Baltic Dry Index. 1109 -25 Brent Crude 51.91
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
President Trump, with apologies to Lewis Carroll and Alice.
With the EUSSR, of which Great Britain
still remains a reluctant part, off celebrating May Day, the communist worker’s
holiday, time to take a look at the USA after the erratic President Trump’s
first 100 days. President Trump is "essentially
a 70-year old kid in a candy store who wants one of everything: More for
defense, veterans, border walls, law enforcement, infrastructure and
'phenomenal' tax cuts, too—without the inconvenience of paying for any of
it," says David Stockman.
David Stockman: Trump's tax plan is 'dead on arrival' and Wall St. is 'delusional' for believing it
David Stockman has a stern message for investors: They're living in a fantasy land about Trump.In a recent interview on CNBC's "Futures Now," the former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Reagan said that "Wall Street is totally misreading Washington," and President Trump's promises of tax reform will be "dead before arrival."
The president is "essentially a 70-year old kid in a candy store who wants one of everything: More for defense, veterans, border walls, law enforcement, infrastructure and 'phenomenal' tax cuts, too—without the inconvenience of paying for any of it," said Stockman.
Of the proposed tax bill announced this week, he said, "It's a wonderful fantasy…but there's no way to pay for the $7.5 trillion cost of the main features."
'Total calamity'
The White House announced a one-page tax reform plan on Wednesday, and
some of the points Stockman highlighted include: Three tax brackets, double
standard deduction and the reduction of corporate and non-corporate business
taxes down to 15 percent.
In a research note this week, Goldman Sachs pegged the cost of the tax
plan to just under $5 trillion, when factoring in key changes such as repealing
of the state and local tax, and a 35 percent top marginal rate instead of 33
percent. Goldman analysts expect the tax bill is "fairly likely" to
become law, but warned progress could be slow.
"I like [the tax plan] but you have to pay for it either with a new
tax like the border adjustment tax, which is dead, or spending cuts which Trump
has ruled off the table," Stockman explained. "What you have down
there is a total fiscal calamity that is going to basically dominate
Washington."
Stockman expects a "constant fiscal crisis and stalemate" in
D.C., which will ultimately delay the "good stuff," like a tax cut,
from ever happening.
Of Trump's first 100 days in office, Stockman again referred to the
White House as a "pop up store giving out candy before the 100th day to
say they've accomplished something." Adding, "this isn't a serious
plan, it can't be done. And I think it's only indicative of the huge trouble
that's brewing down there in the beltway."
More
In other US news this past weekend,
President Trump took three days to reverse his position on South Korea paying
for the cost of deploying the latest anti-missile defence system. And while apparently
wooing President Xi to get China’s help in getting a diplomatic solution to the
problem of North Korea, accused China, not Russia, of hacking the Democratic
Party last year, even though there’s no evidence of any hacking, though strong
suspicions of an internal leak.
South Korea says U.S. reaffirms it will pay THAAD costs; Trump calls Asia allies
South Korea said the United States had reaffirmed it would shoulder the
cost of deploying the THAAD anti-missile system, days after President Donald
Trump said Seoul should pay for the $1 billion battery designed to defend
against North Korea.
In a telephone call on Sunday, Trump's national security adviser, H.R.
McMaster, reassured his South Korean counterpart, Kim Kwan-jin, that the U.S.
alliance with South Korea was its top priority in the Asia-Pacific region, the
South's presidential office said.
The conversation followed another North Korean missile test-launch on
Saturday which Washington and Seoul said was unsuccessful, but which drew widespread
international condemnation.
Trump, asked about his message to North Korea after the latest missile
test, told reporters: "You'll soon find out," but did not elaborate
on what the U.S. response would be.
Trump stepped up his outreach to allies in Asia over the weekend to
discuss the North Korean nuclear threat and make sure all are "on the same
page" if action is needed, a top White House official said.
The president spoke on Sunday to Thailand
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who heads a military government that took
power in a 2014 coup, and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and invited
both of them to Washington. He talked on Saturday night with Philippines
President Rodrigo Duterte, who was also invited for talks. The White House
defended the Duterte call, saying his cooperation was needed to counter North
Korea, even as the administration faced criticism for its overture to Manila.
Duterte has been accused by human rights groups of supporting an anti-drug
campaign of extrajudicial killings, which his government denies.
----Trump's comments in an interview with Reuters on Thursday that he wanted Seoul to pay for the THAAD deployment perplexed South Koreans and raised questions about his commitment to the two countries' alliance.
South Korean officials responded that the cost was for Washington to
bear, under the bilateral agreement.
More
Trump says China could have hacked Democratic emails
President Donald Trump said China may have hacked the emails of
Democratic officials to meddle with the 2016 presidential election, countering
the view of U.S. intelligence officials who have said Moscow orchestrated the
hacks.
