The author of this paper is Stephen Miran, President Trump’s nominee for the Chairman of the Council of Economic Policy Advisors ( CEA )
A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System November 2024 Executive Summary
“The desire to reform the global trading system and put American industry on fairer ground vis-à-vis the rest of the world has been a consistent theme for President Trump for decades. We may be on the cusp of generational change in the international trade and financial systems.”
Jeffrey Sachs outlines the road to the U.S proxy war with Russia in the Ukraine beginning with Nato’s march east toward Russia, a policy formalized under President Clinton:
It’s unlikely that Canadian retailers will speak about shoppers avoiding products made in the USA , but…
While Pat was food shopping today she noticed Canadian flag stickers on shelves promoting Canadian products. A week ago, she noticed that one counter of USA produce was overflowing next to another from Canada that was almost empty.
In the government liquor store, where Canadians buy all types of alcohol, she said that in a busy store there wasn’t a single person in the California wines aisle all the time she was in the store.
I believe shopping habits have changed like this right across the country. Because 40 million Canadians represent a large market for US alcohol and food products, I believe US producers are hurting. I think the boycott will worsen and the impact on American jobs will be severe. As Europeans witness this mini-battle unfold, I believe they will join in.
Bottom line: Americans today who relish Trump’s actions should be preparing to go it alone. The political tensions you feel today will worsen and being an outcast like Russians feel under Putin will not be enjoyable.
Do people truly believe Trump is going to make America more livable? Maybe today because the President has been in office for only a few weeks. But in a few months?
After I published the following commentary today, maybe common sense is returning to market prices.
Americans are soon to discover the other side of the Trump coin. A surge in inflation as soon as his tariffs are applied, work stoppages because of supply-chain problems, lawsuits galore, and national strikes within the country. There is no way the stock market can withstand such an assault — unless Trump takes power away from the capitalist system and he personally sets interest rates and commodity prices, blocks worker strikes, and uses the military to force other countries to send economically required materials and energy to his country.
I’m hoping Mr. Market delivers the message to the oligarchs who support Trump, and they, in turn, tell him to start acting like the fit and proper President the USA needs.
The headline of an opinion piece I read today triggered my interest, given I had just written about the subject. The writer seemed to be as concerned with what he sees in America and not just Trump. But he’s a real person, unafraid to speak his mind and say what my Canadian friends, associates, and media personalities say today.
So, getting the point across to Americans who have an open mind to what others are saying about their country and its President is worthwhile. Here is the article:
I lived my first 20 years of my life in Canada always believing that the USA was a better place to be and sincerely believed that an education in the States would give me the skills that I needed to fully succeed.
I sold my business and paid my way as an international student gaining two masters degrees in two different universities. The education was great, but very US-centric and far too centered on economic principles that I did not agree with.
Traveled all over the world, lived in the Caribbean for 7 years, purchased a home in Florida and then another in Nevada. I thought things were pretty good, until the election of Obama, whom I supported and was thrilled. Until –
I did my rounds visiting clients all through the southern states getting all sorts of weird responses from them (anger and talks of a revolution were common) and finally had a meeting with a client in Las Vegas. Walking in, I noticed that everyone was wearing guns strapped to their waist. I instantly got very concerned, even more, when the owner of the company sat down, put his gun on the desk and asked me point-blank “who did you vote for?” I told him that I could not vote as I was a “Canadian” He then told me that Obama would be “dead” within a month.
I got out of there as fast as I could, sold my house and moved back to Canada. Over the next year, I got rid of all my assets and business in the USA and have now been back in Canada since.
When Trump was elected, I was shocked and dismayed by what I saw. I could see quite clearly that “America” had gone to that place that I was most fearful of. Bigotry, Corporate greed, religious zealots dictating the law and of course closing their borders, mistreatment of Muslims, Mexicans and pretty much anyone that did not have Trump as a last name. I saw Trump making himself into a “King” which is what he once told me was his destiny (although in fairness, it was that he was the King of New York).
Let me tell you what I know about this man, and what I learned directly from him and his associates.
“The Big Lie”
A big lie (German: große Lüge) is a propaganda technique. The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so “colossal” that no one would believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.”
Later, Joseph Goebbels put forth a slightly different theory which has come to be more commonly associated with the expression “big lie”. Goebbels wrote the following paragraph in an article dated 12 January 1941, 16 years after Hitler’s first use of the phrase. The article, titled Aus Churchill’s Lügenfabrik (English: “From Churchill‘s Lie Factory”) was published in Die Zeit ohne Beispiel. (Thanks to Wikipedia)
The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.
I have known many people to practice this “art form.” I have walked away and left many a relationship because of the way those people were trained to “never admit to a lie” – Like the lifetime friend who was caught cheating on his wife, his defense – “ Never admit to having an affair, never” — He is no longer a friend. Whatever happened to integrity? Another question, maybe a Quora question.
In most recent times, Donald Trump has exhibited an extreme skill at using the “Big Lie” to his advantage and gaining followers and supporters just like Hitler and Churchill did. (Yes, it was not only the Nazis but also the British who used this technique to push the masses to do whatever the leaders told them to do.)
I know Donald Trump personally, and have done business with him; I ended my relationship with him over 15 years ago because of his lack of honesty, integrity and any resemblance to the “type” of business relationships that I wanted in my life.
I do have to hand it to him though; he does have perseverance in following his playbook with unwavering conviction to the point that he actually believes his own lies.
A passage from his playbook:
“The primary rules are: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it often enough people will sooner or later believe it.”
Do you have any idea where this playbook passage comes from?
