2016-10-14

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

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Latest News From October 7, 2016 to October 13, 2016:

One World Currency, The Rise Of The SDR: Jeff Berwick on A Minute To Midnight

Jeff is interviewed by Tony Koretz for A Minute To Midnight, topics include: the evils of central banking, the US petrodollar, US wars of imperial aggression, possible war with Russia, the destruction of the global economy, one world government, the SDR currency, China and the shift to the east, the collapse of the western standard of living, Adam Weishaupt and the destruction of the family, propaganda and indoctrination in the US, politics and gold, collapse is a mathematical certainty, hyperinflation, massive government debt, Deutsche Bank the first domino? the intrinsic value of precious metals, some investment advice!

Dr Papadopoulos Sets BBC Straight on Syria and Russiaphobia in Britain

Now here’s a rare sight: the BBC allowed a genuine dissenting voice on to its airwaves. Dr Marcus Papadopoulos, editor of Politics First, recently talked to the BBC News about the west’s massive disinformation campaign targeting Syria, and misinformation and Britain’s irrational fear-mongering over Russia. This week, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called for “demonstrations outside the Russian embassy”, because of of what Johnson alleges as “war crimes” Syria. It seems that Johnson’s dangerous rhetoric merely typifies a general level of ignorance and political malaise taking hold over the British Parliamentarians recently.

10 Signs That An All-Out Attempt Is Being Made To Sabotage The Trump Campaign

Can the craziest election in modern American history get even crazier? At this point we are just 28 days away from the election, and it appears that an all-out attempt is being made to sabotage Donald Trump’s campaign. But the big surprise is where the worst of this sabotage is coming from. We always knew that politics in America is a dirty game, and that the Clintons are the dirtiest players in the game. And we always knew that the mainstream media was going to be in Clinton’s corner, although it has been a shock to what degree they have completely abandoned any pretense of objectivity during this election cycle. So it was always going to be an uphill battle for Donald Trump, but what he didn’t anticipate was blatant and widespread sabotage of his campaign from within his own party. In recent days it has become clear that the worst sabotage to the Trump campaign is being done by people that are supposed to be on his side.

29 celebrities who love and endorse Donald Trump

Since announcing his bid for the presidency in June 2015, Donald Trump has steadily accrued (and lost) a number of endorsements from celebrities — some of whom are more notable than others. At this year’s boisterous Republican National Convention in July, Trump trotted out three of his lesser-known supporters — actor Scott Baio and reality TV stars Antonio Sabato Jr. and Willie Robertson — as speakers for the event.

Part-Time Jobs Soar By 430,000 As Multiple Jobholders Surge To August 2008 Levels

While today’s headline jobs print was somewhat disappointing, with the Establishment Survey missing the expected print of 175K, and growing by 156K, it was offset by a far higher 354K jump in the household survey which offset last month’s weakness. But while the quantitative headline aspect is open to interpretation, the qualitative component of the September jobs print was clear beyond a doubt: it was ugly. First, looking at the reported composition of jobs, while full-time jobs actually declined by 5,000 to 142,296K part-time jobs soared by 430,000…

Interest Rates: The Real Cost of Borrowing

The basic definition of an interest rate is simply the cost of borrowing money. It’s the cost associated with acquiring credit, whether buying a car, getting a mortgage, or taking a vacation. We encounter interest rates every time we make a monthly credit card or student loan payment. Interest and interest rates are a major part of daily life, yet many people don’t have a good understanding of the most critical types of interest or how their rates are set. Broadening our understanding even a little can help empower us to make more informed decisions, whether at the bank or at the ballot box.

Titans of Finance Gather and Sulk Over Low Rates, Deutsche Bank

Mary Callahan Erdoes, one of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s most senior executives, summed up her industry’s mood like this: “There is no excitement,” she told throngs of bankers gathered in Washington. “There is a lot of handwringing.” Again and again, speakers at the Institute of International Finance’s three-day meeting in Washington, which wrapped up Saturday, bemoaned the inability of central banks to rev up economic growth, as well as the drag of tougher regulations and the looming impact of Brexit. Concerns over Deutsche Bank AG’s mounting legal costs deepened the gloom.

Singapore orders bank closure and fines over 1MDB links

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has ordered a Swiss merchant bank to close and fined two other banks for breaching anti-money laundering controls. The action follows an investigation into money flows linked to the Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB. Falcon Bank will lose its merchant bank status in Singapore. Its branch manager was arrested last week. South East Asia’s biggest bank DBS has been fined S$1m (US$726,000; £589,000) while UBS will have to pay S$1.3m.

Australian property bubble on a scale like no other

Yesterday Citi produced a new index which pinned the Australian property bubble at 16 year highs: Bubble trouble. Whether we label them bubbles, the Australian economy has experienced a series of developments that potentially could have the economy lurching from boom to bust and back. In recent years these have included: the record run up in commodity prices and subsequent correction; the associated boom in mining investment and current reversal; record low bond yields; the boom in housing construction, specifically apartments, that was spurred by the low interest rates. Housing indicators in the bubble meter are at record highs but interest rates remain at record lows. Typically monetary policy is well into tightening mode at this stage in the housing cycle. A destabilizing housing burst (both in activity and prices) is a clear risk, particularly the longer the upswing runs.

