Thank you President Trump. The economy just keeps choogling along...

[XNavyNuke]

And the other half was....?

Fewer rail cars
Coal: -17651 cars
Farm Products/Food (not Grains): -153 cars
Forest Products: -929 cars
Grains: -3631 cars
Vehicles & Parts: -1762 cars
Nonmetallic Ores: -30 cars
Petroleum/Petroleum Products: -978 cars

Increased rail traffic across chemicals, ores & refined metals, and miscellaneous.

I'm assuming that since this was all available from the link I posted with my comment, that you just wanted to see if the gorilla had opposable thumbs and was able to type the information in requisite "spoon-fed" form.

XNN

[Firestarter]

For some unexplainable reason Rand Paul is missing from this list…
Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Boeing thank President Donald!

Some people thought that President Donald couldn’t do it but he looks to outperform even his predecessors in boosting the profits of the military industrial complex. Some members of US Congress couldn’t be happier as this has boosted the value of their investment portfolio…

Since 27 December 2019, when an American contractor was killed by in Iraq, the aerospace and defence sector has outperformed all other sectors in the S&P 500: “Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and L3 are each more than three standard deviations above their 50-day moving average”.

In the 2020 Defense appropriations bill, the subcommittee approved $1.85 billion for 18 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircrafts and spare parts from Lockheed Martin. The subcommittee also recommended $1.1 billion for 6 P-8A Poseidon aircraft from Boeing.
Subcommittee member Sen. Roy Blunt owns $100,000 in Lockheed Martin stock.
Subcommittee members Dianne Feinstein, Susan Collins, and Jerry Moran own a combined $750,000 in Boeing stock.

House Oversight and Reform Committee Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Gerry Connolly owns $400,000 worth of stock in Leidos, which provides information technology services for the Defense Department for billions of dollars.

Following are the (other) US Representatives with $100,000 or more in defense stocks.

Steve Cohen - $415,000
Gerry Connolly - $400,000
Ro Khanna - $376,000
Greg Gianforte - $309,856
Debbie Dingell - $300,000

John Hoeven - $250,000
Phil Roe - $203,230
Fred Upton - $155,000
Bob Gibbs - $150,000
Joe Kennedy - $150,000
Kevin Hern - $150,000

Francis Rooney - $135,000
David Joyce - $100,000
David Price - $100,000
Thomas Suozzi - $100,000: https://prospect.org/power/the-membe...ofit-from-war/
(http://archive.is/E1Glm)

[Swordsmyth]

The Bureau of Economic Analysis released their first estimate of Q4 GDP growth today. The BEA first estimate is 2.1 percent growth for the fourth quarter and 2.3 percent growth for the year. [Data Here] The U.S. economy is now approximately $21.7 trillion.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appeared on Fox Business with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ‘big picture’ outlook for the U.S. economy. Strong employment, strong wage growth, strong consumer spending, and now the USMCA passage delivering the backdrop for domestic capital investment. Good interview:




The headwinds by Boeing and the GM strike had some negative impact. However, 2019 was dominated by Wall Street multinational investors taking the ‘wait-n-see’ position on the China/Asia -vs- USMCA trade dynamic (manufacturing investment) overall.
The USMCA passage gives certainty to North American manufacturing investment. The China ‘phase-one’ agreement allows time for re-positioning, and/or time to extract profits from prior investment. A corporate decision to manufacture in China is now based on an entirely different set of considerations than 24 months ago…. ‘phase-one’ buys time but doesn’t reduce the long-term risk. North America is now the place for investment stability.

(Table One Data Link)

https://theconservativetreehouse.com...oss-discusses/

[tebowlives]

Why is welfare much higher than before the crash?
2007- 27 million on food stamps
2020- 37.5 million.

Population has grown ~9% but SNAP is ~40% higher than 2007

[Swordsmyth]

Why is welfare much higher than before the crash?
2007- 27 million on food stamps
2020- 37.5 million.