The phrase was also used in a report prepared during the war by the United States Office of Strategic Services in describing Hitler’s psychological profile.
You now know why there are so many comparisons and worries about Trump being just another “Hitler.”
You now all know that you are indubitably part of the “Big Lie” question is, what are you going to do about it? Trump is not just a sick perverted imbecile, he is dangerous.
Canada fought Hitler alongside the UK and France a good two years before America joined the fight, Canadians may be the friendlier, gentler nation to the north of the USA. But, we absolutely do what needs to be done when the rubber meets the road.
It is my sincere hope that the American public gains some insight into the very dangerous road they are going down does the right thing, and in a simple and direct voice, says, “Donald Trump, you’re fired.”
162.2K views
If Canadians like this writer, or myself, or so many others, did not care about friends and allies, and the institutions and values we have clung to for our lifetime, we would not be expressing such opinions to Americans. If however, Americans believe that Trump is a fit and proper President who should do what many believe is necessary to ‘clear the swamp’ and clean up the waste, then I respect that. That’s your call. But, in return, you should respect that concerned people in other countries have decided to go their own way to preserve the political and financial systems and personal lifestyles they prefer.
jimg
February 19, 2025 10:14 am
#44893
The U.S. Congress has total control of the Federal Reserve. They created the Fed and they can dissolve the Fed
“Central banks appear to be poised for a major push to replace rule by democratic governments with rule by privately owned central banks. Their chief task in this regard is to free the U.S. Federal Reserve from its constitutional constraints, which prevent the bank from operating in secrecy and beyond the reach of Congress and indeed law itself.” Episode 1 and II are out:
While the evidence supporting this conclusion is freely available from the public record, without some minimal working knowledge of central banks, the story would be extremely difficult to tell in a single video. Consequently, The War for Bankocracy series will lay significant groundwork and tell the story over the course of eight episodes.
I have always said that the US government created the Fed and can dissolve the Fed. It’s a matter of votes in Congress to change the Constitution. That is light years away from saying Congress has total control. My point was made in 2008 when Congress was forced to bail out the banking system.
The question is why does Congress allow the privately controlled Federal Reserve System to operate “in secrecy and beyond the reach of Congress and indeed law itself?” Isn’t it because the Fed has built the US credit system to be the most powerful in the world, and without it, the US Dollar would not be the world’s reserve currency? Without that, it would not have the economic power America does.
I personally do not like the power of the Fed and the US banking system that I call Humongous Bank & Broker. You all know that. However, unlike where I see Trump’s America going today, I hope Americans can solve their problems from the ground up, one person at a time, with critical thinking, ‘stock market literacy,’ and independent action to manage their own affairs. Looking to autocrats and oligarchs like Trump and Musk do it for you is far worse than having the Fed do the checks and balances work that Congresses and Presidents have never managed to do.
Maybe it’s because, unlike my US-centric friends, I have a worldly perspective, and with decades of experience working within the US regulatory systems, I can see what Trump has been up to. He is now within reach of his plan to change the United States of America to the United States of Trump.
This month, unless you have been vacationing on a remote South Pacific island, you have seen the end of America the way the world has known it and counted on it for stability. Trump’s message that he will take control of the Americas from Greenland to the Panama Canal for the sake of his concept of homeland security, his speech with Netanyahu that he will take over Gaza and create a US real estate paradise, his demands of Zelensky to give the US Ukraine’s critical minerals, his calling Zelensky a dictator and the man who started the war with Russia, JD Vance’s completely disrespectful speech in Munich to the Europeans, JD Vance’s speech to Americans that judges have no authority to control Trump, his using Musk’s teams to collect private financial and health information on all Americans, his installing a TV personality to head the world’s mightiest military, and his utter disrespect for the rule of law by releasing criminals and stopping the prosecution of others like NYC Mayor Eric Adams, is simply enough. We don’t need more evidence that democracy is dead in America. It’s now Trump’s America.
Americans are soon to discover the other side of the Trump coin. A surge in inflation as soon as his tariffs are applied, work stoppages because of supply-chain problems, lawsuits galore, and national strikes within the country. There is no way the stock market can withstand such an assault — unless Trump takes power away from the capitalist system and he personally sets interest rates and commodity prices, blocks worker strikes, and uses the military to force other countries to send economically required materials and energy to his country.
Americans will also soon discover that Canadians are no longer friends. As NATO and the USMCA are now dead, Canada will develop economic and military agreements with allies in the UK, Europe, and elsewhere. Snowbirds will pull out of the US south in favor of the Caribbean and Central America. Canadian governments and businesses will cease buying from America, and consumers across Canada will no longer purchase the US-made products on the retail shelves. The Bank of Canada will drop its interest rates, and governments will print money to help its people survive the Trump problem, pushing the Loonie from 70 cents American to 62 cents or lower. That will ensure that more Americans will buy Canadian products, invest in Canadian government securities and goldminer stocks, and travel north for inexpensive vacations and to buy cottages. But Canada will get by. It always does because it has a backbone, always standing up to dictators.
Canada will be no easier for Trump to conquer than the Federal Reserve System. He should be worried about his own country because he is making problems faster than he or Musk can solve them.
If Americans don’t want me writing these things, they certainly wouldn’t want to hear what 40 million Canadians think and say today.
jimg
February 19, 2025 9:13 am
#44889
The cost to borrow shares of SPDR® Gold Trust ‘GLD’-NY have increased 7% intraday to 10.45% on February 18, 2025.
U.S. tax receipts in 2024 were significantly more than U.S. outlays in 2019.
In fiscal year 2024, the federal government collected $4.919 trillion in total significantly higher than the total outlays of $4.447 trillion in fiscal year 2019.
