Mr. Trump announced before traveling to the United Kingdom for a state visit that Meghan Markle was nasty, although he subsequently denied having said it, unfortunately for POTUS there were tapes of it. It must be that fake news again. He also suggested to Mrs. May that Britain not pay the $50 billion fee to exit Brexit, and offered support for Boris Johnson. If Mrs. May had made the same incursions into our affairs the tweets would have been viral and nasty.
Louis Levi Oaks died on May 28, 2019, at the age of 94. It is quite fitting that he died the day after Memorial Day. Mr. Oaks was one of the Code Talkers and a person who was proud of his service and spoke little of his activities during the war. We should all be proud of this Native American and our neighbor here in the North Country.
The Democratic Caucus has adopted a plan very similar to that of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee. They have indicated that any consultant who supports a challenger will be barred from doing work at the DCCC/Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Not a surprise to see from Republicans, but it is a surprise to me to see, from Democrats, particularly given the number of sitting members of Congress who were challengers to incumbents in 2018. There is silence on the Republican side, but I can’t imagine there will be silence coming from the Democratic Caucus on this issue.
And from nature the discovery of an Elasmosaurs skeleton emerges from a remote island off the Antarctic Peninsula. In case you didn’t recognize this creature, it was a “giant aquatic reptile”, weighing 15 tons, living along side the dinosaurs. They must have been quite the scary site.
President Trump during his first day of a state visit with Britain, announced that Britain was our largest trading partner. Unfortunately, this will be added to the list of lies that he has told in his presidency, as Britain is actually number 7. China, Mexico and Canada are our largest trading partners by billions of dollars. This is not an error in my mind, but rather Mr. Trump trying to appeal to whomever his audience is irrespective of what the facts are. The average person likely has no idea who are largest trading partner is, nor do they care. It will be interesting to see what spin the White House puts on this one.
Filings with the SEC and other corporate disclosures indicate that many large companies see the impacts of climate change effecting their bottom lines. Five-hundred of the world’s largest companies submitted reports to CDP Worldwide, and those reports disclosed an anticipated cost of $1trillion due to climate change in the next five years. It is clear when you look at those trends that at least businesses are taking the issue seriously and are attempting to plan for it. Let’s hope Washington gets its act in gear and ceases the climate denial rhetoric.
Recently, in a New York Times article, there was a discussion about the impact of string cheese production at a plant in Lowville, Lewis County, New York. The plant began to produce string cheese which utilized many times the amount of water that had been previously used by the plant. In fact, the plant was using up to 80% of the available water supply in the community. Local officials were surprised to learn of this and this led to some tension between the community, the government and the plant. Interestingly enough, the plant had added jobs in order to process string cheese and thus, was initially welcomed by the local community and local government. Will we see more issues regarding water use as our region (the Adirondacks) has abundant water and may well become a site for products that need substantial water in their production. This is both a potential economic boon and an environmental issue.
As of Friday, June 7, 2019, the U.S. and Mexico are trying to reach agreement to avoid the imposition of tariffs on June 10, 2019 staring at 5% and potentially moving to 25%. Senate Republicans are balking and President Trump runs the risk of being rebuffed by his own party. Tying together trade and immigration is a first and portends a dangerous precedent. The economic harm to both countries could be severe but little thought seems to be given to collateral issues. Farmers may love POTUS even less.
Internationally. The U.S. and Russia are playing chicken at an increasing rate. The latest is a near collision in the Philippine Sea. I guess Putin is not chestened by Mr. Trump, in fact he appears emboldened.
The USMCA has dropped from the news this past week due to the obvious concerns about the imposition of tariffs against Mexico. There has been little reported about any resolution of the China Trade war. I can’t wait for the next policy white paper on these issues. Vice President Pence is apparently oblivious to POTUS’s actions.
Mr. Owens is a former member of Congress representing the New York 21st, a partner in Stafford Owens in Plattsburgh, NY and a Senior Advisor to Dentons to Washington, DC.
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