May 8, 2018 -- Making America Great Again

Updates

May 8, 2018: CNS News on labor force participation:

Last month, a record 95,745,000 Americans were counted as "not in the labor force," meaning they are not employed and are not seeking a job, according to the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statics. "This category includes retired persons, students, those taking care of children or other family members, and others who are neither working nor seeking work," BLS said.

In a March 2018 report, the Congressional Budget Office noted that a lower labor force participation rate is associated with lower gross domestic product and lower tax revenues. It is also associated with larger federal outlays, because people who are not in the labor force are more likely to enroll in federal benefit programs, including Social Security.

Lower tax revenues? April, 2018, tax revenue -- sets all-time record. See original post.

Original Post

Making America great again:I was traveling yesterday. I see this was mentioned by the Washington Times. I assume it got wide play across all major networks including MSNBC and CNBC:

Weren't we told by mainstream media, Obama apologists, and never-Trumpers that the Trump Tax Bill would result in greatly reduced revenue for the US government? That's what I recall.

April: IRS tax haul collected $515 billion, swamping the previous monthly record of $190 billion set in 2001 -- wow, that's amazing -- all the way back to 2001. That takes us back to King George III, doesn't it?

And not only that, the haul of $515 billion greatly outpaced spending which was reported at less than $300 billion.

***********************************************

Summer in North Dakota: a reader tells me that folks in North Dakota hope to see summer sometime later this year. Right now, the forecast is this: "official" summer for North Dakota will be from August 15 - August 18, and then first signs of winter. Here it is, May 7, 2018, last evening, over at the Grand Forks Herald, Lake Sakakawea could challenge last ice-out date. This, despite global warming:

Ice remains on a good portion of Lake Sakakawea and it may remain that way for at least another week.The upper end of Lake Sakakawea has been ice free for several days. However, the middle and lower ends of the reservoir remained coated in a great sheet of ice. Sakakawea's latest ice-free date is May 17, 1979.

Comment: my hunch is that folks are going to be watching this very, very closely. There are few stories in North Dakota that are bigger than a) flaring; b) pipeline protests; and, c) ice-free dates.

Headline a bit over the top, from Reuters: "oil surges on Venezuela-Conoco disute, Iran sanction worries. In fact, WTI goes slightly over $70 (hardly surges), and then falls back to slightly under $70. This morning: $69.92. Hardly surging.

Comment: For its current budget Saudi needs $88-oil to stay afloat; last year it needed $83-oil. Right now, Brent well below that at $75. 

From the linked article:

Oil prices rose for the fourth straight day on Monday to hit levels not seen since late 2014, boosted by the latest trouble for Venezuelan oil company PDVSA and the possibility that the United States could re-impose sanctions on Iran.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $1.01, or 1.5 percent, to settle at $70.73 a barrel. This was the first time since November 2014 that WTI had climbed above $70. Brent crude futures jumped $1.30, or 1.7 percent, to settle at $76.17 a barrel.

U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips moved to take Caribbean assets of Venezuela's state-run PDVSA to enforce a $2 billion arbitration award.

Iran sanctions: pending. Trump expected to make announcement today.

API US crude oil inventory numbers to be released later this afternoon, 3:30 p.m. CDT, I believe.

Boom: Comcast to make ALL CASH unsolicited offer for Fox. Like this will go anywhere.

Boom:

• Apple's march to a trillion-dollar-market cap.
• Some say fair value for AAPL: $400.

Gone: NY attorney general resigns over reports of really weird activity. No links. Story everywhere. Good riddance. Makes Donald Trump look like a Boy Scout.

I wonder if the NY attorney general story will be reported on MSNBC this morning. More likely, Eric Schneiderman will become MSNBC analyst for #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, #Hey,WeAllDoIt; and, #What'sTheBigDeal. Rumors are Bill Clinton continues to keep a very, very low profile.

It appears the story was broken by Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker. Really? The New Yorker actually published this story. Hell must be freezing over.

Ronan Farrow: an American journalist, lawyer, and former government advisor. In late 2017, Farrow's articles in The New Yorker helped to uncover the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations. For this reporting, or this reporting, The New Yorker won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for public service, sharing the award with The New York Times.

Short squeeze: reported previously -- Elon Musk getting ready to pull off a huge short squeeze. Yesterday/today it is being reported that Elon Musk bought $10 million worth of TSLA. He could flip them today and make a tidy profit -- shares were up almost 3% yesterday on news of that deal, trading up almost $9 and back over $302/share.