The on-going shutdown has affected the lives of many in the United States. The affected persons range from the federal employees to other businesses dependent on the Government. But, it is strange and equally surprising that the shutdown has also affected the United States President.

President Trump personally paid for an “all American” feast of burgers, pizza, and fries for a visiting college football champions in White House. President Trump had to do this as the White House chefs are among those federal workers who are furloughed owing to the partial shutdown. It should be reported here that the ongoing shutdown is the longest one in the history of the United States.

On Monday, the Clemson Tigers were invited by President Trump to the White House as they have won the national championship defeating Alabama Crimson Tide.

Having all the Chefs of White House absent due to the on-going shutdown, Trump used his own money to order burgers and fries from McDonald’s and the Wendy’s which he termed as the “great American food.”

He said that he had ordered American Fast food paid by the President himself, the food included lots of hamburgers, pizzas. He also added that he had hoped the team would like those foods more than he could offer.

Standing behind the spread of fast food, in the Dining Room of the White House, Trump said he likes them all, and he would like to see at the end of the evening how many are left.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that the President had arranged a fun event to celebrate the College Football National Champion Clemson Tigers. As the Democrats are adamant on refusing the budget for the border wall, there is a shutdown, and the President had to pay on his own as due to the Shutdown, White House staff is also furloughed.

When asked about the choice of McDonald’s or Wendy’s Trump said he chose these outlets as those are all good American stuff, and the national champion team at the White House deserves a little celebration. Praising the team for the game, he said that the team had played fantastic against Alabama.

It was for the second time the Clemson Tigers were invited to the White House. They had visited the White House in June 2017 after winning the previous championship.

The football player walked into the event and found tables loaded with hamburgers from McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King. Another table was full of Dominos Pizzas and fries.

President Trump explained that he had arranged a number of foods that are liked by the Americans throughout the nation and he would like to see how many are left after the end of the event. He also said that because of the shutdown he had to arrange the event like this.

He also added that he was happy about the Republicans sticking together for the greater good of the nation. Emphasizing on the border wall, he said it is needed from the security viewpoint, and the wall should have been done many years before. And he said he is confident that the wall is going to be built this time.

It should be reported here that the partial shutdown has reached 24^th day due to the conflict between the Trump administration and the Congress over the funding of proposed U.S. – Mexico border wall. The lives of around 800000 federal workers have been affected by this partial shutdown. The cost of the proposed wall would be $5.7 billion and as per some experts in a week, if the Shutdown continues, the cost to the American economy will surpass the cost of the proposed wall.

The shutdown has closed temporarily many key departments like the State Department and not surprisingly the White House kitchen. Trump told at the event that he did not want to postpone the event until the shutdown ended.

The last record shutdown happened in 1995-1996 at the time of President Bill Clinton which lasted for 21 days.

After the recent declaration by the Chinese Government of opening up its economy to the foreign players, it can be said that China has not lived up to its promises.

The most sought-after sector is still unreachable by foreign players. Foreign companies do not fully penetrate the country’s financial market. However, after a series of allegations by the companies globally, China has released a bunch of announcements in order to loosen the grip over the sector. Experts were surprised by the announcements at that moment. So, 2018 has seen opening up of the second largest economy of the world. But, there is a certain segment of the financial market, which still has no major access to the massive Asian market.

The segment in the question is Payment Services. As per some reports, People’s Bank of China has not yet formally acknowledged the application forms of Visa and Mastercard to allow these companies to process yuan payments. As per reports, the two companies have filed the application more than a year ago, and as per the regulations of the Central bank, once acknowledged, the decision on the application needs to be done within 90 days.

Though, Visa and MasterCard refused to give any comments on the whole episode. The central bank’s head of payments said that Mastercard had already withdrawn its application last June and Visa’s application lacked some supplement materials.

The Central bank’s representative also said that in the whole process the bank had never raised the issue of full ownership or the requirement of a joint venture in order to get full access to the Chinese market.

Once the two Payment majors get access to the Chinese market, they will have to compete with the local card payment company UnionPay. China’s Central Bank has the highest shares in the company, and it has the complete coverage in the local market, and it also has expanded in the foreign markets as well.

