President Trump’s geopolitical economic strategy is most often talked about regarding trade, China and resetting a massive U.S. trade deficit therein.  However, a critical part of that strategy, generally overlooked by U.S. media, is the relationship President Trump is building with India.
Expanded economic engagement with India creates more than just bilateral trade opportunities. A strengthened relationship, and possibility of moving India to the top of the trade priority list, also creates leverage toward China and ASEAN partner nations.
While most were paying attention to Thanksgiving’s ‘Black Friday‘ shopping; China quietly, lowered U.S. import tariffs.  BIGLY.  See Here [ <– That’s a big ‘effen deal]
Chinese media watch President Trump’s ongoing engagement with India far more closely than U.S. media watch it.  Chairman Xi Jinping and his economic advisers know the scale of risk inherent to their economy with a growing U.S./India trade relationship.

NEW DELHI, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) — Ivanka Trump, the daughter and adviser of U.S. President Donald Trump, has arrived in India for the annual global entrepreneurship summit, foreign ministry officials said Tuesday.
The summit scheduled to held in the southern city of Hyderabad Tuesday is being co-hosted by India and the United States.

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CTH has been looking, unsuccessfully, for China SME’s who have insight on the DC lobbying angle by Chinese foreign nationals and the hidden story of how the Trump administration might be confronting that aspect.
Gordon Chang briefly touches on that note during a discussion segment on the overall outcome of President Trump’s 12-day visit to Asia.
Apparently, if Chang’s sources are accurate (likely they are), the notification by POTUS Trump toward Chairman Xi Jinping, of the lobbyist warning did take place [Video 02:25].

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The foreign influence lobbying is a critical element for us domestically in the larger geopolitical strategy.  Chinese nationals pay our congressional representatives millions of dollars to purchase U.S. foreign policy.  CTH is cautiously optimistic this is a key element of Robert Mueller.
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was the brainchild of Senator Elizabeth Warren as an outcome of the Dodd-Frank legislation. With the CFPB Pocahontas tried to set up the head of the agency, the Director, in a manner that that he/she would operate without oversight. Unfortunately, her dictatorial-fiat-design collapsed when challenged in court.  Backstory #1 – Backstory #2
A federal court found the CFPB Director position held too much power and deemed it unconstitutional. The court decision noted that giving the President power to fire the Director would fix the constitutional problem.
However, with the prior court ruling as a backdrop, a second issue for Warren surfaces as an outcome of the current CFPB Director, Richard Cordray, resigning and President Trump appointing an ‘interim’ head for the agency.
Senator Warren, apoplectic at the thought of CFPB critic Mick Mulvaney acting as head of the agency, wants the Deputy Director,  Leandra English, to become Acting Director and points to Warren’s legislative outline as evidence to support her demand. Except it doesn’t…. not even a little bit.

(WARREN LINK)

The language Pocahontas points to in the CFPB construct, points to the Deputy Director filling in during the “absence” or “unavailability” of the Director. The statute clearly does not provide a mechanism when the Director position is “Vacant”.
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Walking in a Winner Wonderland.  Oh yeah, the New York Times writes about the bloated bureaucracy and career diplomats being removed from the U.S. State Department as if it’s a bad thing.  The condescending DC elites cannot fathom why they are unable to stop Secretary of State Rex Tillerson from cutting the rust out of the enterprise and streamlining the mission.

