July 10, 2020
Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.
If risky Chinese investments are unsuitable for federal pensioners, they’re unsuitable for private pensioners, too.
The Labor
Department has a fiduciary responsibility to end all private retirement
investments in dangerous Chinese investments by amending the current pending
regulation on Financial Factors in Selecting Plan
Investments to disqualify all companies that do not adhere to the transparency
requirements of Dodd-Frank and Sarbannes-Oxley. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia’s
assessment and decision on excluding risky Chinese assets from the federal
employees 401(K) Thrift Savings Plan is spot on. His statement that stopping
the inclusion of Chinese assets was necessary because it, “would place millions
of federal employees, retirees, and service-members in the untenable position
of choosing between forgoing any investment in international equities or
placing billions of dollars in retirement savings in risky companies that pose
a threat to U.S. national security” is exactly on point. The obvious question
is if these assets are too risky for inclusion in the federal TSP, why would
they be allowed to be included in private 401(K) investments where the same
argument directly applies? The answer is that they are not, and under ERISA it
is the Labor Department’s job to protect private sector retirement specific
investments or pensions from choices that are unsuitably risky.
Cartoon: Bush League
Several former
George W. Bush officials are backing Joe Biden and socialist policies for
President.
Video: No matter when Obamagate report, prosecutions come from Barr & Durham they'll be viewed politically
Attorney General William
Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham may as well bring whatever report and
prosecutions they plan from the Obama-Biden spygate scandal of spying on the
Trump campaign, the opposition party, in the 2016 election year on false
allegations President Donald Trump and his campaign were Russian agents, and
then secretly carried the investigation over into the Trump administration in
2017. This was an attempt to decapitate the new president in 2017, now there
must be accountability. We don’t stop administering justice just because it’s
an election year. Let justice be done though the heavens fall.
Video: Whatever the hell Joe Biden is on!: Will rejoin WHO on day one and flip-flopping on Covid travel ban
Hear how the
former VP is saying we should back the WHO even after it did us harm during the
spread of COVID-19. Also, we show you a big flip-flop of his on the concept of
a travel ban.
Trump was right about the rapid economic rebound as another net 630,000 Americans came off unemployment benefits in a week
Another 630,000
Americans came off continuing unemployment claims the week ending June 27,
according to the latest unadjusted data from the U.S. Department of Labor,
proving President Donald Trump is right about the economy rapidly recovering
from the COVID-19 pandemic state-based shutdowns. Since the week ending May 9,
unadjusted continuing unemployment claims have dropped from 22.8 million to
16.8 million the week ending June 27, a massive turnaround of 6 million
Americans who temporarily found themselves on unemployment benefits but then
rapidly came off of it on a net basis. Really, the number is greater than that
because the overall drop of 630,000 came the same week initial claims came in
at about 1.4 million, indicating more than 2 million people found jobs that
week, with the 1.4 million as an offset. That type of churn has been going on
for weeks. When coupled with the monthly jobs data from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, where anywhere from 7.8 million to 8.8 million Americans have found
jobs the past two months, the worst of the pandemic-related shutdowns are past
us, and more Americans are returning to work every week than are leaving it.
If risky Chinese investments are unsuitable for federal pensioners, they’re unsuitable for private pensioners, too.
By Rick Manning
Adapted from a letter to Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, dated July 9, 2020.
The Labor Department has a fiduciary responsibility to end all private retirement investments in dangerous Chinese investments by amending the current pending regulation on Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments to disqualify all companies that do not adhere to the transparency requirements of Dodd-Frank and Sarbannes-Oxley.
As a former Labor Department political appointee under President George W. Bush and a member of President Trump’s Labor Transition team, I have been focused upon the importance of the Department’s oversight role on private pension investments as well as the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation’s solvency.
Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia’s assessment and decision on excluding risky Chinese assets from the federal employees 401(K) Thrift Savings Plan is spot on. His statement that stopping the inclusion of Chinese assets was necessary because it, “would place millions of federal employees, retirees, and service-members in the untenable position of choosing between forgoing any investment in international equities or placing billions of dollars in retirement savings in risky companies that pose a threat to U.S. national security” is exactly on point.
The obvious question is if these assets are too risky for inclusion in the federal TSP, why would they be allowed to be included in private 401(K) investments where the same argument directly applies?
The answer is that they are not, and under ERISA it is the Labor Department’s job to protect private sector retirement specific investments or pensions from choices that are unsuitably risky.
In the attached July 7 letter from National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien and Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council to the head of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, they state, “The NRRI’s Trust’s investment in the PRC exposes the retirement funds of railroad workers to significant and unnecessary economic risk.”
Once again the question is why should private pension investments be allowed to be put into this risk when other public retirement funds are being urged to protect their retirees by ending these investments?
O’Brien and Kudlow continue by citing the exact transparency risk which directly puts Chinese assets in conflict with both the letter and intent of ERISA, “Another key reason why the NRI Trust’s investments in PRC companies expose American railroad retirees to substantial economic risk is because the Chinese government prevents companies with Chinese operations listed on U.S. exchanges from complying with applicable U.S. securities laws, leaving investors without the benefit of important protections.”
