From James Harkin (Webmaster & Editor of LindseyWilliams.net). Here is a summary of articles of interest from around the world for this week. Please LIKE the Lindsey Williams Online Facebook Page to see stories posted daily regarding the current state of the economy around the world.

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Latest News From October 21, 2016 to October 27, 2016:

• The Dark Agenda Behind Globalism And Open Borders
  When people unfamiliar with the liberty movement stumble onto the undeniable fact of the “conspiracy” of globalism they tend to look for easy answers to understand what it is and why it exists.  Most people today have been conditioned to perceive events from a misinterpreted standpoint of “Occam’s Razor” — they wrongly assume that the simplest explanation is probably the right one. In fact, this is not what Occam’s Razor states. Instead, to summarize, it states that the simplest explanation GIVEN THE EVIDENCE at hand is probably the right explanation.
• How the Ballooning “Pension Crisis” Will Impact the Economy
  In the very simplest terms, the Dallas Police & Fire Pension Fund is going broke, and the police who are counting on it for their retirement are beginning to panic. Police involved are retiring as early as possible and taking cash payouts because they fear that the fund will run dry and future checks may not be forthcoming. The whole thing is beginning to look like a run on a bank and it is just making matters worse. It’s not that the DPFP is all that different from most of the public and private retirement funds; it’s just that what is happening has been noticed and made the headlines.
• Here’s How Long-Term Silver Prices Can Get to $150/Oz
  Precious metals analyst Gary Christenson explains the phenomenon of exponential increases in asset values over time, and what that means for silver prices. Our financial systems create exponential increases in: Debt, Prices for stocks, Prices for commodities, Currency in circulation, Prices for gold and silver.
• Housing Bust 2? Subprime No-Down-Payment Mortgages Surge, “Shadow Banks” Dominate
  The value of the US housing market has ballooned to $26 trillion. In many markets, prices exceed even the peak of the prior house price bubble that blew up so spectacularly. This construct is weighed down by $14 trillion in mortgage debt, or about 76% of US GDP. Of that, $10 trillion is owed on one- to four-family residences. The numbers are big – and they matter. But who’s doing the lending? More and more: nonbanks, evocatively called “shadow banks.” They have now overtaken commercial banks “to grab a record slice” of government-guaranteed mortgages, Attom Data Solutions reported in its housing report.
• Here’s what happens when a currency hits an all-time low
  I’ll start with an admission that I don’t do vacations very well. Or frequently. Over the past ten years I’ve probably only taken a week or two off in total. A big part of that is a deep character flaw of me being a workaholic… but that’s a natural extension of genuinely loving all the exciting business ventures and wonderful people that I’m involved with each day. I do recognize, however, that taking a break is healthy, and I’m trying to get better at it. The last few weeks in particular have been a blur. My fellow executives at our agriculture business and I have been busy negotiating credit facilities with some of the largest financial institutions in the world, all while the company has been planting hundreds and hundreds of acres at a record pace.
• Why the Jobs Aren’t Coming Back
  The candidates in the current campaign – or any campaign – are all promising to “bring back good jobs” to “create good jobs.” When asked how they would do that, they are all a little light on details. About a year ago, Joe Biden was in Michigan to celebrate the opening of a new manufacturing plant that made “small metal clamps” used in all kinds of industries to hold wiring, hoses. Etc. in place. The largest market is the auto industry but they are sold to hundreds of other manufacturers. Depending on size, shape, and material, these parts sell for a few pennies or less. You have to make a lot of these parts to have any substantial billing numbers. This new plant is fully automated and runs 24/7/365 with just 14 people. Joe was quite happy saying “manufacturing is returning to America.”
• Rents Are Too Damn High: NYC Retail Vacancies Soar As Commercial Rents Start To Rollover
  Cushman & Wakefield recently released their 3Q 2016 New York City retail rental update and it's pretty much universally bad news for commercial real estate owners in Manhattan.  Retail rental rates declined YoY in 9 out of the 11 Manhattan submarkets tracked by Cushman while vacancy rates soared to over 20% in several markets with the “Lower Fifth Avenue” corridor registering the highest vacancy rate in the city at 29.3%.
• It Is Happening Again! Voting Machines Are Switching Votes From Donald Trump To Hillary Clinton
  Is the 2016 election in the process of being stolen?  Just a few weeks ago I issued a major alert warning that this exact sort of thing might happen.  Early voting has already begun in many states, and a number of voters in Texas are reporting that the voting machines switched their votes from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton.  The odd thing is that none of the other choices were affected when these individuals attempted to vote for a straight Republican ticket.  If Hillary Clinton is declared the winner of the state of Texas on election night, a full investigation of these voting machines should be conducted, because there is no way that Donald Trump should lose that state.  I have said that it will be the greatest miracle in U.S. political history if Donald Trump wins this election, but without the state of Texas Donald Trump has exactly zero chance of winning.  So those living down in Texas need to keep reporting anything unusual that they see or hear when they go to vote.
• Pre-crime returns to America with new Airbnb law
  On Friday afternoon, New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill making it illegal to advertise your home for short-term rent on websites like Airbnb. The law specifically targets New York City homeowners in apartment buildings who advertise their properties, or even just a spare room in their homes, to rent for less than 30 days at a time. It’s important to note that New York already passed a law a few years ago making it illegal to rent your home out to short-term tenants. This new law makes it illegal to ADVERTISE… which is basically pre-crime.
• Jim Rogers: It’s Time to Prepare; Economic And Financial Collapse Imminent
  Regardless of how much information gets released through Wikileaks or Project Veritas revealing grossly immoral, or even criminal conduct between members of the Clinton campaign, neither the mainstream media nor our woefully corrupt Department of Injustice have done anything to even slow the Clinton Crime Syndicate’s march toward the oval office. With each passing day that brings us closer to the election, lies continue to be pumped out with impunity to the voting public at large by the very institutions the public should be able to trust to give them fair and honest reporting or education on important matters. In the following interview, legendary investor Jim Rogers, explains in detail why nothing being reported about the economy is true, and why financial and economic collapse is imminent. Who is Jim Rogers? Why should you care what he says?
• USA Actually Bankrupt Now-Laurence Kotlikoff
  Renowned Boston University Economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff is running for President with a write-in campaign. He says we need an economic expert, not a politician, to fix our severe financial problems.  Dr. Kotlikoff explains, “Our democracy is in trouble.  We have 14% of the electorate who have chosen Hillary Clinton for us to vote for, and a different 14% have chosen Trump to vote for.  The vast majority of the population realizes neither Clinton nor Trump are qualified.  Just on the economic front, these folks have no idea how fiscally sick our country is.  The fact that we have off-the-book liabilities that make our true debt roughly 15 times larger than the amount the government is actually reporting, so, our true debt is about $206 trillion.  The debt the Congressional Budget Office is telling us about is about $13.5 trillion. . . . We’re short $206 trillion.  The country is 53% underfinanced.  So, the country is actually bankrupt right this minute. It’s not $206 trillion in the future that we owe, it’s $206 trillion today.  It’s our credit card bill, and we’re broke.”
• Bank of England Asks UK Banks To Detail Their Exposure To Deutsche And Italian Banks
  In what may or may not be a coincidence, just hours after Bloomberg reported that DB launched a probe into whether it “misstated” derivatives, moments ago the FT reported that the Bank of England is seeking details from large British banks on their current exposure to Deutsche Bank and some of the biggest Italian banks, including Monte dei Paschi, “amid mounting market jitters over the health of Europe’s financial sector.” The FT notes that the request was made in recent weeks by the BoE’s Prudential Regulation Authority as investors sold off Deutsche and Monte dei Paschi, both of which have been the subject of scrutiny over their capital levels. Supervisors worldwide have attempted to curtail the links between large institutions since the 2008 banking crisis, when the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other big groups threatened to drag down the entire global financial system.
• US judge approves $15bn VW scandal settlement
  A US court has approved Volkswagen's $15bn (£12.3bn) settlement package for almost half a million customers in America over the diesel emissions scandal. Under the deal, signed off by a federal judge, the owners of 475,000 VWs and Audis with qualifying diesel engines can now either have their vehicle repaired or formally request the company buys it back. In addition, consumers can also net compensation of up to $10,000 (£8,200) in cash. The settlement is not the end of the road for the group's troubles in the US as it still yet to agree terms with the owners of 3-litre diesel models. It faces regulatory action too – relating to the fitting of software designed to fool emissions tests.
• Monte dei Paschi shares suspended after 23% fall
  Shares in Italian bank Monte dei Paschi have been temporarily suspended from trading after plummeting 23%. It came after the ailing lender published a make-or-break turnaround plan which initially caused the stock to rally by up to 26.5%. Italy's third-largest bank said it would write down bad loans, lay off one in 10 of its workers and raise €5bn (£4.4bn). The European Central Bank had ordered it to reduce its bad debt in April. “There is a lot of speculation ahead of the bank's plan… amid rumours and leaks of possible interest of new investors in the bank,” Vincenzo Longo, a strategist for IG Markets in Milan, told Bloomberg. “We will soon discover if the plan is achievable and sustainable.”
• The Boredom Before The Storm
  With all the surprising and/or disturbing things going on – Brexit, China’s soaring debt, US/Russia/China saber rattling, the, um, unique US presidential race, the cyber attack that shut down big parts of the US Internet – you’d think that an unsettled world would be reflected in skittish financial markets. Instead we’re getting the opposite, with stock price movements becoming more and more placid as the year goes on. The following chart shows the volatility index (VIX) for the S&P 500 which, after some notable action in 2008 and 2011, has become ever-calmer, with recent readings comparable to the (in retrospect delusional) levels of 2006, just before the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
• This Is What Gold Does In A Currency Crisis, Brexit Edition
  In June the UK shocked the world – or at least the world’s elites – by voting to pull out of the European Union. Economists predicted disaster, EU leaders threatened pain for British exporters and tourists, and the media settled in to watch the UK shrivel and die. Four months later, the appropriate response is a yawn rather than a scream.