No-one, repeat NO-ONE, could have pulled off what T-Rex is accomplishing except T-Rex himself; with the full support of President Trump, of course. The former leader of the worlds largest private business, Exxon-Mobil, is now systematically bringing efficiency and effectiveness to the worlds largest public institution, the State Dept.
One fundamental question: “what is your specific and quantifiable value to the core DoS mission; and how do we measure your effectiveness therein”? The lack of reasonable answers within the bureaucratic ranks is leading to massive downsizing.
Making America Great Again means Making Interventionism Irrelevant Again – The New York Times outlines why the diplomatic retention of irrelevant snobbery is vital to those within the State Department’s cocktail circuit influence network.  At the rate Tillerson is going he might even eliminate the entire staff for the Assistant Cultural Ambassador to the U.N. Center for Biodiversity and Southern Hemispheric Aquatic Species Rights. That’s the threshold where things are really going to get ugly:
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Go through the archives and you’ll note a strategy unfolding that few, including us, could fully conceptualize when it first appeared.  Way back when candidate Trump first began to put his economic plans into platform outlines the subtle signature was there, but few were paying attention.
In order to reverse three decades of middle-class economic erosion, there were indicators that Trump’s strategy was a radical change in approach.  In essence the strategy was to split the economic policy into two areas and sequence the policy: highly-consumable goods (first) and durable goods (second).
Both product sectors have historically been viewed and approached by economic policy makers using a single financial strategy.  That singular approach gave rise to Wall Street benefiting and Main Street suffering.  Investment-class gained; middle-class suffered.
Trump outlined an approach –albeit vaguely– that was multidimensional.
His policy would first target multinational corporations, using the U.S. Treasury (Mnuchin) to weaken their grip and influence; simultaneously, he would use energy policy to drive down domestic prices in highly-consumable products (fuel, food, energy sector).  These sectors are not measured in fed inflation indexes; however, if lowered, these facets of consumer spending can also increase the amount of disposable income available for workers.
In essence, expand the economy by lowering the aggregate cost of living for the middle-class who live paycheck-to-paycheck.  Use monetary policy, fiscal policy and trade policy), to entice domestic investment and create jobs; and ultimately put upward pressure on wages.
That’s where we are now.
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Everyone is aware how apoplectic the Democrat loonery became when their best laid schemes to put Hillary in the White House ran into the reality of electoral Cold Anger carried by the deplorables.  Lots has been written about the gobsmacked reaction to the election, yet few have outlined the underlying policy reasons for the scope of the panic.
The desperate need for post-election control showcased the lefts’ reaction to fear.  However, it is only by looking at the policy groundwork they lost where a political observer can evaluate the scale of defeat.  Democrats created a continuum pathway that is now entirely controlled by the very nemesis of their controlling belief system.

In a largely under-reported story last week, President Trump installed OMB Director Mick Mulvaney as interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB.
The CFPB was created to establish power and control over almost every financial transaction in the United States.  But it is only when you review how Elizabeth Warren and the control agents structured the czar head of the CFPB that you recognize the scale of the intent carried within the construct.
When Senator Elizabeth Warren and crew set up the Director of the CFPB, in the aftermath of the Dodd-Frank Act, they made it so that the appointed director can only be fired for cause by the President.
This design was so the Director could operate outside the control of congress and outside the control of the White House.  In essence the CFPB director position was created to work above the reach of any oversight; almost like a tenured position no-one could ever remove.
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During an event celebrating multiple NCAA championship teams at the White House, the champion Oklahoma State University softball team asks President Trump if he would allow them to pray with him.   Watch:

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President Trump was visibly moved by the prayer which is evident in the extended version of the video below.
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Given the speed of events in Saudi Arabia this year a stunning report surfaces stating that King Salman is anticipated to hand over ruling authority to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman next week.
According to The Daily Mail King Salman will retain the title of guardian of the holy mosques but otherwise hand over all ruling authority to the crown prince.

The King of Saudi Arabia plans to step down and announce his son as his successor next week, a source close to the country’s royal family has exclusively told DailyMail.com.

The move is seen as the final step in 32-year-old Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s power grab, which began earlier this month with the arrests of more than 40 princes and government ministers in a corruption probe.

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There is a notable intent to talk down the economy amid almost all financial news providers.  However, despite their negative tone the economic reality continues to surpass their Eeyore disposition.
October’s U.S. housing starts jumped +13.7% to 1.29 million units and now begins to catch up with the underlying economic data.
You’ll note CTH discussed how housing would be regionally specific as the larger Main Street MAGAnomic policies were implemented.
Capital expenditures by home builders and home purchasers are the biggest financial decisions for most American workers.
Due to the deliberate factors involved, home purchasing is the largest railroad car in the economic train; it is also positioned in the rear of the economic sequencing.  However, when home building takes off the entire economic train gains momentum.

(Via Reuters) […] The sharp rebound in home construction reported by the Commerce Department on Friday was also driven by robust gains in the Northeast and Midwest regions.
The broad recovery could ease concerns about the housing market, which has been a drag on economic growth since the second quarter. The report added to labor market, manufacturing and retail sales data that have pointed to strong economic momentum as the year winds down.

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There are many people taking notice of modern politics for the first time in their lives. There is also some confusion noticed between two groups who talk above and around each other. Two groups communicating from two entirely different sets of understanding.  Perhaps it is valuable to reset the larger frames of reference and provide clarity.
Many, heck, most people think when they vote for a federal politician -a representative- they are voting for a person who will go to Washington DC and write or enact legislation. This is the old-fashioned “schoolhouse rock” perspective based on decades past.
There is not a single congress person who writes legislation or laws.
In 2017 not a single member of the House of Representatives or Senator writes a law, or puts pen to paper to write out a legislative construct. This simply doesn’t happen.
Over the past several decades a system of constructing legislation has taken over Washington DC that more resembles a business operation than a legislative body. Here’s how it works right now.
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