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 August 19, 2016 to August 25, 2016:
These Charts Are Flashing Recession Signals
No one knows how long the current economic expansion will continue. But some seven years after the last recession ended, economists are keeping an eagle eye on the latest data looking for signs that another downturn may be approaching. For now, much of the economic data is pointing to continued, if somewhat weak, growth. Companies are hiring, wages are rising slowly and consumers are spending. But belt-tightening by businesses on investment in new equipment and buildings could be a sign of a deeper slowdown ahead, according to economists at Credit Suisse. “Extended periods of falling real business investment are strongly associated with US recessions,” they wrote in a note to clients. “That’s why the recent three consecutive quarters of contraction are concerning.”
What Is Happening In Japan Is Not Good…But Gold & Silver Remain Firm
What is happening in Japan is not good…but gold and silver remain firm. A portion of today’s note from Peter Boockvar: Japan’s index for August was up a touch at 49.6 from 49.3 in July. It’s below 50 now for a 6th straight month which also coincides with the yen move from 120 to 100… With the yen hovering just above 100, the Nikkei cannot get out of its own way EVEN WITH ALL THE ETF BUYING by the BoJ and it closed down by .6%. The 10 yr JGB yield was down by 2 bps at -.08 but still remains 20 bps off its extreme low of four weeks ago. The Topix bank index was down by 1.4%. King World News note: Below you can see a 30-year chart of Japan’s Nikkei Index. This is the area where the bulls, in this case primarily the Bank of Japan, need to start the next leg higher. Because if the Nikkei breaks below that critical support level, it will trade extremely aggressively to the downside.
The Biggest American Layoff Queens in 2016 “So Far”
The most recent company to announce four-digit layoffs was Cisco on Wednesday with 5,500 people on its list. It followed numerous other announcements of mass layoffs this year – particularly in oil-and-gas, brick-and-mortar retail, and tech. Since the oil bust began, there have been 195,000 job cuts in the US alone, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Of those, about 95,000 occurred in 2016. They were concentrated in just a few states, particularly Texas. And it’s not over: there was a “resurgence” of 17,725 job cuts in July. Tech announced about 55,000 layoffs so far this year, including Cisco. The sector is getting clobbered by a sea change in technology, the shift to mobile, and the downward spiral of the entire PC ecosystem. And retail announced nearly 44,000, not including Macy’s still unspecified job cuts associated with shuttering 100 Macy’s stores. So 24/7 Wall St. interviewed John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray. And digging into additional data, it came up with its list of the biggest layoff announcements in 2016 so far – “so far” because the year isn’t over yet.
BRICS economies moving away from recession
The currencies of three BRICS economies have steadily strengthened against the US dollar in recent weeks. Brazil’s real, Russia’s ruble and South Africa’s rand have benefited from a ‘pause’ in the momentum to raise interest rates, particularly in the US. All three countries have battled recession in contrast to BRICS members China and India, which are forecast to grow 6.7 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively, in 2016.
Business Loan Delinquencies Rock Past Lehman Moment Level
This afternoon, somewhat obscured by the Fed’s media-savvy and endless flip-flopping about rate hikes, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve released its second quarter delinquencies and charge-off data for all commercial banks. It shows that if the Fed wanted to raise rates before serious signs of trouble emerged, it might have missed the train. Consumer loans are still doing well, though delinquencies have ticked up 10% from a year ago to $26.8 billion. Loans are considered “delinquent” when they’re 30 days or more past due. Credit card loans are also still doing well, though delinquencies have jumped 11% from a year ago to $13.8 billion.
James Grant: The Fed is Now Hostage to Wall Street
James Grant, Wall Street expert and editor of the investment newsletter «Grant’s Interest Rate Observer», warns of a crash in sovereign debt, is puzzled over the actions of the Swiss National Bank and bets on gold. From multi-billion bond buying programs to negative interest rates and probably soon helicopter money: Around the globe, central bankers are experimenting with ever more extreme measures to stimulate the sluggish economy. This will end in tears, believes James Grant. The sharp thinking editor of the iconic Wall Street newsletter «Grant’s Interest Rate Observer» is one of the most ardent critics when it comes to super easy monetary policy. Highly proficient in financial history, Mr. Grant warns of today’s reckless hunt for yield and spots one of the biggest risks in government debt. He’s also scratching his head over the massive investments which the Swiss National Bank undertakes in the US stock market.
Merkel Prepares For A Deliberate Crisis While White House Plans For A Disastrous Succession
Europe is convulsed by Islamic immigration, Brexit and a brutal economic state-of-affairs that are making it difficult for the average European citizen to live anything like a normal life or plan for the future. Germany is one place where this sort of fear is being aimed at the population on a daily basis. Angela Merkel’s government has just urged Germans to stockpile enough food and water for ten and five days, respectively “in case of an attack or catastrophe.” Germany is also mulling a return to a military draft. On the surface, Merkel is simply trying to prepare Germans for every eventuality. She is, you see, a caring leader who wants the best for her people.
Giant Fraud Economy Crashes Before End of 2016-Gerald Celente
Trends forecaster Gerald Celente has been predicting a financial panic in 2016. How close are we? Celente says, “I believe we are very near an inflection point coming up very soon. . . . I would have thought this would have happened back in 2012; however, there has never been such a thing as quantitative easing. There has never been such a thing as zero interest rate policy and negative interest rate policy. We make forecasts based on information that used to be, but now we have things that never were. . . . I was never taught that central banks could take over the economy as it is now. This is not capitalism. Capitalism is dead–it’s now bankism. The only thing that is keeping this up is a giant fraud. October is usually the killer month. . . . I believe the crash will happen before the end of the year, and it almost happened with Brexit.
