First up: Nancy Pelosi is able to keep her spot as house minority leader:

The Video:

The Story via The Hill:

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday fended off a challenge to her long leadership reign, defeating Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) in a closed-door vote prompted largely by Donald Trump’s unlikely ascension to the White House.

Pelosi got 134 votes to Ryan’s 63 — winning 68 percent of the votes after declaring before the election that she had the support of two-thirds of the caucus. The victory sends a message that while there’s a growing appetite for major changes in the party’s leadership structure and messaging tactics, it’s not strong enough to loosen Pelosi’s grip on a liberal-heavy group that’s rarely challenged her authority.

Ryan and his supporters had argued that the Democrats’ grim performance in this year’s elections — the latest in a string of cycles planting Republicans firmly in the majority — was a clear signal that Pelosi’s leadership strategy has failed to attract the broad coalition of voters required to return the Speaker’s gavel to the Democrats’ hands.

The critics pointed, in particular, to the party’s alienation of the middle-class Rust Belt workers, who flocked to Trump and secured victories for a long list of vulnerable Republicans down the ballot. Ryan, who represents an Ohio manufacturing district that’s struggled to keep pace with globalization and rebound from the Great Recession, said he was the right fit to make inroads with those voters.

Most Democrats disagreed, opting to keep Pelosi and her top lieutenants — Reps. Steny Hoyer (Md.) and Jim Clyburn (S.C.) — in charge of efforts to improve the party’s fortunes heading into the 2018 midterm elections.

Ryan said after the vote that even though he lost, the 63 votes he won showed a desire to reform the House Democratic leadership structure and bring new members into the fold.

“I think it sends a message that a lot of people felt like maybe they weren’t getting heard,” Ryan told reporters. “Now, they think there’s a much better chance that they will. I think more people are inclined to speak out now.”

Ryan wouldn’t commit to staying in the House, saying he hasn’t made any decisions yet on any long-term plans. He is frequently mentioned as a possible candidate to run for Ohio governor in 2018, when Gov. John Kasich must step down due to term limits.

Asked about his next steps, Ryan joked, “I want to go, like, get a sandwich.”

In a statement released moments after the vote, Ryan pushed fellow Democrats to put a renewed focus on blue-collar voters from the Midwest.

It is too bad that the Democrats will not listen to that advice too. This is why the Democrats lost Michigan; because they decided that their pet issues were more important than the working class in this Country. This is why they lost the rust belt.

In other news, OPEC is cutting production:

The Story Via Bloomberg:

OPEC clinched a deal to curtail oil supply, confounding skeptics as the need to clear a record global crude glut — and prove the group’s credibility — brought its first cuts in eight years. Crude rose as much as 8.8 percent in London.

OPEC will reduce output to 32.5 million barrels a day, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters in Vienna following a ministerial meeting on Wednesday. The breakthrough deal, effective January, showed an acceptance by Saudi Arabia that Iran, as a special case, can still raise production.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is ditching a pump-at-will policy introduced in 2014 to resume its traditional role as price fixer. The shift — aimed at draining a crude glut that’s pushed down prices for two years — will help revive the tattered finances of oil-producing countries and will reverberate in markets around the world, from the Canadian dollar to Nigerian bonds to U.S. shale equities.

“This should be a wake-up call for skeptics who have argued the death of OPEC,” said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects Ltd. “The group wants to push inventories down.”

Of course, you know what this means, right? Prices will be going up again as indicated by the stock price of crude oil. Which, of course, made the stock market very happy.

The problem with that is, that you and I are going to feel it at the pump. When OPEC cuts the production of oil, the price of crude oil rises and that causes the gas stations to raise the cost of all types of fuel, gas, diesel, and other such stuff. So, as an end user, we as customers are going to feel that in the wallet.

Lastly, The Federal Debt is at $19.9 Trillion:

The federal debt moved above 19,900,000,000,000 for the first time as of the close of business, Nov. 22, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, according to data released by the Treasury.

On that day, it rose from $19,899,004,081,493.50 to $19,907,540,739,514.52.

However, on Nov. 23, the day before Thanksgiving, the debt dropped back to $19,897,994,347,700,50, according to the Treasury.

No Treasury business was conducted on Thanksgiving.

But by the close of business on Nov. 25—“Black  Friday”–the debt had climbed back above $19,900,000,000,000, hitting 19,928,118,193,162.55.

On Monday, according to the Treasury, the federal debt continued to climb, closing the day on Nov. 28 at $19,929,184,161,352.13.

Thus, Thanksgiving week of 2016 marked the first time since the United States declared independence on July 4, 1776 that the debt of the federal government exceeded $19,900,000,000,000.

This is one thing that President-Elect Donald Trump needs to address and very quickly, when he makes it to the White House; and that doing something to bring the Federal Reserve under control and get spending under control as well. You can thank President’s Bush and Obama both, because during their eras, congress spent like drunken sailors. With the Wars and also just with reckless spending, this is where we ended up. This is why the cost of everything is so high; because of inflation, which is caused by all of the above written.

That’s all for today! See you tomorrow!