Leader Chuck Schumer asked Mitch Mcconnell for there to be additional witnesses called in a senate trial. John bolton, mick mulvaney. Mitch mcconnell has just responded and said that is not going to happen. Democrats not going to like that response. Meanwhile, we are also getting new words from nancy pelosi about who will lead the prosecution process from the house of representatives in the senate trial. Once the houseboats to impeach president trump, there will be a handful of impeachment officials from the house who will make their case in the senate. That willlosi said not come until the next day or so. All indications are pointing toward House Committee chairman adam schiff and House Committee tworman jerry nadler, familiar faces with this process. Kevin thanks so much to kevin cirilli. Now we turn to edward evans in london. We heard Prime Minister johnson once a brexit no matter what year. Edward so much so he has changed the law so that the transition period of that will apply after january 31 cannot be extended on the end of december. If britain and the eu cannot agree on a trade deal by then, britain would crash out and go and trade on wto rules. Faced with the prospect of what would look like a no deal brexit, the pound has erased all the gains it has made since the general election. That Boris Johnson is doing this should not be surprising. He rule out extending the transition period in his partys manifesto. The thinking behind this is he wants to set a deadline to focus minds and brussels to reach a trade deal. Do we have any we have anyid do sense of how much of this is posturing and how much is real . Edward this is very much a political signal. He had just one and 80 seat majority in part by promising to get brexit done. This is a very large signal those folks he is deadly serious about taking britain out of the eu without further delay. Importantly, this is still reversible. He can just as easily repeal this law or change it at a later date should he want to do so. He is the same man who promised never to delay brexit. He would rather die in that ditch. That is exactly what he did. He delayed. David one of the principles i learned early on is that parliament cannot bind itself. Many thanks to Bloomberg Brexit editor edward evans in london. Now we turn to david baker in san francisco. Former drama in the more drama in the pg e bankruptcy. Pg e reach an agreement with the lawyers representing the wildfire victims that allowed the two parties to cut Governor Newsom out of the process of coming up with a settlement between them and packaging that in a larger restructuring to get the company out of bankruptcy. They had had an agreement in their on provision of their agreement that gavin newsom had to sign off on whatever they came up with and last friday the governor made it clear they do not like the agreement and the Restructuring Plan the company was pushing. It did not meet his standards or state law. David that is what i want to focus on. The agreement said we have to have gavin newsom sign off, but there is state law. It is not what the agreement said. They will not be able to go forward with this. David b. in addition to that, while he is being removed from the step of the process, you cannot remove the governor from this process entirely. He appoints the state regulators who are going to have to sign off on any reorganization plan to get the company out of bankruptcy. Yes, they will be looking at whether or not that agreement does meet state law. Essentially, what is going on is the company and the lawyers representing wildfire victims are buying themselves more time to talk with the governors office, talk with other stakeholders and finetune the proposal they have, hoping they can come up with something everyone can agree on. Guy david what a bankruptcy drama in san francisco. Now its time to check on the markets and how they are reacting. Here is Abigail Doolittle. Lot. Tle reaction, not a abigial youre right about that. However another alltime high for the s p 500. The bulls are still time are still trying to take charge. Emerging stocks are higher. That is the further end of the risk continuum. It tells you there is a risk on mood confirmed by the fact that bonds that had been rallying are now down. All of this is the digestion of the trade agreement that was reached and stops being up so much this year. Have it soar up on the news friday that we had a usmca and a china deal. At least the markets are not rejecting that. There is some concern that is the digested they will cite is not so good. They are ok with that. Abigial it is not a sell the news type of event. The real rally is on the year. That probably has to do with the fed. The s p 500 up more than 25 . The tech sector of more than 40 . Sinceup 60 , best year 2009. In january Jerome Powell going dovish and that has given the market a tail wind. David if it is the fed, that would indicate to meet they are ok with what the fed already did. The fed has not indicated a lot more cuts in 2020. Abigail markets are probably happy with that. We have Interest Rate super low, that seems to be helping out the economy. We have not had dramatic slow down. Lots of quotes that the earnings