Four more mega-banks join the anti-dollar alliance
That was fast. Yesterday I told you how a consortium of 15 Japanese banks had just signed up to implement new financial technology to clear and settle international financial transactions. This is a huge step. Right now, most international financial transactions must pass through the US banking system’s network of correspondent accounts. This gives the US government an incredible amount of power… power they haven’t been shy about using over the last several years. 2014 was one of the first major watershed moments when the Obama administration fined French bank BNP Paribas $9 billion for doing business with countries that the US doesn’t like– namely Cuba and Iran.
Barack Obama may have finally destroyed America’s #1 advantage
In July 1944, just weeks after the successful Allied invasion of Normandy, hundreds of delegates from around the world gathered in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to determine the future of the global financial system. The vision was simple: America would be the center of the universe, and every other nation would revolve around the US. This arrangement ultimately led to the US dollar being the world’s dominant reserve currency which still remains today. Whenever a Brazilian merchant pays a Korean supplier, that deal is negotiated and settled in US dollars. Oil. Coffee. Steel. Aircraft. Countless commodities and products across the planet change hands in US dollars, so nearly every major commercial bank, central bank, multi-national corporation, and sovereign government must hold and be able to transact in US dollars. This system provides a huge incentive for the rest of the world to hold trillions of dollars worth of US assets– typically deposits in the US banking system, or US government bonds.
China has taken over Scotland’s North Sea oil production
China has taken over Scotland’s oil production and now controls two of the North Sea’s biggest oilfields. According to The Times’ analysis of China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s (CNOOC) accounts, a CNOOC-owned company Nexen extracts nearly 200,000 barrels of oil per day across those two fields. This makes it the largest producer in the area.
China caught in ‘dead money’ trap as central bank plead for fiscal stimulus
China is at mounting risk of a Japanese-style “liquidity trap” as monetary policy loses traction and the economy approaches credit exhaustion, forcing a shift towards Keynesian fiscal stimulus. Officials at the Chinese People’s Bank (PBOC) have begun to call for a fundamental change in strategy, warning that interest rate cuts have become an increasingly blunt tool. They cannot easily stop companies hoarding cash or halt the slide in private investment. Sheng Songcheng, the PBOC’s head of analysis, set off a storm last month by warning that the economy had “started to show some signs of being caught in a liquidity trap”.
Dr. Jim Willie: We Are on the Brink of World War; Americans Totally Clueless
In the article following the interview below with Dr. Jim Willie, Michael Snyder sums up what is happening in the world right now geopolitically absolutely perfect in his opening line where he says, “War is coming, but unfortunately most Americans are completely oblivious to what is about to happen.” Truthfully, an argument could very easily be made that the world has never been in as much danger from World War III, or from nuclear annihilation as it is right now, and that includes during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Don’t expect to hear that anytime soon coming from the woefully dishonest Obama administration, or from their lackeys in the mainstream media though. If you listen to their lies long enough, you might even start believing that world peace is imminent, or that the economy is in what they refer to as a “robust” recovery.
The ultimate breakdown likely to be surprising, sudden, intense, and large
On January 30, 2000, the 88+ million viewers of Superbowl XXXIV were treated to a commercial featuring a now infamous sock puppet. The advertisement was from a company called Pets.com, founded just two years before in 1998 at the height of the dot-com bubble. Pets.com went public on the NASDAQ just weeks after the Superbowl with the symbol IPET. And just 270 days later it was out of business, its stock price having fallen from $11 to just 19 cents in the interim. The autopsy showed that Pets.com was selling its products at nearly 30% below cost, giving rise to the old mystifying dot-com logic, “We lose money on every sale but make up for it in volume.” Granted, Pets.com did not have the benefit of a printing press, monopoly over the money supply, or worldwide intransigence in the existing financial system, so they couldn’t kick the can down the road too far. But it remains yet another hallmark of one of the most important lessons in financial history: sooner or later, bubbles correct.
Gerald Celente Sees Worst Market Crash, New Military Conflict, and Gold Spike to $2,000/oz
Gerald Celente: The stock market’s being propped up. We said this beginning with Quantitative Easing when it began, and we said that this is not a recovery. It’s a cover-up. The numbers don’t lie. The liars lie, and the markets are lying. You look at the facts, and here are the facts. You had a stretch of merger and acquisition activity unparalleled in world history because they’re borrowing money for nothing and they’re buying up companies. Then you look at the other facts, and the facts are that stock buy-backs are at record highs. What was it, like the first 3 months of this year, you looked at about, what, $160 billion worth of stock buy-backs. And all this has done is boosted the equity markets. Again, these are the facts, and I know that the people listening to your show want the facts. Ninety-five percent of the wealth created since 2009 in the United States went to that famous 1%. It’s a fact, a fact worldwide. 62 people… everybody knows at least 62 people… imagine the 62 people that you know having more wealth than half the world’s population combined.