Trump’s Belligerent Nonsense: 4,000 Canadians Out of 40 Million Won’t Back His Absurdity
At the end of a day without watching television or online media, I read this: “President Donald Trump triggered a fresh wave of outrage on social media Thursday after he once again treated reporters to a rant about how Canada ought to be taken by the United States as a new state.”
Given that Trump is likely not to stop until he’s made to stop, perhaps in a straight-jacket, here’s what every American ought to understand, if they don’t already and if they care about their country.
President Trump’s ongoing rants about annexing Canada as the 51st US state has triggered widespread outrage and ridicule across Canada, east to west, north to south. Shoppers nationwide are now refusing to buy anything labeled Made in USA. I’m guessing that out of 40 million Canadians, Trump couldn’t find 4,000 who agree with his “belligerent nonsense,” let alone 40,000—unless he paid them to do so. This absurdity has reached a point where global leaders must stand up and tell Trump, ‘Enough is enough. Worry about your country, because it’s the one in deep trouble. You are not making it great again.’
Trump’s fixation on acquiring Canada and his obsession with Greenland and the Panama Canal apparently resurfaced today when he signed a new plan for “reciprocal tariffs” on countries with trade barriers. He repeatedly claims that Canada “has been very bad to us on trade.” He insists Canadians “need our protection,” saying, “Canada is gonna be a very serious contender to be our 51st state.” None of it is true.
Trade relations between the countries including Mexico are materially the same as when Trump himself signed the USMCA about five years ago. He knows there are dispute resolution clauses in the tripartite agreement, which he agreed to and was later signed into law.
The idea of Canada relinquishing its sovereignty is an utter joke and is instantly met with immediate and resounding backlash everywhere I look. I have read that sports radio’s Rob Guerrera said, “Why doesn’t anyone tell this guy Canada doesn’t f–king want to be the 51st state?” Canadian podcaster @GregOnSports dismissed Trump’s NATO spending claims as “easily dis-proven …., so F–k off.” Metro Weekly editor-in-chief Randy Shulman called Trump’s rhetoric “tiresome, if not humiliating.”
But this is concerning. Today, even former Deputy Director of US National Intelligence Beth Sanner acknowledged Trump’s comments are more than just trolling when she told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “When he repeats things over and over, it becomes more real.” She said that while Trump may not send troops to Canada, she believes he’s serious about the idea, using it as leverage in trade negotiations.
The only thing Trump is known to negotiate is bankruptcy. He’s the King of Bankruptcies.
We know American auto manufacturing will soon shut down because of a blocked supply chain issue if this matter gets worse. Americans import 65% of their crude oil from Canada and enough electricity to keep the lights on for 6 million American homes and businesses. Americans rely on Canada for steel, aluminum, and agriculture; American manufacturing and production stop for most part if it’s not received. We know that with Trump’s tariffs, Americans must pay for them one hundred cents on the dollar on receipt, which will immediately result in things that will get more expensive to consumers. Moreover, we know that most Americans have no savings and insufficient funds in bank accounts to make these problems an economic war reality. Why is Trump doing the things only a madman would do?
So, let’s conclude. Trump’s vision of Canada as a US state is not only delusional but his constant repeating of them also highlights his cognitive issues. It’s time for world leaders to firmly reject his absurdities and remind him to focus on fixing the deep troubles in his own country – if he still has the mental capacity to do so. It’s time for the responsible member of Congress to stand up and tell Trump you’re not going to take this stuff anymore.
At what point does America respond in kind to the Trump administration?
Trump’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi, wasted no time in her first week, announcing that the Department of Justice is launching civil charges against the state of New York, Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, and New York’s DMV Commissioner Mark Schroeder. The lawsuit, targeting New York’s “Green Light Law” that allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, is yet another move in the creeping authoritarianism that now defines Trump’s America. While this is a civil case—no arrests (yet)—make no mistake: America is sliding toward dictatorship, and this is one inch closer to the edge.
Three hundred and thirty-five million Americans live in a country where Trump believes he can unilaterally rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” mandating that all US mapmakers comply. Absurd? Yes. A Republican political platform and an action the majority of Americans wanted? No. It begs the question—what stops him from forcing those same mapmakers to rename Canada and Mexico the 51st and 52nd states? Ridiculous? Probably. But by prosecuting State Governors and Attorney Generals who carry out their mandates, my gut tells me the world is watching as the US quickly transforms into the United States of Trump.
This is not governance; it is rule by decree. Either the Constitution’s system of checks and balances still exists, or it doesn’t. When Trump installs a Fox Weekend personality as Defense Secretary, a conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. as Health Secretary, and an FBI Director who openly states he wants to arrest President Biden and Vice President Harris, the writing is on the wall.
If Congress doesn’t fund the so-called Department of Government Oversight (DOGE), who is bankrolling these people? And more importantly, who gave them access to the most sensitive private records of American citizens?
What truly baffles me is that my concerns—serious as they are—don’t even scratch the surface of what legal experts and independent journalists (not just the usual political opposition) are warning about daily. The level of authoritarian overreach unfolding in plain sight is staggering.
I never thought I’d see the day when I’d have to turn away from politics entirely, choosing instead to focus solely on what I love—financial markets. I don’t have the heart to watch a once-great nation being systematically dismantled by a convicted felon, one executive action at a time.
And let’s be clear: I am no socialist. I have been a fiscal conservative for decades—long before Trump hijacked the movement. I have long argued for ending wasteful spending that has driven America and its people toward financial ruin. But what Trump is doing is not conservatism. His words and actions cross every line; if he is not stopped, the next step is civil war.
jimg
February 12, 2025 9:22 am
#44768
Lacy Hunt: It’s Not Inflation But DEFLATION That’s The Real Threat To Our Economy
Trump and Trump’s Congress get nuttier and more dangerous by the minute.