recession we had been in about to end. That is what we will be talking about day by day in january, those earnings. David earnings do matter. Thanks to Abigail Doolittle for the market check. Now we turn to Mark Crumpton for first word news. Senate majority leader Mitch Mcconnell is criticizing Chuck Schumers proposal about who should testify during a likely impeachment trial against president trump. Chuck schumer once the senate to agree to hear testimony from acting chief of staff mick mulvaney, former National Security advisor he john bolton, and two other white house officials. Mitch mcconnell says that would conflict with the procedure used during president clintons procedure in 1999, when the senate heard opening arguments in a motion to dismiss the charges before deciding whether to hear witnesses. Pakistans former president has been sentenced to death for high treason. Theecial court convicted president of violating the constitution by unlawfully declaring emergency rule when he was in power. The 76yearold has lived in selfimposed exile into by for more than three years. In dubai for more than three years. He seized power in 1999 and rolled pakistan until 2008. His attorneys say he will appeal. Boris johnson will not attend the World Economic forum in isos, switzerland, and banning his ministers from going. It is a message from johnson his government will remain focused on brexit. The Prime Minister says he wants to get on with delivering the priorities of the british people. Yesterday johnson hosted the first meeting of his cabinet since last weeks election. Trump Administration Officials or the president plans on attending davos. At least three people are dead and more than a dozen injured after suspected tornadoes went through the deep south monday. The storm smashed into buildings, downed trees, and left a trail of discussed a trail of distrust a trail of destruction in louisiana and alabama. Global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. I am Mark Crumpton. This is bloomberg. Frozencoming up, the wto , usmca still in play, and phase one of the china deal promised within the next two weeks. We talk with rufus yerxa, president of the National Foreign trade council. Ons is balance of power Bloomberg Television and radio. As much as i do not like the appellate body going out of existence, it is something that has to be done to get other countries to wake up. If you want the wto process, and i do like the wto process, it has to be reformed. Grassleyat was chuck talking about the u. S. Decision to block appointments to the wto appeals panel. We welcome someone who served as the Deputy Director general of the wto as well as deputy u. S. Trade representative, rufus yerxa is now president of the National Foreign trade council. He comes to us from washington. You know this body terribly well. Explain what the dispute about. It is not entirely possible. We of ron wyden agreeing with Chuck Grassley that there are problems with this process. Rufus i think everybody can see there are problems. On the other hand, everybody says we want the wto to work effectively. There are a lot of disputes we had in the past where the u. S. Has won cases. As an offense of tool we like it. We just want to see some improvement in the dispute settlement process. The administration has taken a hard line on this and gotten a lot of countries upset. Wem a business point of view want our administration and the other side to talk about what are the kinds of fixes we can make in the appellate body process that would unstick this and get it back on track. Are there discussions going on between the wto and the administration to try to come to a compromise agreement . Rufus i do not know the details of what they are talking about. I know the director general of the wto has announced he is looking for new ideas for solutions. We just commissioned a paper by a former u. S. Lawyer with proposals for how to overcome these differences between the administration and other parties in geneva. There are discussions going on. We have to see how Robert Lighthizer reacts to those. David that is a multilateral. Lets go to bilateral. U. S. China. We are told we may have a phase one agreement. Still unclear will be in the agreement. What you understand about what we should expect . Rufus very unclear. Ambassador lighthizer sing the phase one deal is a big deal and has a lot of substance. He mentioned 86 pages of text but no one has seen any of that. What we do know is he is saying there are specific commitments from the chinese on increasing both agricultural and industrial goods, exports. It is not point clear what the other elements of the deal ambassador lighthizer mentioned some things the chinese are committing to on intellectual property and force technology transfer. The details of this are unclear. The other thing is unclear. How much of this will impact the bottom line . Are the chinese going to deliver on these commitments . The other problem is a huge number of the tariffs are staying in place. Yes, they are getting rid of tariffs that were going to go into effect on december 15, and we are cutting in half some of the more recent tariff increases. Billion have about 250 of