Jack Ma Accuses The US Of Spending $14 Trillion On War Instead Of Its People
By Tyler Durden
In a CNBC clip, which slipped between the cracks last week, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who has been busy trying to get into Donald Trump’s “circle of trust”, spoke in Davos and blamed the problems of the United States on the United States itself, as a country which has spent trillions of dollars to wage war, instead of investing in infrastructure and its own people.
Asked by Andrew Ross Sorkin about Trump’s decision to impose new tariffs on Chinese imports to protect domestic American manufacturers, Ma said blaming China for any economic issues in the U.S. is misguided. If America is looking to blame anyone, Ma said, it should blame itself.
“It’s not that other countries steal jobs from you guys,” Ma said. “It’s your strategy. Distribute the money and things in a proper way.”
According to Ma, the US wasted over $14 trillion in fighting wars over the past 30 years rather than investing in infrastructure at home. Ma named this as the main reason that the US economy is weakening.
Ma was not the only critic of the costly U.S. policies of waging war against terrorism and other enemies outside the homeland, however, the Alibaba founder said this was the reason America’s economic growth had weakened, not China’s supposed theft of jobs. In fact, Ma called outsourcing a “wonderful” and “perfect” strategy.
“The American multinational companies made millions and millions of dollars from globalization,” Ma said. “The past 30 years, IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, they’ve made tens of millions — the profits they’ve made are much more than the four Chinese banks put together. … But where did the money go?”
One answer: a couple of offshore bank accounts, or – now that Rothschild is managing Nevada tax havens – onshore.
He added that the U.S. is not distributing or investing its money properly, and that’s why many people in the country feel wracked with economic anxiety. Ma added that too much money flows to Wall Street and Silicon Valley. Instead, the country should be helping the Midwest, and Americans “not good in schooling,” too.
At least in theory, much of this forms the basis of Trump’s policies.
“You’re supposed to spend money on your own people,” Ma said. “Not everybody can pass Harvard, like me.” In a previous interview, CNBC said that Ma said he had been rejected by Harvard 10 times. Along those lines, Ma stressed that globalization is a good thing, but it, too, “should be inclusive,” with the spoils not just going to the wealthy few.
“The world needs new leadership, but the new leadership is about working together,” Ma said. “As a business person, I want the world to share the prosperity together.”
Earnings Season So Far: 27 Of 42 Reporting Companies Cite "Trump" Or "Administration"
By Tyler Durden
Earlier we reported that according to Goldman, virtually all of its investing clients are “anxious” and/or unsettled” due to rising confusion over Trump policies. As Goldman explained, “‘Unsettled’ is our best description of fund managers’ mindset as the new administration takes office. During an extensive series of client meetings in the US, Europe and Asia, it became apparent that investors are confused about how to best position portfolios under a Trump presidency… Policy uncertainty was a topic of concern raised in every client meeting. While we expect corporate tax reform legislation will be enacted in 2017, the magnitude of cuts and offsetting revenue proposals are unknown.”
Now, we can confirm that based on transcripts from companies reporting Q4 earnings, confusion – and hope – over Trump and his policies has spread to corporate America.
As FactSet analyst John Butters points out, while the majority of S&P 500 companies will report earnings results for Q4 2016 over the next few weeks, approximately 8% of the companies in the index (42 companies) have already reported earnings results for the fourth quarter (through Wednesday).
He then asks if “companies in the S&P 500 been commenting on government policies that may change under the Trump administration during their earnings conference calls for the fourth quarter?” To answer this question, FactSet searched for the terms “Trump” and “administration” in the conference call transcripts of the 42 S&P 500 companies that have conducted fourth quarter earnings conference calls through January 18 to see how many companies discussed these terms. FactSet then looked to see if the company cited or discussed a policy topic in conjunction with the citation of “Trump” or “administration.” The results are shown below.
Of the 42 S&P 500 companies, 27 cited the term “Trump” or “administration” during their Q4 earnings calls. The term “administration” was only counted if it was used to reference the Trump administration.