Deutsche Bank cuts another 1,000 jobs

Deutsche Bank has announced that 1,000 jobs will be cut in Germany. The move adds to the 3,000 job losses announced in June. Almost half of the latest job cuts will hit the company’s chief operating office, with the rest spread over several departments. Deutsche Bank has been under intense pressure since mid-September, when US authorities said they wanted the firm to pay $14bn to settle an investigation into mortgage-backed securities. Since then, the company has been trying to reassure investors and staff that its finances are strong enough to handle such a large fine. To boost its finances, it has been selling assets and has promised cost cuts.

Lloyds is slashing 1,340 jobs

State-owned lender Lloyds Bank cut 1,340 jobs as part of a restructuring plan that will see as many as 12,000 staff leave the bank in total. The jobs will go from the operations, retail, customer products and marketing, finance and risk divisions, according to a report by BBC News. The bank, which is 9% state-owned, announced a plan in October 2014 to cut 9,000 jobs to reduce costs and boost profit while economic growth and interest rates stagnate. Another 3,000 cuts were announced in July, along with the closure of 220 branches, in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. Antonio Horta-Osorio, Lloyds CEO, warned that a “deceleration” of UK economic growth “seems likely” in the bank’s second quarter results statement.

The Diamond Engagement Ring: Greatest Marketing Scam In History

De Beers was founded in 1888 by Cecil Rhodes, and financed with help from the London-based NM Rothschild & Sons Bank. This involved mining operations in Canada, South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. In 1927, after his company Anglo American plc (founded with J.P. Morgan in 1917) became a majority stakeholder, Ernest Oppenheimer took over De Beers and it went on to flourish as one of the most successful international diamond cartels in the world. They have been able to restrict the supply of diamonds on the market to raise the price of diamonds far above what would have been market levels. They were able to do this because De Beers was successful in persuading the worlds diamond miners to market almost all diamonds through the De Beers Central Selling Organization (CSO). Today the Anglo American Group owns 85% of De Beers, while the Government of the Republic of Botswana owns the other 15%, they are the only two shareholders.

Why the World’s Biggest Market Is Acting Erratic

The world’s biggest financial market is acting erratic. We’re not talking about the global stock market, or even the bond market. We’re talking about the global currency market. The currency market is where paper money trades hands. It’s much bigger and more important than the global stock market. Yet the average investor almost never hears about it. That’s because major currencies rarely move more than a fraction of a percent in a day. When they do make big moves, they ripple across stock, bond, and even real estate markets. Paper currencies are the backbone of the global financial system, after all. Today, we’re going to look at some recent big moves by major currencies. As you’ll see, we could see a lot more moves like this in the months ahead.

UK will pay BILLIONS into EU coffers for single market access if May makes soft Brexit

BRITISH taxpayers will STILL be forced to pay BILLIONS of pounds into Brussels coffers even though the public voted to unshackle itself from the bureaucratic European Union (EU), it has sensationally been claimed. The Brussels club will still receive an eyewatering £5billion from Britain so the nation can secure access to the single market even when Article 50 is triggered, a cabinet minister has revealed. The shock revelation comes after official statistics revealed the EU billed the UK for £19.6billion in 2015 or almost £376million each week.

ALERT: This Astounding Signal Says Gold Will Soar Over The Next 12 – 36 Months!

With continued pressure in both the gold and silver markets, this astounding signal says gold will soar over the next 12 – 36 months! From Jason Goepfert at SentimenTrader:  “Everything has rallied this year. As noted in a Monday article in the Wall Street Journal, the major markets (stocks, bonds, oil, and gold) have all rallied so far in 2016. If we go back to 1983 and look for other years when all four markets showed a positive return through September, then the fourth quarter showed consistent gains in stocks and (especially) gold, with weakness in bonds and oil.

The Donald Lives!

Donald Trump turned in perhaps the most effective performance in the history of presidential debates on Sunday night. As the day began, he had been denounced by his wife, Mike Pence, and his own staff for a tape of crude and lewd remarks in a decade-old “locker room” conversation on a bus with Billy Bush of “Access Hollywood.” Tasting blood, the media were in a feeding frenzy. Trump is dropping out! Pence is bolting the ticket! Republican elites are about to disown and abandon the Republican nominee!

Imagine, A World Without Taxes (Here’s What It Would Look Like)

Imagine living in a world without taxes. Granted, that’s a bit unlikely to happen, considering mankind’s long history with taxes. It seems that taxes and government go hand-in-hand. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about the old European feudal system — where Barons and Earls taxed the serfs and merchant caravans crossing their lands — or you’re talking about modern socialistic and democratic governments. All governments tax. Not only does it give them a source of revenue, but it gives them a way of controlling the people. Nevertheless, let’s indulge our imaginations for a moment and think about the difference that would make to live in a tax-free society. While I don’t expect ever to find such a utopia, seeing what it would be like will show us what taxes are doing to our society.

