As more people begin seeing through the fog of political “talking points”, the next response from those suffering from battered conservative syndrome is to say: well, do nothing, and allow ObamaCare to simply self-destruct.
Unfortunately, this is not an option.  At least it’s not a reasonable option.  To understand how battered conservatives are being lead around, used and abused, it is very important to understand the abusers.  There are many.

Last week Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin informed congress it will soon be necessary to raise the debt ceiling.   Immediately, crony-constitutional conservative types, like many who assemble in the House Freedom Caucus, shouted “no way”; apparently, according to their pearl-clutching political position – it unnerves their fiscally conservative sensibilities.
Interesting.
On October 21st, 2015, the Freedom Caucus itself backed Paul Ryan for Speaker of the House of Representatives. (LINK)  A week later, October 28th, 2015, members of the same Freedom Caucus voted to approve a $2+ trillion dollar Omnibus spending bill, a massive continuing resolution, and removed the debt ceiling restrictions (link).  Two days later, October 30th, 2015, at 3:00am in the morning, the Omnibus CR bill passed the Senate (link).
This was yet another year without a federal budget, and a specific decision to fund all of Obama’s spending priorities for 2015 and 2016.  (more…)

Last night President Trump had a lengthy dinner and conversation with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in advance of several upcoming foreign emissary visits to the White House, and T-Rex’s strategic trip to Asia.
Today President Trump took Secretary Kelly (DHS), Secretary Ross (Commerce), Secretary Mnuchin (Treasury), Secretary Shulkin (VA), together with their spouses to Trump National Golf Club in Virginia.
Accompanying the cabinet group was key staff: Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Senior Adviser Steve Bannon, and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

Clockwise from President Trump: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Hilary Ross, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Louise Linton (engaged), Karen Kelly and DHS Secretary John Kelly, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Senior Adviser Steve Bannon, Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Merle Bari Shulkin and Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.

This type of exit from DC is really smart for multiple reasons.  It might be a little challenging for the convoy to drive 35 minutes, but it allows the cabinet team to synergize in a more relaxed environment with introductions and fellowship amid the spouses.
Additionally, it provides a fully private venue, with full pre-arrival security controlled by Team Trump (ie. no ears); and an escape from the toxic fumes which perpetually emanate from the DC Swamp.
(more…)

You can tell who holds the leverage by the nerves and twitches.  Mexico says they would prefer trilateral trade talks including both Canada and the U.S.; Mexico also wants the talks trade talks to begin ASAP.
Secretary “Wolverine” Ross says bilateral is preferred and there’s no immediate hurry as he intends to notify congress over the next few weeks.  {spit}
Ok, well, he really didn’t spit, but still.  This is exciting stuff.  By mid-summer we shall feel like kids peeking through the fence holes at the O.K. Corral….

(Via CNBC) Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Friday he hopes to start the formal process of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement in coming weeks.
Under U.S. law, the government must tell Congress 90 days before it signs any new trade agreement. Ross said he wants to take the step of notifying lawmakers “sometime in the next couple of weeks.”
“We are now in the very early stages” of having the talks to change NAFTA, he said in a joint press conference with Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal, Mexico’s economic minister.
(more…)

Reposting part of a previous outline by request.  The repost is requested as an outcome of the latest wage rate news within the February labor report.  The wage rate increase is not being highlighted, and in some reports downplayed, by media.   However, the measurable matrices inside the space between two economic engines is responding according to prior outline on the new economic dimension.

First the recap of the day’s news on labor rates:

WASHINGTON DC – With the labor market near full employment, wage growth could speed up as companies are forced to raise compensation to retain employees and attract skilled workers. A proxy for take-home pay rose a solid 0.5 percent in February.

The annual wage increase is close to the 3 percent to 3.5 percent range that economists say is needed to lift inflation to the Fed’s 2 percent target. Inflation is already firming, in part as commodity prices rise.

(more…)

Earlier today President Trump and Vice President Pence held a meeting with key congressional committee leaders to discuss the ongoing healthcare reform.

[Transcript] 11:50 A.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  I want to thank each of the House committee leaders for being with us today.  Your devotion and leadership has been amazing, and I want to just applaud you and the diligent work of your committees to advance the Obamacare repeal-and-replacement legislation that we’ve been talking about for a long time, and that we’ve been running with and I ran with, and I can tell you.  And that’s what people want, they want repeal-and-replace.  The bill passed just now through Ways and Means, and it will — I think the committee just voted recently, right?
(more…)

In the latest Bloomberg News report on the labor market, Bloomberg buried the lede:

[…]  Goods-producing industries, which include mining, construction and manufacturing, added 95,000 jobs in February, the most since 2000.

This is critical for many reasons.  However, before going further, again we must remind everyone about the Magic Wand. WATCH:

.
What many people do not realize is the scope of four decades of lies being sold by politicians and political operatives, who are espousing the sales pitch of globalists, and who constructed the second (Wall Street) corporate paper economy around the premise of off-shoring manufacturing and industrial jobs.
(more…)

Our President Trump met with the CEO’s of various small and community banks earlier today as part of the financial reform that underpins much of the overall Trump economic agenda.
Previously President Trump issued an executive order which modified, actually tiered, the choking rules, regulations and compliance reporting within Dodd-Frank banking rules which buried smaller locally operated banks with the same regulatory framework as massive financial institutions.
The next aspect of Trump’s financial reform will most likely come in some form of reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act. President Trump personally put the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall into the GOP platform as part of uncoupling Wall Street financial policy from Main Street financial needs. [More explanation on that below]

[Transcript] 11:17 A.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody, very much. Good morning and I greatly appreciate you being here. We have some real experts with us and we have some great bankers with us.
(more…)

…“and we will win, and you will win, and we will keep on winning; and eventually you will say we can’t take all of this winning, …please Mr. Trump …and I will say, NO, we will win, and we will keep on winning”.
~ Donald Trump

The February jobs report was released earlier today and the results stunned the markets. Employment in the private sector surged by 298,000 for the month However, no forecaster anticipated manufacturing and construction jobs growing over 106,000 jobs.
Construction jobs swelled by 66,000 and manufacturing added another 32,000. A stunning reversal in the sectors gaining the most significant growth in the first full month of a Donald Trump presidency:

The total shattered market expectations of 190,000, according to economists surveyed by ADP. The blockbuster report also solidified market expectations for the Fed to hike interest rates next week. Probability for an increase jumped to 91 percent after the release, according to the CME.
The report encompassed the first full month under President Donald Trump, who has pledged to rebuild the nation’s aging infrastructure system. (read more)

The results are so far beyond expectations that all current forecast models are being revised. (more…)

The spirit of America….  “Made In The USA”:

(more…)

Commerce Secretary Wilbur “Wolverine” Ross put the trade world on notice today when he announced a staggering $1.19 billion penalty on Chinese company ZTE for violating U.S. sanctions and selling electronics to Iran and North Korea.
China’s ZTE has agreed to pay the United States the fine.  Remember, in China all private businesses are politically attached to the central government.

(From Wilbur Ross Office) Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. today announced that China’s Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation and ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd., known collectively as ZTE, has agreed to a record-high combined civil and criminal penalty of $1.19 billion, pending approval from the courts, after illegally shipping telecommunications equipment to Iran and North Korea in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR).
(more…)