imports from china that are 25 . A lot of those are manufactured input products that affect u. S. Manufacturing. David we are talking with rufus yerxa, the president of the National Foreign trade council. On those issues about enforcement and the tariffs, which are linked one to the other, the administration is saying we will keep the tariffs in place until you perform on these things. Is that a sensible approach . Has that been tried before with china . Rufus i am not sure it has been tried before but what trump is trying to do is achieve something he can take political credit for as a deal. The chinese can actually agree to. It is not clear whether he got a lot of substance in this phase one or whether some of this is more in the nature of windowdressing on the deal so it looks good for him politically in 2020. I think we will not know how much Robert Lighthizer, i saw him this weekend on the news saying this is the greatest agreement ever. We will have to see how much they deliver. Politically, it is probably good form for the time being. Longerterm is not clear how much this improves they have to go onto the next phases of the negotiation with china. David before we get to the next phase, youve been involved in these sorts of negotiations, whys it so hard to get the text out. Presumably these are texts theyve been working on for some time. It is it is it unusual to take this long to translate 86 pages . Rufus i am not clear why there are not any draft pages or summaries of the text. It raises issues about whether they do have a meeting of the minds all the provisions. Ambassador lighthizer said it is a done deal. I am not sure, to tell you the truth. Is this done or are there still fundamental things they have not totally agreed on . We will see in january. David this is rufus yerxa, president of the National Foreign trade council. Lets turn to another deal we thought was done. We saw nancy pelosi say we have an agreement on usmca. Mexicowake up to hear has some problems with the trade attaches attached to the embassy. Claiming theyis did not know the implementing of the legislation would include the trade attaches. They have an understanding about how the inspections in mexico would occur, they would not be through that mechanism. Says ther lighthizer trade attaches are not the inspectors. If that issue as is probably not going to scupper the whole deal. I expect the house to pass it this week and that it will go over to the senate. The Mexican Congress has already approved it. I do not think this latest dispute necessarily on hinges the deal. Like willo me probably get the usmca put in place early next year. David many thanks. That is rufus yerxa. He has the president of the National Foreign trade council. Still ahead, boeing is in the crosshairs again on news it is stopping production of it 737 max. That is our stock of the hour. Ons is balance of power Bloomberg Television and radio. David this is balance of power on Bloomberg Television and radio. Time for the stock of the hour. Boeing is higher by 1 even after the company said it would temporarily halt production of the 737 max. Kailey leinz is here with more. I thought it was down, it is up. Kailey a lot of the downside surprise was yesterday when it was for what was first reported the board was weighing this. A lot of that was prized in that sometime in january they were they will stop production of this plane. The timeline for coming back up in the air is uncertain. We had the faa saying yesterday we are in no rush, some analysts thinking it will not, until the end of january or beyond. To produce this plane throughout its grounding. They have been making 42 a day. They have 400 that are in storage. They are not getting paid for those planes until they are delivered. They have been spending this cash. One analyst says that rev record the plane has been grounded, they burned 4. 4 billion. That they will halt production, it has been half that good may be seeing the stop getting a bid because the company is going to save a bit of cash. David what happens to all of those workers . Kailey the company saying no one will get laid off. They will continue working on the 747 program or be put elsewhere. Unclear how long this is going to go on. At some point that could change, but for right now these workers are staying at going. At boeing. Avid that is boeing people who supply parts, it might be harder for them. Kailey boeing has 600 companies on the supply chain. That could be a serious topline concern for a lot of the suppliers. ,s long as this could extend they could eventually see job cuts. That could ripple back and affect boeing because could we see job cuts, when they are again ready to start taking the plane back to create delays, this is a tightly choreographed operation. That is on the supply side. This is not considering the broader macroeconomic effects that boeing could have. You have to worry about jobs numbers that stopped coming out. Kailey one analyst at Bloomberg Economics said at the most it could not a full percent of the First Quarter gdp. Economists did not seem to think that will impact fullyear growth but you could start seeing this show up and other economic data. It is a