Japanese Corporate Earnings Heading For Worst Decline Since The Earthquake
After first-quarter earnings in Japan wrapped up this month with the steepest plunge since 2011, the prospect for an increase in annual profits is about to get even dimmer. Expect a round of corporate earnings downgrades in September, said Norihiro Fujito, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. Trends that slammed profit in the first quarter — a stronger yen, negative interest rates and slumping China growth — haven’t reversed. At stake is a second straight year of earnings decline that could bury Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push for companies to boost capital spending and raise wages to spur economic growth. “A lot of companies may be lowering their forecasts in September,” said Fujito. A slower recovery in the U.S. economy than some had expected is also weakening the outlook for Japan’s carmakers and other exporters, he said.
As Predicted, Obamacare Is Absolutely Killing The Middle Class
The critics of Obamacare have been proven right. The Obama administration promised that health insurance premiums would go down. Instead, they have absolutely skyrocketed. The Obama administration promised that Obamacare would not kill jobs. Instead, firms are hiring fewer workers because of suffocating health care costs. As you will see below, even the Federal Reserve is admitting this. The Obama administration also promised that the big health insurance companies would love the new Obamacare plans and would eagerly compete with one another to win customers in the new health insurance marketplaces. Instead, many of the big health insurance companies are now dropping Obamacare plans altogether.
Obamacare Is The Welfare State’s Requiem
In the hymn for the dead for the Catholic Mass, the text of “Dies Irae” starts, “The day of wrath, that day will dissolve the world in ashes.”For Obamacare, this is that day, and it could portend a future in which the mighty ambitions of the welfare-state shrivel and die. Think of how Obamacare was supposed to be the domestic apotheosis of the whole of the Obama presidency. It was passed at the end of term one, and – just to be safe – it waited to be implemented in term two. It was the culmination of a decade, or really several, of expert opinion on how the national health care industry would be designed. The academics, the opinion makers, the top industry reps all met in endless meetings, hammering out all the details with the D.C. masters of legislation. The power of state would make all things right. At last, there would be fairness and equality. Justice and efficiency too! All the good things about the American system would persist, only it would be much better. There would be falling premiums because the risk would be distributed. Competition would be managed and not chaotic. And all things would be covered for everyone. No one would slip through the cracks.
Citigroup Is About To Relive Its 2008 Derivatives Nightmare
Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB) – with its stock now trading at a 30-year low – was recently called the world’s riskiest financial institution by the International Monetary Fund. Better late than never… In a last-ditch effort to save itself, DB is trying to dump a bucket load of credit derivatives – the murky, risky financial instruments that triggered the 2008 financial crisis. You would think no one would buy these weapons of financial mass destruction… but you’d be wrong. In a staggeringly stupid move, the American bank I’m telling you about today has gone on a derivatives shopping spree, eagerly taking credit default swaps off the hands of failing Eurozone banks like DB and Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE ADR: CS). That means, of course, another outsize short opportunity for you to take…
Solid Evidence That The Media Is Biased Against Donald Trump
Once upon a time, the mainstream media worked very hard to maintain the illusion that they were “objective” and “unbiased” when it came to reporting on national elections, but now those days are long gone. Some of the biggest newspapers in the country like the New York Times and the Washington Post are publishing hit piece after hit piece in an all-out attempt to destroy Donald Trump. In fact, if you go to just about any prominent mainstream news website on any particular day, it is inevitable that you will find an anti-Trump story on the main page right near the top, and it is usually accompanied by a pro-Clinton story nearby. Of course the big cable news networks are constantly spewing an endless stream of anti-Trump propaganda as well. In fact, it has been documented that CNN has spent literally half their time on anti-Trump stories on certain days. The elite are desperate to keep Donald Trump out of the White House, and if that means shedding all notions of media objectivity and sicking their attack dogs on Trump day after day, then that is precisely what they are going to do.
Detroit Has Gone From Being The Greatest Manufacturing City In The World To A Global Joke
In 1960, the city of Detroit was the greatest manufacturing city that the world had ever seen. Nearly two million people lived there, and it had the highest per capita income in the United States. That may be hard to believe, because today it actually has one of the lowest per capita incomes of all of our major cities. Over the decades more than a million people have left the city, and thousands of abandoned homes have been torn down. But there are still tens of thousands of abandoned dwellings that remain standing, and some have sold for as little as one dollar in recent years. Once Detroit was the envy of the entire planet, but now it has become a global joke and in other countries they love to do news stories about “the ruins of Detroit” to show how rapidly America is rotting and decaying. Sadly, Detroit is far from alone, because there are other formerly great manufacturing cities that have declined just as fast as Detroit has.
Fed Goons Will Not Raise Rates Until 2017-Craig Hemke
Financial writer and precious metals expert Craig Hemke says forget about new threats that the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates in September. Hemke explains, “They are trying to move things by talking, which is their primary policy. That’s why so many of these Fed goons, not Fed Governors, as we like to say, that’s why they seem to have conflicting messages all the time. They are always trying to get the markets to do what they want them to do. Rational human beings are telling you that they are not going to raise rates in September. Not only are they going to do it right before an election, that never happens, if you look at FOMC minutes, the expectations actually went down. . . . People see through the nonsense, and actually you’ve got to go all the way out to March of next year, seven months from now, before you at least have a 50/50 likelihood of a an interest rate hike.”
Can US Citizens Defeat UN Troops On America Soil?