Federal Judge Overturns Ban on Openly Carrying Guns in Public

In a quintuple victory for Second Amendment rights, a federal judge last week overturned a ban on carrying handguns in public, a ban on so-called assault weapons, caliber restrictions for long guns, a $1,000 tax on handguns, and a requirement that all guns be registered with the government. “The individual right to armed self-defense in case of confrontation…cannot be regulated into oblivion,” declared Ramona Manglona, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.

“Trump Will Be ALLOWED To Win,” Only to Be Blamed For The Coming Financial Crash

Unfortunately, the financial crash is coming. Things have been stretched too thin, and the real economy is toast. The elite know this; they know that QE3 has gone as far as it possibly can in holding back the carnage. With things poised for collapse, who will they blame? Conventional wisdom continues to say that Trump will lose, as people cast a vote for the only “grown up” and “responsible” candidate in the race (i.e. establishment). Perhaps conventional wisdom would be correct in a conventional election. But as things stand, the powers that be need to allow the considerable anger of the people to vent – and more importantly, they need someone to blame things on. Just as Obama inherited Bush’s 2008 economic crisis, Trump is likely about to inherent the crumbling system that Obama is handing over. If that scenario proves true, once the nationalist, populist, anti-establishment Trump takes office, they will simply step aside and let the crisis take hold on his watch. That’s the argument that Brandon Smith makes, and one which no one should allow to take them by surprise.

Tomgram: Dilip Hiro, Unipolar No More

Last week in Afghanistan, the Taliban, once almost lacking a presence in the northern part of the country, attacked Kunduz, a northern provincial capital and held parts of it for days (as they had in 2015). At the moment, that movement also has two southern capitals under siege, Tarin Kot in Helmand Province and Lashkar Gah in Uruzgan Province, and now seems to control more territory and population than at any time since the U.S. invasion of 2001-2002.  Mind you, from an American perspective, we’re talking about the war that time forgot. Amid the hurricane of words in Election 2016, neither presidential candidate nor their vice presidential surrogates has thought it worth the bother to pay any real attention to the Afghan War, though it is the longest in our history. It’s as if, 15 years later, it isn’t even happening, as if American troops hadn’t once again been ordered into combat situations and the U.S. Air Force wasn’t once again flying increased missions there.

The pound has already fallen off one cliff, but it is about to fall off another

Deutsche Bank is backing the pound to slump even more in the coming weeks, pushing the UK’s currency even further into record lows. In the bank’s weekly equity strategy note, titled this week “Don’t exit the Brexit trades” — Deutsche’s strategists Wolf von Rotberg, Sebastian Raedler, Tom Pearce, and Andreas Bruckner argue that despite crashing almost every day for the last two weeks, sterling actually still remains substantially overvalued, pointing to even more drops in the pound’s value.

Reek of Desperation Surrounds EU Banks, Regulators Prepare for “Derivatives Clearing Crisis”

The past week’s events in Europe were dominated by the pound sterling’s spectacular flash crash to its lowest point in 31 years. As is often the case with flash crashes, we will probably never know what exactly triggered the currency to free-fall by 6% during Asian trading hours, though the most cited cause, apart from a “fat finger,” is the gathering realization that a so-called “hard” Brexit is a very real possibility. But it’s an eventuality that can be expected to play out in roughly two and a half years’ time, at the earliest, and in light of the powerful forces arrayed against it, it may never occur at all. In the meantime, something far more dangerous is happening on the other side of the English Channel: the slow-motion meltdown of the Eurozone’s banking system.

As ObamaCare Death Spiral Continues, Flailing Institutions Attempt to Cope

As ObamaCare’s death spiral intensifies, with more and more edge cases demanding special treatment, the whole process reminds me of one of those black-and-white silent film comedies on airplane #FAILs, with bits of machinery flying through the air after the crash or explosion. The only thing missing is the piano soundtrack, but of course we have the 2016 election. So there’s that. For anybody who came in late, I’ll review the concept of a death spiral. Then I’ll briefly look at (and dismiss) the headline story, which is price rises. Then I’ll look the edge cases where a county has zero insurance carriers, or one, as well as the differing approaches to avoid getting sucked into the black hole of the death spiral taken by Minnesota, and the Federal government. Spoiler alert: I’m going to be using the word “insane” a lot. I think for good reason, and not Bill Clinton’s reasons, either. Oh, and “open enrollment” begins on November 1, just a week before Election Day! (It ends on January 31, 2017).

“Credit Squeeze” Planned in China to Deflate Housing Bubble?

All kinds of officials are fretting about the dangers of the housing bubble in China that has been fueled by easy credit that officials have made available last year to stop the implosion of the prior housing bubble. City by city, they’re grappling with this problem, trying to put a lid on it. Caixin Online reports: ‘About 20 Chinese cities tightened home purchasing requirements in late September to cool an overheated market, with some prohibiting property developers from selling homes to residents who don’t have a local hukou, or residency registration, and to those who already own more than one home. Other cities have raised the minimum down payment required.’ But easy credit still rules: Total new loans in August reached 948 billion yuan ($142 billion). Over 71% of this debt was taken out by households, mostly mortgages.

The Billion Barrel Oil Swindle: 80% Of U.S. Oil Reserves Are Unaccounted-For

U.S. crude oil storage is filling up with unaccounted-for oil. There is a lot more oil in storage than the amount that can be accounted for by domestic production and imports. That’s a big problem since oil prices move up or down based on the U.S. crude oil storage report. Oil stocks in inventory represent surplus supply. Increasing or decreasing inventory levels generally push prices lower or higher because they indicate trends toward longer term over-supply or under-supply.

