USA: Trump says: Saudi Explanation for journalist's death is credible The US president also says he doesn't want it to impact arms sales to Saudi Arabia. 'Because it means 600,000 jobs' - by W.G. Dunlop

US President Donald Trump said Friday he found Saudi Arabia's explanation about the death of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi credible and termed it an "important first step."

Trump added if the US takes action, he does not want it to impact arms sales to the kingdom, which said Khashoggi was killed in a fight at its Istanbul consulate. Turkish officials pointed to a state-sanctioned hit.

"I do, I do," Trump said when asked if he found the Saudis' explanation credible, adding: "It's early, we haven't finished our review or investigation, but... I think it's a very important first step."

"I would prefer, if there is going to be some form of sanction or what we may determine to do, if anything... that we don't use as retribution canceling $110 billion worth of work, which means 600,000 jobs," he said during a visit to Arizona, referring to a major arms deal with the kingdom.

Trump has sent mixed messages about Khashoggi for days, vowing a severe response but also saying that the United States wants to preserve its close relationship with the conservative kingdom.

Members of the US Congress were far harsher in the wake of the kingdom's admission that Khashoggi was dead.

Read More: Trump: Explanation for journalist's death is credible The president says if the U.S. did take action over Jamal Khashoggi's death, he doesn't want it to impact arms sales to Saudi Arabia. 'Means 600,000 jobs' »

USA: More dark clouds are gathering over Donald Trump's credibility as the President of the USA

Even though the US President is not openly showing much anguish over the troubles surrounding his Presidency, it is becoming very apparent that his credibility to govern the US is more and more in doubt.

Specially in light of the recent court verdicts against many of his close associates, and damaging daily press reports, including :

David Pecker, CEO of National Enquirer Publisher, Granted Immunity in Michael Cohen Case

Sessions hits back at Trump: DOJ won't be 'improperly influenced'

The only reason that Trump hasn’t been indicted is that he’s the president

Embattled Trump Startles Israel by Demanding 'Higher Price' for His Delusional Achievements on Jerusalem

Bottom-line, this is not a pleasant time in the history for the United States.  Who would have thought that after the Republican President Nixon was impeached, that another Republican President possibly faces the same fate as Richard Nixon did and,  as a consequence, had to resign on August 9, 1974.

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EU-Digest 

Tax Havens: EU blacklist of tax havens is a sham says EPSU

After months of screening some 90 jurisdictions and countries  in light of EC criteria of lack of transparency and harmful tax measures such as 0 or near 0 corporate tax rates, EU Finance Ministers have  agreed  a tiny  list of 17 countries: American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, South Korea, Macau, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates are the countries listed, officials said.

The second list includes countries like EU candidates Turkey, Serbia and Montenegro, as well as Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Morocco, Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

It also includes entities that are considered as being among the main tax havens but which have promised to change their legislation: Bermuda, the Cayman Islands as well as UK-associated Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

Eight countries and territories recently hit by hurricanes - Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, Turks and Caicos, US Virgin Islands - were given a grace period until February to come up with commitments.

The list excludes the most active harmful tax countries or jurisdictions including Benelux, Ireland, Malta, Cyprus, Switzerland, British channel islands,  US Delaware, Singapore or  Hong-Kong. Even Bermuda, that hosts the Paradise’s offshore services firm Appleby, did not make it to the list.

Jan Willem Goudriaan, General Secretary of EPSU, said “This tax havens list is a big sham. EU Finance Ministers have failed to agree a  coherent and transparent blacklist with deterring sanctions to make it effective. Coupled with the cuts in corporate taxes in many EU countries, today’s decision means that tax competition in and outside Europe will continue to run the show at the expense of workers’ wages and quality public services. 

It also means that trade unions, NGOs, investigative journalists and whistleblowers will need to  continue to do the transparency job that governments are not willing to do.”

Nick Crook, head of international for the UK's largest public services trade union UNISON said: “It’s disappointing that this list fails to name some of the world’s biggest tax haven offenders. The international community needs to do much more to tackle tax avoidance, and offshore tax scams that are happening on a grand scale. The richest individuals in our society should be making the biggest contribution to our public services –  not hiding money abroad, and shirking their obligations”

On the international scene, as tax rules for the digital economy are being discussed, this list is a sign that the  EU is losing its credibility on fair tax.

EPSU is the European Federation of Public Service Unions. It is the largest federation of the ETUC and comprises 8 million public service workers from over 260 trade unions; EPSU organises workers in the energy, water and waste sectors, health and social services and local, regional and central government, in all European countries including the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood. EPSU is the recognized regional organization of Public Services International (PSI). For more information please go to: http://www.epsu.org

EU-Digest

Central Banks: Timid central bankers have failed to convince sceptical audience

The job of central bankers more like that of technicians, carefully turning knobs as they fine-tune the economy, or magicians, manipulating the audience into the suspension of disbelief? Most of the time it is the former. Monetary maestros nudge interest rates up and down with meticulous precision.

Yet in extreme cases—such as when economies become trapped in a low-growth rut—central bankers must try to conjure up a change in the public’s economic outlook. Just as uncertain magicians often fail to pull off their tricks, so central banks are finding their audiences in an ever-more sceptical mood.

Economists have long acknowledged the role of mass psychology in business cycles. In 1936 John Maynard Keynes described the “animal spirits” that could drive swings in spending or investment.

The power of an abrupt change in market beliefs came sharply into focus in the early 1980s, when many economies were struggling to clamp down on stubbornly high inflation. Economists at the time worried that using interest rates to rein in inflation would be enormously costly.

Because the public had come to expect high inflation, they reckoned, growth-crushing rate rises would be needed to force down prices and create new consumer expectations. A common estimate at the time had it that reducing America’s inflation rate by just one percentage point would cause economic damage of nearly 10% of GDP.

In this fraught world, central bankers risk falling into what Mr Krugman has called a timidity trap. The longer that knob-turning fails to get an economy out of the zero-rate rut, the less credible markets are likely to find subsequent attempts at regime change. Recent efforts to push interest rates into negative territory seem to have unnerved markets rather than sparked confidence.

Perhaps more importantly, central bankers tend not to adopt major shifts in mandates and targets unless urged to do so by popularly elected governments. It is difficult to muster Rooseveltian resolve without a Roosevelt. Expect growing scepticism about the power of knob-turning until voters choose politicians confident enough to wave a magic wand.
Read more: Slight of hand | The Economist