2017-02-16

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 February 10, 2017 to February 16, 2017:

Weekly Market Update: Prepare Your Retirement Portfolio for Foreign Dumping of US Debt

Many people are not consciously aware of how desperately the United States Treasury depends on foreign ownership and continuous purchases of American public debt in order to finance the country’s ever-expanding budget deficits. Like it or not, foreign investors, governments, and financial institutions hold close to 50% of the massive nearly $13.9 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds and T-bills that enable the United States to spend almost as much money as it wants on programs ranging from military defense to social security to medicare.

Monster oil & gas deposits discovered in Iran – local media reports

Iran has found a dozen new oil fields that could produce 30 billion barrels of crude and 128 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to Press TV quoting officials in Tehran. “We have to say goodbye to (finding) such big fields as Yadavaran and Azadegan and get used to discovering smaller fields,”said Seyyed Saleh Hendi, an official from the National Iranian Oil Company. According to Hendi, while new gas discoveries are possible, new oil findings are unlikely to be large. Iran has 157 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, the world’s third largest.

“Euro May Already Be Lost” – Vice-Chairman Of EuroThinkTank Warns “No Way To Avert Break-Up”

The 1st of January 2017 marked the 18th anniversary of the European common currency, the euro. Despite its success from 1999 to 2007, after 2008 the euro has become a burden for many of its members. For example, living standards in Italy and Greece are below the levels when they joined the euro. Finland is the only Nordic country using the euro and it is also the only Nordic country which has not yet recovered from the financial crash of 2008. There have been many proposals on how to fix the euro and the EMU, but they are politically unpopular and unrealistic. In this blog-entry, we will argue that the euro will almost surely fail; we just do not know the exact timing of its demise.

China Just Created A Record $540 Billion In Debt In One Month

One week ago, Deutsche Bank analysts warned that the global economic boom is about to end for one reason that has nothing to do with Trump, and everything to do with China's relentless debt injections. As DB's Oliver Harvey said, “attention has focused on President Trump, but developments on the other side of the world may prove more important. At the beginning of 2016, China embarked on its latest fiscal stimulus funded from local government land sales and a booming property market. The Chinese business cycle troughed shortly thereafter and has accelerated rapidly since.”

World's 2nd Largest Stockpile Of Gold Leaves The United States

About 20 years ago when I was still a cadet at West Point, my economics professor organized a class trip to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The part of the trip that I remember most was touring the Fed’s high security vault, 80 feet below street level beneath the bank’s main office building downtown. This vault houses the largest known depository of gold in the world.

Big Brother is watching you: Jim Rogers prophesizes death of cash & total govt control of spending

The time will come when you won't be able to buy a cup of coffee without being traced, warns investment guru Jim Rogers. To control people, governments will increasingly seek to hunt down cash spending, he adds. “Governments are always looking out for themselves first, and it's the same old thing that has been going on for hundreds of years. The Indians recently did the same thing. They withdrew 86 percent of the currency in circulation, and they have now made it illegal to spend more than, I think it's about $4,000 in any cash transaction. In France you cannot use more than, I think it's a €1,000,”said Rogers in an interview with MacroVoices Podcast.

Will The U.S. See A Carbon Tax Under Trump?

Last week a group of Republicans and businessmen tabled a proposal for a carbon tax, designed to replace the Obama administration’s string of environmental regulations aimed at reducing climate change-aggravating emissions. The idea is not new. It has been put forward before by energy industry representatives, including Exxon’s then CEO Rex Tillerson, now Secretary of State, as a transparent and direct way to curb the effects of CO2 emissions on climate, even though the company lobbied against carbon tax bills last year.

Wind Energy Is Now The Largest Source Of Clean Energy In The U.S.

Wind power has now overtaken hydroelectric as the largest single source of clean energy in the United States. With 82 thousand MWs of total installed capacity at the end of 2016, wind turbines exceeded the 80 thousand MWs generated by the nation’s hydroelectric dams. This comes on the heels of the EIA’s short-term energy outlook which predicts wind and solar power will continue to account for the fastest growth in the U.S. energy sector, repeating a trend from last year. The EIA predicts wind power will reach 94 thousand MWs by 2018. Wind hasn’t surpassed hydroelectric power in all categories, however; in terms of actual power generated, dams still out-perform wind turbines, as they tend to stay on for more of the year. But with few dams planned for construction, it’s likely wind power will exceed hydroelectric in actual power produced in the next few years.