Population has grown ~9% but SNAP is ~40% higher than 2007

O'Bummer and the Demoncrats put lots of people on it.

Trump has the number dropping rapidly.

[tebowlives]

O'Bummer and the Demoncrats put lots of people on it.

Agreed

Trump has the number dropping rapidly.

lol No not rapidly. Mar-Oct numbers are the same

How about you just defend Trump when's done something right?

[Swordsmyth]

Agreed


lol No not rapidly. Mar-Oct numbers are the same

How about you just defend Trump when's done something right?

He has done something, he cut lots of people off from food stamps just recently:

Trump administration proposal endangers food stamps for millions

And he just kept out all legal immigrants likely to use welfare:

In 5-4 decision Supreme rules Trump may deny green cards to indigents.

And it IS rapid:
Food stamp rolls have declined by 7M under Trump even before reforms take effect

President Trump has overseen a drop of millions of food stamp beneficiaries even before his administration's proposals for tightening eligibility take effect.
The administration sees it as an accomplishment that food stamp rolls have fallen by 17.5% as the economy has grown and said that further reforms to the benefits will aid families. Democrats and anti-poverty groups, though, warn that the administration's proposals would further impoverish children, immigrants, and veterans.
Trump's year-end list of "results" included the boast that “nearly 7 million Americans have been lifted off of food stamps," which the administration credited to people “being lifted out of poverty as a result of today’s booming economy.”
Indeed, the latest data from the Department of Agriculture shows that 7.7 million fewer Americans receive food stamps now than did when Trump entered the White House. The Agriculture Department administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, but the actual food stamp benefits are distributed by individual states.

More at: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...ms-take-effect

[tebowlives]

He has done something, he cut lots of people off from food stamps just recently:

Trump administration proposal endangers food stamps for millions


And he just kept out all legal immigrants likely to use welfare:

In 5-4 decision Supreme rules Trump may deny green cards to indigents.


And it IS rapid:
Food stamp rolls have declined by 7M under Trump even before reforms take effect

President Trump has overseen a drop of millions of food stamp beneficiaries even before his administration's proposals for tightening eligibility take effect.
The administration sees it as an accomplishment that food stamp rolls have fallen by 17.5% as the economy has grown and said that further reforms to the benefits will aid families. Democrats and anti-poverty groups, though, warn that the administration's proposals would further impoverish children, immigrants, and veterans.
Trump's year-end list of "results" included the boast that “nearly 7 million Americans have been lifted off of food stamps," which the administration credited to people “being lifted out of poverty as a result of today’s booming economy.”
Indeed, the latest data from the Department of Agriculture shows that 7.7 million fewer Americans receive food stamps now than did when Trump entered the White House. The Agriculture Department administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, but the actual food stamp benefits are distributed by individual states.

More at: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...ms-take-effect

Sure he's done some decent things with the economy but its 4.5 million. The current total doesn't include roughly 1.4 mil on them in North Carolina.
Feb 2017 42.3 mil
Oct 2019 36.4 mil +1.4=37.8

https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites...Pmonthly-1.pdf

[Warlord]

Peter Schiff: Market ‘Is an Inflation-Driven Bubble’ Ready to Pop

https://moneyandmarkets.com/peter-sc...driven-bubble/

GDP 2.3% is a 3 year low.

[ThePaleoLibertarian]

I think I've become a macro-skeptic. I don't think anyone has a particularly good theory on the business cycle. Microeconomics are understood quite well, particularly by Austrians, but macro seems to be a different story. Or maybe the the 2009 hyperinflation just wasn't that.hyper. More of a sugar rush inflation.

[phill4paul]

Peter Schiff: Market ‘Is an Inflation-Driven Bubble’ Ready to Pop

https://moneyandmarkets.com/peter-sc...driven-bubble/

GDP 2.3% is a 3 year low.

Oh me gerds! Panic! Panic NOW! Peter Schiff. Lol.

[AngryCanadian]

There is going to be a massive collapse with all the money the Fed has injected. This feels like 2000 when the tech stocks crashed. The only question is will it be before the election or after? is Trump being setup or is he complicit?