The establishment is practicing to defeat rogue American units who will fight to defend the people in the coming martial law subjugation enforced by foreign troops from the United Nations in UWEX 16. Troops at Ft. Carson will be working with foreign troops to defeat civilian forces with COMBAT TROOPS. Foreign mercenaries are training in Northern Colorado to defeat Guerrilla forces consisting of American citizens. Denver Internation Airport just conducted a mock Guerrilla raid on the airport. Foreign troops from Poland and Denmark are training for mass incarceration and gun confiscation at Camp Grayling in Michigan. The above stories will be covered in the next release of the Red List News. For now, these stories illustrate that the current Junta running DC is preparing to fight American citizens in a guerrilla war and we are the Viet Cong.
Germany to tell people to stockpile food and water in case of attacks
For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the German government plans to tell citizens to stockpile food and water in case of an attack or catastrophe, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported on Sunday. Germany is currently on high alert after two Islamist attacks and a shooting rampage by a mentally unstable teenager last month. Berlin announced measures earlier this month to spend considerably more on its police and security forces and to create a special unit to counter cyber crime and terrorism. “The population will be obliged to hold an individual supply of food for ten days,” the newspaper quoted the government’s “Concept for Civil Defence” – which has been prepared by the Interior Ministry – as saying. The paper said a parliamentary committee had originally commissioned the civil defence strategy in 2012.
Trillionaire Rothschild Warns His Own Central Banking System Is Failing And Buys Gold
We have been highlighting the wave of billionaires who are all getting out of the stock market this summer and buying gold. Well, now it’s a trillionaire. Of course, he’s not “officially” on top in the “most wealthy” lists… but that is because the Rothschilds have been experts in hiding their wealth for centuries. When Jacob’s great-great-great-great grandfather, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, died in 1812, his will explicitly stated that no public inventory of his estate was to be published and that no legal action was to be taken with regard to the value of the inheritance. It’s also been suggested that the Rothschilds use private, unrecorded, limited partnerships to accumulate wealth (you know, like all the ones in the Panama Papers).
The man who accurately predicted 4 market crashes told us 3 more dates to worry about this year
The man who accurately predicted four market crashes to the exact date each time has told Business Insider about three more dates to worry about. Sandy Jadeja is a technical analyst and chief market strategist at Core Spreads. Technical analysts look at charts to pinpoint patterns in various markets and asset classes. From that, they forecast which direction prices are likely to move. They can’t tell you the reasons why there will be a big market movement, only that there is going to be one.
The CFR Releases a Promotional Video Trying to Appear Friendly … But it’s NWO Propaganda
The Council on Foreign Relations tweeted a video promoting its merits using all kinds of celebrities and powerful people. If it tried to appear friendlier to the masses, it failed. It only proved that a select elite truly congregates behind closed doors to push a New World Order agenda.
The Road to Stagflation—–The Case Of Norway
We have all heard the incredible stories of housing riches in commodity producing hotspots such as Western Australia and Canada. People have become millionaires simply by leveraging up and holding on to properties. These are the beneficiaries of a global money-printing spree that pre-dates the financial crisis by decades. The road toward such outsized gains in property is not paved with some global savings glut concocted by theoretical economists, but have rather been a process whereby the US leveraged up its economy-wide asset base allowing the Chinese to print ‘dollars’ with abandon.
Memo To Hillbama: $15 Federal Minimum Wage Equals 7 Million Job Losses
James Sherk, of The Heritage Foundation, recently took a look at what impact a $15 federally-mandated minimum wage might have on employment levels in each of the 50 states. Unsurprisingly, the study concludes that the impact would be substantial with approximately 7mm jobs lost, or roughly 6% of current full-time jobs in this country. As we pointed out before, imposing artificial floors on wages really only serves to improve returns on capital investment by businesses resulting in permanent job losses and higher unemployment in the long-term.
Big Yellow Update: Caterpillar Retail Orders Suffer Second Biggest Plunge Since Financial Crisis
While the relentless decline in Caterpillar retail sales has been duly noted here every month for nearly 4 years, now posting 44 consecutive declines, the latest, July data was downright depressionary. According to the company, in the latest month – just when China was supposed to be rebounding and the US recovery getting “stronger” – demand took another sharp leg lower, as follows: North America machine sales down 20% after falling 12% in June, Asia/Pacific sales July down 7% after falling 7% in June, Latam sales July down 43% after falling 38%, EAME (Europe, Africa, Middle East) sales July down 13% after falling 4%, This means that Caterpillar’s rolling 3-month retail machine sales dropped by 19% in July vs the more modest 12% fall in June and May. It also means that, as shown in the chart below, in the past month CAT retail sales just posed the second largest monthly drop since the financial crisis.
Gold Is Standing At The Crossroads
I haven’t written anything about gold here since I noted that one of Paul Tudor Jones’ favorite indicators suggests the bear market in gold is over. While I still believe we have begun a new bull market for the precious metal, the technicals have me concerned about a short-term correction. Gold is now running into a confluence of important resistance. The pair of trend lines on the chart below intersect right here right now. This intersection also lines up with the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the bear market decline from 2011 to 2015.
Here Is An Important Update On The War In The Gold & Silver Markets
What this means is that gold and silver may still head significantly higher, but they remain vulnerable to the possibility of a pullback in the near-term. It is very difficult to predict how the metals will react to such historic commercial short positions in a secular bull market. So far it has just meant higher prices for gold and silver followed by consolidation. We will see what the next few weeks holds as we get ready to enter the seasonally strong period for precious metals in the fall.
