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JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Larry Kudlow, CNBC senior advisor; & Cumulus Media radio
Hour One
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 1, Block A: Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, in re:  Larry Kudlow is shocked at Sen Blumenthal's intention to vote in favor of the Iran deal, which will give $150 billion to the IRGC with which to promote global terrorism.  If he does in fact vote yes on the Iran deal, Ill be looking very closely at running for Senator from Connecticut.   JR: Partisan hacks [anent: those supporting the unwholesome deal].  LK: this is a matter of security of the nation. It's astounding tome. The only reason I can imagine for voting in favor is for Party allegiance.  That's fearfully inadequate in these times and in view of this proposed arrangement.  JR: Just spoke today with VP Dick Cheney: until recently, Party allegiances lasted only up to our frontiers. Until this president, who thinks he can sweet-talk our worst enemies – n0nsense – and for Democrats to follow him over a cliff is dangerous and will cost them. Note that their acceptance of Obamacare lost them the House.  LK: GOP candidates should be talking of this day and night! Even Bill Clinton understood this issue, avoided compromising American security in any way like this. Giving away $150 bil to the ayatollahs is a death wish! Where's Jeb Bush, where's Donald Trump, on this?
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 1, Block B: Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, in re:
A win-win for Carly Fiorina    Even if she loses, Fiorina wins the battle against CNN. Ben Carson has caught up to Trump (23% & 23%) plus 10% for Fiorina.  JR: The news of the day is that Fiorina called CNN on its bogus reasons for refusing to let her into the next round – and now they've backed down and she's in. Bush is blah, Walker [isn't coming through]; in my book. Fiorina is the thinking person's Donald Trump – small business, taxing, immigration. Maybe she can show the other guys how to pick it up a notch.  LK: Carson is tied with Trump; Carson ahs a simple pl:  flat tax, no cprp tax, health savings accounts; deal with family breakup, prevent govt from paying people not to work, and create a path for poor people to reach the top, as he has.  He's articulate and very polite; speaks of very difficult issues and doesn't speak down. Demeanor is important to leadership. Carson is such a contrast to Trump. China's [highly unreliable governance]; lack of confidence in Asia. Think of Beijing's interference in its stock market – all over the place. Reduces confidence, looks like they're changing all the time, no strategy.  Looks as thought the CCP is back to its old ways – resuming state control. [Every 2PM, the market bounces up as the state surreptitiously tries to coddle the market. –ed.]  JT: They're dealing with corruption. Crony loans being made: if that can be fixed, that'll be good.  . . .  US slow growth continues. To me, it's a matter of policy: tax, fiscal, monetary reform – all these could be used to [shift the economy substantially.]  Low GDP, employment not keeping up with population, less than ½& productivity growth. All things we can deal with if we get the right policy – which sure looks hard today.
John Taylor's mentor Paul Volker quoted John Taylor at the Fed meeting on the rules-based economy.
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 1, Block C: John B. Taylor, Hoover, via Economics One; in re:  IMF lowers its estimate of global growth in the coming year.  . . . People are saying "we have to raise rates but not now" . . .  But recall the taper tantrum, when Ben Bernanke created turbulence . . . fear people have after zero rates for so long.  I [endorse] a policy that's less uncertain, wd lead to a greater degree of stability. Also, 25 bps isn't a major move.  
"The absence of a rules-based monetary system has not been a great success" – Paul Volker.
QE made the yen strong, then QE in Europe weakened the euro. Recession in Canada.
 Seeking a Way Through the Fog of a Currency War   Many have speculated on the nature of, and the reasons for, the exchange rate regime change in China last week. While the central bank has issued press statements and answered questions about it intentions, it is useful to look at the data.
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 1, Block D: Lanhee J. Chen, Hoover via The Wall Street Journal; in re: Pres Obama has changed the name of Mt McKinley to Mt Denali – not by asking Congress, but by executive order, which leaves all his executive orders vulnerable to  being changed on Day One by the next president.  EPA (clean power plant will destroy coal and the fracking revolution) – can be turned around.  Obama has expanded the power of the EPA, has gutted the work requirements in welfare reform.  He's done more than meets the eye. Also, the NLRB: putting al franchisees in the same legal boat as the parent company – if you unionize HQ, you automatically bring in all the franchisees – because of Obama's executive order to appoint that board.  Note snap elections, and an order requiring fed contractors fully to inform workers of their union rights.  Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz; can Obama's rapprochement with Cuba be lifted? Yes – the embassy, most all the concessions; had he worked t with Congress, it'd all be totally different; e.g., trade embargo reversal . . .   Undoing the Unilateral Presidency Obama’s executive orders can be reversed easily, but he has imposed his policies in many other hard-to-stop ways.
