As We Go Dark In Our Properties For 2018......

We hereby extend best wishes to all during this joyous holiday season and a wonderful and successful 2019.

Notations From the Grid (Special Edition): On the Eve of #2019 **Briefings Courtesy Goldman Sachs**

How to Invest in 2019: GSAM's Investment Outlook The aging economic expansion is likely to continue through next year with some possible advantages for investors after a challenging 2018, according to Goldman Sachs Asset Management's (GSAM) 2019 investment outlook, A Better Deal. For investors, late-cycle fears will continue to drive episodic volatility and drawdowns, creating opportunities to invest at attractive valuations. In terms of market views, the GSAM team prefers equities over corporate credit, credit over interest rates and emerging markets over developed markets. "End-of-cycle signs -- including contracting corporate profit margins, excessive central bank tightening and systemic financial imbalances -- are not evident and we think we are unlikely to see them through the first half of 2019, though the risks will rise towards the end of the year," says Neill Nuttall, GSAM's co-chief investment officer of the Global Portfolio Solutions Group. "While there is enormous uncertainty around the length of the cycle, we feel it is too early to start to take down risk to prepare for the end of the cycle." Read report China Economic Outlook: Testing Resilience With policymakers in easing mode after 2018's sharp slowdown, further deceleration in China's economy should be modest next year, according to Goldman Sachs Research economists. They forecast China's GDP growth will slow to 6.2% from 6.6% as the nation looks to balance mounting debt with the risk of another growth slide. Fiscal policy will be the preferred tool for stabilizing growth, with an emphasis on greater infrastructure investment. An escalation in the US-China trade dispute is the main risk to the forecast, but for now, the drag on Chinese growth from tariffs looks manageable. Read report & watch video The 2019 Outlook for Tech IPOs For technology companies, 2018 was a very good year, representing one of the industry's biggest for IPOs since 2000, according to the Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Division. In particular, large global IPOs, especially from China, dominated the scene as investors looked for growth opportunities, says Nick Giovanni, co-head of Global Technology Investment Banking. What's the outlook for 2019? "Assuming market conditions continue to be supportive, we expect a large group of companies will access the public markets for capital, brand visibility, and liquidity for employees, founders and early investors," says William Connolly, head of Investment Banking's Technology Equity Capital Markets group. Watch video SHARE: Talks at GS: Michael Beschloss on Leadership, War and the American Presidency Above (L to R): Presidential historian Michael Beschloss and John F.W. Rogers of Goldman SachsIn his new, bestselling book, Presidents of War, historian Michael Beschloss explores how war has fundamentally redefined the power of the American presidency and shaped the people who have led the nation. During a recent episode of Talks at GS moderated by John. F. W. Rogers, chief of staff of Goldman Sachs, Beschloss said, "I began with the idea that only eight or nine people in American history have had this experience of sending large numbers of Americans to risk their lives, put their lives in harm's way, and what did they have in common?" He continued, "Every single one of them became more religious in the course of being war leaders. Abraham Lincoln, for instance, when he was a young man in Illinois was a skeptic, thought of as an agnostic. But when he was late in the Civil War, he was visited by an old friend from Illinois who found Lincoln reading the Bible and was astounded. And Lincoln said, 'I can't imagine how any war president could have this experience of causing the deaths of so many people without finding some kind of spiritual comfort.'" Watch video

Notations On Our World (Special Edition): On the Aftermath of the #MichaelCohen Drama

As the ramifications of the Cohen sentencing continue, there is reporting by the Wall Street Journal and also reported by CNN that the Trump Inaugural Committee is under criminal investigation by the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan. This is as President Trump went on a Twitter Offensive and also appeared on Fox News to dismiss Mr. Cohen and the whole investigative process--as the President himself has been implicated in the scheme in the aftermath of the agreement with the owner/publisher of the National Inquirer.    Our team captured this from Pete Souza on Robert Mueller:

Please enjoy this retrospective on the profound times the President has to deal with: 

Notations From The Grid (Weekly @POTUS Edition): Mo’ Mueller, Mo’ Problems,,,,,.

