Latest News Articles – April 20, 2017
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 April 14, 2017 to April 20, 2017:
- In Stark Warning, IMF Finds Over 20% Of US Corporations At Risk Of Default Should Rates Rise
While the market has been generally euphoric over Trump's proposed fiscal agenda (even if in recent weeks it increasingly looks its implementation will be indefinitely delayed), one adverse side effect which has largely been ignored by the market is the impact of rising interest rates not only on sovereign debt, but on record corporate debt loads. Conveniently, this was one of the more notably topics covered in the latest Global Financial Stability report released by the IMF on Wednesday. According to the IMF writes, as corporate leverage has risen, and is now at the highest level since the start either the financial crisis or the dot com bubble, depending on which metric one uses… - Chaos Coming To A Market Near You This Summer
This month the Fed is adding $23.4 billion in cash to Primary Dealer Trading Accounts in the period April 12-20. This is slightly more than the March addition of $21.9 billion, the smallest add since January 2016. It was a sharp decline from February’s $41.6 billion. You may have thought Quantitative Easing (QE) ended in late 2014, and it did, but the Federal Reserve has continued to add cash to the financial markets every month. It does so via the purchases of mortgage backed securities (MBS). It calls them “replacement purchases.” - Our Intellectual Bankruptcy: The “Religion” of Economics, UBI and Medicare For All
Here we stand on the precipice, and all we have in our kit is a collection of delusional magical thinking that we label “solutions.” We are not just morally and financially bankrupt, we’re intellectually bankrupt as well. Here are three examples of magical thinking that pass for intellectually sound ideas: 1. Mainstream neo-classical/ Keynesian economics. 2. Universal Basic Income. 3. Medicare for all. - Paul Craig Roberts – A Walk Through The Destruction Of America’s Once Majestic Paradise
Inlet Beach is an old Florida community in Walton County on the Gulf Coast of the panhandle of Florida. The community circa 1950 originated in federal land dispensed via a lottery to WW II veterans. Winners of the lottery received 1.25 acres in exchange for a $50 filing fee and agreement to construct an 800 square foot block house… - Another $3 Billion Paper Gold Dump, But Here Is What Is Really Moving The Gold Price
In our April 2nd report (and before) we argued that if gold could close a week over $1250 (later specified as above $1251.50), then we expected a renewed upside surge. Even in early April before that breakout gold had rallied from its late 2016 low by $130. Gold crossed that next threshold as of the weekly close of 4/7, closing that week above $1254. Gold has since moved to the mid $1290s. - Gold is on the verge of a big breakout
Last night, after Donald Trump bemoaned the strength in the dollar and the gold price jumped in reaction, I shared this chart on twitter. The last time gold tested this key resistance line, I was less optimistic about its ability to overcome it. However, as technicians like to say, the more times resistance is tested the weaker it becomes. - Analyst: Gold’s Long Correction Is Officially Over
Technical analyst Jack Chan charts the completion of the gold market’s long correction. Our proprietary cycle indicator is now up. The gold sector is on a long-term buy signal. Long-term signals can last for months and years and are more suitable for investors holding for long term. The gold sector is also on a short-term buy signal. Short-term signals can last for days and weeks, and are more suitable for traders that are nimble enough to get in and out of positions relatively quickly. A breakout was confirmed last week, suggesting that the multi-month correction since last summer is now over. This is hugely bullish for gold. - By 2020 Two-Thirds Of Wild Animals Will Have Been Wiped Out Over A 50 Year Period As Mass Die-Offs Accelerate All Over The Planet
It has been called “the long extinction”. Our planet is in the process of dying, and as you will see below, this process of death and destruction appears to be accelerating. According to a report that was put out by the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London, the number of wild animals around the globe appears to be decreasing at a rate of about 2 percent a year. 2 percent may not sound like a lot to you, but over 10 years that would mean that 20 percent of all wild animals in the world would be gone. And according to that same report, it is being projected that the total loss of wildlife during the 50 year period from 1970 to 2020 will be a staggering 67 percent… - Stocks & Dollar Crash-Gold & Silver Spike
Market cycle analyst Bo Polny says he may have been wrong in the past about a stock market top, but now the top is in and predicts, “As of March 1st (2017), we believe the stock market, the Dow, the S&P, and all the world markets for that matter, are supposed to have topped and from this point forward, we are supposed to see a very ugly April.” Polny gives another April prediction and states, “Trump’s first 100 days in office ends April 30th. Before his 100 days are up, expect three things: Expect a stock market crash, expect a dollar crash and expect gold and silver, they (Fed) are going to lose control, and you are going to see a sharp spike in the month of April.” - 28 heads of state, leaders to attend Belt & Road summit in Beijing
28 heads of state and government leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, have confirmed they will attend the Belt and Road summit in Beijing on May 14-15. On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Chinese President Xi Jinping will host the round table summit of the leaders. Dubbed ‘One Belt, One Road,’ the plan is to revive an ancient trading route stretching from Asia to Europe. Beijing and Moscow have also indicated they have reached consensus on integrating China’s ambitious One Belt One Road plan with Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union. The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation will be held from May 14 to 15 in Beijing. - Alaska Needs Much Higher Oil Prices To Reverse Its Oil Fortunes
This year marks Alaska’s 40th anniversary of the Trans Alaska Pipeline Systems (TAPS)—an 800-mile-long crude oil route that runs from the North Slope to Valdez, the northernmost ice-free port in North America. However, Alaska’s declining oil output in recent years has not only stretched the state’s budget, it has also added a challenge to the functioning of the pipeline—decreased throughput means the pipeline is now about three-quarters empty, and crude oil flows are slower. The peak of oil flow through the pipeline was at 2 million barrels per day in 1988. Last year, throughput was 517,500 bpd, a 1.8-percent increase from 2015. This was the first annual increase since 2002, but still a far cry from the days of peak flow. - Europe Gets Its Doomsday Scenario
The rise of French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has made a lot of people nervous since, among many other things, she’s in favor of leaving the eurozone, which would pretty much end the common currency. But since polling has shown her making the two-person run-off round but then losing to a mainstream candidate, the euro-elites haven’t seen any reason to panic. Here, for instance, is a chart based on February polling that shows Le Pen getting the most votes in the first round, but then – when mainstream voters coalesce around her opponent – losing by around 60% – 40%. The establishment gets a bit of a scare but remains firmly in power, no harm no foul. - Mapping the Hourly Wage Needed to Rent a 2-Bedroom Apartment in Every U.S. State
Yes, the American economy is improving, and yes, we’re creating more jobs. But the hourly wages for a lot of these jobs are stagnant at best. According to the Pew Research Center, 30 percent of America’s workforce earns a near-minimum-wage salary—that’s almost 21 million people. As a cruel paradox, rents across the country keep rising. A new report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition examines how these opposite trends play out regionally. The work maps how much an American worker needs to earn per hour in each state to rent a two-bedroom apartment. It finds that in no state can a person earning minimum wage afford such an apartment at market rent. - ‘The dominoes are starting to fall': Retailers are going bankrupt at a staggering rate
Retailers are filing for bankruptcy at an alarming rate that's quickly approaching recessionary levels. It's only April, and nine retailers have already filed for bankruptcy since the start of the year — as many as all of last year. “2017 will be the year of retail bankruptcies,” Corali Lopez-Castro, a bankruptcy lawyer, told Business Insider after she attended a recent distressed-investing conference in Palm Beach, Florida. “Retailers are running out of cash, and the dominoes are starting to fall.” - Uber Confirms Horrendous Loss in 2016
On Good Friday, when markets were closed and when the entire financial world was tuned out, and when certainly no one was supposed to pay attention, Uber, the most highly valued – at $62.5 billion – and the most scandal plagued tech startup in the world, took the until now unprecedented step of disclosing its audited revenues and losses for the fourth quarter and for the full year of 2016. Rumors of ballooning losses for 2016 had been swirling since last summer. Bloomberg reported in August that Uber had lost “at least $1.2 billion” in the first half. In December, Uber’s loss in Q3 was said to “exceed $800 million,” according to Bloomberg, and its annual loss “may hit $3 billion.” Others chimed in as some of Uber’s dozens of investors who’re getting its financial statements share them in dribs and drabs with the media. - So Who Are the Debt Slaves in this Rich Nation?
We constantly hear the factoids about “American households” that paint a picture of immense wealth – and therefore a lack of risk for consumer lenders during the next downturn. We hear: “This – the thing that happened in 2008 and 2009 – won’t happen again.” For example, total net worth (assets minus debt) of US households and non-profit organization (they’re lumped together) rose to an astronomical $92.8 trillion at the end of 2016, according to the Federal Reserve. This is up by nearly 70% in early 2009 when the Fed started its QE and zero-interest-rate programs. Inflating household wealth was one of the big priorities of the Fed during the Financial Crisis. It would crank up the economy. In an editorial in 2010, Fed Chair Ben Bernanke himself called this the “wealth effect.” So with this colossal wealth of US households, what could go wrong during the next downturn? - Millennials Are Homesteading, Buying Affordable Homes, Building Community
While it’s certainly good sport to mock “snowflakes,” not all Millennials are snowflakes. Many are homesteading, buying affordable homes and building communities that get stuff done. I discuss these trends with Drew Sample, who is living them in Ohio. ( hear a 60-second excerpt or listen to the full podcast on Drew’s site.) Although the mainstream media focuses on bubble-priced Left and Right coast homes costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, there are perfectly serviceable houses that can be had for $50,000 or less elsewhere in America. Drew just bought one, and rather than go through a bank for the mortgage, he arranged (with the help of a real estate attorney) for a family member to put up the mortgage. - Man Who Advises Top Sovereign Wealth Funds In The World Says All Hell Is Going To Break Loose In 2017
“Everything leads to gold (in 2017). Gold is the undiscovered asset. Most institutional investors have not been interested in gold because they think the Fed is raising interest rates and the economy is strong. And yet today, what happened? Gold and silver took off. Gold and silver both rose above their 200-day moving averages. With a sudden surge late in the day, Trump came out and said the dollar shouldn’t be so strong. The dollar sold off and gold and silver took off (to the upside).” - The U.S. and China: Why the Sudden Convergence on North Korea?
In the past, China resisted U.S. saber-rattling against North Korea. Now China is threatening North Korea with military action. What’s going on? Why the sudden convergence of U.S.-China threats of military force against North Korea? China Threatens To Bomb North Korea’s Nuclear Facilities If It Crosses Beijing’s “Bottom Line”. - Does Your Plan B Include a Second Place to Live If Plan A Doesn’t Work Out?
We all have a Plan A—continue living just like we’re living now. Some of us have a Plan B in case Plan A doesn’t work out, and the reasons for a Plan B break out into three general categories: Preppers who foresee the potential for a breakdown in Plan A due to a systemic “perfect storm” of events that could overwhelm the status quo’s ability to supply healthcare, food and transportation fuels for the nation’s heavily urbanized populace. People who understand their employment is precarious and contingent, and they might have to move to another locale if they lose their job and can’t find another equivalent one quickly. Those who tire of the stresses of maintaining Plan A and who long for a less stressful, less complex, cheaper and more fulfilling way of living. - A Government of Morons
It has become embarrassing to be an American. Our country has had four war criminal presidents in succession. Clinton twice launched military attacks on Serbia, ordering NATO to bomb the former Yugoslavia twice, both in 1995 and in 1999, so that gives Bill two war crimes. George W. Bush invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and attacked provinces of Pakistan and Yemen from the air. That comes to four war crimes for Bush. Obama used NATO to destroy Libya and sent mercenaries to destroy Syria, thereby commiting two war crimes. Trump attacked Syria with US forces, thereby becoming a war criminal early in his regime. - Here Is The Really Big Shocker With The World Now On The Edge Of Destruction
You have to go back to the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 to find the world as close to nuclear war as today. As tensions surrounding North Korea ratchet up, it’s all too easy to imagine it could lead to a conflict that is part nuclear, part conventional, part chemical, in which millions die and the world’s economy loses trillions of dollars. Is this an invitation to load up on gold? I would wait. The reason I say this is because when I analyze what lies behind the sharp rise in tension, I think the Korean situation is likely to take a turn towards sanity. This could mean additional downside in the metal, any short-term blip notwithstanding. Having said that, the longer term case for gold has strengthened even more. - China Starting To Resemble Bernie Madoff
Audible.com just released a new show on Bernie Madoff (Ponzi Supernova, available for free to subscribers) that explains how the world’s biggest financial scam was enabled by banks and hedge funds who were making so much money that they chose to ignore obvious red flags. - The IRS Now Has Moved Beyond Extortion To Outright Theft While the Police Rob Americans Blind
People need to realize what government is. It isn’t there to protect you. All government really is is a criminal enterprise that is the most successful one in each geographical jurisdiction. The only difference between the mafia and government is size. And the IRS is just the largest protection racket in the US. If you pay the IRS its “protection money,” which they call taxes, they won’t kidnap you and put you into a rape camp. That’s the “protection.” But now the US government is so bankrupt financially and morally that it is going beyond an outright mafia operation to straight up robbing people. In the US today both yourself and your property are guilty until proven innocent. - The Boston Marathon Bombing After Four Years
Today, April 15, 2017, is the fourth anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombing, a hoax event performed by crisis actors and tell-tale bright red Hollywood blood. Sheila Casey has done a good job of exposing the hoax just by using the time line and photos of the event. A number of agencies run training programs in which amputees working as crisis actors have a prosthesis afixed to resemble a bone as a remaining piece of a leg or arm. Casey examines the Boston event by timeline. First the crisis actors are assembled. Then the prosthesis is attached. Then the blood appears. - I Feel Sick, Because The U.S. Is On The Verge Of Making An Extremely Costly Mistake
All day long I have just felt sick. Right at this moment, we are closer to war with North Korea than we have been at any point since the Korean War ended in 1953. If Donald Trump decides to launch a military strike against North Korea’s nuclear facilities, the consequences could be absolutely catastrophic. The North Koreans have already promised to launch nukes at South Korea and at U.S. military bases in the region in return, and they also have vast stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons that they could use as well. To get an idea of the chaos that just a handful of North Korean agents armed with biological weapons could unleash inside the United States, just see this article. A military strike on North Korea could be the spark that sets off a global war in which millions of people die, and so we need to do all that we can to prevent this from happening. My hope is that if people make enough noise that Trump will back down and decide not to attack. - 9-Year-Old Boy Has A Vision Of An Asteroid Hitting The Atlantic And A Nuclear War Involving The United States
Did God give a 9-year-old boy a vision of the future of America? Last night, my wife pulled me aside and strongly urged me to watch part of an amazing video that she had found on YouTube. I was quite tired at the time, but I agreed to watch it because I could tell from my wife’s expression that she had found something special. And without a doubt, what I am about to share with you does appear to be extraordinary. A grandmother known as “A Daughter of The Highest King” on YouTube came across a dry erase board that her 9-year-old grandson had been drawing on, and the things that he had been drawing were so unusual that she decided to ask him about them. - Strong Dollar Could Cause Bond Market Crash
Renowned financial expert Martin Armstrong says the biggest risk out there is the effect a strong U.S. dollar has on the global bond market. Armstrong explains, “There’s these people who keep saying the dollar is going to crash. If the dollar crashes, the world is happier and basically celebrating. You have half the U.S. debt equivalent in emerging market debt issued in dollars. If the dollar goes up, they are in trouble. Then you are going to see sovereign defaults. . . . The U.S. is not going to default, but as you start defaults elsewhere outside the country, it makes people begin to get concerned about sovereign debt. Sovereign debt is the worst of all. It’s not secured. If the U.S. government defaulted on its debt, what would happen? You cannot go down to the National Gallery and start lifting Picassos.” - The Dow Falls Another 138 Points As Geopolitical Shaking Forces Investors To Race For The Exits
Stock prices just keep on falling, and many analysts are now wondering if a full-blown stock market crash is in our near future. On Thursday, the S&P 500 and the Dow both closed at 2 month lows after Donald Trump dropped “the mother of all bombs” in Afghanistan. It was the first time that one of these bombs has ever been used in live combat, and it is being reported that each of these bombs weighs 22,000 pounds and costs 16 million dollars to make. Of course Trump was trying to send a very clear message to the rest of the world by dropping this bomb, and investors interpreted it as a sign that we are getting even closer to war. - Tech Stocks Experience Their Longest Losing Streak In 5 Years As Panic Begins To Grip The Market
S&P 500 tech stocks have now fallen for 9 days in a row. The last time tech stocks declined for so many days in a row was in 2012, and that was the only other time in history when we have seen such a long losing streak. As I have stated before, the post-election “Trump rally” is officially done, and the market is starting to roll over as investors begin to realize that all of the buying momentum has completely evaporated. Tech stocks tend to be particularly volatile, and so the fact that they are starting to lead the way down should definitely be alarming to many in the investing community. - Chinese firm halves worker costs by hiring army of robots to sort out 200,000 packages a day
The machines are cheaper than human workers and are also more efficient and accurate in sorting out parcels, spokesman says. A viral video showing an army of little orange robots sorting out packages in a warehouse in eastern China is the latest example of how machines are increasingly taking over menial factory work on the mainland. The behind-the-scenes footage of the self-charging robot army in a sorting centre of Chinese delivery powerhouse Shentong (STO) Express was shared on People’s Daily’s social media accounts on Sunday. - The new age of Ayn Rand: how she won over Trump and Silicon Valley
As they plough through their GCSE revision, UK students planning to take politics A-level in the autumn can comfort themselves with this thought: come September, they will be studying one thinker who does not belong in the dusty archives of ancient political theory but is achingly on trend. For the curriculum includes a new addition: the work of Ayn Rand. It is a timely decision because Rand, who died in 1982 and was alternately ridiculed and revered throughout her lifetime, is having a moment. Long the poster girl of a particularly hardcore brand of free-market fundamentalism – the advocate of a philosophy she called “the virtue of selfishness” – Rand has always had acolytes in the conservative political classes. The Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, is so committed a Randian, he was famous for giving every new member of his staff a copy of Rand’s gargantuan novel, Atlas Shrugged (along with Freidrich Hayek’s Road to Serfdom). The story, oft-repeated, that his colleague in the US Senate, Rand Paul, owes his first name to his father Ron’s adulation of Ayn (it rhymes with “mine”) turns out to be apocryphal, but Paul describes himself as a fan all the same. - G7 Fails To Agree On New Russian Sanctions: US, UK Push Rejected By Europe
While eager to show a united front against Russia and Syria, G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy again failed to reach an agreement over new sanctions against the two nations as a British plan to impose targeted sanctions on military personnel in Russia and Syria, supported by the US, was rejected by European allies. “There is no consensus on additional new sanctions,” Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said. - Trump Flips On Five Core Campaign Promises In Under 24 Hours
Blink, and you missed Trump's blistering, seamless transformation into a mainstream politician. In the span of just a few hours, President Trump flipped to new positions on several core policy issues, backing off on no less than five repeated campaign promises. In a WSJ interview and a subsequent press conference, Trump either shifted or completely reversed positions on a number of foreign and economic policy decisions, including the fate of the US Dollar, how to handle China and the future of the chair of the Federal Reserve. - Trump wants health-care before tax reform, but expects both to be done by year end
President Donald Trump said he intends to repeal Obamacare before moving on to tax reform and the rebuilding of U.S. infrastructure. “We're going to have a phenomenal tax reform, but I have to do health care first,” Trump said in an interview that aired Wednesday on Fox Business. Trump and the GOP House leaders last month canceled a planned vote on the American Health Care Act, which was the Republican plan to replace the Obama-era health-care law. In the interview, Trump said his initial August deadline for a tax reform plan will be moved back, but he plans to complete both health care and tax reforms by the end of this year. - Recession Alert: Government Revenues Suffer Biggest Drop Since The Financial Crisis
On the surface, today's monthly budget statement was disappointing: in March the US Treasury brought in total receipts of $216 billion, below the $228 billion last March, versus outlays of a record $392 billion, resulting in a deficit of $176 billion, more than the $167 billion expected, and $68 billion more than the previous year. For the fiscal year through March 31, the total US budget deficit was $527 billion, compared to $459 billion on year ago. - Zimbabwe Central Bank To Accept Cows, TVs, Fridges As Collateral
Long before China Huishan Dairy Holdings, China's largest daily farmer, became known as the latest Chinese corporate fraud whose stock crashed 90% in seconds after a Muddy Waters report brought attention to its questionable shadow banking funding, exposing the company as a hollow sham and leading to the prompt departure of four of its directors who hope (in vain) to escape prison time, the company was best known for being the first ever company to do cow-collateralized stock buybacks. - Tony Robbins, Pitbull And 5 Other Signs That Toronto Real Estate Is About To Crash
If Tony Robbins and Pitbull come to your town to present you with ‘an offer you can't refuse' to buy residential real estate after it's already surged over 200% in the past decade and 30-40% in the last year, that should be all the evidence you need to do the exact opposite. If, however, you're the type of person that doesn't easily pick up on the ‘subtle' market cues then here's a couple more reasons to avoid Toronto real estate at all costs. - “Worse Than Lehman” – Euro Uncertainty Spikes To Record High
Investors are showing increasing concern before the French presidential elections, with market complacency giving way to extreme cautiousness. As Bloomberg reports, the spread between one-month and one-week implied volatilities on the euro versus the dollar closed at a record high of 6.35 percentage points on Monday, as near-term risks remain subdued and focus is almost solely placed on the chance that anti-euro candidate Marine Le Pen wins the race. - Saudi Arabia Vs. Russia: The Next Oil Price War
International oil markets could be heading towards a new war, as leading OPEC and non-OPEC producers are vying for increased stakes. The unexpected cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC countries, instigated by the full support of Saudi Arabia (OPEC) and Russia (non-OPEC) has brought some stabilization to the crude markets for almost half a year. The expected crude oil price crisis has been averted, it seems, leaving enough room when looking at the fundamentals to a bull market in the coming months. As long as Saudi Arabia, Russia and some other major producers (UAE, Kuwait), are supporting a production cut extension, financials will be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. - S&P 500 Chart Indicates A Potential Top Forming
Below looks at the S&P 500 over the past couple of years on a weekly closing basis. The S&P hit a key level around 6-weeks ago and continues to “back off!” The Power of the Pattern applied Fibonacci to the 2016 “weekly closing highs and lows” at each (1), then applied the 161% extension level to them. SPY hit the 161% extension level around 6 weeks ago, at the 238 level and has proceeded to create a series of lower highs, while breaking a steep rising support line at (2). This line was created off the lows at the time of the election. - Former Fed Analyst: Gold Is “Ultimate Safe-Haven Investment”
From both an economic and political standpoint, it seems the only certainty in the world right now is uncertainty. As Danielle DiMartino Booth says, that’s a good reason to buy gold. Booth worked as an as an analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. After leaving the Fed, she founded Money Strong, LLC, an economic consulting firm. She also authored Fed Up: An Insider’s Take on Why the Federal Reserve Is Bad for America. In a recent appearance on Jay Taylor’s Turning Hard Times into Tough Times podcast, Booth called gold “the ultimate safe-haven investment.” - The Ticking Debt Bomb
Tick … tick … tick … That sound you hear is a ticking debt bomb. According to the most recent data released by the Federal Reserve, outstanding credit card debt eclipsed the $1 trillion mark in February, increasing 6.2% from a year ago. Credit card debt now stands at the highest level since the 2008 crash, according to Fortune. However, credit cards make up just one component of the debt bomb in America. Student and auto loan debt are also both above $1 trillion and rising. Total consumer credit rose by $15.2 billion in February to $3.79 trillion. The annual growth rate of total consumer debt stands at 4.8%. - Bank of England Rigging LIBOR – Gold Market Too?
