So how good do you want to be?

Marc Ross Daily
August 20, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross

Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia

Marc Ross Daily  = Business News at the Intersection of Global Politics + Policy + Profits

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TOP FIVE

✔️ Brazil sends troops to Venezuela border after clashes

✔️ Trump lawyers don’t know what Mueller’s team has been told

✔️ US, China plot roadmap to resolve trade dispute by November

✔️ ‘Made in Cambodia’ 

✔️ Today: The 35th annual MTV Video Music

ROSS RANT

So how good do you want to be?

Best in the city?

Best in the county?

Best in the state?

Best in the nation?

Best in the hemisphere?

Best in the world?

Make a choice and execute accordingly.

-Marc A. Ross | Brigadoon Founder + TLC

GEOECONOMICS

Venezuelan crisis escalates as economic plans fuel tensions: WSJ reports, the exodus of Venezuelans gained pace as the government’s plans to address the collapsing economy fueled anxiety, while tensions grew in neighboring countries that have strained to absorb refugees.

WP: Maduro has a plan to fix Venezuela’s inflation — which may make things worse

"Maduro late Friday outlined a dramatic effort to curb inflation that has been spiralling toward 1 million percent, raising the minimum wage by more than 3,000 percent and officially devaluing the already nearly worthless bolívar by more than 90 percent."

Bloomberg: Venezuela's 95% devaluation adds to turmoil after drone attack

Bloomberg - Editorial: Venezuela’s crack-up is accelerating

"The country’s neighbors — and the world — should prepare for the worst."

AFP: Brazil sends troops to Venezuela border after clashes

More than 1 million people have left Venezuela since 2015.

US-China commercial relations: Wang Shouwen, China's vice minister for commerce, is slated to visit the United States for trade discussions Aug. 22-23. Wang's visit will mark the first government-to-government talks in two months.

The talks will be hosted by the Treasury Department's under secretary for international affairs, Davis Malpass.

WSJ: US, China plot road map to resolve trade dispute by November

"Chinese and US negotiators are mapping out talks to try to end their trade standoff ahead of planned meetings between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at multilateral summits in November, said officials in both nations."

US business ‘friends’ staying out of trade war as they try to push China to act, sources say: SCMP reports, Beijing’s lack of progress on promised reforms said to undermine support from American business community in China.

Beijing orders banks to boost lending to exporters: FT reports, the move comes ahead of a critical week of trade talks as Chinese stocks and currency wilt.

Robert Z. Lawrence: Trump's trade war with China has everyone confused. Here's what America's president really wants. https://nbcnews.to/2MCM92Y

"When it comes to trade policy, the White House has arguably set a new record for its inconsistency and chaos."

Hiroyuki Akita: US-China trade war is battle for tech hegemony in disguise https://s.nikkei.com/2ONMxce

"Washington fears loss of both economic supremacy and security" 

FP: Botched CIA communications system helped blow coverof Chinese agents http://bit.ly/2PleVDP

"The number of informants executed in the debacle is higher than initially thought." 

Taiwan independence: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen asserted the island's independence during a speech in Los Angeles last Monday, marking the first time in 15 years that a Taiwanese leader has made a political speech on US soil.

Taiwan's Tsai makes historic trip to NASA space center: Nikkei reports, US welcomes island's leader to Houston facility in snub of Beijing.

RIP: Kofi Annan

Nobel prizewinning diplomat was the first black African to head the UN.

Canada’s auto capital caught in crossfire of trade dispute: WSJ reports, in Windsor, Ontario, angst is rising that the border town’s ties to the U.S. auto industry, already strained by steel tariffs, could soon be ruptured by Trump’s threatened tariffs on Canadian-made cars.

OTD: In 1882 Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture in E Flat Major, Op. 49 — commissioned to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Russia’s victory over Napoleon in 1812 — received its premiere in Moscow.

Superdry founder gives $1.28 million to anti-Brexit campaign: AP reports, the co-founder of the fashion brand Superdry said Sunday he has donated 1 million pounds ($1.28 million) to a group seeking a new referendum on Britain’s departure from the European Union, as the U.K. government prepares to publish its assessment of the impact of leaving the bloc without an agreement on future relations.

Guardian: Italy's crumbling infrastructure under scrutiny after bridge collapse

"Construction boom of 1960s led to mafia involvement and use of cheap materials to boost profits" 

Brigadoon Scotland 2018 = Nov. 11-13, 2018

AMERICAN POLITICS

NYT: White House Counsel, Don McGahn, has cooperated extensively in Mueller inquiry

"For a lawyer to share so much with investigators scrutinizing his client is unusual, but Mr. McGahn views his role as protecting the presidency, not the president."

Trump lawyers don’t know what Mueller’s team has been told: NYT reports, although Mr. Trump’s lawyers said that they were confident that the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, had said nothing injurious to the president, the lapse has fueled concerns.