In terms of government policies in conjunction with the new administration, tax policy was cited or discussed by the highest number of S&P 500 companies at 11. Six of these 11 companies stated that if taxes were lowered, it would benefit their clients or themselves. Companies that cited or discussed a potential border tariff or tax were counted under “Trade Policy” and not “Tax Policy” in the chart. Numbers do not total to 27 as some companies discussed multiples policy topics, while others did not discuss any specific policy topics.
Here is a selection of Q4 call excerpts courtesy of FactSet:
“I think when you say indirect and direct, you mean direct, obviously, we’ve been a relatively high taxpayer. And so to the extent to which tax rates come down, we’re a beneficiary. But obviously, changes in tax policy can be a huge catalyst for how all of our clients think about deploying their capital, strategic decisions.” –Goldman Sachs (Jan. 18)
“Well, I just want to echo what you just said that we are starting to have conversations with clients that are indicating they are more optimistic …read more
Source: Earnings Season So Far: 27 Of 42 Reporting Companies Cite "Trump" Or "Administration"
"We Are Two Nations… Maybe More!"
By Tyler Durden
“The Trump Wars of the past 18 months do not now go away. Now it becomes the Trump Civil War, every day, with Democrats trying to get rid of him and half the country pushing back. To reduce it to the essentials: As long as Mr. Trump’s party holds the House, it will be a standoff. If the Democrats take the House, they will move to oust him.
Because we are divided. We are two nations, maybe more.”
Definitely more, Peggy. Definitely more.
And that is why war is on the horizon that no longer feels quite as distant as it once did. But at least one nation, the American nation, has a leader worth his salt.
Normally a new president has someone backing him up, someone publicly behind him.
Mr. Obama had the mainstream media – the big broadcast networks, big newspapers, activists and intellectuals, pundits and columnists of the left—the whole shebang. He had a unified, passionate party.
Mr. Trump in comparison has almost nothing. The mainstream legacy media oppose him, even hate him, and will not let up. The columnists, thinkers and magazines of the right were mostly NeverTrump; some came reluctantly to support him. His party is split or splitting. The new president has gradations of sympathy, respect or support from exactly one cable news channel, and some websites.
He really has no one but those who voted for him.
Do they understand what a lift daily governance is going to be, and how long the odds are, with so much arrayed against him, and them?
The USA now contains considerably more than two nations. That's why it is no longer any more viable than the European Union. It's been held together by force, easy credit money, and sleight of hand for a long time, but not for much longer.
The inaugural address was utterly and uncompromisingly Trumpian. The man who ran is the man who’ll reign.
It was plain, unfancy and blunt to the point of blistering. A little humility would have gone a long way, but that’s not the path he took. Nor did he attempt to reassure. It was pow, right in the face. Most important, he did not in any way align himself with the proud Democrats and Republicans arrayed around him. He looked out at the crowd and said he was allied with them.
For all his strength of will and civic nationalism, Trump cannot save the political entity, but he can put the American nation in a much better, much stronger position before the growing rifts become borders. He should take those who say he is not their president at their word, because they are neither the Posterity of the Founders nor We the People…
The Six Stages Of Democrat Grief Are Complete
The Oil Production Cuts Are Purely Symbolic Marketing Trickery (Video)
By EconMatters
By EconMatters
The OPEC and Non-OPEC Oil Production cuts are actually a joke in the bigger scheme of things, the oil markets have been over supplied for a decade. The Market`s self serving definition of a balanced oil market is complete nonsense on a larger macro view of the market.
There is a reason the 5-year averages for oil stocks have been rising every year I have been trading the oil market. It isn`t a coincidental indicator that more oil storage facilities are being built or expanded every year for the last 15 years of the modern electronic oil markets.
There is so much oil and derivative oil products in storage on a global calculus, that it is a joke if OPEC thinks they have cut enough to actually long term balance the oil markets.
In addition they are delusional if they think a little six month seasonal pullback in production is going to do anything other than artificially set the oil market up for the next leg back down in the second half of 2017.
