416,000 more jobs in his first 21 months.
TRUMP: "Our steel industry a year ago was dead, and now it's one of the most vibrant anywhere in the world, because we stopped the steel dumping and we put a big tax on.
When they steel dump, they can dump all they want, but they pay 25 percent on everything they dump, and our steel now is doing great. Our industry has come back." — Mississippi rally.
TRUMP: "Big Steel is opening and renovating plants all over the country." — tweet Thursday.
THE FACTS: He's exaggerating the recovery of the steel industry.
As of October, there were 381,700 jobs in the manufacturing of primary metals such as steel. That figure seesaws based off commodity prices and global economic performance. But it's clearly trended downward since 2000 when the sector had 621,800 jobs.
It's difficult to know just how many jobs will be added by newly planned mills. But construction spending on factories has yet to take off significantly after having been in decline between 2016 and much of 2018.
Still, the spending has rebounded in recent months. Construction spending on factories has increased 4.3 percent in the past year, according to the Census Bureau.
A year ago, the steel industry employed 141,200 people, says the Labor Department. Now, 145,100. That's a gain of 3,900 jobs during a period when the overall economy added 2.5 million jobs.
Steel wasn't at death's door a year ago and it isn't "back" in any historic sense.
AUTOS
TRUMP: "General Motors is very counter to what other auto, and other companies are doing. Big Steel is opening and renovating plants all over the country. Auto companies are pouring into the U.S., including BMW, which just announced a major new plant. The U.S.A. is booming!" — tweet Thursday.
THE FACTS: This auto industry boom doesn't exist.
Automakers have been steadily hiring since 2010 when Obama was president. But the pace of job gains has slowed considerably since Trump took office, according to the Labor Department. That's probably a reflection of slowing sales rather than any policy changes by Trump.
U.S. auto sales are down 0.2 percent through October largely because of a 13 percent plunge in car sales. Truck and SUV sales are up 8 percent. All the factories GM wants to close make slow-selling cars.
The Labor Department found that automakers added 30,600 jobs during Obama's last year in office. That fell to 8,200 in 2017 after Trump became president. Automakers were on pace before the GM layoffs to add 8,660 jobs this year.
Despite the job growth in recent years, auto companies employ far fewer workers than they did in 2000. More than 1.3 million people held auto jobs in 2000, a total that now stands at roughly 970,000.
General Motors Co. is not alone in cutting workers. Crosstown rival Ford Motor Co. is just starting to restructure its white-collar workforce, and thousands are expected to be let go by the middle of next year.
Also, BMW didn't announce a major new plant. Its CEO said Tuesday the company is considering a new U.S. engine factory to supply assembly plants in South Carolina and Mexico.
The German automaker now imports engines and transmissions from Europe for SUVs made in the U.S., and it's building a new factory in Mexico.
ENVIRONMENT
TRUMP: "You look at our air and our water and it's right now at a record clean." — interview Tuesday with The Washington Post.
THE FACTS: No, the air isn't the cleanest ever. The air generally has been getting cleaner since the 1970s, but the downward trend in pollution has made a bit of a U-turn since Trump took office.
His Environmental Protection Agency released data that showed traditional air pollution — soot and smog — increased in 2017 and that the air is not the cleanest it has ever been.
The days with an unhealthy number of small pollution particles, often called soot and linked to heart and lung problems and deaths, jumped from 2016 to 2017 in 35 major metropolitan areas. In 2017, there were 179 unhealthy soot days, up 85 percent from 97 in 2016. Last year had the most unhealthy soot days since 2011.
The number of days with unhealthy smog levels was down from 2016, but higher than 2015, 2014 and 2013.
The number of days when the air quality index was unhealthy was 729 in 2017. The number of days is higher than a year because it counts each city's unhealthy reading on a certain day as one and there are numerous cities involved.
Last year's level was the highest since 2012 and a 21 percent increase over the cleanest air in 2014.
TRUMP: "I mean, we take thousands of tons of garbage off our beaches all the time that comes over from Asia. It just flows right down the Pacific, it flows, and we say where does this come from?" — Post interview.
THE FACTS: Singling out Asia for America's dirty Pacific beaches is an evasion.
