The media is attempting to initiate panic about the Coronavirus in 2020 the same way the media attempted to manufacture panic about an upcoming U.S. recession in 2019.
First things first.  Earlier today Vice-President Pence announced Dr. Debbie Birx will serve as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator. [CDC COVID-19 Resource HERE]
Dr./Ambassador Birx is about as bureaucratically deep state as you can get.
Coming from the State Department Dr. Birx has led the U.S. effort to eradicate HIV/AIDS effort and has a strong pedigree as a 30-year global health official, scientist and physician:

[…] Ambassador Birx is a scientist, physician, and mom, with three decades of public health expertise, including virulent diseases, their vaccines, and interagency coordination. She has been utilizing the best science to change the course of the HIV pandemic and bring the pandemic under control, community by community and country by country.
Her focus over three decades has been on HIV/AIDS immunology, vaccine research, and global health. She has developed and patented vaccines, including leading one of the most influential HIV vaccine trials in history. Three different Administrations across both political parties have relied on her knowledge and judgement. (link)

Additionally Vice President Pence added Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury; Dr. Jerome Adams, Surgeon General of the United States; and Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council to the Coronavirus Task Force.
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President Trump and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force are scheduled to hold a press conference today at 6:30pm Eastern.  The COVID-19 taskforce was established on January 29th.  A quarantine and travel entry ban was announced January 30th, and ongoing proactive efforts to mitigate U.S. risk from the coronavirus outbreak are ongoing.

Fox Business Livestream – White House Livestream – RSBN Livestream Link

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The task force is being led by HHS Secretary Alex Azar and includes: Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health; Ken Cuccinelli, Acting Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security; Matthew Pottinger, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor.
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A member of the Coronavirus taskforce, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, appears on CNBC to discuss the latest information about the Trump administration response effort.
You can visit the COVID-19 Information Page HERE

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CTH disagrees with Dr. Fauci on one point. Fauci doesn’t think additional countries will be added to the U.S. travel entry restrictions… CTH sees a strong possibility more countries will be added or restricted; possibly announced later today.
ps. Press briefing moved to 6:30pm.
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During a mid-afternoon session at the U.S. embassy’s Roosevelt House in New Delhi, India, President Trump met with U.S. and India business leaders. The president cancelled his prepared remarks to the business investors, instead he took questions from roundtable participants.

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President Trump and Prime Minister Modi deliver joint remarks to the media at the conclusion of their first bilateral discussion.

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[Transcript] – PRIME MINISTER MODI: My friend and President of the United States, Donald Trump; respected members of the American delegation; ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Once again, a very warm welcome to President Trump and his delegation in India. I am especially really happy that he has brought his family with him on this visit.
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White House Manufacturing and Trade Advisor Peter Navarro has been advocating for a return to U.S. production of medical products as a matter of national security.  With the spread of the Chinese Coronavirus and a rapid depletion of medical response products, Navarro’s concerns carry more weight than ever before.
President Trump has tasked Navarro with lead position coordinating the administration response to U.S. supply chain impacts.  In this interview with Charles Payne, Peter Navarro outlines the ongoing efforts to address all Coronavirus impacts.

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On the economic front President Trump has positioned the U.S. to withstand supply chain disruption better than most consumer economies. Starting from a position that the U.S. was too dependent on Chinese products; over the past two years Trump has pressured companies to return to the U.S. or find alternate suppliers outside China. During the two-year tariff battle many companies did exactly that. As a result those companies are not dependent on Chinese component goods. A proactive position is now helping many U.S. companies avoid the China economic contagion, and insulating their business interest.
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White House Trade and Manufacturing Advisor Peter Navarro has an interview with Maria Bartiromo to discuss potential U.S. supply chain issues and the need to reorient our medical equipment manufacturing back to North America.   As Navarro highlights the Chinese communist govt recently nationalized an American medical manufacturing company and commandeered all of their products. An important discussion.
Additionally, Navarro discusses the ongoing administration effort to combat incoming fake products from China still estimated to be over ten percent of all imports.

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CTH often describes the background DC motives with the phrase: “There are Trillions at Stake.”  Here we take a look at what that really means, and how DC politics is not quite based on the ideas that frame many reference points.
With people taking notice of DC politics for the first time; and with people not as familiar with the purpose of DC politics; we end up within two different references. Perhaps it is valuable to reset the larger frames of reference and provide clarity.
Most people think when they vote for a federal politician -a House or Senate representative- they are voting for a person who will go to Washington DC and write or enact legislation. This is the old-fashioned “schoolhouse rock” perspective based on decades past.  There is not a single person in congress writing legislation or laws.
In modern politics not a single member of the House of Representatives or Senator writes a law, or puts pen to paper to write out a legislative construct. This simply doesn’t happen.
Over the past several decades a system of constructing legislation has taken over Washington DC that more resembles a business operation than a legislative body. Here’s how it works right now.
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National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow appears on CNBC for an extensive interview on upstream economic issues.  With China’s economy at a standstill; and with the troubles of the coronavirus spreading outward; what does that mean for us?
There’s some good questions in this interview.  Domestically, as we noted yesterday, the U.S. economy is strong and growing. However, the Wall Street multinationals are very exposed to the China issues. On the bright side the overall China issues are helping to push more corporate decisions toward domestic investment and away from Beijing.

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Given these lessons being learned, I sure wish we didn’t have China involved in making our medicines and medical products.  The administration needs to look at this more.
Director Kudlow also appeared on Fox Business with Lou Dobbs.
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The potential for supply chain disruption as a result of China dealing with the Coronavirus, and almost a complete shutdown of their manufacturing economy, is looming heavy upon Wall Street multinationals invested in China.
However, tangentially related, as a result of USMCA we are now seeing signs of shifted investment into North America and increases in forecasts for U.S. manufacturing.

(Via CNBC) […] Early in the week, New York’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey for general business conditions posted a reading of 12.9, up 8 points from January and its best level since May. New orders surged to 22.1, the highest since September 2017, and shipments rose to 18.9, the best since November 2018.
On Thursday, the Philadelphia survey exploded 20 points higher to 36.7, the highest since February 2017. New orders hit their highest since May 2018. (more)

The Philadelphia FED tracks factory orders in eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware.  New orders in that region soared far higher than all expectations, reflecting a strong consumer-driven economy with ongoing purchases of durable goods.
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