DECEMBER 24, 2018

NEWS AND VIEWS

ANOTHER DEPENDABLE LEADER DOWN.

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/-i-didn-t-sleep-very-well-jeh-johnson-on-mattis-resignation-1404088387582
'I didn't sleep very well': Jeh Johnson on Mattis resignation
Former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson joins Morning Joe to discuss Jim Mattis' resignation as well as the possibility of a government over border wall funding.
Dec. 21, 2018
VIDEO INTERVIEW – DURATION 12:10


THAT’S NOT MY FAULT EITHER!!

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46675051
Trump savages Federal Reserve as stock plunge worsens
DECEMBER 24, 2018 6 hours ago

REUTERS
Image caption -- The president reportedly wanted to fire Fed chairman Jerome Powell, but it is unclear whether he has the authority to do so

President Donald Trump has lashed out at America's central bank as a stock market whose gains he once took credit for continued a historic plunge.

In a tweet, Mr Trump said the Federal Reserve was "the only problem" of the American economy.

Mr Trump's treasury secretary meanwhile scrambled to calm investors.

However, the Dow Jones fell more than 650 points on Monday, and is on track for its worst December since 1931 during the Great Depression.

The turmoil comes amid a partial government shutdown, US-China trade tensions and reports the president has discussed firing Fed chairman Jerome Powell.

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Donald J. Trump
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@realDonaldTrump
The only problem our economy has is the Fed. They don’t have a feel for the Market, they don’t understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can’t score because he has no touch - he can’t putt!

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Donald J. Trump
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@realDonaldTrump
I am all alone (poor me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come back and make a deal on desperately needed Border Security. At some point the Democrats not wanting to make a deal will cost our Country more money than the Border Wall we are all talking about. Crazy!

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Mr Trump continually boasted about Wall Street's steep climb during the first year of his presidency, but has sought to deflect blame since markets hit a rough patch in 2018.

On Sunday US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin took the unusual step of calling the chief executives of America's six largest banks in a bid to soothe market jitters.

On Monday, he called top market regulators and officials from the US central bank to allay fears about the economy.

Mr Mnuchin hosted the call with the President's Working Group on Financial Markets to "discuss co-ordination efforts to assure normal market operations", according a treasury statement.

The board of governors of the US Federal Reserve System, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission are on the working group.

RELATED --
US shutdown could stretch into new year
Not a very merry Christmas
Analysis by Samira Hussain, business reporter, BBC News, New York

It is rare for a US treasury secretary to make public his discussions with American financial institutions. But that is exactly what Mr Mnuchin did.

He was attempting to ease financial markets but Monday's swoon showed he did the opposite.

So then President Trump weighed in by tweet and renewed his criticism of the Federal Reserve. That also did not have the desired effect. Instead of the typical Santa Rally, we saw US investors flee stocks for safety.

Not exactly the Christmas cheer the White House was hoping for.

What does this mean for 2019? A lot will depend on what happens in Washington: government shutdown, simmering trade tensions and the president's tweets.

One thing has been made very clear: if the White House wants to calm nervous investors, it's going to need to get much better at its messaging.

Why are investors worried?
Monday saw the worst day of Christmas Eve trading ever for US stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 653 points, falling below 22,000.

The S&P 500 entered so-called "bear market" territory.

Image copyrightREUTERS
US investors are fretful about a range of factors including slowing economic growth at home and internationally, though US economic data is still strong.

Mr Trump's ongoing trade war with China as well as Defence Secretary Jim Mattis's surprise resignation have also unsettled investors.

In addition, a partial US government shutdown began at midnight on Friday after Congress refused to fund President Trump's planned US-Mexico border wall.

The shutdown could continue until the opening of the next Congress on 3 January.

What did US Treasury say?
A Sunday statement from the treasury took the rare step of divulging details about Mr Mnuchin's discussions with the top US banks.

"The [bank's chief executives] confirmed that they have ample liquidity available for lending to consumer, business markets, and all other market operations," the statement said.

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Steven Mnuchin
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@stevenmnuchin1
Today I convened individual calls with the CEOs of the nation's six largest banks. See attached statement.

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"We continue to see strong economic growth in the US," Mr Mnuchin added.

Earlier, he dismissed reports that President Trump had discussed the possibility of firing the Federal Reserve chairman after the bank raised interest rates last week.

The US treasury secretary tweeted that he had spoken to the president, who insisted he "never suggested firing" Jerome Powell and did not believe he had the right to do so.

Image copyrightREUTERS
Image caption
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday banks had "ample liquidity"
Did Mnuchin spook markets?
Some financial pundits warned Mr Mnuchin's intervention could backfire.

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Deborah B. Solomon
@deborah_solomon
If you're trying to start a bank run/panic, this is a pretty good way to do it.

Steven Mnuchin
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@stevenmnuchin1
Today I convened individual calls with the CEOs of the nation's six largest banks. See attached statement.

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Jared Bernstein, who was economic adviser to former US Vice-President Joe Biden, told the Washington Post: "The markets are already nervous enough.

"It's like sending out a message saying our space shields can intercept incoming asteroids. Uh, I didn't know there were any coming our way."

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Paul Krugman
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@paulkrugman
This is amazing. It's as if Mnuchin was trying to create a panic over something nobody was worried about until this release 1/

NOTE: GO TO THE WEBSITE FOR THIS LETTER.

Steven Mnuchin
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@stevenmnuchin1
Today I convened individual calls with the CEOs of the nation's six largest banks. See attached statement.

