Earlier today President Trump signed an Executive Order requiring Federal agencies to focus hiring on the skills job seekers possess, rather than focusing on whether they earned a college degree.  The order requires Federal agencies to revise and update outdated Federal job qualification standards and candidate assessments, improving the quality and competency of the civil service.

The order implements best practices already adopted by private sector leaders to promote equity and inclusion.  As a result of this reform, talented individuals with apprenticeships, technical training, and apt backgrounds will have greater opportunity to pursue careers in the Federal civil service.  [Video and Transcript of Workforce Meeting]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Nice to see you. Thank you very much. Busy time.

MS. TRUMP: Absolutely.

THE PRESIDENT: We’re making a lot of progress with the whole situation that came in from a place called China, as you probably know. You probably see. But we have a little work to do, and we’ll get it done. We’re having some very good numbers coming out in terms of the comeback — the comeback of our nation. And I think it’s going very rapidly and it’s going to be very good. But right now, we’re in that process of building.

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears on Fox News with Stuart Varney to discuss a change in federal hiring policy.  However, within the interview Ross notes some key economic data that has a very solid predictor value for economic growth.

Both the spending rates and the savings rates for Americans are at all time highs.  The COVID-19 lockdown has limited purchase options, leading to less initial spending; however, consumers have a lot of recent cash reserve as shown in their rate of savings.

Ross is right, within this dynamic, as soon as economic limits are removed, the spending will boost the economy very quickly.

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Jumpin’ ju-ju bones… New home sales jumped a whopping 16.6% in May, blowing past the estimates of a 2.9% rise.  The May increase in sales is nearly 13 percent higher than the same month one year ago.

Home sales are a key indicator of economic health because purchases of homes requires (1) income, a stable job; and (2) an optimistic financial outlook from the buyer.

Sales of new single-family homes jumped 16.6% in May from April, to a seasonally adjusted annualized pace of 676,000, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. The median economist estimate was for 640,000, according to Bloomberg data.

In addition to a larger-than-expected monthly surge, May sales were nearly 13% higher than a year ago. As the US economy reopens, people are flocking back to the housing market in droves — the rosy sales are a rebound from three months of declines ending in April. (LINK)

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In the economic balancing act toward China Larry Kudlow represents the good cop, Peter Navarro represents the bad cop and President Trump navigates the market responses.  Neither person is factually in conflict with the other; the nuance is in the expression and each person has a role to play.  Sometimes teeth, sometimes not. It depends on need.

Last night trade advisor Peter Navarro noted the U.S. position with China and trade is still in a state of serious conflict.  This is accurate, and a more confrontational posture has been expressed by President Trump.  Today Larry Kudlow moderates the Navarro position to lessen the Wall St. concern over a looming decoupling.  It’s all a dance.

The need for nuance becomes clear as we watch Stuart Varney pushing the Wall Street concern angle on behalf of U.S. multinationals. The administration does not want to spook the stock market while they deal with a China confrontation. WATCH:

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Kudlow represents the panda mask. Navarro represents the eagles claw. President Trump advances or retracts each position as he controls the market response.  The objective is a slow, steady, smiling decoupling that doesn’t unnerve anyone… but the direction is always toward the decoupling.

President Trump is delivering the proverbial economic death by a thousand paper cuts.

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Walid Phares was the fifth [redacted] target of Robert Mueller’s expanded investigation as authorized by former Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein on August 2nd, 2017.

As Mr. Phares notes, the Mueller investigation was used by Obama-era politicians and officials as a mechanism to block President Trump from executing a divergent foreign policy.  The primary policy to protect was the Iran deal.

There is increased speculation, based on a pattern in other international activities and U.S. participants, the Iranian deal included return payments to U.S. officials for the release of billions in funds and the loosening of sanctions.  It is possible the return payments to the Obama team held a timing mechanism and the payments were stopped after President Trump withdrew from the deal and re-instituted sanctions.  Thus the severity of opposition from western politicians who were scheduled to remain wealthy via Iran.

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U.S. senators write foreign aid policy, rules and regulations thereby creating the financing mechanisms to transmit U.S. funds.  Those same senators then received a portion of the laundered funds back through their various “institutes” and business connections to the foreign government offices. Example Ukraine [Burisma to Biden]

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The DOJ in Boston have announced the arrest of a Winchester resident, Elijah Majak Buoi, 38, for seeking more than $13 million in PPP loans from the COVID rescue package.

BOSTON – A Winchester man was arrested today and charged with allegedly filing fraudulent loan applications seeking more than $13 million in forgivable loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) for COVID-19 relief through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Elijah Majak Buoi, 38, was charged in a criminal complaint with wire fraud, and will appear in federal court in Boston this afternoon.

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President Trump’s White House Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett holds an impromptu press availability to discuss continued efforts to reopen the economy while mitigating COVID-19 impacts.

As Hassett notes in all states where the economy has reopened there is significant economic rebound including strong sales and a need for rapid reemployment. The underlying economy is very strong; the primary issue is getting all states to reopen.

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White House Trade Policy Advisor Peter Navarro outlines what many CTH readers are aware of.  John Bolton begged for the job and enlisted Sean Hannity and Mark Levin to get advanced recommendations.  That’s how he got in. However, as National Security Advisor John Bolton never understood the President Trump doctrine, using economics to achieve national security objectives.  Underline it, highlight it, that’s the primary issue.

In this interview Navarro goes full wolverine on Bolton, and deservedly so.  What Navarro outlines is the truthful reality.  You can tell because it aligns at every level with what we watched every day while John Bolton was in the administration. God bless Navarro for truthfully calling the baby ugly.  WATCH:

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John Bolton felt unimportant in the world of geopolitics because President Trump relied on the economic team of Secretary Mnuchin, Secretary Ross, USTR Lighthizer and Trade Advisor Peter Navarro to achieve national security objectives.

Bolton was the knuckledragger at the end of the table, useful as leverage, where Trump could point to him and say lets make a deal to keep the warmongers like this guy out of the picture. Bolton’s biggest problem was with that Trump doctrine.

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This hearing might be a little too wonky for some, but not too many other policy issues touch 100% of American lives.   U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will be delivering testimony today outlining the 2020 trade policy agenda.

The testimony is before the House Ways and Means Committee, and will be livestreamed on the committee website [SEE HERE] and below at 10:00am ET from the Longworth House Office Building.  USTR Lighthizer is the sole witness.

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Lighthizer will also be testifying to the Senate Finance Committee at 3:00pm. [LINK]

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U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is testifying tomorrow at 10:00am to the House Ways and Means committee; later in the afternoon Ambassador Lighthizer will testify before the Senate Finance Committee.

The New York Times has received an advance copy of USTR Lighthizer’s opening statement, and the liberal publication is apoplectic the Trump administration plans to outline an even more aggressive stance toward the World Trade Organization (WTO).

According to the pearl-clutching Wall St. class, Lighthizer is going to inform congress of Trump/USTR plans to demand tariff reciprocity; and Lighthizer will indeed raise tariffs against any nation that continues to attempt one-sided benefit. [EU will go bananas]

One method to approach tariff inequality would be for the U.S. to lower the import value threshold for non-tariff exemptions. Currently the U.S. does not apply import duties to any product valued under $800. This is a great benefit to China, southeast Asia, and U.S. on-line retailers such as ebay and Amazon; however, the zero tariff threshold hurts U.S. manufacturers because China and other nations do not reciprocate.

It is anticipated that USTR Lighthizer will inform congress the U.S. will lower that import threshold to match the same value level applied by other nations. Obviously the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Wall Street multinationals will not like this approach.

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