big manufacturer and debate exporter. We have seen it show up and trade data, the fact that boeing has not been exporting these planes. David lets go from planes to cars. Psa group is said to approve the merger plan with fiat. We knew they were working on that. A major merger in the auto industry, which im sure to be good for those companies, at the same time it reflects the stress the audience globally is suffering under. Kailey this is what you have to do to operate. I believe these companies combined will pass gm in terms of global sales, so they will get a certain amount of scale. This speaks to what you have to do as an automaker in this environment in order to survive. David you have to go to electric and economist at the same time. Kailey a lot of money. David up next, president erdogan says turkey is not walking away from nato but Russian Missiles are putting the future of the alliance into jeopardy. We talk about it with senator ben cardin next on balance of power. From new york, this is balance of power. Im david westin. For bloomberg first word news, we go to Mark Crumpton. Mark it is one of the most important decisions House Democrats will make in the impeachment process. That is, who will prosecute the president in next years senate trial . Bloomberg has learned house intelligence Committee Chairman adam schiff and judiciary chairman Jerrold Nadler are expected to be named to trial managers team. The announcement is likely to happen tomorrow. That is when the house votes on the articles of impeachment. A former top Trump Campaign aide who became a star witness for special Counsel Robert Mueller is headed to prison. He was sentenced to 45 days behind bars. Gatess testimony helped convict roger stone and sent former Trump Campaign manager Paul Manafort to prison. Sentencing, the judge praised his work for the government but imposed a jail time for tax on lobbying crimes. In france, teachers, doctors, eiffel tower employees and workers across the countrys labor force walked off the job today to join the nearly two week old strike against proposed pension reforms. They oppose president emmanuel overhaul ofrall the Pension System that would and special privileges for some workers are the government says it is sticking with its plans. The United Nations is urging governments, businesses and others to reboot the worlds response to refugees. The First Global Refugee Forum opened in geneva today. U. N. High commissioner for refugee Philip Lowe Grundy told the audience our world is in turmoil and 25 million refugees are looking to us for solutions. The number of people fleeing their homes is on the rise along with hostility toward migrants. Global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. Im Mark Crumpton. This is bloomberg. David thanks very much, mark. Mark esper is questioning turkeys commitment to nato. This comes a day after president erdogan of turkey threaten to close two of the military alliances bases in retaliation for potential u. S. Sanctions over turkeys purchase of a Russian Missile system. We welcome a Senior Member of the Senate Foreign relations committee, democrat of maryland. He comes from capitol hill. Think you for joining us. If its your perspective of what is going on. It seems things are getting worse, not better and relations between the u. S. And turkey. It is good to be with you. You are exactly right. We are concerned about turkeys actions in regards to your National Security. In the future of nato. They have done certain things that have to go. We cannot go unchallenged. The purchase of the s 400 Missile Defense system for russia compromises the nato alliance. As far as technology is concerned. Affecting the kurdish fighters which are at best Ground Forces in stopping the investments of the assad regime. Advancements of the assad regime. That compromises our National Security. We have to act, we have to let turkey know that that action compromises our Regional Security and National Security. We want to maintain that Strategic Partnership with turkey. We want turkey to stay in nato. But it has to be with basic understandings. David what would be the effect on u. S. National security if they did go ahead and close these two places . Also a radar array over there. What would that do if they proceed with that and shut those bases down . Sen. Cardin clearly, turkey has a strategic location in regards to our Regional Security with other border countries of major concern to us. It is important for nato to maintain the partnership with turkey. Let me make it clear, our National Security is compromised by what turkey has done. We dont want natos technology compromised by turkeys relationship with russia. As important as that partnership is, it is more important we maintain our basic commitment in nato to a mutual defense and turkeys actions compromise that. David lets turn to trade. Trade between the u. S. , canada and mexico. We heard from nancy pelosi who said they had come to terms and would be moving forward, although it appears after an impeachment trial, if there is such a thing in january. Today, we heard mexico has concerns with these trade attaches. Is that a blip or is there a serious issue here . Sen. Cardin i