BEA News: U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, February 2018

There's a two-month system delay publishing this data.
PLEASE NOTE: All statistics referenced are seasonally adjusted; statistics are on a balance of payments basis unless otherwise specified. Additional statistics, including not seasonally adjusted statistics and details for goods on a Census basis, are available in Exhibits 1-20b of this release.
For information on data sources, definitions, and revision procedures, see the explanatory notes in this release.
The full release can be found at
www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/index.html or
www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/trade/tradnewsrelease.htm.
The full schedule is available in the Census Bureau’s Economic Briefing Room at www.census.gov/economic-indicators/.
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EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, Thursday, April 5, 2018

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services
February 2018

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $57.6 billion in February, up $0.9 billion from $56.7 billion in January, revised.

Exports, Imports, and Balance (exhibit 1) February exports were $204.4 billion, $3.5 billion more than January exports. February imports were $262.0 billion, $4.4 billion more than January imports. The February increase in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $0.3 billion to $77.0 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $0.6 billion to $19.4 billion. Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit increased $21.1 billion, or 22.7 percent, from the same period in 2017. Exports increased $22.4 billion or 5.9 percent. Imports increased $43.6 billion or 9.1 percent. Three-Month Moving Averages (exhibit 2) The average goods and services deficit increased $2.2 billion to $56.1 billion for the three months ending in February. * Average exports increased $1.4 billion to $203.0 billion in February. * Average imports increased $3.6 billion to $259.1 billion in February. Year-over-year, the average goods and services deficit increased $10.1 billion from the three months ending in February 2017. * Average exports increased $12.2 billion from February 2017. * Average imports increased $22.3 billion from February 2017. Exports (exhibits 3, 6, and 7) Exports of goods increased $3.0 billion to $137.2 billion in February. Exports of goods on a Census basis increased $3.1 billion. * Industrial supplies and materials increased $2.0 billion. o Nonmonetary gold increased $0.6 billion. o Crude oil increased $0.3 billion. o Natural gas increased $0.3 billion. * Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines increased $0.9 billion. o Passenger cars increased $0.7 billion. * Capital goods increased $0.7 billion. o Civilian aircraft increased $0.2 billion. o Drilling and oilfield equipment increased $0.2 billion. * Consumer goods decreased $0.8 billion. o Pharmaceutical preparations decreased $0.6 billion. Net balance of payments adjustments decreased $0.1 billion. Exports of services increased $0.5 billion to $67.3 billion in February. * Transport increased $0.2 billion. * Travel (for all purposes including education) increased $0.1 billion. * Charges for the use of intellectual property increased $0.1 billion. Imports (exhibits 4, 6, and 8) Imports of goods increased $3.3 billion to $214.2 billion in February. Imports of goods on a Census basis increased $3.5 billion. * Capital goods increased $1.8 billion. o Civilian aircraft increased $0.5 billion. o Materials-handling equipment increased $0.3 billion. o Computers increased $0.3 billion. * Industrial supplies and materials increased $0.8 billion. o Crude oil increased $0.7 billion. * Foods, feeds, and beverages increased $0.8 billion. Net balance of payments adjustments decreased $0.2 billion. Imports of services increased $1.1 billion to $47.8 billion in February. * The largest increase was in charges for the use of intellectual property ($1.0 billion). The increase reflects payments for the rights to broadcast the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. * The largest decrease was in travel (for all purposes including education) ($0.2 billion). Real Goods in 2009 Dollars – Census Basis (exhibit 11) The real goods deficit decreased $0.9 billion to $69.1 billion in February. * Real exports of goods increased $2.5 billion to $129.4 billion. * Real imports of goods increased $1.7 billion to $198.5 billion. Revisions Revisions to January exports * Exports of goods were revised down $0.1 billion. * Exports of services were revised up $0.1 billion. Revisions to January imports * Imports of goods were revised up $0.1 billion. * Imports of services were revised down less than $0.1 billion. Goods by Selected Countries and Areas: Monthly – Census Basis (exhibit 19) The February figures show surpluses, in billions of dollars, with South and Central America ($3.4), Hong Kong ($3.1), Brazil ($0.9), United Kingdom ($0.6), and Singapore ($0.5). Deficits were recorded, in billions of dollars, with China ($34.7), European Union ($15.3), Germany ($6.7), Mexico ($6.6), Japan ($6.0), Italy ($2.8), OPEC ($2.3), India ($1.9), Taiwan ($1.5), France ($1.4), South Korea ($1.1), Saudi Arabia ($0.4), and Canada ($0.4). * The deficit with Mexico increased $1.0 billion to $6.6 billion in February. Exports decreased less than $0.1 billion to $21.9 billion and imports increased $0.9 billion to $28.5 billion. * The deficit with Germany increased $0.4 billion to $6.7 billion in February. Exports decreased $0.2 billion to $4.7 billion and imports increased $0.2 billion to $11.3 billion. * The deficit with Canada decreased $1.2 billion to $0.4 billion in February. Exports increased $1.2 billion to $26.1 billion and imports increased less than $0.1 billion to $26.4 billion.