Pacific currents do bring some trash from Asia, most noticeably during the 2011 tsunami, but it is rare that scientists can trace trash to a specific geographic location, said oceanographer Kara Lavender Law at the Sea Education Association, who said Trump's "statement is not supported by the data."
Americans dirty their own coastlines because "we produce double more trash per person than most of the people living in Southeast Asia," said Jenna Jambeck, a University of Georgia environmental engineering expert who studies marine debris.
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, on Trump rejecting a dire White House report's conclusion on the economic costs of climate change: "This report is based on the most extreme modeled scenario, which contradicts long-established trends. ...This is the most extreme version and it's not based on facts." — press briefing Tuesday.
THE FACTS: She's wrong. The 29-chapter report actually lays out various scenarios that the United Nations' climate assessments use. Economists say the cost estimates are credible and may even understate the economic impact.
The National Climate Assessment report considers three scenarios in estimating future costs. One is the business-as-usual scenario, which scientists say is closest to the current situation.
That is the worst case of the three scenarios. Another would envision modest reductions in heat-trapping gases, and the third would involve severe cuts in carbon dioxide pollution.
For example, under the business-as-usual scenario in which emissions of heat-trapping gasses continue at current levels, labor costs in outdoor industries during heat waves could cost $155 billion in lost wages per year by 2090. Modest reductions in carbon pollution would cut that to $75 billion a year, the report said.
The report talks of hundreds of billions of dollars in economic losses in several spots. In one graphic, it shows the worst-case business-as-usual scenario of economic costs reaching 10 percent of gross domestic product when Earth is about a dozen degrees warmer than now with no specific date.
Economist Ray Kopp, a vice president at the think tank Resources For the Future and who wasn't part of the assessment, said the economics and the science in the report were sound.
Yale economist William Nordhaus, who won the 2018 Nobel prize for economics for his work on climate change, told The Associated Press that his calculations show climate change would cost the United States an even higher $4 trillion a year at the end of the century with a reasonable projection of warming. He said the White House report's economic conclusions used standard economic modeling.
IMMIGRATION
TRUMP's retweet: "Illegals can get up to $3,874 a month under Federal Assistance program. Our social security checks are on average $1200 a month. RT (retweet) if you agree: If you weren't born in the United States, you should receive $0 assistance." — posted Wednesday.
THE FACTS: Wrong country, wrong numbers, wrong description of legal status of the recipients.
Besides that, immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally do not qualify for most federal benefits, even when they're paying taxes, and those with legal status make up a small portion of those who use public benefits.
The $3,874 refers to a payment made in Canada, not the U.S., to a legally admitted family of refugees. It was largely a one-time resettlement payment under Canada's refugee program, not monthly assistance in perpetuity, the fact-checking site Snopes found a year ago in debunking a Facebook post that misrepresented Canada's policy.
A document cited in the Facebook post, showing aid for food, transportation and other basics needs, applied to a family of five.
Apart from confusing Canada with the United States, the tweet distributed by the president misstated how much Americans get from Social Security on average — $1,419 a month for retired workers, not $1,200.
Overall, low-income immigrants who are not yet U.S. citizens use Medicaid, food aid, cash assistance and Supplemental Security Income aid at a lower rate than comparable U.S.-born adults, according to an Associated Press analysis of census data.
Non-citizen immigrants make up only 6.5 percent of all those participating in Medicaid, for example.
Despite that, the administration wants to redefine the rules for immigrants to further restrict who can receive benefits and for how long.
AND DONALD KEEPS DIGGING HIMSELF A BIGGER HOLE:
12-04-18: www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump%e2%80%99s-latest-tweets-cross-clear-lines-experts-say-obstruction-of-justice-and-witness-tampering/ar-BBQsf1s?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=U147DHP
President Trump took to Twitter Monday morning, haranguing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and witnesses to his ongoing Russia investigation. His tweets have become a common morning occurrence, particularly in recent weeks.
But legal experts are calling Monday’s missives a newsworthy development that amounts to evidence of obstructing justice.
Trump’s first statement went out after Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney who pleaded guilty last week for lying to Congress about the president’s real estate project in Russia.