• Rigged Elections Are An American Tradition — Paul Craig Roberts
  Do Americans have a memory? I sometimes wonder. It is an obvious fact that the oligarchic One Percent have anointed Hillary, despite her myriad problems to be President of the US. There are reports that her staff are already moving into their White House offices. This much confidence before the vote does suggest that the skids have been greased. The current cause celebre against Trump is his conditional statement that he might not accept the election results if they appear to have been rigged. The presstitutes immediately jumped on him for “discrediting American democracy” and for “breaking American tradition of accepting the people’s will.”
• Paul Volcker Surfaces And What The Elites Are Trying To Foist On The Unsuspecting Public
  Paul Volcker surfaces and what the elites are trying to foist on the unsuspecting public. Volcker Surfaces. John Embry:  “Eric, the presidential campaign and debates have been so sophomoric as to be embarrassing to everyone connected to the whole process.  It’s so bad it triggered an article in the New York Times by two luminaries, Paul Volcker and Peter G. Peterson, titled Ignoring The Debt Problem…
• The Road To Financial Armageddon
  With continued uncertainty in global markets, today the man who has become legendary for his predictions on QE, historic moves in currencies, and major global events, spoke with King World News about the road to financial Armageddon. Gold Has Skyrocketed In Foreign Currencies. Egon von Greyerz:  “As the gold market takes a break in its journey to much higher levels, it is good to step back a bit and understand why gold has appreciated so dramatically in the last 100 years and why this will continue for many years to come…
• Jean-Marie Eveillard Oversees $90 Billion Warns This Might End Badly And There Is A Possibility Of ‘Extreme Outcomes’
  News that the grand central bank experiment might end badly and there is a possibility of “extreme outcomes.” Eric King:  “There’s talk now of helicoptering in trillions of dollars.  Looking at the bigger picture for the West, you are a student of Austrian economics and you’ve said all along that we can’t print our way into prosperity or create more debt to get rid of the debt problem we have.  And when you look at this so-called solution of helicoptering in trillions of dollars, that’s not going to solve anything.  That’s just going to take this nightmare and make it worse.” Jean-Marie Eveillard:  “It (the behavior of central bankers) is mindless and I think there will be unintended consequences.  I suspect that it might end badly, and we have to worry about the long-term.  I want to be careful here because I’m so old that I’ve been in this business one way or the other for a little more than half a century…
• America Needs To Wake Up – There is ZERO Hope For Our Country Until We Turn From Our Evil Ways
  America is never going to be great again until we deal with the wickedness in our own hearts. In recent days I have listened to so many national leaders tell us that Donald Trump is going to win the election and that this will usher in a new golden age of blessing and prosperity for America. Supposedly this is going to happen even though we continue to slaughter babies on an industrial scale, sexually-transmitted diseases are spreading at the fastest pace in decades, the percentage of births out of wedlock is more than 10 times higher than in 1940, and approximately two out of every three Christian men watch pornography on a regular basis. Even though there aren’t any signs of widespread national repentance, we are supposedly going to be showered with wealth, favor, protection and good times for as far as the eye can see. You can believe this if you want, but it doesn’t have any basis in reality.
• Are The Polls Rigged Against Trump? All Of These Wildly Divergent Surveys Cannot Possibly Be Correct
  Some of these polls are going to turn out to be dead wrong.  With just over two weeks to go until election day, some surveys are showing a very tight race, while others say that Hillary Clinton has a massive lead.  For example, the tracking polls put out by Rasmussen, the L.A. Times and IBD/TIPP have all consistently shown that the race is either tied or Donald Trump is winning by a small margin.  But Fox News has Hillary Clinton ahead by six points, Bloomberg has Clinton ahead by nine points, and the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll has Clinton ahead by twelve points.  So what in the world is going on here?  If the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll is correct, we are likely to see a landslide of historic proportions for Clinton, and this is what many of the experts are now projecting.  But if Rasmussen and the L.A. Times are correct, the race could easily go either way.  So who are we supposed to believe?  Could it be possible that some of the polls are rigged against Trump?
• If Donald Trump Wins The Election, It Will Be The Biggest Miracle In U.S. Political History
  Are we about to see the largest election day miracle of all time?  Because as I will show in this article, that is precisely what it is going to take in order for Donald Trump to win.  Before I go any further, I want to make it exceedingly clear that I am not saying what the outcome will be on November 8th.  As I recently told a national television audience, I do not know who is going to win.  In this article I am simply going to examine the poll numbers and the electoral map as they currently stand.  But in this bizarre election things can literally change overnight, and it is entirely possible that we could still have another “October surprise” or two before it is all said and done.  And without a doubt Donald Trump desperately needs something “to move the needle”, because if the election was held today Hillary Clinton would almost certainly win.
• Trump is Molotov Cocktail You Can Throw on Crooked System-Catherine Austin Fitts
  Investment advisor Catherine Austin Fitts is backing Donald Trump. Fitts explains, “Michael Moore said in an interview that Donald Trump is a Molotov cocktail you can throw on the system.  Interestingly enough, if you look at the federal system, it has a negative return on investment to taxpayers.  If you believe you can never fix that, then throwing a Molotov cocktail into the middle of that is the most intelligent thing you can do for productivity.  It was when I wrote the theme for productivity for the second quarter wrap-up I realized . . . I may have profound disagreements with Trump’s style, but I can throw the Molotov cocktail (voting for Trump). . . . I was going to vote for Gary Johnson, but in the second debate when Trump said I will appoint a special prosecutor, I stood up and cheered.  For the first time, we were talking about real accountability in America.  Then, when he said if I were the President, you’d be in jail, I said that’s it, I am giving money to Donald Trump because that is the first time I have ever seen someone of national prominence on corporate media hold the leadership accountable for their actions.”
• MSM Lies for Hillary, Russia US Closer to War, Economic Update
  The mainstream media (MSM) is totally lying to the public about everything from voter fraud to Wiki Leaks. There are many current examples of possible voter fraud such as the recent revelation by the Pew Center that 24 million U.S. voter registrations are “significantly inaccurate.” Pew Center also says there are 1.8 million dead people still on the voter rolls. The other part of the MSM lie is done by omission. The MSM is simply not covering major news stories that are negative to the Clinton campaign. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is pure fraud on shareholders and the public by so-called news organizations that are really functioning as Democrat propaganda shills.
• Banks’ Brexit Exodus to Start Before Year-End, Lobby Chief Says
  Banks in the U.K. will start relocating operations out of the country by year-end, months before formal talks to leave the European Union begin, as London looks set to lose access to the EU single market, the head of the British Bankers Association said in a newspaper commentary. International banks’ “hands are quivering over the relocate button,” Anthony Browne, chief executive officer of the banking lobby group the BBA, wrote Sunday in the Observer newspaper. “Many smaller banks plan to start relocations before Christmas; bigger banks are expected to start in the first quarter of next year.” Without identifying any banks by name, he said lenders can’t wait until the last minute and have to “plan for the worst,” especially because “public and political debate at the moment is taking us in the wrong direction.”
• Central African Republic: Four dead in UN Bangui shooting
  Four people have been killed during protests against the UN peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic. Peacekeepers opened fire when demonstrators tried to force their way into the UN headquarters, says a BBC reporter, who saw bodies being taken away in a police vehicle. The UN denies using live bullets and says its soldiers only used tear gas.
  A group of Central Africans wants the UN mission to withdraw, saying it is failing to protect people. The peacekeepers were deployed after civil war broke out in 2013 when then-President Francois Bozize was ousted by mainly Muslim Seleka rebels.
• Where the Next Crisis Will Come From
  Next year ends in a 7. If you’re superstitious or a little loose with statistics, that makes us due for another financial crisis. The biggest one-day stock drop in Wall Street history happened in 1987. The Asian crisis was in 1997. And the worst global meltdown since the Great Depression got rolling in 2007 with the failure of mortgage lenders Northern Rock in the U.K. and New Century Financial in the U.S. You can’t really mark the next crisis down on your calendar, of course. The point is that crackups come fairly regularly. And some of the prerequisites for the next one do seem to be falling into place.
• Banker Deaths and WikiLeaks Deaths Have a Common Thread
  Julian Assange, founder and Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks, is the man responsible for the daily release of emails showing the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign to be an unprecedented machine whose tentacles and snitches reach into Wall Street, big corporations and big media. Earlier this year, WikiLeaks released emails showing that the Democratic National Committee had maliciously conspired to undermine the presidential campaign of Clinton challenger, Senator Bernie Sanders, in order to elevate Hillary Clinton to the top of the ticket.
• Look up! Facial recognition may soon replace MRT fare cards for Singapore commuters
  Singapore commuters might soon be able to ditch their MRT fare cards and/or rely less on EZ-Link cards. The Straits Times today reported that Singapore Technologies (ST) Electronics has plans to roll out a facial recognition system that will identify commuters passing through the gates and charge the fares through post-paid methods such as credit cards (similar to ride-hailing apps like Grab and Uber). To be eligible to use the Advance Gate System, commuters must use a self-help terminal to sign up for an account, which includes having their photographs taken. This terminal will also allow commuters to purchase tickets, top up fare cards, and interact with customer service officers via video conferencing.
• The Drug Story
  Thirty years ago the Standard Oil Company became impressed with the methods of the big packing houses which used, processed and sold every part of the hog but the squeal. Their sales research department went ‘way back to the 1860’s when “Old Bill” Rockefeller, the itinerant pappy of John D. (the first) and a patent medicine showman, used to palm off bottled raw petroleum on the yokels as a cure for cancer. “Old Bill” was an upstate New York farmer, until 1850. He moved to Cleveland then, entered the patent medicine racket and had himself listed as a “physician” in the city directory. In selling raw petroleum in a pretty bottle “Old Bill” did nothing new.
• Deutsche Bank pays $38 million to settle silver manipulation lawsuit
  2016 is shaping up as the year when countless conspiracy theories will be confirmed to be non-conspiracy fact: from central bank rigging of capital markets, to political rigging of elections, to media rigging of public sentiment, and now, commercial bank rigging of silver. In short, tinfoil hat-wearing nutjobs living in their parents basement have been right all along. Two weeks ago we reported that “In A Major Victory For Gold And Silver Traders, Manipulation Lawsuit Against Gold-Fixing Banks Ordered To Proceed,” however one bank was exempt: Deutsche Bank. The reason why was known since April, when we first reported that Deutsche Bank had agreed to settle the class action lawsuit filed in July 2014 accusing a consortium of banks of plotting to manipulate gold and silver.