hope it is just a blip. Work of Speaker Pelosi and u. S. Trade representative lighthizer in reaching agreement between canada and mexico. It is really historic in regards to labor protections, and by mental protections and it takes the agreement to the next level. My understanding is that from the lighthizer, this has been taken care of and we will be able to move forward with a vote in the house. This week on ratification. We should have a vote in the senate in early january. David we are speaking with senator ben cardin of maryland. Talking about the usmca, the agreement to nafta. Give us a sense of what that will do to the u. S. s economy, manufacturing, farmers . Sen. Cardin mexico, and canada are two Major Trading partners. It is important to our academy. Economy. Import and export helps create many jobs in the United States. The problem with nafta is it had chapters dealing with environment and labor that were outside the core agreement and were nonenforceable. That has been corrected by this usmca agreement. We will have enforceable provisions in regards to labor and environment. We will also have a way to trigger that enforcement with time limits so they are effectively enforced. That we did not have enough to. But it will help all three of the economies. Canada, mexico and the United States continue to grow. David as i mentioned, it appears this ultimate ramification of the usmca will wait until after a trial, if there is a trial on these two impeachment articles. We had an exchange today from the majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell, with senator schumer of new york where he said we dont need to call witnesses, we can go ahead and vote on this. As i understand it, a majority of senators could decide to call witnesses. Just a majority. Is there any realistic prospect that that will happen . Sen. Cardin i certainly hope so. I hope we have a mutually agreed process. I find it outrageous that leader macconnells consulting only with the white house in deciding what witnesses should be called. He will take an oath as every member of the senate will take an oath to be an impartial jurore in ther you be impartial if you make decisions solely with the white house of what witnesses to call . You need to get the house managers involved, certainly the democratic leader involved on a fair process. That is critically important that be done. I am concerned. I think senator schumers request to hear from the witnesses that have the direct knowledge of what the president was doing in his conversations with ukraine and dealing with a holding up of funds and dealing with the white house visit, i think that is critically important that we can hear directly from those witnesses. They are the closest to the source. David we are talking with senator ben cardin. On the question of impeachment, it is not just capitol hill that is divided. There was a poll from Washington Post that said it seems like the country is divided down the middle, overwhelming majority of democrats think we should go ahead with impeachment. Republicans think the rivers. The independents seem to be split down the middle. Is it appropriate to perceive impeachment if the country is that much on the fence . Sen. Cardin i dont think we have any choice. This is a constitutional responsibility. They have to carry out that constitutional responsibility. The politics of it cannot be the driving force. We need to recognize that we are the impeachment process is the only way to hold a president accountable for these actions. We will judge the facts as they come in at trial, make our own judgments as to whether they are impeachable offenses or not, but we cannot be judged by the popularity of this. Fundamentally a constitutional responsibility that we have to carry out. David finally, we have a blockbuster spending bill coming our way that has to be acted upon this week so the government does not shut down. Maybe you have read all 1400 pages, i would not expect you to have done so, but what is most important to you and that bill . Sen. Cardin i think the fact that we have a bipartisan budget agreement that will go throughout the rest of this year that we dont have continuing resolutions or government shutdowns, that it reflects the priorities of the members of the house and senate, democrats and republicans, i think that is good news for our nation. I think we will not be on a title be on autopilot. Do i agree with all the decisions . No. Well i have disappointments . Absolutely. I will be pleased that we have a budget that reflects congress if we can get this done. David thank you so much for your time. That is senator ben cardin, democrat of maryland and a member of the Foreign Relations committee. Coming up, how much would a phase one china trade deal really help with americas farmers . We will ask trade advisor tom keogh. That is next. This is balance of power. David this is balance of power. Im david westin. Americas farmers have been suffering. Trade issues have not made their situation any easier. Help may be on the way. We welcome tom keogh, trade advisor to the United States department of agriculture. Tom nice to be here. David lets start with china. Soybeans and other agricultural products. There have been subsidies from the government to help them through. Tom from the tariffs. David fair enough. What do we think we are going to get out of this deal, phase one . 