Pretty sure they might have set him up for the fall just blame the collapse on the republicans. If i remember correctly i remember CNN or MSNBC demanding a finical collapse just so they could blame it on Trump and the republicans.

[Warlord]

Oh me gerds! Panic! Panic NOW! Peter Schiff. Lol.

Keep laughing, philly.

[ThePaleoLibertarian]

Keep laughing, philly.

Schiff has been saying the same stuff for over a decade now. He was sure that Zimbabwe-style hyperinflation was inevitable circa 2009. That is a downright comical prediction. At the very, very least he's represented Austrians poorly by constantly preaching a collapse that never comes. Libertarians haven't called him on his $#@! and keep saying "just wait." Ridiculous.

[Warlord]

Schiff has been saying the same stuff for over a decade now. He was sure that Zimbabwe-style hyperinflation was inevitable circa 2009. That is a downright comical prediction. At the very, very least he's represented Austrians poorly by constantly preaching a collapse that never comes. Libertarians haven't called him on his $#@! and keep saying "just wait." Ridiculous.

Schiff predicted the 2008 crash. They laughed at him then and they're laughing now. He speaks the truth. Sorry you don't like to hear it..

[phill4paul]

Keep laughing, philly.

All the way to the bank. Well, MY bank, not THE Bank.

[ThePaleoLibertarian]

Schiff predicted the 2008 crash. They laughed at him then and they're laughing now. He speaks the truth. Sorry you don't like to hear it..

Schiff predicted 2008 because he's always predicting a crash. Eventually he was going to be right, but that doesn't imply any particular insight. Not to mention he wasn't the only one to make that prognostication. The real relevant prediction from Schiff was hyperinflation, which was supposed to come over a decade ago now. The only ones saying that was on the way was Schiff and some other collapsatarian Austrians, and they were all wrong and made themselves look foolish.

People rightly call out people like Paul Krugman for all his bull$#@! predictions, but make excuses for a guy who was saying that the US would look like Zimbabwe before Obama's second term. How many times do these collapse fetishists have to fail before people start questioning them?

[Ender]

[Swordsmyth]

As a new year dawns in America, many of the nation’s manufacturing sectors are experiencing aggressive growth.
In October, the largest U.S. manufacturer of solar panels, First Solar, announced production at its second U.S. plant, a new $1 billion factory in Lake Township, Ohio, that will employ 500 workers. Roughly a dozen other solar panel and cell manufacturers are following First Solar’s example and launching additional U.S.-based production as well.
In November, kitchenware and furniture maker Williams-Sonoma announced a 6.4 percent increase in third-quarter revenue. Much of this success came from its new retail brand West Elm, which experienced a fourth-quarter sales increase of 14 percent despite 25 percent tariffs on most of its products sourced from China. Williams-Sonoma has made commitments to leave China and is opening manufacturing operations in the U.S. and adding employees.


And in December, America’s largest steelmaker, Nucor, announced the addition of a coil paint line at its Mississippi County, Arkansas, mill that will coat roughly 250,000 tons of steel each year. The plant will add 50 new jobs in Arkansas, joining the hundreds of positions that the company is currently adding in new mills under construction in Missouri and Florida.
These companies are just a few examples of a broader trend showing that the Trump administration’s tariffs are working. The steel industry in particular offers ample evidence, with America’s steel companies investing some $13 billion in new steelmaking and mills across the nation.
This isn’t what many economists predicted, however. And frustrated by the flow of such positive news, the economics profession is looking for other means to wage their war against tariffs. Last month, two Federal Reserve Board economists, Aaron Flaaen and Justin Pierce, claimed that the tariffs have led to a “relative” loss for manufacturing employment in affected sectors. They also reported other small but negative effects from rising input costs. Their report follows other attempts to demonstrate that the tariffs aren’t helping the economy.
But what’s really going on? The answer, to quote one economist friend, is: “If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything.”
Here’s what we actually know. There was a manufacturing boom in 2017 and 2018 that boosted manufacturing employment 190,000 jobs in 2017 and 264,000 jobs in 2018. That brought America’s factory employment up to 12.809 million by December 2018. The 2018 increase was the largest in 20 years. Federal Reserve manufacturing production figures support this, showing industrial production up 2.5 percent in 2017 and 2.2 percent in 2018.