Buddy Carter (R-GA) introduced a bill to rename Greenland “Red, White and Blueland” if Trump is able to absorb the Arctic island into the United States, which is his stated intention.
From MSN:
According to the Post, the act “directs the secretary of the interior’s team to ensure federal paperwork gets updated to the new name and gives a six-month deadline to complete that task.”
He continued, “President Trump has correctly identified the purchase of what is now Greenland as a national security priority, and we will proudly welcome its people to join the freest nation to ever exist when our Negotiator-in-Chief inks this monumental deal.”
According to The Post, “Secretary of State Marco Rubio has defended the president’s goal of taking Greenland by highlighting U.S. military support for the island territory and a 1951 treaty to defend it in the event of an attack.”
Rubio said during a podcast interview, “If we’re already on the hook for having to do that, then we might as well have more control over what happens there. This is not a joke. This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved.”
The congressman also posted to social media, “RT for Red, White, & Blueland,” with a drawing of the territory sporting a “USA” sign.
This isn’t “Cringe.” This isn’t “Clown. Show.” This isn’t “Emarrassing.” — as critics are saying.
This is worse. This is how Hitler started.
Wake up America. Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Parliaments around the world are reacting to these malignant statements and actions, which keep coming from Trump and his acolytes, one after another, after another.
The United States is becoming an island surrounded by a world of enemies, minute by minute.
I’m more sanguine about Trump, his intentions, and a positive outcome for Americans. Most have suffered economically because of the globalist giveaways to off-shoring goods and services (most owned by Americans) and government waste and corruption. The world is awash with lawyers and government functionaries, and today, they are crying the loudest because their interests are being threatened. Things are moving very fast, and it is hard to keep up with events. I guess there will be no broad tariffs for Canada when the dust settles in a month or so. No 51st state for Canada, No Greenland, No Gaza re-development, etc., but also no war in Ukraine, no nuclear threat from Iran, no Man-made Global Warming, etc., and a more respectful arrangement with China.
Many of us would like to think so.
I have my doubts, but let’s watch this situation daily because investors are in the crosshairs.
jimg
February 9, 2025 6:11 pm
#44696
Could seriously affect our markets….
Trump Suggests Musk Found ‘Irregularities’ in US Treasuries
With Trump, you love him or hate him for whatever reasons. I take what he says the same as clickbait. Sometimes it leads to something meaningful but for the most part, he’s seeing how far the world will let him go. It’s up to the media to decide how much air time to give him.
Broadcast promotes him because he attracts the audience viewing that in turn attracts the advertisers.
As far as his knowledge of the Treasury, he wouldn’t recognize a T-bill unless it were printed with his name on it.
I am a bit out of touch with pop culture these days. So when I heard all this news re the Super Bowl halftime show and the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, it was all news to me. If you want a quick summary before the big game.
LOL. I learned about the beef last year by listening to ProFootballTalk podcast. Chris Simm’s son explained it to him, and then he explained it to the pod listeners.
Wow! Mahones played like a DEI hire! 40-22? 34-0 at half time!
Rap to me is boring and so I thought the half time performance was a flop. What I understand is the NFL thought Kamala would win 2024 so they signed the Lamar deal way before the Nov 5 elections.
Thomas Sowell, black professor at Stanford, credits rap music for destroying black morals and ethics. During ME TOO I wondered why rappers were not thrown in at the top with Harvey Weinstein. Meantime rappers get rich off poor black kids in ghettos buying their music. When is the “give back” part start? The ghettos in Chicago and LA and NYC are worse now than in the 1980s.
Supposedly this Lamar guy got a pulitzer prize? In 1998 the Pulitzer added in rap music. In 1904 it was journalism and novels. Then they started diluting the Pulitzer in 1945 and it got worse into the 1990s. What’s next a Pulitzer Prize for memes and graffiti? Maybe a Pulitzer for texting? Prestigious means nothing any more! Soros gets a Biden Medal of Honor or does the DNC hand out medals to all their billionaire donors? Where’s Klaus medal?
jimg
February 7, 2025 9:49 am
#44665
R&D lead of the Human Genome Project at MIT and Medicinal Genomics Founder Kevin McKernan:
“We have sequencing from a colon [tumor] biopsy from a patient who was 4 times vaccinated…we can find [DNA] plasmids in there a hundred copies per cell. They’re not exactly the same as Pfizer’s, which is a real head-scratcher, but they’re in there.”
Financial Times: Rapid trials prompt deals rush for Chinese ‘super me-too’ drugsWestern drugmakers look to Chinese trials for early data on treatments’ potential success
Western drugmakers are striking more deals in China to access “bio-better” treatments for diseases from obesity to cancer, taking advantage of the early data on offer from the country’s faster and more lightly regulated trials. Large pharmaceutical groups including GSK, Merck and AstraZeneca have each signed $1bn-plus agreements in the past two years to buy the rights to develop and sell Chinese drugs outside the country. Meanwhile, investors including Forbion, Bain Life Sciences and General Atlantic have ploughed hundreds of millions of dollars into new biotechs that will develop Chinese assets for western markets, hoping to be bought by major drugmakers.
Will all our drugs come from China? “Every major drugmaker’s head of R&D has been to China at least once in the last year… AbbVie Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. have hosted dedicated partnering days in Shanghai to meet with local companies, while companies like Roche Holding AG, Bayer AG and Eli Lilly & Co. have opened or will open incubators to build relationships with early-stage startups. At a recent, widely watched trade expo, Pfizer Inc. announced it will invest $1 billion in China over the next five years, in part to work with local companies.”