Mac Rumors: Everyone Can Code (It's A Free Apple Program) For Coding in School Curriculums

That's a good thing for many reasons, so why did Maricopa County Community College CHARGE TUITION for three classes offered last Fall and give out "mini-certs" ???
One of the aspects of the free Everyone Can Code is that it
helps to provide new learning opportunities for teachers so they can subsequently teach Apple's Everyone Can Code curriculum to bring coding into their classrooms.
In June of 2017 Apple’s free coding curriculum for schools has been expanded and updated recently to include a full spectrum of offerings for students in K-12 classrooms
Apple CEO Tim Cook announced 28 March 2018, that he's establishing A Center For Excellence in Chicago.

Apple Announces 'Center for Excellence' at Lane Tech to Introduce Teachers to 'Everyone Can Code' Curriculum

Posted March 28, 2018 at 2:34pm by iClarified · 8199 views · Translate

"Apple has announced a collaboration with Chicago Public Schools and Northwestern University to offer free coding instruction to teachers across Chicago. . . (370,000 students)

Read more > http://www.iclarified.com/65161 

 

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Here in Mesa on KJZZ * - yesterday - we got this "Spin-Out" in an audio podcast about 'a hope' to create an IT Institute:

MCCCD Launching IT Institute In Mesa This Fall

By  Christina Estes    Published: Tuesday, April 3, 2018 - 1:52pm

Filling technology jobs can be a challenge for many businesses across the Valley. They need engineers and software developers, technical support staff and project managers.

That’s where the Maricopa County Community College District hopes to make a difference. The District will launch its new Information Technology Institute in Mesa this fall. 

Dr. Linda Collins is department chair of Business and Information Systems at Mesa Community College. She’s a key player in creating the IT Institute which she says spun out conversations with different businesses and a project with Apple.

LINK to audio > https://kjzz.org/content 

* KJZZ is located at MCC

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Here's some background first from a June 3 2017 article by Jonathan Wylie linked-to below
"The Everyone Can Code initiative was created by Apple to give everyone the chance to learn how to code using the Swift programming language that was introduced in 2014. The language is now a growing open source language and is the foundation of an increasing number of Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Apple Watch apps. You can write Swift code in the Swift Playgrounds app for iPads or in Xcode on a Mac.
While it is clearly in Apple’s best interest to have more people writing programs that are designed for its devices, the need for a workforce that is skilled in coding is a demand that we are still struggling to meet. In addition, as Laura Giuggio reminds us, coding teaches problem solving, computational thinking, critical thought, collaboration, and creativity. How many other domains touch on so many useful skills? . . .

The K-12 Coding Curriculum

Apple’s curricular approach to coding comes in a variety of well-written ebooks that are available for free on the iBooks Store. (Go > link below)

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RELATED CONTENT:

June 3, 2017June 4, 2017 by jonathanwylie

Everyone Can Code With Apple’s K-12 Coding Initiative

https://jonathanwylie.com/2017/06/03/everyone-can-code-with-apples-k-12-coding-initiative/

Apple’s coding curriculum for schools has been expanded and updated recently to include a full spectrum of offerings for students in K-12 classrooms. It even includes the ability to code smart toys like Spheros and drones. So, if you have access to Apple devices in your school, you should definitely take a look at what this program can offer teachers and students. Here’s what you can expect.