In 2019, the manufacturing sector experienced a pause. Fed data show that as of November, manufacturing output was down 0.8 percent compared with November 2018. But jobs aren’t down. Manufacturing employment in November 2019 came in at 12.865 million, up 56,000 jobs from December 2018.
The 2019 slowdown could have many causes. There’s the Fed’s series of interest rate increases. Or the slowdown in foreign economies, including China and Germany. But the fact remains that the U.S. economy continues to grow faster than major competitors. And China is suffering from the current trade war, with U.S. imports from China down $65 billion – or 15 percent – in 2019 year-to-date compared with 2018.
As for the tariffs’ impacts, some industries may have seen price increases following the tariffs. But there are many product categories, like steel and solar panels, where prices have actually fallen since the tariffs were imposed. And even in industries like furniture, where prices have risen, they have increased by far less than the tariff rate of 25 percent. And while some companies that sell cheap products from China have suffered, more nimble companies like Williams-Sonoma have done very well.

More at: https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/...any-economists

[Swordsmyth]

We often hear that the Trump administration’s steel tariffs are hurting the U.S. economy. News commentators certainly think so. They talk about a trade war with China — and how the tariffs are costing jobs while raising prices.
My company has 2,700 employees, including 600 in the Chicago area alone. We’re a major steel buyer, and we purchase more hot-rolled steel coil each year than General Motors. We think the tariffs are working well.


The steel we buy is used to manufacture tubing and piping at 16 facilities across the United States. Our products are used in everything from commercial construction and apartment buildings to energy infrastructure and data centers. Since 2017, we’ve hired 750 new employees while increasing our sales by 20 percent.
The tariffs matter because steel is important. It’s a key measure of a nation’s economic security. Steel is the bedrock commodity needed to build transportation, infrastructure, housing, and power distribution. Unfortunately, America’s steel industry has been declining in recent decades, and the United States is now the world’s largest steel importer.
What really hurt America’s steel mills is years of China massively subsidizing its state-owned steel industry. In fact, China has driven an enormous global oversupply of steel. China now produces 56 percent of the world’s steel, including an estimated 400 million tons of excess steel each year. All of that oversupply has reduced steel prices worldwide, leading to high levels of imports that have progressively swamped America’s steelmakers. Chinese steel also makes its way into the U.S. through transshipment and end-use products like washing machines, lawnmowers, and barbecues.
Last year, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on steel imports. And the net effect has been to level the playing field, allowing America’s steel producers to make major improvements and increase plant utilization. When the tariffs were first announced, there were short-term price spikes as America’s steel mills took stock. But steelmakers subsequently invested in world-leading electric arc furnaces to boost capacity and better compete with China. Even though my company’s primary component cost is raw steel, I supported the tariffs. I knew that in the long run it would lead to a more sustainable domestic steel industry.
Now, we’re seeing America’s steel industry investing $14 billion to transition from older blast-furnaces to newer mini-mills. Ironically, media coverage has portrayed the closures of these older steel plants as evidence that the tariffs have failed. But actually, these are smart, logical moves by a steel sector now reinventing itself and making major capital investments in high-tech mini-mills. Fears about higher prices have proven to be overblown, too. Steel prices have fallen 50 percent from peak levels last year and are now below pre-tariff levels.
Since the tariffs were imposed, my company has been expanding. We’ve doubled our capital expenditures to $160 million annually. And we’re even looking to hire 400 new workers across the eight states where we operate manufacturing facilities.
Clearly, we’re doing better, our workers are doing better, and many struggling communities are starting to get back on their feet. But all of that could turn around again.
Despite global calls for Beijing to reduce steel supply, production has continued to rise. China now produces more steel than the rest of the world combined — and it continues to overproduce in order to maintain its world-leading capacity while exporting steel at prices often set below the cost of production.