As per statistics, UnionPay has a market share of 36 percent in global bank card payments whereas Visa and Mastercard have 32 percent and 20 percent market share in bank card payment respectively.

China’s reluctance in giving foreign access-

Though there are concerns over China’s reluctance to provide access to its financial market, it has brought many changes recently on that front.

In November, the Central Bank of China granted access to American Express preliminary approval to process and settle domestic Yuan payments. However, it approved the access as American Express agreed to work in a joint venture with a local company Lian Lian.

After a few weeks, UBS announced having the permission of the China Securities Regulatory Commission for increasing stake in the local joint venture to a majority of 51 percent. UBS is the first foreign bank on the Chinese soil to own this much of ownership percentage.

In 2018, both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have announced that China would provide better access to its markets for the foreign companies. They also committed to removing the limit on the stock holding in banks, insurance, and securities sectors. They also would allow foreign investors to buy and trade on mainland-traded stocks.

Xiao Yuanqi, the spokesperson for the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said China would further open up its financial market for the banks, insurance companies, and stockbroking agencies. It would be happy to serve as a hub for investment which in turn may bring in professionals and technologies.

However, critics say China has not lived up to the promises it made in 2001 at the time of joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Denying access to the bank card industry is just one example, and there are lots of industries it still provides no access to. They also accused China of violating norms of the WTO by putting a mandatory clause for payment companies to work with UnionPay for all Yuan dominated payments.

In the era of globalization, China is doing the same damage to global trade; it has been alleging the United States of. By not opening up its economy but pushing its exports, China has been able to increase its trade surplus globally. But, in the regime of WTO, this will not go unnoticed for very long. China should consider providing the same amount of access to foreign players; it has been receiving abroad.

US subscribers will see a rise in its monthly fee subscription by about 13 to 18%. The company spends a lot of its money on expanding beyond US shores and also on original content. After Netflix made this announcement, the shares saw a 6% rise in trading which is on top of the 30% increase posted this year.

The below plans are going to cost subscribers more:

• The subscription for the basic plan will increase from $7.99 to $8.99.
• The company’s most popular standard plan wherein videos can be streamed on two devices at the same time will see a price rise from $10.99 to $ 12.99 per month.
• The premier plan wherein HD streaming can be done on up to 4 screens will be increased to $15.99 to $13.99.

Netflix competes with Amazon, HBO, AT&T and others and the extra money they get out of this price hike will help them further in their endeavor to invest in original movies and shows.

When will the prices be effective from?

The new pricing will be charged from immediate effect and now has an impact on all new subscribers of Netflix, and the same will be rolled out to its existing customers in the coming few months. The countries that will have to pay more other than the US are the Latin American countries where Netflix is available. Brazil and Mexico are the only two countries that are unaffected. Despite the rise in subscription charges, it is still cheaper when compared to HBO which charges $14.99 per month for its streaming services or to Hulu’s plan which ranges from $11.99 and above. That makes Netflix a provider of cheap entertainment despite price rise.

What Netflix gains?

Netflix has about 79 million subscribers from across the world, and the high prices could make many subscribers cancel their subscriptions. This situation is not new to the company considering something similar had happened in 2011 where it lost 600k subscribers after they separated the DVD by mail service and the video streaming options. However, Netflix thinks that it is still the best priced and hence the best alternative for people. The company is also likely to get many millions of dollars due to the price hike and compensate for the $8 million they spent in the year 2018 investing in original movies and tv shows. Netflix is confident that the subscribers will not mind the price hike as they have a great lineup of shows and movies.

Newmont Mining Corporations has declared that it would buy its smaller rival Goldcorp in a deal worth of $10 billion. This deal would make Newmont world’s largest gold producer at the time when easy-to-find reserves are decreasing.

The deal is the second in the last 12 months. Another high profile merger happened in last September when Barrick Gold Corp agreed to buy Randgold Resources Ltd. It implies how the industry is aiming to cut the costs and increase scale.