• Bombardier to cut 7,500 jobs, raising fears for British workforce
  Bombardier has announced it will cut another 7,500 jobs worldwide, raising fears for its British aerospace and rail workforce. It is the second wave of job cuts announced by the Canadian manufacturer in a year, meaning it will shrink its workforce by about 20% in two years. The multinational did not give full details of where the jobs would be lost other than 2,000 redundancies in Canada, while confirming that two-thirds of the total would be in Bombardier Transportation, the division that builds and maintains trains and track systems.
• Here's The 30 Seconds After The Last Debate That CNN Would Rather You Didn't See
  And continued and constant propaganda-peddling that the race is over because Trump's sexual assauly allegations are “sucking all the air out of the room” compared to Hillary's stream of WikiLeaks facts. CNN made the mistake of asking its focus group of real Americans who won the final debate… and instantly regretted it…
• Government borrows higher-than-expected £10.6 billion
  The UK's public finances were in worse shape last month as the Government surprised economists by borrowing a higher-than-expected £10.6 billion. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, jumped by 14.5% – or £1.3 billion – in September, compared with the same month in 2015. Economists were pencilling in a figure of £8.5 billion. However, Government borrowing excluding banks in the financial year to date – April to September – fell by £2.3 billion to £45.5 billion in contrast with the same period last year.
• Air Force Chief Foresees Decades More US Wars
  In comments yesterday at a spouse and family forum, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein discussed the growing number of airmen being deployed abroad for longer periods of time, saying that this problem is going to continue for decades to come. “We’ve been deploying now for 15 years, we’ve probably got 15, 20 years to go,” Gen. Goldfein warned. This wasn’t just about the current wars, either, as the general laid out some of the new deployments against new enemies, citing a “resurgent Russia and China” as driving future deployments.” The Air Force says they want a 1:2 deployment time, with airmen spending six months abroad then remaining at home for a year afterwards. Gen. Goldfein insisted the Air Force needs to be more flexible on the matter of combat deployments, saying he thinks there are too many individual deployments and not enough group deployments.
• Obamacare Premiums Up 30% In TX, MS, KS; 50% In IL, AZ, PA; 93% In NM: When Does The Death Spiral Blow Up?
  Obamacare premiums are skyrocketing out of sight. A jump of a mere 30% looks like a good deal compared to jumps of over 50% in six states, and 93% in New Mexico. Congratulations are in order for those living in a handful of states whose premiums only rose 20%. The Wall Street Journal reports Rate Increases for Health Plans Pose Serious Test for Obama’s Signature Law.
• Risk of ‘Mass Exodus’ of Doctors from Medicare
  In what may be the most significant modification to Medicare since the program began in 1966, on Oct. 15, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule for implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). It dramatically changes how Medicare pays doctors for their services. Does it really matter how doctors get paid? Yes — the success or failure of the new payment system will profoundly influence the future of the U.S. health care system. And while the goals of MACRA are laudable, its implementation carries a number of unknowns and the potential for unintended consequences — for patients and doctors alike.
• The Federal Reserve Is Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon
  Say what you want about Donald J. Trump, but he is correct about one thing: the Federal Reserve has, with near certainty, been holding interest rates down for political purposes — namely, to aid Hillary Clinton in getting elected president of the United States. In September’s first presidential debate, Mr. Trump said: “We have a Fed that’s doing political things. … The Fed is [being awfully] political by keeping the interest rates at this level. And believe me: The day Obama goes off, and he leaves [office], and goes out to the golf course for the rest of his life to play golf, [is the day that] they raise interest rates. … The Fed is being more political than Secretary Clinton.” The Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) September meeting minutes, released on Wednesday, have proven Mr. Trump’s assertion to be true. As the 2016 election season draws to a close, the Fed has suddenly become more bullish on the prospect of raising interest rates — and this precipitous change-of-heart has come despite there being few notable signs of hope in the US’s economic data.
• Social Security checks get measly $3.92 bump in 2017
  The typical retiree's monthly Social Security check will get only $3.92 bigger next year. That amounts to an increase of just 0.3% — the smallest ever put in place to help cover higher prices. That's still an improvement from this year, when the lack of inflation kept benefits from increasing at all. The average retiree's monthly benefit is currently $1,305.30. Social Security benefits go to 66 million people, including retirees, widows, orphans and people with disabilities. The annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) was put in place in 1975.
• Social Security Taxes to Rise for Higher-Income Americans
  Higher-income workers will pay more in payroll taxes next year to support Social Security, while retirees and other program beneficiaries see a scant increase in their monthly benefits. Nearly 66 million people, or roughly 1 in 5 Americans, receive Social Security and Supplemental Security Income payments from the U.S. government. Based on subdued inflation over the past two years, their benefits will see a 0.3% cost-of-living increase for 2017 following no adjustment this year, the Social Security Administration said Tuesday.
• To Some, it “Feels More Like a Crash”
  “There’s enormous risk in public markets because that’s the one that central banks have distorted to the greatest extent,” El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz SE, told Bloomberg TV, in reference to stock and bond markets. He confessed to the heresy of holding 30% of his portfolio in cash. “It’s very hard to say I’m going to buy a basket of public equities and go to sleep for the next five to 10 years and feel good about the returns. Similarly with bonds,” he said. These “public markets” are not the only markets that central banks have totally distorted and larded with “enormous risks.” Practically everything that is an asset has been inflated, including residential and commercial real estate in much of the country, and assets that are the objects of admiration of the wealthy: collector cars and art. But these markets have started to crack at the edges, and some of the cracks are spreading.
• Is Chicago’s Housing Market Next?
  Does it always start at the top? Because there’s just no letup in dismal tidbits piling up about big-city high-end condo market: Manhattan, San Francisco, Miami – and now Chicago too? Just last year, things were still so good on the Magnificent Mile, those tony 13 blocks of Michigan Avenue from the Chicago River north to Oak Street, of landmark towers, shops and restaurants – rents rank among the most expensive in the country – museums, hotels, and high-end condos. April last year, the 65th-floor penthouse at the Park Tower on 800 N. Michigan Ave sold for $18.75 million, “to a firm with ties to ‘Star Wars’ creator George Lucas and wife Mellody Hobson, president of a Chicago investment firm,” the Chicago Tribune speculated. It was an all-time record. The real estate business was ecstatic. But it might have marked the peak.
• Housing starts unexpectedly plunge
  New residential construction unexpectedly fell in September. Housing starts fell by 9% at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.05 million, according to the Census Bureau. Starts of multi-family structures with five or more units fell 39%, and were the biggest drag on overall construction. Regionally, the biggest drop was recorded in the Northeast, where new construction fell 36% from August, and 32% year-on-year. Housing starts in the South — typically the strongest region for construction in the US — fell 5.3% from August. Economists had forecast that starts rose by 2.9% at a rate of 1.18 million, according to Bloomberg.
• WikiLeaks: Donna Brazile Shreds Obama Economy
  In an email to Hillary Clinton campaign Chair John Podesta from February 2016, released Friday by WikiLeaks, now-acting chair of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile gave a frank and honest assessment of the Obama economy — and it wasn’t good. “I think people are more in despair about how things are — yes new jobs but they are low wage jobs,” she admits. “HOUSING is a huge issue. Most people pay half of what they make to rent,” she continued.
• Visa to Launch Blockchain Payments Service Next Year
  Visa has announced new details about a forthcoming business-to-business payments service developed in partnership with blockchain startup Chain. Dubbed Visa B2B Connect, the near real-time settlement platform is aimed at providing a more secure, transparent mechanism for businesses making payments via Visa’s netowrk. That the two firms would co-develop a platform for payments is perhaps unsurprising given their existing relationship and the fact that Visa was took part in Chain’s $30m funding round, announced last September. The credit card giant has made other blockchain tests related to payments public in the past year.
• Will a US Digital Currency Make the Fed Even More Dangerous?
  In a recent episode of Ron Paul’s Liberty Report, the former presidential candidate and Libertarian icon examines the future of digital currency. Paul and co-host Daniel McAdams talk with NYU Law Fellow and digital currency expert Max Raskin about how a future form of US digital money might give the Federal Reserve even more control over monetary policy than it enjoys today.
• China House Price Bubble Soars Most Ever, Government Freaks out, Preannounces Plunge
  As a consequence of a dizzying buying frenzy in September, the average price of new homes in China soared 11.2% from a year ago, after a 9.2% jump in August, the National Bureau of Statistics reported today. It was the 12th month in a row of year-over-year gains, and the largest increase on record. The average price of new homes rose in 63 of the 70 cities in the index. It dropped in six cities and remained flat in one. But all heck broke lose in tier-one cities: In Beijing, the average price skyrocketed 27.8%, in Shanghai 32.7%.
• Who’s Powering the War on Cash?
  On Monday in Japan, Apple CEO Tim Cook vented his spleen once more against physical currency, telling the Nikkei that “we don’t think the consumer particularly likes cash.” It’s a bizarre conclusion to reach, especially in Japan where cash is still the undisputed king. At ¥90 trillion ($885 billion), or about a fifth of gross domestic product, the value of banknotes in circulation is the highest in the world as a proportion of the economy. Many small businesses, including many restaurants, don’t even take plastic. Yet, the country was also the first to popularize mobile wallets and smartphones. “We would like to be a catalyst for taking cash out of the system,” Cook said, his mind fixed on Apple Pay, which takes a cut on every transaction it processes.
• Before It Is Over This Decline Will Engulf Every Country On The Planet
  On the heels of yesterday’s KWN viral interview with Gerald Celente This Is The Shocking Truth About How Bad The Economy Really Is In The United States, it appears that an already bad situation for the U.S. and the rest of the world may be about to get a lot worse. What Celente noticed after yesterday’s viral interview about the collapsing restaurant industry in the United States was this note from Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. analyst Paul Westra, who just cautioned: “We warn investors that restaurant-industry sales tend to be the ‘Canary that Lays the Recessionary Egg,’”  He also stated this “may also represent a harbinger to a U.S. recession in early 2017.”
• What is the Taxpayer Protection Pledge?