In his tweet, Trump alleged that Cohen lied to Mueller and called for a severe penalty, demanding that his former fixer “serve a full and complete sentence.”
After the overt attack on Cohen came a tweet encouraging Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to Trump, not to become a witness against him:
“’I will never testify against Trump.’ This statement was recently made by Roger Stone, essentially stating that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about ‘President Trump.’ Nice to know that some people still have ‘guts!’”
Norman Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that the most striking thing about Monday was that there were two statements in proximity.
“It comes very close to the statutory definition of witness tampering,” he said.
“It’s a mirror image of the first tweet, only he’s praising a witness for not cooperating with the implication of reward,” he said, adding that Trump has pardon power over Stone.
“We’re so used to President Trump transgressing norms in his public declarations,” Eisen said, “but he may have crossed the legal line.”
Respected figures across party lines also responded to Trump’s tweets on the social media platform.
Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) called it “serious,” adding that “the President of the United States should not be using his platform to influence potential witnesses in a federal investigation involving his campaign.”
Attorney George Conway, husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, referenced the federal statute most likely to create legal liability for Trump: 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512, which outlines the crime of witness tampering.
Tampering with a witness is obstruction of justice.
It’s a federal crime for an individual to intimidate, threaten or “corruptly persuade” another person with the goal of influencing or preventing his or her testimony.
Historically, there are plenty of cases where similar statements were used as part of an obstruction-of-justice prosecution, according to former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal.
Even if Mueller could technically satisfy the statute, few prosecutors would make a congressional referral based on tweets from the president alone.
Instead, Monday’s slew of tweets probably will be used to evaluate whether Trump’s intent was “corrupt.”
They will also be used to show a pattern by Trump to interfere with law enforcement to serve his personal end, Katyal said.
“[The tweets] are just like firing FBI Director [James B.] Comey for investigating the Russia scandal, or firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions because he wasn’t recused from the Russia scandal,” he said.
“It’s the same attitude that led President Trump to try to direct [the Department of Justice] to seek the indictments of his political opponents (Hillary Clinton and Jim Comey).”
In his tweet, Trump claimed that Cohen pleaded guilty to charges “unrelated” to him — a statement that’s patently untrue.
Cohen’s initial plea implicated the president in potential campaign finance violations.
The August guilty plea prompted Trump to tweet, “nlike Michael Cohen, [Paul Manafort] refused to ‘break’ — make up stories in order to get a ‘deal.’ Such respect for a brave man!” Manafort is Trump’s former campaign manager.
Last week’s plea also made specific reference to Trump.
Katyal said of Monday’s tweets: “The difference with the prior episodes is that you’ve got the whole enchilada in one tweet — you don’t need to refer to other extrinsic evidence.
Trump is directly praising one individual for not flipping and attacking another for doing so.”
There is a certain amount of ambiguity in Trump’s statements, leaving wiggle room for his defenders to say he was not making threats, but blowing off steam.
As the chief executive, the president oversees criminal prosecution of federal cases.
Unlike firing federal officials, directly encouraging a potential witness not to cooperate in an investigation involving his own conduct is significant.
“When you look at the tweets about Stone and Cohen, Trump is sending a very strong message to others that those who cooperate will be punished, and those who keep his secrets will be rewarded,” white-collar defense attorney Barry Berke said. READ MORE…
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Post by noetsi on Dec 5, 2018 19:37:59 GMT -5
I wonder what type of work visa foreign players get to play MLB.
