by: Harley Schlanger

March 9 — Contrary to the hyperventilation from major U.S. media, which claim the resignation of Gary Cohn is more evidence of the chaotic and dysfunctional character of President Donald Trump’s presidency, a Washington insider described it is a major defeat for the City of London/Wall Street financial elite which have dominated U.S. economic policy for decades.  Further, he said, he is delighted by the news, as it opens the possibility that Trump can get back to the economic themes that helped him win the 2016 election.  In particular, he pointed to restoring Glass Steagall banking separation, and the prospect for a “LaRouchian approach” to infrastructure development.  Cohn, he added, has been the inside operative for those bankers and neo-liberal financial titans who fear Trump could follow the economic program outlined by LaRouche.  Reading between the lines of the anti-Trump media, it becomes evident that this is the real reason Cohn’s departure is causing so much angst on Wall Street.

 

Cohn, who served as the Chair of the National Economic Council, resigned in opposition to the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports announced by Trump earlier in the week.  The {New York Times} on March 6 identified Cohn as the “strongest voice for free trade in Trump’s inner circle,” writing that, though a Democrat, he “served as a proxy for the business wing of the Republican Party” — a reference to the fact that among Cohn’s closest allies in the fight to prevent Trump from reversing the free trade policies of his predecessors, Bush and Obama, are House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator Orrin Hatch, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.  Both Ryan and Hatch are Republicans.

 

More direct in its coverage, the Capitol Hill daily {Politico} began its article on Cohn’s departure, “Wall Street is losing its main man in the White House.”

 

Cohn came to the White House following a twenty-six year career with Goldman Sachs, most of it spent in its trading department, which had played a leading role in driving up the appetite for risky speculative investments, which went through the roof following the repeal of Glass Steagall in 1999.  Goldman’s trading department was at the forefront in “financial innovation”, a Wall Street term for creating exotic-but-worthless assets, which were then bought and sold, with a profit made on each sale by the traders.  This practice was largely responsible for the mortgage/backed securities bubble which crashed in 2008, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars in pension and retirement funds, home values, and savings of small investors.   While its clients suffered the losses, Goldman and other trading firms were saved, with huge bail outs from the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve.  Cohn was the #2 man at Goldman when he left the firm, to work at the White House.

 

COHN VERSUS TRUMP

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly bashed Wall Street for the speculative excesses which led to the 2008 Crash, accusing both parties of doing Wall Street’s bidding in return for campaign cash.  He attacked the bailout policies of Bush and Obama, insisting that his Party’s Platform include restoring Glass Steagall banking separation.  In the last weeks of his campaign, this promise became more prominent, as he made the contrast with Hillary Clinton, who said she would never even consider bringing back Glass Steagall.  Further, Trump also promised “HUGE” investments in modernizing collapsing U.S. infrastructure, while attacking free trade agreements, from NAFTA in the 1990s to Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership, as examples of corporations and politicians “selling out” American manufacturing and workers, for the sake of higher profits from overseas.

 

These themes resonated with American voters, especially among blue collar workers in the former industrial heartland of the Middle West, which had become a “Rust Belt” due to the embrace of free trade, and the emphasis of economic policy on short-term profits over long-term investments in physical production.  It was voters in these states, many of whom had been Democrats, that provided his margin of victory in the election.  His appointment of Wall Street insiders Cohn, and Steve Mnuchin, another Goldman man, as Treasury Secretary, raised concern among his supporters, but Trump pledged that they would help him bring the banking and corporate sector along behind his policies.

 

This has turned out to be a colossal misjudgment, as Cohn and Mnuchin have been sabotaging each of his promises, in collaboration with Wall Street Democrats, and pro-free trade Republicans.  Leading examples of this are:

 

1. Dropping Glass Steagall in favor of further banking deregulation.  Both Cohn and Mnuchin paid lip service to Glass Steagall in the lead up to their Congressional confirmations, but whenever Trump asks them about it, he is told this is “not the time”, as it would interfere with the “booming economy”, typified by the stock market bubble.  Instead of real regulation, beginning with Glass Steagall, they are pushing Congress — backed by large sums from banking lobbyists — to remove the few regulations which were slipped into Obama’s phony Dodd Frank “reform” bill.  The cash from the lobbyists have assured that the impetus for further deregulation, which would primarily benefit the “Too Big to Fail” banks, has support from both Democratic and Republican Party Congressmen.