The LIBOR scandal reemerged yesterday as the BBC’s Panorama uncovered a secret recording implicating the Bank of England in the interest rate manipulation saga. According to the BBC the central bank pressured commercial banks during the 2008 financial crisis to lower their settings for LIBOR. In a telephone recording, aired last night in the UK, a senior Barclays manager, Mark Dearlove, can be heard instructing Libor submitter Peter Johnson, to lower his rates. Mr Johnson: “So I’ll push them below a realistic level of where I think I can get money?” Mr Dearlove: “The fact of the matter is we’ve got the Bank of England, all sorts of people involved in the whole thing… I am as reluctant as you are… these guys have just turned around and said just do it.” - Millennials Are Abandoning the Postwar Engines of Growth: Suburbs and Autos
If anything defined the postwar economy between 1946 and 1999, it was the exodus of the middle class from cities to suburbs and the glorification of what Jim Kunstler calls Happy Motoring: freeways, cars and trucks, ten lanes of private vehicles, the vast majority of which are transporting one person. Ol’ 55 (freeway cars and trucks) (written by Tom Waits, performed by The Eagles). The build-out of suburbia drove growth for decades: millions of new suburban homes, miles of new freeways, sprawling shopping malls, and tens of millions of new autos, trucks, and SUVs, transforming one-car households into three vehicle households. Then there was all the furnishings for those expansive new homes, and the credit necessary to fund the homes, vehicles, furnishings, etc. Now the Millennial generation is turning its back on both of these bedrock engines of growth. As various metrics reveal, the Millennials are fine with taking Uber to work, buying their shoes from Zappos (return them if they don’t fit, no problem), and making whatever tradeoffs are necessary to live in urban cores. - Is That Armageddon Over The Horizon?
The insouciance of the Western world is extraordinary. It is not only Americans who permit themselves to be brainwashed by CNN, MSNBC, NPR, the New York Times and Washington Post, but also their counterparts in Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan, who rely on the war propaganda machine that poses as a media. The Western “leaders,” that is, the puppets on the end of the strings pulled by the powerful private interest groups and the Deep State, are just as insouciant. Trump and his counterparts in the American Empire must be unaware that they are provoking war with Russia and China, or else they are psychopaths. A new White House Fool has replaced the old fool. The New Fool has sent his Secretary of State to Russia. For what? To deliver an ultimatum? To make more false accusations? To apologize for the lies? - Jim Rickards: Implementing Trump’s Economic Plan is “Sheer Fantasy”
Is the so-called Trump Trade about to unravel? Economic analyst Jim Rickards thinks so. The Trump Trade rests on the idea that the president’s proposed policies of lower taxes, infrastructure spending, Obamacare repeal, and decreasing government regulations will juice the economy. As a result, corporate earnings will increase and the stock market will rise with them. Indeed, with Trump’s election, the stock market took off on a bull run. Between Election Day and March 1, the Dow gained 15%, moving from 18,332.74 to 21,115.55. Some have dubbed it the “Trump Bump.” - Art Cashin – A Great Storm Is Brewing
On this day in 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte stood in the hands of captors. Just three years earlier he had been the self-proclaimed Emperor of France, de Facto ruler of most of Europe and the proud father of a new-born son by his second wife. In addition, even his enemies had conceded him a unique sense of governance – his Napoleonic code stands to this day on two continents. But he had an aggressive M & A department that told him to gamble all this for a hostile takeover of Russia. It wasn’t junk bonds that did him in. Instead it was junk weather. When his victorious army found itself forthright but freezing, he was forced to retreat. And even though he fought off old enemies in incredible ways – once they touched French soil he abdicated to save his people. - Grand Goal Is War
Analyst/trader Gregory Mannarino says war should figure into any investment strategy because one is coming. Mannarino says, “It should be clear to people that we are now at a pivotal moment. . . . Whenever the economy in the United States starts to get shaky, unfortunately, we seem to escalate into new wars, and I think that is where we are going. We have spoken about this in the past. This is their grand goal. War is the goal. War has always been the goal. We are already in it, and I really believe this war started a while ago. It’s now really starting to come into the public light, and now we are in the propaganda war. This is what goes on at the beginning of every major engagement.” - Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – April 13, 2017
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his regular short weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams' weekly newsletter.
Precious Metals Are The Only Lifeboat! I have persistently WARNED you what was happening in the gold market and why you needed to convert your paper assets to physical gold and silver. You need to hedge against the financial instability with physical gold and silver. Call the experts to help you convert your IRA or 401k into Gold, Silver and Other Precious Metals. Call GoldCo NOW before it's too late! Call Toll-Free 1-877-414-1385.
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – April 13, 2017
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his regular short weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams' weekly newsletter. If you are not a subscriber please subscribe for free by entering your name and email address in the box below.
Pastor David Bowen is pastor of Standing Stones Community Church in Phoenix, AZ. For more information about Pastor Dave please visit http://standingstonescc.org/
Pastor Dave is also creator of the website Interpreting The Times, understanding world events through scripture. You can find out more by visiting http://www.interpretingthetimes.com/
Latest News Articles – April 13, 2017
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 April 7, 2017 to April 13, 2017:
- The Price Of Gold Spikes As Investors Get Spooked By Talk Of World War III And Nuclear Conflict
Whenever the world starts going crazy, investors instinctively begin flocking to precious metals. So it wasn’t exactly a surprise when gold and silver prices started to move upward aggressively as global leaders continued to talk about the possibility of World War III and nuclear conflict. The price of gold spiked to a five month high on Tuesday, and as I write this article gold is currently sitting at $1277.10 an ounce. Right now silver is at $18.35 an ounce, and many analysts believe that it is poised for a dramatic jump in the weeks and months to come as global tensions continue to rise. Google searches for the phrase “going to war” are the highest that they have been at any point in recent years, and many people out there are starting to understand that the U.S. could soon be facing military conflicts in Syria and in North Korea simultaneously. - Donald Trump Is NOT Bluffing – So What Happens If Kim Jong-Un Is Not Bluffing Either?
Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to “solve” the North Korean problem, and the North Koreans have repeatedly promised to use nuclear weapons in response to any attack by the U.S. military. So what happens if both sides are not bluffing? For eight years, Americans had become accustomed to Barack Obama making threats and never following through on them, so it surprised a lot of people when Trump actually backed up his words by striking Syria after publicly pledging to do so. Now Trump has publicly committed to take military action in North Korea, and I am absolutely convinced that he is not bluffing. But if Kim Jong-Un is not bluffing either, and I don’t think that he is, that means that we are on the verge of what could be a horrifying military conflict with the North Koreans. - How China Is Keeping Its Financial System From Collapsing, In One Chart
Overnight, Bloomberg has posted the latest article in a long-running series of warnings about the dangers of China's, now $9 trillion – and fast approaching 100% of GDP – shadow banking system, which it says is playing a “game of chicken with investors”, and which boils down to the following: if there is a high profile failure of any one of the countless wealth management product, or WMPs, which comprise the vast majority of China's shadow banking system, and if the government does not bail it out – as it has threatened on several occasions to do – there may be a mass “run on the shadow bank”, resulting in unknown adverse consequences for China's broader financial markets. - California Taxpayers Expected To Nearly Double Public Pension Contributions Over Next 5 Years
The California Policy Center (CPC) has just updated it's annual study on pension contributions required from local California municipalities and, to our complete ‘shock', the conclusions are brutal for Cali taxpayers. Among other things, the study found that California taxpayers will be forced to double their contributions to CalPERS over just the next 5 years alone from $5.3 billion in 2017/2018 tax year to $9.8 billion in 2022/2023. - Are Corporate Pensions About To Start Dumping Their $1 Trillion In Equity Holdings
Several large public pensions around the country are in serious trouble and, after several years of paying out more in distributions than they take in (which is the textbook definition of a ponzi scheme, btw), many are just one more equity market crash away from completely running out of cash. In fact, we recently wrote about how Chicago's largest pension fund could run out of cash within 4 years if such a scenario played out (see “How Chicago's Largest Pension May Run Out Of Cash In As Little As 4 Years”). - Mac Slavo Warns Prepare For War: “It's Going To Obliterate The Global Financial System…”
You know what’s so tragic about America? Despite all of the wars our nation gets involved in, we’re secretly one of the most peaceful cultures on the planet. We voted for George Bush, because he promised us a non-interventionist foreign policy. We voted for Obama, because he promised to bring the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. We voted for Trump, because he promised to end the nation building policies of his predecessor. And that’s the real tragedy. We’ve been voting for peace for nearly 20 years now, and all we get is war. That should really tell you something. It should tell you that our system doesn’t care about what the president stands for, or what the voters want. The system is never held accountable for anything, so there is nothing stopping it. One way or another, the deep state always gets its way. So if our government wants a war, then you can bet that we’re going to war. - Gold Prices Surge Above Key 200 Day Moving Average $1270 Level
Gold prices surged another 2% to a five-month high above $1,270 amidst geopolitical uncertainty and weak US economic data. The break above the 200-day moving average has cleared the way for a run towards $1,300/oz. It means that gold continues to be one of the best performing assets in 2017 with gains of 10.3% year to date building on the 9% gains in 2016. Gold’s move was a traditional flight to safety following the US’ missile attack on Syria and Trump making aggressive sounds regarding intervention against North Korea including tweets. The weak jobs report also prompted fears that future Fed interest rate hikes could be delayed or slowed and this has provided further support for the price of gold. - Toshiba files unaudited results and says future is in doubt
Toshiba has filed its delayed financial results, warning that the company's survival is at risk. “There are material events and conditions that raise substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern,” the company said in a statement. The electronics-to-construction giant reported a loss of 532bn yen (£3.8bn; $4.8bn) for April to December. However, the results have not been approved by the firm's auditors. These latest financial results have already been delayed twice and raise the possibility that Toshiba could be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Toshiba's president, Satoshi Tsunakawa, apologised for the problems facing the firm and called the auditor's decision not to approve the financial report as “truly regrettable”. He said he hoped the company would not be delisted. - Confusion In Bond World, As Eurodollar Shorts Hit New Record High Over $3 Trillion
One week after we observed the biggest monthly short squeeze in 10Y TSYs in history, it was a relatively calm week in the longer-end of the Treasury curve. According to the latest CFTC data, spec net shorts in aggregate Treasury futures was little changed from the previous week at 612K contracts in TY equivalents. While, they continued to pare net shorts in TU and TY by 18K and 14K contracts, respectively, they increased their net shorts in FV and TN by 35K contracts and 6K contracts, respectively. Spec net shorts as share of open interest was unchanged at -5.8% over the week and was at about -2.0 standard deviations away from neutral. - War on Cash Puts ECB, EU on Collision Course with Germany
Relations between Germany, and the ECB have curdled in recent times over a key issue: the role of cash. Germans have a soft spot for physical lucre while the ECB and Europe’s executive branch, the European Commission, have openly expressed their desire to suppress, or even punish, its use. For Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, the war on cash is a war on personal freedom and choice, in the name of saving a financial system and its absurd negative interest rates. Last year Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann warned that it would be “disastrous” if people started to believe cash would be abolished — an oblique reference to the risk of negative interest rates and the escalating war on cash triggering a run on cash. - Great Debt Unwind: Consumer Bankruptcies Jump, First since 2010. Commercial Bankruptcies Spike
Commercial bankruptcy filings, from corporations to sole proprietorships, spiked 28% in March from February, the largest month-to-month move in the data series of the American Bankruptcy Institute going back to 2012. They’re up 8% year-over-year. Over the past 24 months, they soared 37%! At 3,658, they’re at the highest level for any March since 2013. Commercial bankruptcy filings skyrocketed during the Financial Crisis and peaked in March 2010 at 9,004. Then they fell sharply until they reached their low point in October 2015. November 2015 was the turning point, when for the first time since March 2010, commercial bankruptcy filings rose year-over-year. - Government Shutdown Odds Are Rising, Goldman Warns
Having been quite confident that Trump would be able to pass some form of Tax reform as recently as two weeks ago, Goldman's Washington analyst, Alec Phillips, is turning increasingly more pessimistic on the prospects that Trump's economic agenda will gain traction in Congress, especially now that attention has seemingly shifted to Trump's bombing policies in Syria (and perhaps North Korea in the not too distant future). In a note over the weekend, the Goldman strategist writes that “following the failure to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which would repeal the Medicaid expansion and tax hikes enacted in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and reduce the tax subsidies for health insurance under that law, Republican leaders in the House have struggled to develop an alternative health proposal that might find enough support to pass. At this point, it still appears possible that the House could pass a revised version of the bill at some point in May. However, the compromises that might be made in the House to gain support are apt to reduce support in the Senate, and the process in that chamber would take much longer than even the drawn out House process, in our view.” - Goldman Downgrades French Bonds Ahead Of Elections
Roughly at the same time as today's French election narrative shifted again as traders started paying attention to the suddenly surging in the polls far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, which pushed the Euro to the lowest level in a month, Goldman has come out with a recommendation to short June OAT futures (OATM7) at 147-72, for an initial target of 144.00, and stops on a close above 150.00. In the note, Goldman's Francesco Garzarelli writes that a victory by a moderate reformist presidential candidate (Fillon, Macron), which is the base case at the bank, would result in a narrowing of French bond spreads but may be offset by a selloff in core rates. He writes that the “fair level” of 10-year spread to bunds is in the region of 30bp-40bp, from 70bp currently, according to Goldman. - Three More Reasons to Worry about the Euro’s Future
“Despite uncertainty over Brexit — formally triggered last week by prime minister Theresa May — central bankers from around the world see the UK as a safer prospect for their reserve investments than the Eurozone, a new poll reveals”: The Financial Times. At first whiff, this may smell counter intuitive. After all, it’s the UK that’s supposed to be in the weaker negotiating position over Brexit terms. It also risks losing a sizable chunk of its core industry, finance. Yet according to a survey of reserve managers at 80 central banks, who together are responsible for investments worth almost €6 trillion, the stability of the monetary union is their greatest fear for 2017. - Buy, Sell, or Crash? Fed Warns on Stocks and Look what Happens
The Fed has planted three separate warnings on high stock prices into its March-meeting Minutes, released last week. In the past, the Fed has warned on various occasions on high stock prices, with, let’s say mixed results. Stocks have crashed after warnings, and they have crashed without warnings, and they have soared after warnings. Perhaps the most infamous warning on stock prices was when Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan on December 5, 1996, said in a speech that “irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values.” Stocks quaked in their boots for about one breath then soared for another three years and three months before totally crashing. - “A Blatant Display of Unscientific Propaganda:” Cornell Student Exposes GMO Propaganda in Scathing New Letter
My name is Robert, and I am a Cornell University undergraduate student. However, I’m not sure if I want to be one any more. Allow me to explain. Cornell, as an institution, appears to be complicit in a shocking amount of ecologically destructive, academically unethical, and scientifically deceitful behavior. Perhaps the most potent example is Cornell’s deep ties to industrial GMO agriculture, and the affiliated corporations such as Monsanto. I’d like to share how I became aware of this troubling state of affairs. - 700 jobs under threat as Jaeger falls into administration
Fashion chain Jaeger has collapsed into administration, putting 700 high street jobs at risk. The group's directors have appointed AlixPartners to oversee the process following failed attempts by the company's private equity owner, Better Capital, to sell the struggling business. Jaeger – which employs around 680 staff across 46 stores, 63 concessions, its London head office and a logistics centre in Kings Lynn – had been on the market for around £30 million. - 40 Different Studies that Confirm GMO Foods are Destroying Your Health
There has been a debate raging about GMOs for a long time now. On one side of the debate is the idea that genetic engineering is progress for humanity, and it is a natural extension of more traditional breeding techniques. The other side believes genetically modified foods are unsafe for human consumption and harmful to the environment. Biotech companies claim that genetic modification yields more precise control over artificial selection. Studies funded by the industry consistently demonstrate safety, but only over the short term. - Trump is Pushing US Into Scripted and Pre-Planned World War III
Remember before the (s)election when Donald Trump, who was a New York Democrat running as a Republican, was the anti-war candidate? And Killary Clinton, who was a lifelong Democrat, the party that sells itself as the more anti-war party, was the war candidate? And, how Trump’s rhetoric about making friends with Russia and even letting Russia take care of ISIS in Syria led many to believe that the only way to get out of a potential World War III scenario was to vote for Trump? And then how Trump was elected, started saber-rattling with Russia… and China… and North Korea… and then bombed Syria just like Hillary Clinton would have? Yeah, that all happened. - John Embry – A Catastrophic Endgame Is Rapidly Approaching
With continued uncertainty in global markets, today John Embry told King World News that a catastrophic endgame is rapidly approaching. “Eric, in my vacation enforced absence, the pressure on the gold and silver markets has certainly intensified, as the usual suspects move Heaven and Earth to ensure that sharply rising gold and silver prices don’t undermine the fake reality created by the Western central banks and their almost manic manipulation of the larger markets — stocks, bonds, currencies, real estate, etc… - Washington’s Deception Is Aimed at Russia
According to a report on RT, Secretary of State Tillerson has on CBS backed away from his previously reported aggressive rhetoric reported by the presstitutes against Russia and Syria. According to the RT report, Tillerson said that Washington’s plan is to defeat ISIS, not to bring regime change to Syria. It is up to the Syrian people, Tillerson reportedly said, to choose their own president. Tillerson said on CBS that “We’ve seen what violent regime change looks like in Libya and the kind of chaos that can be unleashed and indeed the kind of misery that it enacts on its own people,” he said on CBS. “I think we have to learn the lessons of the past,” he emphasized on ABC, adding, “Any time you go on and have a violent change at the top, it is very difficult to create the conditions for stability longer term.” - Honest Pension Returns Equal Mass-Bankruptcy
Last year the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, otherwise known as Calpers, cut the expected return on the funds it invests for plan beneficiaries from 7.5% to 7%. Seems like a modest change that should have a correspondingly limited impact on all concerned, right? Alas, that’s not how things work in the realm of compound returns, where small initial changes produce hugely different outcomes. In fact, this is a bankruptcy-level event for some California cities. - The Debt Crisis Of 2017: Once Their Vacation Ends, Congress Will Have 4 Days To Avoid A Government Shutdown On April 29
April 2017 could turn out to be one of the most important months in U.S. history that we have seen in a very long time. On April 6th, Donald Trump attacked Syria on the 100th anniversary of the day that the U.S. officially entered World War I, and now at the end of this month we could be facing an unprecedented political crisis in Washington. On Friday, members of Congress left town for their two week “Easter vacation”, and they won’t resume work until April 25th. What this means is that Congress will have precisely four days when they get back to pass a bill to fund government operations or there will be a government shutdown starting on April 29th. Up to this point, there has been very little urgency by either party to move a spending bill forward. It is almost as if everyone is already resigned to the fact that a government shutdown will happen. The Democrats will greatly benefit from a government shutdown because they can just blame the entire mess on the Republicans. But for the GOP, this is essentially the equivalent of political malpractice. To me, there is simply no way that Congress is going to be able to agree on a bill that funds the entire government in just four days. And it turns out that this upcoming deadline comes exactly on the 100th day of Trump’s presidency… - Not Prepared: Will Most Americans Be Absolutely Blindsided By Multiple Wars And A Simultaneous Economic Collapse?
