Suspicious Cat smells some possible streamlining and downsizing afoot.

Not only has President Trump announced the nomination of Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary, but he has also announced that Lutnick will carry the role and “responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative” (USTR).

[LINK]

Perhaps in the second term President Trump and Howard Lutnick are going to fold the USTR into the Dept of Commerce?  Interesting.

Hopefully, Howard Lutnick, like Wilbur Ross, will keep the U.S. Chamber of Commerce blocked from influence over the upcoming trade discussions and potential trade agreements.  We note that former USTR Lighthizer was part of the transition discussion, and it seems odd his name has not surfaced…. yet.

Regardless, Howard Lutnick is an excellent choice for all the reasons previously outlined.

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In September we noted Howard Lutnick was the *ONLY* person, other than former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who accurately outlined: (1) Energy as the core source of sticky inflation; and (2) ending the Marshal Plan for EU tariffs as a key objective in term-2.

In combination with his eloquence in outlining MAGAnomics, which is remarkably impressive, this combination of skillsets would make Howard Lutnick the ideal candidate for Term-2 Commerce Secretary.  The guy simply ‘gets it.’ {SEE HERE}

Howard Lutnick was also in the running for Treasury Secretary; however, today several media outlets are reporting that Lutnick is likely to be nominated as Commerce Secretary, making him the first and leading WOLVERINE announced in the MAGAnomic team.

WASHINGTON DC – Donald Trump is expected to nominate veteran Wall Street financier Howard Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department, according to people familiar with the matter, elevating one of the financial world’s most vocal supporters of the president-elect to a crucial position overseeing the incoming administration’s economic agenda.

Lutnick, chief executive of the financial-services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, in recent months has become a close Trump ally and had been a top contender to lead the Treasury Department. As the co-chair of the president-elect’s transition team, Lutnick has spent much of his time at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private Florida club, poring over shortlists of candidates for positions in the administration.

A spokeswoman for Lutnick declined to comment. A Trump transition team spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Punchbowl News earlier reported that Trump was expected to chose Lutnick for the role. (read more)

Howard Lutnick gets it. The essential core of MAGAnomics.  Drive down the cost of goods through expanded energy development, then leverage reciprocity in tariffs to end the exfiltration of wealth.  Then cut out regulation and unleash American enterprise. This is the way to reverse this insufferable economic trajectory that creates a “service driven economy.”   The entire interview is well worth watching:

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Responding to reporters’ questions, today President of the European Union commission Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Donald Trump then immediately began the framework to explain EU background discussions in economic terms. “We still get a lot of [liquified natural gas] from Russia, and why not replace it by American LNG, which is cheaper for us and brings down our energy prices,” said Ursula von der Leyen.

The EU realizes the seismic shift that is upon them as a result of the U.S. election.  Everything from the Ukraine-Russia war; the economics of energy which President Trump will use in negotiations for peace; to the factual lowered prices within the EU created by Joe Biden energy policy to punish Americans; to funding for NATO in combination with the potential for the end of the Marshal Plan one-way tariffs are looming.  President von der Leyen is in a very precarious position.

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Ursula was speaking from ¹Budapest, Hungary.

While many are interpreting her remarks about purchasing LNG to be snuggling up to President Trump, factually it is a much bigger problem than western media will openly discuss.

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President Donald Trump sits down with Bloomberg Editor-In-Chief John Micklethwait for an extended interview. The interview is in partnership with the Economic Club of Chicago and is structurally President Trump facing down the globalists who sell Wall Street policy.

The interview was at times very combative as the interviewer, John Micklethwait, pushes a Wall Street ideology in alignment with the World Economic Forum. However, President Trump has already proven that his economic policies work.

President Trump stared down every WEF talking point and totally destroyed it.  This interview is brilliant and a perfect juxtaposition for Economic Nationalism vs Multinational Globalism.  President Trump tore the talking points apart.  AWESOME! 

Notice in the conversation about Tariffs, not a single word made by the “economists” on the value of the dollar and how pertinent it is in the equation.

When China and the EU devalue their currency to offset the impact of tariffs, the dollar value increases. This means it costs less dollars to import goods that come to the USA at a lower price (due to subsidies). Essentially, the diminished tariff impact is doubled.

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I have outlined my general opinion about labor unions [HERE].  Now we are going to focus on the realities, politics and economic outcomes from an International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike.

I mostly support the strike. I even mostly support ILA President Harold Daggett, a man of notoriously intemperate and sketchy disposition.  Daggett grew up in Queens, New York, directly at the same time and place as another wildly attacked industrialist turned titan of politics.  It is safe to say, they know each other; but I’ll get to that later.

Let’s turn to the issues that matter.  The dockworker strike has the potential to have major ramifications against the U.S. economy.  If the docks don’t work, the imports and exports don’t happen.  This could be a big mess, a really big mess if it goes on for a long time.

“People never gave a sh!t about us until now, when they finally realize that the chain is being broke now. Cars won’t come in, food won’t come in, clothing won’t come in.”

This union leader makes $900,000 per year. Maybe not the best spokesperson.

pic.twitter.com/b6sOXVsxJh

— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) October 1, 2024

U.S. MEDIA – The US port workers launched the strike due to a labor dispute with employers’ group United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), after their six-year contract expired.

For their new contract, ILA wants USMX to increase wages by 77 percent over six years and bar any automation, which they believe threatens workers’ jobs.