 

2. Undermining Trump on infrastructure.  Instead of adding $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion to the federal budget, as Trump repeatedly pledged, Cohn has been the leading advocate of using Public-Private Partnerships, for-profit scams, which would allow privatization of existing infrastructure, with minimal investment; and of foisting the costs on to state and local governments, which under Cohn’s plan, must come up with 80% of the government funds expended, even though most have no money to allocate.  Trump is known to be skeptical of PPPs.  The bill produced by Cohn has little chance of passing Congress, thus condemning the U.S. to minor programs to patch up decaying infrastructure.  His penurious plan has the full support of “deficit hawk” Republicans, who promote the ignorant view that infrastructure projects must “pay for themselves.”  LaRouche’s proposal, to fund major projects through setting up an “Infrastructure Bank” as a separate capital budget, able to generate “Hamiltonian credit”, is gaining support among some Congressmen.  Cohn would have never allowed it.

 

3. Turning tax reform into a new bailout!  Instead of crafting a tax policy which would provide incentives to business and industry to create jobs and investment in new plant and equipment, the bill passed by Congress was favorably described by J.P. Morgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon as “QE4”, a reference to the “Quantitative Easing” bailout policies which gave zero percent or low interest credit to the big banks, to provide liquidity for stock purchases by the banks and their favorite clients.  When the Federal Reserve last fall began a slow move away from QE, the tax bill allowed corporations to bring offshore cash back to the U.S., not for new investments, but to continue buy-backs of their own stock!  Thus, in spite of the proliferation of warnings that the stock market is a gigantic, over-priced bubble which could crash at any time, funds continue to flow into stocks of zombie corporations, which are loaded with debt and make little or no profits.  Cohn was the principle force behind the bill, and has urged Trump to take credit for the stock market bubble, as a sign of a growing economy.  Meanwhile, real average weekly wages are trending down again, and there was no gain in productivity in the fourth quarter of 2017, as productivity remains at historically low levels.  Finally, Cohn’s insistence that tax returns would create a large fund for private infrastructure investments has not, and will not, ever occur.

 

4. Sabotaged Trump’s battle against free trade.  In one of his first acts as President, Trump took the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which Obama had pushed as a counter to China’s success in both trade and investment policies, which were gaining support throughout Asia.  A strong backer of the TPP, Cohn opposed Trump’s rejection of it, as well as his intention to take the U.S. out of the North American Free Trade Agreement — the notorious U.S. job-killing NAFTA — or substantially re-write it.  Cohn is also known for his skepticism toward trade deals with China, while Trump repeatedly praises his friendship and collaboration with China’s President Xi Jinping.

 

TIME FOR A “LAROUCHIAN RE-SET”

Unfortunately, Trump’s tariff bill will not solve the problem of the U.S. trade deficit, as it does not address the actual cause of the trade imbalance.  It is not unfair competition practices of foreign governments alone which are responsible for the shortfall.  The trade deficit comes from a self-imposed, destructive set of axioms, which are behind a fifty-year commitment of American policy makers in government, banking and business, to impose neo-liberal free trade policies, under which the manufacturing base of the U.S. has been systematically dismantled, with production and jobs outsourced.  Investment in real physical production and infrastructure development, which increase productivity, were rejected by Cohn and his neo-liberal allies as “not cost-effective.”  With the shift in economic policy in the 1980s away from physical economy, to money-making schemes using junk bonds to fund mergers and acquisitions, corporate raiders allied with investment bankers looted productive firms, stripped away cash from pension funds, and shut down investment in advanced research and development projects.  This became worse when fake environmentalism attacked real science and scientists, and the quick-buck, quick-delivery mentality of “consumerism” replaced the strategy of long-term investments in physical production, which had always been the basis of American economic strength.

 

The hegemony of neo-liberalism, with its cult of the “bottom line” leading to mindless austerity and anti-government radicalism, promoted by well-funded “conservative” think tanks, allowed financial and allied corporate swindlers to take over both political parties and with them, the Congress and the White House.  Many of those who supported Donald Trump rallied to him because they had experienced profound, often devastating losses caused by this nonsense, and Trump had the good sense to define a program which addressed their concerns.  Some of those supporters subsequently have been demoralized by the negative effects generated by the regime change coup plotters against Trump, others by the compromises Trump has made with the City of London/Wall Street financial interests represented, inside his administration by Cohn and Mnuchin.

 

Now, with Cohn out, a triumph over the anti-American policies of globalist neo-cons and neo-libs is again possible.