According to CBS News, an astounding three-fourths of all Americans have to “scramble to cover their living costs” each month. In other words, most of the country is either living paycheck to paycheck or very close to it. But instead of tightening their belts and trying to put something away for the very hard times that are coming, most Americans are completely and utterly unprepared for what is ahead because the people that they trust on television keep telling them that everything is going to be okay. Unfortunately, everything is not going to be “okay”, and when things start falling apart all around us there is going to be a lot of anger directed toward those that have been lulling everyone into a false sense of security. - South Korean Paper Reports China Has Deployed 150,000 Troops To North Korea Border
While the catalyst is unclear, it appears the market dropped as headlines of further sanctions against Russia appeared and reports of China deploying 150,000 troops to its North Korea border. According to Korean news agency Chosun, the “Chinese army has deployed about 150,000 troops to the North Korean border in two groups to prepare for unforeseen circumstances.” The reason: the prospect of “military options”, such as preemptive attacks on North Korea, like the one the United States launched on Syria. - First Ever Global Government Crash Coming
Internet data mining expert Clif High uses what he calls “predictive linguistics” to spot trends and make predictions for future events. In his latest in-depth report, High sees a “huge” calamity coming for humanity. Clif High explains, “There is all kinds of data for money and lack of money and lack of funding and all kinds of emotions around this. There are hints in the data that something huge is coming for August and September that is being exposed by the language now. I think it’s a bond crash or not a bond crash because I don’t know how that works. It’s not a stock market crash. The data I am looking at now says the stock market is not meaningful. We may lose 50 cents on every dollar in the stock market in just a few days, but it’s meaningless. It won’t make any difference at all to anybody according to what the data is showing me because the real crisis is in the crash of government.” - America’s Retailers Are Closing Stores Faster Than Ever
The battered American retail industry took a few more lumps this week, with stores at both ends of the price spectrum preparing to close their doors. At the bottom, the seemingly ubiquitous Payless Inc. shoe chain filed for bankruptcy and announced plans to shutter hundreds of locations. Ralph Lauren Corp., meanwhile, said it will close its flagship Fifth Avenue Polo store — a symbol of old-fashioned luxury that no longer resonates with today’s shoppers. And the teen-apparel retailer Rue21 Inc. could be the next casualty. The chain, which has about 1,000 stores, is preparing to file for bankruptcy as soon as this month, according to people familiar with the situation. Just a few years ago, it was sold to private equity firm Apax Partners for about a billion dollars. “It’s an industry that’s still in search for answers,” said Noel Hebert, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “I don’t know how many malls can reinvent themselves.” - Creepy IMF Paper Teaches Governments How to Wage War on Cash
There’s been another shot fired in the “war on cash.” Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a working paper offering governments suggestions on how to move toward a cashless society even in the face of strong public opposition. Over the last several years, we’ve seen a steady push to eliminate, or at least limit, the use of cash around the world. In May of 2016, the European Central bank announced it will stop producing and issuing 500-euro notes by the end of 2018. Not long before the EU announcement, a former Obama economic adviser/ex-Treasury secretary floated the idea of eliminating the $100 bill in the US. - Larry Lindsey – What The World Is Now Witnessing Is Unprecedented
On the heels of the U.S. attack on Syria, the man who served three U.S. presidents and was also a governor of the Federal Reserve, told King World News that what we are now witnessing is unprecedented. “When you look at the U.S. economy, Larry, there’s a rot that’s underneath it. John Williams of Shadowstats keeps track of the real unemployment, and when he quantifies it the way they used to in the 1980s it’s around 23%. We haven’t really seen it come off of that 23% figure yet. - A Loss Of Faith In The American Dream And Why All Roads Lead To China And A New Gold-Backed Monetary System
On the heels of wild week that included a missile attack against Syria, today one of the top money managers in the world spoke with King World News about a loss of faith in the American dream and why all roads lead to China and a new gold-backed monetary system. “One of the most disquieting reports to come out recently has been that in the U.S. – in contrast to every other developed country – death rates have been rising among middle-aged, largely middle-class whites. At the century’s start, death rates for this demographic were roughly equal in the U.S., France, and Germany. Today death rates in the U.S. are more than 30 percent greater… - The U.S. Entered World War I On April 6, 1917 – Did Trump Just Start World War III On April 6, 2017?
Did World War III begin on April 6th, 2017? After Donald Trump fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria on Thursday night, millions of Americans were cheering, but the cheering isn’t going to last for long if a new world war erupts. What is amazing to me is that this happened on the 100th anniversary of the United States entry into World War I. The U.S. officially entered that war on April 6th, 1917, and now 100 years later to the day Donald Trump has essentially declared war on Syria. If you think using the term “World War III” is alarmist, you might want to tell that to the vast numbers of people that are buzzing about a new world war all over social media. If you don’t yet understand why a strike on Syria could be so dangerous, go back and read my article from yesterday. If we continue striking Syria, we could very easily find ourselves in a direct military conflict with Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. - Ron Paul: “Zero Chance” Assad Behind Chemical Weapons Attack In Syria; Likely A False Flag
According to former Congressman Ron Paul, the chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun that killed 30 children and has led to calls for the Trump administration to intervene in Syria could have been a false flag attack. As Paul Joseph Watson details, pointing out that the prospect of peace in Syria was moving closer before the attack, with ISIS and Al-Qaeda on the run, Paul said the attack made no sense. - Why Traders Are Now Selling Insurance To Protect Against Volatility: A “Feedback Loop” Theory
Over the past several months, one of the proposals floated on this website to explain the strange collapse in volatility at a time when uncertainty has soared, was the so-called “negative convexity” gamma trade, demonstrated best by the Catalyst Funds' Hedged Futures Strategy Fund in mid-February, according to which traders buying vol has led to dealers offsetting these purchases with more than proportional purchases of offsetting underlying assets as a hedge, in the process pushing sending realized – and thus implied – volatility even lower. Today, the WSJ picks up on this idea, and looks at a possible “feedback loop” scenario in which selling of volatility leads to even more selling of volatility, resulting in a market in which the VIX appears oddly disconnected from prevailing nervous sentiment. According to the WSJ's Jon Sindreau, the theory, advanced by several money managers, bankers and analysts, “describes a type of feedback loop in which calm markets make selling insurance against sharp swings in asset prices profitable, which makes the markets more calm, which then makes selling insurance yet more attractive. And on and on.” - Gerald Celente Just Released Third Major Trend Forecast For 2017!
On a day where stocks are rallying and gold is weaker, top trends forecaster Gerald Celente has just released a third major trend forecast for 2017! Who Ever Said 2017 Would Be A Dull Year? “At the Trends Research Institute, we observe three worlds of influence that drive trends up or bring them down: The media world, the political world and the real world. For the vast majority of society, beliefs are established and decisions are influenced by mass-media headline stories and social-media sound bites… both of which are steeped in overtones from the political world and passed off as news you can use. Absent real-world facts and solid numbers – as the Donald Trump stock market rally, which has entered its fifth month, stalls – the 10 percent Standard & Poor’s bounce was pumped up by the business-media world of economic hype and the political world of hope and change you can believe in… - Michael Savage Turns on Trump, Says Syrian Gas Attack Was False Flag Operation
Conservative talk show host, Michael Savage, who fervently supported Trump during the Presidential campaign, soured on him today. Savage, referencing his background in science, having a PhD in epidemiology, said the alleged gas attack in the ISIS controlled city of Idlib was most likely phosgene and not sarin. Backing up his claim that the attack did not contain sarin, Savage made reference to photos showing first-responders attending to bodies without gloves or protective gear. Had sarin been used in the attack, all of those men in white helmets would be dead. - IMF De-Cashing: Soft-Selling Financial Enslavement
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) or as I like to call them – International Mafia Federation – is showing its true colors and proving beyond question this organization is nothing more than street-corner-thugs in high priced suits. With the release of this latest working paper on how to enslave nations, steal the remaining sovereignty of the people and the nations they have drawn up plans to force a cashless society upon all the people within IMF member nations. - Uncertainty and the Humility of Forecasting an Unknowable Future
Certainty and uncertainty come in a variety of flavors. “Certainty” seems rather definite, but lurking beneath certainty is the more scientifically verifiable notion of probability: the probability of outcomes can be high enough to qualify as certain and low enough to qualify as unlikely. We can’t know with perfect certainty that our neighbor hasn’t invented a death-ray and may decide to test it on us due to that simmering feud over his dog Fluffy’s antics on our yard. But we can make an assessment of the probability of this occurring, and conclude the probability is low with a high degree of certainty. - The World’s Best Economist
If you want to learn real economics instead of neoliberal junk economics, read Michael Hudson’s books. What you will learn is that neoliberal economics is an apology for the rentier class and the large banks that have succeeded in financializing the economy, shifting consumer spending power from the purchase of goods and services that drive the real economy to the payment of interest and fees to banks. His latest book is J is for Junk Economics. It is written in the form of a dictionary, but the definitions give you the precise meaning of economic terms, the history of economic concepts, and describe the transformation of economics from classical economics, where the emphasis was on taxing incomes that are not the product of the production of goods and services, to neoliberal economics, which rests on the taxation of labor and production. - Social Media Companies Must Be Made Public Utilities to Stop Further Abuse
Political correctness has become a cancer in Western society. It inhibits the free and open discussion of ideas, making all of us the worse off for it as it slowly erodes our proud culture of free and open speech. And we’re not talking about repressing anything even close to hate speech, unless you think that dressing up in the colors of the American flag is somehow hate speech. And no, that’s not a joke. In today’s information age, free speech has never been more powerful, or threatening to established powers. And because freedom of speech is generally enshrined in Western culture while censorship is frowned upon, they have had to go with other routes to censor information. Their latest ‘non-censorship censorship’ tactic is to simply label it as ‘fake news’. And while that’s been going on for a while, Germany has stepped it up by putting it into law. - Ron Paul: “The Neo-Conservatives Won”
It's “a victory for neo-conservatives” is how Ron Paul described the US strike on Syria, saying that he does not expect peace talks to resume any time soon. Speaking to RT, Ron Paul said that there is no proof of Damascus’ guilt that could trigger such a rash and violent response from the US. “I don't think the evidence is there, at least it hasn’t been presented, and they need a so-called excuse, they worked real hard, our government and their coalition.” This is not the first time something like this has happened in Syria or elsewhere, Paul said, but now it is convenient to pay attention and react immediately. - Millions of Google Android Phones Actively Spying On Their Users Privacy
The question of the recent decades has been how much of our liberty can we and should we give up in the name of security. And while that question continues to persist, the new question of the modern age is how much privacy can we and should we give up in the name of convenience? We have apps that make life infinitely easier and more convenient, but with each app we use we give them some of our personal data. And while most of us think we can control what data each app gets, new research shows we might be gravely mistaken. - The Spoils of War: Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise For Bombing Syria
IN EVERY TYPE of government, nothing unites people behind the leader more quickly, reflexively or reliably than war. Donald Trump now sees how true that is, as the same establishment leaders in U.S. politics and media who have spent months denouncing him as a mentally unstable and inept authoritarian and unprecedented threat to democracy are standing and applauding him as he launches bombs at Syrian government targets. Trump, on Thursday night, ordered an attack that the Pentagon said included the launching of 59 Tomahawk missiles which “targeted aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems, and radars.” The governor of Homs, the Syrian province where the attack occurred, said early this morning that the bombs killed seven civilians and wounded nine. - Germany RIP
Who would have imagined that the once great German nation would be ruled by Washington? It is extraordinary, but that is what has happened. Merkel, Washington’s whore, has agreed to fill up Germany with the refugees from Washington’s 16 years of illegal wars against Muslims in North Africa and the Middle East. These are wars that Merkel’s corrupt government enabled. The German people themselves are not pleased with this result, but their rising voice is being throttled by Merkel legislation ordered by Washington that defines opposition to accommodating Washington’s war refugees as “hate speach.” Washington’s whore and the whore’s subservient German cabinet want to impose fines of $53 million dollars on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms if they permit complaints about Germany being overrun by Muslims. Those who complain, that is, those who use Germany’s guaranteed free speech, are defined as hate criminals or purveyors of fake news. - The Imperial War Machine Marches Forward Under Donald Trump
Given Trump’s statements on Syria this morning, I’m moving from “becoming concerned,” to nearly convinced that Donald Trump will not only expand America’s idiotic, ongoing wars, but at the same time, start some new ones. This chemical attack just happened, how does he know the Assad regime did this? Is it because the same deep state people who have been trying to sabotage him sine day one told him so? Is he that stupid? Does it even make sense considering things were going pretty well for Assad in the conflict before this attack? No, it doesn’t, and many people are starting to ask these questions. - Trump Has Surrendered. Will Putin Be The Next To Surrender?
Washington has reopened the conflict with a Tomahawk missile attack on Syrian Air Force Bases. The Russian/Syrian air defense systems did not prevent the attack. The Washington Establishment has reasserted control. First Flynn and now Bannon. All that are left in the Trump administration are the Zionists and the crazed generals who want war with Russia, China, Iran, Syria, and North Korea. There is no one in the White House to stop them. Kiss good-bye normalized relations with Russia. - Quick Look At How The U.S. Attack On Syria Will Really Impact Markets In Coming Days, Plus Today’s Other Big Surprise…
Here is a quick look at how the U.S. attack on Syria will really impact markets in coming days, plus today’s other big surprise. But first, a look at that jobs report. Here is what Peter Boockvar wrote today as the world awaits the next round of monetary madness: March payrolls grew by just 98k, almost half the estimate of up 180k and the two prior months were revised down by 38k. Of this, the private sector added just 89k jobs vs the estimate of up 170k. In contrast, the household survey said 472k new jobs were created and because the size of the labor force grew by 145k, the U3 unemployment rate fell to 4.5% from 4.7%, the lowest since May 2007 and is just one tenth from matching the low in the mid 2000’s expansion… - #NoWarInSyria: If You Don’t Want World War III In The Middle East You Need To Let Your Voice Be Heard NOW
We are closer to the start of World War III than we have been in decades. In part 3 of this series of articles, I discussed the fact that President Trump’s team was preparing a “military response” in Syria and that a “coalition” is being formed to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power. Well, as I am writing this article the missiles have started flying. Cruise missiles from a U.S. Navy vessel in the Mediterranean Sea have hit multiple targets inside Syria, and many fear that what we have just witnessed could be the beginning of a broader conflict. Trump should not have done this, because according to the U.S. Constitution the president needs the approval of Congress to go to war. Fortunately there are still a few members of Congress that still care about the Constitution and that are bold enough to point out this fact. - Putin believes US attack on Syria violates international law – spokesman
President Putin “regards the strikes as aggression against a sovereign nation,” his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, noting that the president believes the strikes were carried out “in violation of international law, and also under an invented pretext.” - Trump Prepares ‘Military Response’ For Syria As Tillerson Works To Form A ‘Coalition’ To Remove Assad From Power
It makes me physically ill when I think that the U.S. could be on the verge of starting a disastrous war in the Middle East that will not benefit us in any way, shape or form. I can’t believe this is happening, and a lot of other people apparently can’t either. In fact, there were some that heavily criticized me when I suggested that Donald Trump had just committed to taking military action in Syria in part 1 and part 2 of this series of articles. But less than 24 hours later, the front page of USA Today was running this jarring headline: “Trump team developing military response in Syria”. It is interesting to note that this came on the 77th day of Trump’s presidency, and on Thursday it was also revealed that the Trump administration is working to put together an international coalition to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power. - Trump Attacks Syria, Spying on Trump Worse than Watergate, Fed Dumping Debt
The “War Card” has been flipped over as President Trump orders an attack on Syria. The attack came as a response to the chemical weapons attack in Syria allegedly by the Assad regime. Not everyone is buying the story it was Assad that ordered a gas attack on his own people. Former Congressman Ron Paul thinks it was a false flag to get the U.S. to make a move against Assad. Now, the U.S. foreign policy in Syria has gone from destroying ISIS to removing Bashar al-Assad from power in Syria. Russia will surely weigh in. Will the Russians stand by and allow Assad to be attacked and removed by the U.S.? - Debt Based System Running Out of Steam-Paul Craig Roberts
Former Assistant Treasury Secretary in the Reagan Administration, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, sees trouble for the economy. Dr. Roberts explains, “This image of a strong stock market is based essentially on debt, borrowing and debt, money creation and debt. It’s a false signal that shows prosperity, and it’s not really there. . . . So, during a period of time when there has been no interest income on peoples’ savings in the form of bonds or CDs, there has also been no growth in Social Security income. So, the elderly, or the largest block of them, are hard pressed. The young come out of school with student debt and no good jobs. A large percentage can’t find sufficient employment to support an independent existence. They can’t possibly pay off the loans. So, wherever you look, you see a debt based system that’s running out of steam.” - Trump Defunds The Agency Responsible For Implementing The Sick Population Control Agenda Of The United Nations
All over the world, the United Nations Population Fund has been promoting abortion and sterilization as ways to slow down the rate at which the population of the planet is growing. In some cases, the United Nations Population Fund has actually partnered with countries that have conducted forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations. In other words, those procedures were being done to women against their will. The United Nations Population Fund is the tip of the spear when it comes to implementing the UN’s twisted population control agenda, and so Donald Trump should be greatly congratulated for defunding them. - In Anticipation Of The Coming American Apocalypse, 2 Lawmakers Plan To Create ‘Christian Survivalist Centers’ In Rural Areas
A couple of lawmakers from South Carolina want to establish a network of self-sufficient communities in their state in preparation for “societal collapse”. In the long-term, they hope to “train and equip one million neighborhood leaders” that will be able to establish “a fresh beginning for America” in the aftermath of the great crisis that is coming. State Representatives Josiah Magnuson and Jonathon Hill are both relatively young, they were both home-schooled, and each of their fathers are pastors. They are calling their dream the “Virtue Solution Project”, and they are examples of a new breed of American politician that recognizes that the system is failing and that we desperately need to return to the values that this nation was founded upon. - Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – April 6, 2017
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his regular short weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams' weekly newsletter.