George H.W. Bush’s granddaughter is voting for Hillary Clinton

George H.W. Bush’s granddaughter is with her. Lauren Bush Lauren, who’s also George W. Bush’s niece, posted a black and white photo of Hillary Clinton on Instagram Sunday, captioning the fashionable photograph “#ImWithHer.” The 32-year-old former model is the founder of FEED Projects, a fashion company that donates a large portion of its revenue to charity organizations that strive to end world hunger. She has also served as an honorary spokesperson at the World Food Program. Her sobering Clinton endorsement drew both ire and praise on social media.

These Debt & Rent Slaves Get Blamed for the Lousy Economy

Over the past few days, the Diamond Producers Association launched its first new ad campaign in five years after watching retail sales of diamond jewelry slow down, as Millennials built on the habit pioneered by prior generations of delaying or not even thinking about marriage, and thus not being sufficiently enthusiastic about buying diamond engagement rings. The campaign, according to Adweek, is designed to motivate Millennials “to commemorate their ‘real,’ honest relationships with diamonds, even if marriage isn’t part of the equation.” Mother New York, the agency behind the campaign, spent months interviewing millennials, according to Quartz, and learned that they associated diamonds with a “fairytale love story that wasn’t relevant to them.” So the premium jewelry industry, seeing future profits at risk, needs to do something about that.

Goldman Tells Clients To Go To Cash As “Growth Shocks” Are Coming

After last week’s warning by Ray Dalio that a 100 bps rise in yields could lead to trillions in cross-asset losses, it was Goldman’s turn to pick up the bearish torch with a note in which it warned that stock markets are set for volatility in the remainder of the year as a result of potential “growth shocks” which continue to loom until year-end as political risks remain elevated, given the upcoming US presidential elections and Italian referendum, and the UK government’s plan to trigger Article 50 by March 2017.

HSBC Says Stocks are on “Red Alert” for a Major Crash

The head of technical analysis at HSBC, Murray Gunn, sent out very bearish note to clients today, warning of an imminent major sell-off in stocks following yesterday’s big decline. Gunn has been monitoring the price action over the past few weeks, using what’s known as the Elliott Wave Principle. That technique measures alternating patterns in stock prices to help predict investor behavior. Just a few weeks ago, Gunn issued an “orange alert” on stocks, noting that the price action had begun to eerily resemble patterns seen just prior to the historic 1987 stock market crash. Citigroup analyst Tom Fitzpatrick pointed the same patterns out earlier this week as well.

RED ALERT — Get ready for a ‘severe fall’ in the stock market, HSBC says

HSBC’s technical-analysis team has thrown up the ultimate warning signal. In a note to clients released Wednesday, Murray Gunn, the head of technical analysis for HSBC, said he had become on “RED ALERT” for an imminent sell-off in stocks given the price action over the past few weeks. Gunn uses a type of technical analysis called the Elliott Wave Principle, which tracks alternating patterns in the stock market to discern investors’ behavior and possible next moves.

What the Heck’s Going on with the New Global Reserve Currency, the Chinese Yuan?

The Chinese yuan fell to 6.722 to the US dollar currently, the weakest since September 2010. It’s down 3.3% so far this year. OK, a squiggle compared to the wholesale drubbing the UK pound has been taking since the Brexit vote, but there’s a difference: the yuan gets managed with an iron fist. Some folks interpret this to mean that the People’s Bank of China has been weakening the yuan to gain some trade advantages and revive the export boom and kick economic growth back into gear. But evidence is piling up that the PBOC instead has been trying to slow down the yuan’s descent. And this happened just days after the yuan joined the IMF’s special drawing rights (SDR) basket of reserve currencies, a huge milestone for the Chinese government that has been laboring on the internationalization of the yuan for years, mostly in tiny baby steps.

Deutsche Bank Sells Another $1.5 Billion In Debt At Junk Bond Terms

We were surprised when, just after the close on Friday, Deutsche Bank announced it would issue $3 billion in five year paper carrying a nosebleeding coupon of 4.25%, and a spread of 300 bps over Treasuries. By issuing debt at such a high yield – indicatively 300 basis points is close to the average for highly-rated junk debt in dollars and more than twice the 143 basis points Deutsche Bank paid for similar notes in August 2015 – DB management confirmed it had liquidity concerns (the issue did nothing to help the bank’s ailing capitalization). As we said on Friday, “some have wondered why the need to sell new paper at such a wide concession: after all as we reported before, DB has no current liquidity constraints courtesy of substantial ECB generosity, which backstop DB’s existing liquidity reserves of just over €200 billion” leading to the question: “does DB know something investors don’t?.”

A World On The Edge Of The Abyss

With so many people worried about the chaos engulfing the globe, here is a look at a world on the edge of the abyss. From Art Cashin:  Originally, on this day in 1922, the German Central Bank and the German Treasury took an inevitable step in a process which had begun with their previous effort to “jump start” a stagnant economy. Many months earlier they had decided that what was needed was easier money. Their initial efforts brought little response. So, using the governmental “more is better” theory they simply created more and more money. But economic stagnation continued and so did the money growth. They kept making money more available. No reaction. Then, suddenly prices began to explode unbelievably (but, perversely, not business activity).