  “It has transformed American politics.” — Jonathan Alter, Newsweek. “Signing it has become de riguer for GOP candidates running for federal or statewide offices across the country.” — The Hill. “Americans for Tax Reform's Taxpayer Protection Pledge has solidified opposition to tax increases in Congress and state legislatures over the years.” — Michael Barone. “The Pledge has become something of a rallying cry in conservative circles.” — National Journal. Politicians often run for office saying they won't raise taxes, but then quickly turn their backs on the taxpayer. The idea of the Pledge is simple enough: Make them put their no-new-taxes rhetoric in writing.
• 50 Holistic Doctors Have Mysteriously Died In The Last Year, But What’s Being Done About It?
  Recently, Erin Elizabeth from HealthNutNews wrote up an expose about the past year’s findings concerning the many disappearances of holistic doctors. In case you’re not aware, the confusing conundrum first began when Dr. Bradstreet was found dead exactly one year ago – yes, on Father’s Day – in the U.S. The noted autism doctor, researcher, and parent was found in a river with a gunshot wound to the chest. While authorities at first thought his death was a result of suicide, it has since been confirmed that Dr. Bradstreet was murdered and that the wound was not self-inflicted. His family, like the families of many other missing and dead naturopathic practitioners and MD doctors, believe that he was murdered for using and promoting controversial therapies, such as GCMaF.
• Did a Secret Central Banking Cabal Just Turn AGAINST the US?
  Quietly and with little if any attention, foreign Central Banks have begun DUMPING US Debt. Take a look at this chart. Does this look like a bull market to you? Because to me it looks like it could be the beginning of a panic sale. Put simply, foreign Central Banks haven't owned this little US Debt since 2012. Bear in mind, these SAME Central Banks are currently buying their OWN debt (national and corporate) AT A PACE of nearly $200 BILLION per month!!!
• List of dead bankers 2016
  Yep. The list keeps growing. Just focusing on major players, or cases where ‘foul-play’ may be involved. I’ve done a little research into the causes of all these bankers dying, which can be found at the bottom of the article. Having had to spend too much time on youtube recently, has led to the accumulation of the latest and most credible conspiracy theories. Perhaps the most interesting, is the demise of the common-or-garden ‘master of the universe’. Banker, as they were once known.
  They’ve been having problems with mortality recently. And there’s a very long list of them.
• Canada Walks Out Of European Trade Talks, “Deal Impossible”
  With ‘trade' at the center of any substantive differences between US presidential candidates, 1000s protesting ‘trade' deals across Europe, ‘trade' collapsing in China, and lame-duck Obama trying to push his ‘trade' agenda, it is perhaps shocking that Canada’s trade minister walked out of talks to finalize a trade pact with the European Union, saying it now seems the bloc is incapable of reaching such agreements and that Canadian officials are returning home.
• US Freight Volume Drops to Lowest Level since 2009, “Industrial Recession” Hits Full Stride, Overcapacity Crushes Rates
  This just keeps getting worse. The Cass Freight Index, tracking US shipment volumes by all modes of transportation, fell 3.1% in September from a year ago, the 19th month in a row of year-over-year declines, and the worst September since 2009! Donald Broughton, Chief Market Strategist at Avondale Partners, wrote in the report: “After offering a glimmer of “less bad” hope in August [the index was down “only” 1.1% year-over-year], the Cass Freight Index shipments data in September disappointed, providing hindsight that August only gave us “false hope.” September data is once again signaling that overall shipment volumes (and pricing) continued to be weak in most modes, with increased levels of volatility, as all levels of the supply chain (manufacturing, wholesale, retail) continue to try and work down inventory levels.”
• Head Of Democratic Party Makes Stunning Admission: “The People Are In Despair About How Things Are”
  While readers may be used to tin-foil-hat-wearing digitial dickweeds and alt-right bloggers seeing through the veil of ignorance and media hype that hides a considerably uglier economic reality than The White House (and the stock market) might suggest, many Democrats may be shocked to discover that none other than now-acting chair of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile agrees…
• Shadow Banks, No-Down-Payment Subprime Mortgages in Canada’s House Price Bubble
  “The pundits have been raising red flags on the Canadian housing market for more than five years – and have been consistently wrong,” former Royal Bank of Canada CEO Gord Nixon told BNN today, in response to the federal government’s new mortgage rules designed to tamp down on risk in the housing market: “I appreciate why policymakers have been moving in the direction they have been moving but we have yet to have – and I don’t believe we are going to have – a major, major collapse in housing.”
• DNS Cyber Attack Returns As Northeast Internet Traffic Grinds To A Crawl For Second Time
  What was supposed to be a temporary internet outage, after an attack “of unknown origin” on DNS service provide DYN took down much of the internet in the North East, appears to have returned, and moments ago DYN announced that it was once again experiencing the same “attack” as this morning. DDOS ATTACK MAY ALSO AFFECT MANAGED DNS ADVANCED SERVICES: DYN. DYN SAYS DDOS ATTACK MAY CAUSE POSSIBLE DELAYS IN MONITORING. Even the White House was involved.
• It Starts: Shutdowns, Production Cuts, Layoffs at Auto Plants
  It’s been years since we’ve heard about production cuts by automakers, but here they come. After a record-breaking 2015, the hot air is audibly hissing out of the auto industry. September sales were down 0.5% from a year ago. Year-to-date sales were about flat. Some individual models got clobbered. Inventories are piling up on dealer lots. Automakers lavished incentives on the market. Nothing worked. Yet, auto production in September had jumped 7.3% year-over-year, according to the industrial production report this morning. In my article earlier today on this phenomenon [Is this Why US Industrial Companies Don’t Invest?], I explained: “Something has to give: either a miraculous jump in sales or a cut in production.”
• With Cash Levels Drying Up, Who is Left to Buy Stocks?
  While the “cash on the sidelines” myth has infuriated many, it remains a staple excuse for why there’s always a buying opportunity in stocks when the market dips. However, as Ned Davis Research warns “we can’t find much cash on the sidelines… and when we do it seems mostly offset by debt/liabilities,” crushing yet another pillar of strength for stocks. Ned Davis notes there is a lot of talk about all the cash on the sidelines from pessimistic investors that could power the market higher. There is some public caution and overall savings have risen somewhat, but I am having a hard time finding evidence that cash (potential demand) is anywhere near the market value of stocks (potential supply).
• Hillary is running against locker room talk and the Russians
  Russia’s very able Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said that the US presidential campaign is “simply some sort of a global shame” unworthy of the American people. She certainly hit the nail on the head. Hitlery’s criminal record had to be suppressed by the Obama regime in order to move the oligarchs’ candidate in the direction of the White House. So here we are on the verge of nuclear war with Russia and China, and the important issue before the American people is Trump’s lewd comments with Billy Bush about sexually attractive women. I mean really. Men’s talk about women is like their fish and hunting stories. It has to be taken with a grain of salt. But this aside, why is lewd talk about women more important than military conflict with Russia, which could mean nuclear war and the end of life on earth? Trump has declared that he sees no point in conflict with Russia and that he sees no point in NATO a quarter century after the demise of the Soviet Union.
• 10-Trillion-Dollar Bye-Bye – The Calm Before The Storm
  From a cyclical perspective, the stock market has effectively gone nowhere since mid-2014 (with zero total return on the broad NYSE Composite since then). The past two years can be characterized less as an ongoing bull market than as the extended top-formation of the third speculative episode since 2000, the third most extreme equity market bubble in history (next to 1929 and 2000), and the most extreme point of overvaluation in history across the broad cross-section of individual stocks and asset classes. We don’t expect the current situation to end well for investors who insist on taking larger investment exposures than they’re actually willing to hold, with discipline, through a period of severe market losses. From present valuation extremes, a 40-55% market loss would represent a fairly run-of-the-mill resolution to the current market cycle; a decline that would take valuations only to the high-end of the range they’ve visited or breached over the completion of every market cycle in history. By the completion of the current cycle, I expect over $10 trillion of what investors count as paper “wealth” in U.S. equities to disappear without a trace.
• Hidden Fragility – What Happens When The Electricity Is Off For Three Days?
  What happens when an electricity dependent society and economy has an extended loss of electrical grid and communications? One of the hidden realities of modern life is its fragility. For example, few people are aware of the precariousness of the supply chain that refills gasoline/petrol stations around the world every few days. A new book, When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation explores the fragilities of our truck-dependent supply chains. Longtime correspondent Bart D. (Australia) recently experienced a multi-day regional loss of electricity. His first-person observations help us understand what breakdowns in energy are like on the ground.
• This Is The Shocking Truth About How Bad The Economy Really Is In The United States
  With continued uncertainty in global markets, this is the shocking truth about how bad the economy really is in the United States. (King World News) Gerald Celente — Across America, from established restaurant chains to upstarts, bankruptcies are rising, locations are closings and profit margins are shrinking…
• The Man Who Made A Perfect Call On The Silver Market Just Released This
  Tom Fitzpatrick:  “Crude WTI (West Texas Intermediate) is seeing a bullish break through the triangle top which may develop into a double bottom… For now this remains a short term dynamic; however, it is worth noting that major resistance levels come in around $52.08. A weekly close above that area would be bullish and suggest a broader medium term rally is taking shape that could see a move in WTI to $60+ and potentially higher. A weekly close (above $52.08), if seen, would confirm the pattern which would then target $77, in line with the lows from 2011 and 2012. The 200 week moving average is around $72.”
• Fed Fearful About What It Has Done-Gregory Mannarino
  Trader/analyst Gregory Mannarino says don’t be fooled by the recent surge in the markets. Mannarino explains, “I think the Federal Reserve is legitimately becoming fearful of what they have done. There is no recovery here whatsoever. All you have to do is look at two metrics and two metrics only. The Labor Force Participation Rate remains near record lows. The money velocity, that’s the rate the money is moving through our economy, is remaining at record lows. Without these two metrics moving higher, you cannot have a recovery. What we have here is a debt bubble, and everything is being inflated right now on the back of that debt bubble. I think some people at the Federal Reserve are trying to warn people that the environment we are in is very dangerous. We’re hearing the biggest guns on Wall Street, all of them, and not one of them is not trying to say something is very wrong here. We keep hearing about a debt market super nova, that the bond market is in a bubble, which is inflating a stock market bubble. . . . There’s never been anything like this. This is uncharted territory. The Federal Reserve never had a plan to get out. . . . Now, their new scheme is they want the economy to ‘run hot.’ . . . Janet Yellen (Fed Head) said ‘the only way to prevent this economic horror show from becoming a permanent scar is to allow the economy to run hot. Meaning, to let inflation creep in while continuing to suppress interest rates. In other words, make all of us pay more for everything. They are so desperate.”