In an interview transcript published on Sunday, Trump gave no evidence
backing his allegation, first made on the eve of the Nov. 8 presidential
election, that China could have hacked the emails of his rivals.
"If you don't catch a hacker, okay, in the act, it's very hard to
say who did the hacking," the president said in an interview with CBS
"Face the Nation." "(It) could have been China, could have been
a lot of different groups."
The hackers roiled the presidential campaign by making public
embarrassing emails sent by Democratic operatives and aides to Democratic
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. One email showed party leaders favoring
Clinton over her rival in the campaign for the party's internal nomination
contest.
Trump has been dismissive of the statements by intelligence officials
that Moscow hacked the emails to help Trump win the election. During the Sept
26 presidential debate with Clinton, Trump said China was one of many actors
that could have been behind the hack, including "somebody sitting on their
bed that weighs 400 pounds."
More
U.S. Looks at Sanctions, Military Action to Counter North Korea
by Nafeesa Syeed and Ben Brody
30 April 2017, 18:05 GMT+1
The U.S. is considering a range of options, from expanded economic
sanctions to military operations, as it reaches out to allies in confronting
North Korea’s latest provocations, according to a senior Trump administration
official.
North Korea’s ballistic missile test early Saturday was in “open
defiance” of the international community, and the risk to the U.S. will not be
tolerated, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Sunday.
“We do have to do something” with partners in the region and globally
“that involves enforcement of the UN sanctions that are in
place,” McMaster said on the “Fox News Sunday” program. “It may mean
ratcheting up those sanctions even further. And it also means being prepared
for military operations, if necessary.”
----McMaster said Trump has been “masterful” in courting China, which accounts for the vast majority of trade with Pyongyang.
“We do see China starting to do something,” including in public statements and the Chinese press, he said. “But it is clear more needs to be done, and we’re going to ask China to do more as we do more as our South Korean and Japanese allies -- but really all nations -- have to take a look at this regime.”
Trump, in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” called the latest launch “a small missile” while declining to say whether he’d take military action if Kim conducts a nuclear test.
More
President Trump, having talked himself
into a corner over North Korea, now seems to be begging China’s President Xi to
bail him out without starting a war.
“First, however, he waited for a few minutes to see if he was
going to shrink any further: he felt a little nervous about this; ‘for it might
end, you know,’ said the Donald to himself; ‘in my going out altogether, like a
candle. I wonder what I should be like then?’”
With apologies to Lewis Carroll and Alice.
At the Comex silver depositories Friday
final figures were: Registered 32.53 Moz, Eligible 164.03 Moz,
Total 196.56 Moz.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally
doubled over.
Today, the usual suspects, the dithering US Congress.
So who blinked?
“Off with their heads!”
President Trump, with
apologies to Lewis Carroll and Alice.
U.S. congressional talks yield deal to fund government through September: source
U.S. congressional negotiators have hammered out a bipartisan agreement
on a spending package to keep the federal government funded through the end of
the current fiscal year on Sept. 30, a senior congressional aide said on
Sunday.
The House of Representatives and Senate must approve the deal before the
end of Friday and send it to President Donald Trump for his signature to avoid
the first government shutdown since 2013.
On Friday, congressional sources familiar with the negotiations said the
deal could include an increase in defense spending for this year totaling
around $15 billion. But details of the defense portion of the agreement that
was struck over the weekend were not immediately available.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said the agreement would increase
funding for Puerto Rico's Medicaid healthcare program for the poor, which is
facing shortfalls later this year. She did not specify how much more money
Puerto Rico would get, however.
Pelosi added that the massive spending bill will also increase funding
for several Democratic priorities, including the National Institutes of Health
by $2 billion this year. The measure would deliver permanent health benefits
for coal miners and their families who faced losing their insurance next month.
During the negotiations, Democrats pushed to protect funding for women's
healthcare provider Planned Parenthood, but details were not yet available.
The House is likely to vote first on the package, probably early in the
week and send the measure to the Senate for approval before Friday's midnight
deadline when existing funds expire.
Republicans who control Congress and opposition Democrats have been in
intensive negotiations for weeks over the legislation that would provide around
$1 trillion in Washington money for an array of federal programs, from airport
and border security operations to soldiers' pay, medical research, foreign aid
and domestic education programs.
If this deal passes Congress and the president signs it into law, as
expected, it would mark the first significant bipartisan legislation passing
Congress this year and since Trump took office on Jan. 20.
Congress averted a U.S. government shutdown last Friday by voting for a
stop-gap spending bill that gave lawmakers another week to work out federal
spending over the final five months of the fiscal year.
Even with the new progress, lawmakers are running far behind schedule,
as legislation funding government operations in fiscal year 2017 were supposed
to have been completed by last Oct. 1.