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LINK >
https://www.cultofmac.com/538015/location-for-yesterdays-ipad-event-is-new-hq-for-apples-coding-initiative/
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Blogger Note: Not everyone got so over-the-top with the news: 
News / Technology / The Internet
Apple CEO Tim Cook's undercooked plan to help underserved Chicago schools: $300 iPads; app development for all
Posted By Ryan Smith on 03.29.18 at 11:55 AM
"How would Apple ensure it was helping underserved communities and schools in Chicago and not just the best and brightest? 
Tim Cook hesitated slightly before answering.
This was quite possibly the most challenging moment of the Apple CEO's Chicago exhibition so far. . . On Wednesday, the tech giant's top executive returned for an hour-long MSNBC interview special with anchor Chris Hayes and Recode tech reporter Kara Swisher—a show that had been branded "Revolution: Apple Changing the World." . . .
That's right, on the same day that a group of Chicago youth from the #NoCopAcademy movement staged a “die-in" at City Hall to demand that the city defund a $95 million police academy to fund education, one of the richest men in America was here to tell Chicagoans that even if they were stuck in underfunded, failing, or closing schools—hey, our tablet is a pretty good value, and did you hear about our cool new computer club coming to your classroom? . . .
His solution is a technocratic twist on the old conservative axiom: Teach a man to code and he'll eat for life.
That's essentially the concept behind Apple's partnership with the city of Chicago. Lane Tech will serve as a central hub to train local high school teachers on the computing company's Everyone Can Code curriculum. . . . "
Read more > https://www.chicagoreader.com
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Apple picks MCC to teach development of apps for iOS platform

By Gabriella J. Del Rio, Tribune Staff Writer Jul 18, 2017

Starting this fall, six community colleges serving up to 500,000 students across the country will be among the first to offer the curriculum. . .

. . . Each of these classes is eight weeks, and the entire program can be completed in two semesters.

Among the many advantages of this course being taught at MCC, price could be the most appealing.

Every year, people spend thousands of dollars to go to camps to learn the same concepts they will be teaching through Swift.

At MCC, each class costs $86 per three credit hours, plus a $10 lab fee. The total cost from all 3 classes will be $830.

Alongside that, Apple provides the materials for free.

LINK > http://www.eastvalleytribune.com

 

 

Mesa City Council: Lame Excuse or Stupid? Proactive/Reactive?

Don't know about you, dear reader, but Candace Cannistraro is looking pretty beat these days giving budget presentations Power-Point style after being in the hot seat again and again at Mesa City Council meetings. It's amazing that City Manager Chris Brady avoids the heat of getting into the spotlight, choosing to sit on the sidelines to see others doing his 'heavy lifting' he doesn't want to.   
Take the time to watch this: very few members of the public can be see in the streaming vid upload from Mesa Channel 11 to YouTube about an hour ago - it's been viewed by less than five people. 

Huh? Now the city is getting 'Proactive' with code compliance??? Where have they been all these years ignoring neglected buildings all along Main Street for so many years?
Frequently whoever plans these agendas throws a lot of gobbledeee-gook so your average John or Jane Doe get totally turned-off and bored - fortunately KJZZ got right on this last night: Oops! This was buried on pages 18-19!
Mesa Police Department Hired 6 Additional Employees To Facilitate Private Jail Contract
By  Jimmy Jenkins, Mariana Dale

Published: Monday, April 2, 2018 - 9:54pm

Updated: Tuesday, April 3, 2018 - 8:04am

In a presentation to the Mesa City Council on Monday evening, Mesa Budget Director Candace Cannistraro said the Mesa Police Department added six new positions in the 2017-18 fiscal year to facilitate its private jail contract with Core Civic.
“With the contract for the jail services, there was an increased workload in our holding facility that we found during the year,” Cannistraro said. “There were needs there and so we re-allocated some of the savings from the jail costs over into the detention area.”. . .
The budget request submitted to the council Monday shows that the Police Department has hired five full-time detention officers and one full-time administrative support assistant to “support the holding facility and to provide safe and effective process for intake, housing, and transport of arrestees.”

Blogger Note: Mayor John Giles said we need to be more transparent???
READ MORE > https://kjzz.org
 

Big Earthquake, Solar-Climate Epiphany | S0 News Apr.3.2018

Published on Apr 3, 2018

Views: 13,344

Daily Sun, Earth and Space Science

Another AFD Special: Calling All Gamers! Help Wanted for Hyper-Local Version of Mormonopoly

New wealth is getting created now all the time, so it's way past time to update the old board game Monopoly for the 21st Century here in The East Valley of Arizona. There was an earlier version done in Utah just a few years ago (see opening image), subtitled Buying 'Zion' One Property At A Time that included utilities, communication companies, various investments with initial investments and projected valuations, shopping centers and malls, apartments and hotels, and houses on certain properties along the boardwalk.
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Readers of this blog can take a look at the original source for the Game of Mormonopoly, by using any browser or search engine. One of the many companies that are the some of the same players here is Zion Public Finance.
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Players in the game also had the opportunity to draw cards of Chance, with rolls of the dice that might land you in fail or get a free out of jail. It was fun back then, and could be so much more fun now

Some suggestions for new board options might include Tech Corridors in  the East Valley, like the one on Elliot Road that includes higher education facilities, commercial/industrial and residential developments: ASU PolyTech Campus, new terminals and e-commerce parks close to PMGA airport, Eastmark and Cadence, data center REITS and others.

