Free Republic

As trade tensions escalate between the U.S. and China, Washington is sending a warning to U.S. companies: Think twice about doing business with China. “If I were a business, I would basically just stay away from China right now. Their misbehavior is so terrible.” Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers said on Yahoo Finance’s Market Mover Friday.

President Donald Trump has picked an economic advisor who believes in growing the nation’s economy by importing workers and consumers, and by expanding free-trade outsourcing, despite Trump’s “buy American, hire American” campaign promises. Kevin Hassett is slated to become chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors if he is approved by the Senate’s banking committee. If Hassett is confirmed, that will be a win for the corporatist, business-first faction in Trump’s White House, which fights for influence in the Oval Office against the populist, America-first faction that helped Trump win the election in November.

Bush taps Kellogg Co. CEO Gutierrez to head Commerce Corbett B. Daly WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- President Bush announced Monday that Carlos Gutierrez, Kellogg Co.'s chief executive, would replace Don Evans as Commerce Secretary, making the first of what are expected to be many changes in his economic team. "Carlos Gutierrez is one of America's most respected business leaders," Bush said at the official announcement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. (...) Gutierrez, 51, has been CEO at Battle Creek, Mich.-based Kellogg (K) since April 1999. Kellogg shares fell 51 cents immediately after news broke that the cereal maker...

...Bill Clinton consistently got better headlines than the two Bushes on such key matters as unemployment and GDP growth, the researchers say. ...While one could speculate that judgments of what was "favorable" and "unfavorable" were partly subjective, the findings won't come as a big surprise to many people, especially to Republicans. Other surveys have shown that most major-league journalists are registered Democrats, and one might expect that their political affiliations would have some tiny effect on their objectivity. Some polls also show a declining trust in the quality of news reporting, by the way. ...So even if some editors let...