Another Billionare Goes All In On The “Barbarous Relic” Gold While Mainstream Media Remains Silent
Billionaire Crispin Odey recently released a management letter to his hedge fund clients praising gold and explaining gold products constituted the next, great investment wave. He is yet another in a wave of billionaires who have all, suddenly, been moving massive portions of their portfolio into gold… with one of the latest being George Soros, who moved a significant amount of his portfolio into gold just a few months ago. It is quite likely that both of these individuals are familiar with TDV’s Shemitah and Jubilee Year analysis. That’s not to say they read TDV (of course they may – and should), but they understand the larger, secretive events associated with these occult timelines. That may be in fact one reason why Soros and other billionaires have been acting this year to realize gold positions. And why Odey, too, has now moved in that direction.
What Is Happening Around The World Is Scaring The Hell Out Of People
Peter Boockvar: “I’m not surprised because I think a lot of people like us see what’s going on in the world and it scares them. When you see a German bank a couple of weeks ago saying that they are going to start charging depositors of more than 100,000 euros a fee of up to 40 basis points, which is where the ECB has their negative deposit rate, then that’s scary to people. So I applaud people who are, from an investment standpoint, buying more gold because that’s their best defense against against this monetary mayhem that we’re living through. I’m still extraordinarily bullish on gold and silver. Anybody listening to or reading this (on KWN) knows the reasons why. I’m convinced that we saw the bottom late last year. The catalyst this year is the fact that there are multiple signs beginning to buildup that central bankers are losing control…
This Historic Event Is About To Shock The World
With many investors worried about the economic turmoil that has engulfed the globe, this historic event is about to shock the world. Stephen Leeb: “The world’s monetary system is busted. Unless it is fixed pronto, prospects for worldwide growth are nil, while prospects for worldwide chaos are high. And never forget: in chaos, gold rules supreme. One possible form chaos could take would be galloping commodity prices. An alternative form would be a vicious deflationary cycle in which prices and growth crash and burn. Either way, gold would be the one real shelter. When commodities are soaring, paper money becomes second-class; no one will turn over something with intrinsic value, namely commodities, for mere pieces of paper. As for deflation, over the past 500 years or more whenever deflation emerged, gold gained and sometimes gained big in terms of purchasing power.
10 Things We Know About The Mock Human Sacrifice That Was Just Conducted At CERN
Have you seen the video of the “mock human sacrifice” that was conducted right outside the entrance of CERN? A spokeswoman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (more commonly known as CERN) has told the public that this ritual happened without their permission and that they are looking into the matter. If this “occult ritual” was indeed some kind of “sick joke”, what was the motivation? This new video continues a long string of bizarre events related to CERN and the Large Hadron Collider that is housed there. Last month, I wrote about strange “portal-shaped clouds” that formed over CERN during recent experiments. And the the director of research at CERN, physicist Sergio Bertolucci, has publicly admitted in the past that the Large Hadron Collider could potentially open up a “door” to “an extra dimension”. There has been so much speculation about what is really going on there, and that makes this latest video that much more creepy.
Are Trolls Turning The Internet Into A Festival Of Hate?
Have you noticed that people say some of the most hateful things imaginable on the Internet? Earlier today, I came across a Time Magazine article entitled “How Trolls Are Ruining the Internet“, and it made me reflect on my own experience as the publisher of a number of prominent websites. Over the years, I have often gotten to see what is really going on in some of the darkest hearts in our society. There are people that come to my websites that somehow think that making crude sexual remarks about the wives and children of people that they have never met is perfectly acceptable behavior. There are others that say incredibly vile things about people that have a different skin color than they do, and some people have a hatred for Christians and the Christian faith that is absolutely frightening. I can’t understand why anyone would want to be like that, but apparently this kind of behavior is very widespread. In fact, one Pew Research Center survey discovered that 70 percent of all 18-to-24-year-olds who use the Internet have experienced harassment at some point.
“This Could Kick-Start WW3”
‘ISIS’ Blueprint For Attacking America (Over 50 Potential Targets). A computer left behind by ISIS fanatics in Syria revealed ISIS eyes over 50 potential targets in USA… What’s curious is that the CIA and FBI chose to focus on one of these 50 targets in particular.’… (This is an interesting video, it turns into a sales letter further on, but it does pose an important question. What happens if the electricity grid gets shut down)…
ISIS Has A New Focus: Killing Christians And Bombing Churches Wherever They Can Find Them
If you are a Christian, ISIS wants to kill you. Our politicians keep telling us that our battle with ISIS is not a “religious war”, but to ISIS it most certainly is. As you will see below, ISIS has a new focus. They are very clear about the fact that they intend to kill as many “citizens of the cross” as they possibly can, and they plan to bomb churches wherever they can find them. In a previous article, I explained how an entire church in the U.S. ended up on an ISIS kill list, and we just saw in France that they are willing to strike anywhere and at any time. Religious targets now appear to be a top priority for ISIS, and that means that every church and every Christian in the western world needs to start thinking differently about security.