Western biotechs that discover promising new targets for intractable diseases are finding that Chinese teams take their published ideas and beat them to generating clinical data. Some have noticed the increasingly “sharp elbows” of Chinese researchers scouring posters at Western medical conferences for the latest breakthroughs in recent years. When I ask people in business development what trend they think is likely to have the largest impact on the industry in the next 5 years they usually say the rise of Chinese innovators (artificial intelligence is usually #2 ).
According to press reports, House lawmakers were recently considering a budget resolution with reconciliation instructions to allow up to $5.5 trillion of net deficit increases, largely through tax cuts. With interest, we estimate it would add $6.5 trillion to the debt by Fiscal Year (FY) 2035.
If the Americans who voted for Trump and support him in Congress continue that support after watching the events of today, I will say here and now America will soon be in two wars. There will be wars abroad because countries will defend their sovereign rights, and there will be a civil war. At the very least, there will be a national strike of Americans who choose to stand up for democracy.
The author of this paper is Stephen Miran, President Trump’s nominee for the Chairman of the Council of Economic Policy Advisors ( CEA )
A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System November 2024
Executive Summary
“The desire to reform the global trading system and put American industry on fairer ground vis-à-vis the rest of the world has been a consistent theme for President Trump for decades. We may be on the cusp of generational change in the international trade and financial systems.”
https://www.hudsonbaycapital.com/documents/FG/hudsonbay/research/638199_A_Users_Guide_to_Restructuring_the_Global_Trading_System.pdf
Jeffrey Sachs outlines the road to the U.S proxy war with Russia in the Ukraine
beginning with Nato’s march east toward Russia, a policy formalized under President Clinton:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pyNlGyKYw4
The day in 1975 when not one banker showed up to buy New York City bonds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBMLdfP4zOE
Now, that was a hockey game!
Both teams were deserving. Hockey fans got a game to remember.
It’s unlikely that Canadian retailers will speak about shoppers avoiding products made in the USA , but…
While Pat was food shopping today she noticed Canadian flag stickers on shelves promoting Canadian products. A week ago, she noticed that one counter of USA produce was overflowing next to another from Canada that was almost empty.
In the government liquor store, where Canadians buy all types of alcohol, she said that in a busy store there wasn’t a single person in the California wines aisle all the time she was in the store.
I believe shopping habits have changed like this right across the country. Because 40 million Canadians represent a large market for US alcohol and food products, I believe US producers are hurting. I think the boycott will worsen and the impact on American jobs will be severe. As Europeans witness this mini-battle unfold, I believe they will join in.
Bottom line: Americans today who relish Trump’s actions should be preparing to go it alone. The political tensions you feel today will worsen and being an outcast like Russians feel under Putin will not be enjoyable.
Do people truly believe Trump is going to make America more livable? Maybe today because the President has been in office for only a few weeks. But in a few months?
The US stock market is flashing an Alert
After I published the following commentary today, maybe common sense is returning to market prices.
I’m hoping Mr. Market delivers the message to the oligarchs who support Trump, and they, in turn, tell him to start acting like the fit and proper President the USA needs.
“How is Donald Trump viewed in Canada?”
The headline of an opinion piece I read today triggered my interest, given I had just written about the subject. The writer seemed to be as concerned with what he sees in America and not just Trump. But he’s a real person, unafraid to speak his mind and say what my Canadian friends, associates, and media personalities say today.
So, getting the point across to Americans who have an open mind to what others are saying about their country and its President is worthwhile. Here is the article:
If Canadians like this writer, or myself, or so many others, did not care about friends and allies, and the institutions and values we have clung to for our lifetime, we would not be expressing such opinions to Americans. If however, Americans believe that Trump is a fit and proper President who should do what many believe is necessary to ‘clear the swamp’ and clean up the waste, then I respect that. That’s your call. But, in return, you should respect that concerned people in other countries have decided to go their own way to preserve the political and financial systems and personal lifestyles they prefer.
The U.S. Congress has total control of the Federal Reserve. They created the Fed and they can dissolve the Fed
“Central banks appear to be poised for a major push to replace rule by democratic governments with rule by privately owned central banks. Their chief task in this regard is to free the U.S. Federal Reserve from its constitutional constraints, which prevent the bank from operating in secrecy and beyond the reach of Congress and indeed law itself.”
Episode 1 and II are out:
While the evidence supporting this conclusion is freely available from the public record, without some minimal working knowledge of central banks, the story would be extremely difficult to tell in a single video. Consequently, The War for Bankocracy series will lay significant groundwork and tell the story over the course of eight episodes.
Parts 1 and II are out
https://beta.solari.com/the-war-for-bankocracy/#tab-transcript
I have always said that the US government created the Fed and can dissolve the Fed. It’s a matter of votes in Congress to change the Constitution. That is light years away from saying Congress has total control. My point was made in 2008 when Congress was forced to bail out the banking system.
The question is why does Congress allow the privately controlled Federal Reserve System to operate “in secrecy and beyond the reach of Congress and indeed law itself?” Isn’t it because the Fed has built the US credit system to be the most powerful in the world, and without it, the US Dollar would not be the world’s reserve currency? Without that, it would not have the economic power America does.
I personally do not like the power of the Fed and the US banking system that I call Humongous Bank & Broker. You all know that. However, unlike where I see Trump’s America going today, I hope Americans can solve their problems from the ground up, one person at a time, with critical thinking, ‘stock market literacy,’ and independent action to manage their own affairs. Looking to autocrats and oligarchs like Trump and Musk do it for you is far worse than having the Fed do the checks and balances work that Congresses and Presidents have never managed to do.