NYT: Cohen is being investigated for loans in excess of $20 million

"Any criminal charges against Mr. Cohen, which could be filed by the end of the month, would deal a significant blow to the president."

Election 2018: There are 43 Republican seats now without an incumbent on the ballot. That's more than one out of every six Republicans in the House — a record in at least a century.

Election 2020: 40 percent of New Hampshire Republicans—say a 2020 GOP primary for Trump “would be a good thing.” That’s the finding of the latest New Hampshire Journal poll, 18 months ahead of the New Hampshire presidential primary.
 
@costareports: Kasich's political shop just sent out this email: "Polling has also shown Governor Kasich to be a threat to the Trump in New Hampshire and elsewhere. For this reason, the RNC is already taking steps to rig the Party’s nominating process in 2020."

Trump redefined what's possible in presidential politics. Enter Michael Avenatti: LAT reports, the pugnacious Newport Beach attorney is following an improbable path blazed by his nemesis in chief, testing the waters in early-voting Iowa and New Hampshire.

SCOTUS: Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to begin on September 4.

For McCaskill, re-election may rest with vote on Supreme Court nominee: WSJ reports, Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, is facing pressure at home to back Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, and pressure from outside groups she’s relying on for money to oppose him.

HBD: Larry Kudlow, economic adviser to Trump, director of the National Economic Council, 71

Fewer Americans uproot themselves for a new job: WSJ reports, fewer Americans are moving around the country to pursue new work opportunities, as better job prospects near home and changing family ties make people less willing to uproot their lives.

LAT: Trump backed 'space force' after months of lobbying by officials with ties to aerospace industry

ENTERPRISE

Google in China: More than 1,000 Google employees signed a letter to company executives criticizing the alleged development of a censored search and news service for the China market. The employees are demanding greater transparency in internal decision making so that they are able to make "ethically-informed decisions about our work, our projects, and our employment."

Bloomberg: China purges 40 officials in widening vaccine fallout

Uber autonomous: Since a self-driving Uber car killed a pedestrian in March, the company’s executives have been divided over its autonomous vehicle efforts.

Tesla short-sellers sitting on profits of $1.2bn: FT reports, bets against the carmaker’s shares have been lucrative since Musk tweeted buyout plan.

Trade war strains America Inc's factories in China: Reuters reports, Larry Sloven arrived in southern China three decades ago. Since then, he has exported millions of dollars of goods, ranging from power tools to LED lights, to some of America's biggest retailers. That era may now be coming to an end.

Bloomberg: ‘Made in Cambodia’ may become new fashion label with tariffs hitting China

Global luxury brands again chase China's young, rich and spendthrift: Reuters reports, global luxury brands from Prada to LVMH are investing in China for the first time since a crackdown on conspicuous spending five years ago, focusing on smaller, less developed cities even as the world's second-largest economy slows.

Bloomberg: Benettons go from preachers to pariahs after bridge disaster

"For half a century, Italy’s Benetton family has preached compassion through eye-popping ads for its eponymous clothing line... But now the Benettons themselves are the focus of public outrage after at least 43 people died when Genoa’s Morandi Bridge collapsed, threatening part of the family’s other, much more profitable business running airports, turnpikes and roadside diners from Santiago to Rome."

CBC: Tim Hortons hopes to rebuild its brand with better lid, new marketing campaign

"The only people who are going to be pissed off are dry cleaners and car-washing companies. They will wash fewer shirts and fewer cars."

TRENDS

WSJ: Late to the driverless revolutionhttps://on.wsj.com/2N18unU

"America’s car industry dismissed the potential of autonomous driving for years as tech companies plunged ahead. Now Detroit is racing to catch up."

“Being right is the enemy of staying right because it leads you to forget the way the world works.”  -- Jason Zweig

Steven A. Cohen and Matthew W. Granade: Models will run the world https://on.wsj.com/2MYNuhz

"The software revolution has transformed business. What’s next? Processes that constantly improve themselves without need of human intervention."

Louis Hyman: It’s not technology that’s disrupting our jobshttps://nyti.ms/2ORlsVT

"The insecure nature of work is a result of decisions by corporations and policymakers." 

CULTURE

BO: “Crazy Rich Asians” made its debut at No. 1 in North American theaters over the weekend.

Today: The 35th annual MTV Video Music awards take place in New York.

HBD: Amy Adams, actress, Enchanted (2007), American Hustle (2013), 44

SOTD

U2 - With Or Without You (U2 At The BBC)http://bit.ly/2MXNluH

SPORT

AFP: 'We made incredible mistakes': Mourinho fumes as United crash

@BleacherReport: How soccer became the "biggest sport in Atlanta" thanks to the city's black community — including Waka Flocka Flame and 2 Chainz https://bit.ly/2vWuY2S 

LAT: Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza, his body broken by one fateful fall, is holding on for dear life

AFP: Djokovic downs Federer to win long-sought Cincinnati crown

Today: The preseason college football AP Top 25 will be released at 12:00 noon ET.