China Set To Resume Work On Nuclear Power Plants

In order to cater to growing power demand, China is likely to begin construction on inland nuclear reactors in the next four years, resuming plans for nuclear power plants that were halted after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, a senior energy official told Chinese media on Monday. China has already decided which locations would host its inland nuclear power plants, Wang Yiren, vice director of the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, and vice-chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority, has told China National Radio in an interview.

Don't Tell Bernie Sanders But Healthcare Is Not Immune To The Laws Of Economics

One of the great things about economics is that it is devoid of all mysticism. Every person, good, service, and dollar is treated equally — nothing is special or above the rules. There’s nothing about the supply of or demand for apples that is categorically different from that of oranges. Since every good or service demanded by anybody is scarce, economics treats apples, oranges, computers, haircuts, education, and health care in the same way. There is not a special branch of economic theory that only applies to health care. Economists may focus on health issues, but they use the same basic set of tools as economists who focus on energy, or any other area for that matter.

Parsley Energy to spend $2.8 billion on Permian land

In a quest to continue their acquisitions in the area, Parsley Energy is buying rights to undeveloped acres in the heart of West Texas’ Permian Basin from Double Eagle Energy for $2.8 billion. This will be the 10th largest purchase in the basin that has been announced by Parsley, an Austin-based company, it will add 71,000 net acres to the company’s Midland portfolio. This brings it’s total Permian acreage to 227,000, one of the largest holdings by an independent production company within the basin.

Global Shipping Meltdown Mauls German Banks, Retail Investors, Taxpayers

When Commerzbank, Germany’s second largest bank, reported earnings on Thursday, it made another groan in direction of the collapsing maritime shipping industry. It raised its loan loss provisions to €900 million, as it said, “in timely response to the deterioration in the shipping markets.” It warned that its losses on shipping loans alone could reach €600 million in 2017 after having nearly doubled to €559 million last year. At one point, Commerzbank had €18 billion in shipping loans. Over the years, as the shipping crisis worsened, it has whittled down its shipping loan portfolio to €5 billion.

Solar responsible for one in 50 new jobs in U.S last year

As the cost of solar panels declined, consumer demand increased causing solar jobs in America to grow at a “historic” pace in 2016, according to The Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census 2016. The report – now in its seventh edition – discovered that the solar industry provided two percent of all jobs created in the U.S over the past year; solar jobs increased in 44 of the 50 states. As of November 2016, 260,077 solar workers were employed by the industry, “representing a growth rate of 24.5 percent since November 2015.” Within the last year the solar industry provided more than one in every 50 new jobs created in the U.S.

UN to increase cooperation with China

When Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos next week, he will also be visiting Geneva where he is expected to meet with UN officials. He is expected to visit the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG), the World Health Organization and the International Olympics Committee. UNOG Director-General Michael Moller said that he is looking forward to increasing cooperation with China on global challenges.

Trump Promises “Fast Trains,” Japan’s Railway Stocks Soar

President Donald Trump met with airline CEOs at the White House on Thursday. At the core of the discussion was the overhaul of the Federal Aviation Administration, including changes to the “totally out of whack” national air-traffic control system. He had other goodies for the airline CEOs. Afterwards, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly told reporters that the meeting had been “delightful.” It seems they’d gotten pretty much what they’d wanted. “We are very well-aligned on some very key topics: income tax reform, regulatory reform, and especially growing our industry,” he said.

China, Turkey complete underground gas storage project

China and Turkey on Sunday finalized an underground gas storage project located in Turkey’s Salt Lake area. The one billion cubic meter facility is Turkey’s first such storage capacity and is designed to alleviate the country’s gas shortages. The project is seen as part of China’s enhanced cooperation with Turkey, which Beijing views as a crucial partner in the Silk Road Economic Belt trade and economic partnership initiative.

Putin invites German president-elect to Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited German President-elect Fank-Walter Steinmeier to visit Moscow soon. In a congratulatory cable a few hours after Steinmeier was elected, Putin said he hoped for strengthening of ties with Europe’s strongest economy. We hope to “facilitate the development of the Russian-German relationship, productive cooperation in different spheres benefiting the interests of both countries within the framework of the strengthening of the stability and security in Europe and across the world,” Putin said, according to a Kremlin statement.

