Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 09 May 2019
Econintersect: Here are some of the headlines we found to help you start your day. For more headlines see our afternoon feature for GEI members, What We Read Today, published Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which has many more headlines and a number of article discussions to keep you abreast of what we have found interesting.
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​Global
- Asia markets slip as Trump claims China ‘broke the deal’ in trade negotiations (CNBC) Stocks in Asia were trading lower on Thursday afternoon as investors remained cautious after U.S. President Donald Trump claimed China “broke the deal” in the ongoing trade negotiations between Beijing and Washington. The U.S. dollar index was at 97.613 after seeing lows below 97.5 yesterday. Brent crude futures and and U.S. crude futures each declined 0.77% to $69.83 per barrel and $61.64 per barrel, respectively. Spot gold was firm at $1,280.76 per ounce at 0317 GMT and U.S. gold futures were also steady at $1,281.30.
- World map of lakes (reddit) Not only is the world’s land mass overweighted to the northern hemisphere, but the density of fresh water is as well.
U.S.
- Trump tax returns from 1985 to 1994 show $1 billion in losses: NY Times (Reuters) U.S. President Donald Trump’s businesses lost a total of more than $1 billion from 1985 to 1994, according to the New York Times, which said it obtained printouts from Trump’s official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts.
Donald Trump Says Gaming Tax System Was ‘Sport’ (Newsweek) President Donald Trump lost nearly $1 billion, or “more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer,” between 1985 and 1994, according to a new report by The New York Times. The president responded Wednesday by claiming that those significant losses were just a way to get out paying the federal government owed money for “sport.”
Yet while brushing off depriving the federal government of huge amounts of revenue, Trump has repeatedly spoken out and created a policy against impoverished Americans who rely on welfare programs, whom he views as gaming the system.
- White House instructs former counsel Don McGahn not to comply with congressional subpoena (ABC News) President Donald Trump’s struggle with Democratic lawmakers intensified on Tuesday, with the White House directing former counsel Don McGahn not to comply with a congressional subpoena and the chair of the House Judiciary Committee threatening to hold him in contempt.
- Trump invokes executive privilege over Mueller report (CNN) President Donald Trump invoked blanket executive privilege over Robert Mueller’s full report Wednesday in retribution for a pending vote by House Democrats to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress. The move significantly escalated a constitutional confrontation between the House Democratic majority and the President over the aftermath of the special counsel’s Russia investigation. It will trigger a bitter and potentially long battle in the courts to adjudicate whether the executive branch or the legislative branch of the government will prevail.
- Pelosi says Trump is ‘becoming self-impeachable’ (The Washington Post) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) said Wednesday that President Trump is “becoming self-impeachable,” pointing to his efforts to fight all subpoenas from congressional investigations and prevent key aides from testifying before Congress. It was not immediately clear what she meant by “self-impeachable.” The House speaker has resisted calls by some members of her party to pursue impeachment proceedings against the president. Pelosi said at a Washington Post Live event:
“The point is that every single day, whether it’s obstruction, obstruction, obstruction – obstruction of having people come to the table with facts, ignoring subpoenas . . . every single day, the president is making a case – he’s becoming self-impeachable, in terms of some of the things that he is doing.”
- White House defies Congress on McGahn subpoena as Trump battles Democrats (Reuters) President Donald Trump’s struggle with Democratic lawmakers intensified on Tuesday, with the White House directing former counsel Don McGahn not to comply with a congressional subpoena and the chair of the House Judiciary Committee threatening to hold him in contempt.
- Trump wanted to prosecute Hillary Clinton, James Comey (ABC News)
- Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas Donald Trump Jr. in Russia probe (NBC News) The Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. to answer questions about his contention that he had only limited knowledge of a project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, a source with direct knowledge tells NBC News. The committee, led by Republicans, is nearing completion of its investigation into Russian election interference – a probe that is expected to result in a series of written reports.
