Trash's booming economy, bringing steel back to USA
376 Steelworkers Just Got Tired of Winning
Bayou Steel announced this morning that it is shutting its La Place, Louisiana mill, leaving 376 actual American steelworkers abruptly unemployed with no explanation.
There is an explanation, of course, though you won’t hear it from the firm’s
private equity owners, Connecticut-based Black Diamond Capital Management.
everyone quoted in the piece blamed one thing: the president’s trade war.
"I am really surprised because it was a 'mini mill' and they are so much more efficient than other mills,"
Ricchiuti said, explaining that they take in old cars, refrigerators and the like, melt them down and turn the metal into "long products."
Also, he said, because the plant was on the Mississippi River, it was able to receive scrap metal from cheap sources, like the Caribbean, in the most cost-effective way.“
“I think the tariffs just killed them," he said.
"And if they threw in the towel, there have to be a lot of traditional steel mills out there where they're thinking the same thing in the executive boardrooms."
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/201...tail=emaildkre
Couple the manufacturing data with the retail apocolypse... we are in for a doozy.
The survey from the Ins ute for Supply Management (ISM) on Tuesday came on the heels of data last week showing a cooling in consumer spending in August. The economy’s fading fortunes have been attributed to the Trump administration’s 15-month trade war with China, which has sapped business confidence and undermined manufacturing.
Ironically, manufacturing has borne the brunt of the trade tariffs, which the White House says are necessary to protect industries from what it says is unfair foreign compe ion. President Donald Trump blames the Federal Reserve, in particular Chair Jerome Powell, for the manufacturing sector’s malaise.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN1WG47G
Who would've thought a totally unnecessary trade war would butt the manufacturing sector? Only silver lining is that this directly harms rust belt trump supporters - too bad they're too ing stupid or ideological to realize it.
"Sales at Costco (COST) were up last quarter, but the rising cost of tariffs is taking a toll on the retailer. In-store sales were up 5% while online sales jumped 22%. The company's CFO said on the earnings call that Costco is trying to speed up certain shipments to avoid new tariffs."
"HP (HPQ) plans to cut 16% of the company's workforce. The personal computer and printer maker says it expects to drop 7,000 to 9,000 people from its global workforce of about 55,000 by 2020."
https://finance-yahoo-com.cdn.amppro...142955377.html
U.S. importers stockpile Parmigiano, Provolone as tariffs on EU cheeses loom
The Trump administration on Wednesday slapped
25% tariffs on cheese and other European Union products ranging from whisky to woolens,
in retaliation for EU subsidies on large aircraft. Both sides say they are open to negotiations, but trade experts see little chance of averting
the duties - at least in the short run.
Importers began ordering millions of dollars of extra wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano and other harder cheeses after the U.S.
Trade Representative’s office in July added cheese to its list of EU products potentially facing tariffs due to the dispute over aircraft subsidies.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wto-aircraft-hoarding/u-s-importers-stockpile-parmigiano-provolone-as-tariffs-on-eu-cheeses-loom-idUSKCN1WK0BP?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_so urce=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed% 3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%2 9
Why the Manufacturing “Recession” Matters
America’s manufacturers are not well.
On Wednesday, a key measure of industrial activity—the Ins ute of Supply Management’s Purchasing Manager’s Index—
sank to its lowest level since June of 2009 (when the Great Recession was just winding down) and
showed that the sector had been shrinking for two straight months.
The bad news continued with Friday’s jobs report, which showed that
manufacturers had shed 2,000 workers from their payrolls in September.
After growing through most of Donald Trump’s presidency, total employment in manufacturing has effectively flatlined.
it is clear that the country’s factories are in a bit of a slump,
which could have wider political and economic consequences.
After all, Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to bring American manufacturing back to life by getting tough on unfair compe ion from countries like Mexico and China.
But as writers like Paul Krugman have been quick to point out this week,
the president’s trade war has evidently backfired by driving up costs for U.S. manufacturers
that use imported goods in production while creating a massive amount of economic uncertainty that’s hurt domestic business investment.
The trade war has also contributed to a wider global slowdown that’s likely taking a bite out of U.S. factoryexports.
https://slate.com/business/2019/10/m...trade-war.html
Are We All SICK OF WINNING?
Incompetent policy compounds economic adversity, who would have guessed?
US blacklists 28 Chinese companies and government agencies over Uighur repression
Xinjiang Police College and video surveillance company Hikvision among those blacklisted for implications in human rights violations
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/08/us-blacklists-28-chinese-companies-and-government-agencies-over-uighur-repression
US concentration camps OK!
but Chinese concentration camps bad
Trump’s Trade War: a Report From the Front
in 2016, the last year of the Obama administration, the trade deficit was $518.8 billion, or 2.8 percent of GDP.
The trade deficit expanded in both 2017 and 2018, reaching $638.2 billion in 2018, or 3.1 percent of GDP.
It looks to come in slightly higher in 2019, with the deficit averaging $648.3 billion in the first half of 2019.
if Trump’s goal was to bring the trade deficit closer to balance,
he’s been going the wrong way in the first two and half years of his administration.