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On one side you have the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA), which represents 50,000 East and Gulf Coast dockworkers.  On the other side you have the U.S. Maritime Alliance, or USMX, an organization bargaining on behalf of the port owners, container owners and corporations.  In a few hours the ILA is scheduled to strike against USMX.

A late breaking development:

[SOURCE] – [pdf Specifics]

I am not sure how this is going to eventually end but suffice to say at least a one-week strike is built into the current dynamic.  I doubt any last-minute negotiations will stop that from happening, but you never know.

Below is a video reflecting the firm position expressed by ILA President Harold J. Daggett, who represents the interests of the workers.  There are many who may not like the tone or expressed strike intent of Mr Daggett; however, given the nature of modern corporatism as it stands, what workers have been doing hasn’t been working to change the dynamic.

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First, my perspective for new readers.  I generally support private sector labor unions. I did not always support them.  I do not support public sector unions, nor the leadership of most labor unions in general who politicize their activity.  In our modern era, the baseline for organized labor to support the interests of their blue-collar workforce is valid.

Against the backdrop of the larger geopolitical dynamic, I would make the case that, similar to the solidarity movement of the mid 1980’s, organizing the general workforce is going to be the last-resort backstop measure to block ideological western government and corporate intentions.

Populism, nationalism and MAGA specifically, needs a unity alliance with organized private sector labor.

I also believe President Trump sees the looming importance of this relationship as made visible by his support for the Teamsters union during the RNC convention.

Consider what we witnessed and endured with the forced worker vaccination programs of 2021.  I do not like the idea of politicized labor but contemplate how organized labor could have been used to pushback against the diminishment of liberty. There is a potential for value; thus, I evaluate organized apolitical labor as a potential pragmatic ally.

That said, let us discuss the looming strike by The International Longshoreman’s Association, which represents 50,000 East and Gulf Coast dockworkers.

There are a lot of economic impacts that can be created by a dockworker strike; they range from inconvenient to severe depending on the industry and sector therein.  With the U.S. manufacturing base diminished, imported goods now represent the system to deliver essential products into our nation.

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Jumpin’ ju-ju bones, I think we may have found Wilbur Ross’s replacement.  In this segment on CNBC Trump transition team leader Howard Lutnick, explains simple MAGAnomics to the panel.  Make this guy both Commerce Secretary and Chairman of the National Economic Council in 2025!

Starting with an explanation of his role within the Trump 2025 transition team, Lutnick then walks through the MAGAnomic principles enmeshed in President Trump’s economic policies.  Mr. Lutnick begins the policy part by outlining how energy restrictions are driving inflation through higher costs of goods. Yes. Yes and Yes.

Then Lutnick shifts to talking about tariffs and is one of the only advisors outside the 2017 team (Robert Lighthizer, Wilbur Ross) who factually references ending the insufferable “Marshal Plan.”  Again, yes, yes and YES.

Howard Lutnick gets it. The essential core of MAGAnomics.  Drive down the cost of goods through expanded energy development, then leverage reciprocity in tariffs to end the exfiltration of wealth.  Then cut out regulation and unleash American enterprise. This is the way to reverse this insufferable economic trajectory that creates a “service driven economy.”   The entire interview is well worth watching:

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A bonus video below.

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Economic security is the foundation of national security.  When government takes action that destabilizes our economy, every element of national security is put at risk.  We are experiencing that problem right now as we suffer through Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ intentionally flawed energy policy that is diminishing the U.S. economy.

“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.”

~ Niccolo Machiavelli

Never has that Machiavelli quote been more apropos than when considering the MAGA movement and the rise of Donald Trump.

Thankfully, we are now in an era when the largest coalition of American voters have awakened to the reality that, to quote the former president: “Economic Security is National Security.”

As we live through the economic mess of a Biden administration hell bent on eroding the middle class, there are numerous pundits contemplating 2024 and the shift President Trump represents; consider this group the lukewarm defenders Machiavelli noted.

At the same time professional Republicans, Democrats, the DC coalition (writ large) and corporate media are apoplectic about increasing groups of voters now supporting President Donald Trump.  This group consists of those affluent Wall Street agents and politicians set on retaining the profits derived from decades of institutional objectives.

Institutional Democrats hate Trump, and institutional Republicans are lukewarm, at best, in defending Trump.  Both wings of the DC UniParty fear Trump.  Extreme efforts at control are always a reaction to fear.  I make my case not on supposition, but on empirical reference points that most should understand.

Everything is about the economics of the thing.

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It was predictable [SEE HERE], and it happened exactly as predicted.

BlackRock investment firm writes the regulatory and economic policy for Joe Biden’s administration. That’s the quid-pro-quo that maintains the Biden political financial operation. All of DC know it. No one does not know. The ones who claim they do not know about it are all pretending. Republicans take the background BlackRock bribes and pretend.

BlackRock positioned massive investment assets inside Chinese auto manufacturers, MG, BYD, and Chery. The three Chinese companies are in the process of moving North American auto manufacturing to Mexico, specifically to make EVs. The Chinese EVs made in Mexico will come into the U.S market tariff free under the USMCA trade agreement. China and BlackRock will make billions.

Today, Joe Biden announced a series of tariffs against China in the EV industry. [SEE HERE] The Chinese EVs are not being made in China. The tariff regime is a farce – a total joke.

Biden might as well be announcing tariffs on Chinese swimming pools flown into the USA via hot air balloon.  There will be more Chinese swimming pools delivered from China than Chinese EVs.  The Chinese EVs come from Mexico.  The tariff is fake.

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