After the merger, the company will be known as Newmont Goldcorp. And, owing to the anticipated size, it will overtake the current leader Barrick Gold Corp in total production. It will possess mines in America, Australia, and Ghana.

Newmont Mining Corp, Colorado-based company, will also sell assets worth of $1 billion to $1.5 billion over the next few years as a part of the deal, and the same had happened in the last year’s merger between the when Barrick Gold Corp agreed to buy Randgold Resources Ltd.

After the completion of the deal, the company hopes to produce 6-7 million ounces of gold annually for the next ten years whereas Barrick has expected of providing 4.5 million to 5 million annually.

Newmont Chief Executive officer Gary Goldberg will lead the new company. And he is scheduled to retire by the end of 2019. And, the reign will be overtaken by the existing Chief Operating Officer Tom Palmer.

Newmont has declared of offering 0.3280 of its share plus $0.02 for each share of Goldcorp. And, it would be translated to a share price of $11.46 per share in the market for Newmont Mining Corp. It would be gaining a premium of 18 percent as per the data with New York Stock Exchange.

The deal is scheduled to end by the end of the second quarter, and it will save $100 million for the company.

Vancouver-based Goldcorp’s U.S.-listed shares inflated about 13 percent before the bell on Monday. Newmont Mining’s shares were down by 3 percent prior to the merger.

After a deadlock between Trump’s administration and the Congress, the budget could not be passed. And it has been more than 22 days that the United States is facing the longest shutdown of the past few years.

And now as per a study by S&P Global Ratings, if the shutdown doesn’t end in two weeks, the cost of the shutdown is likely to surpass the cost of the proposed border wall for which the shutdown has happened in the first place.

As per the report, around $6 billion will be the cost of the shutdown to the American economy and the proposed expenditure of the Border wall by Trump is $5.7 billion. And as per the latest data, by the end of the last week, US has lost around $4 billion.

Beth Ann Bovino, S&P’s chief U.S. economist said they have estimated that the shutdown is going to shave $1.2 billion each week in this quarter from the real GDP. Though it seems very little owing to the large American economy, it will have major impacts on the workers whose dependence on the paycheck is tremendous.

The firm said that they had come up with this figure of the loss due to the shutdown including lost productivity by furloughed workers and a decrease in sales for contractors to the government.

It should be reported here that the shutdown has entered into the 23^rd day on Monday and it has been the longest period of shutdown. President Trump’s demand for money for the U.S.-Mexico border wall could not be fulfilled by the Congress; hence the whole budget got stopped. Trump has also threatened the House to veto any legislation passed by the Democrats in the House for temporary Government reopening.

Consumer Spending-

As the economic shutdown enters into a record-breaking number of days, the retail stores like Best Buy and Bed Bath & Beyond have started to feel the slump in sales.

According to Wells Fargo retail analysts, with more than 800000 federal workers not being paid for the work they have been doing, the economic effect of the shutdown will at least be $2 billion per week.

The retailers who deal with discretionary products will be affected the most. And some retailers like Ulta Beauty and Dick’s Sporting Goods have started to see changes in demand as they operate in the area where Government employees can be found predominantly.

Retailers dealing with household necessities are safe for now. But, if the shutdown persists for more number of days, it may affect the stores like Walmart and Kroger. But, the retailers dealing with staple products like groceries and auto parts are least likely to be affected.

Also, the effect of shutdown can be seen on restaurant chains and hotels. The leisure activities are down specifically in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

GDP-

The shutdown of 2013 which lasted for 16 long days ultimately shaved off 0.4 percent of GDP of the fourth quarter. The payments to the government workers and house sale will also be affected as the delay will be happening in passing federal loans.

J.P. Morgan has already cut their first-quarter growth prediction by 2 percent because of the shutdown. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has downgraded 0.1 percent bringing the forecast to 2.8 percent for the first quarter.

As per the experts, if the shutdown ends before the end of this quarter, the economy is likely to be revived once the workers and contractors get their pay. Though the government workers are likely to be paid after the shutdown, their disposal cash at hand will be higher ultimately reviving the economy, the value lost to the contractors and the other related businesses cannot be revived.