Hour Two
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 2, Block A: Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; The Nation.com; author: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, & The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin; in re: The Red Arctic in the 1930s, but no easy passage.  Now the matter is among the arctic Council for resources. Russia runs its dozens of icebreakers across the Arctic Circle (US has exactly one).   . .  . Joe Biden; Black Sea Basin, in conflict since 2008 Georgia-Russia conflict.    Putin with Hollande and Merkel in Berlin; a week later, the two on the phone with Putin to demand that Minsk II (recognizing the special status of Donbass) go forward.  Agree to a 1 Sept ceasefire, which now seems to be being honored, with OSCE as the observers.   Sept 1 schools opening in Russia and Ukraine.  A third Ukr policeman is now dead from a Kiev street battle in front of the Rada, many with Svoboda flags, then riot police and natl guards,  with a hundred in hospital.   Protestors, agitated, burnt debris, confronted servicemen, verbal & phys confrontations – then tear gas canisters, then a grenade explosion.  AS the shooting stops in Donbass, violence begins in Kiev. . . .   First day of school, always 1 Sept, is a moving ceremony – parents and children attend with flowers; ceremonial, almost sacred.  Date is highly symbolic.   . . .  Kindergartens, schools, hospitals, have been struck by armaments; each parent had to decide whether or not to take children to school. "Washington's Maidan Project" – designed to remove all of Ukraine, if possible (now excluding Crimea) into the Western sphere of influence– NATO, EU, or now a kind of American colony of rightists.   . . . Historically, Kiev has taken 85% of the eastern region's tax revenues; now has offered a variety of home rule if these regions stay part of Ukraine.
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 2, Block B: Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; The Nation.com; author. (2 of 4)
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 2, Block C: Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; The Nation.com; author. (3 of 4)
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 2, Block D: Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; The Nation.com; author. (4 of 4)
Hour Three
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 3, Block A:   Salena Zito, Pittsburgh tribune-Review, in re: "We think we live in "worst moment ever" or this has "never happened before"  We are so wrong. <http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/08/30/another_know_nothing_moment_127933.html>
Is Biden visit to Pittsburgh to walk with
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 3, Block B:  .
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 3, Block C:   Kyle Dickman, Bloomberg, in re: FIRES ARE RAGING ACROSS THE AMERICAN WEST, AND THERE AREN'T ENOUGH PEOPLE TO STOP THEM
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 3, Block D:  Claudia Rosett, FDD & Forbes.com, in re: Nuclear Fiascos: From Diplomatic Failure with North Korea to Debacle with Iran
Hour Four
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 4, Block A:  Charles Pellegrino, author and explorer, in re: A rusticle is a formation of rust similar to an icicle or stalactite in appearance that occurs underwater when wrought iron oxidizes. They may be familiar from underwater photographs of shipwrecks, such as the RMS Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck. Rusticles are created by microbes that consume iron.
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 4, Block B:  John Tamny, RealClearPolitics & Forbes, in re: Donald Trump Doesn't Scare the Stock Markets, but His Republican Imitators Do  Markets never correct based on the known, which is already priced.  It's surprise that moves markets, so while Donald Trump's near-term success is a surprise, the growth-loving U.S. electorate has never voted in an immigrant-bashing protectionist, and isn't about to.  What arguably has the markets truly spooked and surprised is the clownish attempts among his opponents to imitate Trump; the mindless bashing of China by Marco Rubio the most sick-inducing of all.  As the GOP let's Trump dictate the growth-killing, protectionist terms of the debate, the odds of a competitive election shrink.  Markets reflect this implosion as the DJIA since the first debate reveals.
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 4, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack, in re: SpaceX delays its next launch SpaceX has decided to delay its next launch for several additional months as it continues its investigation into the June Falcon 9 launch failure. The next mission on SpaceX’s launch calendar had been a U.S. government ocean-monitoring satellite called Jason 3, but Shotwell indicated that a commercial communications satellite would move to the front of the line. Luxembourg-based SES SA has a contract to fly on the first Falcon 9 rocket that features an upgraded first-stage engine. The upgrade will allow SpaceX to attempt to land its rockets back at the launch site from high-altitude missions so they can be refurbished and reused.
They had originally hoped to return to flight in September. This is now probably delayed until November. However, that their next flight will include the upgraded Merlin engine and it will be a commercial flight means they will once again likely try for a vertical landing of that first stage. Moreover, SES has already said that if the landing is successful it wants to buy that first stage for a future launch. SES hopes to save money this way, while also encouraging innovation in the launch market which it sees as a long term gain for putting its payloads into orbit.
Tuesday  1 September 2015 / Hour 4, Block D: Josh Rogin, Bloomberg, in re:  Petraeus’s Plan to Defeat Islamic State Won’t Work
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