Liferep.net

Monday July 30, 2018

// July 30th, 2018 // Comments Off on Monday July 30, 2018 // Daily News

Trump threatens government shutdown if Democrats don’t back immigration reform

President Donald Trump called on Congress to fix immigration laws in a series of Twitter posts.
He threatened to ‘shut down’ the federal government if Democrats refused to back his demands for reform, including a border wall.

CNBC.com

President Donald Trump called on Congress to enact sweeping immigration reform, including a border wall, and threatened a federal government shutdown if Democrats refused to back his proposals.
In a series of early morning posts on Twitter, the president lambasted Congress over immigration reform. He then threatened to shut down the government if Congress didn’t move U.S. laws “based on MERIT!”
I would be willing to “shut down” government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall! Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!
Earlier this year, the White House released a proposal for merit-based immigration, which floundered in Congress amid tepid support from within the president’s own party. Meanwhile, Democratic leaders, who have embraced legalization of “Dreamers” as a rallying cry on immigration reform, have been galvanized by the administration’s family separation policy.
Theadministration’s framework included a $25 billion “trust fund” for a border wall, a path to citizenship for “Dreamer” immigrants, and an end to foreign visa lotteries that would end a program “riddled with abuse.” In an analysis of the proposal, the libertarian Cato Institute called the plan “draconian”, and said it would reduce legal immigration by up to 44 percent per year.
Amid searing images of undocumented families being separated at the border, Trump defended the controversial practice — which was in place under the Obama administration. Trump warned that there were “consequences when people cross our Border illegally.” He argued that parents attempting to cross the border are “using children for their own sinister purposes.”
Trump’s tweet Sunday came several days after the government said more than 1,800 children separated at the U.S.-Mexico border have been reunited with parents, and sponsors after a federal judge ordered the reunions. Hundreds of children still remain separated.

Today’s Inspiration

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation.

— Psalm 42:5

Discouragement destroys hope.
Failure easily leads to more failure.
And once we allow our minds to say, “This is the way it will always be,” Satan has won a victory over us.

Lord Jesus, with Your help, I can make it. With Your help, I won’t be discouraged and feel hopeless. With Your help, I can defeat every wrong thought that Satan slips into my mind. Thank You for victory. Amen.

Tuesday July 24, 2018

// July 24th, 2018 // Comments Off on Tuesday July 24, 2018 // Daily News

CHINA ECONOMY

China unveils measures to boost economic growth
Gabriel Wildau in Shanghai

The move, announced late Monday, came the same day as an injection of $74bn into the banking system by the People’s Bank of China through its Medium-term Lending Facility — the central bank’s largest ever, single-day cash injection using that tool.
The fiscal measures provide growing evidence that policymakers are concerned about how the trade war with the US will exacerbate a domestic slowdown and follow a recent series of monetary loosening actions.
The PBoC has already cut the required reserve ratio (RRR) for some banks three times this year in a bid to boost the money supply.
Unveiling the measures, the State Council cited external “uncertainty” — an apparent reference to the escalating trade war with the US — while also seeking to downplay market concerns that China is backsliding on structural reform and reverting to its traditional playbook of heavy-handed credit stimulus.
“We must persist in not conducting ‘big water overflowing-style’ strong stimulus while . . . responding to uncertainty in the external environment and preserving economic activity within a reasonable range,” premier Li Keqiang told the State Council.
The cabinet also pledged to ensure “appropriate” credit growth. Data for June showed money supply and credit expanding at a record low pace for a fourth consecutive month.
Local governments are urged to speed up disbursal of unused fiscal revenue and called on financial institutions to ensure adequate lending to local governments’ off-budget financing vehicles so that projects are not delayed.
The latter measure marks a shift in emphasis after a period in which the finance ministry was focused on controlling disguised borrowing through off-budget channels.
China’s GDP grew at its slowest pace since 2016 in the second quarter, and economists expect the deceleration to continue through the rest of this year. That is leading policymakers to pivot away from a previous emphasis on restraining debt and shift towards stimulus.
The cabinet’s announcement late Monday also authorised Rmb6.5bn ($953m) in tax cuts for corporate investment in research and development and accelerated issuance of special bonds to finance local government infrastructure projects.
The government will promote privately funded projects in transport, oil and gas, and telecommunications, the cabinet said.
China’s blue-chip CSI 300 index was 1.6 per cent higher at midday, while an index of mainland stocks traded in Hong Kong was up 2.4 per cent.
“We take the [State Council] statement as a confirmation of policy stance changing from tightening toward loosening,” wrote Zhiwei Zhang, chief China economist at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong.
“The change of monetary stance has already happened in [the second quarter] with the RRR cut and injection of liquidity through MLF. The new message from the meeting today is that fiscal policy will become incrementally more expansionary.”
The emphasis on fiscal measures comes after a central bank official this month issued an unusually blunt public criticism of the finance ministry, accusing it of failing to carry out the government’s official “proactive” fiscal stance by allowing unspent revenue to accumulate.

Today’s Inspiration

Therefore you have no excuse or defense or justification, O man, whoever you are who judges and condemns another. For in posing as judge and passing sentence on another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge are habitually practicing the very same things [that you censure and denounce].

— Romans 2:1 (AMPC)

JULY 24, 2018
The Negative Effect of Judging Others

In other words, the very same things that we judge others for, we do ourselves.

The Lord gave me a very good example once to help me understand this principle. I was pondering why we would do something ourselves and think it was perfectly all right, but judge someone else who does it. He said, “Joyce, you look at yourself through rose-colored glasses, but you look at everyone else through a magnifying glass.”

We make excuses for our own behavior, but when someone else does the same thing we do, we are often merciless. Doing unto others as we want them to do to us (see Matthew 7:12) is a good life principle that will prevent a lot of judgment and criticism, if followed.

A judgmental mind is an offshoot of a negative mind—thinking about what is wrong with an individual instead of what is right. Be positive and not negative! Others will benefit, but you will benefit more than anyone.

Prayer Starter: Father, I ask for Your help to change the way I think of others. Please help me to not focus on the negative but to think of people the way I want them to think of me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.