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TexasTowelie's JournalChina's Inflation Rises to Seven-Year High on Soaring Pork
China’s consumer inflation rose to a seven-year high last month on the back of rising pork prices, complicating policy makers’ decision on whether to further ease funding for the country’s weakening industrial sector.
• The consumer price index rose 3.8% in October from a year earlier, up from 3% in the previous month.
• Factory prices fell by 1.6%, compared with the median estimate for a drop of 1.5%.
Key Insights
• While monetary policy isn’t the solution for rising pork prices caused by a supply shock, the People’s Bank of China has stayed relatively restrained compared with other major central banks even as growth has slowed. The bank offered a mini cut to the interest rate of 1-year bank funding this week amid a bond sell-off, while keeping the overall liquidity supply neutral.
• “The surging CPI inflation is due to supply (mostly pork price) and the worsening PPI deflation is due to demand,” said Larry Hu, head of China economics at Macquarie Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. “Ideally monetary policy should respond to demand instead of supply. In reality, the PBOC is likely to strike a balance between PPI and pork price.”
• While further monetary stimulus would help companies struggling with weakening demand, deflation and higher tariffs, even faster inflation would hurt households more.
• “Persistent deflation in the industrial sector squeezes profitability -- reducing leeway for investment and hiring,” David Qu, economist at Bloomberg Economics in Hong Kong, wrote in a note.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-09/china-s-inflation-rises-to-seven-year-high-as-pork-prices-soar?srnd=premium
Swing City, Swing State
Scott Slawson says he could see Trump’s victory coming in 2016 when the MAGA lawn signs began dotting the front yards of Western Pennsylvania. “It was probably about two or three weeks before the election,” he remembers. “My business agent and I were traveling up from Grove City and I just said, ‘You know, I got a bad feeling.”
Slawson is president of Local 506 of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, a union that represents the kind of Rust Belt workers who have been battered by decades of deindustrialization. His local is in Erie County, a Democratic stronghold since the 1980s. Today Erie County, whose voters chose Donald Trump by a two-point margin in 2016, is an electoral bellwether. (The city of Erie went overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton.)
Since Trump’s upset victory, the national media have trained their cameras on the facades of Erie’s empty factories—and told the story of laid-off, mostly white, middle-aged manufacturing workers who voted for Trump. But there is more to this lakeside town than empty factories—what happens in 2020 is also about other people in Erie: African Americans, young people, union members who lean left, its new immigrants and also voters who rejected the major parties during the 2016 election.
On paper, it seems that Erie County, which has a population of 270,000, may have moved back into the Democratic column. A recent survey shows Trump trailing Democratic leading candidates among registered voters. The county voted for the Democratic incumbent governor by an 18-point margin in 2019.
Read more: https://prospect.org/politics/erie-swing-city-swing-state/
(American Prospect)
The Billionaire Class Created Their Own Wealth Tax. It Failed.
In August 2010, as millions of working-class Americans saw their nest eggs destroyed in the wake of the financial crisis and subsequent foreclosure wave, 40 of the country’s wealthiest individuals and couples came together to form a compact. Within their lifetimes, these billionaires swore, they would give away more than half of their wealth. The Bush tax cuts were still a few months away from being extended, and even without that generous giveaway, America’s richest families decided to implement what was effectively a hefty wealth tax on themselves.
Led prominently by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, the Giving Pledge would account for many billions of dollars in redistribution. “This is about building on a wonderful tradition of philanthropy that will ultimately help the world become a much better place,” said Gates at the time.
The pledge quickly proved highly popular among the world’s rich. In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg, who became a Giving Pledge signatory five years earlier at age 26, decided to up the ante even further, vowing to give away 99 percent of his Facebook shares. Today, the pledge includes 204 of the world’s wealthiest individuals, couples, and families, ranging in age from their 30s to their 90s, spanning 30 states (plus D.C.) and 23 countries.