U.S. Special Forces Deployed To 70% Of The World In 2016

U.S. Special Operations Command launched a raid in Yemen’s Baida Province on Jan 29, targeting Qassim al-Rimi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The first high-profile special forces operation of Trump’s presidency, the raid resulted in the deaths of at least 14 Al Qaeda fighters, 20 civilians and Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens. Three other Americans were reportedly wounded and an Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft was destroyed by U.S. forces after it was heavily damaged in a forced landing. Over the past few days, it has emerged that al-Rimi survived the raid and he has subsequently released an audio message taunting President Trump.

Washington Post Admits Shutting Down ‘Fake News' Will Move Us Closer To A Modern-Day ‘1984'

Remember George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth? In his dystopian novel “1984,” its purpose was to dictate and protect the government’s version of reality. During the Cold War, Orwell’s book was banned behind the Iron Curtain, because readers perceived the novel as an allegory for their own repressive regimes. It was a serious crime to distribute information defaming the Soviet social and political system. Such criminal laws were widely used by the Kremlin to silence dissidents, human rights activists, religious movements and groups fighting for independence in the Soviet republics. Similar laws were on the books in East Germany, Poland and other Eastern bloc countries.

Mainstream Media Spread “Fake News” 76 Times Trump’s First 3 Weeks

Looking back on 2016, it would be tough to argue that there was any single cultural phenomena that was bigger, or had more of an impact on American society than what has been referred to by many as “Trumpmania,” or “Trumphoria.” If Donald Trump was the biggest story of 2016, then unfortunately most people would probably agree that the second biggest story to come out of 2016 was what we now refer to as the “fake news” phenomena.

The Globalization of Environmental Degradation

Figuratively speaking, a ginormous asteroid is hurtling to a cataclysmic rendezvous with earth, but we are not supposed to notice. The asteroid is the rising threat from environmental degradation. Evidence is accumulating that environmental degradation is becoming global. We can either act responsibly by accepting the challenge or take refuge in denial and risk the consequences. There is nothing new about climate change. It has been ongoing for as long as earth has had an atmosphere. Through change nature produced an atmosphere supportive of life. We know for a fact that human activities can have adverse impacts on the air, water, and land resources. If these impacts become global, as independent scientists believe, life on earth might be at risk.

China “Seriously Concerned And Opposed” After Trump Backs Japan Over Disputed East China Sea Islands

On Friday, when President Trump confirmed that the US alliance with Japan covers the contested “Senkaku” islands located in the East China Sea, and which prompted a diplomatic scandal between China and Japan in 2013, we predicted that China would not be happy. Additionally, in a joint Japanese-U.S. statement after the weekend meeting in the United States said the two leaders affirmed that Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan security treaty covered the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

Foreign Governments Dump US Treasuries as Never Before, But Who the Heck is Buying Them?

It started with a whimper a couple of years ago and has turned into a roar: foreign governments are dumping US Treasuries. The signs are coming from all sides. The data from the US Treasury Department points at it. The People’s Bank of China points at it in its data releases on its foreign exchange reserves. Japan too has started selling Treasuries, as have other governments and central banks. Some, like China and Saudi Arabia, are unloading their foreign exchange reserves to counteract capital flight, prop up their own currencies, or defend a currency peg.

TISA Ready to Take the Place of TPP

We got rid of TPP and now they’re bringing it back with TISA. In some ways it’s even worse that TPP. TPP was killed because Congress wasn’t going to go along with it and US President Donald Trump withdrew the county from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as soon as he got into office. But now we’re finding out that it lives on through the Trade In Services Agreement (TISA). TISA has actually been around for a long time, some 21 rounds of negotiations since April 2013. And while many things can be said about TISA, it was obviously designed as a back up to TPP. In fact one can speculate that TPP was actually expected to fail and TISA was developed to take its place.

French Election Could See Euro Break Up – New Global Crisis

David McWilliams, economist, writer and journalist, has warned that the coming French election may lead to the euro breaking up and that Ireland should have a ‘plan B’ and ‘print punts’ in order to be ready for the collapse of the “single currency.” McWilliams, who is among the best economics commentators from the only Anglophone nation in the euro – Ireland, has previously warned that the mismanagement of the euro currency has had disastruous consequences on the people in periphery EU nations. He correctly asserts that the mismanagement has been both “both laughable and terrifying”.

How can we trust global warming scientists if they keep twisting the truth

They were duped – and so were we. That was the conclusion of last week’s damning revelation that world leaders signed the Paris Agreement on climate change under the sway of unverified and questionable data. A landmark scientific paper –the one that caused a sensation by claiming there has been NO slowdown in global warming since 2000 – was critically flawed. And thanks to the bravery of a whistleblower, we now know that for a fact.

