While the main focus of this week is likely to be centered around trade talks between the US and China, perhaps a bigger story pertains to the industrial/manufacturing sector. Heading into the 4th week of negotiations, the UAW and GM appear to be further apart than ever before since the talks began. The UAW is reportedly looking for assurances from GM that they will not close and/or relocate current US GM plants to another country. Well it appears that GM is not willing to provide such assurances and as such, the talks and the strike continues. How much longer can both the workers afford to be on strike and how big of a financial hit will GM bear throughout this process? Other news out today came from GE when they announced that they are freezing the pensions of some 20,000 current employees in an effort to save billions of dollars. This decision comes only after a couple of months when Harry Markopolos, the forensic accountant, declared publicly that GE has been engaged in accounting fraud for years and filed a report with various federal agencies. It should be noted, however, that Markopolos has entered into a payment agreement with a hedge fund that has a short position in GE. Nevertheless, Markopolos’ claim to fame was outing Bernie Madoff and his multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme – so he does warrant some credibility. Is this current move by GE a further indication that Markopolos is correct and GE may very well be on the path to bankruptcy in the very near-term, or is this simply the new CEO of GE making good on cutting back on debt? Time will tell. Additionally, in the same world of industry, Southwest airline pilots are suing Boeing over lost wages stemming from the grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft. The story goes that the aircraft needs to have a software systems upgrade in conjunction with better training for pilots. Once complete, the hope is that these aircraft will be granted regulatory approval and thus will be back in operation. However, during today’s podcast, we speculate – what if this is more than a software glitch, but actually a structural and engineering issue that leads to the aircraft being deemed obsolete? The damage this would cause to Boeing would be near immeasurable and the downstream effects with respect to supply-chains and the overall economy in general would be catastrophic. Let us hope this is not the case, but we are literally talking about life and death and so we and the regulators must be certain as to the worthiness of this aircraft to be deemed operational once again. If not, an iconic American company may find itself in dire straits, bringing the rest of the economy with them. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #GE #GM #Boeing #Recession #Economy #Stocks #Invest #Money #Debt #Pensions #UAW #Autos #Truth #Justice #Peace