Category: US News

Gov. Brown plays small ball with budget

California Governor Jerry Brown is proposing an austere state budget for 2017-18, trying to rein in spending in the face of economic – or political – headwinds. That’s the deficit projected for the coming fiscal year, the first red ink in California since 2012-13.

What Obamaa s address has in common with memorable farewells from past presidents

President Obama delivers his farewell address at McCormick Place in Chicago, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. With President Obama’s final speech to the nation Tuesday night in Chicago, he faced a unique challenge unlike any modern president that came before him: How to give the milestone farewell address, one that typically touts a president’s key achievements and attempts to define his legacy before he leaves office, just as his signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act, is threatened to be undone.

Obama Farewell to Nation Draws Not-So Subtle Contrast With Trump

President Barack Obama blasted “zero-sum” politics as he drew a sharp contrast with his successor in his farewell address Tuesday night, acknowledging that despite his historic election eight years ago his vision for the country will exit the White House with him. Obama’s prime-time address was a call for political engagement after a grueling election won by Republican Donald Trump, who made undoing Obama’s achievements the centerpiece of his campaign.

Hungary Plans to Crackdown on All Soros-Funded NGOs

Hungary plans to crack down on non-governmental organizations linked to billionaire George Soros now that Donald Trump will occupy the White House, according to the deputy head of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party. The European Union member will use “all the tools at its disposal” to “sweep out” NGOs funded by the Hungarian-born financier, which “serve global capitalists and back political correctness over national governments,” Szilard Nemeth, a vice president of the ruling Fidesz party, told reporters on Tuesday.

Obama Alum David Plouffe Joins Zuckerberg’s Philanthropic Group

David Plouffe, President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager, will lead policy and advocacy for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic organization created by Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. Plouffe, who has been a full-time adviser for Uber Technologies Inc., will step away from his day-to-day duties, but he’ll remain a non-voting Uber board member, the ride-hailing company said.

Top U.S. trade official sounds alarm over protectionist policies

Outgoing U.S. trade ambassador Michael Froman warned Tuesday that America risks ceding its dominance of the global economy if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on promises to slap punitive tariffs on imports and abandon a sweeping trade deal with Asia. In prepared remarks for his final speech as the nation’s top trade negotiator, Froman did not mention Trump by name.

Detroit Wants Something From Trump in Exchange for Those Tweets

The way Bill Ford tells it, you’d think he and Donald Trump are like two old buddies chitchatting all the time about cars, economics and taxes. “When needed, I can always get to him or he calls me,” Ford, the chairman of Ford Motor Co., said in an interview Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Will Amazon’s Airborne Dreams Become Reality?

In December, it unveiled the first Amazon Go location, a convenience store without cashiers or checkout lines where cameras and artificial intelligence recognize what you take off the shelves and charge your account accordingly. Also last month, the company successfully made its first ever drone delivery, carrying popcorn and a Fire TV device to a customer in rural England, a trip from click to delivery that took just 13 minutes.

Trump, Ryan Set the Stage for Tax Reform Overhaul

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan will meet on Monday with top members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team to discuss their 2017 tax reform agenda, a senior Republican aide said. Ryan and his policy staff are expected to walk the Trump team members through the “Better Way” tax reform blueprint that the speaker and other House Republican leaders unveiled last June, the aide said.

Tillerson Ethics Plan Foreshadows Knotty Trump Confirmations

Rex Tillerson’s disclosure that he stands to receive a $180 million cash payout from Exxon Mobil Corp. if he becomes the next U.S. secretary of state offers a preview of the thorny ethical questions that may be raised this week over a presidential cabinet stacked with tycoons. And with confirmation hearings scheduled for Tillerson and eight other appointees of President-elect Donald Trump, the head of the federal office that helps ensure compliance with conflict-of-interest rules told lawmakers his agency is hard-pressed by too much work and too little time.

GOP Should – Show Their Cards’ on Obamacare Redo, Obama Says

Republicans should “show their cards” with a better Obamacare replacement before taking steps to repeal the law, President Barack Obama said in an interview on his signature health program. “Republicans have to go ahead and show their cards, if in fact they have a program that would genuinely work better,” he said Friday in a webcast interview with the online news outlet Vox in Washington.

Net neutrality critic in driver’s seat on GOP tech policy

Marsha Blackburn Net neutrality critic in driver’s seat on GOP tech policy GOP Rep. Blackburn gets key tech subcommittee gavel GOP lawmakers slam Assange after Trump praise, highlighting Russia rift MORE was tapped Friday to chair a key technology subcommittee, putting her in the driver’s seat on Republican efforts to pare back the controversial net neutrality rules. As chairwoman of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, Blackburn will have a key role in deciding Republicans’ stance.

Goldman’s Donovan Said to Be Top Contender for Key Treasury Post

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Jim Donovan is the front-runner to be Donald Trump’s pick for undersecretary of domestic finance, a key position in the Treasury department, according to a person familiar with the decision. If chosen and confirmed Donovan would be the fourth appointee with ties to the investment bank tapped to serve in the president-elect administration, and would be responsible for coordinating policies on banking, capital markets and regulation, and managing the issuance of the country’s debt.

