In a meeting with Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) and Charter Communications CEO Thomas Rutledge on Friday, President Trump revealed a major commitment by the telecommunications company to invest in America.  Charter will invest $25 billion in the U.S. and create 20,000 jobs over the next four years.
Charter Communications will completely end its offshore call centers, choosing to base 100% of its call centers here in the U.S.  This will include a new call center in McAllen, Texas, “Where they will create 600 new American jobs.”

[TRANSCRIPT] 11:03 A.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. We greatly appreciate you being here. I’m delighted to welcome Tom Rutledge, Chairman and CEO of Charter Communications — a great company — to the White House.
I’m also very honored that my friend, Texas Governor Greg Abbott — my good friend and supporter — we love you — is here with us today. Very appropriate. He’s done a fantastic job in Texas, and we had a previous governor who did a very good job, right?
GOVERNOR ABBOTT: Right. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Right. He’s around here someplace. Standing right over there.
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A series of recent headline articles about traditional economic analysts, government and private, perplexed by financial and consumer trends – highlights the disconnect inherent amid those who cannot reset their frame of economic reference.
For 30+ years U.S. economic political policy has been driven by Wall Street interests. STOP. Main Street, the middle-class and the American worker have suffered. STOP. The successful election of Donald Trump, and the execution of his “main street” economic policy agenda, has sledgehammered the prior economic machine into a full seizure an halt. FULL STOP.

(WSJ Article Link)

It was Albert Einstein who aptly stated:

“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.”

The same basic principle applies to those who are trying to understand and evaluate current economic activity yet failing to disengage themselves from their historic economic frames of reference. (more…)

The insufferable DC Swamp media-guards were in full Swamp protection mode today.  Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney appeared on NBC (Chuck Todd) and CBS News (John Dickerson) to discuss the first Trump budget proposal.
Chuck Toad (Meet the Pus) was his insufferable, groaning, grunting, condescending and teeth gnashing self.  Weird how Toad is a budget hawk all of a sudden:

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John Dickerson spent the first 5 minutes of a 6.5 minute interview with the budget director talking about issues unrelated to the budget:
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Appearing on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Eric Trump discusses how he and the family handle intense criticism and changes within the family business as an outcome of his father’s presidency:

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Maria Bartiromo continues to have one of the most interesting Sunday interview programs aired on television. Prior to the Eric Trump interview Ms. Bartriomo spoke with Rep. McMorris Rogers, Newt Gingrich and VA Secretary Shulkin: (more…)

(Via Reuters) With warm words from Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ended his first trip to Asia since taking office with an agreement to work together with China on North Korea and putting aside trickier issues. (link)  All lumps removed…


Chinese President Xi Jinping:

“You said that China-U.S. relations can only be friendly. I express my appreciation for this.” … “We both believe that China-U.S. cooperation henceforth is the direction we are both striving for. We are both expecting a new era for constructive development.” … “The joint interests of China and the United States far outweigh the differences, and cooperation is the only correct choice for us both.”

Secretary of State Tillerson:

“President Trump places a very high value on the communications that have already occurred, and he looks forward to enhancing that understanding in the opportunity for a visit in the future.” … “We know that through further dialogue we will achieve a greater understanding that will lead to a strengthened, strengthening of the ties between China and the United States and set the tone for our future relationship of cooperation.”

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Spidey Sense Level remains elevated…

(Via Reuters)  Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will make his first state visit to Washington during the first week of April at the invitation of U.S. President Donald Trump, Egyptian state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram reported on Sunday.
The trip will be Sisi’s first U.S. state visit since being elected president in 2014 as former U.S. President Barack Obama had never extended an invitation.

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President Trump’s U.S. trade policy of “America First”, free but FAIR trade, came to the forefront in Germany as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin subtly yet firmly pushed back against language that affirmed globalism and multilateral trade.
According to the Washington Post German officials urged Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to agree to their customary modern free trade language in the G20’s joint statement.
However, the U.S. Treasury Secretary refused their request and instead urged adoption of more general wording allowing each nation to make their own determinations of what constitutes “free and fair trade” with their own best interests in mind.
This approach is the basis for one-on-one bilateral trade.  It is also the starting point toward negotiating exceptional trade deals by providing leverage which allows President Trump, Secretary Ross and Trade Rep Lighthizer to frame proposals (by competing nations) against each other.  By holding firm to the basic trade outlook Secretary Mnuchin is setting the table for the U.S. trade team to renegotiate everything.
The disconnect from the traditional economic group-think of the G20 finance ministers is a direct break from the past two decades.  This central approach reflects the baseline change in ongoing U.S. trade policy.  It would appear President Trump and his economic team are more concerned about the interests of American workers than foreign nationals. Go figure.
Secretary Mnuchin suggested adding more general language committing to “strengthen the contribution of trade.”   A version of that sentence was included in the statement, despite criticisms from some G20 finance ministers that it was pointless.
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President Trump delivers the weekly address for March 18th 2017.

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President Trump and German Chancellor Merkel hold a joint press conference Friday March 17th 2017.
Chancellor Merkel again presented her view that globalization was the future of the world economy, and continued advocating for a failing multi-culturalist approach toward blended societies and reductions in national identity.  Merkel, like most of the far-left EU ideologues view Russia as an existential threat to their political objectives.

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President Trump has initiated a new administration protocol of greeting each foreign dignitary personally at the entrance to the White House upon each visit.

Today German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the White House and attended a cabinet room roundtable discussion with U.S. and German business leaders on the topic of vocational training.  Anticipating a future trade negotiation President Trump also brought Commerce Secretary Wilburne (Ross) to engage:

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12:58 P.M. EDT [Transcript] PRESIDENT TRUMP: Chancellor, thank you very much. Such a great honor to get to know you, to be with you. I want to thank all of the business leaders who have joined us to discuss a subject that’s very important to me — training our workforce for the 21st century, especially with respect to manufacturing jobs.
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