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Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – April 6, 2017
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Pastor David Bowen is pastor of Standing Stones Community Church in Phoenix, AZ. For more information about Pastor Dave please visit http://standingstonescc.org/
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Latest News Articles – April 6, 2017
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 March 31, 2017 to April 6, 2017:
- Now That Trump’s ‘Red Line’ Has Been Crossed, Will He Turn Damascus Into A ‘Ruinous Heap’?
Will a false flag chemical attack in Syria’s Idlib province be the trigger that causes World War 3 to erupt in the Middle East? In Part I of this series, I discussed how previous chemical attacks that were blamed on the Assad regime actually turned out to be false flag attacks conducted by Syrian rebels that were absolutely desperate to draw the United States into the Syrian civil war on their side. And considering the fact that the Syrian rebels have been consistently losing territory in recent months, they are now more desperate than ever. So even though it didn’t work before, they probably figured that a false flag chemical attack was worth one more try, and so far the Trump administration appears to be buying it hook, line and sinker. Trump has called the attack a “terrible affront to humanity”, and he is placing all of the blame on the shoulders of the Assad regime. But now that Trump has committed the U.S. to take military action in Syria, what is that actually going to look like? - Donald Trump Has Just Committed The United States To A Disastrous War In Syria
Rumors of war are percolating in Washington D.C., and if the Trump administration is not extremely careful it may find itself fighting several disastrous wars simultaneously. Just one day after threatening North Korea with war, Donald Trump has committed to taking military action against the Assad regime in Syria. Trump is blaming the chemical attack in Syria’s Idlib province on Tuesday on the Syrian government, and he is pledging that the United States will not just sit by and do nothing in response. Unfortunately for all of us, military contingents from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah are mixed in among the Syrian forces, and so any strike on the Syrian military could potentially spark World War 3. - The Next Subprime Crisis Is Here: 12 Signs That A Day Of Reckoning Has Arrived For The U.S. Auto Industry
In 2008, subprime mortgages almost single-handedly took down the entire financial system, and now a new subprime crisis is here. In recent years, the auto industry has been able to boost sales by aggressively pushing people into auto loans that they cannot afford. In particular, auto loans made to consumers with subprime credit have been accounting for an increasingly larger percentage of the market. Unfortunately, when you make loans to people that should not be getting them, eventually a lot of those loans are going to start to go bad, and that is precisely what is happening now. Meanwhile, automakers and dealers are starting to panic as sales have begun to fall and used car prices have started to crash. If you work in the auto industry, you might remember how horrible the last recession was, and this new downturn could eventually turn out to be even worse. - September 6, 1984: Ron Paul Warns of Surveillance State
1984 … A dystopian novel that ended up being an instruction guide for government. Back in 1984, Ron Paul was warning America of the “disgusting” surveillance that was emerging in “a professed free society.” - China plans to build new city nearly three times the size of New York
A hitherto anonymous region near China’s smog-choked capital has been overrun by house buyers after Beijing unveiled “historic” plans to build a new city there in a bid to slash pollution and congestion. Plans for the Xiongan New Area, a special economic zone that authorities say will eventually cover an area nearly three times that of New York, were announced by the Communist party’s top leaders on Saturday with a flurry of government propaganda. In a joint statement two of China’s most powerful political bodies, the central committee and state council, described the new city, which will straddle three counties about 100km southwest of Beijing, as “a strategy crucial for a millennium to come”. - How Chicago's Largest Pension May Run Out Of Cash In As Little As 4 Years
Chicago's pension funds, along with several other large public pensions around the country, are in serious trouble (we recently discussed the destruction awaiting our financial markets here: “Are Collapsing Pensions “About To Bring Hell To America”?”). The problem is that the pending doom surrounding these massive public pension obligations often get clouded over by complicated actuarial math with a plan's funded status heavily influenced by discount rates applied to future liability streams. Take Chicago's largest pension fund, the Municipal Employees Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago (MEABF), as an example. Most people focus on a funds ‘net funded status', which for the MEABF is a paltry 20.3%. But the problem with focusing on ‘funded status' is that it can be easily manipulated by pension administrators who get to simply pick the rate at which they discount future liabilities out of thin air. - Prepare For “Manias, Panics And Crashes”: An Ominous Warning From Bank Of America
Bank of America's Michael Hartnett is back with another controversial note overnight, reminding readers that “it ain't a normal cycle” for one overarching reason: central banks. As Hartnett explains, the catalyst for bull in equity and credit markets since 2009 was the “revolutionary monetary policy of central banks” who, since Lehman, “have cut rates 679 times and bought $14.2tn of financial assets.” And, once again, he warns that this central bank “liquidity supernova” is coming to an end, as is “the period of excess returns in equities and corporate bonds, as is the period of suppressed volatility.” - Moscow And Beijing Join Forces To Bypass US Dollar In Global Markets, Shift To Gold Trade
The Russian central bank opened its first overseas office in Beijing on March 14, marking a step forward in forging a Beijing-Moscow alliance to bypass the US dollar in the global monetary system, and to phase-in a gold-backed standard of trade. According to the South China Morning Post the new office was part of agreements made between the two neighbours “to seek stronger economic ties” since the West brought in sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis and the oil-price slump hit the Russian economy. According to Dmitry Skobelkin, the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia, the opening of a Beijing representative office by the Central Bank of Russia was a “very timely” move to aid specific cooperation, including bond issuance, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism measures between China and Russia. - Connecticut Set To Become First State To Allow Deadly Police Drones
Connecticut could become the first US state to allow police to use drones equipped with deadly weapons if a bill opposed by civil libertarians becomes law. The bill, which was approved overwhelmingly by the state legislature's judiciary committee on Wednesday, would ban so-called weaponized drones in the state but exempts police and other agencies involved in law enforcement, the AP reported. The legislation was introduced as a complete ban on weaponized drones but just before the committee vote it was amended to exclude police from the restriction. Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, was reviewing the proposal, “however in previous years he has not supported this concept,” spokesman Chris Collibee wrote in an email. - Auto Industry Resorts To Biggest Incentives Ever To Slow Decline In Sales
The Last time automakers tried this was in 2009! In a few days, automakers are going to report their new vehicle deliveries for March. TrueCar, Kelley Blue Book, and LMC Automotive are predicting total vehicle sales slightly above the flat-line compared to March a year ago, though sales were down year-over-year in both January and February. TrueCar forecasts an increase of 0.2% year-over-year to 1.586 million new cars and light trucks, with retail deliveries (excluding fleet sales) growing 1% to 1.276 million units. J.D. Power and LMC Automotive said on Friday that they expect an increase of 1.9%, to 1.62 million units, with retails sales up 1%, boosted by record incentives. - First Post-Brexit Tremors: Theresa May “Would Go To War” To Protect Gibraltar
The ink has yet to dry on Theresa May's Article 50 signature from last week which officially started the UK's 2-year long divorce from the EU, and already Europe has been traumatized by comments from former Conservative leader Michael Howard, who suggested that Theresa May is be prepared to go to war to protect Gibraltar as Margaret Thatcher once did for the Falklands, comments which according to the Guardian were “immediately criticized as inflammatory.” Howard told Sky News on Sunday that: “There is no question whatever that our Government will stand by Gibraltar… 35 years ago this week another woman Prime Minister sent a task force half way across the World to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country…. I am absolutely certain our current Prime Minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar.” - What Is America Going To Look Like When Stocks, Home Prices And Even Used Cars All Crash By At Least 50 Percent?
Have you ever thought about what comes after the bubble? In 2008 we got a short preview of what life will be like, but most Americans seem to have come to the conclusion that the last financial crisis was just a minor bump in the road toward endless economic prosperity. But of course the truth is that the ridiculously high debt-fueled standard of living that we are enjoying now is not sustainable, and after this bubble bursts it will be an extremely painful adjustment for our society. Since the last financial crisis, the U.S. national debt has nearly doubled, corporate debt has doubled, stock valuations have reached exceedingly ridiculous extremes, the student loan debt bubble has surpassed a trillion dollars, we are facing the largest unfunded pension crisis in U.S. history, and in many parts of the country (particularly the west coast) we are facing a housing bubble that is even worse than the one that burst in 2007 and 2008. - Maybe The Recovery Wasn’t Real After All
For a while there it looked like the US and its main trading partners had finally achieved escape velocity. Growth was up, inflation was poking through the Fed’s 2% target, and most measures of consumer sentiment were bordering on euphoric. Then it all started to evaporate. Lackluster manufacturing and consumer spending reports sent the Atlanta Fed’s reading of Q1 GDP off a cliff to less than 1%. - You Do Not Go To War With Your Own People
Donald Trump is making the exact same tragic mistake that other prominent leaders have made in the past. You never, ever, ever go to war with your own people. Yes, you may have some very serious disagreements with your own team sometimes, but you never go to war with them. When Trump openly declared war on the Freedom Caucus, he immediately lost the support of millions of conservatives. And now Trump is going to have a tremendously difficult time getting anything on his agenda through Congress, because without Freedom Caucus votes the Democrats will be able to block just about everything that Trump wants to do. - Money Riots Coming in Next Financial Collapse
Financial expert and four time, best-selling book author James Rickards says there is no avoiding another economic collapse. Every time the economy suffers a setback, such as recently hitting a $20 trillion debt ceiling in the United States Congress, things get a little worse. Rickards explains, “The point of my books, ‘The Death of Money’ and my more recent book ‘The Road to Ruin,’ is that these are like snowflakes building up to cause an avalanche. The avalanche is the instability of the financial system as a whole. The concentrations of assets among the banks, the interconnectedness of the system, and almost a $1 quadrillion, not $1 trillion, $1 quadrillion, that’s a $1,000 trillion of notional value of derivatives, all these things are unstable. What does it take to cause that avalanche? What does it take to cause a loss of confidence in the system? These are major body blows. When you say the government will shut down or you say the government can’t borrow, the Congress is really playing with fire here. We are going through some very dangerous periods. I am not saying the system is going to collapse in the next 30 days. I am saying the system is very vulnerable to collapse, and it will collapse sooner than later. These are the kind of things that can cause it. . . . We are really playing with fire here.” - The Ticking Time Bomb That Will Wipe Out Virtually Every Pension Fund In America
Are millions of Americans about to see the big, juicy pensions that they were counting on to fund their golden years go up in flames in the biggest financial disaster in U.S. history? When Bloomberg published an editorial entitled “Pension Crisis Too Big for Markets to Ignore“, it simply confirmed what a lot of people already knew to be true. Pension funds all over America are woefully underfunded, and they have been pouring mind boggling amounts of money into very risky investments such as Internet stocks and commercial mortgages. Just like with subprime mortgages in 2008, this is a crisis that everyone can see coming well in advance, and yet nothing is being done about it. On a day to day basis, Americans generally don’t think very much about pensions. Most of those that have been promised pensions simply have faith that they will be there when they need them. Unfortunately, the truth is that pension plans all over the country are severely underfunded, and this has already resulted in local fiascos such as the one that we just witnessed in Dallas. - A Cyber-Gulf of Tonkin
The “cyber-security” firm that everyone is depending on to make the case for Russia’s alleged “hacking” of the 2016 presidential election, CrowdStrike, has just retracted a key component of its analysis – but the “mainstream” media continues to chug along, ignoring any facts that contradict their preferred narrative. As Voice of America – hardly an instrument of Russian propaganda! – reports: “U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has revised and retracted statements it used to buttress claims of Russian hacking during last year’s American presidential election campaign. The shift followed a VOA report that the company misrepresented data published by an influential British think tank.” This retraction pulls the rug out from under CrowdStrike’s identification of the hacking group that supposedly broke into the Democratic National Committee’s server. - High doses of vitamin C can help treat cancer, scientists find
High doses of vitamin C injected into the blood stream could help treat cancer, new research from scientists suggests. Injecting patients with a dose 1,000 times higher than the recommended level could target tumour cells and make radiation and chemotherapy more effective. Scientists gave eleven brain cancer sufferers regular dosages of vitamin C every week for nine months while receiving typical radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Tests showed the extra vitamin – usually found in oranges, green vegetables, broccoli and strawberries – made cancer cells more susceptible to treatment. - The Root Cause of Health Care Dysfunction
Largely absent from the vigorous debate over reforming the nation’s health care laws is the understanding that simply being covered by health insurance does not reduce health care costs. Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed in March 2010, President Obama repeatedly promised that the typical family’s health premiums would go down by (sometimes “up to” but frequently “on average”) $2,500. That decline did not occur because the ACA strengthened the control that insurance companies—as opposed to patients—have over health care spending. In fact, Americans’ increasing dependence on health insurance over the last seven decades has been a major contributor to exploding health costs. It’s a fundamental economic truth that too much health insurance actually increases costs. That is why other types of insurance—think of car accidents or warehouse fires—only cover catastrophic costs. According to my new study published by the Mercatus Center, the full cost impact of our health insurance, provided by both government and private insurers, is staggering. - 43 Facts About Love, Sex, Dating And Marriage That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe
Is it more difficult for a woman to find a husband in America today compared to several decades ago? If a couple lives together before marriage, are they more likely or less likely to get divorced? Are married men more satisfied with their intimate relationships than single men are? You will get answers to these questions and many more in this article, and what the numbers actually show may surprise you. The truth is that there have been some seismic cultural shifts when it comes to romantic love, courtship, marriage and parenting in America. The way things worked for our parents and grandparents is not necessarily the way that things work in 2017. I expect that the statistics I am about to share with you will provoke some extremely strong reactions, and that is okay, because we need to have open and honest discussions about these things. - Credit Suisse Offices Raided In Multiple Tax Probes: Gold Bars, Paintings, Jewelry Seized
Credit Suisse has confirmed that the Swiss bank, some of its employees and hundreds of account holders are the subjects of a major tax evasion probe launched in UK, France, Australia, Germany and the Netherlands, setting back Swiss attempts to clean up its image as a haven for tax evaders. According to Bloomberg, Dutch investigators seized jewellery, paintings and even gold bars as part of a sweeping investigation into tax evasion and money laundering in the Netherlands. They added that the sums involved amounted to “many millions” of lost tax revenue. - Here’s Why Italy’s Banking Crisis Has Gone Off The Radar
For a country that is on the brink of a gargantuan public bailout of its toxic-loan riddled banking sector, or failing that, a full-blown financial crisis that could bring down the European financial system, things are eerily quiet in Italy these days. It’s almost as if the more serious the crisis gets, the less we hear about it — otherwise, investors and voters might get spooked. And elections are coming up. But an article published in the financial section of Italian daily Il Sole lays out just how serious the situation has become. According to new research by Italian investment bank Mediobanca, 114 of the close to 500 banks in Italy have “Texas Ratios” of over 100%. The Texas Ratio, or TR, is calculated by dividing the total value of a bank’s non-performing loans by its tangible book value plus reserves — or as American money manager Steve Eisman put it, “all the bad stuff divided by the money you have to pay for all the bad stuff.” - Fewer Than 1 Percent Of Papers in Scientific Journals Follow Scientific Method
Fewer than 1 percent of papers published in scientific journals follow the scientific method, according to research by Wharton School professor and forecasting expert J. Scott Armstrong. Professor Armstrong, who co-founded the peer-reviewed Journal of Forecasting in 1982 and the International Journal of Forecasting in 1985, made the claim in a presentation about what he considers to be “alarmism” from forecasters over man-made climate change. “We also go through journals and rate how well they conform to the scientific method. I used to think that maybe 10 percent of papers in my field … were maybe useful. Now it looks like maybe, one tenth of one percent follow the scientific method” said Armstrong in his presentation, which can be watched in full below. “People just don’t do it.” - Why Foreign Robots Are The Real U.S. Job Killer
Over the past several months President Trump has called out pretty much every major auto OEM for their efforts to move low-skilled assembly jobs to Mexico. But absent new tariffs, it's not terribly surprising to most people that American companies would seek to move low-skilled, labor-intensive jobs to lower cost labor markets…the math is pretty simple. But what is somewhat surprising is how poorly the U.S. is performing versus international competition in the development of advanced manufacturing robotics. As the Wall Street Journal points out this morning, when it comes to automating a manufacturing floor, buying robotics ‘Made in America' isn't even an option. - Visualizing NAFTA's Mixed Track Record Since 1994
On January 1, 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) officially came into effect, virtually eliminating all tariffs and trade restrictions between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Fast forward 20 years, and NAFTA is a hot-button issue again. Donald Trump has said he is working on “renegotiating” the agreement, and many Americans are sympathetic to this course of action. However, coming to a decisive viewpoint on NAFTA’s success or failure can be difficult to achieve. Over two decades, the economic and political landscape has changed. China has risen and created a surplus of cheap labor, technology has changed massively, and central banks have kept the spigots on with QE and ultra-low interest rates. Deciphering what results have been the direct cause of NAFTA – and what is simply the result of a fast-changing world – is not quite straightforward. - Obamacare ‘Explosion' Could Come On May 22nd, Here's Why
After a stunning healthcare defeat last week, delivered at the hands of his own party no less, Trump took to twitter to predict the imminent ‘explosion' of Obamacare. As it turns out, that ‘explosion' could come faster than anyone really expects as legislators and health insurers have to make several critical decisions about the 2018 plan year over the next 2 months which could seal Obamacare's fate. As the Atlanta Journal Constitution points out today, the Trump administration has until May 22nd to decide whether they will continue to pursue the Obama administration's appeal to provide subsidies to insurers who participate in the federal exchanges. - Surveillance on Trump Backfires, Russian Collusion False Narrative, Are Markets Topping
The pile of felonies against people in the Deep State that illegally released classified information, for the purpose of embarrassing and destroying the incoming Trump Administration, keep stacking up. This crime is orders of magnitude worse that Watergate. The White House invited leaders of Congress to see documents from whistleblowers that point to improper handling of Intel surrounding the Trump team. Meanwhile, the Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media (MSM) continue to push a false narrative of Trump and his team colluding with the Russians without one single piece of evidence of wrongdoing after 8 months of an FBI investigation. The leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin, said this week that Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election is “fictional, illusionary, provocations and lies . . . used for domestic political agendas.” - Is George Soros Behind This Plot To Topple Trump?