• The Federal Reserve Is Hillary Clinton's Secret Weapon
  Say what you want about Donald J. Trump, but he is correct about one thing: the Federal Reserve has, with near certainty, been holding interest rates down for political purposes — namely, to aid Hillary Clinton in getting elected president of the United States. In September’s first presidential debate, Mr. Trump said: “We have a Fed that’s doing political things. … The Fed is [being awfully] political by keeping the interest rates at this level. And believe me: The day Obama goes off, and he leaves [office], and goes out to the golf course for the rest of his life to play golf, [is the day that] they raise interest rates. … The Fed is being more political than Secretary Clinton.” The Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) September meeting minutes, released on Wednesday, have proven Mr. Trump’s assertion to be true. As the 2016 election season draws to a close, the Fed has suddenly become more bullish on the prospect of raising interest rates — and this precipitous change-of-heart has come despite there being few notable signs of hope in the US’s economic data.
• DANGER: The Last Time This Happened Was Right Before The Stock Market Collapsed!
  With the Dow trading near the 18,000 level, the last time this happened was right before the stock market collapsed. From Jason Goepfert at SentimenTrader:  “Speculative assets have reached a 16-year high. In the Rydex family of mutual funds, traders have allocated more than $2 in assets betting on a market rally for every $1 invested in the money market or inverse funds. That’s the widest ratio since 2000 and at a level that has been eclipsed only three distinct times since 1994, all of which led to a struggling stock market.
• Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – October 20, 2016
  Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his fourth short weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams’ weekly newsletter.

THE FINAL BUBBLE! Pastor Williams says the information shared by this economist is outstanding and correct. What he says will happen. >>> CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO (This video is being shared because the information within it is truly good and correct. Half way through the video it turns into a sales pitch to sell a book and related products. Pastor Williams has asked me to state that Pastor Williams and LindseyWilliams.net do not endorse this book).

From James Harkin (Webmaster & Editor of LindseyWilliams.net). Here is a summary of articles of interest from around the world for this week. Please LIKE the Lindsey Williams Online Facebook Page to see stories posted daily regarding the current state of the economy around the world.

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Latest News From October 14, 2016 to October 20, 2016:

• Venezuela’s Latest Cruelty Is Full Shelves of Unaffordable Goods
  Something strange has started to appear in Venezuelan grocery stores — food. After years of shortages of even the most basic items, shelves are once again heaving under the weight of imported goods such as Brazilian mayonnaise and margarine, or Colombian coffee and rice. This new-found abundance has come at a price though. Many shoppers can’t afford to buy the goods. “There is oil and bread, but it’s impossible to afford the prices,” said Veronica Parra, a teacher shopping in the eastern area of Caracas. “I earn more than the minimum wage, but I will still have to limit what I buy.” Without announcing any formal change in policy, Venezuela’s government has started to give up on imposing price controls at private stores, with shop owners reporting that they haven’t seen any inspectors since July. Instead, the government has ordered suppliers to sell half of their products to the state-distribution system known as CLAP that delivers subsidized food to the country’s poor. The rest can be sold at whatever price they want.
• Investor Cash Levels Jump Toward Levels Not Seen Since 9/11
  Fears of a bond-market crash, a breakdown in globalization, a new crisis in the euro area? There were a bevy of reasons for fund managers to push their cash balances to 5.8 percent of their portfolios in October, up from 5.5 percent last month, matching levels not seen since the aftermath of the Brexit vote. The share of cash hasn't been higher than that since November 2001, shortly after the terrorist attacks in the U.S. The amount of dry powder in portfolios is above that seen during both Europe's sovereign-debt crisis and the U.S. debt-ceiling debacle, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch's monthly survey of money managers.
• Commerzbank to Cut Most Jobs in German Branches, Union Says
  Commerzbank AG, which announced the biggest overhaul since its 2008 bailout last month, plans to make most of the announced job cuts in its German branches, according to a letter by German labor union Verdi. About 3,000 jobs will be eliminated at the lender’s branch network in Germany, according to the letter seen by Bloomberg. Another 1,900 jobs will be cut outside of Germany and at Commerzbank’s subsidiaries. A Commerzbank spokesman confirmed that the management and the works council have held in talks on Monday over the job cuts, but declined to comment on them specifically. The news was reported earlier by Boersen Zeitung.
• Two Major Central Bank Insiders Just Gave a Clear Signal What's to Come
  Are you ready for inflation? On Friday, both the Bank of England AND the US Federal Reserve made clear signals that they WANT inflation. “The Bank of England is prepared to tolerate higher inflation over the next few years and will keep interest rates low to support economic growth, according to Governor Mark Carney. In a further indication that the Federal Reserve will be inclined to let inflation run hot for a while, Chair Janet Yellen on Friday said it's useful to consider the benefits of a “high-pressure economy.””…
• The Big Retail Sales Lie
  There’s a direct correlation between the scale and quantity of lies coming from Hillary Clinton and the Government. Why? It’s election season, of course. It’s easy enough to dismiss Hillary’s plea for debate viewers to go to her campaign website to see “fact” checking. We know how easy it is for her to hide the truth when she has assistance from the State Department, FBI and Obama. If you believe Hillary Clinton, you also believe in the Easter Bunny. But it’s also easy to fact check the Census Bureau’s retail sales reports. Now, it’s easy enough to believe that the Government would manipulate the statistics in order to help the incumbent party maintain control the White House. But it’s also easy to fact-check the Census Bureau’s tabulations for monthly retail sales, notwithstanding the fact that the Census Bureau is caught producing fraudulent statistics on a regular basis.
• Why Oil Could Head Back To $90 Sooner Than Thought
  I don’t know much about fashion, but I have heard that blue is the new black. And I know that by the time I buy blue, everyone else will be wearing green. In the oil business, modish pundits are now pronouncing, “60 is the new 90,” championing the thesis that productivity gains, cost improvements and price wars have pulled the global clearing price of oil to $60/B, down from $90/B a couple of years ago. The oilfields of the world share some similarity to fashion ateliers.
• Subprime Auto Securitizations Show Signs Of Cracking As Delinquencies Rise
  It will come as no surprise to our readers that sales of automobiles in the U.S. have bubbled over in recent years and stood at a SAAR of 17.7mm units at the end of September.  To put that number in context, a 15-year useful life would imply that's more than 1 car for every driving age person in the United States.  Obviously that's likely not sustainable which is probably why Ford executives admitted on a recent conference call that U.S. auto sales have likely reached a “plateau.”
• Russia Is Deploying The Largest Naval Force Since The Cold War For Syria: NATO Diplomat
  Just moments ago we reported that in the latest escalation involving Syria, the Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov was now sailing past Norway on its way to Syria, where it is expected to arrive in just under 2 weeks.  As part of the carrier naval group, Russia also deployed an escort of seven other Russian ships, which we dubbed the “most powerful Russian naval task force to sail in northern Europe since 2014” according to Russia's Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily reports. It turns out it it was even bigger, because according to a NATO diplomat cited by Reuters, Russia is “deploying all of the Northern fleet and much of the Baltic fleet in the largest surface deployment since the end of the Cold War,” the diplomat said on condition of anonymity. “This is not a friendly port call. In two weeks, we will see a crescendo of air attacks on Aleppo as part of Russia's strategy to declare victory there,” the diplomat said.
• Fed risks repeating Lehman blunder as US recession storm gathers
  The risk of a US recession next year is rising fast. The Federal Reserve has no margin for error. Liquidity is suddenly drying up. Early warning indicators from US ‘flow of funds' data point to an incipent squeeze, the long-feared capitulation after five successive quarters of declining corporate profits. Yet the Fed is methodically draining money through ‘reverse repos' regardless. It has set the course for a rise in interest rates in December and seems to be on automatic pilot. “We are seeing a serious deterioration on a monthly basis,” said Michael Howell from CrossBorder Capital, specialists in global liquidity. The signals lead the economic cycle by six to nine months.
• A Spirit Of Violence Rises In America Following The Unveiling Of The ‘Harbinger Of Baal’ In New York
  Is it just a coincidence that we have seen violence erupt all over America since the unveiling of the arch that served as a gateway to the Temple of Baal in New York City on September 19th? First there were the terror attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota, then there were the unprecedented riots in Charlotte, and over the weekend there was a horrific mass shooting near Seattle. All of these events took place within a week after the Arch of Triumph was put up in New York. Baal was an ancient deity that was often associated with violence and bloodshed, and those that erected this arch have no idea what they are messing with.
• Has World War 3 Already Started?
  It took 3 million soldiers, 3,000 tanks, 7,000 artillery pieces, and 2,500 aircraft… “Operation Barbarossa” was the code name for Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. It was the largest military operation in human history. The Nazis had already conquered most of Europe. Hitler had grown overconfident from his recent military victories. Now he was hunting for big game… Stalin’s USSR.
• An Inside Look At Two “Unrelated” Banker Suicides Reveals A Fascinating Rabbit Hole
  It has been nearly four years since one of the most infamous, and still largely unexplained, banker “suicides” took place, the first in a series of many: we are talking about the death of the director of communications at Monte dei Paschi di Siena, David Rossi, who allegedly jumped to his death on March 6, 2013. Since this event has largely faded away from the public consciousness here is a quick recap: David Rossi, who was the head of communications for Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank, which was founded in 1472 and which is currently seeking to finalize its third bailout since the financial crisis, died after falling – or being pushed – from a third floor window of the bank's headquarters in a 14th century palazzo in the Tuscan city of Siena.