Recently, the Pentagon determined that twenty Chinese companies are owned or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. And in May, the U.S. Senate voted to require transparency for Chinese firms listed on American exchanges.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs annually issues a report on countries which use child and slave labor in the manufacture of goods. China is listed not once, not twice but twelve times in the latest report for using children and slaves to make goods, many of which find their place on the shelves of U.S. retailers like Walmart. Artificial flowers, bricks, Christmas decorations, coal, cotton, electronics, fireworks, footwear, garments, nails, textiles and toys are all listed as being made with child or slave labor in China.
The very Christmas ornaments we put on our trees, the toys, clothing under that tree including the latest Colin Kaepernick shoe, and the phone or other Chinese made electronics are likely the product of the blood and toil of children and slaves.
While moral determinations are not part of ERISA, it is sickening to think that American pensions and 401(k) investors are capitalizing the grotesque abuse of helpless and oppressed Chinese religious minorities and political dissidents. Americans would be appalled to learn that they were effectively providing the capital for the enslavement of their fellow man, and the Trump Labor Department can stop it.
Nothing prevents non-retirement assets from being invested in these same Chinese companies, but allowing private retirement investments to continue to invest in non-transparent, risky assets whose reliance on slavery rightfully offends our national sensibilities is not only a violation of the Labor Department’s statutory responsibility under ERISA, it is immoral.
Given Secretary Scalia’s previous statements and those which are currently coming from the National Security Advisor and National Economic Council, I am confident that he and President Donald Trump will come to the determination that Chinese assets and other risky non-transparent assets have no place in America’s retirement portfolios.
Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
To view online: http://dailytorch.com/2020/07/if-risky-chinese-investments-are-unsuitable-for-federal-pensioners-theyre-unsuitable-for-private-pensioners-too/
Cartoon: Bush League
By A.F. Branco
Click here for a higher level resolution version.
Video: No matter when Obamagate report, prosecutions come from Barr & Durham they'll be viewed politically
To view online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3zKffrhJI8
Video: Whatever the hell Joe Biden is on!: Will rejoin WHO on day one and flip-flopping on Covid travel ban
To view online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzZ1WegEDYs
Trump was right about the rapid economic rebound as another net 630,000 Americans came off unemployment benefits in a week
By Robert Romano
Another 630,000 Americans came off continuing unemployment claims the week ending June 27, according to the latest unadjusted data from the U.S. Department of Labor, proving President Donald Trump is right about the economy rapidly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic state-based shutdowns.
Since the week ending May 9, unadjusted continuing unemployment claims have dropped from 22.8 million to 16.8 million the week ending June 27, a massive turnaround of 6 million Americans who temporarily found themselves on unemployment benefits but then rapidly came off of it on a net basis.
Really, the number of Americans coming off of assistance is greater than that because the overall drop of 630,000 came the same week initial claims came in at about 1.4 million, indicating more than 2 million people found jobs that week, with the 1.4 million as an offset. That type of churn has been going on for weeks.
Meaning, there is still a lot of volatility in labor markets, with many Americans temporarily finding themselves out of work only to return to the workforce a few weeks later. The good news is that the worst of the pandemic-related shutdowns are past us, and more Americans are returning to work every week than are leaving it.
When coupled with the monthly jobs data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, where anywhere from 7.8 million to 8.8 million Americans have found jobs the past two months, the picture becomes clearer.
While certain industries, especially hospitality and retail, will continue to be affected during this pandemic — especially in states experiencing some resurgence now — after a brief pause in the U.S. economy and people locked up in their homes for a couple of months, there is so much momentum of Americans returning to labor markets that almost nothing can slow it down, not even the temporary slight uptick in COVID-19 cases being seen right now.
Note, I wrote “almost nothing.” Barring a massive resurgence of COVID-19 like we were seeing in late March with almost 250,000 new cases a day — today the number’s more like 80,000 according to IHME — another thing that could slow labor markets down is the current mismatch in the unemployment benefits that pay out more than some Americans were making at their jobs in the first place depending on where they live. It is a perverse incentive that Congress should address in the upcoming phase four legislation, and then even more jobs can be created on a weekly and monthly basis going forward.
So, what should we expect going forward? After new cases of the virus stabilize later this month and throughout August according IHME projections, even more Americans will return to the labor force in rapid succession.
While the second quarter that just ended will undoubtedly be horrific in terms of the Gross Domestic Product, one of the worst ever, the third quarter may very likely be the best quarter for economic growth in U.S. history, built entirely by those Americans returning to work in droves.
Then, when a vaccine comes either later this year or early next year, we could very likely see an economic boom like never before.
All along, one of the only people who had this much unyielding faith in the American people and the U.S. economy was President Donald Trump, who was predicting such a rapid turnaround. On March 25, the President predicted, “I don’t think it’s going to end up being such a rough patch. I think it’s going to, when we open — especially, if we can open it — the sooner, the better — it’s going to open up like a rocket ship. I think it’s going to go very good and very quickly.”
As it turns out, Trump was right, and now top Democrats are “dreading” the possibility of a robust recovery before the election in November, fearing that it will help Trump politically.
A Politico story quoted a former Obama official saying “This is my big worry… It’s high — high, high, high, high” that the economy will begin a rapid recovery.
The Obama official was responding to an early April presentation by Jason Furman, a former Obama administration economist proclaiming that “We are about to see the best economic data we’ve seen in the history of this country.”
Now it looks like it is most certainly happening for real. As cases stabilize this summer and hundreds of thousands of Americans return to the labor force every week, Trump will certainly benefit as voters this fall will have to contend with an economy that is objectively on a massive rebound. To the victor go the spoils.
Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government.