The mainstream media hates him. Hollywood hates him. The “Intellectual Yet Idiot” academia class hates him. Most critically, the CIA hates him. So does the rest of the Deep State, or the permanently entrenched “national security” bureaucracy. They did everything possible to stop Trump from taking office. None of it worked. I think the CIA hates Trump for a very simple reason: he’s threatening to take away their livelihood. Trump wants to make nice with Putin and the Russians. But countering the so-called “Russian threat” is how many thousands of Deep State bureaucrats make a living. These people feed off the trough of the $1 trillion-plus military/security budget. Playing nice with the Russians would kill their jobs—and end their way of life. - WikiLeaks Reveals “Marble”: Proof CIA Disguises Their Hacks As Russian, Chinese, Arabic…
WikiLeaks’ latest Vault 7 release contains a batch of documents, named ‘Marble’, which detail CIA hacking tactics and how they can misdirect forensic investigators from attributing viruses, trojans and hacking attacks to their agency by inserted code fragments in foreign languages. The tool was in use as recently as 2016. - The Last Two Times After The Government Reported Data Like This, Stocks Crashed
Wall Street claims surge in stocks is based on rising corporate earnings. So, let’s see. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis released its third estimate of fourth quarter 2016 GDP and corporate profits today. This second revision of its first estimate of January 27 contains more data and is considered a more accurate approximation of what happened in the vast, devilishly hard-to-quantify US economy. In terms of GDP, the fourth quarter was revised up slightly, but there were adjustments for prior quarters, and overall GDP growth for the year 2016 remained at a miserably low 1.6%. We’ve come to call this the “stall speed.” It’s difficult for the US economy to stay aloft at this slow speed. As Q4 gutted any hopes for a strong finish, GDP growth in 2016 matched the worst year since the Great Recession. And corporate profits, despite a stock market that has been surging for years, are even worse. A lot worse. They’ve declined for years. In fact, they declined for years during the prior two stock market bubbles, the dotcom bubble and the pre-Financial-Crisis bubble. Both ended in crashes. - Obama's rule changes opened door for NSA intercepts of Americans to reach political hands
As his presidency drew to a close, Barack Obama’s top aides routinely reviewed intelligence reports gleaned from the National Security Agency’s incidental intercepts of Americans abroad, taking advantage of rules their boss relaxed starting in 2011 to help the government better fight terrorism, espionage by foreign enemies and hacking threats, Circa has learned. - Trump May Be Right: The ‘Five Eyes' Allies Do Spy On One Another
In a rare public announcement, Britain’s signals intelligence agency, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), issued a rare public statement concerning a charge by an American former judge that it conducted electronic surveillance of president-elect Donald Trump after his upset victory on November 8, 2016. GCHQ stated: “Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct ‘wiretapping’ against the then president-elect are nonsense. They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored”. Its public announcement belied the fact that GCHQ and its four ‘Five Eyes' partners have spied on each other’s citizens as a legal ‘work around' to their national laws designed to prevent such domestic eavesdropping on citizens by their respective agencies. - Margin Debt Hits New Record High But Analysts Say “Don’t Worry”
The Wall Street Journal reports Margin Debt Hit an All-Time High in February. Given that Margin debt has a history of peaking right before financial collapses this seems like a warning to me but analysts say it’s different this time. ‘Margin debt climbed to a record high in February, a fresh sign of bullishness for flummoxed investors trying to navigate the political and economic crosscurrents driving markets. The amount investors borrowed against their brokerage accounts climbed to $528.2 billion in February, according to the most recent data available from the New York Stock Exchange, released Wednesday. That is up 2.9% from $513.3 billion in January, which had been the first margin debt record in nearly two years. Before January, the previous record high for margin debt was $505 billion in the spring of 2015. Margin debt then started falling, months ahead of a summer swoon that sent major indexes down more than 10%.' Analysts Say Don’t Worry. - Chinese Gold Miner Claims Discovery Of Largest Ever Gold Mine
Shandong Gold Group, China’s second biggest gold producer by output, announced on Tuesday that it has discovered deposits in eastern China containing an estimated 380 tons of gold reserves, which would represent the nation’s largest ever gold deposit. According to a Tuesday statement that cited the company on sdchina.com, the Xiling mine in Shandong province told local authorities it had found 382.58 tons of gold reserves and that the volume could reach more than 550 tons once exploration is completed in two years. According to local media reports, the Xiling gold seam in eastern China is more than 2,000 meters long and 67 meters wide; operating at full capacity, the mine would have a life of 40 years, according to the statement. - Trump signs order dismantling Obama-era climate policies
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an order to undo Obama-era climate change regulations, keeping a campaign promise to support the coal industry and calling into question U.S. support for an international deal to fight global warming. Flanked by coal miners and coal company executives, Trump proclaimed his “Energy Independence” executive order at the headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency. The move drew swift backlash from a coalition of 23 states and local governments, as well as environmental groups, which called the decree a threat to public health and vowed to fight it in court. - Venezuela Supreme Court Grants Itself Legislative Powers
Venezuela's Supreme Court took over legislative powers Thursday from the opposition-majority National Assembly, a dramatic tightening of leftist President Nicolas Maduro and his allies' grip amid a devastating economic crisis. The opposition attacked what it called a “fraudulent court” packed with Maduro loyalists bent on keeping him in power in the South American oil giant, where a three-year recession has caused food shortages, riots and an epidemic of violent crime. - This Is The 6-Page Letter Delivered From The UK To The EU Triggering Article 50: Full Text
Moments ago, the UK Prime Minister's office posted the 6-page letter that was delivered by the UK to the EU, triggering Article 50 and officially starting the 2 year Brexit process. In the letter, Theresa May proposes “bold and ambitious” Free Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom and says the agreement should cover important sectors, including financial services and network industries. Some of the key highlights from the letter, courtesy of Bloomberg: U.K. Seeks to Minimize Disruption in Brexit Talks, U.K. Seeks Technical Talks on Policy Details ASAP, U.K.'s May Wants to Avoid Return to Hard Irish Border, U.K. Seeks Implementation Periods to Ease Transition to Brexit, U.K. Seeks Free Trade Agreement That Includes Finance. - One of the Most Important Scientists in the World: “Most Cancer Research is Largely a Fraud”
“Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud, and that the major cancer research organisations are derelict in their duties to the people who support them.” The above quote comes from Linus Pauling, Ph.D, and two time Nobel Prize winner in chemistry (1901-1994). He is considered one of the most important scientists in history. He is one of the founders of quantum chemistry and molecular biology, who was also a well known peace activist. He was invited to be in charge of the Chemistry division of the Manhattan Project, but refused. He has also done a lot of work on military applications, and has pretty much done and seen it all when it comes to the world of science. A quick Google search will suffice if you’d like to learn more about him. - Westinghouse Bankruptcy Puts Fate Of Four U.S. Nuclear Reactors In Limbo
When Westinghouse Electric filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday morning, few were surprised as the outcome was the only one which allowed the company's troubled, and near-insolvent Japanese parent, Toshiba, to continue operating, even if it meant the bankruptcy of the iconic company. Westinghouse was one of the originators of the nuclear age, building the world’s first commercial nuclear reactor 60 years ago. Its pressurized water reactor design is in 430 power plants and accounts for 10% of electricity generated in the world. However, few were prepared for the unexpected aftermath of this particular bankruptcy, which has set off a showdown between Toshiba and a major U.S. utility, has left the fate of four half-finished nuclear reactors and is threatening to drive a wedge between the US and Japanese governments over the fate of industries each considers vital. - The Complete History of Monsanto, “The World’s Most Evil Corporation”
Of all the mega-corps running amok, Monsanto has consistently outperformed its rivals, earning the crown as “most evil corporation on Earth!” Not content to simply rest upon its throne of destruction, it remains focused on newer, more scientifically innovative ways to harm the planet and its people. - Finally! The FDA Admits That Nearly Over 70% of U.S. Chickens Contain Cancer-Causing Arsenic
I don’t know about the rest of you, but lately my poultry purchases at my local market have become more and more of a ‘hit-and-miss’ situation, with more ‘misses’ if I’m being honest. As I bite into my homemade chicken nuggets or Coq au Vin (when I’m feeling fancy) I can’t help but feel that the chicken just tastes weird, stringy, just…funny. So a few days ago when I turned on the tube and saw the news headlines stating that the FDA has finally confirmed that chicken meat sold in the USA contains arsenic, my head, and stomach, nearly hit the roof. This cancer-causing toxic chemical, that in high doses could kill you, is actually being added to chicken feed on purpose, giving store-bought chicken the illusion of healthy coloring and plump appearance. Shockingly, this is the case with more than 70 percent of all U.S. chickens! That is just awful! - EU could BREAK UP the US: Juncker in jaw-dropping threat to Trump over support for Brexit
EUROPEAN Union boss Jean-Claude Juncker issued a jaw-dropping threat to the United States, saying he could campaign to break up the country in revenge for Donald Trump’s supportive comments about Brexit. In an extraordinary speech the EU Commission president said he would push for Ohio and Texas to split from the rest of America if the Republican president does not change his tune and become more supportive of the EU. The remarks are diplomatic dynamite at a time when relations between Washington and Brussels are already strained over Europe’s meagre contributions to NATO and the US leader’s open preference for dealing with national governments. - Gold Set to Soar to $1,500 as Inflation Makes a Comeback
Gold is poised to rally to levels last seen four years ago as rising inflation and negative real interest rates combine to boost demand, according to Incrementum AG, which says that the precious metal may be in the early stages of a bull market. Prices may climb to $1,400 to $1,500 an ounce this year, said Ronald-Peter Stoeferle, managing partner at the Liechtenstein-based company, which oversees 100 million Swiss francs ($101.5 million). Spot bullion — which was at $1,249 on Wednesday — last traded at $1,400 in September 2013. - How Many Jobs Do Robots Destroy? Answers Emerge
How many jobs do robots – whether mechanical robots or software – destroy? Do these destroyed jobs get replaced by the Great American Economy with better jobs? That’s the big discussion these days. The answers have been soothing. Economists cite the Industrial Revolution. At the time, most humans replaced by machines found better paid, more productive, less back-breaking jobs. Productivity soared, and society overall, after some big dislocations, came out ahead. The same principle applies today, the soothsayers coo. But this isn’t the Industrial Revolution. These days, robots and algorithms are everywhere, replacing not just manufacturing jobs but all kinds jobs in air-conditioned offices that paid big salaries and fat bonuses. - CNBC: China’s Secret Plan to Crush the U.S. Space Program
In a feature on Tuesday, CNBC explained how the Chinese government plans to overtake the US space program, as well as private companies such as SpaceX. “China’s breakneck economic expansion may be flagging, but the country’s ambitions in space show no signs of slowing down,” wrote CNBC. “Alongside ongoing efforts to rival NASA by placing robotic landers, and eventually astronauts, on the moon and Mars, China’s government is increasingly looking to its burgeoning space sector to rival U.S. companies like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is targeting March 30 for the latest launch of its Falcon 9 rocket.” - Shock, Horror: ECB Not as “Independent” as it Claims – Report
The European Central Bank has found itself in the rare position of having to defend itself in the public arena following the release of a scathing report on its perceived lack of political independence. The report, published by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, argues that the institution has accrued new power and influence in the wake of the financial crisis but its code of conduct has not kept up with that newfound clout. It even suggests that the ECB should withdraw from the Eurozone’s Troika of creditors, precisely at a time that calls are rising for the creation of a European Monetary Fund. - Look What Just Happened To The US National Debt In 68 Days Since Trump Was Elected
If one looks back at the U.S. stock markets reaction since the historic election that was held in November, it's difficult to find a comparable period of euphoria over the last couple of years that matches the one we’ve seen the last 60 days or so. With that said, even though optimism is always is a better recipe for success than than pessimism, many have lost touch with “realism,” and the end result has been anything but responsible planning on the part of most Americans. Most are too busy enjoying what many have referred to as “Trumphoria.” Make no mistake, a global economic crisis is coming, and it’s coming fast, but you have to give credit where credit is due, and this statistic about the U.S. national debt is nothing short of miraculous. - 12 Signs That America Has Become A Politically-Correct Madhouse
What in the world has happened to the United States? We are rapidly getting to the point where political correctness is in danger of becoming our national religion. Of course most people would not even call it a “religion”, but for most Americans this unwritten set of rules shapes everything that they think, do and say. Many had been hoping that the spell of political correctness would be broken by the election of Donald Trump, but that obviously has not happened. The forces of political correctness still have a stranglehold on our education system, on all forms of entertainment, on our legal system, and on most of the politicians in both political parties. - The World Is On The Edge Of A Financial Fukushima-Style Nightmare
Today an associate of former U.S. Treasury official, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, just warned the world is now on the cusp of a financial Fukushima-style nightmare. Dave Kranzler: Several “black swans” are looming which could inflict a financial nuclear accident on the U.S. markets and financial system. I say “black swans” in quotes because a limited audience is aware of these issues – potentially catastrophic problems that are curiously ignored by the mainstream financial media and financial markets… - If You Are Confused About Where Markets Are Headed From Here, Just Read This…
The major theme of our comments recently on the near-term direction of the stock market can best be summed up with one word – uncertainty. That’s what happens when the indicators we trust, and even the price action of the market itself, start sending mixed messages that make it difficult to provide the clear green light that everyone desires. I know I’m sure getting tired of writing about the confusion, and I’d wager everyone playing along at home is a bit exhausted from reading about it every day, but we unfortunately have to play the cards we are dealt and this has been a market trying to decide if it should fold or not. - Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – March 30, 2017
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his regular short weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams' weekly newsletter.
Precious Metals Are The Only Lifeboat! I have persistently WARNED you what was happening in the gold market and why you needed to convert your paper assets to physical gold and silver. You need to hedge against the financial instability with physical gold and silver. Call the experts to help you convert your IRA or 401k into Gold, Silver and Other Precious Metals. Call GoldCo NOW before it's too late! Call Toll-Free 1-877-414-1385.
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – March 30, 2017
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his regular short weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams' weekly newsletter. If you are not a subscriber please subscribe for free by entering your name and email address in the box below.
Pastor David Bowen is pastor of Standing Stones Community Church in Phoenix, AZ. For more information about Pastor Dave please visit http://standingstonescc.org/
Pastor Dave is also creator of the website Interpreting The Times, understanding world events through scripture. You can find out more by visiting http://www.interpretingthetimes.com/
Latest News Articles – March 30, 2017
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 March 24, 2017 to March 30, 2017:
- After Dramatic Obamacare Failure, Trump Now Faces A Looming Government Shutdown He May Not Be Able To Prevent
If you thought that the Obamacare debacle was bad, just wait until you see what happens next. The continuing resolution that is currently funding the government expires on April 28th, and if a new funding agreement is not reached prior to that time, there will be a government shutdown like we witnessed in 2013 starting on April 29th. Unfortunately, as I will explain below, if a government shutdown happens it may go for a lot longer than just a couple of weeks this time around. April 28th may sound like it is quite some time away, but because the congressional calendar has so many “holes” in it, there is actually not very much time for Congress to act. If you can believe it, there are only 12 “legislative days” between now and April 28th, and if something is not done on one of those 12 days the government will shut down on April 29th. - Broken America
Is this the beginning of the end for the United States of America? It has been said that a house divided against itself will surely fall, and today we live in a shattered union. In all my years, I have never seen so much strife, discord, bitterness and resentment in this country. Everyone can see what is happening, but nobody can seem to stop it. Politically, you have got tens of millions of people trying to pull America one way, and you have got tens of millions of people trying to pull it the exact opposite way. As I discussed in a previous article, the term “civil war” is now being thrown around by some pundits even though nobody has started shooting yet. We are a deeply divided and broken nation, and if we don’t find a way to fix things America will not survive. - Obamacare is the Reason for Anemic Growth
Analyst and entrepreneur Karl Denninger predicted years ago that Obamacare would “kill the economy” and “eventually implode.” Today, the first quarter GDP came in at just .9%, and Denninger contends Obamacare is part of the reason the economy is so anemic. Denninger says, “Since the crash in 2008, we’ve had 2% GDP expansion roughly on an average basis, and you are trying to expand the growth of one program in the government by 8.5%, and that’s not going to work. This is the problem you have. What Obamacare has done has caused the 2% expansion. . . . So, what has happened here is we have taken this program and crammed these costs into the economy on a mandated basis, and the result is the productivity expansion has gone into the toilet.” - Ex-cyber security chief says Government is ‘using' Westminster attack to grab unnecessary spying powers
The Ministry of Defence’s former cyber security chief has accused the Government of trying to “use” the devastating Westminster attack to grab unnecessary and intrusive surveillance powers. Major General Jonathan Shaw said ministers were attempting to “use the moment” to push for security services having more control, despite there being only a weak case for it. Home Secretary Amber Rudd has turned up the heat on internet firms, saying it is “completely unacceptable” that authorities cannot look at encrypted social media messages of attacker Khalid Masood, but her words come as debate continues over allowing spy agencies further intrusive powers – only last year Parliament granted them sweeping new capabilities. - Congress just cleared the way for internet providers to sell your web browsing history
Internet providers now just need a signature from President Trump before they’re free to take, share, and even sell your web browsing history without your permission. The House of Representatives passed a resolution today overturning an Obama-era FCC rule that required internet providers to get customers’ permission before sharing their browsing history with other companies. The rules also required internet providers to protect that data from hackers and inform customers of any breaches. The resolution was first passed by the Senate last week and now heads to the president, who’s expected to sign it. At that point, there’ll only be a vague baseline of privacy rules governing internet providers and some promises from them not to misbehave. - The Unaccountable Military Industrial Complex Is Destroying America and the Rest Of The World Too
On Jan. 17, 1961, US President Eisenhower gave the nation a dire warning about what he described as a threat to democratic government. He called it the military-industrial complex. He warned, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.” - Russia Plans 2017-2019 Budget Based On $40 Barrel
Russia is budgeting its federal spending to expectations that oil prices will hover around $40 a barrel for the next several years, according to a new report by Bloomberg. Such preparations go against predictions by international oil industry experts that barrel prices will rise to $60 and remain there over the long term. These forecasts are based on expectations that the global oil supply glut will reverse over the next couple of years, bringing prices up to a new normal, which will still stand far lower than the $100+ levels seen before the market crash occurred in late 2014. - Australia, China to protect globalization
In a testament of growing bilateral ties, Australia and China pledged on Thursday to safeguard globalization and free trade and do away with barriers which might be established as protectionist policies. “We believe that to resolve trade imbalance we need to continue to expand trade, that is the solution. We cannot close our doors, that is not the solution,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said during his visit to the Australian capital Canberra. “Free trade can only thrive in a peaceful and stable environment, both our countries know this well,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. While this is the first visit by a Chinese Premier to Australia in more than a decade, it comes on the heels of strengthened trade ties between the two countries. - Health-Care Industry Debt Turns into “Systemic Recession Risk”
Sector booms and busts have historically been driven by speculation and over-borrowing, often triggering regional or even national recessions. Textbook examples include the 2014 Energy and 2008 Financial sector collapse. In both of these instances, fallacies such as perpetual $100+ oil and ever rising home prices drove rampant speculation, overinvestment, and unsustainable debt buildup. - More About The Great Collapse In Retail
Retail Revolutions Are Neither Rare Nor Permanent – Sears, Roebuck and company recently issued a very strong caution about its ability to survive while moving forward. That instantly brought to memory the near dominance in retailing Sears had once attained. The fascinating story of the rise and reverse of Sears is wonderfully outlined as part of some recent presentations by my good friend John Mauldin. - Global Warming Is Real Say the Academies of Sciences of All of the Major Countries, But a Handful of my Readers Know Better
I am fortunate in having readers who look after me. Some have offered me refuge in their countries and their homes from what they expect otherwise will inevitably be the midnight knock on my door. Others correct my mistakes from typos to content. As I have never considered myself infallible, I carefully read what they have to say. Usually those who want to straighten me out on a subject are polite and respectful. However, among those corrections brought in by my reporting on the dangers implied by the warming of the poles and melting of the ice were a few not merely ignorant and uninformed, but also condescending and rude. One even accused me of selling out to the climate change hoax in order to buy my way off the lists of Russian agents and fake news purveyors. - Trump is America’s Last Chance
Economist John Williams says President Trump has to do something fast and big to turn the faltering U.S. economy around. Williams explains, “You are seeing the economy slow down. Some people are recognizing that. The Fed’s statement a week or two ago . . . many analysts consider that dovish. The Fed knows what’s going on here. They are trying to get rates up a little, but they have a circumstance that they are not out of the woods with the banks. What they are hoping for is maybe the Trump Administration is going to bail them out and stimulate the economy.” - One Mother’s Chilling Close Encounter With A Team Of Child Abductors That People Can’t Stop Talking About
After reading this article, you will never be careless with your child in a public place ever again. There really are predators out there that make a lot of money abducting children. Some of the children that are abducted are abused, tortured or even killed inside the United States, but many others are quickly sent to the nearest port, shipped overseas, and ultimately used for some of the most horrific purposes that you can possibly imagine. So if your child is kidnapped by professional traffickers, there is a chance that your precious little one could end up on the other side of the planet. - Thousands Of Americans Are Fleeing The Big Cities In Preparation For The Coming American Apocalypse
Why are so many people suddenly moving away from major U.S. cities? Recently, I wrote about the mass exodus that is happening out of the state of California, but the truth is that what is happening there is just part of a national phenomenon. The populations of some of our largest cities are steadily shrinking, and many experts are completely mystified by the seismic demographic shifts that we are now witnessing. Of course there are a whole host of reasons why people would want to move away from huge cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore and Cleveland. For some families, it simply comes down to wanting a better life for their children. But as you will see below, there are others that believe that things in this country are about to take an apocalyptic turn, and the big cities will not be a place that you want to be when economic collapse, rioting, looting, civil unrest and crime are all spiraling out of control. - UK set to begin ‘momentous journey' to life outside EU
Britain will take the first step on its “momentous journey” to a future outside the European Union when Theresa May launches divorce proceedings that will bring to an end a relationship of more than 40 years. The Prime Minister has signed the letter that starts the formal exit process and the historic document will be hand-delivered by a senior diplomat to EU chiefs. It will mark the start of complex and contentious negotiations that put the UK on course to break its ties with the Brussels club by the end of March 2019. - Chile pensions protest draws tens of thousands
Tens of thousands of people in Chile have taken part in demonstrations against the country's controversial privatised pension system. Demonstrators called on the socialist government of Michelle Bachelet to scrap the the system, which is managed by private funds. Critics say the system benefits the rich but leaves poorer Chileans with a pension below the minimum wage. - Europe Unveils New Gun Laws: “Like Putting A Band-Aid On A Bullet Wound”
The EU has almost regulated firearms enough to keep people completely safe from terrorism. Just one more law, and they should be able to usher Europe into a new age of utopian peace. What happened: The European Parliament passed a bill this month which closes loopholes in regards to “acoustic” and “deactivated” prop guns to make them irreversibly unusable. If the law passes the Council of Ministers, it will also apply stricter regulations on semi-autos with high capacity magazines. Included in the bill are obligations of member states to monitor the issuance of firearms licenses, and share that information across the EU. Countries in the EU will have 30 months to implement the required procedures for tracking firearms. - “We've Reached Our Limits” – Greece Begins Blocking Refugees
Greece will cease taking back refugees under the controversial Dublin Regulation, as the country’s limited capacities to host people are already on the brink of collapse, the Greek migration minister announced in an interview. RT reports that as the European Commission pressures Athens to re-implement the Dublin Regulation – stipulating that refugees can be returned to the first EU state they arrived in – the Greek migration minister told Spiegel his country is not in a position to do so. The agreement was put on hold for Greece back in 2011 over problems in the country’s asylum system. - Your Pension Will Be At The Center Of America's Next Financial Crisis
I’m not a fan of the “greed is good” mentality of Wall Street investment firms. But the next financial crisis that rocks America won’t be driven by bankers behaving badly. It will in fact be driven by pension funds that cannot pay out what they promised to retirees. According to one pension advocacy organization, nearly 1 million working and retired Americans are covered by pension plans at the risk of collapse. The looming pension crisis is not limited by geography or economic focus. These including former public employees, such as members of South Carolina’s government pension plan, which covers roughly 550,000 people — one out of nine state residents — and is a staggering $24.1 billion in the red. These include former blue collar workers such as roughly 100,000 coal miners who face serious cuts in pension payments and health coverage thanks to a nearly $6 billion shortfall in the plan for the United Mine Workers of America. And when the bill comes due, we will all be in very big trouble. - America's March To Default
“May you live in interesting times,” says the ancient Chinese curse. No doubt about it, we live in interesting times. Hardly a day goes by that we’re not aghast and astounded by a series of grotesque caricatures of the world as at devolves towards vulgarity. Just this week, for instance, U.S. Representative Maxine Waters tweeted, “Get ready for impeachment.” Well, Maxine Waters is obviously right – impeaching the president is an urgent task of the utmost importance. As everybody knows, he is best friends with Vladimir Putin, the shirtless barbarian who rules the Evil Russian Empire (they were seen drinking kompromat together in Moscow, a vile Russian liquor that reportedly tastes a bit like urine. Senator McCain has the details on that story). And as Maxine Waters has just disclosed, Putin’s armies are recently advancing into Korea! We cannot let this stand, or he’ll invade Kekistan next (note that he already controls Limpopo and Gabon). Who knows where it will end? - Pensions mistakes of the past must be avoided, says John Cridland
Mistakes of the past must be avoided when telling people of any rise in their state pension age, the author of a major review has told the government. John Cridland published the independent review on Thursday, proposing that those under the age of 45 may have to work a year longer, to 68. He told BBC Radio 4's Money Box that there should be no repeat of the issues currently facing women in their 50s. Many say they were not told directly of two rises in their state pension age. - Over-Regulation Has Criminalized The Practice Of Medicine
This criminalization of everyday life is not just insanely costly and insanely counter-productive–it's insanely punitive. The average person has little exposure to the criminalization of everyday enterprise in America via over-regulation and outsized penalties for even accidental violations of rules and regulations. One field that continues to be burdened with excessive/counter-productive regulations and outsized penalties is the practice of medicine. - Goldman Asks “Have We Reached Peak Cash?”