Empire Strikes Back on Trump-Catherine Austin Fitts

Investment advisor Catherine Austin Fitts says the oligarch, or establishment class, is on the attack. She calls this latest chapter in the Trump Administration “The Empire Strikes Back.”  Fitts explains, “Number one, Trump came into Washington with an agenda that would really make America great again:  tax reform, regulatory relief, infrastructure and Obama Care.  Immediately, he got bogged down in those for a variety of reasons.  If you look at Congress’s constituents, they can’t make money solving those things, particularly if it helps regular people.  So, immediately you bog down on those issues.  He’s trying to get his cabinet in place.  In the meantime, you have the Empire worried about a variety of things.

Loving Our Servitude in America’s Plantation Economy

One of the themes I’ve been addressing since 2008 is the neocolonial-plantation structure of the U.S. economy. The old models of colonial exploitation that optimized plantations worked by cheap imported labor (or situated in peripheral nations with plenty of cheap labor) have, beneath the surface, been adapted to advanced capitalist democracies.

The Reason The Elite Hate Trump So Much Is Because He Is Opposed To The One World Agenda Of The Globalists

Have you ever wondered why the elite hate Donald Trump so much? There have certainly been many politicians throughout the years that have been disliked, but with Trump there is a hatred that is so intense that it almost seems tangible at times. During the campaign, they went to extraordinary lengths to destroy him, but it didn’t work. And now that he is president, the attacks against him have been absolutely relentless. So why is there so much animosity toward Trump? Is it just because he is not a member of their club?

Gold Is Rallying Because Western Central Bank Vaults Are Running Out Of Physical Gold

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 gold is rallying because Western central bank vaults are running out of physical gold. The reason is that the gold wasn’t available because it had been leased or maybe even sold. This is confirmed by comments that the bars received in return were not the same as the original ones. But the big question now is, if the remaining 1,668 tonnes that are supposed to be stored in the US and France actually exist? If they do, why not bring them back to Germany? Originally the reason for holding gold outside of Germany was the Cold War.

Goodbye Petrodollar: Russia and China Dump US Treasuries, Buy Gold

It's no secret that Russia and China both share a growing appetite for gold. But how excited are they about U.S. Treasuries, the most boring but “safe” investment which basically translates into “we believe that everything will basically stay the same”? From the looks of it, Moscow and Beijing no longer think T-bonds are a safe bet or in their national interests. Yes, for those who missed it: “Gold is appealing to these countries because it shields them from the U.S. government's ability to control the value of their holdings. Gold is a country-less currency. A continuing trend of reserve buildup and Treasury sales might weaken the dollar and pressure gold prices higher.”

What Form Will The Great Confiscation Take — And How Can We Prepare?

For what seems like decades, people have been warning that the next time some over-leveraged corner of the financial system implodes, bank and brokerage accounts will be either confiscated by desperate governments or lost during the resulting chaos. The fact that this mass confiscation hasn’t yet happened doesn’t mean it won’t, says Jim Rickards, whose previous bestsellers Currency Wars and The Death of Money were already pretty apocalyptic. He believes that a coordinated closure/restructuring/confiscation of the banking/brokerage industry is imminent.

Barclays: “Significant Change Is Coming To The Fed Over The Next 18 Months”

Following yesterday's surprise resignation announcement by Obama friend, and Fed “regulatory point man” Daniel Tarullo, which in turn followed last week's resignation announcement by the Fed's general counsel Scott Alvarez, and which means that there will be three open governor seats at the Fed (resulting in more Fed presidents, 5, than governors, 4, until the vacant slots are filled), Trump can now populate the Fed board with governors whose views echo his own – especially if strong pro-Clinton supporter and donor, Lael Brainard, is the next to go – even if it is still unclear just what that view is.

Fed ‘Insider' Exposes The Evils Of US Monetary Policy Recklessness

Danielle DiMartino Booth, former analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, has just released the book Fed Up: An Insider's Take On Why The Federal Reserve Is Bad For America. In it, Danielle describes how the Federal Reserve is controlled by 1,000 PhD economists and run by an unelected West Coast radical with no direct business experience. The Fed continues to enable Congress to grow our nation’s ballooning debt and avoid making hard choices, despite the high psychological and monetary costs. And our addiction to the “heroin” of low interest rates is pushing our economy towards yet another collapse.