 

Through this entire period of U.S. degeneration, one constant was American economist Lyndon LaRouche’s exposure of this shift from its beginning, after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, as an outright assault against the American system.   LaRouche’s Four Laws, his most recent and concise economic program, provides the basis for bringing the U.S. out from under the nightmare of London-Wall Street economic destruction.  President Trump indicated during his campaign, and as President, that he supports the American system of economics, and has incorporated bits and pieces of LaRouche’s ideas into his stump speeches.  He has also made clear he will not give up his vision.  Despite the lies of Russiagate, he is pursuing collaboration with Russian President Putin.  Despite war mongering versus China coming from establishment neocons, he has reasserted his commitment to work with China’s President Xi.  In the last days, he reminded people of the disaster of the GW Bush presidency, calling the Iraq war “the single worst decision ever made,” and went after Obama for his role in launching Russiagate.

 

Too many Trump supporters are waiting for “men with white hats” to come in and rescue his presidency from the British-directed institutions now popularly called the “Deep State.”   Instead, if they wish this presidency to succeed, it were better that they master the science of economics embodied in LaRouche’s Four Laws, and mobilize for them to be implemented.  The resignation of Cohn opens a pathway, but offers no guarantees.  That can only be provided by an impassioned and educated American electorate, which mobilizes Congress to break with the corruption of the present collapsing paradigm, and gives them the courage to work with the President, to realize the anti-Wall Street, pro-American System vision which led to his election.

 

There is no time to lose.

 

END

 

John W. Spring

P.O. Box 18946

Anaheim, CA 92817

[email protected]

                                                                                   

March 10, 2018

 

RE: TENTATIVE PLANNED NEGOTIATIONS WITH KIM JONG UN BY MAY 2018

 

Dear Friends,

 

As a geopolitical analyst whose main specialty has been the realms of East Asia and the Pacific for the past 55 years as well as the person who provided President John F. Kennedy with analytic reports related to the Soviet deployment of nuclear ballistic missiles in Cuba a year in advance of the Cuban Missile Crisis, after South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong arrived in Washington to present President Donald J. Trump with an official invitation to negotiate with Kim Jong Un, the President made a very wise decision to accept Kim’s offer. However, if it were possible for the Trump Administration to change the location for a neutral meeting place, Bern in Switzerland would be much better than Panmunjom on the DMZ where fighting could break out to cause an unexpected incident.

 

From my perspective, I would enjoy seeing Kim once again face-to-face and, perhaps, this time, being able to actually shake his hand and possibly even speak with him briefly. But of far greater importance would be the presentation of my economic plan for a deal with North Korea, which might prove to be an incentive for Pyongyang to actually denuclearize. My plan provides for the use of American technology to remove and produce rare earth metals fromAnthracite coal in addition to North Korea’s estimated $6 trillion in other mineral reserves.

 

If it would be possible for me to meet with President Trump during his forthcoming visit to California, my ideas could be shared with him in greater depth and I could reveal some of my past accomplishments to him that would not be appropriate for me to mention in this manner. There is one matter that must be brought to the attention of the President immediately and that is the extremely low daily caloric intake by the average North Korea during this freezing winter season that may extend into spring. So without assistance from the outside many civilians and even some soldiers will definitely starve to death. While we must remain prudent, we must also be benevolent. JWS 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

John W. Spring

 

 

Note: Although my contacts and close friends have been receiving my articles and letters for quite some time, recently I have noticed “new arrivals” added to my list. If you actually do not wish to receive any further contact from me, please let me know so that I can then remove your name and email address from the computer’s list. However, I shall not plan to respond to any comments that might be included with such a request. Thank you. JWS

 

John W. Spring

P.O. Box 18946

Anaheim, CA 92817

[email protected]

                                               

February 20, 2018

 

 

RE: SO LITTLE TIME REMAINS FOR MY ECONOMIC DEAL WITH PYONGYANG

 

Dear Friends,

 

So little time remains from my economic deal with Pyongyang, that is, if it had ever reached the President. My proposed plan for an economic deal with North Korea still might prevent a thermonuclear war that would kill an estimated 170 million Americans and 24 million North Koreans as well as millions of South Koreans, Japanese and Chinese. Unfortunately, we are very rapidly running out of time for considering and possibly making such a deal.

 

Although I would advise that talks should begin immediately, its actual implementation must not occur until Pyongyang halts all of its biological,chemical, cyber, electromagnetic, missile and nuclear programs, which would need to be confirmed by UN inspectors from neutral nations.