Chinese Banks Will Need $1.7 Trillion To Cover Bad Debt Deluge, S&P Calculates

Just last week we noted that in the latest shocker to emerge out of corporate China, at least a quarter of Chinese companies were unable to generate enough cash to cover their interest expense: as we noted previously this is the Ponzi Finance stage of China’s debt curve, the one that comes just before the inevitable “Minsky Moment” at which point all bets are off. The implications of this, for the nation with nearly $20 trillion in corporate debt as well as a grand total of 300% in debt to GDP are staggering: it means that sooner or later, up to a quarter of bank loan exposure will have to be discharged, restructured, equitized or otherwise eliminated due to its non-performing nature, dramatically impacting not just the asset side of the bank ledger, but the liabilities as well, namely deposits, which could see a drop in the trillion.

Deutsche Bank Walking Dead-Bill Holter

Financial writer Bill Holter says if you want to know how bad the global financial problems are in the world, start with Germany’s Deutsche Bank (DB). The problems keep mounting, and it’s been all downhill since June when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deemed DB as the most systemically dangerous bank in the world.  Holter warns, “Deutsche Bank is dead.  It’s a walking dead institution. . . .Just the fact that there is a debate, whether or not there’s a problem, means they’re dead.  Once you start talking about a financial institution and whether or not they are solvent or not, it doesn’t matter.  The sharks are going to come into the water.”

The Ugly Stench of Hypocrisy

The most insightful thing I’ve yet read about the Donald Trump sex talk scandal is this: How ironic, then, that a culture which rejects moral standards has suddenly become so pure and pristine, sitting in judgment of someone they deem too immoral to become president because of something he said in private. As a logical person, I have to ask these paragons of newly found virtue where this standard by which they’ve judged Trump is found. If morality is relative to each individual—a purely subjective experience—by what standard are they judging Trump? Obviously, in such a secular climate, there can’t even be a “standard.” Why should anyone listen to people who out of one side of their mouths declare the death of objective moral standards yet out of the other condemn someone for violating objective moral standards? Morality is not subjective. Human beings possess the capacity for rationality and objectivity. We’re able to distinguish what’s good and what’s bad.

Jim Rogers: Deutsche Bank Collapse Will Crash Entire World Financial System

In the interview below, Jim Rogers discusses with RT how much danger the global economy is in right now, specifically because Deutsche Bank is teetering on collapse, but that is just one of many potential reasons the global economy is in danger. Jim is very blunt in his response about what a Deutsche Bank collapse would mean for the world. Jim says, “If Deutsche Bank goes bankrupt, it is going bring down the entire world financial system.” Who is Jim Rogers? Why should you care what he says? First of all, listen to him because he’s right. Start learning facts, and stop listening to mainstream media propaganda. They are lying. Your life may depend on being prepared. Second, Jim is hardly alone in his line of thinking. Many of the world’s best economists are saying a global reset is coming that will have an effect on the world like nothing mankind has ever seen before. One famous investor even goes as far as to say the collapse of the U.S. Dollar, and the global reset that follows it, will be the single biggest event in all of human history. Let that sink in…

“Wonky, Lunging” Unwinds Hit Stocks, Bonds, VIX As Systematic Deleveraging Strikes

Where’s Vladimir Putin when we need him? Having saved the world yesterday by spiking crude oil with his comments, the return of bond traders today sees a resumption of risk-parity fund deleveraging (as bond-stock correlations neared record highs).

Controlled Demolition Coming-Not a Crash-Catherine Austin Fitts

Renowned investment advisor Catherine Austin Fitts says there is $9.3 trillion missing from the Department of Defense in 2015 alone. Fitts explains, “This is a phenomenal number and a phenomenal amount of money.  This is the cut and run.  All this money has been disappearing from the federal government. . . . I’ve been demanding to know what banks and contractors are liable for the systems.  We are talking about transactions that are in violation of the Constitution and the laws related to financial management. . . . As I have described many times, they’re using financial securities fraud, both mortgage securities and, I believe, government securities to basically shift all the assets out (of the country). I think you’ve got a game going on, and the Fed is accommodating all sorts of securities fraud.  Then, the money is being pulled out in a variety of ways.”

Sterling stages a ‘dead cat bounce’ but analysts expecting further dips

The pound staged a relief rally on hopes of a “full and transparent” debate on Brexit proposals in Parliament, but experts warned over further falls for battered sterling. Sterling made a cautious bounce back against most major currencies as Prime Minister Theresa May allowed Conservatives to back a Labour call for “proper scrutiny” of the plan, although she refused to commit to a Commons vote on the strategy. The pound rose nearly 1% or a cent to 1.22 US dollars and was more than 1% higher at 1.11 euro. It has been hammered since Mrs May announced earlier this month the formal Brexit negotiation process would start by the end of March 2017, suffering a further dramatic hit in last Friday’s flash crash.

