United States

John Kerry admitted that the United States gives Israel more than half of the aid that we give “to the entire world,” but Israel doesn’t pay attention to anything the U.S. says. Kerry: Every president, Republican and Democrat, has been opposed to settlements – we issue a warning today when we see a new settlement announced. Nothing happens. It’s ignored, a new settlement goes up. New units, new sales. So the issue — Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg: You’re describing a situation in which you have zero leverage.

Via The Daily Bell 

House Pushes Ahead with $611 Billion Defense Policy Bill … The Republican-led House is pushing ahead with a $611 billion defense policy bill that prohibits closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, forbids the Pentagon from trimming the number of military bases and awards U.S. troops their largest pay raise in six years. -Business Insider

US Productivity rose a disappointing 3.1% in Q3 (missing expectations of a 3.3% rise). However, on a year-over-year basis, Q3 saw a second consecutive decline - the first two-quarter decline in US productivity since 1993. Unit labor cost growth slowed in Q3 to 3.00% (with QoQ growth tumbling from 6.2% in Q2 to just 0.7% in Q3).

Actually if one looks at the official table US productivity has notr risen YoY since Q4 2015 - (Q1 0.0%, Q2 -0.3%, Q3 -0.05%)

With last Friday's phone call between Donald Trump and Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen which broke decades of US protocol, still creating ripples among diplomatic circles and the political punditry, not to mention continue to fascinate the media which leads today with such speculative headlines as Wooed by Trump, Taiwan Trembles, China urges U.S. to block transit by Taiwan president, U.S.

• Trump heads back out on road for 'thank you' tour (AP)
• For Europe’s Unity, 2017 Will Be a Year of Reckoning (WSJ)
• Oil dips as OPEC, Russian output rises ahead of production cut (Reuters)
• The Pessimist's Guide to 2017 (BBG)
• Donald Trump’s Message Sparks Anger in China (WSJ)
• Brazil’s Reform Plan in Disarray After Senate Chief Removed (BBG)
• China urges U.S. to block transit by Taiwan president (Reuters)
• Wooed by Trump, Taiwan Trembles (WSJ)
• SoftBank’s Son Said to Plan Meeting With Trump in New York (BBG)