Boom: Record High Business Optimism, Need for Employees at 45-Year High

“The record level of economic optimism among small businesses is continuing, and those firms trying to fill jobs is at a 45-year high,” Paul Bedard reports.

“The National Federation of Independent Businesses said the optimism has only been this high three times in the last 43 years and has consistently been high all year long . . . In addition, companies are planning to expand and add inventory.”

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In Fox News, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) lays out how the expanded Republican Senate majority plans to help govern in the coming two years—if House Democrats don’t opt for fanning the flames of division instead. “We’ll keep working to lift the burden on American job creators and small businesses. We’ll stay focused on helping communities across the country seize new opportunities and realize greater prosperity. We’ll seek new ways to make life easier for working families.”

While visiting Tokyo, Vice President Mike Pence joined Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday and “reaffirmed the need to keep sanctions on North Korea to achieve its denuclearization as they showcased their bilateral alliance, while Pence also urged Japan to do more to reduce the U.S. trade deficit,” Mari Yamaguchi reports for The Associated Press. The Vice President added that “the U.S.-Japan alliance is a ‘cornerstone’ of the region’s peace and prosperity.”

“Socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro loves his country’s gold so much that he has waved bars of it around during rallies,” Dan Boylan reports for The Washington Times. “The Trump administration has taken notice and has tightened sanctions that effectively seal almost 16 tons of Venezuelan gold held by the Bank of England,” part of President Trump’s efforts to pressure and end Maduro’s authoritarian regime