US/Russia Very Close to War, Global Debt Out of Control says IMF and MSM Political Hacks

The U.S. and Russia are a lot closer to war in Syria than the mainstream media (MSM) would like you to think. One top U.S general said that war would be “extremely lethal and fast” and he said it was “almost guaranteed.”  Russia threatened to “shoot down U.S. aircraft over Syria.  Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry has broken off all diplomatic relations with Russia in Syria. The International Monetary fund (IMF) is warning of much slower global growth. That means there is an even better chance that the ocean of debt accumulated around the world will not be repaid.  Puerto Rico just defaulted on its $70 in debt, and that is just the tip of a much deeper debt iceberg.  The IMF also warns that debt to GDP globally is an astounding $225%, and it says there is $152 trillion in debt around the planet.

Great News For Gold Bugs: The COT Report Is Playing Out As Usual, Which Means Lower – Then Much Higher – Prices Coming

This year’s recovery in precious metals prices – and the sudden spike in gold/silver mining stocks – convinced a lot of people that a new bull market had begun. Last week’s brutal smack-down scared the hell out of many of the same folks. The latest commitment of traders (COT) report implies that we should all relax. Things are playing out pretty much according to a script that’s been in place for decades — and which points to happy times by early next year. The quick and dirty COT story is that it’s a snapshot of what the big players in gold/silver futures contracts are up to. There are two main groups in this market: the commercials (mostly big banks and companies that buy metal to turn it into coins, jewelry and industrial products) and speculators who bet on price moves. The former consistently fool the latter into guessing wrong at turning points. That is, the speculators are usually way long at the top and very short at the bottom. So you can tell where prices are headed over next the six or so months by looking at what the speculators are betting on and assuming that if they’re excited, they’re wrong. The following chart illustrates the point. Ignore everything here except the red line, which represents the speculators. When it’s way up, they’re very long and prices are about to fall, and vice versa.

During The Coming Economic Crisis Two-Thirds Of The Country Will Be Out Of Cash Almost Immediately

Did you know that almost 70 percent of the U.S. population is essentially living paycheck to paycheck?  As you will see below, a brand new survey has found that 69 percent of all Americans have less than $1,000 in savings.  Of course one of the primary reasons for this is that most of us are absolutely drowning in debt.  In fact, the total amount of household debt in the United States now exceeds 12 trillion dollars.  So many Americans are so busy just trying to pay off their existing debts that they can’t even think about saving anything for the future.  If economic conditions remain relatively stable, the fact that so many of us are living on the edge probably won’t kill us.  But the moment the economy plunges into another 2008-style crisis (or worse), we could be facing a situation where two-thirds of the country is in imminent danger of running out of cash.

After This October Surprise, Donald Trump Only Has One Option Left: Expose The Clinton Crimes

It is going to take a miracle of Biblical proportions for Donald Trump to win the election now.  If nothing changes between now and election day, Hillary Clinton is going to win in a landslide.  Out of all the candidates that were running for president this election cycle (including third party candidates), a Hillary Clinton presidency would be the worst possible outcome, but it appears that is precisely what we are going to get.  The 2005 recording in which Donald Trump admits that he used his celebrity status to grope women would instantly kill the career of a normal politician, but Donald Trump is no normal politician.  In essence, he admitted to being a sexual predator, and there is no way that you can spin that to make it acceptable.  Of course these comments were made 11 years ago, and Trump is a different man now, but that isn’t going to matter much to the mainstream media or to a large portion of the American public.  No matter what you or I may think about this, the cold, hard reality of the matter is that he is going to lose a lot of votes over this, and those were votes that he desperately needed if he hoped to defeat Hillary Clinton in November.

The Total Amount Of Debt In The World Just Hit A Record $152,000,000,000,000 (152 Trillion)

If anyone ever asks you how much debt there is in the world, now you will know the answer.  According to the IMF, the total amount of debt around the globe has now hit a staggering 152 trillion dollars.  That is an amount of money that is almost unimaginable, and the IMF says that it is equivalent to 225 percent of global GDP.  It is the biggest debt bubble in the history of the planet, and it is rising at an extremely alarming pace.  Experts all over the world agree that when this debt bubble finally bursts, it is going to create an economic crisis on a scale that humanity has never seen before. When I first saw this number I was absolutely astounded at how reckless we all have become, and I was also amazed that there was hardly anything about this announcement in the mainstream media in the United States.

The New York Times Calls For Obama To Support A UN Resolution That Would Divide The Land Of Israel

While most Americans are focused on the endless circus surrounding Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, a drama of earth-shattering importance is playing out behind the scenes. Most people seem to assume that we don’t have to be concerned about Barack Obama anymore because his second term is scheduled to end in a few months, but the truth is that an absolutely critical decision is in his hands right now. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have said that they will not support a proposed UN Security Council resolution that would formally establish a Palestinian state, that would set the parameters for the new state, and that would grant them East Jerusalem as their capital. So at this moment there is a tremendous amount of international pressure on Barack Obama to support such a resolution, because the U.S. veto power on the UN Security Council is the only thing standing in the way of formally dividing the land of Israel. I wrote about this in August, in September, and now I am writing about it again in October. If Obama is going to do this, it needs to happen by January 20th, 2017, and so for the next few months we are officially in “the danger zone”.