REPORT: Jared Kushner is taking steps to explore a White House…

President-elect Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, may be headed for a job in the White House. Kushner is in the process of filing financial disclosure documents in preparation for taking a formal role as an adviser to the president, sources close to the process o wns the New York Observer , along with other media properties.

Trump Will Be Good for Gold

I’ve written several reference columns recently specifically with the intention of relating economic, fiscal and political ideas, concepts and issues that investors need to be aware of before Donald Trump is inaugurated. The reason it’s important to be aware of them now is that Trump has a proactive political and economic agenda.

FBI Releases Documents Related to San Bernardino iPhone

The FBI on Friday released 100 pages of heavily censored documents related to its agreement with an unidentified vendor to hack into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters, but it did not identify whom it paid to perform the work or how much it cost. The records were provided in response to a federal lawsuit filed against the FBI by The Associated Press, Vice Media and Gannett, the parent company of USA Today.

Cable companies pushing to repeal internet privacy rules

Some of America’s biggest cable companies are asking the government to roll back a landmark set of privacy regulations it approved last fall — kicking off an effort by the industry and its allies to dismantle key internet policies of the Obama years. In a petition filed to federal regulators Monday, a top Washington trade group whose members include Comcast, Charter and Cox Communications argued that the rules should be thrown out.

Trump Said to Tell Confidant He Remains Opposed to AT&T Deal

Donald Trump remains opposed to the megamerger between AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Inc. because he believes it would concentrate too much power in the media industry, according to people close to the president-elect, who has been publicly silent about the transaction for months. Trump told a friend in the last few weeks that he still considers the merger to be a bad deal, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the conversation was private.

Corzine Agrees to Futures Industry Ban in CFTC Settlement

Jon Corzine has agreed to a lifetime ban from the futures industry to settle a U.S. lawsuit that he failed to properly oversee MF Global Holdings Ltd. as the brokerage spiraled toward failure in 2011. Corzine, an ex-governor and U.S. senator from New Jersey and the former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., also agreed to pay a $5 million penalty from his own pocket to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, under a consent order approved by a federal judge in New York Thursday.

Congress Certifies Trump’s Electoral College Victory

The U.S. Congress on Friday certified the Electoral College vote that gave Republican Donald Trump the victory in the 2016 presidential election. Trump won 304 electoral votes compared to 227 garnered by Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton, according to the tally announced by Vice President Joe Biden.

Free tuition Q&A: Could New York’s plan spread across US?

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, right and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders wave at the audience as they arrive onstage at an event at LaGuardia Community College, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017, in New York. Gov. Cuomo announced a proposal for free tuition at state colleges to hundreds of thousands of low- and middle income residents.

Tillerson Discloses Global Assets of as Much as $400 Million

Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. secretary of state, disclosed assets worth as much as $400 million in a federal ethics filing that reflected investments spanning more than a dozen nations. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Tillerson will recuse himself for a year from government decisions involving Exxon Mobil Corp., where he served as chairman and chief executive officer until Jan. 1, according to a separate filing posted by the Office of Government Ethics on Wednesday.

How Senator Rand Paul Would Replace Obamacare

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) weighs in on the Senate Democrats' push to block the Obamacare repeal. As the new Republican-controlled Congress moves forward with its goal of repealing the Affordable Care Act, the biggest question now is what will replace it.

Trump Tells Confidant He Still Opposes AT&T-Time Warner 2 hours ago

Time Warner Inc. because he believes it would concentrate too much power in the media industry, according to people close to the president-elect, who has been publicly silent about the transaction for months. Trump told a friend in the last few weeks that he still considers the merger to be a bad deal, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the conversation was private.

Obama renominates FCC Democrat in his final two weeks

President Obama has renominated Federal Communications Commission Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel to be reappointed to the five-member panel after his initial nomination effort failed last year. The president made the announcement Wednesday as part of a slew of last-minute nominations sent to the Senate with just over two weeks left in office.

How Donald Trump Could Make Rupert Murdoch Even More Powerful

President-elect Donald Trump may be preparing to give Rupert Murdoch a big reward for the positive coverage Murdoch’s outlets provided during the election. Trump has asked Murdoch to submit the names of possible nominees for Federal Communications Commission chairman, according to a report from New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman.

Trump claims his briefing on Russian cyberattacks was delayed,…

President-elect Donald Trump mocked US intelligence officials on Tuesday in a tweet claiming his briefing on Russian cyberattacks was delayed, and once again cast doubt on their claims that Russia interfered with the presidential election. “The ‘Intelligence’ briefing on so-called ‘Russian hacking’ was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case.

2 Russian Navy ships arrive in Manila for goodwill visit

Russian crewmen stand at attention on board the Russian Navy vessel Admiral Tributs, a large anti-submarine ship, as it docks at Manila’s pier, Philippines on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. Two Russian Navy Vessels are in the country for a goodwill visit till Jan. 7. less Russian crewmen stand at attention on board the Russian Navy vessel Admiral Tributs, a large anti-submarine ship, as it docks at Manila’s pier, Philippines on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017.

A New York Times editorial: Sprint and Trump’s fictional jobs

President-elect Donald Trump would like everybody to believe that his election is energizing the economy by forcing businesses to create thousands of jobs in the United States. And companies like Sprint seem perfectly happy to go along with this fiction because they know they can profit handsomely by cozying up to Trump.