© EconMatters All Rights Reserved | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Email Digest | Kindle
Source: The Oil Production Cuts Are Purely Symbolic Marketing Trickery (Video)
"Having A Vagina Is Not Enough" – One Woman’s View Of The Million-Pussy-March
By Tyler Durden
Authored by Katie Hopkins, originally posted op-ed at The Daily Mail,
Her sign said; 'I am more than my vagina'. I asked her why she was at the Women's March on Washington. She said it was because she wanted to show what democracy really meant.
Another white lady held a placard reminding me that 'white silence = white consent but Black Lives Matter #BLM'. She said she was marching because women own their own bodies.
And a lady, pushing a stroller with two children on board, facing down the secret service, with a sign that made it clear Trump is 'Not My President'.
Even the speakers sounded confused. As I ate a three piece chicken meal with a side of slaw to recover from hearing the Koran read out in Washington Cathedral, I listened to one manic woman yell at the crowd;
'We are women. And you are we. And we are you', gesturing to make her point clear. It wasn't. But the crowd loved it all the same.
Madonna popped up, her eyes inching ever closer to her ears to let us know Good did not win this election. (I didn't even know Good was a candidate.)
In the interests of full disclosure she told the crowd she had considered blowing up the White House'. The tolerant left also get PMT it seems.
Another speaker, short on content but gushing with oestrogen shouted: 'We are here'. (She was not wrong, we were). We will not be silenced. We will not play dead'.
To be fair to Trump, I have not heard the silencing of females or women playing dead in his 100 day plan. Perhaps a more suitable venue for this speech would be outside the Saudi embassy, where the silencing of women is all the rage.
A woman whipped into a frenzy by her own brilliance started listing girls' names, 'Emily, Conchita, Malala, Edith, Tonia, Shania (we had all got the point but she carried on regardless) Maria Guadalupe, Kayleigh….we are here to be respected. We are here to be nasty.
I think Madonna had already received this memo.
And fuelled by these pearls of wisdom, the women set off for the streets, pussy ears perked, banners aloft, chanting as they went.
'Tell me what democracy looks like?' 'This is what democracy looks like'.
I wanted to point out, respectfully, that democracy is the Electoral College system that saw Trump turn the map from blue to red. But there were a few million of them. And they had pictures of vaginas. So I decided this was not the time.
I thought I heard the women chanting 'Menstrual brew' which had me wondering exactly what this lot were on. But listening more closely it turned out to be 'Pence Sucks Too.'
I was grateful for the clarity. I thought it was just Trump they hated. But it turns out it is all men. Apart from the ones who are transitioning to women.
'What do we want? Equality'. 'When do we want it?' 'NOW'.
I wondered what in their world was not …read more
Source: "Having A Vagina Is Not Enough" – One Woman’s View Of The Million-Pussy-March
Trump Fires Up Europe’s Anti-Establishment Movement
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,
- “The genie will not go back into the bottle again, whether you like it or not.” — Geert Wilders, MP and head of the Party for Freedom, the Netherlands.
- A growing number of Europeans are rebelling against decades of government-imposed multiculturalism, politically correct speech codes and mass migration from the Muslim world.
- Europe's establishment parties, far from addressing the concerns of ordinary voters, have tried to silence dissent by branding naysayers as xenophobes, Islamophobes and neo-Nazis.
- “In many respects, France and Germany are proving they do not understand the meaning of Brexit. They are reflexively, almost religiously, following exactly the path that has provoked the EU's current existential crisis.” — Ambassador John R. Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
- “There is a genuine feeling that Trump taking over the White House is part of a bigger, global movement. Our critics, looking at Trump's candidacy and his speech yesterday, would call it the rise of populism. I would say it's simply a return to nation state democracy and proper values…. This is a genuine political revolution.” — Nigel Farage, former head of Britain's UKIP party, who led the effort for the United Kingdom to leave the EU.
- “This disruption is fruitful. The taboos of the last few years are now fully on the agenda: illegal immigration, Islam, the nonsense of open borders, the dysfunctional EU, the free movement of people, jobs, law and order. Trump's predecessors did not want to talk about it, but the majority of voters did. This is democracy.” — Roger Köppel, editor-in-chief of Die Weltwoche, Switzerland.
