2013-06-10

By Emann Charts

Rising Red tide: China encircles U.S. by sailing warships in American waters, arming neighbors

China has been quietly taking steps to encircle the United States by arming western hemisphere states, seeking closer military, economic, and diplomatic ties to U.S. neighbors, and sailing warships into U.S. maritime zones.

The strategy is a Chinese version of what Beijing has charged is a U.S. strategy designed to encircle and “contain” China. It is also directed at countering the Obama administration’s new strategy called the pivot to Asia. The pivot calls for closer economic, diplomatic, and military ties to Asian states that are increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment throughout that region.

Putin announces permanent navy presence in Mediterranean to protect Russia's security

MOSCOW - Russia announced on Thursday that it will keep a fleet of about dozen navy ships in the Mediterranean Sea, a move President Vladimir Putin said is needed to protect his country's national security.

Putin said the plan should not be seen as saber rattling, but it comes as Moscow is serving as a key ally and arms supplier to Syrian President Bashar Assad during that nation's civil war. The only naval base that Russia has in the Mediterranean and anywhere outside the former Soviet Union is located in Syria.

Chart Shows Mysterious Gold Move

The Gold Bubble Has Burst, Prices to Move Towards $1,000 – Roubini

(Kitco News) - Noted economist Nouriel Roubini made headlines Monday, after releasing an extremely bearish report about gold prices during the weekend. He expects that prices will hit $1,000 an ounce by 2015, a far cry from Monday’s prices where Comex August gold closed the day session at $1,411.40.

Roubini, who has earned the nickname Dr. Doom, presented a six-point case on why the gold bubble has burst.

Even 'QE 99' Won't Help Economy: Marc Faber

The market's obsession with quantitative easing and the Federal Reserve's willingness to provide an "unlimited" supply of liquidity has not boosted employment for ordinary people and it "does not benefit the man on the street", notorious bear Marc Faber told CNBCTV-18.

Faber, well known for his monthly investment newsletter "The Gloom Boom & Doom Report" compared the market's fixation on the Fed's bond buying program with money supply issues in the 1970s and employment in the 1980s, and said while it may have helped investors it has done nothing for the rest of the population.

NSA data-mining digs into networks beyond Verizon

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency’s monitoring of Americans includes customer records from the three major phone networks as well as emails and Web searches, and the agency also has cataloged credit-card transactions, said people familiar with the agency’s activities.

The disclosure this week of an order by a secret U.S. court for Verizon Communications Inc.’s phone records set off the latest public discussion of the program. But people familiar with the NSA’s operations said the initiative also encompasses phone-call data from AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp., records from Internet-service providers and purchase information from credit-card providers.

NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others

The National Security Agency has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants, according to a top secret document obtained by the Guardian.

The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called Prism, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says.

US economy adds 175,000 jobs in May

US employment rose by slightly more than economists had predicted during May.

The latest US non-farm payrolls show that 175,000 jobs were created last month. But the unemployment rate increased slightly to 7.6%.

Shares had mostly fallen in the run up to the figures, as investors worried that a strong report could lead the Fed to slow its bond-buying programme.

Fed Hurdle of 4 Straight 200,000 Payrolls Sets Bernanke View

The Federal Reserve says it will keep buying bonds until the labor market has “improved substantially,” without defining the phrase. Officials may have adopted a threshold nevertheless, say two former Fed economists.

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke needs to see four months of job growth averaging at least 200,000 to justify reducing the pace of asset purchases, according to Vincent Reinhart, a former director of the Fed’s Division of Monetary Affairs. Roberto Perli, a former researcher in the division, said the central bank would need to see that pace “through the summer.”

NYU's Nouriel Roubini "Doesn't Understand Gold" - James Rickards (Currency Wars: ... Global Crisis)

Following some heated Twitter debates w/ Nouriel Roubini, James Rickards, author of "Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis" spoke w/ Kitco News' Daniela Cambone to counter Nouriel Roubini's prediction that gold will drop to $1,000 by 2015. Aside from his rebuttal of Roubini's call, Rickards discusses his open Twitter exchanges w/ Roubini which the two have recently become known for, and sheds some light on the nature and origin of their debate. Furthermore, Rickards examines Roubini's six-prong analysis, which is the premise of Roubini's call for $1000 gold and further significant price drops; Rickards explains why he believes market fundamentals may prove otherwise. Kitco News, Feb. 25, 2013.

Bilderberg Group: Two worlds collide - in Watford

In the southern English town of Watford, two entirely separate worlds and vastly different mindsets are coming into close proximity.

They might as well be a million miles apart.

Because there is not the remotest chance that the likes of Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund managing director, or Douglas Flint, HSBC's chairman, will ever rub shoulders in Watford with Controversy Clown or Judd Charlton the conspiracy ventriloquist.

Canada posts biggest job gains in more than a decade as sentiment firms up

Canadian employers have gone on a one-month hiring spree of almost record proportions, though the torrid pace is unlikely to last.