Starting with China, in the last year of the Obama administration,
the trade deficit in goods with China was $346.8 billion.[1]
This had increased to $419.6 billion last year.
It looks like the trade deficit is coming down somewhat in 2019, with the deficit for the first eight months at $231.6 billion, compared to just over $260.0 billion last year.
Nonetheless, we are still likely to end up with a higher deficit with China in 2019 than we had in the last year of the Obama administration.
If Trump’s battle with China is not going well, he seems to be doing even worse with other trade combatants.
The trade deficit with Mexico was $63.3 billion in 2016. It hit $80.7 billion last year, and is virtually certain to come in even higher in 2019.
The trade deficit with the European Union $146.7 billion in 2016. It had risen to $168.7 billion last year and is on a path to come in $10-$15 billion higher in 2019.
The deficit with Canada rose from $11 billion in 2016 to $19.1 billion last year. It is likely to be roughly $1 billion higher in 2019.
the trade war doesn’t look like it is going well for Donald Trump, at least by his chosen measure of success.
If trade deficits mean other countries are ripping us off,
then they are ripping us off considerably more under Trump
than when Barack Obama was in the White House.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/10...rom-the-front/
Port of Los Angeles September imports fall as trade war roils trade
The Port of Los Angeles, the busiest for ocean trade with China,
processed fewer containers of imported goods in September as
the prolonged U.S.-China trade war whipsaws global trade.
Imports fell 2.9% to 402,320 TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent units, in September - the first decline at the Port of Los Angeles since February. Exports dropped 11% to 130,769 TEUs - the 11th consecutive monthly fall.
TEU is a standardized maritime measurement for counting cargo containers.
The “U.S.-China trade war continues to wreak havoc on American exporters and manufacturers,”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-imports/port-of-los-angeles-september-imports-fall-as-trade-war-roils-trade-idUSKBN1WP2YM?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_so urce=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed% 3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%2 9
Trash For The Sickening Win
U.S.-China tariffs drag global growth to lowest in a decade: IMF
The U.S.-China trade war will cut 2019 global growth to its slowest pace since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday, but said output would rebound if their dueling tariffs were removed.
The IMF said its latest World Economic Outlook projections here show 2019 GDP growth at 3.0%, down from 3.2% in a July forecast, largely due to increasing fallout from global trade friction.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-imf-economy-outlook/u-s-china-tariffs-drag-global-growth-to-lowest-in-a-decade-imf-idUSKBN1WU1TO?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_so urce=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed% 3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%2 9
US-China Mini-Trade Deal: Trump Takes the Money and Runs
the US and China agreed to a partial deal on their trade dispute last week.
is this the end of the US-China trade conflict?
Will phase 2, to begin after the signing of Phase 1 five weeks from now, wrap up the remaining issues?
Or will Phase 1 just announced be all that the parties will agree to over restructuring their trade relations (and money capital flows)?
Other questions of import include:
who got the better end of the Phase 1 deal—China or Trump?
Why did Trump settle for the partial deal that China was calling for, and not the ‘big deal’ that Trump was declaring publicly he wanted or else there’d be no deal?
Why did Trump concede to a lesser partial deal now instead of pressing for his ‘big deal’?
Not least, what is the likelihood the remaining, unresolved issues will be concluded before the US 2020 elections?
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/10/16/us-china-mini-trade-deal-trump-takes-the-money-and-runs/
American Farm Bankruptcies Jump 24% Amid Trump Trade War, Weather Challenges
Meanwhile, government insurance and subsidies will provide nearly 40% of farm income this year.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/farm-...wsltushpmgnews
Farmers are bankrupting, but BigAg / BigChem keeps on trucking
Another HUGE FAILURE for Trash and his corrupt mafiya
Trade gap: The U.S. deficit widened to nearly $500 billion in the first nine months of 2019, suggesting that
the trade wars haven’t had the desired effect.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/us/politics/us-trade-deficit.html?te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_NN_p_20191106§ion=whatElse?c ampaign_id=9&instance_id=13649&segment_id=18557&us er_id=992d608214b505003aa04bf10a595031®i_id=808 21797ion=whatElse
mfg jobs down, Big Beautiful Clean Coal companies bankrupting, coal miners dying without govt aid, red states killing poor people with no Medicaid, suicides dramatically increasing, esp teen suicide.
America The Sick
Expect the extreme rightwing ideologues (dubya's Priscilla Owen!
https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/11/ar...us-not-huawei/“Huawei has been gaining market share in China and overseas despite US trade war frictions and may become the leading smartphone maker in the next two quarters,” said Nitin Soni, director of corporate ratings at Fitch Ratings.
While you weren't looking, the trade war with China went off the rails
- America's trade war with China has lost its way.
- Instead of pushing for structural change in China's managed economy, the Trump administration is negotiating to get US-China trade where it was before the -for-tat tariffs started.
- This story is starting to sound like a loop, and it's unclear how the Trump administration will get out of it.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trum...eaning-2019-11
The trade war has hurt China and USA.
Trash thinks China is in a mood to help Trash?