In several major economies it's crunch time for the future of cash. Goldman Sachs notes that this is largely policy-driven: tangible steps are being taken to wean economies off cash (e.g. India, Europe); but adds that, at the same time consumer expectations around convenience are rising and enabling technologies have proliferated in the shape of contactless cards, mobile wallets, cryptocurrencies and more. So, they ask, does the decline in cash payments imply the demise of cash? Not necessarily. - UK's ‘largest undeveloped oil field’ discovered off Scottish coast
Shares in U.K.-listed Hurricane Energy gushed higher Monday after the firm said it had found the “largest undeveloped (oil) discovery on the U.K. continental shelf”. Hurricane Energy said in a market release Monday that the firm has located a kilometer-deep oil column which is believed to connect to an existing field. The discovery is near the Shetland Islands, off the north coast of Scotland. - Russia Readies Back-Up System For Potential “Split With International Banking System”
The grand order of things could be undergoing some major overhauls. To put it more bluntly, a war to reset the global financial order is about to be unleashed. Preparations inside Russia are being made in case the ultimate banking sanctions are placed on them, cutting off commerce inside the all-encompassing Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecomm SWIFT system – which runs credit, debt, and banking card transactions across a real time global network. As it would be doled out by the banking elites, the price for misbehavior at the Kremlin could be ostracization from this global commerce vehicle. But that isn’t the end of the story… Putin is readying his people to divorce from the international banking system altogether, and start over with a nationalistic platform, backed by thousands of tons of gold, and growing alliances with Europe, China and the BRICS nations, the Middle East and several emerging powers. - Watch These Geopolitical Flashpoints Carefully
Anyone who has been involved in alternative geopolitical and economic analysis for a decent length of time understands that the establishment power structure thrives according to its ability to either exploit natural crises, or to engineer fabricated crises. This is not that hard to comprehend, but for some reason there are a lot of people out there who simply assume that global sea-change events just happen “at random,” that the elites are stupid or oblivious, and that all outcomes are a matter of random chance rather than being directed or manipulated. I call these people “intellectual idiots,” because they believe they are applying logic to every scenario but they are sabotaged by an inherent bias which causes them to deny the potential for “conspiracy.” - McCain: “The New World Order Is Under Enormous Strain”
It was a bumper day for John McCain when on Friday Donald Trump's Republican nemesis gloated as Trump's “art of the deal” collapsed in the last minute, after the President and Ryan-led effort to repeal Obamacare suffered what appears to be a terminal setback. In the wake of Trump's misfortune, McCain renewed his calls on Friday for a return to a legacy neocon status quo, when speaking at the Brussels forum, said that the world “cries out for American and European leadership” through the EU and Nato, and said that the EU and the US needed to develop “more cooperation, more connectivity”. - Canada Passes ‘Blasphemy' Bill To Silence Critics Of Islam
Despite polls showing that 71% of Canadians would not have voted for the measure, Canada's Parliament, with the strong backing of Justin Trudeau's Liberal government, passed a motion this week 201 to 91 that critics say singles out Islam for special protection. Tabled by Muslim liberal MP Iqra Khalid, M-103 urges the federal government to “condemn Islamophobia” and to “develop a whole-of-government approach to reducing or eliminating systemic racism and religious discrimination including Islamophobia.” The term “Islamophobia” is nowhere defined in the motion. - China Bans Buying Of Hong Kong Property On Credit Cards
In China's latest effort to control capital flight, authorities have banned Chinese citizens from buying property in Hong Kong using their credit cards.The use of Chinese credit cards to pay for a portion of property transactions is widespread in Hong Kong. Willy Liu, chief executive of local real estate agent Ricacorp, said 15-20 per cent of new property buyers were mainland Chinese. The majority use UnionPay cards to pay for 5 per cent of the home price as a mortgage deposit in Hong Kong. Most of those transactions are worth at least HK$500,000 ($64,371), Mr Liu said, surpassing the $50,000 annual limit for personal foreign exchange imposed by China’s regulators. - What A Westinghouse Bankruptcy Could Mean For U.S. Utilities
International news services now report that Japan’s Toshiba Corporation (9502.T) is preparing to make a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for its Westinghouse Electric subsidiary as soon as this Monday, March 27. For most of our readers this news evokes little surprise. This is merely another chapter of a slow moving financial and accounting train wreck involving nuclear design and construction firm Westinghouse and its troubled Japanese parent, Toshiba. But like an old, leaky garbage scow there is much to clean up in its wake. - Spying Lying Exposed-Trump Proven Right, Economy Tanking, North Korea Update
Donald Trump was mocked by the mainstream media (MSM) for saying Obama “wiretapped” or spied on Trump and his top advisors. This week, Trump was proven 100% correct when information came out that President-elect Trump and his transition team were, in fact, wrapped up in government surveillance. Information was illegally leaked to the press, and identities were illegally “unmasked” to discredit and embarrass the incoming President and his team. This makes Watergate look like a squirt gun fight, and this investigation is now set to reveal “smoking gun” proof that the Obama Administration was involved in illegal activity. This investigation is far from over and could directly implicate former President Obama. - Trump to approve Keystone XL pipeline
President Trump and his administration will approve the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, according to senior U.S officials, but only after the State Department delivers a positive recommendation to start construction on a project that has been delayed for quite some time, the Keystone pipeline has served as a key point in the debate about climate change. The undersecretary of state for political affairs, Tom Shannon, would make a recommendation on Friday that the pipeline serves U.S national interests, said two senior officials. Afterwards, the White House would make a formal announcement citing approval, said the officials, who weren’t given permission to comment publicly on the matter. - Banks Are Crashing
Party's over… With the yield curve flatter than before Trump's election, and rates collapsing, reform was the last best hope for bank bulls… And after Friday's debacle, it appears investors have lost patience… Banks are now red YTD… Think banks are oversold? Maybe not… - Financial Collapse Will Trigger Civil War
Best-selling author Doug Casey wrote “Crisis Investing” at the time when the U.S. political landscape was transitioning from the Carter Administration to the Reagan Administration. Now, Casey sees a coming crisis that is equal or worse than the Civil War. Casey explains, “In the U.S. right now, there seems to be so much antagonism it’s almost like pre-Civil War. There is actually hatred in the U.S. at this point. It used to be the Republicans and Democrats could disagree, but they could have a civil conversation about a difference of opinion. Now, it’s active hatred between these two groups. This is not going to end well.” - “They're Like The Praetorian Guard” – Whistleblower Confirms NSA Targeted Congress, The Supreme Court, & Trump
NSA whistleblower William Binney told Tucker Carlson on Friday that the NSA is spying on “all the members of the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Congress, both House and Senate, as well as the White House.” Binney, who served the NSA for 30 years before blowing the whistle on domestic spying in 2001, told Tucker he firmly believes that Trump was spied on. - Prophetic Voices: ‘Exposure’ And ‘Dividing’ Are Coming Due To ‘Perversion’ In The Church
When prophetic voices all over the nation start saying the exact same thing, you might want to start listening. In the Scriptures, there is a very clear pattern when it comes to judgment. God always sends warnings in advance so that people can have a chance to repent. In recent days there has been a flood of warnings for the church in America, and I am going to share a few of those with you in this article. Considering the fact that there is such agreement in the prophetic community, it would be quite foolish to refuse to take these warnings seriously. - Scientists Warn That The Coming California Megaquake Could Plunge Large Portions Of The State Into The Ocean
Over the years, many people have been shown that someday a giant earthquake will cause significant portions of California to fall into the ocean. But up until now, most scientists have disputed the idea that this could ever actually happen. Well, now all of that has changed. According to a brand new study, a megaquake along the west coast “could plunge large parts of California into the sea almost instantly”. In fact, the researchers that conducted this study say that it is almost certain to happen eventually. Of course they probably don’t believe that such an event is imminent or else they would be moving out of the state like so many other people are. - Member Of Congress Warns Of A 1,000 Point Stock Market Crash If Obamacare Lite Does Not Pass
Are we going to see a dramatic stock market plunge if the effort to get “Obamacare Lite” through the U.S. House of Representatives ultimately fails? On Thursday, a vote on the Republican healthcare bill was postponed once it became clear that there would not be enough votes for it to pass. House Republican leaders are still optimistic that there will still be a vote on Friday, but that is far from certain. Many strong conservatives in the House are balking at supporting this bill because while it does eliminate a few of the most troublesome provisions of Obamacare, it keeps many of the elements of Obama’s signature healthcare law that have proven to be popular with the American people. In other words, this bill is much more about “tweaking” Obamacare than “repealing” it. - Jobs of the future may not have stable hours, holiday pay, sick pay, or pensions, DWP secretary says
Jobs of the future may not have stable hours, holiday pay, sick pay, or pensions, the Work and Pensions Secretary has said. Damian Green described the trend in employment practices towards the so-called “gig economy” as “exciting” and said the changes had “huge potential”. The Cabinet minister’s endorsement of the approach comes a month after an employment tribunal found that drivers for the Uber car service should in fact get the minimum wage and paid holiday. The tribunal dismissed the taxi company’s claim that its drivers were in fact self–employed and not entitled to these rights. - The Worst Retail Cataclysm Ever: Sears Warns It Is On The Verge Of Collapse As Payless Prepares To File For Bankruptcy
More than 3,500 retail stores are going to close all across America over the next few months as the worst retail downturn in U.S. history gets even deeper. Earlier this week, Sears shocked the world when it announced that there is “substantial doubt” that the company will be able to “continue as a going concern” much longer. In other words, Sears has announced that it is on the verge of imminent collapse. Meanwhile, Payless stunned the retail industry when it came out that they are preparing to file for bankruptcy. The “retail apocalypse” that I have been warning about is greatly accelerating, and many believe that this is one of the early warning signs that the economic collapse that is already going on in other parts of the globe will soon reach U.S. shores. - None of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use
The notion of “externalities” has become familiar in environmental circles. It refers to costs imposed by businesses that are not paid for by those businesses. For instance, industrial processes can put pollutants in the air that increase public health costs, but the public, not the polluting businesses, picks up the tab. In this way, businesses privatize profits and publicize costs. While the notion is incredibly useful, especially in folding ecological concerns into economics, I’ve always had my reservations about it. Environmentalists these days love speaking in the language of economics — it makes them sound Serious — but I worry that wrapping this notion in a bloodless technical term tends to have a narcotizing effect. It brings to mind incrementalism: boost a few taxes here, tighten a regulation there, and the industrial juggernaut can keep right on chugging. However, if we take the idea seriously, not just as an accounting phenomenon but as a deep description of current human practices, its implications are positively revolutionary. - This New Bubble Is Even Bigger Than The Subprime Fiasco
In 1988, a bank called Guardian Savings and Loan made financial history by issuing the first ever “subprime” mortgage bond. The idea was revolutionary. The bank essentially took all the mortgages they had loaned to borrowers with bad credit, and pooled everything together into a giant bond that they could then sell to other banks and investors. The idea caught on, and pretty soon, everyone was doing it. - 5 Charts That Scream “This Is It”
Before yesterday, the S&P 500 and DJIA hadn’t seen a 1% drop since October 2016. For some perspective, Hillary Clinton was the presidential frontrunner the last time markets fell 1%. This was the longest such streak for both indices in over 20 years. In February, the DJIA recorded its longest “winning streak” since 1987. It closed 2,000 points above its 200-day moving average for the first time ever. Also in February, the combined market cap of the S&P 500 topped $20 trillion for the first time. Its market cap has increased by over $2 trillion since the election—staggering. Like we discussed last month, with a proliferation of “record” highs in 2017, where are market valuations at today? The five charts below paint the whole picture best. - Lead Poisoning In “Dozens Of California Communities” Worse Than Flint, Michigan
California, a state infamous for its environmental protections, including a $65 billion tunnel project being pushed by Governor Jerry Brown so as not to disrupt the habitat of a tiny, non-native fish species, may be facing a lead poisoning crisis more severe than Flint, Michigan.