• Debate Post-Mortem: “Bad Hombres”, “Putin Puppets”, Chris Wallace Wins “Bigly”
  The debate started with ‘no handshakes' once again and while there was no ‘dancing' around the ring, a quiet, polite start rapidly turned ugly once the two candidates warmed up. Second Amendment supporting Trump slammed babyslaying Clinton; questions over who was the biggest “puppet”; Trump declined to support election result and threw a “such a nasty woman” comment across the stage.  While it was a close-call between Trump and Hillary, for once we suggest Chris Wallace wins tonight.
• The First Cities To Be Nuked
  After all of the military command and control centers have been nuked, have you ever wondered which cities would be nuked first? You probably have not, because it is an unpleasant thought, and is something that most people believe would never happen. At one time between Russia and the United States alone, there were more than 20,000 nuclear warheads. Not that long ago during the years of the Cuban missile crisis, every American feared the worst while the U.S. and the USSR were seemingly ready to end the world as we know it… Since then, stockpiles have been reduced somewhat, but in the big picture it is mostly irrelevant. If anything, the world is more dangerous today as apparently radical nations add their own nuclear weapons to the world’s nuclear arsenal. Here is a mapped illustration of the top 30 most populated cities (and metro areas) in the United States which could potentially ‘go’ first in a nuclear war…
• They think you’re crazy if you expect default. It’s crazy if you DON’T.
  On May 12, 1780, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, “I must study politics and war that my sons have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. . . in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.” (… to which I would add, “so that their children can hide from the world in their safe spaces.”) There may be no other quote that so succinctly surmises the rise and fall of empire.
• Wikileaks: Journalists Dined at Top Clinton Staffers’ Homes Days Before Hillary’s Campaign Launch
  Several top journalists and TV news anchors RSVPed “yes” to attend a private, off-the-record gathering at the New York home of Joel Benenson, the chief campaign strategist for Hillary Clinton, two days before she announced her candidacy in 2015, according to emails Wikileaks has published from John Podesta’s purported accounts. The guest list for an earlier event at the home of John Podesta was limited to reporters who were expected to cover Clinton on the campaign trail.
• Time to Buy Gold as Inflation Rises?
  Commodities analyst John Ross Crooks explores the ramifications of rising inflation on gold prices, and concludes that a buying opportunity is likely developing. Alert the media — three key measures of U.S. inflation have exceeded the Federal Reserve’s threshold of 2%.
• Trump’s Invisible Shield
  It already seems like a lifetime ago that MachadoGate and Lewd-Comments-on-the-Bus-Gate appeared on the political scene and, according to all news sources, derailed the Trump candidacy.  Little did we know that a few days later, the Trump campaign would be dealt yet another setback — only this time by a cadre of women parading around the alphabet stations with sudden flashbacks of memory that conveniently materialized just a few weeks before the election.  According to the punditry and press, the Trump campaign has received a death blow from which it cannot recover.  Clinton is president!
• More Good News For Gold Bugs: The Bottom Is Getting Closer
  In the latest gold and silver commitment of traders (COT) report (click here for an explanation of what this report involves), paper players made big strides in bringing the market back into balance — and setting the stage for an eventual rebound. Speculators – who tend to be emotional and therefore wrong at the extremes – scaled their long positions way back, while the commercials – who time-and-again sucker the speculators into those emotional extremes and then fleece them – are now considerably less short.
• Doug Casey on the Self-Identified Elite
  Mark Twain said, “If you don’t read the papers you’re uninformed. If you do read them, you’re misinformed.” That’s why I want to draw your attention to a recent article called “The Isolationist Temptation,” in The Wall Street Journal, written by Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations. The piece wasn’t worth reading—except that it offers some real insight into what the “elite” are thinking. The CFR is one of about a dozen groups, like Bilderberg, Bohemian Grove, and Davos, where the self-identified elite gather.
• Who Brought the World to the Brink of World War III?
  Who has the major responsibility for creating the confrontation between the U.S. and Russia in Syria? How have these two major nuclear powers moved closer and closer to the brink of World War III? At the moment, one clear way to resolve this clash is for Syria’s armed forces to win an unambiguous victory over the forces seeking to overturn the existing government. Bloody as it may be, the defeat of the rebel forces will defuse the military portion of the conflict between the U.S. and Russia, at least within Syria. Russia, invited by Assad to aid him militarily, has been following that path. Obama has haltingly and unevenly been following a different but also effective path, which is that the U.S. pull back from the brink, that it stop calling for Assad’s resignation, and that it not directly become involved in attacking Syrian forces.
• ‘With Her’ – Lobbyists Raise $20 Million for Clinton vs. Zero For Trump
  With so much mud being slung from all directions in this circus of an election, it’s often hard to separate fact from fiction. However, on one particular topic there is little doubt. When it comes to the big money crowd, they are definitely “with her.” The Wall Street Journal reports: “Not a single registered lobbyist has raised a substantial amount of money for Republican nominee Donald Trump‘s campaign, according to campaign-finance disclosures filed over the weekend. Democrat Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has drawn more than $20 million over the course of her race for her campaign and joint Democratic Party accounts through funds raised by registered lobbyists, according to her disclosures.”
• Ganging Up on Gold
  In last week’s update on the gold sector, we mentioned that there was a lot of negative sentiment detectable on an anecdotal basis. From a positioning perspective only the commitments of traders still appeared a bit stretched though, while from a technical perspective we felt that a pullback to the 200-day moving average in both gold and gold stocks shouldn’t be regarded as anything but a normal – and in this case actually long overdue – event. Between May and August, gold stocks became quite “overbought”. They had clearly risen too far too fast and a correction shouldn’t have been a surprise. The pullback was quite sharp, adequately mirroring the relentlessness of the preceding rally. This is nothing unusual in this sector.
• James Turk – The Coming Financial Storm Will Devastate The World
  As we kick off the third week of trading in October, today James Turk warned King World News that the coming financial storm will devastate the world. James Turk:   “There was some remarkable news about the future of the euro reported here in London over the weekend, Eric. The Daily Telegraph picked it up from an obscure central banking publication, and I am pleased that they did… Otherwise this shocker might have been buried without the attention it rightly deserves. And the Daily Telegraph did not hold back, as the following quote leading into their article makes clear. “The European Central Bank is becoming dangerously over-extended and the whole euro project is unworkable in its current form, the founding architect of the monetary union has warned. ‘One day, the house of cards will collapse,’ said Professor Otmar Issing, the ECB’s first chief economist and a towering figure in the construction of the single currency.”
• Negative Shocks, Deeper Recessions And The Great Threat To Financial Stability
  As the world awaits the next round of monetary madness, here is a dire warning about negative shocks, deeper recession and the great threat to financial stability. Here is what Peter Boockvar wrote today as the world awaits the next round of monetary madness:  In a speech titled “Why are interest rates so low? Causes and implications”, Stanley Fischer is premising the speech on “why we should be concerned about such low interest rates.” He raises the possible explanations for why and risks that it entails. Firstly, “the economy’s long run growth prospects are dim.” Secondly, “low interest rates make the economy more vulnerable to adverse shocks that can put it in a recession” which “could therefore lead to longer and deeper recessions when the economy is hit by negative shocks.” Thirdly, “low interest rates may also threaten financial stability as some investors reach for yield and compressed net interest margins make it harder for some financial institutions to build up capital buffers.”…
• Saudis, China Dump Treasuries; Foreign Central Banks Liquidate A Record $346 Billion In US Paper
  One month ago, when we last looked at the Fed's update of Treasuries held in custody, we noted something troubling: the number dropped sharply, declining by over $27.5 billion in one week, the biggest weekly drop since January 2015, pushing the total amount of custodial paper to $2.83 trillion, the lowest since 2012. One month later, we refresh this chart and find that in the latest weekly update, foreign central banks continued their relentless liquidation of US paper held in the Fed's custody account, which tumbled by another $22.3 billion in the past week, pushing the total amount of custodial paper to $2.805 trillion, another fresh post-2012 low.
• The Danger Zone: Why Israel Greatly Fears Barack Obama’s Last Few Months In Office
  Between right now and January 20th, 2017 is a real “pressure point” for U.S. relations with Israel. Barack Obama has always desired to “leave a legacy” in the Middle East, and at this point the only option for accomplishing anything tangible is through the United Nations. The Israeli government is extremely concerned that Obama may attempt to take such action before he leaves office, and so they recently asked Secretary of State John Kerry if the U.S. would promise to veto any anti-Israel resolutions that come before the UN Security Council for the rest of Obama’s time in the White House. Unfortunately for Israel, the New York Post is reporting that Kerry flatly refused to make such a promise…
• RT: NatWest to close Russian channel's UK bank accounts
  NatWest bank is to close the accounts of Russia's state-run broadcaster, RT. Editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan tweeted: “They've closed our accounts in Britain. All our accounts. ‘The decision is not subject to review.' Praise be to freedom of speech!” The bank said the decision was “not taken lightly” and that the accounts were “still operative” at present. An MP from Russia's ruling party has said its parliament will demand an explanation from the UK. RT says the entire Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group, of which NatWest is part, is refusing to provide its services.
• Why Is Obama Threatening Russia With World War 3 Right Before The Election?
  It sure seems like an odd time to be provoking a war with Russia.  As I write this, we stand just a little bit more than three weeks away from one of the most pivotal elections in U.S. history, and Barack Obama has chosen this moment to strongly threaten the Russians.  As I wrote about on Friday, Reuters is reporting that Obama is contemplating “direct U.S. military action” against Syrian military targets, and the Russians have already indicated that any assault on Syrian forces would be considered an attack on themselves.  The rapidly deteriorating crisis in Syria has already caused tensions with Russia to rise to the highest level since the end of the Cold War, but now Obama is adding fuel to the fire by publicly considering “an unprecedented cyber covert action against Russia”.  Apparently Obama believes that Russian hackers are interfering in the election and so he wants payback.
• Huge Red Flags Could Be Telling Us Global Currency Reset Is Upon Us!
  If you’ve listened to many of Dr. Willie's interviews, or you follow his work regularly, you probably already know that there aren’t too many people who have mixed feelings about the man. He’s either loved by people, or hated, and very little in-between. As a huge fan of his myself, I’ve often found it’s hard to get people who are unacquainted with Dr. Willie to listen to him, or give him a chance. Why? Without a doubt, Dr. Willie can be arrogant, overly sarcastic, insensitive, or even downright rude at times, and that can be a huge turnoff for some. He doesn’t have the same charm during interviews that someone like Peter Schiff does, and he often exhibits very little patience for those who can’t keep up with him on a subject matter level.