“It Was A Deer In Headlights Moment”: Japan Dumps Most US Treasuries Since May 2013

With the December monthly TIC data due out this week, bond traders will be closely watching if the selling of US Treasuries by foreign accounts, and especially central banks, which as we have repeatedly shown for the past several months has hit record levels will persist, with a focus on whether China's near record selling of US paper will persist. As UBS notes, Japanese investor appetite for developed market overseas bonds, and especially US, was a big story during the first seven months of 2016. However, since then interest has waned. Weekly flow data underscores how Japanese investors sold ~¥4 trillion of overseas bonds from the time of the US presidential election to the end of Jan-17. Last week the Japanese government released more granular data for the month of December which highlights a number of notable developments.

Revealed: Trump Administration Aborted Operation That Would Have Provoked War With Iran

Buried in the middle of the New York Times' story on the inner workings of Trump's National Security Council is a revelation almost too terrifying to believe: Last week, the U.S. Navy came close to intercepting and boarding an Iranian ship — allegedly in an attempt to stop the flow of weapons to the Houthis in Yemen. Ah yes, that annoying little detail, “international law”. And are we supposed to be reassured that Mattis has set the operation aside “at least for now”? It's clear that the risks involved could never justify any potential “positive” outcome for Washington, like a few less guns for the Houthis.

Why Donald Trump Needs The Next Recession To Start As Quickly As Possible

A new recession is coming, and Donald Trump needs it to begin sooner rather than later.  As I explained last week, most American voters tend to care about their pocketbooks more than anything else.  If the next recession were to officially start during the first quarter of 2017, it would be very easy for Trump to blame it on Obama, and then he could portray himself as the one that pulled the U.S. economy out of recession in time for the 2020 election.  But if the next recession does not begin until 2018 or 2019, everybody is going to blame it on Trump even if it is not his fault.  In politics, who gets the blame for whatever goes wrong is often the most important thing, and if Trump wants to avoid blame for the next recession he needs for it to start as quickly as possible.

Trump and the Draining of the Swamp

The Dow is back above the 20,000-point mark. Federal debt, as officially tallied, is up to nearly $20 trillion. The two go together, egging each other on. The Dow is up 20 times since 1980. So is the U.S. national debt. Debt feeds the stock market and the swamp. What’s not up so much is real output, as measured by GDP. It’s up only 6.4 times over the same period. Debt and asset prices have been rising three times as fast as GDP for 36 years! Best bet: Sell stocks and bonds (debt). Buy GDP. How? To be addressed in due course.

Trends in Migration to the U.S.

Under the motto e pluribus unum (from many, one), U.S. presidents frequently remind Americans that they share the immigrant experience of beginning anew in the land of opportunity. Immigration is widely considered to be in the national interest, since it permits individuals to better themselves as it strengthens the United States. For its first 100 years, the United States facilitated immigration, welcoming foreigners to settle a vast country. Beginning in the 1880s, an era of qualitative immigration restrictions began as certain types of immigrants were barred: prostitutes, workers with contracts that tied them to a particular employer for several years, and Chinese. In the 1920s, quantitative restrictions or quotas set a ceiling on the number of immigrants accepted each year.

2017 Prophetic Outlook from Sid Roth with Perry Stone, Cindy Jacobs and Rich Vera

Perry Stone delivers a “right now” word for this year including current and coming events. You will also learn—What is a spiritual Manifesto? What is the Balaam Strategy? Has our Nation been given a Reprieve? What is the assignment of the United States? Cindy Jacobs delivers the Word of the Lord for 2017 as given to the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders. You’ll also hear the complete “Prophetic Word of the Lord” as given to Cindy and the Elders, and read by Gezell Fleming from the hit movie “The War Room.” Rich Vera received a specific word that this year, 2017, The Lord is releasing “The Law of Attraction” over His people. Specifically—this is the year of Long Awaited Breakthroughs and Unexpected Victories in the areas of family, salvation, relationships, healing and finances.

US Scrambled to Fill Empty Vaults After Germany Requested Return of 300 Tons of Gold

At Berlin's insistence, Washington has finally returned 300 metric tons of gold to Germany. According to reports, the transfer was uneventful and even ahead of schedule: “The transfers were carried out without any disruptions or irregularities,” Bundesbank board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele said in yesterday’s news release. “The gold storage plan for New York, which envisaged the transfer of 300 tons of gold from New York to Frankfurt, was fully realized in 2016.”