Employment numbers are notoriously bumpy, and a monthly reading needs to be taken in that context. But the scale of hiring in May reflects resilience in the labour market and comes as several other indicators – business sentiment, building permits and the broader economy – are firming.

Time To Get Out? What The Cult Of Bernanke Is Telling Us

It’s always a bit amusing to meet an investor making money in the markets right now who actually thinks it’s because he’s smarter than everyone else.

Everyone knows the Fed’s quantitative easing program calls for them to buy $85 billion worth of bonds and mortgage backed securities each and every month. And the connection to market performance is clear.

Nicaragua gives Chinese firm contract to build alternative to Panama Canal

Nicaragua has awarded a Chinese company a 100-year concession to build an alternative to the Panama Canal, in a step that looks set to have profound geopolitical ramifications.

The president of the country's national assembly, Rene Nuñez, announced the $40bn (£26bn) project, which will reinforce Beijing's growing influence on global trade and weaken US dominance over the key shipping route between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

2013 Fortune Global Forum focuses on China's development

China’s development is the focus of the 2013 Fortune Global Forum in Chengdu in southwestern China.

On the opening day, leading government officials and CEOs from the world’s top 500 firms talked about China’s economic reform, economic structure, and opportunities in the Chinese market.

High-tech and sustainable development were also discussed.

Full text of Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli's address at opening dinner of 2013 Fortune Global Forum

Good evening. In this early summer season that beams with vigor and vitality, our friends, both old and new, from the world over are gathered here in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to attend the 2013 Fortune Global Forum. Together, we shall explore global economic trends and look into the future of the Chinese economy. President Xi Jinping had originally intended to attend the forum but was unable to come due to his tight schedule. As a result, he has entrusted me to come, and sent a congratulatory message to the forum. Yesterday afternoon, Premier Li Keqiang had a fruitful discussion in Beijing with some of the business leaders attending the forum. Today, on behalf of the Chinese government, I wish to extend my sincere welcome to all our friends. I also wish to extend my sincere congratulations to the forum organizer Time Warner Inc..

Alternate Unemployment Charts

The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers.

Guest Post: Gold And The "Zero Hour" Scenario

It’s a Sunday night. October 2013. Parents are making sure the kids’ homework is done. Football fans are settling in for the night’s NFL matchup. Reigning champs, Baltimore, are about to lose. And all hell is breaking loose in the precious metals markets.

Moments before electronic trading opened at 6 p.m. EDT, Commodity Exchange Inc. — the Comex — announced it would settle a large gold contract in cash and not gold. To be blunt about it, the Comex has defaulted on its contract. Suddenly, everyone else with a gold contract — or a silver contract — started to wonder if they’d be next to get stiffed.

President Obama’s Dragnet

Within hours of the disclosure that federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every time President Obama has been caught overreaching in the use of his powers: Terrorists are a real menace and you should just trust us to deal with them because we have internal mechanisms (that we are not going to tell you about) to make sure we do not violate your rights.

Trading Dollar Bill for Coin Big Savings, No Small Change

It’s no small change, scrapping the U.S. dollar bill, yet it could be a big money-saver.

A bipartisan group of senators is trying to cash in on projections from the Government Accountability Office. In 1990, the agency said replacing the $1 bill with a $1 coin would save the U.S. $318 million annually. In 2011, it said $184 million could be saved. In 2012, the estimate was $146 million.

Gold Going to More of a Sound Money System - Catherine Austin Fitts

Catherine Austin Fitts, founder of The Solari Report, points out the world is buying physical gold. Fitts contends, "What that means is there is going to be a much more broad-based bull market in gold. . . I think it's going to more of a sound money system, and gold is going to be a part of that." Not everybody wants to be brought into the so-called new world order. Fitts predicts, "Remember, to come out with a one world currency, you need everybody. There can be no leakage. There can be no exceptions. The Russians are determined to be the stinker at the party is what I think." Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with investment banker and money manager Catherine Austin Fitts.

BOE's Haldane: Worried Bail In Rules Won't Be Enough

FRANKFURT--Rules that force a bank's creditors to lose money, rather than the taxpayer, may be insufficient to address the problem of banks being too big to fail, said Andrew Haldane, the Bank of England's executive director for financial stability Tuesday.

"Faithful implementation" of the regulatory reform agenda that has been pursued in stages since the financial crisis of 2008 is "an absolute necessity," said the BOE official at a conference here on the future of the banking sector. He said, however, that such a move is "necessary, but perhaps not sufficient."

Putin offers Russian troops in lieu of Austrian Golan peacekeepers. UN: Thank you but no

Just 24 hours after Austria decided to withdraw its 380-strong contingent from the UN force policing the Golan separation zone, President Vladimir Putin stepped forward Friday, June 7, with an offer of a Russian force to take its place on the highly sensitive Syrian-Israeli border. Thursday, two peacekeepers were injured by falling ordnance from a battle between Syrian and rebel troops around Quneitra.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect those of EconMatters.
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