• U.N. Says They Will Soon Occupy America: “Going Door-to-Door Taking Guns…”
  My fellow patriots, do you realize that from the time of this writing, there are only 25 days left until the day we cast our ballots (however meaningless they may be) for the next President of the United States? The case can very easily be made, that in 26 days, we’ll know whether the United States as we’ve known it will live on to fight, or begin the slow march (or maybe not so slow, who knows), toward the ash bins of history. That is how important this election is, and it’s a safe bet that everything you’re about to learn in this post, is unfolding in preparation for all out chaos…
• All Paper Will Burn-Rob Kirby
  Macroeconomic analyst Rob Kirby has wealthy global connections. He says forget about the recent takedown in precious metals because his sources don’t think anything paper will survive the upcoming financial meltdown.  Kirby explains, “The commentary that I get from people with much higher pay grades than me is that, in the end, the only thing that will stand is physical metal gold and silver. They say all paper will burn.” Kirby goes on to confirm that “stocks, bonds and pensions” will be toast.
• Hussman Predicts 55% Decline in Stocks in “Hard-Negative” Outlook
  From John Hussman: Several weeks ago, we shifted from a rather neutral near-term stock market view, to a hard-negative outlook, based on fresh deterioration in various trend-sensitive components within our broad measures of market action. From a cyclical perspective, the stock market has effectively gone nowhere since mid-2014 (with zero total return on the broad NYSE Composite since then). The past two years can be characterized less as an ongoing bull market than as the extended top-formation of the third speculative episode since 2000, the third most extreme equity market bubble in history (next to 1929 and 2000), and the most extreme point of overvaluation in history across the broad cross-section of individual stocks and asset classes.
• They Will Not Allow Trump to Win Regardless of the Vote
  The preparation to declare the election a fraud is in high gear. The newspapers are full of the planted stories that Russia will hack the election to ensure Trump wins – not Hillary. The Democrats are now putting out the argument that Wikileaks’ source on all these emails is also Russia saying they use to be about the truth and are now a pawn of Trump and Putin. The Democrats are even trying to claim that the emails are fake. Moving the disinformation plot to cartoons demonstrates this is a full fledged campaign for the coronation of Hillary regardless of what the people vote. Russia will be blamed regardless of what Putin does. It is impossible to absolutely identify the hacker who is truly professional. You can trace it to an IP address, but that will be typically several layers deep rerouting it around the world. Someone in the USA can create a fake hack from Russia with the first IP being placed there. So there would be no possible way to prove it was the Russian government. This is all hype.
• Local GOP office in North Carolina firebombed
  A GOP office in Hillsborough, North Carolina, was firebombed over the weekend, with a swastika and the words “Nazi Republicans leave town or else” spray painted on an adjacent building, according to local officials. No arrests have been made. Gov. Pat McCrory on Monday called the fire an “assault on our democracy.”
• HP To Cut Up To 4,000 Jobs As PC Market Declines
  In a filing with the SEC, HP said the cuts are part of a restructuring designed to reduce costs. The news came the same week that Gartner reported an 8th consecutive quarter of declining PC shipments. HP Inc., the PC and printing company that resulted from the split of Hewlett-Packard last year, plans to cut between 3,000 to 4,000 jobs in the next three years, the company said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week. The layoffs will come in fiscal 2019 and are expected to generate a gross annual run rate savings of $200 million to $300 million beginning in fiscal 2020, according to the filing.
• Analyst: S&P 500 Will Plunge 22% By The End Of 2016
  Analyst Theo Vallee is out today with a bold prediction for a massive decline in the S&P 500 through the end of this year — and he has plenty of charts to back up his case. We see the SPX losing 22% over the next 2-3 months. The call is primarily based on technical factors; however, given the market’s current valuation, the fundamentals also support this view. We contend that the texture of today’s price action is very similar to the early 2000’s.
• Euro ‘house of cards' to collapse, warns ECB prophet
  The European Central Bank is becoming dangerously over-extended and the whole euro project is unworkable in its current form, the founding architect of the monetary union has warned. “One day, the house of cards will collapse,” said Professor Otmar Issing, the ECB's first chief economist and a towering figure in the construction of the single currency. Prof Issing said the euro has been betrayed by politics, lamenting that the experiment went wrong from the beginning and has since has degenerated into a fiscal free-for-all that once again masks the festering pathologies.
• Germany HELL: Doom for Deutsche Bank as largest lender Qatar ‘pulls plug on future equity'
  SINKING Deutsche Bank has been dealt a hammer blow today after its biggest backer pulled the plug on future equity, it has been claimed. According to sources the bank is now facing a crisis of gargantuan proportions after the Qatari royal family, who were reported to be involved in bond deals just last week, expressed concern over their long-term strategy. Analysts say this could be the final nail in the coffin for the bank which this week was accused of using stealth methods to woo investors.
• ALERT: Massive Commercial Short Covering Has Taken Place In The Gold And Silver Markets!
  There has been massive commercial short covering in the gold and silver markets on the recent takedown. The following charts are from Jason Goepfert at SentimenTrader. King World News note:  Below you can see the commercial hedgers position in the silver market market.  Note that commercial hedgers been dramatically reducing their short positions recently in the silver market.
• China’s Stunning Move To Dominate The World And The Real Reason Why China Is Buying So Much Gold
  With many investors worried about the economic turmoil that has engulfed the globe, here is a look at China’s stunning move to dominate the world and the real reason why China is buying so much gold. China Quietly Increasing Its Global Dominance. Stephen Leeb:  “In a fairly lackluster week for the markets, the only news that seemed to arouse any response was China trade data. The headline numbers reported that, contrary to expectations, both Chinese exports and imports had declined in September compared to year-earlier levels, with exports dropping by more than 10 percent in dollar terms. Stock and commodity markets in the West fell in response, believing the numbers signified Chinese weakness that would hurt global growth…
• MSM Committing Massive Fraud, Economic Red Alert, WWIII Update
  The Wiki Leaks slimy revelations about the DNC and the Clintons’ emails prove the mainstream media (MSM) is committing massive fraud on shareholders and the public. Organizations such as the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, CNBC, Politico, The Boston Globe and many others hold themselves out as news organizations and fair arbiters of the truth, when they are really just one sided political hacks.  I predict the public will reject the MSM in droves, and share prices will plunge.  Look out for shareholder lawsuits in 2017.
• The Republican Party Has Spent $0 On TV Ads For Trump After Spending $42 Million For Romney In 2012
  With so much stacked against him, can Donald Trump pull off a miracle and actually win this election? Right at this moment, things are looking quite grim for the Trump campaign. Following the release of the lewd audio tape, six women have come forward and have accused him of doing the exact sorts of things that he admitted to on that tape, and the mainstream media is going after him with all they’ve got. Of course the Clintons have done far worse things than Trump has, and that is the case that Trump must make to the American people in the last 25 days of this election. But it certainly isn’t helping that Trump is receiving very little help from his own party. In fact, earlier today Politico published an article entitled “RNC TV ad spending for Trump: $0” which documented the fact that the Republican National Committee has not spent a single penny on television advertising for Trump so far in 2016.
• Drowning In Debt: 35 Percent Of All Americans Have Debt That Is At Least 180 Days Past Due
  More than a third of all Americans can’t pay their debts.  I don’t know about you, but to me that is a shocking figure.  As you will see below, 35 percent of the people living in this country have debt in collections.  When a debt is in  collections, it is at least 180 days past due.  And this is happening during the “economic recovery” that the mainstream media keeps touting, although the truth is that Barack Obama is going to be the only president in United States history to never have a single year when the economy grew by at least 3 percent.  But at least things are fairly stable for the moment, and if this many Americans are having trouble paying their bills right now, what are things going to look like when the economy becomes extremely unstable once again.
• World War 3? Barack Obama Could Take A Major Step Toward War With Russia On Friday
  Because the mainstream media is devoting almost all of their time and energy to covering the Trump and Clinton campaigns, most Americans don’t realize that the Obama administration is bringing us perilously close to war with Russia.  On Friday, Barack Obama is going to sit down with his foreign policy team and discuss “military options” in Syria.  As you will see below, the options under consideration include direct strikes “on Syrian military bases”.  Russia has already pledged to respond militarily to any direct strikes on Syrian forces, and so the decisions that Barack Obama makes regarding Syria on Friday could literally be the spark that sets off World War 3. The daily drama surrounding Trump and Clinton is far less important than a potential war with Russia.  This should be front page news all over the country, but unfortunately most of the big news organizations are giving it very little coverage.
• The US just bombed Yemen, and no one's talking about it
  What if the United States went to war and nobody here even noticed? The question is absurd, isn’t it? And yet, this almost perfectly describes what actually happened this past week. While many Americans, myself included, were all hypnotized by the bizarre spectacle of the Republican nominee for president, a US navy destroyer fired a barrage of cruise missiles at three radar sites controlled by the rebel Houthi movement in Yemen. This attack marked the first time the US has fought the rebels directly in Yemen’s devastating civil war.
• World War III On The Brink: War Will Continue Until It Triggers Economic Collapse
  One of the main Shemitah Trends of late 2016 is the emerging war in the Middle East. It has every indication of turning into a conflict resembling World War III and day-by-day is becoming more dangerous and extreme. This could be the war that finally triggers the great economic collapse being planned. Certainly, the storm clouds of war are gathering, as we’ve been covering. In fact, on Friday, Barack O’bomber is scheduled to decide whether or not to initiate direct US military action against Syria – in part because of Russia’s bombing of Aleppo. Obama has been forced into making this decision because the Russians along with the Syrians are now winning the war. The wars in Libya, Iraq and now Syria are bankers wars intended to redraw the map in the Middle East while adding to the military burdens of the West – specifically the US.
• European Commission denies fraud problem after EU auditors FAIL to sign off accounts AGAIN
  THE European Commission has denied that Brussels has a problem with fraud after the EU’s auditors refused to sign off its accounts for the 21st year running. The 141.5 billion euro budget for 2015 – including £20 billion from Britain – has been blasted by the Court of Auditors for being “materially affected by error”. The court has issued an “adverse opinion” – reserved for serious accountancy failures – on the legality and regularity of the payments underlying the accounts. The report highlights dubious areas of spending, including a bid for a monorail for olive farmers in Italy.