Maybe it’s because, unlike my US-centric friends, I have a worldly perspective, and with decades of experience working within the US regulatory systems, I can see what Trump has been up to. He is now within reach of his plan to change the United States of America to the United States of Trump.
This month, unless you have been vacationing on a remote South Pacific island, you have seen the end of America the way the world has known it and counted on it for stability. Trump’s message that he will take control of the Americas from Greenland to the Panama Canal for the sake of his concept of homeland security, his speech with Netanyahu that he will take over Gaza and create a US real estate paradise, his demands of Zelensky to give the US Ukraine’s critical minerals, his calling Zelensky a dictator and the man who started the war with Russia, JD Vance’s completely disrespectful speech in Munich to the Europeans, JD Vance’s speech to Americans that judges have no authority to control Trump, his using Musk’s teams to collect private financial and health information on all Americans, his installing a TV personality to head the world’s mightiest military, and his utter disrespect for the rule of law by releasing criminals and stopping the prosecution of others like NYC Mayor Eric Adams, is simply enough. We don’t need more evidence that democracy is dead in America. It’s now Trump’s America.
Americans are soon to discover the other side of the Trump coin. A surge in inflation as soon as his tariffs are applied, work stoppages because of supply-chain problems, lawsuits galore, and national strikes within the country. There is no way the stock market can withstand such an assault — unless Trump takes power away from the capitalist system and he personally sets interest rates and commodity prices, blocks worker strikes, and uses the military to force other countries to send economically required materials and energy to his country.
Americans will also soon discover that Canadians are no longer friends. As NATO and the USMCA are now dead, Canada will develop economic and military agreements with allies in the UK, Europe, and elsewhere. Snowbirds will pull out of the US south in favor of the Caribbean and Central America. Canadian governments and businesses will cease buying from America, and consumers across Canada will no longer purchase the US-made products on the retail shelves. The Bank of Canada will drop its interest rates, and governments will print money to help its people survive the Trump problem, pushing the Loonie from 70 cents American to 62 cents or lower. That will ensure that more Americans will buy Canadian products, invest in Canadian government securities and goldminer stocks, and travel north for inexpensive vacations and to buy cottages. But Canada will get by. It always does because it has a backbone, always standing up to dictators.
Canada will be no easier for Trump to conquer than the Federal Reserve System. He should be worried about his own country because he is making problems faster than he or Musk can solve them.
If Americans don’t want me writing these things, they certainly wouldn’t want to hear what 40 million Canadians think and say today.
The cost to borrow shares of SPDR® Gold Trust ‘GLD’-NY have increased 7% intraday to 10.45% on February 18, 2025.
https://jensendavid.substack.com/p/1045-borrow-cost-for-gld-exchange?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
U.S. tax receipts in 2024 were significantly more than U.S. outlays in 2019.
In fiscal year 2024, the federal government collected $4.919 trillion in total significantly higher than the total outlays of $4.447 trillion in fiscal year 2019.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/federal-budget-receipts-and-outlays
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2024-11/60843-MBR.pdf
U.S household net worth is 5 times the U.S debt
American household net worth reached a record in the third quarter, rising to nearly $170 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve on Thursday.
https://realeconomy.rsmus.com/american-household-net-worth-sets-record-outpacing-debt/
What is the distribution? What percent of that net worth is owned by top 10%
What the heck is going on with the aviation industry!?!? Delta crashes and flips upside down a Toronto airport
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVyAFURbh40
The more we hear about USAID, the more the Book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” comes to mind. I recommend you read it.
USAID makes an appearance on the Preface!
The 3rd edition brings it more up to date.
If you prefer video interview of the author
https://youtu.be/7bl4qbWgDQQ
Trump’s Belligerent Nonsense: 4,000 Canadians Out of 40 Million Won’t Back His Absurdity
At the end of a day without watching television or online media, I read this: “President Donald Trump triggered a fresh wave of outrage on social media Thursday after he once again treated reporters to a rant about how Canada ought to be taken by the United States as a new state.”
Given that Trump is likely not to stop until he’s made to stop, perhaps in a straight-jacket, here’s what every American ought to understand, if they don’t already and if they care about their country.
President Trump’s ongoing rants about annexing Canada as the 51st US state has triggered widespread outrage and ridicule across Canada, east to west, north to south. Shoppers nationwide are now refusing to buy anything labeled Made in USA. I’m guessing that out of 40 million Canadians, Trump couldn’t find 4,000 who agree with his “belligerent nonsense,” let alone 40,000—unless he paid them to do so. This absurdity has reached a point where global leaders must stand up and tell Trump, ‘Enough is enough. Worry about your country, because it’s the one in deep trouble. You are not making it great again.’
Trump’s fixation on acquiring Canada and his obsession with Greenland and the Panama Canal apparently resurfaced today when he signed a new plan for “reciprocal tariffs” on countries with trade barriers. He repeatedly claims that Canada “has been very bad to us on trade.” He insists Canadians “need our protection,” saying, “Canada is gonna be a very serious contender to be our 51st state.” None of it is true.
Trade relations between the countries including Mexico are materially the same as when Trump himself signed the USMCA about five years ago. He knows there are dispute resolution clauses in the tripartite agreement, which he agreed to and was later signed into law.