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Oliver Pursche, a board member at Bruderman Asset Management, said: "More than anything else right now, Washington and politics are absolutely driving investor sentiment and market direction and that can turn on a dime."

Win Thin, head of global currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, told the Financial Times: "At best, Mnuchin made a rookie policy mistake in trying to reassure markets; at worst, Mnuchin knows something that the markets don't."

Related Topics
Steven MnuchinUnited StatesStock markets


DANGEROUS, EXPENSIVE, UNLIKELY TO BRING DIRECT BENEFIT, CERTAINLY NO PLACE FOR A HUMAN SPACE COLONY, AND NASA IS NO LONGER STRONG ENOUGH TO DO IT. THOSE MIGHT BE SOME REASONS WHY IT’S A BAD IDEA. RIGHT, SIR?

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46364179
Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, astronaut says
By Tom Green
BBC Radio 5 Live
24 December 2018

NASA, Image captio -- Bill Anders on Apollo 8 in December 1968

One of the first men to orbit the Moon has told BBC Radio 5 Live that it's "stupid" to plan human missions to Mars.

Bill Anders, lunar module pilot of Apollo 8, the first human spaceflight to leave Earth's orbit, said sending crews to Mars was "almost ridiculous".

Nasa is currently planning new human missions to the Moon.

It wants to learn the skills and develop the technology to enable a future human landing on Mars.

Image caption -- Bill Anders today. He says Nasa shouldn't be aiming to send manned missions to Mars

Anders, 85, said he's a "big supporter" of the "remarkable" unmanned programmes, "mainly because they're much cheaper". But he says the public support simply isn't there to fund vastly more expensive human missions.

"What's the imperative? What's pushing us to go to Mars?" he said, adding "I don't think the public is that interested".

Meanwhile, robotic probes are still exploring Mars. Last month, the InSight lander, which will sample the planet's interior, successfully touched down at Elysium Planitia.

In a statement, Nasa said it was "leading a sustainable return to the Moon, which will help prepare us to send astronauts to Mars".

"That also includes commercial and international partners to expand human presence in space and bring back new knowledge and opportunities."

Image copyrightNASA
Image caption -- An artist's rendering of the Mars Ice Home concept.

In December 1968, Anders, along with crewmates Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida atop a Saturn V, before completing 10 orbits around the Moon.

The crew of Apollo 8 spent 20 hours in orbit, before returning to Earth.

They splashed down in the Pacific on 27 December, landing just 5,000 yards (4,500 metres) from their target point. They were picked up by the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown.

It was the furthest humans had ever been from their home planet at that point - and a vital stepping stone on the road to Apollo 11's historic moon landing just seven months later.

But the former astronaut is scathing about how Nasa has evolved since the heady days of President John F Kennedy's pledge to land a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s.

Image copyrightNASA
Image caption -- The famous Earthrise image taken from Apollo 8

"Nasa couldn't get to the Moon today. They're so ossified... Nasa has turned into a jobs programme... many of the centres are mainly interested in keeping busy and you don't see the public support other than they get the workers their pay and their congressmen get re-elected."

Anders is also critical of the decision to focus on near-Earth orbit exploration after the completion of the Apollo programme in the 1970s. "I think the space shuttle was a serious error. It hardly did anything except have an exciting launch, but it never lived up to its promise," he said.

"The space station is only there because you had a shuttle, and vice-versa. Nasa really mismanaged the manned programme since the late lunar landings."

It's a view that might seem surprising from a proud patriot and servant of the US military, who still remembers his own mission to space with great fondness. It's also a view that Anders accepts doesn't sit too well with some in the space community.

"I think Nasa's lucky to have what they've got - which is still hard, in my mind, to justify. I'm not a very popular guy at Nasa for saying that, but that's what I think," he explained.

Image copyrightNASA
Image caption -- The Apollo 8 astronauts prepare for launch

His former crewmate, Frank Borman, who commanded the Apollo 8 mission and also spent two weeks in Earth orbit during the Gemini programme, is slightly more enthusiastic.

"I'm not as critical of Nasa as Bill is," he told 5 Live. "I firmly believe that we need robust exploration of our Solar System and I think man is part of that."

But asked about the the plans of Space X founder Elon Musk and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos - who have both talked of launching private missions to Mars, Borman is less complimentary.

"I do think there's a lot of hype about Mars that is nonsense. Musk and Bezos, they're talking about putting colonies on Mars, that's nonsense."

Apollo's legacy

Reflecting on their own historic mission to the Moon, Borman described Apollo 8 as a "great endeavour" and agreed that it had won the space race.

Anders said he felt that the lasting legacy of the mission would be "Earthrise" a photo taken by the crew showing humanity's home planet hanging in the blackness of space above the lunar horizon.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's PM, their crewmate Jim Lovell also reflected on the Earthrise moment: "When I looked at the Earth itself... I started to wonder why I was here, what's my purpose here… it sort of dawned me," he said.

"And my perspective is that God has given mankind a stage on which to perform. How the play turns out, is up to us."

Frank Borman and Bill Anders were speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live as part of a special documentary on the 50th anniversary of their historic lunar mission.

Apollo 8: Christmas On the Far Side of the Moon will be broadcast on 5 Live on 24 December 2018 at 20:00 GMT.


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p46XbyC_5ao
Twas The Night Before Christmas as told by Perry Como

DO YOU REMEMBER PERRY COMO? NOW HE WAS A HANDSOME MAN AND A GREAT SINGER AS WELL !!