Here in downtown Mesa on Main Street in what used-to-be the Central Business District on Main Street there are eight properties owned by holding companies and limited partnerships or LLCs that are already in play where potential investors can buy in for as little as a minimum of $100,000 or more depending on the risk involved.
Perhaps the time is ripe to get in the game.

Money is dropping like Manna from the heavens into the desert. If you millennial gamers in the new generation of start-up entrepreneurs want to help re-imagine and re-invent an old board game your collaboration might be thrilling and exciting to volunteer your services creating a new interactive up-dated in real time open-sourced app where digital currency is traded and exchanged and invested in deferred tax-free capital gains and tax exchanges instead of monopoly money.  
Add some new spaces for: PPPs, so-called Public Private Partnerships of one kind or another as well as Banks, Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (F.I.R.E), asset management firms, and privately-owned undisclosed dark money,

Who's awesome? Gamers - UR (at least for today, April Fools' Day). Like they say, a fool is born every moment. Take advantage of that and take a few chances . . . U never know: This might be 'your 15-year moment' to buy-in and cash-out later to make-over the game of Monopoly here in Mesa that's now the fastest-growing area in the entire continental United States.

Be warned: there are risks involved like any venture for investors.









 

Special April Fools' Day Report: FBI SWAT Team Raids Mesa City Hall

In the light of the Full Moon today on Easter Sunday, one of the holiest days of the year, a special SWAT team staged a surprise early pre-dawn raid inside City Hall, a former bank building that's now, according to suspicions, the seat of power for a generations-old corrupt group of 'friends-and-families' that have operated much like an East Valley version of the Sicily-based Mafia originating on The East Coast.

Though rumors and innuendoes have been rampant for more years than most people care to remember or conveniently choose to ignore, multiple reports and a recent series of UFOs hovering in the skies over the deserted central business district, raised alarms with certain citizens who have stayed woke and vigilant wondering what's going on in their community after years of feeling 'not engaged'.
However, some newer arrivals, labeled as 'Trouble-Makers' and "Rabble-Rousers' by insiders in the entrenched political machine operating here for more than 140 years, did take notice and stayed on the alert for things appearing on their radar screens after a few clues to take a closer look.

Some of the evidence reportedly seized in today's under-cover raid up the steps inside City Hall were shown in this image seen to the left. What they are exactly is a mystery only known to a few who are maintaining their silence, although they appear to be special pure white garments worn by just a few of the minority population for closed-to-the-public religious ceremonies conducted at a local temple, the first built outside of Salt Lake City in the latter 1920's.

Other  uncorroborated evidence confiscated in the raid on City Hall included these infrared images taken by a UAV drone of the meeting houses built in stakes and wards of master-planned communities that serve as the bases of political operations for collecting a form of taxation from The Middle Ages called tithing, where 10-15% of the gross incomes for individual and families supports the faith and political activities of many of the followers. 

Readers of this blog may be shocked by these revelations on April Fools' Day. 
Something more fundamental that could open the curtains of what's been hidden in plain sight for far too long here in the East Valley, was written about very recently in early March when AP reporter Brady McCombs* had this to say about consequences in the aftermath and upheaval of a joint Department of Justice and FBI investigation on the Arizona-Utah border that busted up local government run by an LDS sect that had controlled the town for more than a century.
If that sounds way too familiar, it might a clue to too many coincidences of one kind or another here . . .
The group has run the sister cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, for more than a century and had total control of town governments until November's elections.

This is not a convenient fiction on this site for April Fools' Day with real day realities reminding us that the current mayor of Mesa shown in the image to the right (Photo credit to local photographer Ivan Martinez) is the 40th in the LDS line of political succession, with few exceptions, than has run this city for more than 140 years.
Like Hildale, what was to become the City of Mesa was settled by 'Pioneers' sent from Salt Lake City, into the Salt River Valley to expand what they called The Kingdom of Deseret or "The Bee Hive" in The New Zion.
Most municipal workers quit in Utah polygamous sect town

Brady Mccombs, Associated Press

Updated 5:00 pm, Thursday, March 8, 2018 

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The new mayor of a mostly polygamous town on the Utah-Arizona border is finishing off a complete overhaul of municipal staff and boards after mass resignations when she took office in January to become the first woman and first non-member of the polygamous sect to hold the seat. . . Six of the seven Hildale, Utah, town workers quit after Mayor Donia Jessop was elected . . . They were joined by nine members of various town boards, including utility board chairman Jacob N. Jessop. All were members of the sect, the mayor said.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THIS STATEMENT: Jacob Jessop said his religious beliefs prevented him from working for a woman and with people who are not sect members, according to resignation letters obtained Thursday by The Associated Press through a public records request. The mayor's husband is distantly related to Jessop in the town of about 3,000 people where many have that last name.