The idea of Canada relinquishing its sovereignty is an utter joke and is instantly met with immediate and resounding backlash everywhere I look. I have read that sports radio’s Rob Guerrera said, “Why doesn’t anyone tell this guy Canada doesn’t f–king want to be the 51st state?” Canadian podcaster @GregOnSports dismissed Trump’s NATO spending claims as “easily dis-proven …., so F–k off.” Metro Weekly editor-in-chief Randy Shulman called Trump’s rhetoric “tiresome, if not humiliating.”
But this is concerning. Today, even former Deputy Director of US National Intelligence Beth Sanner acknowledged Trump’s comments are more than just trolling when she told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “When he repeats things over and over, it becomes more real.” She said that while Trump may not send troops to Canada, she believes he’s serious about the idea, using it as leverage in trade negotiations.
The only thing Trump is known to negotiate is bankruptcy. He’s the King of Bankruptcies.
We know American auto manufacturing will soon shut down because of a blocked supply chain issue if this matter gets worse. Americans import 65% of their crude oil from Canada and enough electricity to keep the lights on for 6 million American homes and businesses. Americans rely on Canada for steel, aluminum, and agriculture; American manufacturing and production stop for most part if it’s not received. We know that with Trump’s tariffs, Americans must pay for them one hundred cents on the dollar on receipt, which will immediately result in things that will get more expensive to consumers. Moreover, we know that most Americans have no savings and insufficient funds in bank accounts to make these problems an economic war reality. Why is Trump doing the things only a madman would do?
So, let’s conclude. Trump’s vision of Canada as a US state is not only delusional but his constant repeating of them also highlights his cognitive issues. It’s time for world leaders to firmly reject his absurdities and remind him to focus on fixing the deep troubles in his own country – if he still has the mental capacity to do so. It’s time for the responsible member of Congress to stand up and tell Trump you’re not going to take this stuff anymore.
Now an official U.S. government website:
https://doge.gov/
DOGE – A Lawyer’s Perspective
https://tomrenz.substack.com/p/doge-a-lawyers-perspective
Indeed … Noticing what they’re saying re. NRO …
https://doge.gov/workforce?orgId=cef54cef-6e43-486d-aa0a-b1a7d5841a72
https://x.com/doge/status/1891367329616760989
At what point does America respond in kind to the Trump administration?
Trump’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi, wasted no time in her first week, announcing that the Department of Justice is launching civil charges against the state of New York, Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, and New York’s DMV Commissioner Mark Schroeder. The lawsuit, targeting New York’s “Green Light Law” that allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, is yet another move in the creeping authoritarianism that now defines Trump’s America. While this is a civil case—no arrests (yet)—make no mistake: America is sliding toward dictatorship, and this is one inch closer to the edge.
Three hundred and thirty-five million Americans live in a country where Trump believes he can unilaterally rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” mandating that all US mapmakers comply. Absurd? Yes. A Republican political platform and an action the majority of Americans wanted? No. It begs the question—what stops him from forcing those same mapmakers to rename Canada and Mexico the 51st and 52nd states? Ridiculous? Probably. But by prosecuting State Governors and Attorney Generals who carry out their mandates, my gut tells me the world is watching as the US quickly transforms into the United States of Trump.
This is not governance; it is rule by decree. Either the Constitution’s system of checks and balances still exists, or it doesn’t. When Trump installs a Fox Weekend personality as Defense Secretary, a conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. as Health Secretary, and an FBI Director who openly states he wants to arrest President Biden and Vice President Harris, the writing is on the wall.
If Congress doesn’t fund the so-called Department of Government Oversight (DOGE), who is bankrolling these people? And more importantly, who gave them access to the most sensitive private records of American citizens?
What truly baffles me is that my concerns—serious as they are—don’t even scratch the surface of what legal experts and independent journalists (not just the usual political opposition) are warning about daily. The level of authoritarian overreach unfolding in plain sight is staggering.
I never thought I’d see the day when I’d have to turn away from politics entirely, choosing instead to focus solely on what I love—financial markets. I don’t have the heart to watch a once-great nation being systematically dismantled by a convicted felon, one executive action at a time.
And let’s be clear: I am no socialist. I have been a fiscal conservative for decades—long before Trump hijacked the movement. I have long argued for ending wasteful spending that has driven America and its people toward financial ruin. But what Trump is doing is not conservatism. His words and actions cross every line; if he is not stopped, the next step is civil war.
Lacy Hunt: It’s Not Inflation But DEFLATION That’s The Real Threat To Our Economy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HXg-9f7E8Q
Ultimately, AI presents a serious deflationary problem, but for now, the US tariffs are creating a short-term inflationary problem.
It’s all a matter of time and space.
Trump and Trump’s Congress get nuttier and more dangerous by the minute.
Buddy Carter (R-GA) introduced a bill to rename Greenland “Red, White and Blueland” if Trump is able to absorb the Arctic island into the United States, which is his stated intention.
From MSN:
This isn’t “Cringe.” This isn’t “Clown. Show.” This isn’t “Emarrassing.” — as critics are saying.
This is worse. This is how Hitler started.
Wake up America. Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Parliaments around the world are reacting to these malignant statements and actions, which keep coming from Trump and his acolytes, one after another, after another.
The United States is becoming an island surrounded by a world of enemies, minute by minute.
I received this reply tonight.
Many of us would like to think so.
I have my doubts, but let’s watch this situation daily because investors are in the crosshairs.
Could seriously affect our markets….
Trump Suggests Musk Found ‘Irregularities’ in US Treasuries
Bloomberg: https://archive.is/LjVoW#selection-1323.0-1323.59
How can anyone trust what they say? Trump fatigue has me wanting to move everything into gold and unplug from all media.
Aaron, thanks for participating.
