Having warned U.S. President-elect Donald Trump yesterday, through Chinese state media, that he’ll be met with "big sticks" if he tries to ignite a trade war or further strain ties, China’s central government has reportedly "compiled possible countermeasures" against "well-known U.S. companies or ones that have large Chinese operations."
Unbeknownst to most Americans, the Central Valley of California is an agricultural powerhouse producing nearly 50% of all fruits and vegetables grown in the United States, including over 90% of popular items like almonds, carrots and table grapes. But producing all those fruits and vegetables is extremely labor intensive requiring up to nearly 500,000 laborers each year. The problem is that those jobs are extremely seasonal (see chart below) and extremely difficult requiring hours of back-breaking work in the 100-degree California sun.
John McCain is pushing real fake news as he once again accuses Russia of waging a war against the United States. The hawkish Republican Senator said that Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election amounted to an “act of war.” Press TV reports: “If you try to destroy the fundamentals of democracy, then you have destroyed a nation,” said McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I’m not saying it’s an atomic attack. I’m just saying that when you attack a nation’s fundamental structure, which they are doing, then it’s an act of war,” he continued.
In a special report by Barclays' Michael Cohen, the analyst lays out what he believes are the 13 commodity "black swan threats" for the current year, divided into two "shock" categories: supply and demand, split evenly between bearish and bullish.
Obama has deployed US Special Forces close to the Russian border to defend Baltic states who are allegedly ‘scared to death’ of Putin’s aggression. As part of a “persistent” presence of American troops in the Baltics, dozens of special ops solders will be being stationed along Europe’s eastern flank to provide reassurance to NATO allies Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. They will also complement around 4,000 Nato troops being posted to Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia in the coming months.