West Rattled Over Russian Missiles on NATO Border

Russia’s deployment of nuclear-capable missiles its enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea is a “wake-up call” for the West of the current dangers, according to analysts. Germany warns the tensions between Moscow and the West are more dangerous than during the Cold War. Russia’s Iskander missiles have a range of around 500 kilometers, and their deployment in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, has rattled the West. “The dramatic reaction of the West about Iskander [missiles] now is that it is just a wake-up call, it is just a very clear message. It is that ice-cold bucket of water that says, ‘Wake up, you are not living in a safe world,” said Igor Sutyagin, a Russian military analyst at London’s Royal United Services Institute. Moscow says the deployment is part of a regular military exercise.

Major Election Fraud Alert – Is This How They Are Going To Steal The Election From Donald Trump?

Every ounce of effort that ordinary Americans have put into getting Donald Trump elected could be completely wasted if we allow them to steal the election.  If you have confidence in the integrity of our elections, that confidence will be shaken by the time you are done reading this article, because I am about to share some information with you that is absolutely astounding.  Yesterday, I showed you that dead people are being registered to vote right now and that they have been voting in elections across the country for years.  I also showed you that illegal immigrants have been voting in important swing states such as Virginia and Pennsylvania.  But all of that pales in comparison to the evidence of systematic election fraud that we witnessed on election day in 2012. Because Mitt Romney threw in the towel very early on election night in 2012, very little scrutiny was given to the actual voting results.  But if Romney had been willing to fight, there was actually quite a bit of evidence that the election was potentially stolen from him.

Russia Is Preparing For A Nuclear War With The United States

In Russia there is talk that war with the United States is inevitable, and they are feverishly preparing to win such a war when it happens. Thanks to tensions over Ukraine, Syria and the price of oil, U.S. relations with Russia are the worst that they have been since at least the end of the Cold War. In fact, one false move could result in U.S. and Russian forces shooting at each other in Syria as you will see below. The Russians have worked incredibly hard to upgrade and modernize their military in recent years, but meanwhile the U.S. military is being transformed into a radically politically-correct social experiment by the Obama administration. Most Americans simply assume that we will never fight a war with Russia, and that if for some reason we did that we would win easily. Unfortunately, things have changed dramatically over the past decade, and the truth is that the Russians now have the upper hand.

Is This How World War III Begins, In Almost Complete Silence?

I used to wonder how these massive World Wars happened. World War I, for instance.  The “official” story for why it happened makes absolutely no sense.  The mainstream reason for the war was because some Archduke from Austria got killed. Then, like some bizarre drunken bar fight, tens of millions of people from dozens of different countries all were wounded or injured in the ensuing four years. Did ANY of these tens of millions of people really care if some rich guy got killed?  Probably not. So, what happened?  Well, like most wars backed by the financial elites, it appears they just wanted a big war.  And through the use of propaganda, fear and coercion, they somehow got tens of millions of people to butcher each other.

Barclays Warns The Party Is Almost Over As Payouts Exceed Cash Flow By $115 Billion

Over the past several years, there have been two primary sources of upside for the stock market: trillions in corporate buybacks, as companies themselves engaged in record repurchases of their own stock, often at price indiscriminate levels in a bid to not only raise the stock price but also the stock-linked compensation of management , and a similar amount of dividend payments which in a time of negligible yields, became one of the main drivers for buyers to scramble into the “safety” of dividend paying stocks. Collectively these account for an unprecedented amount of payouts to shareholders. Today, Barclays’ head of equity strategy Jonathan Glionna quantifies just how much corporate cash flow has and will be used to fund these payouts. Glionna finds that in aggregate the companies within the S&P 500 are returning a record amount of cash to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. Since 2009 dividends have increased by more than 100%, reaching $98 billion in the most recent quarter. Meanwhile, gross buybacks have tripled and Barclays forecasts that they will reach $600 billion in 2016. In fact, buybacks plus dividends could surpass $1 trillion in 2016, for the first time ever.

Vladimir Putin pushes up oil prices as Russia signals it will cap production

Oil prices climbed to a one-year high after Russian president Vladimir Putin said the country was ready to join OPEC efforts to limit oil production with either a freeze or a cut. Prices climbed almost 2.5pc to $53.14 a barrel on Monday after Mr Putin told an energy congress in Istanbul that Russia was “ready to join the joint measures to cap production” and would “call for other oil exporters to join”. Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi energy minister, said other producers outside OPEC had expressed their readiness to work with the cartel.

FTSE 100 hits record high as pound weakens

A further weakening of sterling has helped push the FTSE 100 to a record high during trading on Tuesday. The country’s premier share index climbed above 7,123 points just after midday – beating its previous highest level recorded in April last year – going as high as 7129 before slipping back. Shares in its constituents have soared this month, in pound terms, as the currency has weakened. The FTSE 100 consists largely of export-dominated multi-nationals which make the bulk of their sales in dollars – making the stocks of such firms more attractive when those sales are converted back to pounds. However, on dollar terms, the FTSE’s market value remains well below its referendum result level – down more than 6%.