According to blood test data obtained by Reuters, rates of childhood lead poisoning in several California cities surpass those measured in Flint, Michigan, with one Fresno locale showing rates nearly three times higher. In fact, in Fresno’s downtown 93701 zip code, nearly 14% of children tested showed lead levels at or above 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s current threshold for an elevated reading. As the CDC noted, no level of lead exposure is safe, but children who test that high warrant an immediate public health response. - Sears Enters Death Spiral: Vendors Halt Shipments, Insurers Bail
When we commented yesterday morning on the unexpected “going concern” notice in Sears' just filed 10-K which sent the stock crashing, we pointed out the immediate spin provided by Eddie Lampert's distressed retailer which promised that its comeback plan may help alleviate the concerns, “satisfying our estimated liquidity needs 12 months from the issuance of the financial statements”, to which however we added the footnote that “the question is what happens when vendors start demanding cash on delivery as concerns about SHLD.'s liquidity concerns continue to grow.” - Dear America: Better Read The Fine Print On Your Credit Card Statement
What will replace the current system after it self-destructs? That's the question. You know those disclosures on your credit card statements? That it will take 27 years to pay off your balance if you only make the minimum payment each month, and so on? - PBOC Injects Hundreds Of Billions Into Chinese Banks After Sudden Defaults In Interbank Payments
As is customary virtually every time the Chinese central bank commences some form of tightening, overnight the PBOC injected “hundreds of billions of yuan into the financial system after some smaller lenders failed to repay borrowings in the interbank market”, according to people familiar with the matter. According to a brief note by Bloomberg, Tuesday’s injections followed missed interbank payments on Monday, anonymous sources said; the matter is not made public over concerns of bank deposit flight risk. The institutions that missed payments included rural commercial banks. One of Bloomberg's trader sources said a borrower failed to repay an overnight repo of less than 50 million yuan ($7.3 million). China’s smaller lenders have been squeezed by a rise in money market rates this week, with the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate jumping to the highest level since April 2015 on Tuesday. As we described last Wednesday, the PBOC for the second time in a month engaged in tightening by hiking the rate on reverse repos as well as various liquidity conduit operations such as the MLS. - Venezuela Stops Publishing Money Supply Data For Obvious Reasons
More than a year after hyperinflating banana republic Venezuela stopped reporting official inflation data, Venezuela has stopped publishing money supply data, depriving the general public of the last, and best, available tool to ascertain soaring inflation in what has become the world's worst-performing economy. Then again, one hardly needs official data to confirm the blistering wave of hyperinflation sweeping through the nation which has seen the value of the bolivar disintegrate under the Maduro regime. The money supply indicator suddenly stopped appearing on the central bank's website on Feb. 24. The data in question, which will no longer be updated, looked as follows most recently. - Genetically-modified crops have benefits – Princess Anne
Princess Anne has said genetically-modified crops have important benefits for providing food and she would be open to growing them on her own land. She told BBC Radio 4's Farming Today “we have to accept” the process could help production and livestock health. Her brother, the Prince of Wales, has previously warned GM crops could cause an environmental disaster. But Princess Anne said: “To say we mustn't go there ‘just in case' is probably not a practical argument.” - The Curse of Unlimited Money
We live in an age of government fiat money, meaning it's not real and constitutional money, like gold and silver. Since government, via its central bank, can create as much money as it wants, it can finance whatever it wants….wars, welfare, social engineering, you name it. No price tag is too big. Imagine having the ability to create (out of thin air) as much money as you'd like. Putting all jokes aside, what would become of you? How would that change you? We're not talking about earning as much money as you'd like. That's totally legitimate. We're talking about — one moment the money doesn't exist, and the next it's in your hands. How would that warp every aspect of your humanity? Let's just say, it wouldn't be pretty, as intoxicating as the prospect may sound on the surface. - Meals on Wheels Responds to Fake News Claims Trump’s Budget Will Shut Them Down
For the mainstream media sending hundreds of millions of tax dollars to support terrorists organizations in the middle east isn’t worth covering. But God forbid Trump dare propose cutting $250K from Meals on Wheels. A budget move that, if you only listen to what the fake news complex feeds you, would have you believing will shut down the organization and close its doors for good. But is that $250K really going to cripple Meals on Wheels? Is that really the bulk of funding for the organization? Not even close. In fact, around 3% or less of their funding comes from taxpayers via the federal government. - Iconic Wall Street Bull Artist Unhappy with Fearless Girl Statue
For decades, an iconic bronze bull has stood at the ready in front of the New York Stock Exchange, a symbol of America’s perseverance during difficult financial times. On March 7th the bull met what many felt was an inspirational opponent in a statue dubbed “The Fearless Girl” – a young woman standing tall and staring down the behemoth animal meant to act as a symbol of the power of women in modern American society. The only problem with the young lady’s visage is that it has adversely affected the power of bull’s symbolism, according to the artist who created and donated the beast to The Big Apple. - Opinion: Here’s where the next financial crisis is lurking
Animal spirits are running high. President Donald Trump’s promises to repeal Obamacare, cut taxes, and roll back regulations have supercharged stock prices and business optimism. However, history teaches when expectations are most buoyant, investors and decision makers are inclined to overlook dangers in specific markets that could abscess into a systemic collapse. Here are five problems that could saddle Trump with the next financial crisis: Housing Bubble, Student Debt, European Banks, China and Trump’s Promises and Political Divisions. - Mainstream Media in Total Collapse
Few any longer believe the “mainstream media,” that is, the presstitutes. This has put them into a panic as the presstitutes lose their value to the ruling elite if the presstitutes cannot control the explanations in order to justify the self-serving agendas of the ruling elite. To fight back against the alternative media that does tell the truth, a secret group, PropOrNot, as well hidden as an offshore money-laundering operation, published a list of 200 websites accused of being “Russian agents/dupes.” PropOrNot’s effort to discredit truth-tellers was hurt by the site’s anonymity. - NSA Whistleblower Releases Documents Proving Trump Surveillance
At a time when deep state insiders have been consistently leaking classified information in an effort to discredit President Trump, they have either failed to recognize the fact that they were endangering American lives, or they just simply didn’t care. With liberals, the ends always justify the means… so don't be surprised if it's the latter. Despite the deep state's best efforts, the Russian conspiracy allegations are fast being disproved, and with any luck they’ll collapse on themselves once and for all sooner before later. Meanwhile, the “Obamagate” scandal has just begun to pick up steam. New evidence has recently emerged that’s bound to throw more fuel into the fire, making things a bit hot for President Obama. - Central Bank Shell Game: What Sweden’s Negative Interest Rates Do to Consumers
Sweden’s welfare state supposedly allows for success while providing a safety net for those unable to keep up with the market. In principle, it is an ideal, utopian-like state. However, Sweden’s touted economic success has come at the expense of its currency, the Krone (SEK), and long-term sustainability. Riksbank, the Swedish Central Bank, like its European contemporaries, has undertaken experimental policy, driving real and nominal interest rates below zero. - The Collapse of Trust in the West
Just as President Putin has stated that governments and media in the West have destroyed Russia’s trust in the West, the governments and media in the West have destroyed the trust of their citizens, who have been transformed into serfs to whom government no longer is accountable. I have stressed in many columns that the absence of trust between nuclear powers is a great threat to all life on earth. Yet the Western governments and media continue to work 24/7 to worsen relations between the US and Russia and the US and China. Those of us who warn of the possible consequences are put on lists of “Russian dupes” and purveyors of “fake news.” These lists show the desperation behind the orchestrated “Russian threat.” A one thousand billion dollar annual military/security budget is at stake along with American financial and political hegemony. In brief, greed for money and power are driving the world to destruction. - Rising Inflation, Four Rate Hikes, Financial Repression on Menu in 2017: Fed Heads
Inflation will rise above target, and that’s OK, the Fed heads who’ve been talking since last week’s meeting said. The Fed will hike rates, maybe faster than expected, but they won’t catch up with inflation, keeping the Fed purposefully behind the curve, and inflation will overshoot, and real interest rates will be deeply negative, whether you like it or not. That’s the Fed’s message emerging since the last meeting. Today, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans echoed Fed Chair Janet Yellen who’d suggested on Wednesday that the Fed could try to push inflation above the 2% “target.” - The Conspiracy Against President Trump
Listening today to the broadcast of testimony by FBI Director Comey and National Security Agency Director Admiral Michael Rogers before the House Intelligence Committee (an oxymoron) made it clear that the Democrats, Comey, and Rogers intend conflict with Russia. The Republicans, for the most part, were interested to know how security leaks targeted at Trump Republicans came from meetings at which only the CIA Director, NSA Director, and FBI director were present. Of course, they did not get an answer, which shows how powerless congressional oversight committees are. Comey repeatedly said that he could not tell the committee anything, because it would confirm that a press leak was true. But, he said, speaking generally and of no specific leak, most leaks come from “someone who heard something” and passes it on to the media, which also explains the inaccuracy of some leaks. In other words, don’t blame us. - Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – March 23, 2017
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his regular short weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams' weekly newsletter.
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Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – March 23, 2017
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Pastor David Bowen is pastor of Standing Stones Community Church in Phoenix, AZ. For more information about Pastor Dave please visit http://standingstonescc.org/
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Latest News Articles – March 23, 2017
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 March 17, 2017 to March 23, 2017:
- Keiser Report – Health Care ‘Hard Choices’
We discuss the allegedly ‘hard choices’ in resolving America’s problem providing health care. In the second half, Max talks to trends forecaster, Gerald Celente of TrendsResearch.com, about the Fed’s interest rate hike and whether or not Trump’s threatened trade wars will lead to hot wars. - Great Recession Headed for Greater Depression
Money manager Michael Pento says don’t believe the Fed when it says “the economy is doing well.” It’s not. Pento explains, “As long as the stock market continues to go up, the Fed is going to continue to slowly raise interest rates. So, when the inevitable collapse occurs, and that’s what the Fed does, the Fed is in the business of lowering interest rates, creating asset bubbles, which pile up the level of debt, then raising rates and collapsing the economy. That’s their mantra. That’s their MO (modus operandi) and it has happened over and over again. The occurrences are going to be much more dire as we go through time. So, the Fed is trying to get bullets in the chamber. The Fed is going to raise rates slowly. The yield curve is going to invert. . . . We are going to have another catastrophe in the stock market and in the bond market and in the real estate market and in the global economy.” - ALERT: Big Money Just Made A Massive Short Bet Against The U.S. Stock Market!
After this week’s Fed decision, big money just made a massive short bet against the U.S. stock market. Smart Money Establishes A Big Short. Jason Goepfert at SentimenTrader: “Last August, “smart money” commercial hedgers in S&P 500 futures were net short about $24 billion worth of the full and e-mini contracts. As stocks declined into October, they covered and went net long. Even as stocks climbed, they added to their positions, ultimately having long exposure worth about $13 billion… - The Upcoming Trade War Between The U.S. And China Will Be The Biggest In The History Of The Planet
The United States and China are the two largest economies in the world by far, and the upcoming trade war that is about to erupt will be cataclysmic for both sides. The Trump administration and the Chinese government are both gearing up for a prolonged trade war, and this is going to have very severe implications for the entire global economy. During the campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly stated that we “can’t continue to allow China to rape our country”, and he was quite correct about that. Over the past ten years, the U.S. has run a trade deficit of over $2 trillion with China, and as a result of imbalanced trade we have lost tens of thousands of manufacturing businesses, millions of good paying jobs, and hundreds of billions of dollars of tax revenue. - The Global Famine Begins: UN Announces That The Worst Food Crisis Since World War II Is Happening Right Now
We always knew that this would start happening. Earlier this month, I wrote about the severe economic problems that are plaguing South America, but up to this point I have neglected to discuss the horrific famines that are breaking out all over Africa. Right now there is a desperate need for food in South Sudan, Somalia, northeast Nigeria, Eritrea and Kenya. And Yemen, even though it is not technically part of Africa, is being affected by many of the same factors that are crippling nations all over eastern Africa. The United Nations says that more than 20 million people could die from starvation and disease if nothing is done. When I write about economic collapse, this is the kind of thing that I am talking about, and we are starting to see alarming conditions spread across the globe. Many believe that we could never possibly face this kind of food crisis in the western world, but unfortunately wishful thinking will only get you so far. - 1961 Prophecy From Evangelist Tommy Hicks Described The Army Of The Last Days That Is Rising Now
More than 50 years ago, God showed evangelist Tommy Hicks what the mighty army of the last days would look like. Hicks was best known for his work in South America, and you can see some old photos of him ministering during the Argentinian revival of 1954 here. According to Hicks, on the morning of July 25th, 1961 he was shown the same vision “three times, exactly in detail”, and what he saw changed the course of his life forever. In this vision God revealed to Hicks that the Spirit of God would be poured out on “the nobodies” all over the world in the last days, and that this incredible army would shake the world for God like we have never seen before. - First Real Hope for Flint Water as Trump Bestows $100 Million
Under authority granted the agency by the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016, the EPA just issued a $100 million grant to the beleaguered city of Flint, Michigan, to help in the effort at replacing the city’s badly corroded and lead-tainted system of water pipes. Some progressive critics of President Donald Trump have pointed to his proposed budget cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency as proof that he is a terrible president who doesn’t care about ensuring that Americans have clean air and water. However, the recent report from The Daily Caller about Trump’s EPA grant just did threw that narrative into a tailspin. - “This Is Going To Blow Sky High” – Observations On Canada's Housing Market
For months we've been warning about real estate bubbles re-emerging in various markets around the world from Canada to Australia (see “There Are 66,719 Empty Mansions In Vancouver” and “Vancouver Home Sales Crash 40%, As Toronto Home Prices Soar 22%”). And while facts and figures clearly indicate that certain markets are bubbling over courtesy of all the same mistakes that caused the ‘great recession' in 2008, nothing helps to confirm the truly obscene nature of a real estate bubble quite like attending a good ole-fashioned, get-rich-quick real estate expo. As such, below are the musings of one financial market observer who recently attended the Canadian Real Estate Wealth Expo as a joke but walked away convinced the system is about “to blow sky high.” - Another Senior Russian Official Has Died
Since the day of Donald Trump's election, high-ranking Russian officials have been dropping like flies and today's reports that a top official of Russia's space agency has been found dead brings the total to eight. As we noted previously, six Russian diplomats have died in the last 3 months – all but one died on foreign soil. Some were shot, while other causes of death are unknown. Note that a few deaths have been labeled “heart attacks” or “brief illnesses.” - Gartman Goes Short: “Something Broke In The Markets Yesterday”
Just when it seemed the follow through from yesterday's selloff would continue, algos may have found the only catalyst they need to lift some offers: in his overnight note, Dennis Gartman writes “we actually ventured to the short side of the market, buying bearish derivatives and by 1:00 in the afternoon, doubling those positions and carrying them “home” through the close of trading.” - EU Taxpayers Brace As Deepening Banking Crisis Means Euro-TARP Looms
If the ECB scales back stimulus, banks face even greater risk of collapse. But now there’s a new solution. Events are moving so fast in Europe these days, it’s almost impossible to keep up. While much of the attention is being hogged by political developments, including the election in the Netherlands, Reuters published a report warning that the European banking sector may face even higher bad loan risks if the ECB begins to scale back its monetary stimulus programs, something it has already begun, albeit extremely tentatively. The total stock of non-performing loans (NPL) in the EU is estimated at over €1 trillion, or 5.4% of total loans, a ratio three times higher than in other major regions of the world. - Used Car Prices Crash Most Since 2008
According to NADA Used Car Guide, wholesale prices on used vehicles are getting crushed. Let’s take a look at the details. NADA partially blames late tax refunds for some of the declines in March. While it’s true the IRS slowed claims for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) to combat fraud, late refunds in 2017 cannot possibly explain an eight-month trend. Yet, based on tax refunds, NADA expects a rebound in used car prices in March. With massive incentives on new vehicles, I say, let’s see. Regardless, it’s pretty clear that car sales are slowing, and it takes bigger and bigger incentives to push them out the door. - We may have just moved closer to a global trade war
Until now, Wall Street investors and foreign leaders had given President Donald Trump's antitrade views the benefit of the doubt, dismissing some of Trump's louder threats to rip up global commercial agreements as mere bluster. That perception changed significantly this weekend, when Trump's Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, seen as among the more moderate members of the administration, held his ground on weakening the Group of 20 nations' long-standing commitment to free trade. - EU chief Juncker: We'll make an example of Britain that no-one will want to follow
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is not worried about other EU countries leaving the bloc after Britain because Brexit will make them see it is not a good option, he said in a newspaper interview. Asked by Bild am Sonntag newspaper if other member states would follow Britain's example in quitting, Juncker said: “No. Britain's example will make everyone realise that it's not worth leaving.” - Theresa May to trigger article 50 on 29 March
Theresa May will trigger article 50 on Wednesday 29 March, the prime minister’s spokesman has confirmed. The UK’s permanent representative to the European Union, Sir Tim Barrow, notified the EU on Monday morning that a letter should be expected on that date. May, who was visiting Swansea on Monday, intended to visit Northern Ireland and Scotland before the formal notification was sent by letter on 29 March, Downing Street said. - White House meeting with Trump was catastrophic for Merkel
There were discernible slights and insults for German Chancellor Angela Merkel at her first meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday. For Donald Trump, it was just another day, full of outrageous behavior and controversy. The grave consequences of rudeness at this rarefied diplomatic level should not be underestimated. But it was nuances of what was said and what wasn’t said at the White House that will have the more far reaching results. Angela Merkel was portrayed by the world media as a put upon woman, a victim of the slights of a misogynist. But she is a mature and substantial politician in her own right. She will know that she came away from this summit with nothing. She is the kind of consensus, liberal politician that Trump holds in the greatest contempt. And she has the most to fear. - Ukraine says IMF suspends discussion on fresh handout
Ukraine on Sunday said the International Monetary Fund has postponed a board discussion on disbursing a new $1-billion loan tranche after Kiev cut trade links with Russian-backed rebel eastern regions. “The IMF board of directors has postponed for a short period the review planned for Monday of the issue,” Ukraine's finance ministry said in a statement. There was no separate confirmation from the IMF. - Row Breaks Out At G-20 Over Future Of Global Trade
One day after yesterday's at times painfully uncomfortable first official meeting between Angela Merkel and Donald Trump, it will hardly come as a surprise that during today's G-20 meeting in Baden Baden, Germany- the first for the Trump administration, whose delegation is led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin – where the dominant topic is trade, and specifically globalization vs protectionism, that a row would break out over how the post-Trump world will deal with trade. - Mexicans Flood Into Canada As 2017 Border Detentions Surpass All Of 2016
A couple of days ago we noted that Mexican immigrants were suddenly flooding into Canada to avoid deportation from the U.S. The increase in northern border crossings came, at least in part, courtesy of Canada's decision to lift visa requirements for Mexican ‘tourists' as of December 1st. Per the new rules, rather than a visa, under Trudeau's administration, Mexicans are now only required to have a so-called Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) which can be purchased online for CAD $7. Unfortunately, while Canada's relaxed travel requirements were applauded as an enlightened, progressive alternative to Trump's xenophobic, racist approach to immigration, under the surface, Canada's policies still function much like Trump's proposals. As Mexican immigrants are suddenly finding out, while Canada is happy to host ‘tourists' from our Southern neighbor, getting a work visa can be nearly impossible and Mexicans with a criminal record are not welcome. - Is Denmark On The Brink?
Iben Thranholm examines political and social events with focus on their religious aspects, significance and moral implications. She is one of Denmark’s most widely read columnists on such matters. Thranholm is a former editor and radio host at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR), at which she created a religious news program that set a new standard for religious analysis in the newsroom. She has traveled extensively in the Middle East, Italy, the United States and Russia to carry out research and interviews. She has been awarded for her investigative research into Danish media coverage of religious issues. - Headaches Set In for Traders With NYSE Glitch Near Market Close
NYSE Group sowed confusion among traders after a technical error hobbled one of its exchanges on Monday, wreaking havoc on hundreds of exchange-traded funds. NYSE Arca, the largest U.S. listing venue for ETFs, left traders scrambling at the end of the trading day after a system upgrade went awry. An upgraded version of its software that went live on Monday derailed closing auctions for certain securities, a key moment at the end of the trading day. The exchange shifted to backup methods for calculating the closing prices for most names, and went back to using an old version of its software, according to an email to clients. A total of 341 symbols did not complete their closing auctions, the exchange said. - Venezuela has a bread shortage. The government has decided bakers are the problem.
