Photo, left: Kim Jong-eun, North Korea's supreme leader.  Barking mad arriviste.
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Larry Kudlow, CNBC senior advisor; & Cumulus Media radio.  Steve Moore, Heritage.
 
Hour One
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 1, Block A: Bill Whalen, Hoover, in re: LK: I don't want to contain or defeat ISIS, I want to destroy ISIS. We need people in Washington who understand this: homeland, national, and economic growth security go hand in hand. Twenty years ago CT was the lowest-taxed state in the region.  Jeff Immelt is a friend; but it's not enough to give $100 mil to a company to stay. Rather, the woman who owns a small shop in the Naugatuck Valley who's struggling: she, too, needs help from burdensome taxes and regulation.  I want her, also, to be freed from excessive regulation. It's the small shopkeepers, the Millennials – they're the ones who'll finance the [gifts] to the GEs.
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 1, Block B: Bill Whalen, Hoover, in re:  Ted Cruz is doing well; may win Iowa, could do well in NH and even in SC. Then it's 15 March, when the rest of the primaries occur. Another argument could be made that Trump will attract the blue-collar Dems; even though Cruz is anti-Washington, he's still a Senator.  Trump keeps saying, "I'm untainted by Washington."  In WaPo, Bob Costa: This is all swagger, no ideology."  However, Sen Cruz does have an Ideology.  LK: Iowa will be close.  Democrats can cross over in NH; I think Trump really does appeal to that base. The question in the election is who's the best commander-in-chief in wartime?  Trump comes off as a strong commander because of his personality.  SM: I was at the dentist. A Black patient came and asked if I'd vote for Obama; I said perhaps not. I'd rather vote for Trump; he said, "I kind of like Trump, too."  WW:  The Romney voter is scratching his or her head.  LK: Trump is clever; he says, I can beat Hillary!   Trump is sly as a fox.   Trump and Sanders voters are drinking from the same well.  SM: Then we head south, whence hails Rubio.
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 1, Block C: Lee Ohanian, Stanford, in re:  essay in memory of Gary Becker, Nobel laureate, from Inequality in Economic Policies  – redistribution will not level the inequality between rich and poor. e need to create more opportunities for young workers and those with low skills, Our workers compete with workers worldwide, but it's a good envt for people with high skills.  Btw, 99% of our immigration is  . . . hallf of US start-ups are created by immigrants.  . . . Help people at the bottom: get every low-income family in America and give them a voucher for their children to go to the school they choose.   . . . We have a public school system that forces poor people to send children to underperforming schools. School choice levels the playing field, one-third of our HS students are considered math proficient; we're number 37 out of 45 countries - worse than Kazakhstan and Croatia. The kids have such an uphill battle  when they graduate.  LK: We had lunch today with Dr Ben Carson: the road out of poverty, let us not forget the importance of intact families, and of faith.   LO: Our policies encourage breaking up families –more money if dads are absent. In the 1950s, a Black families had fewer children born out of wedlock than did whites; now, it's seven out of ten. Further, Jack Kemp's plan to set up enterprise zones.   SM: I was at Microsoft; looked out and felt as though I was at the UN –people from allover the world worked there. My position on immigration: legal – yes!   Welfare, no.  LO: Immigrant entrepreneurs. Half our start=ups come from immigrants. Remarkably disproportionate share.  There's no free lunch.  One or two out of a thousand will catch fire and create a million jobs – "creators of social surplus." 
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 1, Block D: Greg Zuckerman, WSJ, in re:  Most people look at their investments: maybe flat or up a tad, but the majority of the S&P500 are down this year.  Kyle Bass and others are excited about energy; I think the Saudis are in this for the long haul, will stomp on frackers, etc. I think it's premature to be going long energy.  SM: I favored the rate hike but maybe I was wrong – not inflation out there.  I think what Greg described was a result of bad policy. There's no leadership in the world!  When major players at an international meeting talk about global warming, something is wrong.  LK: I don't think conservatives should automatically favor raising interest rates.  I agree, energy ain't going up any time soon. Were this a normal period, I'd argue that h Fed she ease not raise.  GZ: Problems stem from low inters t rte. Third Avenue [hedgies].  LK: They're saying the rate will go up 25 bps each quarter for the next four years – in deflation, the Fed is doing that??  The ISM number: been slowing for six months, as has investment – the pits.  LK: Lower gasoline prices help consumers – who are carrying the economy, no thanks to business investment.  Could we please slash the corporate tax rate? Put someone in Washington who thinks businesses are good.  JB: we need help from the Treasury, not the Fed?  LK:  The leading Democratic candidate is talking about . . .
 
Hour Two
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 2, Block A: Stephen F. Cohen, Prof. Emeritus of Russian Studies & eastwestaccord.com; in re:  Russia’s dangerous underwater nuclear drone
Editorial Board  /  #NATO to deploy #AWACS aircraft to #Turkey on.rt.com/70gq pic.twitter.com/vky2wJWP4U   /  Ready to start the year with the ever-more-threatening Kiev?
Kiev and Damascus and Moscow and Washington, the new cold war, with nukes!
 