Inspired by the inauguration of U.S. President Donald J. Trump, the leaders of Europe's main anti-establishment parties have held a pan-European rally aimed at coordinating a political strategy to mobilize potentially millions of disillusioned voters in upcoming elections in Germany, the Netherlands and France.
Appearing together in public for the first time, Marine Le Pen, leader of the French National Front, Frauke Petry, leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy's Northern League and Harald Vilimsky of Austria's Freedom Party gathered on January 21 at a rally in Koblenz, Germany, where they called on European voters to participate in a “patriotic spring” to topple the European Union, reassert national sovereignty and secure national borders.
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The leaders of Europe's main anti-establishment parties appearing together in public for the first time, on January 21 in Koblenz, Germany. (Image source: Marine Le Pen/Twitter) |
The two-hour rally was held under the banner of the Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF), a group established in June 2015 by Members of the European Parliament from nine counties to oppose European federalism and the transfer of political power from voters to unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, the de facto capital of the European Union.
Referring to the June 2016 decision by British voters to leave the European Union, and the rise of President Donald Trump in the United …read more
Source: Trump Fires Up Europe’s Anti-Establishment Movement
In Blistering Interview, Conway Tells Chuck Todd "We Are Going To Have To Rethink Our Relationship With The Press"
By Tyler Durden
To members of the mainstream media, it would appears 'size matters', as the Inauguration crowd-gate debacle continues following Sean Spicer's unusual press conference yesterday. During a combative interview this morning with NBC's Chuck Todd, Trump top advisor Kellyanne Conway blasted media “falsehoods,” crushing Todd's 'size' issues by noting that “Presidents aren't judged by crowd sizes at their inauguration, they're judged by their accomplishments.”
But Conway was not done with the “Meet The Press” anchor yet, as she cornered him, noting this was just more evidence of the unfair and biased treatment of the Trump administration by the media:
“We're going to have to rethink our relationship with the press…
Yesterday, we allowed the press into the Oval Office to witness the signing of executive orders and what happens almost immediately – a falsehood is told about removing the bust of Martin Luther King Jr – that's just flat-out false.“
“I'm thrilled that all of a sudden NBC News and Chuck Todd is so focused on covering crowd control, because we were mocked daily for talking about the historic significance of the size of the crowds at our rallies during the campaign… on great days were ignored, and on most days we were mocked.”
“You want the American people to think they can't trust The White House press secretary, that's a very dangerous statement to make. Your job is to report the news, not to give your opinion, you're not an opinion columnist.“
…you've got a 14% approval rating, that you've earned…”
And Todd's response…
“…you attack us [the media] with some weird Twitter feed that you guys are obsessed with.”
See the full bloodbath interview below…
Netanyahu, Trump To Talk By Phone Sunday; May Announce Move Of US Embassy To Jerusalem
By Tyler Durden
In one of the first international phone conversations by the new US president since his inauguration, Israel PM Netanyahu is set to call Trump on Sunday afternoon: the civil war in Syria, the Palestinians and the nuclear agreement with Iran will be on the agenda Netanyahu told his weekly Cabinet meeting.
PM Netanyahu: This evening there will be a telephone conversation between President Trump and myself.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 22, 2017
The Prime Minister said that a top concern for Israel was the nuclear threat still posed by Iran under the terms of the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement. “The supreme goal of the state of Israel continues to be stopping the Iranian threat and stopping the threat from the bad nuclear deal signed with Iran,” he said
There are many issues between us including the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the situation in Syria and the Iranian threat.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 22, 2017
Stopping the Iranian threat, and the threat reflected in the bad nuclear agreement with Iran, continues to be a supreme goal of Israel
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 22, 2017
The Prime Minister said that a top concern for Israel was the nuclear threat still posed by Iran under the terms of the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement. “The supreme goal of the state of Israel continues to be stopping the Iranian threat and stopping the threat from the bad nuclear deal signed with Iran,” he said.
