Market Morning: Warren’s $52T Plan, British Fracking Ban, Xi to Iowa, Boeing Cracked Pickle Forks

Boeing Co

Elizabeth Warren Proposes $52 trillion Health Care Plan

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Democrat presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is proposing bringing spending into the next level of scientific notation with her spending plans, while at the same time insisting that it won’t affect the middle class at all. Her healthcare plan would cost about $52 trillion, give or take a few trillion, and will include over $20 trillion more than is currently planned to be spent, which is about the size of the current national debt, which is the largest in the history of the world by a margin which itself is the largest in the history of the world. It’s all fine though, because instead of taxing the middle class, she’ll just tax employers and large corporations. Employers and large corporations generally employ the middle class, though this didn’t seem to shake her ambitions.

SEE: IMC to Become First Israeli Medical Cannabis Firm Trading on CSE

On the more practical side of things, her plan would include deep cuts to military spending, though it is unclear if this means cuts to the annual rate of increase of military spending, or actual cuts to military spending. On the less practical side of things, it would also cut payments to doctors, which would discourage the supply of doctors, which would negatively affect the healthcare she aims to provide by supply and demand.

In a nutshell, her plan is to provide better healthcare by cutting pay to the people who provide healthcare.

With Brexit on Backburner, Britain Bans Fracking

Hoping to convert some of the Labour voters over to the Tories, Boris Johnson has banned fracking for natural gas in Britain for now. The technique basically creates mini earthquakes by smashing rocks underground with water at high pressures. 80% of homes in Great Britain are heated with natural gas, so this may negatively affect winter heating bills. “We’ve always been clear that we will follow the science,” Andrea Leadsom, Business Secretary, told BBC radio. “We cannot be certain that shale gas can be extracted safely, and therefore we must impose this moratorium until the science changes.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn didn’t appreciate the Conservatives trying to steal his environmentalist thunder by banning underground thunder.  “The Conservatives’ temporary pause of fracking is an election stunt to try and win a few votes,” said Corbyn, who is already down about 12 points in the polls. He insisted that Labour would ban fracking for good (or at least as long as he remains in power) rather than just institute a temporary moratorium. A mini earthquake of magnitude 2.9 on the Richter scale was felt as a result of fracking in Northern England in August.

Mr. Xi Goes to Iowa?

And the pendulum on the China Trade Deal swings positive once again. President Trump has suggested he could sign a “Phase One” trade deal with China in Iowa, a farm state that has been hit hard by tariffs, possibly in an attempt to get Iowa to vote for him next year. Iowa is a notorious swing state and Trump may need those electoral votes for his reelection. “We’re looking at a different couple of locations. It could even be in Iowa,” Trump told reporters. “We’re discussing locations, but I like to get deals done first,” indicating that the deal is not done yet. He continued to lay it on thick, saying, “We’re thinking about Iowa, you know why, because it would be the largest order in history for farmers. So to me, Iowa makes sense. I love Iowa. It’s a possibility,” Trump said. Reuters reports that it was not clear if Chinese President Xi  Jinping would agree to sign the deal in the United States, though the Chinese side is also in a bind for meat products due to swine fever, which has cut its pork supply by about a quarter.

Cracked Pickle Forks A New Headache for Boeing

Boeing (NYSE:BA) keeps encountering one problem after another. Still suffering from a downed fleet of 737 MAX airplanes and a petition from flight attendants refusing to serve on 737 MAX flights, now Boeing is having trouble with its older generation 737 NG (Next Generation) airplanes. They apparently have cracked pickle forks, which is the part that connects the wing to the fuselage, which is kind of important for flying and such. Overall, 1,000 planes qualified for inspection and about 50 of those planes required repairs. Qantas (OTCQB:QABSY) and Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) each grounded 3 of their planes for pickle fork cracks. American and United haven’t found any problems, so this may be much ado about not much.

Hong Kong Protesters Trash Chinese News Office After Activist Banned from Running

China banned protest leader Joshua Wong from running in local elections last week, and Hong Kong protesters responded by trashing the offices of the Chinese Xinhua news agency. Protesters also throw Molotov cocktails and other sorts of fire bombs into the building while people were working inside. Police tried to use water cannons to push the protesters away but it didn’t work too well. Hong Kong police have recently changed their tactics to attempting to disperse crowd immediately rather than first holding a line of defense against advance, according to the South China Morning Post. The feeling there among protesters is that of despair, as China continues to tighten its grip leaving them little to do but either leave or keep protesting.

 

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