Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears on Fox Business to discuss some very important current issues in the world of finance, banking and trade.

Bessent begins by answering questions about the U.S. government taking equity interests in companies that come to the U.S. for support.  Bessent then notes the potential for the Trump administration to construct a taxpayer stake in Fannie and Freddie, before the Treasury Secretary moves on to talk about the trade issues with India.  WATCH:

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CTH noted several months ago, end the Marshall Plan for Europe and things will change quickly.

Germany is in a tight economic place as a result of: (1) former leftist Chancellor Olaf Scholz alignment with climate change policy, radically changing the German energy base and driving up costs; (2) the financial support for Ukraine; (3) the financial burden of mass African/ME migration, and (4) the new Trump-era EU tariffs that effectively end the Marshall Plan.

Put all four elements together and the German economic contraction is only forecast to worsen. This is the reality that current German Chanceller Fredrich Merz is facing. Thus, as a non-pretending former businessman, Merz recently told his party and the German electorate that current financial conditions no longer support the expansive entitlement state.

Pensions, benefits and even healthcare are potentially going to be impacted. Germans are not happy.

GERMANY – The German welfare state is no longer financially sustainable, Friedrich Merz said on Saturday. The chancellor argued for a fundamental reassessment of the benefits system as spending continues to soar past last year’s record of €47bn (£40bn).

In a state-level party conference meeting on Saturday, Mr Merz said: “The welfare state as we have it today can no longer be financed with what we can economically afford.”

Once the export champion of Europe, Germany’s economy has slowed dramatically since 2017, with GDP growing by only 1.6 per cent since then versus 9.5 per cent for the rest of the eurozone.

Germany’s economy shrank by 0.2 per cent last year following a 0.3 per cent dip in 2023 – the first time since the early 2000s the economy has retreated two years in a row.

Industrial production fell under the Left-leaning “traffic light” coalition of Olaf Scholz and continues to slide under the new government, with GDP declining by 0.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2025.

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The White House provides the following pictures of the Ukraine peace summit in the Oval Office.

Everything about the optics is epic.

[Original Source]

The map is also interesting.

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President Trump holds a summit with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and various EU leaders.  At the beginning of the meeting, President Trump allowed the press pool to have access to the opening statements. WATCH:

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President Trump and Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy hold a press availability in the Oval Office before going into a HIGH STAKES bilateral discussion and later meetings with European leaders.

President Trump notes that immediately following the discussions, he is scheduled to call Russian President Vladimir Putin to give him an update on the discussion and potentially schedule a trilateral meeting between Putin, Zelenskyy and Trump.

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President Trump hosts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House. Livestream Links Below:

• 12:00PM – European Leaders arrive at The White House
• 1:15PM – President Trump greets Ukrainian President Zelensky, holds Bilateral Meeting
• 2:15PM – President Trump greets European Leaders, participates in a Family Photo
• 3:00PM – President Trump holds Multilateral Meetings with European Leaders

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President Trump special envoy, Steve Witkoff, outlines elements of the talks between President Trump and President Vladimir Putin in advance of a meeting tomorrow with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and EU leaders.

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EU President Ursula von der Leyen appears with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to outline terms for a peace negotiation with Russia.   Ursula gives Zelenskyy the specific rules and conditions; a new suit jacket wearing Zelenskyy fills in the color.  WATCH:

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Ursula von der Leyen will be accompanying Zelenskyy to the White House to ensure no mistakes are made.

Find someone who looks at you the way Zelenskyy looks at von der Leyen.

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Considering that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been called a “puppet” for various western interests, the reports of Zelenskyy bringing EU leaders along for his meeting with President Trump strikes as a little ironic.

Apparently, the EU is worried that Zelenskyy could screw things up for their Ukraine interests, so handlers or minders are being dispatched along with him just in case. Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte are among the names being discussed as chaperones for the Ukraine President.

Additionally, French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer are planning a teleconference Sunday as the “coalition of the willing” brainstorms the best way to avoid a Zelenskyy capitulation to the terms and conditions outlined by President Vladimir Putin.

With BlackRock and J.P.Morgan prepositioned to control the Ukraine Recovery and Reinvestment Bank {LINK}, the coalition of the willing want U.S. troops to backstop the terms of a potential peace agreement.  The banks and financial beneficiaries need the insurance provided by the U.S military.

Ultimately, banking interests are the stakeholders in the future, and the U.K, France and German political officials represent the strategists in place to protect the interests of the banks.  Not coincidentally, this is classic -albeit inverted- fascism.

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For months, the so-called “coalition of the willing” led by Great Britain, France and Germany, have been proposing a multinational group of peacekeepers on the ground in Ukraine – supported by U.S. military.  However, after President Trump asserted he would not support a U.S. troop presence in Ukraine, things got sticky.

Without the U.S. military, the NATO members were not willing to put their troops into the meat grinder buffer zone between Russian and Ukrainian forces. The U.K, France and Germany continually demanded U.S. troops as protection, just in case things escalated.  This insurance approach was expanded by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy who coined the term, “security guarantee” to encapsulate the EU demand.

However, President Trump cuts the Gordian knot in the “ceasefire plan,” by eliminating the “ceasefire plan.”

Instead, President Trump goes directly to a peace agreement, and somehow the EU members agreed to it.  There will be no negotiation for a ceasefire; instead there will be immediate negotiations for a long-term peace agreement.

PRESIDENT TRUMP – “A great and very successful day in Alaska! The meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia went very well, as did a late-night phone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and various European Leaders, including the highly respected Secretary General of NATO. It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up. President Zelenskyy will be coming to D.C., the Oval Office, on Monday afternoon. If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin. Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” (link)

President Trump does not publicly point out that the shift in plan negates the need for a ceasefire security force, but the reality is inside the unspoken change.  A very smart and strategic approach that appears to have flown under the radar.

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