More
Stocks Advance, Yen Erases Gains on Congress Deal: Markets Wrap
by Adam Haigh and Min Jeong Lee
30 April 2017, 23:18 GMT+1
Asian stocks climbed with U.S. futures, bonds retreated and the yen
erased gains as U.S. Congress negotiators reached a tentative deal to avert a
shutdown of government this week.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose, after capping a fourth straight month
of gains on Friday. Japanese shares advanced after its best week of the year.
The yen weakened for the fifth day out of six, while Treasuries retreated with
gold. Oil climbed from its lowest level in a month.
----“It’s a good thing a tentative deal was reached without too much trouble,” says Naoki Fujiwara, chief fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “It seems that we’re able to put behind some of the things that the market’s recently been worried about. But U.S. economic data on jobs and the GDP is reason for caution.”
Trading volumes may be lower than average due to the Labor Day or May
Day holiday in many countries, including China, India, Russia, U.K., Hong Kong,
Germany, Singapore and Mexico. Later on this week Japan will be closed for a
three-day holiday.
China data from the weekend showed a decline in manufacturing and
services sectors. That followed weaker-than-expected U.S. growth in the first
quarter, casting doubts on the strength of the global expansion after optimism
on the economy and earnings pushed stocks to records last month.
Investors will be watching comments from a policy meeting of the Federal
Open Market Committee this week and the monthly U.S. employment report on
Friday, with the second round of the French presidential election on May 7.
More
“Now, here, you see, it
takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get
somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”
With apologies.
Technology Update.
With events happening
fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section.
Updates as they get reported. Is converting sunlight to usable cheap AC or DC
energy mankind’s future from the 21st century onwards? DC? A quantum
computer next?
Today
something a little different for our American and Canadian readers.Firing Order Swaps: What’s Best For Your Engine?
Posted on Apr 25, 2017
By Mike Magda
A firing order swap is one of those
modifications that has become popular based on the potential of an
often-corroborated performance upgrade; however, its true value to the engine
builder may be obscured by those power promises.
“The main reason people like the 4-7 swap
or the 4-7/2-3 is really about cooling and torsion of the crankshaft,” explains
Billy Godbold of Comp Cams. “Other issues
involving air and fuel distribution can be addressed with manifold design or in
the fuel system. If you hear someone say, ‘I picked up 30 horsepower,’ then
they just had the air-fuel all wrong.”
The topic of firing-order swap is rather narrow in the high-performance and racing industry. It’s usually limited to 90-degree V8 engines, both gas and diesel. You rarely hear Nissan GT-R or Buick Grand National owners asking engine builders if there’s a better firing order for their V6 engines. And if they did ask, the answer is likely to be “no.” Same for straight-6s, straight-8s and I4s.
Just what is a firing order swap?
First, we know that a conventional V8
engine is designed to generate a power stroke every 90 degrees of crankshaft
rotation. Remember, it’s a 4-stroke engine, so, a full cycle of eight firings
requires two complete crankshaft rotations, or 720 degrees (8 x 90 = 720).
Most V8 engines have a cross-plane crankshaft, which phases the connecting
rod pins at 90-degree intervals. This compares to a flat-plane crankshaft where
the pins are phased at 180 degrees. The flat-plane crankshaft style will be
discussed later since they’re used only in high-end racing and exotic
production vehicles.
Based on an engine configuration of a 90-degree V8 block spinning a
cross-plane crankshaft, there are only eight possible firing-order
combinations. Actually, there are 16 because GM and Chrysler engines are
left-bank forward and the automakers number their cylinders differently than
Ford, which is right-bank forward. With a little math and comparison mapping,
we can find the common ground for the eight firing orders (see chart below)
available to the manufacturers.
Four of these possible combinations are generally thought to be
ineffective in performance applications, as they fire four cylinders in various
sequence orders on one bank before the four cylinders on the opposing bank are
fired. Such a bank-to-bank combustion cycles would create considerable engine
shake and therefore is rarely used by engine builders. That doesn’t mean they
haven’t been tried. Godbold knows of former a Pro Stock Truck racer and a
NASCAR team experimenting with such an order–most likely 1-8-4-2-6-5-7-3. And a
Top Fuel team once asked Godbold for a bank-to-bank camshaft, but he was
understandably hesitant to turn a 25-foot-long digger into a
10,000-horsepower, 300-mph vibrator.
“Think of all the downforce the exhaust produces on a Top Fuel engine,”
reminds Godbold. “Four massive pulses from one side, then four from the other.
I knew the driver and I wasn’t going to see him get killed.”
More
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished April
DJIA: 20,941 +149 Up. NASDAQ: 6,048 +190 Up. SP500: 2,384 +152 Up.
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