Co-op Bank lists itself for sale

The Co-operative Bank, which is 20% owned by the wider Co-op Group, has put itself up for sale in order to meet its capital requirements. The struggling lender has been in the process of implementing a turnaround plan after coming to the brink of collapse in 2013. The bank's balance sheet ballooned following a disastrous merger with the Britannia Building Society, and then ran into trouble when it tried to buy more than 600 branches from Lloyds Banking Group.

RBS Said to Plan More Than $1 Billion of Cost Cuts as Jobs Pared

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc is preparing to cut more than 1 billion pounds ($1.25 billion) of annual operating costs by eliminating jobs and closing branches as it seeks to bolster profitability, said a person with knowledge of the plans. While the Edinburgh-based lender probably won’t reveal a headline figure for role reductions, senior executives believe RBS has more staff than it requires and will cut more jobs, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the details are private.

IMF's Lagarde says worried about European elections

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Sunday that she was worried about the result of looming elections in Europe, though she insisted the euro zone was making progress in resolving its economic problems. “I am worried, as we all are, about some of these elections,” Lagarde told an international conference of economic policy makers and academics in Dubai, when asked about this year's votes in France, the Netherlands and Germany.

Cash No Longer King: Europe Accelerates Move To Begin Elimination Of Paper Money

In the shadow of Donald Trump’s spree of controversial actions, the European commission has quietly launched the next offensive in the war on cash. These unelected bureaucrats have boldly asserted their intention to crack down on paper transactions across the E.U. and solidify a trend that has been gaining momentum for years. The financial uncertainty amplified by Brexit has incentivized governments throughout Europe to seize further control over their banking systems.

Germany orders Greece to LEAVE euro if it wants debts cut

HARDLINE German minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has warned the only way Greece's loans can be written off is through the country leaving the eurozone, as the debt crisis once again blows up. Angela Merkel's finance chief ruled out cutting the amount of money owed by the struggling Mediterranean state in an interview on German television. He insisted creditors must keep the pressure on Greece to meet the strict terms of its bailout programme or kick it out of the single currency. Markets reacted with alarm after the minister raised the prospect of a Grexit.

Civil Asset Forfeiture Is Theft

This week we learned that President Trump supports the seizure of property from individuals who are merely suspected of a crime. In other words, President Trump is endorsing theft.

Steve Bannon Believes The Apocalypse Is Coming And War Is Inevitable

In 2009, the historian David Kaiser, then a professor at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, got a call from a guy named Steve Bannon. Bannon wanted to interview Kaiser for a documentary he was making based on the work of the generational theorists William Strauss and Neil Howe. Kaiser, an expert on Strauss and Howe, didn’t know Bannon from Adam, but he agreed to participate. He went to the Washington headquarters of the conservative activist group Citizens United, where Bannon was then based, for a chat.

Harvard Economist: 42 Percent of Immigrant Households on Public Assistance

A Harvard economist has found that nearly 42 percent of immigrant households in the United States are on public assistance of some kind. “In 2016, there were 8.9 million households headed by a non-citizen … almost 42 percent of those households received some type of assistance,” George Borjas, Professor of Economics and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, wrote on his website on Feb. 1. To come to his conclusions Borjas used census data from 1994 to 2016 to calculate how many of the migrant-headed households receive either money, food stamps, or Medicaid.

77% of refugees allowed into U.S. since travel reprieve hail from seven suspect countries

The State Department has more than doubled the rate of refugees from Iraq, Syria and other suspect countries in the week since a federal judge’s reprieve, in what analysts said appears to be a push to admit as many people as possible before another court puts the program back on ice. A staggering 77 percent of the 1,100 refugees let in since Judge James L. Robart’s Feb. 3 order have been from the seven suspect countries. Nearly a third are from Syria alone — a country that President Trump has ordered be banned altogether from the refugee program. Another 21 percent are from Iraq. By contrast, in the two weeks before Judge Robart’s order, just 9 percent of refugees were from Syria and 6 percent were from Iraq.

Italy to QUIT EUROZONE in final nail of coffin for EU, warns top economist

ITALY could be set to pull out of the Eurozone in what would be the final nail in the European Union's (EU) coffin, Greece’s former finance minister has warned. Yanis Varoufakis said there was an “epidemic” among countries using the single currency, with Italy the next to fall foul of Brussels’ economic malaise. He also said Brexit would “speed up” the break-down of the bloc – before making a dig at Jeremy Corbyn. In a fiery interview, to be shown by Al Jazeera TV tomorrow, the economist let loose at the European Union, seven years after the union bailed Greece out in controversial circumstances.