"It has come to a point where I have to choose between my religion and participation in city government, and I choose my religion," he wrote in his letter dated Jan. 25. "My religion teaches me that I should not follow a woman for a leader in a public or family capacity."
. . . The new town leadership is the latest sign that the community's demographics are shifting as it begins to resemble a typical town in the U.S. West, not a cloistered religious community. . . The town government and police are being watched closely by court-appointed monitors after a jury found them guilty of civil rights violations. . . More changes could be coming . . . Later this year, elections in the sister city of Colorado City, Arizona, could bring in outsiders, including to the mayor's seat. . .
Donia Jessop said she has filled the positions that include town recorder, clerk and treasurer . . New hires should help the community, said Jared Nicol, a new town council member, . .
"It's going to ensure that everybody in the city is being considered and represented,"
he said.
LINK > https://www.chron.com/news
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* Your MesaZoner blogger met Brady McCombs one day in Kino Springs, Nogales, Arizona a few years ago while he was reporting on the construction of surveillance towers and border issues for the Arizona Daily Star
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How close will the mysterious undercover "Sting" get to smoking-out and busting up the industrious hive of bees here?

Who Knows? .... Time will tell, if the  story from Hilldale, Utah might be testimony and a lesson-to-be-learned.



 

ICYMI: There's a CLOUD ACT in the Omnibus Spending Bill

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Lars Trautman 

Source: http://www.rstreet.org/2018/02/08        

CLOUD Act highlights need to modernize cross-border data framework

*This post was co-authored by Charles Duan, Associate Director of Technology and Innovation Policy at R Street.
Blogger Note: Except for the image above, the other three images have been inserted from different sources
On Wednesday, Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Christopher Coons, D-Del.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., introduced the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act, which deals with law enforcement’s access to communications information stored in the cloud.
"We think the CLOUD Act is an important first step to dealing with the difficult problem of cloud data stored overseas and encourage policymakers to use the bill as a key component in reforming the legal procedures for law-enforcement access to online communications..."
This bill arises in the context of United States v. Microsoft, currently pending at the Supreme Court. That case will consider whether U.S. law enforcement can legally obtain emails stored on Microsoft’s cloud email service when those emails are physically stored on servers in a foreign country. The underlying issues are complex yet important to every American who uses cloud services. R Street filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court to emphasize these complexities.

The depth and difficulty of the issue also highlights the need for a legislative solution. Indeed, as global demands for cross-border data increase, frustrations with the status quo will continue to worsen.
Blogger Note: Please watch and hear the comments by Amitai Etzioni in another post featured on this blog about other extra-territorial remedies in the form of bilateral or multilateral treaties that other countries may wish to enter into . . . .    
If left unaddressed, these frustrations will push nations toward undesirable policy alternatives, including data-localization and stricter controls on the internet. Allowing the Supreme Court to be the final arbiter on cloud data-access would force a choice between two extremes, neither of which is desirable.

It is incumbent on Congress to think prospectively and craft a path forward that accounts for the myriad technological and international legal ramifications of cloud data storage.
If enacted, the CLOUD Act would establish a framework for U.S. law enforcement to obtain emails stored on foreign cloud servers, as in the Microsoft case. The government is expected to withdraw the case if the bill is enacted. The framework largely mirrors the International Communications Privacy Act (ICPA), which R Street previously supported.
At the same time, the larger framework for law enforcement’s access to electronic communications is decades old and widely considered outdated. The CLOUD Act currently is limited to the extraterritoriality issues discussed above, and it neglects to address whether warrants or other showings of cause ought to be required as part of the procedure for accessing cloud-stored data.
R Street has been supportive of reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) – the law governing this larger communications framework – to extend the warrant requirement to all content data, not just those less than 180 days old.
There is widespread support for such reform, with the Email Privacy Act having passed the House last year by voice vote. The right way forward, in our view, is to use the CLOUD Act not as a complete solution, but rather as a component of these broader efforts to bring electronic communications law into the 21st century.
 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.