With Trump, you love him or hate him for whatever reasons. I take what he says the same as clickbait. Sometimes it leads to something meaningful but for the most part, he’s seeing how far the world will let him go. It’s up to the media to decide how much air time to give him.
Broadcast promotes him because he attracts the audience viewing that in turn attracts the advertisers.
As far as his knowledge of the Treasury, he wouldn’t recognize a T-bill unless it were printed with his name on it.
I am a bit out of touch with pop culture these days. So when I heard all this news re the Super Bowl halftime show and the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, it was all news to me. If you want a quick summary before the big game.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/09/entertainment/not-like-us-kendrick-lamar-super-bowl-cec/index.html
https://youtu.be/QAPZCRQhHVI
LOL. I learned about the beef last year by listening to ProFootballTalk podcast. Chris Simm’s son explained it to him, and then he explained it to the pod listeners.
Wow! Mahones played like a DEI hire! 40-22? 34-0 at half time!
Rap to me is boring and so I thought the half time performance was a flop. What I understand is the NFL thought Kamala would win 2024 so they signed the Lamar deal way before the Nov 5 elections.
Thomas Sowell, black professor at Stanford, credits rap music for destroying black morals and ethics. During ME TOO I wondered why rappers were not thrown in at the top with Harvey Weinstein. Meantime rappers get rich off poor black kids in ghettos buying their music. When is the “give back” part start? The ghettos in Chicago and LA and NYC are worse now than in the 1980s.
Supposedly this Lamar guy got a pulitzer prize? In 1998 the Pulitzer added in rap music. In 1904 it was journalism and novels. Then they started diluting the Pulitzer in 1945 and it got worse into the 1990s. What’s next a Pulitzer Prize for memes and graffiti? Maybe a Pulitzer for texting? Prestigious means nothing any more! Soros gets a Biden Medal of Honor or does the DNC hand out medals to all their billionaire donors? Where’s Klaus medal?
R&D lead of the Human Genome Project at MIT and Medicinal Genomics Founder Kevin McKernan:
“We have sequencing from a colon [tumor] biopsy from a patient who was 4 times vaccinated…we can find [DNA] plasmids in there a hundred copies per cell. They’re not exactly the same as Pfizer’s, which is a real head-scratcher, but they’re in there.”
https://x.com/SenseReceptor/status/1863041263756624246
Full interview:
https://rumble.com/v5s0zbb-vaccine-contamination-and-fiat-science-kevin-mckernan-is-5.html
Financial Times:
Rapid trials prompt deals rush for Chinese ‘super me-too’ drugsWestern drugmakers look to Chinese trials for early data on treatments’ potential success
Western drugmakers are striking more deals in China to access “bio-better” treatments for diseases from obesity to cancer, taking advantage of the early data on offer from the country’s faster and more lightly regulated trials.
Large pharmaceutical groups including GSK, Merck and AstraZeneca have each signed $1bn-plus agreements in the past two years to buy the rights to develop and sell Chinese drugs outside the country.
Meanwhile, investors including Forbion, Bain Life Sciences and General Atlantic have ploughed hundreds of millions of dollars into new biotechs that will develop Chinese assets for western markets, hoping to be bought by major drugmakers.
FT: https://archive.is/XHy8G#selection-2383.0-2391.238
Will all our drugs come from China?
“Every major drugmaker’s head of R&D has been to China at least once in the last year… AbbVie Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. have hosted dedicated partnering days in Shanghai to meet with local companies, while companies like Roche Holding AG, Bayer AG and Eli Lilly & Co. have opened or will open incubators to build relationships with early-stage startups. At a recent, widely watched trade expo, Pfizer Inc. announced it will invest $1 billion in China over the next five years, in part to work with local companies.”
Western biotechs that discover promising new targets for intractable diseases are finding that Chinese teams take their published ideas and beat them to generating clinical data. Some have noticed the increasingly “sharp elbows” of Chinese researchers scouring posters at Western medical conferences for the latest breakthroughs in recent years.
When I ask people in business development what trend they think is likely to have the largest impact on the industry in the next 5 years they usually say the rise of Chinese innovators (artificial intelligence is usually #2 ).
https://atelfo.github.io/2024/12/20/will-all-our-drugs-come-from-china.html
Is China becoming dominant in Biotech?
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1887287672873373995.html
$CRVS ( Corvus Pharmaceuticals ) set up Angel Pharmaceutical in China, of which they own 49.7%.
Assets: – ITK inhibitor – BTK inhibitor – Anti-CD73 – A2AR antagonist – PPAR7
https://corvuspharma.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/corvus-pharmaceuticals-announces-partner-angel-pharmaceuticals-0
https://www.angelpharma.com/en/our/
Chase Savings Account Interest
0.01%
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/savings/chase-savings-rates/
Their new 3 billion dollar building:
Inside JPMorgan Chase’s New Office Where Employees Are Returning 5 Days a Week in Person
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s41QYeSa-3A
https://archive.is/c3p36
According to press reports, House lawmakers were recently considering a budget resolution with reconciliation instructions to allow up to $5.5 trillion of net deficit increases, largely through tax cuts. With interest, we estimate it would add $6.5 trillion to the debt by Fiscal Year (FY) 2035.
https://www.crfb.org/blogs/debt-gdp-growth-could-double-55-trillion-bill
https://archive.is/fm39G
If the Americans who voted for Trump and support him in Congress continue that support after watching the events of today, I will say here and now America will soon be in two wars. There will be wars abroad because countries will defend their sovereign rights, and there will be a civil war. At the very least, there will be a national strike of Americans who choose to stand up for democracy.
Trump crossed the line today.