 

Due to North Korea’s abundance of mineral deposits that have an estimated value of $6 trillion, it would be possible to also extract rare earths in itsanthracite coal with American technology, which is now able to remove these elements and produce metals with an ion-exchange process by using an environmentally safe solution of ammonium sulfate developed on campus at Penn State University with the U.S. Department of Energy that requires far less energy.

 

Please keep in mind that my proposed plan for an economic deal with North Korea needs to be considered at once. I would suggest that Secretary of Energy Rick Perry should also be contacted on this matter. However, if we should fail to act at once on this matter that could become an incentive for denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, we may very soon find ourselves becoming involved in athermonuclear war as early as this spring in 2018. So I would encourage all of you to actually write an email or letter to President Donald J. Trump at the White House as soon as possible. It could help to make all of the difference in the world. Thank you. JWS

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

John

 

 

 

 

John W. Spring

P.O. Box 18946

Anaheim, CA 92817

February 16, 2018

 

The President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20500

 

RE: PLEASE STUDY MY PLAN FOR AN ECONOMIC DEAL WITH NORTH KOREA

 

Dear Mr. President:

 

Please review and study my plan for an economic deal with North Korea now because its ICBMs are able to strike all of the continental United States withthermonuclear warheads in less than 35 minutes after being launched from the Korean Peninsula and America does not have any Missile Defense System to stop them from reaching their targets that would be our largest cities.

 

Because we are now at the highest level of alert since the Cuban Missile Crisis, an economic deal with North Korea could possibly prevent a thermonuclear war that would probably kill as many as 170 million Americans of an estimated population of 324 million, which is nearly 52 percent of all people currently living in the United States.

 

Although North Korea’s vast mineral deposits are already worth more than $6 trillion that does not include their potential value if U.S. chemical and mining technology for the removal and also the production of rare earth metals from its anthracite coal with an ion-exchange process using ammonium sulfate, which is environmentally safe and requires far less energy. So Pyongyang’s very high quality anthracite coal that is only worth about $100 per metric ton would take on a far greater value, which would provide that currently impoverished nation with a greater standard of living with a much higher quality for all of its people.

 

While the precondition for implementing my plan, which is based on the R&D already taken at Penn State University, must require not only the denuclearization of North Korea as well as the end of all of its chemical warfare, electromagnetic and missile programs that would need to be verified by UN inspectors from various nations, it should be presented to Pyongyang as a very good incentive for the regime of Kim Jong Un to consider such a proposal at a time when the UN embargos and sanctions still exist before all hell breaks loose. Because if Kim reaches that “point of no return” when all of his options soon fade away, he may finally decide to strike at America.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

John W. Spring

 

John W. Spring

P.O. Box 18946

Anaheim, CA 92817

 

October 27, 2017

The President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20500

 

RE: VAST DEPOSITS OF LITHIUM, RARE EARTHS AND PRECIOUS METALS IN

        NORTH KOREA MAY NOW BE THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD.

 

Dear Mr. President:

 

Although I have attempted to commemorate the 55^th Anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 16-28, 1962, during this month, as an Economic Geographer, it is rather important for me to mention that, despite the outdated information at the U.S. Geological Survey or USGS, North Korea may now have the largest deposits of Lithium, Rare Earths and Precious Metals in the entire world.

 

Lithium batteries are now used in most portable electronic devices. However, due to the already increasing demand for battery powered electric vehicles, its value is increasing at an exponential rate. China and the “Lithium Triangle” located in parts of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile or ABC in South Americacurrently have the largest known deposits. But the amounts of Lithium found inNorth Korea may be even greater than all of the rest of the world combined.

 

Rare Earths are now being used in the most advanced electric motors andNorth Korea has far more rich deposits of them than does China, which makes it the world’s largest source.

 

Precious Metals are also very abundant in North Korea, which probably has the world’s largest supply of these ores that are also in great economic demand

 

In retrospect, I wonder if North Korea is being “set-up” to be destroyed so that its vast ores and minerals might later be exploited by a corporate or foreign entity. It seems as if, within so few years, Pyongyang has been able to develop its missile and nuclear programs mainly with the help of an outside source, which has not yet been verified. As a result, the current ICBM threat with athermonuclear warhead launched from the Korean Peninsula would cause that nation to become obliterated before an American city would be completely destroyed. But a designated or targeted American city would still be destroyed due to the lack of an effective Missile Defense System. So, with my aforementioned information, I am rather confident you could make a deal with Kim Jong Un that would benefit him and lead to his nation soon becoming a denuclearized country.

 

Sincerely,

 

                        John W. Spring