Facing a bread shortage that is spawning massive lines and souring the national mood, the Venezuelan government is responding this week by detaining bakers and seizing establishments. In a press release, the National Superintendent for the Defense of Socioeconomic Rights said it had charged four people and temporarily seized two bakeries as the socialist administration accused bakers of being part of a broad “economic war” aimed at destabilizing the country. - It's Time To Get Painfully Honest: Banks Are Evil
I don't talk to my classmates from business school anymore, many of whom went to work in the financial industry. Why? Because, through the lens we use here at PeakProsperity.com to look at the world, I've increasingly come to see the financial industry — with the big banks at its core — as the root cause of injustice in today's society. I can no longer separate any personal affections I might have for my fellow alumni from the evil that their companies perpetrate. And I'm choosing that word deliberately: Evil. - ‘Anonymous' Joins Hacker Crusade To Steal Millions From Global Central Banks
Roughly a year ago we wrote about perhaps the most notable bank heist in history in which a group of hackers used Swift, the interbank messaging system, to steal $81 million from the Central Bank of Bangladesh. But Bangladesh isn't the only country whose Central Bank has been targeted by a growing number of hackers seeking to score a quick, and massive, loot. As Bloomberg notes, hacks on global financial systems soared in 2016 and claimed Russia, Poland, Uruguay and Mexico, just to name a few, as victims. - Deported Mexicans Vow To Flood Into Canada – Immigrating To “The U.S. Is Over…Now It's Canada's Turn”
Canada has been applauded in recent months for its decision to lift visa requirements for Mexican ‘tourists' as of December 1st. Rather than a visa, under Trudeau's administration, Mexicans are now only required to have a so-called Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) which can be purchased online for CAD $7. As one media outlet praised, the move “provides a stark contrast to proposed policies from the US president-elect Donald Trump, who has said he will immediately deport between two and three million illegal immigrants and will build a wall along the US-Mexican border.” Not surprisingly, news of the rule changes in Canada quickly made the rounds in the migrant community with one recently-deported Mexican nationalist declaring that “For those without documents, I think (the United States) is over. Now it's Canada's turn.” - Why Is Goldman On A Buying Spree For Delinquent Mortgages
Last year Goldman Sachs entered into a settlement with federal and state governments over its role in packaging and selling toxic mortgage-backed securities in the housing meltdown to unsuspecting buyers while subsequently turning around and shorting those very same securities. As part of the settlement, Goldman agreed to provide $1.8 billion in homeowner debt relief to delinquent U.S. borrowers. The only problem with the settlement is that Goldman doesn't actually own any mortgage debt, they prefer to package it up into pretty little bundles, slap a AAA rating on it and sell it to pension funds for a fee instead. Of course, that's not a problem for Wall Street's vampire squid because they've found a whole other way to satisfy the entire $1.8 billion settlement without funding a single penny of that obligation in cash, in fact, they're making money on the scheme. - The EPA May Have Been in Bed with Big Pesticide for Years
There is, at the moment, a massive lawsuit against the Monsanto company regarding Roundup, its most popular pesticide. The company is being sued by citizens who maintain that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is responsible for their cancers. On Tuesday, the judge overseeing the case unsealed some of the documents that have been filed related to the case, and nobody comes out clean-not the company and, sadly, not the EPA, either. - Our Political Economy Is Designed to Create Poverty and Inequality
Let me begin by sharing with you the story of an inner-city Cleveland family of seven, two adults and five children all under the age of 11. The family did not own a home. They were renters. As the family grew, it became ever more difficult to find rent. At one point the old car in which they roamed the city in search of rent became their living quarters. Evenings, the father and mother and a newborn slept in the car’s front seat, and the four other children, in the back. - Rand Paul introduces the most sweeping reform of civil asset forfeiture law in decades
Sen. Rand Paul has long taken the lead in calling for the reform of civil asset forfeiture laws, a controversial police practice in which authorities basically steal the property of citizens without due process and little recourse. Billions have been seized from citizens by the police based on nothing more than suspicion, which many see as a direct violation of the Fifth Amendment. It’s state-sanctioned theft. “Under civil forfeiture laws, your property is guilty until you prove it innocent,” says the Institute for Justice’s Scott Bullock. On Thursday, Sen. Paul reintroduced FAIR (Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration) Act, which specifically addresses victims of civil asset forfeiture who have not been convicted of a crime. - Associate of Paul Craig Roberts Just Warned This Major Market Is Ready To Collapse
As the world awaits the Fed’s decision on interest rates, today an associate of former Assistant U.S. Treasury Secretary official, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, just warned that this major market is ready to collapse. “There’s so much inventory, and that influx is hitting across all price points, even studios.” – Director at Douglas Elliman. NYC was one of the first markets hit hard in 2007-2008. This Is Beginning To Happen Across The Country. Dave Kranzler: For awhile, any weakness in the NYC housing market was attributed exclusively to the high end. I am on record stating that price dynamic would spread to all price segments. It’s not rocket-science, it’s simple supply/demand/price economics. Studio rents in NYC dropped the most on record in February. This same dynamic is also beginning to happen in many of the other hottest cities across the country… - Greyerz – The Greatest Bubble In History Is Beginning To Implode
With continued uncertainty around the globe, today the man who has become legendary for his predictions on QE, historic moves in currencies, told King World News that the greatest bubble in history is beginning to implode. Things Are Finally Beginning To Implode. Egon von Greyerz: “So the Fed decision is finally out. The rate increase was a certainty. But the problem is that no one believes the Fed, not even the Fed itself… - Billionaire banker David Rockefeller dies aged 101
Former Chase Manhattan Chief Executive David Rockefeller has died at the age of 101. Rockefeller died in his sleep at home in Pocantico Hills, New York, on Monday morning as a result of congestive heart failure, according to a family spokesperson Fraser P. Seitel. The businessman, who had an estimated fortune of $3 billion, retired as head of Chase Manhattan in 1981 after a 35-year career. - America in Totally Unknown Territory
Former CIA Station Chief Scott Uehlinger says the 2016 Presidential Election put “America in totally unknown territory.” Uehlinger explains, “I lived in countries like Azerbaijan, Moldova and Kosovo. These were rough and tumble places where this was my bread and butter. There was always a Prime Minister or a head of state that was using intelligence services to embarrass or frame or destroy members of the opposition party. This is something I have seen time and time again. This is something I have had to collect intelligence on time and time and time again, and I think this kind of gives me a unique perspective into what is going on in the United States right now. I have seen this all before, but we also have to remember that this has never been here before. This is something new for Americans and, unfortunately, it’s not really new for me. - Woman That Prophesied Trump Would Win Now Warns That A “Great Shaking” Is Coming And Churches Will Fall
If Dr. Patricia Green is correct, America is about to be shaken like we have never seen before. And considering her track record, I would take what she has to say very seriously. She correctly prophesied in advance that Donald Trump would win the election in November. If you are not familiar with this prophecy, you can find it on a video that she published on September 28th right here. She also correctly prophesied Barack Obama’s first election victory in advance, and she did it at a time when Hillary Clinton was expected to get the Democratic nomination. So unlike many other “prophets” that are floating around these days, she has a very long track record of being accurate. - A Rare Solar Eclipse In 2017 And Another One 7 Years Later In 2024 Will Mark A Giant ‘X’ Across The United States
On August 21st, 2017, something is going to happen in the United States that has not happened since 1918. On that date, a total solar eclipse will be visible all the way from the east coast to the west coast. Incredibly, another rare solar eclipse of this nature will move across the country just seven years later in 2024. If you plot the projected courses of these two solar eclipses on a map, you will find that they form a giant “X” across the continental United States. In the Scriptures, Jesus told us that “there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars” just prior to His return, and many are speculating about what this giant “X” might mean. - The Debt Ceiling Deadline Has Passed, And Now The Biggest Test Of Donald Trump’s Presidency Begins…
On Wednesday, the temporary suspension of the debt ceiling ended, and so now the federal government is not going to be able to go into any more debt until the debt ceiling is raised. For the moment, the Trump administration can implement “emergency measures” to stay under the debt limit, but it won’t be too long before we get to a major crisis point because the federal government is quickly running out of cash. Already, the U.S. Treasury has less cash on hand than Apple or Google, and that cash balance is going to keep on dropping until the debt ceiling is finally lifted. You may remember that the debt ceiling became a major issue a couple of times during the Obama years. Last time around, Barack Obama and the Republicans in Congress agreed to a horrendous deal which suspended the debt ceiling until several months after the 2016 election… - 12 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve May Have Just Made The Biggest Economic Mistake Since The Last Financial Crisis
Has the Federal Reserve gone completely insane? On Wednesday, the Fed raised interest rates for the second time in three months, and it signaled that more rate hikes are coming in the months ahead. When the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, it becomes less expensive to borrow money and that tends to stimulate more economic activity. But when the Federal Reserve raises rates , that makes it more expensive to borrow money and that tends to slow down economic activity. So why in the world is the Fed raising rates when the U.S. economy is already showing signs of slowing down dramatically? The following are 12 reasons why the Federal Reserve may have just made the biggest economic mistake since the last financial crisis… - Trump’s First War? ‘All Options Are On The Table’ As The U.S. And North Korea Prepare For The Second Korean War
This may be the closest that we have been to war with North Korea since the original Korean War ended in 1953. The North Koreans are feverishly working to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles that could strike the U.S. mainland, and meanwhile Donald Trump has not moved from his position that North Korea will simply not be allowed to have ICBMs. If North Korea does not blink, it means that we are literally counting down the days until we go to war. Unfortunately, North Korean leaders appear to literally be insane and they have shown absolutely no signs of backing off. In 2016, North Korea tested two nuclear bombs and test-fired 24 missiles, and so far this year they have test-fired five ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan. - Somebody is Lying About Spying, Fed Hikes Rates & Gold Spikes, War Update
Somebody is lying about spying on Donald Trump. The Senate says they see “no evidence,” and yet the New York Times runs a story about revealing information that came from “wiretapping Trump aides.” Respected Judge Andrew Napolitano says British Intelligence did the spying because it has 24/7 access to NSA records. The British Spy agency denies this charged. Bottom line, The Trump Administration is overtly and covertly under attack, and that is clear. Expect a counterattack and soon from the Trump camp. - How The Federal Reserve Is Setting Up Trump For A Recession, A Housing Crisis And A Stock Market Crash
Most Americans do not understand this, but the truth is that the Federal Reserve has far more power over the U.S. economy than anyone else does, and that includes Donald Trump. Politicians tend to get the credit or the blame for how the economy is performing, but in reality it is an unelected, unaccountable panel of central bankers that is running the show, and until something is done about the Fed our long-term economic problems will never be fixed. For an extended analysis of this point, please see this article. In this piece, I am going to explain why the Federal Reserve is currently setting the stage for a recession, a new housing crisis and a stock market crash, and if those things happen unfortunately it will be Donald Trump that will primarily get the blame. - Consumer Confidence: Democrats Expect “Deep Recession”, Republicans Look To New Golden Age
UMich consumer confidence rose in the preliminary March print, beating expectations at 97.6 with current conditions surging but expectations stalling somewhat. This exuberance is occurring as real earnings growth slumps. But crucially, the partisan divide is unprecedented. The overall level of consumer sentiment remained quite favorable in early March due to renewed strength in current economic conditions as well as the extraordinary influence of partisanship on economic prospects. - Minimum wage hikes are causing businesses to cut jobs
In January, 19 US states raised their respective minimum wages. Washington was among the most generous, hiking by $1.53 (bringing it to $11 per hour). Arizona got an increase of $1.95—their “bottom rung” now sits at $10 per hour. In all, 4.3 million workers are slated to receive a hike as they earn less than the new minimum wage in their respective states. Well, that’s what’s meant to happen. Judging by the fallout from recent hikes, it seems things aren’t going according to plan. - “We Are All Doing It”: Thousands Of Canadian Bankers Admit Lying To Customers To Boost Sales
Several days after shares of Canada's TD Bank tumbled following reports that its employees were engaging in practices similar to those which led to a major scandal at Wells Fargo, which cost CEO John Stumpf his job and led to bonus clawbacks and numerous terminations over the practice of “cross-selling”, employees from all five of Canada's big banks have flooded CBC's “Go Public” whistleblower hotline with stories of how they too feel pressured to upsell, trick and even lie to customers to meet unrealistic sales targets and keep their jobs. In nearly 1,000 emails, employees from RBC, BMO, CIBC, TD and Scotiabank locations across Canada describe the pressures to hit targets that are monitored weekly, daily and in some cases hourly. “Management is down your throat all the time,” said a Scotiabank financial adviser. “They want you to hit your numbers and it doesn't matter how.” - Amazon is going to kill more American jobs than China did
Amazon.com has been crowing about its plans to create 100,000 American jobs in the next year, but as with other recent job-creation announcements, that figure is meaningless without context. What Amazon AMZN, +0.58% won’t tell us is that every job created at Amazon destroys one or two or three others. What Jeff Bezos doesn’t want you to know is that Amazon is going to destroy more American jobs than China ever did. Amazon has revolutionized the way Americans consume. Those who want to shop for everything from books to diapers increasingly go online instead of to the malls. And for about half of those online purchases, the transaction goes through Amazon. - This Map Shows US States Renamed For Countries With Similar GDPs
The U.S. economy is so big that all of the individual states are comparable to entire countries… As Visual Capitalist's Jeff Desjardins notes, not surprisingly – big states like California, New York, and Texas are very similar in size to other formidable economies like France, South Korea, and Canada. Perhaps even more interesting, however, is that even small states are similar to the size of countries. - Violent threats against the president are OK now?
Turn on TV or browse your newsfeeds on social media, and you will be bombarded with polemics about the sky falling and credible threats of violence against conservative figures. The FBI investigated a threat to kill Milo Yiannoupolis for the audacity to want to speak on a college campus. Threats against former Labor Secretary nominee Andy Puzder’s wife caused him to withdraw himself from consideration. Multiple intimidatory remarks haunted members of the Trump-voting Electoral College. President Trump has been the target of declarations of violence on a near daily basis. And yet, when it comes to this constant flow of threats, there seems to be little outrage from the nation’s leading journalists and pundits. - Are Collapsing Pensions “About To Bring Hell To America”?
The toxic dollar is bringing hell in a handbasket. Along with the student loan debt bubble and other major financial factors, the looming pensions crisis is bound to be the death of us all. Because it’s based on a future promise to pay, it has long been a benefit dangled to solve strikes and union disputes – because, in the end, it is just more debt, whether private or public. With tens of trillions in unfunded liabilities, the weight of an avalanche remains dangling over our heads. An aging population is cashing in on needed retirement benefits while the younger generations must support multiples that are unsustainable financially. - Intelligence Sources Reveal: Obama Used British Agents For Trump Wire Tap Surveillance
While President Obama has vehemently denied issuing direct orders to the Justice Department or other domestic agencies to monitor President Trump during the 2016 election campaign, it is common knowledge that the National Security Agency has the ability to access video and audio from any number of devices in real time. In fact, according to Edward Snowden and documented in the recently released Snowden motion picture, U.S. spy agencies can simply flip a switch to watch or listen in on anything going on in a particular room by turning on a particular device’s cameras and microphones. - Canada Flagged For Recession By BIS
As if Canadians needed more proof that the country’s real estate is in a bubble, and that this misallocation has spread to other sectors of the economy, the Bank of International Settlements released its latest quarterly confirming what any critical observer can see: binging on debt is rarely a good idea. Canada’s debt-to-GDP gap is widening and even the central bank of central banks is concerned. The BIS uses its credit-to-GDP analysis as an indicator and predictor of troubling economic waters. They claim successes in predicting financial crises in the United States, England and a few other economies. Generally speaking, according to the BIS, when a country’s credit-to-GDP gap is higher than 10% for more than a few years, a banking crisis emerges which is followed by a recession. - China Is Again Selling US Treasuries As Foreign Central Banks Liquidate $45BN
After December's brief dead cat bounce, in which foreign central banks bought $18.6 billion in US Treasuries, breaking a streak of 12 consecutive months of selling, in January they resumed their liquidation. According to the just released TIC data, foreign official institutions, which includes mostly central banks, but also sovereign wealth funds and various other official entities, sold another $44.9 billion in Treasuries, in line with the aggressive selling seen for most of 2016. Curiously, the sales by foreign central banks were largely offset by purchases by private holders, mostly corporate institutions and foreign retail investors, who bought $37.9 billion in the month, the most since last March when they acquired $41 billion. Combining the two, foreigners sold a total of $7 billion in TSYs in January. - The Fed Just Gave Gold The Green Light To Move Higher
On March 1st the US economy gave the Fed an inflation scare. That's when the Fed's favorite inflation measure, the PCE Price Index, reported a breakout higher. Most Fed officials scrambled to announce they were flipping from dove to hawk. But that was then. Yesterday morning however, the CPI release calmed the Fed enough so that they stuck to their pre-March 1st original plans. The real news yesterday was that, after all that huffing and puffing from Fed officials for the last couple of weeks, in the end, aside from the quarter-point rate increase which was widely expected, not much really changed. That gives gold the green light to push higher. - Steve Cohen Developing A.I. To Replace Expensive, Talentless Traders
Steve Cohen, the infamous billionaire hedgie who plead guilty to insider trading back in 2013 and paid a record $1.8 billion penalty, has never been shy about offering up his opinion on the lack of real trading ‘talent' in New York. Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference last May, Cohen said “Frankly, I’m blown away by the lack of talent…It’s not easy to find great people but we whittle down the funnel to maybe 2 to 4% of the candidates we’re interested in…talent is really thin.” And while we would be the last to argue that there's a huge pool of people in New York truly worthy of Cohen's coveted 8-digit salaries, we might suggest that in his particular case the pool of applicants may be somewhat limited to the select few people willing to risk jail time for their employer….but that's just pure speculation. - Balance Of Student Loans In Default Soars To Over $137 Billion
Last week we noted a survey from LendEDU which found that 31% of college co-eds spend at least some portion of their student loan debt proceeds to fund week-long hedonistic, binge drinking trips to Cancun and Daytona Beach for spring break. And, just to add insult to injury, 24% said they spend those taxpayer-subsidized loan dollars on drinking at school and 7% even splurge on drugs (see “31% Of College Students Spend Their Loans On Spring Break”). In light of those findings, it probably shouldn't be terribly surprising that, according to new data published by the U.S. Department of Education, $137 billion of federal student loans were in default as of December 2016, a 14% year-over-year increase. - Idaho House Votes Overwhelmingly To End Income Taxation Of Precious Metals
By an overwhelming 56-13 margin, the Idaho House of Representatives today voted to end all Idaho taxation on precious metals, e.g. gold and silver coins and bars. Bill sponsor Representative Mike Moyle (R) and the entire Republican caucus voted for the measure. If the Republican-controlled Idaho Senate follows suit and Governor Butch Otter (R) signs the bill, Idaho citizens will better be able to use gold and silver as a form of savings which protects against ongoing devaluation of America’s currency. Backed by the Sound Money Defense League, Idaho Freedom Foundation, Money Metals Exchange, and grassroots activists, HB 206 expands Idaho’s existing sales tax exemption to end Idaho income taxation of sales of “precious metals bullion” and “monetized bullion.” - Jones Bootmaker woes leave 1,145 jobs at risk
There are hopes a buyer can be found for Jones Bootmaker as it stands on the cusp of falling into administration, placing 1,145 jobs at risk. The private equity owner of the 160-year old brand, Alteri Investors, has filed a notice to appoint administrators amid tough business conditions for the chain, which trades digitally and from 103 stores and concessions. The decision is designed to give it some breathing space from creditors seeking to recover debts from the footwear and accessories retailer while it seeks a new owner. - Trumpcare: Different Plan, Same Problems
With his widely followed, and positively reviewed, address to Congress last week, President Trump showed how easy it could be to unite Washington around a big-budget centrist agenda on health care, immigration, taxes, infrastructure and the military. But the continued accusations surrounding his campaign’s alleged Russian connections, and the President’s conspiratorial responses, have insured that the battle lines have only hardened. However, anyone with even a casual concern with ballooning government debt should take notice just how easily both parties in Washington would agree to vastly expand the gushing red ink if a political truce can be brokered. Those fears should galvanize around the newly-issued Republican replacement for Obamacare. If such a monstrous bill could successfully navigate Congress, we would find ourselves stuck deeper in a deficit deluge than we can possibly imagine. - Ancient Babylonian Banking and Our Modern Financial System
Ancient Babylonia is known as the “cradle of civilization,” because it helped develop many important parts of our modern society, from laws (Code of Hammurabi) to advancements in astronomy and architecture. It also helped establish rules and procedures that have influenced modern day banking institutions. A quick look back at Babylonian finance provides insights into the basics of how our financial systems work today. - Gold Surges Most Since Brexit After ‘Dovish' Fed Hike
With the focus overnight on the Rutte ‘win' despite the surge in populist angst, and headlines from The Fed, PBOC, BoJ, and BoE sending global stocks to record highs, one might be forgiven for not noticing that Gold is surging (most since Brexit) following Janet's decision to raise rates for the 3rd time in 11 years – far outperforming other assets classes. The Dollar continued to get pounded overnight as China unexpectedly tightened policy… - Brexit Bill granted royal assent giving PM power to trigger Article 50
Theresa May has been given the legal power to start Brexit talks after the Queen granted royal assent to the Article 50 Bill. Speaker John Bercow told MPs that the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, which was passed by MPs and peers on Monday, had received its final sign off, prompting cheers from the Conservative benches. Mrs May has said she will invoke Article 50, the legal mechanism for withdrawal from the EU, by the end of the month in what will be a “defining moment” for the country. - Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – March 17, 2017
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his regular short weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams' weekly newsletter.
Precious Metals Are The Only Lifeboat! I have persistently WARNED you what was happening in the gold market and why you needed to convert your paper assets to physical gold and silver. You need to hedge against the financial instability with physical gold and silver. Call the experts to help you convert your IRA or 401k into Gold, Silver and Other Precious Metals. Call GoldCo NOW before it's too late! Call Toll-Free 1-877-414-1385.
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – March 17, 2017
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his regular short weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams' weekly newsletter. If you are not a subscriber please subscribe for free by entering your name and email address in the box below.
Pastor David Bowen is pastor of Standing Stones Community Church in Phoenix, AZ. For more information about Pastor Dave please visit http://standingstonescc.org/
Pastor Dave is also creator of the website Interpreting The Times, understanding world events through scripture. You can find out more by visiting http://www.interpretingthetimes.com/