TV host Stephen Colbert took orders from Clinton Foundation

We already know that the MSM, including the major TV news networks, are blatantly biased in favor of Democrats and against conservatives. But it’s not just TV news. Studies show that Americans, especially millennials, increasingly get their news from late night TV talk shows. What if I were to tell you that a major comedian-actor who made his reputation on Comedy Central’s popular news-parody series The Daily Show and now hosts the CBS Late Show, actually took direct orders from the Clinton Foundation?

The Data That Turned the World Upside Down

Psychologist Michal Kosinski developed a method to analyze people in minute detail based on their Facebook activity. Did a similar tool help propel Donald Trump to victory? Two reporters from Zurich-based Das Magazin went data-gathering.​

Who sits above Trump? 10 Presidents and Politicians who tols us that a “Secret Government” controls the World

This year’s U.S. election completely shocked the world. It seemed clear that   Hillary Clinton was backed by the big banks and other elite groups to run the American empire, and Wikileaks further helped to illustrate how corporate and financial interests control the presidency. This is exactly why Trump’s election came as such a surprise, and why mainstream media continues to demonize him. Of course, his many and obvious flaws make it easy for them to do so, but in an age where mainstream media completely controls the thoughts and perceptions of the masses, it is important to remember that the elite oppose Trump. Trump has been demonized for his recent travel ban, yet Clinton and Obama helped devastate the Middle East and cause the death of millions and remain media darlings.

NGO Fleet Bussing Migrants Into The EU Has Ties To George Soros, Hillary Clinton Donors

In November 2016, a number of NGO’s were revealed by independent European news source GEFIRA to be smuggling migrants from the northern coast of Africa across the Mediterranean into the EU using a ramshackle fleet of ships. Research by Disobedient Media shows that a number of the organizations sponsoring ships in the armada are funded in part by Hillary Clinton donors and organizations run by billionaire George Soros. The actions taken by sponsors of ships in the fleet may be illegal under EU law and possibly run the risk of aiding ISIS operatives hiding among the migrant population.

Recession 2017? These Things Never Happen Unless The Economy Is In Decline

Is the U.S. economy about to get slammed by a major recession?  According to Gallup, U.S. economic confidence has soared to the highest level ever recorded, but meanwhile a whole host of key economic indicators are absolutely screaming that a new recession is beginning.  And if the U.S. economy does officially enter recession territory in 2017, it certainly won’t be a shock, because the truth is that we are well overdue for one.  Donald Trump has inherited quite an economic mess from Barack Obama, and it was probably inevitable that we were headed for a significant economic downturn no matter who won the election.

Billionaire Eric Sprott Says Central Banks Panicking As ‘The Whole World Is Buying Gold Here,’ Including Druckenmiller

Today billionaire Eric Sprott told King World News that central banks are panicking as the whole world is buying gold here, including Druckenmiller. Eric King:  “King World News was the first news organization in the world to report that multi-billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller had bought back his gold position and today (two days later) Bloomberg news confirmed it.  What are your thoughts on Druckenmiller buying back his gold position?”

Associate of Paul Craig Roberts Says Today 30% Of Available Physical Gold On Comex Was Dumped In 60 Seconds!

With the price of gold moving steadily higher after a major breakout above the key $1,220 level, today an associate of former Assistant U.S. Treasury Secretary official, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, says today the equivalent of 30% of the available physical gold for delivery on the Comex was dumped in 60 seconds.

Germany repatriating gold faster than planned as confidence in euro plunges

Berlin is bringing home its gold reserves stored in New York, London and Paris faster than scheduled, Germany’s central bank said Thursday. The move is linked to surging euroskepticism, as new governments in France and Italy may ditch the single currency. The German Bundesbank has already moved 583 tons of gold out of New York and Paris, planning to have a half of its gold back in Germany by the end of 2017, which is ahead of the 2020 plan. The rest will be split between the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank of England.