Will Human Evil Destroy Life On Earth? — Paul Craig Roberts
The World Wildlife Fund tells us that there are only 3,890 tigers left in the entire world. Due to exploitative capitalism, which destroys the environment in behalf of short-term profits, the habitat for tigers is rapidly disappearing. The environmental destruction, together with hunting or poaching by those who regard it as manly or profitable to kill a magnificent animal, is leading to the rapid extermination of this beautiful animal. Soon tigers will only exist as exhibits in zoos. The same is happening to lions, cheetahs, leopards, rhinos, elephants, bobcats, wolves, bears, birds, butterflies, honey bees. You name it. What we are witnessing is the irresponsibility of the human race, a Satan-cursed form of life that does not belong on the beautiful planet Earth. The cursed humans are even capable of launching a nuclear war which would destroy the livability of Earth.
Secret Federal Reserve minutes leaked
Yesterday the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its July meeting a few weeks ago in which they decided to NOT raise interest rates. These minutes are the official archive of the meeting, providing details about the presentations, debates, and discussions that took place. They contain very formal sounding language, referring to their near-zero interest rates as “accommodation” in the same way that my high school health teacher preferred to use the more clinical term “copulation” instead of “sex”.
Which Items Will Disappear First During A Major National Emergency?
One day in the not too distant future, a major emergency will strike this nation, and that will set off a round of hoarding unlike anything we have ever seen before. Just think about what happens when a big winter storm or a hurricane is about to hit one of our major cities – inevitably store shelves are stripped bare of bread, milk, snow shovels, etc. Even though winter storms and hurricanes are just temporary hurdles to overcome, they still cause many people to go into panic mode. So what is going to happen when we have a real crisis on our hands? We can get some clues about which items will disappear first during a major national emergency by taking a look at where such a scenario is already playing out. One recent survey found that over 80 percent of all basic foodstuffs are currently unavailable in Venezuela, and about half the country can no longer provide three meals a day for their families. Thankfully, some stores still have a few things that they are able to offer, but other key items are completely gone.
Economic Update, Russian Bombers Fly Out of Iran, MSM Can’t Stop Trump
So much for the so-called “recovery,” there’s not going to be one. Retail and tech are the latest to signal the economy is tanking. Retail is warning sales are bad. Macy’s is closing 100 stores nationwide. On top of that, tech giant Cisco just fired 20% of its workforce, or about 5,500 employees. Can you believe the Fed is still talking about raising interest rates in September? Fat chance. Russian bombers got clearance to take off from an Iranian airbase to fly missions to attack ISIS in Iraq and Syria. This is a disturbing development because when ISIS is defeated, there is going to be a huge vacuum that Iran will surely fill. Meanwhile, Turkey is warming up to Russia. Things have gotten so bad the U.S. has removed its 50 nuclear weapons from Turkey and repositioned them in Romania. It seems reports show the Middle East is becoming more unstable every week.
IMF Confirms Negative Rates Are Slowly Killing Banks
For the last two years the European Central Bank (ECB) has initiated a zero- or negative rates policy: its key rate fell to zero, and when a bank deposits cash at the ECB, not only does it not yield anything like before, but the bank must pay a yearly 0.4% interest rate. Mario Draghi’s goal is to discourage banks having their cash sitting idle and to lower the cost of credit in Europe in order to revive economic activity. The cost of money has been lowered for sure, but the volume of credit has only grown a little, not enough to get out of zero growth. On the other hand this long-standing monetary policy generates a massive and catastrophic perverse effect: banks are no longer profitable. In other words, this policy pushes them into bankruptcy. This is what no less than the IMF explains in a study from last August 10. This fall in profitability happens differently depending on the banking systems.
Hyperinflation Is Nigh So Gold Will Go High
This coming autumn, we are likely to see the beginning of the hyperinflationary phase of the sovereign debt crisis. Hyperinflation normally hits an economy very quickly and unexpectedly and is the result of the currency collapsing. Hyperinflation does not arise as a result of increasing demand for goods and services. The course of events in a hyperinflationary scenario can be summarised as follows: 1. Chronic government deficits, 2. Debt issuance and money printing escalating rapidly, 3. Bonds falling – interest rates rising fast, 4. Currency collapsing. The above process turns into a vicious circle that accelerates quickly. The more money the government prints, the faster the currency will fall and the faster the currency falls the more money the government must print. Once the hyperinflationary spiral has started, it will feed itself like we have seen in the Weimar Republic, Zimbabwe, Argentina and many other places.
Bank of Ireland to charge for placing cash on deposit
Bank of Ireland is set to become the first domestic financial institution to charge customers for placing their money on deposit with the bank. This unprecedented move comes months after the European Central Bank began charging financial institutions for depositing money with it by charging them 0.4 per cent to hold their cash overnight. The Irish Times has learned that Bank of Ireland, which is 14 per cent owned by the State, has informed its large corporate and institutional customers that it plans to charge them for deposits of €10 million or more from October.
Monsoon Accessorize restructuring could lead to hundreds of job cuts
Monsoon Accessorize has decided to close its largest shops as part of a restructuring process led by chief executive, Paul Allen. The move could lead to hundreds of redundancies by the British high street retailer. The London-based company could close about 141 shops that have both the Monsoon and Accessorize brands under the same roof. The closures would come as leases expire over the next five years. While the retailer will try to offset these closures by opening separate Monsoon and Accessorize stores, job losses are possible, according to the Guardian.