Chess master Garry Kasparov equates Putin with Don Corleone
The Ukrainian government has banned Russian food imports, in the latest round of a tit-for-tat trade war sparked by Kiev’s adoption of a trade deal with the European Union.  The ban on imports including beef, tobacco, chocolate, and alcohol products comes after Russia closed its own borders to a range of Ukrainian foods.  The embargo, which comes into force on January 10, will stay in place until August 5 or “until the cancellation of the ban on imports of agricultural products, food, and raw materials produced in Ukraine into the customs territory of the Russian Federation,” according to a decree signed by Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Ukrainian prime minister. 
Russia closed its borders to a range of Ukrainian meat, fish, dairy and vegetable products on Friday as part of pre-announced response to Ukraine's decision to implement a free trade pact with Brussels.  The pact, part of a wide-ranging association agreement with the European Union, will see Ukraine and Europe lift import tariffs to create a single free-trade zone.  Russia strongly opposed the free trade pact and says its ban on Ukrainian imports is necessary to protect its own internal markets.  Russian officials have also described the embargo as retaliation for Ukraine joining European economic sanctions designed to punish Russia for annexing Crimea and supporting the separatist war effort in eastern Ukraine.   (1 of 4) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/12078921/Ukrain...
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 2, Block B: Stephen F. Cohen, Prof. Emeritus of Russian Studies & eastwestaccord.com (2 of 4)
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 2, Block C: Stephen F. Cohen, Prof. Emeritus of Russian Studies & eastwestaccord.com (3 of 4)
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 2, Block D: Stephen F. Cohen, Prof. Emeritus of Russian Studies & eastwestaccord.com (4 of 4)
 
Hour Three
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 3, Block A:   Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, and Bruce Bechtol, Angelo State U (Texas), in re:  geological event in North Korea consistent with the explosion of a nuclear bomb, DPRK agitprop says "hydrogen bomb."  Will scientists and intell collection people be able to analyze particles to see if it's HEU, U, or a hydrogen test? In 2013, our people could not make that determination.  I agree with Gordon that Iranians are likely to have been at the test – thus a problem for the Obama Adm.  And how big was this test -  >4 to 6 kilotons?  Making gains faster than predicted?  Look for another long-range missile test in the near future – The KN08 can hit the West Coast of the US; if the bomb is miniaturized, we have a lot to worry about.  Musudan can hit Guam; others can hit farther. Is this Kim Jong-un's debut? More likely that North Korea and Iran working on TaePoDong together. It might be ready now. Implications for South Korea others?  Disappointed Pak govt in South Korea – greater engagement with the North no longer possible; more sanctions coming, aid likely to go away.
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 3, Block B:  Bob Collins, ex-DOD; DPRK expert; and Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, and Bruce Bechtol, Angelo State U (Texas); in re:
5.1 event.  Everybody worldwide confirms except Washington. [Unintentional comedy.]
 . . .  nuclear physics, missile physics, seismics – all areas of expertise of DPRK. Kim has executed 90 to 120senior officials; Kim Jong-eun's legitimacy.  Regime ahs a stability problem or it wouldn't execute so many Making himself looks strong is applied to everything the regime does.  . .  This props up Kim's image as sovereign of the state.  Nuclear technology with Iran.  The fact that they're working in an 80-ton superrocket for Taepodan: look for a long-range missile test in the next few mos, or the KN0 [k-n-zero].    Is this aggression by Beijing?  They must have known; note that NK withdrew its pop group  from China recently. Friction between the two in the last 30 days.
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 3, Block C: David Francis, Foreign Policy magazine, in re: Puerto Rico's incipient bankruptcy. http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/12/31/puerto-rico-continues-to-sink-into-b...
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 3, Block D: Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack, in re: 2015 the busiest launch year for Florida since 2003. The competition heats up: With 17, Florida had more rocket launches in 2015 than it has had in more than a dozen years. Russia once again had the most launches in the year, with 29 (including 3 failures). Overall, launches worldwide were down, from 92 in 2014 to 87 in 2015. However, the uptick in the U.S., spurred I think by SpaceX, suggests that the U.S. numbers will continue to rise, and in a few years the U.S. will take the lead.  Note also that when the shuttle was retired many thought that — with the loss of that government operation — it would be the end of the Florida launch business. Competition and private enterprise have instead shown that a dependence on government is not the only way to do things, and is in fact not the best way to do things.
 
Hour Four
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 4, Block A: David Shedd, Heritage, in re: http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-obama-unilaterally-chilled-surveillance-...
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 4, Block B: David Shedd, Heritage, in re: Daily Signal at Heritage http://dailysignal.com/2015/12/30/israel-was-targeted-by-us-intelligence...
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 4, Block C: John Bolton, AEI, in re: foreign policy crises, 2016
Tuesday  5 January 2016   / Hour 4, Block D: Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in re: populism
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