Trump changes tack, backs ‘one China' policy in call with Xi

U.S. President Donald Trump changed tack and agreed to honour the “one China” policy during a phone call with China's leader Xi Jinping, a major diplomatic boost for Beijing which brooks no criticism of its claim to self-ruled Taiwan. Trump angered Beijing in December by talking to the president of Taiwan and saying the United States did not have to stick to the policy, under which Washington acknowledges the Chinese position that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of it. A White House statement said Trump and Chinese President Xi had a lengthy phone conversation on Thursday night, Washington time.

‘Step up and speak out': Hillary Clinton makes a rallying cry for women to rise up against the Trump administration as she speaks on video for the first time since the inauguration to say ‘the future is female'

Hillary Clinton said female leaders need to ‘step up and speak out' in a video statement urging women across the United States to ‘be bold'. In footage from the 2017 MAKERS conference, Clinton talked about breaking glass ceilings and the Women's Marches that took place last month. ‘Despite all the challenges we face, I remain convinced that, yes, the future is female,' she said. This was Clinton's first on-camera statement since President Donald Trump was inaugurated last month.

World’s largest hedge fund manager predicts bleak future for markets

There are lots of famous investors and hedge fund managers who are legendary stock-pickers. Warren Buffet is a great example. Others are hard-core quantitative analysts who build complex trading algorithms. Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, is neither. He’s a macro investor whose fortune was built on an uncanny ability to spot big macro trends. He predicted in 2007, for example, that the US housing bubble would burst, and warned the Bush administration that major banks were on the verge of collapse. The government ignored him.

Out of work: Chelsea Clinton's husband Marc Mezvinsky shut down his hedge fund in December just weeks after Hillary lost election

Marc Mezvinsky quietly shut down his hedge fund Eaglevale Partners back in December. Bloomberg reports that Mr. Chelsea Clinton and his partners are now working to return money to investors, including Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein. The decision to shutter the fund came just a few weeks after Mezvinsky's mother-in-law Hillary lost the election to president Donald Trump. Mezvinsky has kept a low profile ever since Hillary's loss in the election, but was photographed by DailyMail.com heading out for a weekday jog in the middle of the afternoon last week. He and his wife are now both without a full-time job.

Gold Buying Russia To Intensify Reserve Diversification On Trump ‘Unpredictability’?

Russia’s massive and increasing gold bullion reserves are kept in tightly-guarded locations across Russia due to the fear of sanctions and the ‘unpredictability’ of Donald Trump according to The Sun and Russia Beyond The Headlines. Russia has been diversifying into gold since before the global financial crisis and views it as a safe haven asset and a hedge against a devaluation of the dollar and indeed the beleaguered euro.  This is something we wrote about as long ago as 2007. Thus, Russia was buying gold long before Trump’s election. Given relations between Trump and Putin are quite good, the question now is whether Russia continues to diversify its reserves into gold.

Fed Junkies Continue Injecting Cocaine & Heroin in System-Peter Schiff

Money manager Peter Schiff says the economy is not near as good as you have been told. A year ago, former Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher said the Fed “injected cocaine and heroin into the system” to basically prop it up. Is that kind of easy money policy going to continue? Schiff says, “Why would you expect a junkie to do anything else, especially when they haven’t acknowledged the problem that they have. They still think this is all medicine. They don’t realize how toxic it is. Yes, I expect them to continue that. The fact that the Dow is at 20,000, that doesn’t reflect a healthy economy. That reflects a bubble.

Northern Hemisphere Potentially In Great Danger As Fukushima Radiation Spikes To ‘Unimaginable’ Levels

Radiation inside one of the damaged reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power facility has reached an “unimaginable” level according to experts. Because so much nuclear material from Fukushima escaped into the Pacific Ocean, there are many scientists that believe that it was the worst environmental disaster in human history, but most people in the general population seem to think that since the mainstream media really doesn’t talk about it anymore that everything must be under control. Unfortunately, that is not true at all.

Here Come The Robots – And They Are Going To Take Almost All Of Our Jobs

What is going to happen to society when robots are able to do just about everything better, faster and cheaper than human workers can?  We live at a time when technology is increasing at an exponential pace.  Incredible advancements in robotics, computer science and artificial intelligence are certainly making our lives more comfortable, but they are also bringing fundamental changes to the workplace.  For employers, there are a lot of advantages to replacing human workers with robots.  Robots don’t surf around on Facebook when they are supposed to be working. Robots don’t need Obamacare, lunch breaks or vacation days. Robots never steal from the company and they never complain.

Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – February 9, 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 Regal Assets NOW before it's too late! Call Toll-Free 1-888-748-6766.

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