Americans are paying $40 billion a year in import taxes thanks to Trump’s tariffs
a new study from the New York Federal Reserve,
Chinese businesses have not lowered prices in a significant way when it comes to exports in response to President Trump’s trade wars,
leaving Americans to absorb additional import taxes levied by the Trump administration, to the tune of around $40 billion per year.
“The continued stability of import prices for goods from China means US firms and consumers have to pay the tariff tax,”
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/11/americans-are-paying-40-billion-a-year-in-import-taxes-thanks-to-trumps-tariffs-study/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaig n=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29
US proposes tariffs on French products following France's digital tax
Trump administration says the tax rules discriminate against US companies.
following an investigation into France's recently passed digital taxation laws.
The tax discriminates against US companies, especially Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon,
There are 63 tariffs suggested in total, with a trade value of around $2.4 billion.
The proposed tariffs target French products across
cheese,
sparkling wine,
perfume,
handbags,
yogurt,
butter,
beauty and makeup,
manicure and pedicure,
soap,
porcelain, and
bone china.
https://www.cnet.com/news/us-propose...s-digital-tax/
Trump Says U.S. Will Impose Metal Tariffs on Brazil and Argentina
The president, in a move that would shatter previous agreements with those countries, accused them of weakening their currencies and hurting American farmers.
Mr. Trump’s announcement on steel and aluminum was particularly jarring to Brazil’s conservative populist president, Jair Bolsonaro, who had gone to great lengths to strengthen ties with the Trump administration, with little to show for it.
Dante Sica, Argentina’s minister of production, called the move “completely unexpected.”
“I was in Washington last week, and I talked to a lot of people, and there was no sign whatsoever that there would be any kind of change,”
the American economy continues to face significant headwinds.
Economists and government officials have rejected the idea that Brazil and Argentina are intentionally manipulating their currencies.
China has shifted to purchasing products from Brazil and Argentina instead, a move that has rankled Mr. Trump and other American officials.
the tariffs stand to do considerable damage to South America’s two biggest economies as Argentina is in recession and Brazil confronts high unemployment and anemic growth.
neither Brazil nor Argentina was manipulating its currency. In fact, both countries had been selling foreign exchange reserves to prop the value of their currencies up.
The tariffs have also angered American manufacturers of automobiles, machinery, food packaging and other products, who must pay more for the metal they purchase.
“The decision will end up harming the American steel producing companies, which need the semi-finished products exported by Brazil to operate its plants,”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/business/economy/trump-tariffs-brazil-argentina-metal.html?te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_NN_p_20191203§ion=topNews?ca mpaign_id=9&instance_id=14228&segment_id=19238&use r_id=992d608214b505003aa04bf10a595031®i_id=8082 1797tion=topNews
And of course, Trash's tariffs will transfer, "confiscate", $10Bs from citizens and companies to the govt.
Stock market dives on Trump's plan to put off a trade deal for a year, but don't worry: Trump plans to punish China by raising prices for consumers and US companies:
https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/a...after-election
The overwhelming majority of 'farmer bailout' money is going to big business
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/12/2/1903039/-The-overwhelming-majority-of-farmer-bailout-money-is-going-to-big-business?detail=emaildkre
Dallas Fed: Texas subprime borrowers increasingly rely on unconventional home loans
There has been a significant drop in the number of subprime borrowers in Texas who have a mortgage as traditional lenders have become more risk averse after the housing crisis that spurred the Great Recession.
And riskier borrowers who do get a mortgage are increasingly turning to non-traditional lenders for loans.
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2019/12/10/dallas-fed-texas-subprime-borrowers-increasingly.html?ana=e_mc_prem&j=90329661&t=Morni ng&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTkdFNVlUZGhOREl4TkRabSIsInQiOiI 1dGViREVnM1VXaXJTXC9zNGJYZUdCdmpTN3dPdjRjbWdxOXVcL 05ETzdkOWQrUGt0R01sdzFNQVBhWGRoS1JOdjd1cmNkbWU5a3M 2amtzRmJ2SVgxdE5taEp3MlY2YXJvVCtoc2xiV3lvOUJUeU12Y URnbVZUeXBYSTIrckJ4VXJ1M1FCaFgrcmhkWmx6WEtMd1ZIQ2s 5UT09In0%3D
===================
Dallas Fed Reserve Bank Chief Has Concerns About the Texas Economy
he doesn’t expect a recession next year, but that he does have concerns about the how Texas uses low taxes and limited regulation to attract new business; he said it may not be enough moving forward.
Kaplan also believes that Texas must invest in its
all residents
specifically at-risk residents
with education programs,
expanded health care
and workforce training
to keep the state’s economy thriving.
https://www.bizjournals.com/sananton...Q2s5UT09In0%3D
Krug saying Trash got rolled by the tough-hanging Chinese and
MX may agree to labor rules in NAFTA 2.0
==================================
U.S.-China trade deal: 3 fundamental issues remain unresolved
The game is far from over.
Government subsidies
Protecting intellectual property
Military concerns
https://www.salon.com/2019/12/14/u-s-china-trade-deal-3-fundamental-issues-remain-unresolved_partner/
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