Yet, despite the world’s best, supposedly brightest, and definitely most well-endowed dedicating their lives to diminishing their colossal holdings, the Giving Pledge has been a near-total failure. Try as they might to spend it down, their dynastic winnings continue to swell, as favorable tax deals, loopholes, and havens have helped balloon their money to unfathomable and unspendable amounts. In the decade the billionaire class has had to effectuate its self-imposed wealth tax, none of the highest-profile signees have even managed to slow the growth rate of their wealth, let alone come anywhere close to cutting the total in half.
Read more: https://prospect.org/power/billionaire-class-created-failed-wealth-tax-giving-pledge/
Elizabeth Warren Dreams Big in North Carolina
On the night before the general election in 2016, Hillary Clinton finished her campaign with a midnight rally at North Carolina State University. On Thursday, Elizabeth Warren stood just a few miles away at Broughton High School, on her first trip to North Carolina, with stops in Greensboro and Raleigh on her way down to South Carolina. By 6 p.m., the school’s gymnasium was packed to the gills—the campaign’s final estimate was 3,550 in attendance—with supporters mostly sporting Warren shirts and teal signs bearing the campaign’s slogan: “Dream Big, Fight Hard.”
For whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee, North Carolina will firmly be in the “fight hard” column. In 2016, the state was a top battleground in just about every way imaginable, seen as one of the most likely states to put either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump over the top; Trump ultimately won by over 170,000 votes. There was more than just the presidency at stake, too: On top of its role as a vital swing state, North Carolina had a competitive Senate race and razor-thin gubernatorial and attorney general elections.
Next year, on top of another likely close gubernatorial election and another likely competitive Senate race, the entire legislature is up for re-election, which will determine who controls the redistricting process. Given that voting rights groups and Democrats have spent much of the last eight years duking it out with Republicans over the gerrymandered maps the GOP drew in 2011 —this week, the legislature again began the court-ordered process of redrawing the congressional maps—2020 might be even more important locally than 2016.
Warren’s event was billed as a town hall but operated more like a rally with a brief question-and-answer session at the end. A number of North Carolina legislators were in attendance on Thursday, capped by Representative Deb Butler. In September, as North Carolina Republicans capitalized on an absence of House Democrats to override Governor Roy Cooper’s budget veto, a video of Butler forcefully condemning the process went viral. In endorsing Warren during the kickoff of the program, Butler alluded to the Massachusetts senator’s own 2017 fight against Mitch McConnell, which produced the now-infamous line “Nevertheless, she persisted.”
Read more: https://prospect.org/politics/elizabeth-warren-dreams-big-in-north-carolina/
(American Prospect)
Jury Finds Wells Fargo Owes USAA $200 Million For Patent Infringement Of Mobile Check Depositing
An East Texas jury found Wells Fargo willingly infringed on mobile check deposit patents held by USAA.
A jury found unanimously in favor of the United Services Automobile Association Wednesday and ordered Wells Fargo to pay USAA $200 million.
Wells Fargo and more than 100 other banks were warned by USAA in 2017 they were infringing on the technology which USAA had developed for its military members.
Nathan McKinley is the vice president of corporate development at USAA, and he said in a press release that the verdict given on Wednesday is an acknowledgement of the company's value and innovation.
Read more: https://www.tpr.org/post/jury-finds-wells-fargo-owes-usaa-200-million-patent-infringement-mobile-check-depositing
San Antonio's Sick Leave Ordinance Now Rests In The Hands Of A Judge
A San Antonio ordinance allowing workers to earn paid sick leave is now in the hands of a Bexar County District judge. The Sick and Safe Leave ordinance is set to go into effect on Dec. 1 unless the judge grants an injunction.
The plaintiffs include 12 business groups like the Associated Builders and Contractors of South Texas, the American Staffing Association and Hawkins Associates. Their claim says the ordinance circumvents state law, specifically, the Texas Minimum Wage Act. Officials with the city said the ordinance provides a benefit, and not a wage, under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. District Court Judge Peter Sakai ended the Thursday hearing without issuing a ruling.
The ordinance allows workers inside the San Antonio city limits to earn one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Ricardo Cedillo, the plaintiff’s attorney says paying an employee for sick time forces an employer to pay above the minimum wage.
