White House Manufacturing and Trade Policy Advisor Peter Navarro appears on CNBC to discuss the turbulent week on Wall Street and the current status of the U.S. trade position with China.  Pundits are starting to accept that bigger tariffs are on the horizon.  Team Trump is not backing down; and our U.S. position is much stronger.
On one hand, Wall Street loves cheap money (low fed rates). However, on the other hand 51% of all Chinese manufacturing is done by U.S. owned multinationals; and those corporations don’t want to see the retention efforts of China undermined with a lower dollar value (lower fed rate). As a consequence Wall Street is schizophrenic.

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On the issue of manufacturers leaving China, Forbes has this outlook: “American businesses now have a month to prepare their supply chains for the impending tariff changes. Companies that do well will be the ones who have taken Trump at his word, rather than to doubt the Disruptor-in-Chief’s position on China. Further disruptions are coming to the U.S. supplier network, impacting how equity analysts view companies, recommend their stocks, and — in a broader sense — impacting the business cycle, already long in the tooth.” (link)
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Joaquin Castro is personifying the ‘Mamet Principle’ as he justifies his action in posting lists of President Trump donors/supporters for targeting by political opposition.
Pretending an action is something else, other than what is clearly evident in that action, is exactly the approach used by leftists to deflect from their behavior; it is also the way leftists turn themselves into victims as an outcome of their own activity.
To deconstruct this illogical fallacy, direct questions must be asked.
Direct questions, perhaps uncomfortable questions, which cannot be avoided by deflection and obfuscation; and cut to the heart of the matter.  Example: If your intention is to make public the identification of private citizens contributing to your political opposition, then would you support federal legislation requiring all Trump supporters to wear visible armbands or insignia in public?

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Here’s a video discussion with one of the people identified in Castro’s “Hit List”. What is described is exactly the outcome that Representative Castro denies in his justification.
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Wow. Go Wilburine!  U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has slapped a whopping $4.4 billion countervailing duty on Chinese cabinet manufacturers.  The rate of manufacturing subsidy identified within the ‘wood cabinet‘ study shows a massive 229% subsidy rate via discounted land, free lumber, electricity, raw materials, direct grants from government and discounted loans from Chinese banks to enhance export incentives.

The current study and duty only applies to wood cabinets and vanities, but if you ever wondered how come Chinese furniture is so cheap, well, it’s not a stretch to consider those same subsidy rates likely apply to their household furniture and wood products.

(Bloomberg) Add $4.4 billion in imported cabinets to the long list of Chinese goods slapped with U.S. levies in the escalating trade dispute between Washington and Beijing.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday it will ask the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of the wooden cabinets and vanities from China based on subsidy rates of as much as 229%. Commerce issued a preliminary determination in response to a petition filed earlier this year by the American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance, alleging at least $2 billion in harm from the Chinese shipments.

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Democrat Congressman Joaquin Castro, represents a district that encompasses San Antonio, Texas.
Using his twitter account today, Representative Castro posted a list of local donors to the Donald Trump campaign directing his followers to target those ordinary citizens.  [Tweet here]
Pay close attention to this current method of political targeting; and overlay the law of unintended consequences to the current gun control discussion surrounding “redflag” laws.
Ultimately what far-left Joaquin Castro is doing is exactly what will happen when arbitrary rules of defining people for targeting are pushed into law.  History is full of examples where this exact process was used.  None of those examples ended well for those who were defined.
Posting a list on the public square; of ordinary citizens who just hold a different political outlook; and targeting them for confrontation, is just fueling ANTIFA toward violence against those on the list.   This is what cultural progressives mean when they say: “by any means necessary.”
Joaquin Castro’s twin brother, Julian Castro, is one of the Democrat candidates for president, and was previously President Obama’s HUD secretary.  Together Joaquin and Julian personify an ideology that supports political targeting, by any means necessary – including violence, of their political opposition.
Political targeting is exactly what President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder were doing when the DOJ requested the donor contribution lists, “schedule B’s”, from the IRS (Lois Lerner) so they could generate their ‘secret research project‘ targeting list.  These actions are directly, openly, publicly and specifically, the weaponization of government.
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National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow, appears on CNBC to discuss the U.S-China trade conflict that led to yesterday’s stock market drop. Additionally, Kudlow notes the strong key performance indicators that highlight the strength of the U.S. Main Street economy.

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Larry Kudlow also held a press conference.
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White House trade and manufacturing policy advisor Peter Navarro, appears with Lou Dobbs to discuss the current status of the U.S.-China trade conflict.
Within the interview Navarro discusses the impact of China devaluing their currency as a strategy to avoid U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports.  WATCH:

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Beijing has once again used their proxy province of North Korea to launch small two short-range ballistic missiles as leverage in the U.S. and China trade confrontation.

WASHINGTON – For the fourth time in less than two weeks, North Korea has fired projectiles into the Sea of Japan, a U.S. official said.
The two projectiles, fired on Tuesday morning local time, were assessed to be similar to the short-range ballistic missiles tested by North Korea last week, the official said. (read more)

Moments later President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin fired a counter-missile directly into the heart of Beijing’s trade currency manipulation:
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China needs to buy dollars to backstop their own currency (¥uan). When China trades with the U.S. they hold the return dollars as a peg against their weak currency.  Remove the flow of dollars (lessen exports) and they start to run out of strong pegged currency.
What is happening today is not as much direct devaluation by China; rather they are intentionally allowing their currency to drop in value, in an effort to lower export prices and off-set any tariffs from the U.S.   Simultaneously, Beijing is spending internally, burning cash, to keep their economy from weakening.  Their Yuan burn rate is greater than the influx of higher valued dollars needed to hold their position.
They cannot keep this position indefinitely.
First, here’s a solid interview with former CEO Gerald Storch on how the currency devaluation leads to lower prices for U.S. consumers.  Again, emphasizing the point that U.S. consumers are not paying for the tariffs against China.  Watch:

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It was only a matter of time before someone explained how the Chinese advisors to Chairman Xi Jinping are using President Trump’s inability to hold the coup plotters accountable as evidence they can wait out the President.
This is the crossover, where a lack of accountability for “Spygate” now begins to negatively influence the geopolitical, economic and strategic position of President Trump.  However, there’s an upside to this dynamic….
In several interviews the president has noted his preference to keep the DOJ and FBI issues at a distance and deferred action to others. The economic reset is President Trump’s #1 priority.  If Trump identifies the lack of DOJ and FBI accountability as an impediment to the economic program, he may become much more engaged.

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SHANGHAI—Plodding progress in trade negotiations between the U.S. and China this week is partly the result of a new tactic from Beijing, which increasingly thinks waiting may produce a more-favorable agreement.

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Tonight and tomorrow CNN is the broadcast host for two nights of Democrat presidential primary debates in Detroit Michigan.  After a live lotto-draw, the line-up was announced for only the 20 presidential candidates who the DNC qualified the second set of debates.
[Former Senator Mike Gravel, Mayor Wayne Messam, former Representative Joe Sestak and billionaire Tom Steyer did not qualify for the second round of debates. Sad.]

Tonight is the all white line-up: the Thriller in Vanilla; and will put Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on the stage along with Pete Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke.  It will be interesting watch how the communist and socialist differentiate themselves, the crowd is expecting a free stuff frenzy.
Meanwhile Beto needs to take a bite out of Buttigieg to survive to the next round.  Mayor Pete has been stealing all of self-flagellating Beto’s support; and the cashmere might start flying if the limo-liberals enter a demolition derby.
CNN holds exclusive broadcast rights to the debate. Consider this an open discussion thread for anyone watching…
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