Netanyahu has been a fierce opponent of the nuclear pact, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, negotiated between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers — the United States, the UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany. Under the deal, Iran must reduce its uranium stockpile by roughly 98%, phase out its centrifuges over the next 15 years, limit research activities, allow heightened inspections and ship spent fuel outside of the country.
In return, many of the international sanctions imposed on Iran were lifted. Trump has repeatedly denounced the nuclear deal calling it “incompetently negotiated” and pledged to renegotiate its terms.
Sensing that Trump could indeed end the Nuclear deal to appease Netanyahu, on Saturday the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, told CBC in that “we can very easily snap back and go back not only to where we were, but a much higher position technologically speaking.” He continued the threat, added that “I don’t want to see that day. I don’t want to make a decision in that course, but we are prepared”: Salehi
Iran has never intended to manufacture missiles that would go as far as the U.S., Salehi says in reaction to post on White House website saying new U.S. administration intends to develop missile defense system “to protect against missile-based attacks from states like Iran and North Korea”
But while a discussion of Iran is assured, even if a treaty decision by Trump is unlikely any time seen, an unexpected twist was reported by Israel Channel 2 …read more
Source: Netanyahu, Trump To Talk By Phone Sunday; May Announce Move Of US Embassy To Jerusalem
Ex-WSJ Reporter Finds George Soros Has Ties To More Than 50 "Partners" Of The Women’s March
By Tyler Durden
Former WSJ reporter Asra Nomani asks in the NYT's “Women In the World” section what is the link between one of Hillary Clinton’s largest donors and the Women’s March? Her answer: “as it turns out, it’s quite significant.“
Here is what else she discovered.
Billionaire George Soros has ties to more than 50 ‘partners’ of the Women’s March on Washington
In the pre-dawn darkness of today’s presidential inauguration day, I faced a choice, as a lifelong liberal feminist who voted for Donald Trump for president: lace up my pink Nike sneakers to step forward and take the DC Metro into the nation’s capital for the inauguration of America’s new president, or wait and go tomorrow to the after-party, dubbed the “Women’s March on Washington”?
The Guardian has touted the “Women’s March on Washington” as a “spontaneous” action for women’s rights. Another liberal media outlet, Vox, talks about the “huge, spontaneous groundswell” behind the march. On its website, organizers of the march are promoting their work as “a grassroots effort” with “independent” organizers. Even my local yoga studio, Beloved Yoga, is renting a bus and offering seats for $35. The march’s manifesto says magnificently, “The Rise of the Woman = The Rise of the Nation.”
It’s an idea that I, a liberal feminist, would embrace. But I know — and most of America knows — that the organizers of the march haven’t put into their manifesto: the march really isn’t a “women’s march.” It’s a march for women who are anti-Trump.
As someone who voted for Trump, I don’t feel welcome, nor do many other women who reject the liberal identity-politics that is the core underpinnings of the march, so far, making white women feel unwelcome, nixing women who oppose abortion and hijacking the agenda.
To understand the march better, I stayed up through the nights this week, studying the funding, politics and talking points of the some 403 groups that are “partners” of the march. Is this a non-partisan “Women’s March”?
Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association, a march “partner,” told me his organization was “nonpartisan” but has “many concerns about the incoming Trump administration that include what we see as a misogynist approach to women.” Nick Fish, national program director of the American Atheists, another march partner, told me, “This is not a ‘partisan’ event.” Dennis Wiley, pastor of Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ, another march “partner,” returned my call and said, “This is not a partisan march.”
Really? UnitedWomen.org, another partner, features videos with the hashtags #ImWithHer, #DemsInPhily and #ThanksObama. Following the money, I poured through documents of billionaire George Soros and his Open Society philanthropy, because I wondered: What is the link between one of Hillary Clinton’s largest donors and the “Women’s March”?
I found out: plenty.
By my draft research, which I’m opening up for crowd-sourcing on GoogleDocs, Soros has funded, or has close relationships with, at least 56 of the march’s “partners,” including “key partners” Planned …read more
Source: Ex-WSJ Reporter Finds George Soros Has Ties To More Than 50 "Partners" Of The Women’s March
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