• The Day Has Arrived: As Of Today Prime Money Markets Can Suspend Withdrawals – Here Are The Implications
  The big day has finally arrived: starting today, as previewed repeatedly over the summer, the SEC's 2a-7 money fund reform adopted in 2014 officially requires many prime money market mutual funds (those that invest in non-government issued assets such as short-term corporate and municipal debt) to float their net asset value. More importantly, these prime MMFs are allowed to delay client withdrawals under adverse market conditions. The rule aim to prevent the sort of chaos that hit the money market after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s 2008 bankruptcy, which helped spark the financial crisis. The goal is to give investors a way to monitor a fund’s health by tracking its fluctuating net asset value, and to contain the fallout that could be caused by many investors cashing out at once, the SEC wrote in the final rules.
• Deutsche Bank To Fire Another 10,000 Bankers, Bringing Total Layoffs To 20% Of Workforce
  The hits for Deutsche Bank just keep on coming. One day after a report that the German lender has imposed a hiring freeze in the latest bid to reassure investors that it has expenses under control and is stemming the outflow of cash, moments ago Reuters reported that Deutsche Bank's finance chief told his staff that job cuts at the bank could be double that planned, a step that could remove 10,000 further employees. Such cuts would likely take many years but setting such a goal could reassure investors that the bank is determined to tackle costs that sources said the European Central Bank sees as bloated. Unless, of course, they are forced to cut much faster. If 10,000 job losses were ultimately to follow the 9,000 announced by management in October 2015, roughly one in five of the bank's workforce around the globe would be affected.
• A “Cat 5” Financial System Hurricane Swirls Offshore
  Things are worse than are even being reported by alternative media. Heard from a friend east of the Atlantic ‎whose employer is a financial institution in Europe – you can probably guess which country. Words used were “chaos” and “possible shutdown.” Advised to buy silver as much as possible…
• Billionaire Gives NY Fed A Fire-Hose of Reality, Warns Of “Big Squeeze”
  Ray Dalio, founder of the $160 billion investment firm Bridgewater Associates, was invited to speak at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s 40th Annual Central Banking Seminar yesterday. Rather than gush about how wonderful the Fed’s zero interest rate policies have been since the financial crisis, Dalio gave them a fire hose of reality.
• Thai Stocks, Currency Plunge On Concerns Over King's Health, Fed Hike
  Ever since the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, investors have kept a close eye on financial developments in Thailand as canary in the Asian financial conditions coalmine, and overnight there was little to look forward to after Thai stocks crashed the most in over a year, plunging as much as 6.9% before settling 4.1%, lower while the baht currency tumbled 1.1%, its steepest plunge in three years. The Thai stock market was the worst performing in Asia, with the sharp selloff attributed to concerns about the health of the king and “sudden” fears about the prospect of a December rate hike. Thai stocks approached a correction, after sliding 8.8% in the week, the most among about 100 benchmark share indexes tracked by Bloomberg. Default risk also spiked with Thai CDS rising 8%, and more than 12 per cent since the start of the week. The Thai currency traded at 35.768 per dollar, headed for an eighth day of losses in the longest stretch since July 2015. It sank as much as 1.5 percent to 35.902, the lowest since Jan. 26, and is headed for its steepest weekly drop since 2013. The 10-year sovereign bond yield rose five basis points to 2.35 percent, the highest since January.
• “We Didn’t Know Things Were This Bad” – Ericsson Shares Plunge 17% After Shocking Profit Warning
  Our condolences to anyone long Swedish telecom giant Ericsson, who will observe the following chart first thing upon waking up today. The reason for Ericsson's 17% crash, is that the Swedish network maker reported a surprising slump in third-quarter sales and profitability, warning investors that its business was deteriorating faster than expected, with no turnaround in sight. Unexpectedly, the company said sales in the third quarter had dropped by 14% while its operating profit was all but wiped out, falling from SKr5.1bn a year ago to SKr300m. The sales drop was the biggest in 13 years, going back all the way to 2013.
• Please Assume Crash Positions
  Very few punters expect a real downturn here in stocks. The reasons for confidence are many: the Fed has our back, buy the dip has worked great and will continue to work great, the Fed won't raise rates until December (if ever), the Powers That Be will keep the market aloft lest a plunging market upset the election of the status quo candidate, and so on.
• Extinction Level Event
  Since they can’t sell people on electric cars, the next best thing is to outlaw internal combustion-engined cars. In order to force people into electric cars. Since they can’t sell people on electric cars, the next best thing is to outlaw internal combustion-engined cars. In order to force people into electric cars. The German Bundesrat (their version of our Congress) just passed a bipartisan agreement toward that end. The legislative details have yet to be worked out, but the idea is to impose a comprehensive ban on the use of cars powered by internal combustion on not just German roads but all European Union roads as well.
• Wal-Mart Expects Profit Pressures, Fewer New Stores
  Wal-Mart Stores Inc. wants to make a big pivot: Instead of building supercenters to drive growth, the retailer hopes to become an e-commerce powerhouse that draws more shoppers to its existing stores. At an investor meeting Thursday, executives said Wal-Mart would open only about half as many supercenters next year as it did last fiscal year. Instead, Wal-Mart will direct more of its $11 billion in annual capital spending toward boosting e-commerce sales, technology used in stores and customer service. The decision is a fundamental shift for the world’s largest retailer that will require significant investment and also weigh on profit.
• Google starts deploying its self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans: first prototypes spotted
  While Tesla’s fleet recently reached 222 million miles driven on Autopilot in about a year, Google’s fleet of self-driving cars just passed the 2-million miles mark last month after 7 years on the road. As we previously discussed, Tesla’s Autopilot miles are not really equivalent to Google’s self-driving miles, but it still gives us a good indication of the speed at which each company is deploying their semi-autonomous and autonomous programs. Now Google is about to speed up its effort by deploying a lot more vehicles through its partnership with Fiat-Chrysler to build a fleet of self-driving Pacifica, Chrysler’s new plug-in hybrid minivan. The first few prototypes were spotted in Mountain View over the weekend.
• Deutsche Bank Implements Hiring Freeze, Stock Slides
  While much attention in recent weeks has fallen on Deutsche Bank's balance sheet, with concerns over both the bank's capitalization as well as its liquidity forcing its stock price to all time lows as recently as two weeks ago, today we got a timely reminder that the bank also has substantial income statement problems when Bloomberg reported that the biggest German lender is implementing a companywide hiring freeze as CEO John Cryan “seeks to lower costs and shore up investor confidence.” However, the confirmation that the bank continues to hemorrhage cash and is in expense-slashing mode, and which hits just a day after Deutsche Bank completed a tack-on bond offering in which it sold a total of $4.5 billion in 5 year bonds in two tranches, paying junk bond spreads for the privilege of obtaining funds, will hardly “shore up investor confidence.” If anything it will short it, or perhaps short DBK stock, which was down 2.5% to €12.04 in German trading as of this writing.
• Germany To Cut Off Welfare Benefits For EU Citizens
  In what may be the latest indication that Merkel's immigration policy blowback is being heard by the government, Germany's Handelsblatt reports that Merkel's government plans to prohibit foreign E.U. citizens from receiving welfare benefits for five years if they haven’t worked in Germany before. Labor Minister Andrea Nahles, a center-left Social Democrat, introduced a corresponding draft measure during a cabinet meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government on Wednesday, according to the news agency Reuters. Under the draft law, E.U. citizens can claim one-time assistance for the period of a month to pay for food and shelter. They can also receive a loan to cover the cost of the trip back to their home country if they fail to find work.
• US Retailers Blame “Election Preoccupation” For Slumping Sales
  While record food-stamps, sinking real wages, and soaring healthcare and shelter costs are all in the realm of peddled fiction; US Retailers are never shy of alternative excuses for their underperformance. It's too-hot, it's too-cold; it's too-low gas prices; it's too-high gas prices; but now, as Bloomberg reports, US retailers and restaurants are floating another excuse to explain their lackluster performance – it's the election, stupid!
• List of Hillary Tax Hikes
  Trillion dollar tax hike – Hillary’s tax hike proposals will raise taxes on the American people by over $1,000,000,000,000 over the next ten years, based on her campaign’s own numbers. Payroll Tax Hike; Soda Tax Hike; 25% National Gun Tax; Doubling of federal excise tax on guns; 65% Death Tax; Capital Gains Tax Hike; No Corporate Income Tax Rate Relief for Anyone; No Personal Income Tax Rate Relief for Anyone; AND CARBON TAX.
• Did Stumpf Lie To Congress? Wells Manager Admits Fake Account Creation As Far Back As 2006
  Just when you thought the public floggings were over and another US bank proved that crime pays, it appears Wells Fargo – and its CEO – may not be as ‘Teflon' as they hoped. Having told Congress under oath that his bank committed criminal activities since 2011, VICE News reports that in fact John Stumpf's banking head Carrie Tolsetedt was actually aware of the creation of fake accounts since 2006.
• 2 Simple Charts Show Which State Pensions Are Most Likely To Enforce Benefit Cuts
  A new research note from Moody's found that State pension funds were underfunded by $1.3 trillion at the end of FY15 but was expected to grow to $1.8 trillion at the end of FY17 as pensions continue to struggle with low returns.  We've discussed the unintended consequences of the Central Bank's low-rate polices on pension funds multiples times (see “Pension Duration Dilemma – Why Pension Funds Are Driving The Biggest Bond Bubble In History”)…with the two most likely outcomes being benefits cuts for pensioners and/or crippling tax hikes for citizens.
• Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – October 13, 2016
  Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his third 10 minute weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams’ weekly newsletter.

THE FINAL BUBBLE! Pastor Williams says the information shared by this economist is outstanding and correct. What he says will happen. >>> CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO (This video is being shared because the information within it is truly good and correct. Half way through the video it turns into a sales pitch to sell a book and related products. Pastor Williams has asked me to state that Pastor Williams and LindseyWilliams.net do not endorse this book).