2017they are using the china purchase agate purchases as a baseline which was 24 billion. That will be the baseline for 2020 and 2021. They are promising to buy another 32 billion on top of that, which brings both years purchases 240 and 40 billion, that is 80. They may come in for another 5 billion. This is an enormous purchase. David so in normas, some people are saying i dont think it can be done, that it is possible to do. The report says ethanol may be a component. Tom i was asked that. Im not allowed to tell you are anybody else until the ustr releases the details, what the products are in it because it may drive the markets. Im not the only agate advisor. We all have different networks. There is no surprises in this. Lets put it that way. It is all the products that we have done business with them, somebody didnt invent a new item to send to china and it will not drive the markets. It is all the items we always send their that in big numbers there but in big numbers. Someone broke the marathon heord, it was an aide, but broke the world record by a lot. It is better to have a goal, if we dont hit it, we will not miss it by much. This is both sides committing to do this in writing, this is part of the deal. It is not just verbal. David we were talking we are talking with tom kehoe. We have not seen the tech yet. 86 pages we are told. Tom 29 of them are big. David thats interesting. The delay . Tom theres no delay. Much like with the financial news, it has to be right. A lot of people are relying on it. Languagescrubbing the that both sides will agree to, the periods should be here in the parentheses should be here. They have agreed to all the details. They are polishing it up so the Bloomberg News services over the world, literally, can take it and run with it. The markets will run with it. It is very important, the fact im here today talking to you, is this this is an important deal. We are all waiting for it in bated breath. David it is very real. We are talking with tom kehoe who is a trade advisor. One of the reports in the bloomberg today, and this would not be in it in the agreement i dont think, is one of the ways china will get to those big numbers is by having direct imports into the mainland that had been going through hong kong. Tom i had heard that today. I cant confirm or deny that. Lets just say its true. I dont know whether it is. I dont think hong kongs ag imports are significant to the landmass of china and the bulk of the population is on the landmass. Im not going to say one way or the other because i was on two lengthy calls with the ustrs office on usmca and china. They went into exhausting details. That was not one of them but i cannot confirm it or deny it. David this is for two years as i understand. Tom correct. David is it the plan, hope, expectation that this will change the supply chain in a longer term and this will continue past that or is this a two year and you are out . Tom i think they have said lighthizers office, and he is called ambassador lighthizer, they said they are starting to work on phase two. They need us and we need them. Maybe for Different Reasons but we need one another. I think they are going to figure out how to make it work. Thes in our interest, residents and citizens of both countries, it is in our interest to figure out how to live together and stop trying to beat the heck out of one another. Like you and i chatted briefly before we went on live, civility and discourse, you can get a lot of stuff down if you are willing to talk to the other guy even if you dont agree. You dont have to agree with mike bloomberg, but respectfully you have to listen to him. He has some great ideas. We and america and i cant speak for china, we have drifted away from that. I would love to see that taught in the schools again around the country. Civility, discourse, politeness, manners, grooming. It goes a long way when you have to sit opposite a guy, you really dont like them but you have to do business with them. That is life. David our leaders have to set examples for us. Tom absolutely. David im not even talking about one side of the aisle, there is a lot of discussion that we would have been shot dead 15, 20 years ago. Tom and the language. David we need our leaders to show us the way. Tom i agree with you. I think that starts with you and me. We can ask other people, would you change your behavior . I think if everybody listening to the show and people concerned about it say you know what, im going to change the way i act, change the way i speak and talk, im going to clean up my act so to speak in a lot of ways, that is how it starts. That is christian behavior, that is what is taught. David let me come back on the tariffs. Subsidies came out of the tariffs. If the american citizen who pays those in the form of increased tom yes and no. David china is not writing a check to us. Tom they can cook the books and this is something ive talked about considerably. Chin,ummer, new secretarytreasurer minasian have said we know