UN Report Says Small-Scale Organic Farming Only Way to Feed the World
Even as the United States government continues to push for the use of more chemically-intensive and corporate-dominated farming methods such as GMOs and monoculture-based crops, the United Nations is once against sounding the alarm about the urgent need to return to (and develop) a more sustainable, natural and organic system. That was the key point of a new publication from the UN Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) titled“ Trade and Environment Review 2014: Wake Up Before It’s Too Late,” which included contributions from more than 60 experts around the world. The cover of the report looks like that of a blockbuster documentary or Hollywood movie, and the dramatic nature of the title cannot be understated: The time is now to switch back to our natural farming roots. The New UN Farming Report “Wake Up Before It’s Too Late.”
The UK to Normalize Relations with Russia in a Major Policy Shift
On August 9, Vladimir Putin and Theresa May spoke for the first time since the UK Prime Minister took office and both expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of Russian-British relations. In the phone call, which was initiated by Great Britain, both leaders agreed to develop a dialogue between security agencies on issues related to aviation security, and made plans for a face-to-face meeting in the near future. The Prime Minister noted the importance of the relationship between the UK and Russia, and expressed hope that, despite differences on certain issues, they could communicate in an open and honest way about the issues that mattered most to them. The President of Russia again congratulated Theresa May on her appointment to the highest office. In a further sign of a thaw in relations between Britain and Russia the new British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson telephoned Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on August 12 and apparently called for «normalization» of relations. His call provides definite confirmation that a concerted attempt by Great Britain to improve the relations with Russia is underway. In his articles published by the Daily Telegraph Mr Johnson has made it clear that he stands for the improvement of bilateral ties.
IMPORTANT! Pastor Williams just sent me an email to share with you: MY ELITE FRIEND SAID…
What is Barack up to now? Executive Order — Providing an Order of Succession within the Department of the Treasury: ‘(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Executive Order, the President retains discretion, to the extent permitted by the Act, to depart from this Executive Order in designating an acting Secretary.’ Is this some pre-planning for a major disruption in our country?
Human Freedom Index
The Human Freedom Index presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil, and economic freedom. Human freedom is a social concept that recognizes the dignity of individuals and is defined here as negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraint. Because freedom is inherently valuable and plays a role in human progress, it is worth measuring carefully. The Human Freedom Index is a resource that can help to more objectively observe relationships between freedom and other social and economic phenomena, as well as the ways in which the various dimensions of freedom interact with one another.
Brussels plans to impose MORE austerity on Spain unless it forms a government
BRUSSELS bureaucrats are plotting to impose huge fines and more austerity on battered Spain unless its political parties come together and form a government immediately. According to reports, Europe’s exasperate elite will freeze funding to Madrid, impose further budget cutbacks and rein in regional projects in a bid to bully elected Spanish politicians into cooperating with each other. According to reports in Spanish newspaper La Razon, eurocrats have run out of patience with the country’s MPs as it gears up to hold a third general election in less than a year.
This Chart Shows Why Gold Hasn’t Topped Yet
I’m starting to see a lot of analysts now calling for gold to drop down into a bottom in October. It’s amazing how these guys can consistently get this wrong over and over again. Gold isn’t topping. Gold has been bouncing around in a range for the last 5 weeks giving the 200 day moving average time to catch up to price. Gold won’t top until the dollar cycle bottoms, and that intermediate cycle isn’t due to bottom until late September or early October. Gold will be making a top in October, not a bottom. But it may have to churn in this range for the rest of August before the next leg up can begin.
The world’s most and least corrupt countries
More than six billion people live in a country with a serious corruption problem. From rigged elections to bribery, unethical dealings run rife in some of the world’s most prominent nations. Using the latest data from Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) analyzing public sector corruption – we count down the world’s least and most corrupt places.
As Senkaku tensions surge, Japan eyes missiles to protect its islands: report
The government has decided on a plan to develop land-to-sea missiles with a range of 300 km (186 miles) to protect Japan’s isolated islands, including the Senkakus, a local media report said Sunday, without citing sources. Costs for development will be part of the Defense Ministry’s budget request for the fiscal year ending March 2018, according to the daily Yomiuri Shimbun. The government will aim for deployment around the year ending March 2024, it said. Beijing has been stepping up pressure on Tokyo over the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands, which are claimed as Diaoyu by China and Tiaoyutai by Taiwan.
Council on Foreign Relations New PR Video Can’t Undo its NWO One World Government Agenda
New World Order propaganda rules and shapes the world. And there’s no more powerful propagator of propaganda that rules and shapes US global hegemony, world events and major geopolitical developments than the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). On its own website, the CFR describes itself as “an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher.” Two weeks ago the powerful organization celebrated its 95th anniversary since it’s been the most influential force dictating US foreign policy throughout the 20th century chauvinistically called “the American century” right into the present 21st aptly called the New World Order century. The CFR is financed by highly endowed, tax-exempt Rockefeller, Ford, and Carnegie foundations.
Wall Street Can’t Agree on When to Halt the U.S. Stock Market
The trading industry can’t find consensus on when to apply the U.S. stock market’s brakes during times of turmoil. On Thursday, the nation’s three major exchange operators upgraded their rules to help prevent a repeat of the chaos seen on Aug. 24, 2015, when many securities suddenly sank. But a major sticking point remains, according to an official who spoke at an event hours after NYSE Group, Nasdaq Inc. and Bats Global Markets Inc. announced their changes.