It has been quite a week--There was a meeting at the White House yesterday between President Trump and Congressional Leaders and it was quite a spectacle as the President threatened a shutdown if there was no border wall.  The Gif we captured above reflects this concern.

This is as the legal troubles surrounding the President continues to multiply --and as Republicans are being dismissive.    Trevor Noah and Seth Meyers share their perspectives:

Notations From the Grid (Weekly Edition): On @realDonaldTrump & Our World

Seth Meyers, Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert et. al were relentless last week as the investigations continue Our team selected some alternative views on our World along with some interesting statistics courtesy of the Nooner on the reality in California as we await 2019:

TURNOUT as of November 30, 2018

Eligible to register: 25,200,451
Registered voters as of 10/22: 19,696,371
Ballots tallied: 12,465,464
Turnout of eligible: 49.47%
Turnout of registered: 63.29% 

Outlook (as of 11/30/18)
	U.S. House of Representatives	State Assembly	State Senate
As of Nov. 6, 2018	39 Democrats 14 Republicans	55 Democrats 25 Republicans	26 Democrats 14 Republicans
After Nov. 6, 2018	46 Democrats 7 Republicans	60 Democrats 20 Republicans	29 Democrats 11 Republicans

This is as we note this perspective from the Real News Network regarding perspectives on the realities of our World as well with Qatar, Yemen & Saudi Arabia: 

Pentagon Engaged in Unfathomable Financial Mismanagement

Around the same time that auditors declared that the Department of Defense’s finances are unauditable, The Nation published an extensive exposé of just how deliberately falsified and mismanaged the Pentagon’s accounts are. We speak to the report’s author, investigative journalist David Lindorff      

---

Sen. Graham Wants a More Reliable Fascist in Saudi Arabia – Paul Jay

Senator Lindsey Graham wants to overthrow the Saudi crown prince MBS in order to have a more reliable ally against Iran and to suppress the Arab masses

---

---

Black communities denied $156 billion in property value says new Brookings report

“The pipes in Flint, Michigan could have been replaced 3,000 times with that money” says lead study author Dr. Andre Perry

---

Council Proposes Income-Based Water Billing Amid Rate Hikes

Just days after the city proposed another rate increase, Baltimore’s Council President unveiled legislation that promises water bill affordability and accountability. The proposal will be taken up by the Council’s Taxation, Finance and Economic Development Committee in the coming weeks

---

Rattling the Bars: Stopping Corporate Exploitation in Prisons (Pt 2/2)

Eddie Conway talks with Bianca Tylek, found of the Corrections Accountability Corporation about thousands of corporations funding private prisons and immigration detention centers and what citizens can do about it

---

Amid Middle East Realignment & Saudi Blockade, Qatar Withdraws from OPEC

Qatar is withdrawing from oil organization OPEC, while Saudi Arabia continues its blockade. Colonel Larry Wilkerson says this is part of a larger realignment in the Middle East, as Turkey exerts more influence

Notations On Our World (Special Friday Edition): #Remembering41

President Bush was laid to rest Thursday at his Presidential Library.   We decided to headline this brief Notation as we leave you with highlights courtesy of the Guardian Of London: 

Notations From The Grid ((Special Edition )); our & about w this from @trevornoah

Notations On Our World (Weekly Edition): As #2019 is Before Us

The US National Christmas Tree in Washington 

The Holiday Season is Upon us epitomized by the lighting of the National Christmas Tree last week in Washington.  As we welcome the Holiday Season here in our properties, we begin to wind down the Year as we present views courtesy of the team at Goldman Sachs as we look to a very challenging 2019:      

2019 US Economic Outlook: The Home Stretch US economic growth will slow significantly in 2019 due to tighter financial conditions and a fading fiscal stimulus, according to Goldman Sachs Research. The forecast also calls for quarterly rate hikes as the Fed looks to keep the economy from overheating amid rising inflation and unemployment on a downward trajectory towards 3% by early 2020. For now, neither overheating nor financial imbalances -- the classic causes of recessions -- appear worrisome. As a result, the economic expansion remains on track to become the longest in US history in 2019. Read report Watch video

Notations On Our World (Special Edition): We're Watching Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 LIVE, presented by Johnson

Please enjoy