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Post by domeplease on Dec 6, 2018 14:03:47 GMT -5
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Post by michcusejoe5 on Dec 6, 2018 16:27:27 GMT -5
What a day in the markets today...Tuesday was hemorrhage-central after Trump revealed that he is (no-so) secretly a super hero named "Tariff Man" and then it continued into the session today before recouping nearly 700 points off the lows of the day in the second half of trading. Ive thought we were overvalued for quite a while (Im sure many remember and its why I try not to make such steadfast predictions anymore lol bc conventional wisdom seems to not matter too much) but at the same time the economy itself seems to be on fairly stable footing. I think this is a good example of the old cliche of "the stock market is not the economy." I think its quite possible that stocks are purging a bit of the excess value pumped into them by way of Quantitative Easing but the economy itself is still strong. Just cant let a damn trade war derail all of the solid pro-growth policy/environment that has been cultivated in recent years.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2018 6:28:24 GMT -5
In fact, mich, it has more to do with the dying embers of the tax break according to a lot of economists. The sugar high it provided to the people wealthy enough to invest, I don’t mean just the rich, but let’s say well off enough to have a stock portfolio, is wearing thin. Interest rates have to go up as a hedge against future down turns, and the third nail is the ill advised Trump tariff war with China. Anyone who knows Asia knows that the road to getting what you want with China is accomplished through quiet negotiation, not Twitter rants. Tobacco chewing guys with stupid beards, beer guts and opioid issues from the south aren’t the only constituency of the Republican Party, much less the nation. The president should be advised to think of the entire country when spouting off about the economy in general and the Fed specifically. The name of this thread is rants. This is a rant.
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Post by inger on Dec 7, 2018 11:16:06 GMT -5
In fact, mich, it has more to do with the dying embers of the tax break according to a lot of economists. The sugar high it provided to the people wealthy enough to invest, I don’t mean just the rich, but let’s say well off enough to have a stock portfolio, is wearing thin. Interest rates have to go up as a hedge against future down turns, and the third nail is the ill advised Trump tariff war with China. Anyone who knows Asia knows that the road to getting what you want with China is accomplished through quiet negotiation, not Twitter rants. Tobacco chewing guys with stupid beards, beer guts and opioid issues from the south aren’t the only constituency of the Republican Party, much less the nation. The president should be advised to think of the entire country when spouting off about the economy in general and the Fed specifically. The name of this thread is rants. This is a rant. Damn straight. What a sin it would be to forget the tobacco chewing women with stupid beards, beer guts and opioid issues from the south. Them bitches count, too !!! |
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Post by michcusejoe5 on Dec 7, 2018 11:33:12 GMT -5
In fact, mich, it has more to do with the dying embers of the tax break according to a lot of economists. The sugar high it provided to the people wealthy enough to invest, I don’t mean just the rich, but let’s say well off enough to have a stock portfolio, is wearing thin. Interest rates have to go up as a hedge against future down turns, and the third nail is the ill advised Trump tariff war with China. Anyone who knows Asia knows that the road to getting what you want with China is accomplished through quiet negotiation, not Twitter rants. Tobacco chewing guys with stupid beards, beer guts and opioid issues from the south aren’t the only constituency of the Republican Party, much less the nation. The president should be advised to think of the entire country when spouting off about the economy in general and the Fed specifically. The name of this thread is rants. This is a rant. Not sure what economists are saying this (Im sure its just Paul Krugman) but it seems to be a very illogical assertion that ignores the context of the entire last decade. The tax cuts were made law at the very tail end of 2017 thus would only really have an impact on markets during the 2018 year. The markets didnt appreciate nearly 200% in the preceding decade (off the lows following the last recession) because of a tax cut taking effect in 2018. In fact, the markets this year, in the wake of the tax cut, have basically been flat (shooting up and down, sometimes with considerable volatility, but keep settling back in around the start of year level) so Im not sure what this sugar high from the tax cut thats wearing off you or anybody else are talking about. There is little indication that they got some sort of shot in the arm that began to crumble in terms of the equity markets. Its more clear that they will, and have been thus far, have positive impact on the "real economy". Alternatively, the Fed printed and pumped nearly $5T into the markets over a number of years recently while keeping rates artificially at 0 for the purpose of "stimulus." Basically they just inflated another asset bubble to replace the prior housing bubble, and maybe we are reaching the top in that regard bc that faucet has now been shut off and rates are rising. The logical conclusion is that the market is purging part of the malinvestment of the prior ten years fueled by this money printing/ZIRP since that crutch has now gone away (other factors at play too, of course but those get exacerbated by the fact that these bad policies led to over inflation to begin with). I think because of this kind of asset inflating malpractice that its quite possible, and is the point I was making in my last post, that the "market" and the "economy" (which is seemingly doing well in terms of employment and the other general data) have become more de-linked from one another. |
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