Displaying items by tag: Trump

(Washington)

In what could either be a big worry for tech or a pile of unwarranted hot air, there are rumors circulating that President Trump may be obsessed with regulating Amazon. Last week, the president escalated his calls for regulating the company, tweeting “I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election … Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!”. Trump has also repeatedly attacked the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Trump’s 2020 campaign manager said in a tweet that “Amazon has probably 10x the data on every American that Facebook does. All that data and own a political newspaper, The Washington Post. Hmm.....”.

FINSUM: Our other perspectives aside, we do think governments may need to adopt updated views of when regulation is called for. In Amazon’s case, the company is clearly not a monopoly in any sector, but the data it has does give it heightened importance. The context of monopoly laws, which are essentially modeled on 19th century ideas, don’t seem to have much scope to account for this.

(Washington)

Donald Trump may be in some very hot water soon. Stormy Daniels’ lawyer has just moved to interview the president under oath in relation to her lawsuit against him. Her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, has just asked a California court for the right to depose the president and his lawyer. The president’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, reject Daniels’ claim, defending his payment to her saying “just because something isn’t true doesn’t mean that it can’t cause you harm or damage”.

FINSUM: We suspect this request will not actually lead to Trump speaking under oath, but that does not mean something else in the case (or others) will not eventually put the president in that position.

(Beijing)

Well the market took a big sigh of relief yesterday, with prices swinging back massively. One of the big reasons why was less fear over a possible trade war. In particular, China took a much more conciliatory approach this week. The country announced it would ease foreign investment rules and buy more American semiconductors, a stark move that contrasts the American push towards big tariffs on Chinese imports to the US.

FINSUM: The bottom line in the US tussle with China over tariffs is that the US has a $375 bn trade deficit to Beijing, which means we have much less to lose than them. This is probably the reason Trump referred to trade wars as easy to win.

(Washington)

While all the current political anxiety seems to be centered around the midterm elections and what future that may hold for Republicans, the real trouble could be for Trump in 2020, says Bloomberg. According to economists, all signs are pointing to a recession in 2020. While the current tax cuts and fiscal stimulus will insulate the economy this year and next, “Fading fiscal stimulus, higher and rising interest rates, and cresting world demand could leave the economy vulnerable to a contraction -- just in time for the presidential campaign”, says Bloomberg.

FINSUM: A recession starting in the year of reelection would not be good for an incumbent president, and the timelines do seem to make sense.

(Washington)

Though he had remained silent on the issue for three days, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has finally spoken out on the Trump-Mueller tension. McConnell held a press conference yesterday to commend the job Robert Mueller is doing and to admonish the President to let him finish his investigation. McConnell said Mueller “should be allowed to finish his job”, and that “I don’t think Bob Mueller is going anywhere … I have a lot of confidence in him”. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also said that if Trump tried to fire Mueller without cause than it would be an impeachable offense.

FINSUM: We think Trump is sharp enough not to try to fire Mueller as it would create an absolute political nightmare.