In other news, American consumer spending was weaker than expected in August, increasing by just 0.1 percent. Business investment was also lower than forecast.
The disappointing data on consumer spending and business investment led many economists to slash their estimates for growth in the July-September quarter. Oxford Economics cut its forecast from an annual rate of 1.8% growth to just 1.3%. Economists at Morgan Stanley lowered theirs to 1.5% from 2.1%.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the U.S. will have to give up more than it did in 2015 to reenter the nuclear deal at this point. Understandable.
Finally, Vanity Fair reports that former GOP Speaker Paul Ryan has been lobbying Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch to dump Trump.
And according to four sources, Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch is already thinking about how to position the network for a post-Trump future. A person close to Lachlan told me that Fox News has been the highest rated cable network for seventeen years, and “the success has never depended on any one administration.” (A Fox Corp spokesperson declined to comment.) [...]
In recent months, Rupert’s oldest son has been holding strategy conversations with Fox executives and anchors about how Fox News should prepare for life after Trump. Among the powerful voices advising Lachlan that Fox should decisively break with the president is former House speaker Paul Ryan, who joined the Fox board in March. “Paul is embarrassed about Trump and now he has the power to do something about it,” an executive who’s spoken with Ryan told me. (Ryan did not return a call seeking comment.) But a person more sympathetic to Trump has told Lachlan that Fox should remain loyal to Trump’s supporters, even if the network has to break from the man. “We need to represent our viewers,” the source said. “Fox is about defending our viewers from the people who hate them. That’s where our power comes from. It’s not about Trump.”
I feel like you need more than a pinch of salt with this. More like a wheelbarrow of salt. But I suppose this is how the sausage is made.
Have a good weekend, folks.