More at: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/11...is-steel-buyer

[Swordsmyth]

The jobs market kicked off 2020 in grand fashion, adding 291,000 in private payrolls for the best monthly gain since May 2015, according to a report Wednesday from ADP and Moody’s Analytics.
That was well above the 150,000 estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones and more evidence that the U.S. still is a good distance from full employment even with the jobless rate at its lowest point in more than 50 years. The total also was a sharp gain from the 199,000 in December, which was revised down 3,000 from the initial count.
Growth came across a swath of industries.
Leisure and hospitality led with 96,000 new jobs, but education and health services also contributed 70,000 and professional and business services added 49,000. On the goods-producing side, construction rose by 47,000, the best growth since the 62,000 added in January 2019, and manufacturing was up 10,000, the biggest monthly gain since last February.
In all, services added 237,000 positions compared with 54,000 for goods producers. Trade transportation and utilities rose by 8,000, while the information and financial activities sectors contributed 2,000 apiece. Natural resources and mining was the sole loser with a drop of 2,000.

More at: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/05/adp-...uary-2019.html

[Swordsmyth]

The jobs report from ADP on Wednesday understated job growth in January. Based on its own payrolls, the growth of private employment in the United States wasn’t 291,000. It was actually 336,100 when new jobs created by franchises were included.
The new jobs appeared in every sector of the economy, from small businesses to large and from goods-producing to service-providing. Small businesses added 94,000 new jobs; medium sized companies added 128,000 while large companies (500 employees and up) added 69,000. Those running franchise operations hired 45,100 new people in January.
Construction and manufacturing added 55,000 jobs, while professional and business services hired 49,000. Education added 70,000, while the leisure and hospitality sector brought on 96,000 new people.

More at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/econo...e-like-336-000

[enhanced_deficit]

To give credit where due, economic optimism these days level is spectacular; just Tesla alone doubled in market value in past one week.

Despite some comparisons being made to the spectacular economic bubble optimism of 2005-06 ( just before 08 crash) orchestrated by then Deep Fed to accomodate globalist Iraq war intervention , I'm still not convinced that globalists are running the economic indicators currently also to create roadmap for Iran intervention.

[Swordsmyth]

To give credit where due, economic optimism these days level is spectacular; just Tesla alone doubled in market value in past one week.

Despite some comparisons being made to the spectacular economic bubble optimism of 2005-06 ( just before 08 crash) orchestrated by then Deep Fed to accomodate globalist Iraq war intervention , I'm still not convinced that globalists are running the economic indicators currently also to create roadmap for Iran intervention.

Snort.

[oyarde]

Peter Schiff: Market ‘Is an Inflation-Driven Bubble’ Ready to Pop

https://moneyandmarkets.com/peter-sc...driven-bubble/

GDP 2.3% is a 3 year low.

It is actually quite remarkable that it is two percent . Everyone who wants a job has one and employment is still only 6 in 10 .Business investment is down , consumer spending is down .Just think what American productivity could do without federal regulation .

[timosman]

O'Bummer and the Demoncrats put lots of people on it.

Trump has the number dropping rapidly.

I was hoping Trump during the SOTU would turn to the camera and say - If you are not working in this economy it is not the government's responsibility to fund your lifestyle.

[timosman]

Snort.

This dude is nothing short of terrible.

[Swordsmyth]

This dude is nothing short of terrible.

He has no shame.

He will invent any fantasy or twist anything to try and say Trump is bad.

Unfortunately for him he has no skill.

[timosman]

He has no shame.

He will invent any fantasy or twist anything to try and say Trump is bad.

Unfortunately for him he has no skill.

Zippy 2.0?

[Swordsmyth]

Zippy 2.0?

CPUd 2.0