United States

Authored by Tom Luongo,

The first rule of politics is feather your own nest.  President Trump’s tax cut proposal always had this in mind.

Congress has passed a bill which tinkers at the edges but leaves most of Trump’s core proposal intact.  It’s obvious to me that Trump has the political acumen of another brilliant U.S. politician, the loathsome Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Yeah, I’m not a fan of FDR.  But I do respect his political skill in the same way I respect the way sharks hunt their prey.

To the delight of Donald Trump, just before 2am on Saturday morning the Senate passed the Republican Tax bill in a 51-49 vote, and with tax reform legislation now passing both chambers of Congress it looks very likely to become law by year-end, probably within the next two weeks according to Goldman Sachs which now ascribes a 90% probability of the legislation becomes law by year end.

A deal that was months in the making is finally official, with Aetna's board of directors approving on Sunday the health insurer’s sale to drugstore chain operator CVS Health Corp for approximately $207 per share in cash and stock, in a deal worth $67 billion, multiple news sources reported on Sunday afternoon. The purchase price represents a premium of 29% to where Aetna shares were trading before the WSJ first reported that the two companies were in talks in October.

Authored by Robert Parry via ConsortiumNews.com,

The Russia-gate prosecutors have taken the scalp of ex- National Security Adviser (and retired Lt. Gen.) Flynn for lying to the FBI. But this case shows how dangerously far afield this 'scandal' has gone...

Authored by Wolf Richter via WolfStreet.com,

This is where Hype Goes to Die...

Yesterday was the monthly moment of truth for automakers in the US. They reported the number of new vehicles that their dealers delivered to their customers and that the automakers delivered directly to large fleet customers. These are unit sales, not dollar sales, and they’re religiously followed by the industry.