- John Kelly Says Trump Family Needed To Be ‘Dealt With’ in White House (Bloomberg) Former White House chief of staff John Kelly said members of President Donald Trump’s family serving on the White House staff needed to be “dealt with” as he sought to implement a more orderly process in the West Wing. Kelly said Tuesday during an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “The David Rubenstein Show,” when asked whether it was complicated to have the president’s family working at the White House:
“They were an influence that has to be dealt with. By no means do I mean Mrs. Trump – the first lady’s a wonderful person.”
- Michael Cohen hints at more Trump revelations on way to prison (The Guardian) Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, began his three-year prison sentence on Monday. He is the third former Trump campaign aide to go to prison in the past 12 months. Outside his New York City apartment, Cohen promised:
‘There still remains much to be told and I look forward to the day that I can share the truth’
- U.S. Households Interest Payments Growing Rapidly (The DailyShot) The growth in US households’ interest payments has accelerated.
EU
- Most Powerful European Passports (reddit)
UK
- Why are we governed by incompetents? (Mainly Macro) Hat tip to David Andolfatto. Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, Simon Wren-Lewis asks. Here is his introduction (before he goes on to include Donald Trump):
In 2016 Boris Johnson and Michael Gove narrowly won the referendum on EU membership. It turned out they had no idea how to turn their victory into a concrete policy. They had dismissed every potential difficulty as just more ‘Project Fear’, and it became clear they were not just doing this just because it was effective rhetoric. They had not throught through any of the major problems that implementing Brexit would create. They looked rather shocked when they won, realising that these problems airily dismissed would now have to be resolved.
Cameron resigned, and the Conservative party needed to choose a new Prime Minister whose main preoccupation would be negotiating the terms of our exit. Their choice was Theresa May, who was known from her previous job as being non-collegiate, slow to adapt but obstinate in the views she held. These were almost the exact opposite of the qualities needed in any negotiation with a more powerful neighbour. Perhaps knowing this, she chose David Davis to handle the details of negotiation, a man who had the charm that May lacked but who had no interest in the details, in part because he clung on to the belief that the EU would cave at the last minute.
Germany
- Manufacturing and Services Out of Sync, Not Just in the US (Wolf Street) The chart below shows the divergence in Germany of the strong services PMI (blue line) and the plunging manufacturing PMI (red line):
Iran
- Iran threatens more uranium enrichment if no new nuke deal (Associated Press) Iran threatened Wednesday to enrich its uranium stockpile closer to weapons-grade levels in 60 days if world powers fail to negotiate new terms for its 2015 nuclear deal, raising regional tensions as a U.S. aircraft carrier and bombers headed to the Middle East to confront Tehran.
A televised address by President Hassan Rouhani, who once pledged that the landmark deal would draw Iran closer to the West, saw the cleric instead pressure Europe to shield Tehran from the sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump withdrawing the U.S. from the agreement exactly a year earlier.
Rouhani’s threats put the world on notice that it cannot continue to rely on Iran complying with terms of the unraveling deal in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, a U.S. campaign of sanctions hammering Iran’s anemic economy and blocking its sale of oil on the global market is only making life worse, putting further pressure on both its Shiite theocracy and its 80 million people.
China
- Trump says Beijing ‘broke’ trade talk deals, pledges to keep tariffs on Chinese goods (Reuters) U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that China “broke the deal” it had reached in trade talks with the United States, and vowed not to back down on imposing new tariffs on Chinese imports unless Beijing “stops cheating our workers.”
- Donald Trump Claims China Pays for Higher Tariffs, but Economists Say It’s U.S. Consumers Who Pay (Newsweek) Economic analysts, including the White House’s own adviser, appeared baffled by President Donald Trump’s claim Sunday morning that the U.S. economy is doing well because of tariffs placed on Chinese imports and his assertion that China – and not U.S. companies – have paid billions because of these tariffs.
- Huawei CFO seeks to end extradition case, citing Trump’s ‘intimidating and coercive’ comments (CNBC)
- Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou intends to seek a stay of her extradition proceedings.
- Her legal team said she was innocent of the allegations made by the U.S. that she committed bank and wire fraud in relation to skirting U.S. sanctions on Iran.
- Meng’s lawyers said comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump about the case represent one reason why the extradition should be stopped.
Venezuela
- 10% of the Venezuelan population left the country in the last 3 years, this is where they went. (reddit)
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