chinas a minute a manipulator. Everyone was surprised. The world has known that. No surprise. The state owned enterprises, you drive down one of the you dont have them in the u. S. , you drive down a street in beijing or shanghai, you see a hundred different banks and havent heard any of them. They are not european banks because the government controls most of them. There is even thought that maybe they are cooking the books on other things too. David we dont indeed. Many thanks to tom kehoe. Great to have you with us. Trade advisor for the United States department of agriculture and we will have more with tom coming up in our second how are second hour of bloomberg radio. Dallas fed president Robert Kaplan will be putting his stamp on the fomc next year as a voting member. Our interview with him next. This is balance of power. David this is balance of power. Im david westin. It has been an upanddown year for the federal reserve, cutting rates three times this year in the face of weakening Global Growth. The central bank is indicating it will hold even though the underlying conditions have not changed. Dallas fed president Robert Kaplan sat down with Kathleen Hays for an exclusive exclusive interview and she asked whether the shift back to neutral was about Global Growth or about the yield curve . Robert if you roll back the clock to june, it was not much as weak Global Growth. It was week manufacturing. Weaker than it has been since 2009 and weak business in the fix investment. I said we should do modest limited restrained adjustment to the fed funds rate. To address those issues, but the other thing i was worried about was the curve was inverted and i felt it would be much better if we had an upwardly sloping clear curve. To me, though curve is a symptom that may be our adjustments were about right. Intended to solve these issues but it was intended to adjust policy in light of these issues. I think the curve being upwardly sloping tells me we are probably in about the right place. Kathleen that curve is a strong signal but where we to move in the other direction robert it would consume me. Kathleen the fed is putting impact on that. Retail sales have been decelerating. November number was half of what the Consensus Forecast was. Our Bloomberg Economic team is expecting holiday sales to come in at a gain of 3. 4 over last year, the second weakest of the cycle. Oft if your main engine growth is running out of gas . Robert i dont think that is going to happen. Heres what i will be watching for. That weakn worried Business Investment and weak manufacturing would seep into other parts of the economy. We have not seen that yet. Even if any given month were or quarter Consumer Spending is been, than it may have there is no doubt though consumer Balance Sheets are not perfect but they are in better shape. We have a tight jobs market and there is no evidence that the job market is doing anything but getting tighter. That is a good tailwind for the consumer. Unless something changes, that causes employment picture to change, the consumer is going to be solid for next year. That doesnt mean in any month or quarter they are going to spend. They have the capacity to spend and i think that is a good underpinning for the economy. Kathleen the other side of the policy coin as you get ready to cast votes in 2020 is inflation. At the press conference after the meeting last week, jay powell said he would have to see persistently rising inflation to get on board with a rate hike. What is your position . We have been in a situation where we have been able to run a very tight labor force without inflation taken off. We have had muted inflation. I probably would have what is great about the fomc, we have a different take on this. I will be looking at what potential growth does, i will be looking at what the trends are in the labor market, and yes, in addition, i will be looking at target. Are versus our i will be looking at a range of factors and i will be also looking at Financial Stability issues in weighing whether some action is appropriate. I will be looking at that. David that was dallas fed president Robert Kaplan speaking earlier with bloombergs Kathleen Hays. Coming up, we continue on bloomberg radio. We will have more with tom kehoe , an advisor to the u. S. To permit of agriculture. Also joining us, we will talk about impeachment. This is balance of power. What are you doing back there, junior . Since were obviously lost, im rescheduling my Xfinity Customer Service appointment. Ah, relax. I got this. Which gps are you using anyway . A Little Something called instinct. Been using it for years. Yeah, thats what im afraid of. He knows exactly where were going. My whole body is a compass. Oh boy. The my account app makes todays Xfinity Customer Service simple, easy, awesome. Not my thing. Lisa i would i am lisa abramowicz. Welcome to bloomberg money undercover. Oftake you inside the World Private debt, equity and real estate. Lets get straight into those burning issues in private markets. Markets are gaining steam. Jp market charting out expansion plans with more Companies Seeking to shed the mantle of being public. Comcast ventures had a funds on startups. Babe ruth