BlackRock Cuts Treasuries Exposure on Hedging Cost as Bonds Fall
BlackRock Inc. is reducing its exposure to long-dated U.S. Treasuries as increased hedging costs from Japan to Europe make the debt less alluring to some foreign investors. Yields on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes are negative for Japanese buyers and about zero for euro-based investors who pay to eliminate currency fluctuations from their returns, even after yields climbed Monday as regional data showed increases in factory shipments and new orders. That’s caused life insurers and other long-term asset managers to turn to corporate securities or mortgage-backed obligations to lock in higher interest rates.
Reality: Opportunities and Threats – Deepcaster
As The Central Bankers come closer and closer to the point of No Return (and Helicopter Money), the Equities, Inflation, Credit, Housing, Auto and Energy Markets Sectors and Interest Rate and Economic Scene will change DRAMATICALLY… The BLS, GDP and Jobs Numbers recently released, are Frankly Bogus and therefore provide Opportunities for those aware and Threats to those unaware. Consider a couple of Savvy Analysts’ Views of these numbers.
Carl Icahn Turns Apocalyptic: “I Am More Hedged Than Ever, A Day Of Reckoning Is Coming”
We profiled Carl Icahn’s notorious bearishness most recently two weeks ago when we showed that for the second quarter in a row, the billionaire’s hedge fund, Icahn Enterprises had kept on its record short bias, manifesting in a net -149% market exposure. Unlike other hedge fund managers, however, Icahn does not provide monthly letters explaining his mindset which is why we eagerly watched a expansive, 40 minute interview he gave to Bloomberg’s Erik Shatzker, in which in addition to a detailed discussion of Trump and how the Republican presidential candidate would change the US economy, he shared some much needed insights into his gloomy vision of the market.
Looking Forward
Since its inception, International Man has offered prognostications about what the future will bring – economically, politically and socially. The principle writers of the publication have been at this for decades. Each one began by studying world economics and politics in order to make the best choices as to where to live, where to invest, where to store wealth, etc. Over the years, each one got better at researching, better at reading the signs and, ultimately, better at predicting future events. But, today, we’re approaching a worldwide crisis point and the study that we undertook decades ago has become important for literally hundreds of millions of people who, whether they realise it or not, will soon be impacted by events in a major way.
The Odds Of A Global Food Crisis Are Rising
The vulnerability of global food production to extremes of weather is a profound reality that few grasp. Given the current abundance of food globally, confidence in permanent food surpluses and low grain prices is high. Few worry that the present abundance of food could be temporary. But the global food supply is more fragile than we might think, despite historically low grain/agricultural commodity prices. Both corn and wheat have plummeted in price due to current demand/supply. Let’s start with one salient fact: there are 7+ billion human mouths to feed now plus hundreds of millions of animals that are being fed grain to supply humanity’s insatiable appetite for meat. What few consumers grasp is that the global abundance of food depends on weather extremes remaining rare. If extremes of weather become commonplace, global food surpluses will turn into shortages. In the larger context, the global food supply chain is a real-world system that cannot be “fixed” with financial gimmicks. No amount of money-printing will replace crops lost to weather extremes, replenish depleted fresh-water aquifers, magically rebuild top soil lost to erosion or repair the environmental ravages of industrial pollution.
Portuguese Bonds Slump As Last-Investment-Grade-Standing Falters
The only thing standing between Portugal’s insanely decoupled low bond yields and the ugly fundamental reality is a BBB rating from DBRS which enables The ECB to keep buying the nation’s bonds. The problem is, pressure is mounting on DBRS (the only 1 of 4 raters to maintain Portugal as investment grade) to drop the hammer… and Portuguese risk is rising. And in response to these concerns, the last 2 days have seen the biggest surge in Portugal sovereign credit risk in 2 months…
Morgan Stanley: Oil Prices Will Crash Again Soon
Morgan Stanley’s chief oil analyst Adam Longson just issued some bearish commentary on oil prices, which he says have been buoyed lately by short covering, but are destined to fall again soon. Morgan Stanley currently has a $35 floor price on oil, which could be tested again in the coming weeks due to the aforementioned short covering, record production and reserves, and weakening demand. The firm concludes that fundamentals in the oil market remain very weak, hence the continued bearish view in the face of a 16% bounce off multiyear lows.
The Great Stock Market Swindle
Finding and filling gaps in the market is one avenue for entrepreneurial success. Obviously, the first to tap into an unmet consumer demand can unlock massive profits. But unless there’s some comparative advantage, competition will quickly commoditize the market and profit margins will decline to just above breakeven. Unfortunately, finding and filling gaps in the market is much easier said than done. Even the most successful serial entrepreneurs fail more often than they succeed. What’s more, success in one endeavor doesn’t guarantee success in another. Anyone who has ever developed and marketed a new product from concept through sale knows how difficult it is to achieve profitability. For every good idea there must be a hundred bad ones. Yet the only way to really know the difference between a profit generating idea and a cash hemorrhaging fiasco is through trial and error.
A Stunning Admission From Deutsche Bank Why A Shock Is Needed To Collapse The Market, And Force A Real Panic
In what may be some of the best, and most lucid, writing on everyone’s favorite topic, namely “what happens next” in the evolution of the financial system, Deutsche Bank’s Dominic Konstam, takes a look at the current dead-end monetary situation, and concludes that in order for the system to transition from the current state of financial repression, which has made a mockery of all