United States

America is a nation built by (legal) immigrants, and on the premise that anyone can make it to the top. While that may be true, most new arrivals find themselves starting at the bottom of the pile. As HowMuch.net details, right across the country, households headed by persons born outside the U.S. earn less than households run by native-born Americans. But that wage gap varies widely per state, from close to $20,000 to less than $1,000. And in some places, the gap is even reversed, in favor of the immigrant households.

Saudi Arabia has been an interesting tap-dance for Donald Trump. During the 2016 election, Wikileaks revealed that the house of Saud heavily contributed to the Clinton Foundation, and reports surfaced that they funded 20% of Clinton's campaign. It's clear they had a lot riding on Hillary, some say in the hopes of co-opting the US military into an intervention in Syria to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

Via ConvergEx's Nicholas Colas,

It’s great when a plan comes together. 

 

The recipe for not just today’s rally but the whole move since Election Day is easy.  Take one part new Administration with expansive plans to boost the US economy.  Add in 2 measures of a Federal Reserve confident enough in existing macro growth to boost interest rates.  Add a dollop of money flows.

 

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and a group of his colleagues are calling on the newly appointed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to immediately investigate how US taxpayer funds are being used by the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support Soros-backed, leftist political groups in several Eastern European countries including Macedonia and Albania.  According to the letter, potentially millions of taxpayer dollars are being funneled through USAID to Soros' Open Society Foundations with the explicit goal of pushing his progressive agenda.