“You are in effect paying him more for the hours that (he) did work,” he said.
Read more: https://www.tpr.org/post/san-antonio-s-sick-leave-ordinance-now-rests-hands-judge
Beto to supporters: 'All of us have to commit to get behind the nominee from this party'
Beto O'Rourke — just a week after ending his presidential campaign — encouraged supporters on Thursday to get behind the future Democratic nominee.
The former El Paso congressman held a final "huddle with the team" Thursday evening where, true to form, he used a live streamed video to thank supporters and close the chapter on his presidential bid.
"All of us have to commit to get behind the nominee from this party to make sure that she or he is successful against Donald Trump," O'Rourke said on the Thursday call.
"And then to make sure that once they become president that they help to heal this very divided country and face with courage every single one of the challenges in front of us right now."
Read more: https://www.caller.com/story/news/politics/2019/11/08/beto-supporters-all-us-have-commit-get-behind-democratic-nominee-president/2518173001/
(Corpus Christi Caller Times)
The ABCs of Julian Castro's uphill path to the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020
AUSTIN — It's almost as if Julián Castro is taking on his rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in alphabetical order — Beto ... Biden ... Buttigieg ...
As the only Texan of either party remaining in the race, the former San Antonio mayor and Obama administration cabinet secretary is continuing the pattern he started at the first debate: Look for a candidate who is polling better, raising more money and drawing more media attention, and punch him in the gut.
That's what Castro did June 26 in Detroit when he went after former El Paso Congressman Beto O'Rourke on immigration policy, and admonished him with "do your homework" on the finer points of current law. Most pundits agreed that Castro got the better of the exchange and it wasn't long before O'Rourke slipped from his perch among the Democratic frontrunners, before finally ending his campaign Nov. 1.
Fast-forward to Sept. 13 in Houston. Castro picked a fight with former Vice President Joe Biden on health care policy in the Texas debate. In a dig that some took as an attack on the Biden's age — he'll turn 77 Nov. 2 — the 45-year-old Castro accused Biden of forgetting what he had said a few minutes earlier on the debate stage.
Read more: https://www.caller.com/story/news/columnists/john-moritz/2019/11/08/why-julian-castro-going-on-the-attack-against-pete-buttigieg/2520374001/
(Corpus Christi Caller Times)
Good news for Sanders and Warren since they are at the end of the alphabet.
Monday night black cat still on the loose at MetLife Stadium
A cat runs on the field during the second quarter of an NFL football game between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys, Monday, Nov. 4, 2019, in East Rutherford, N.J.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The elusive black cat from "Monday Night Football" is still on the run.
MetLife Stadium officials said Thursday the search for the fleet feline that briefly delayed the nationally televised game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys on Monday night has been unsuccessful.
The search started on Tuesday morning with multiple humane traps being stationed in the stadium. After that came up empty, stadium officials asked PuppykittyNYCity — a trap, neuter, release and no-kill shelter — for help.
"We are hopeful that together we can find the black cat that we all fell in love with Monday night," the stadium statement said.
Read more: https://www.lmtonline.com/sports/article/Monday-night-black-cat-still-on-the-loose-at-14818882.php
(Laredo Morning Times)
Selena tribute artist Karol Posadas detained by ICE in Texas, manager says
Well-known Selena tribute artist Karol Posadas is being held by ICE at a detention center in Texas, according to her manager.
Posadas, who fronts the band Anything for Salinas, was stopped Saturday by immigration at Valley International Airport in Harlingen and is being kept at a detention facility in El Valle, according to a GoFundMe page set up by a friend to help with legal fees.
Posadas, it says, is part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. She was brought to the U.S. at 15 years old by her parents "to escape the dangers and threats of her home country Guatemala."
Roberto Cadilha, the band's manager, said Posada's DACA was already in the process of being renewed when she was detained. But she had not yet received the physical document, he added.
Read more: https://www.lmtonline.com/entertainment/music/article/Karol-Posadas-a-Selena-tribute-artist-is-being-14820014.php
(Laredo Morning Times)
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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