Here’s Where The Next Bank Deposit “Bail-In” Will Strike…

One shot from a pistol pierced the night right before Antonio Bedin collapsed, dead. Antonio, a 67 year-old retired Italian, had just committed suicide. He was plagued by health problems and by the loss of his savings. Last year, four small Italian banks became insolvent and immediately needed capital. They turned to a bail-in. Antonio was one of thousands of small savers who were wiped out. Antonio lost everything. Then he shot himself.

Deutsche Bank CEO Returns Home Empty-Handed After Failing To Reach ‘Deal’ With DOJ: Bild

Following the seemingly endless procession of short-squeeze-fueling trial balloons last week – from settlement rumors to German blue-chip bailouts to Qatari investors – Germany’s Bild newspaper confirms the rumors that sparked weakness on Friday: Deutsche bank CEO John Cryan has failed to reach an agreement with the US Justice Department.

Worst Crash of All Coming-Mike Maloney

Gold and silver expert Mike Maloney has been producing an internet series called “The Hidden Secrets of Money.” His latest is episode seven in this ongoing series, and it gives a stark warning about “The USA’s Day of Reckoning.” Maloney explains, “Watch episode seven if you want to see the future.  I was very accurate in predicting the crash of 2008 and the consequences of it.  I believe the rest of my predictions that did not come true have not come true—yet.  They are about to.  Episode seven is the USA’s day of reckoning. . . . It’s going to be devastating for most people. . . . I believe there is going to be an enormous wealth transfer. It is up to every individual whether that wealth is transferred away from them or towards them.  Sometimes the wealth transfer goes from 100 people to one or 1,000 people to one.  This time, it’s going to be hundreds of thousands to one.  There are going to be very few big winners and a whole lot of losers.”

Ray Dalio Warns A 1% Rise In Yields Would Lead To Trillions In Losses

Last week, we shared with readers a fascinating presentation that Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio made to NY Fed staffers at the 40th Annual Central Banking Seminar held on Wednesday, October 5, 2016. In it, Dalio pointed out that thoughts which dared to question the economic orthodoxy, and which were once relegated to the fringe blogs, have become the norm, pointing out that it is no longer controversial to say that: …this isn’t a normal business cycle and we are likely in an environment of abnormally slow growth …the current tools of monetary policy will be a lot less effective going forward …the risks are asymmetric to the downside …investment returns will be very low going forward, and …the impatience with economic stagnation, especially among middle and lower income earners, is leading to dangerous populism and nationalism. He further notes that the debt bubble which was not eliminated during the financial crisis of 2008, has since grown to staggering proportions, and notes that “the biggest issue is that there is only so much one can squeeze out of a debt cycle and most countries are approaching those limits.”

Globalization Is Done

I read a lot, been doing it for years, about finance and affiliated topics (a wide horizon of them), which means I’ve inevitably seen a wholesale lot of nonsense fly by. But for some reason, and I think I know why, Q3 2016 has been gunning for a top -or bottom- seat in that regard, and Q4 is looking to do it one better/worse. Apart from the fast increasingly brainless political ‘discussions’ that don’t deserve the name, in the US and UK and beyond, there are the transnational organizations, NATO, IMF, EU and all those things, all suffocating in their own hubris, things I’ve dealt with before in for instance Globalization Is Dead, But The Idea Is Not and Why There is Trump. But none of it still seems to have trickled through anywhere that I can see. The end of growth exposes the stupidity and ignorance of all but (and even that’s a maybe) a precious few (of our) ‘leaders’. There is no other way this could have run, because an era of growth simply selects for different people to float to the top of the pond than a period of contraction does. Can we agree on that? ‘Growth leaders’ only have to seduce voters into believing that they can keep growth going, and create more of it (though in reality they have no control over it at all). Anyone can do that. So ‘anyone’ who’s sufficiently hooked on power games will apply.

The Coming Recession: Blame the Federal Reserve, Not the President

No matter who is elected this November, there will be a recession before the next President is elected. This is why we should not lose sight of cause and effect: central banking. This is true in every major nation and the Eurozone. Central banks operate domestic banking cartels. These cartels operate for the advantage of large multinational banks. The central banks establish the rules of money creation domestically. This places limits on the banking system as a whole. When there is a recession, blame the central bank. It establishes the rules governing the creation of the central economic institution: money.

WARNING: The Coming Collapse Will WIPE OUT Millions Of Americans

As the Financial Circus continues today, pushing down the precious metals prices, millions of Americans are going to get WIPED OUT when the collapse of U.S. net worth begins in earnest. Anyone with a tad bit of common sense realizes these financial markets today are totally disconnected from reality. With new stories of 40 million Russians to take part in “Nuclear Disaster” drill, the Philippine President telling President Obama “To Go To Hell”, he’s buying weapons from Russia, U.S. Suspends Diplomatic Relations With Russia on Syria, U.S. Ends Fiscal 2014 With $1.4 Trillion Debt Increase: Third Largest In History, Deutsche Bank Troubles Raise Fear of Global Shock, it’s completely hilarious that the gold and silver prices are selling off big time today.

Chinese yuan weakens to six-year low against USD

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened 230 basis points to 6.7008 against the US dollar on Monday, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) said. It was the weakest level since September 2010 as increased market expectations for an interest rate hike in the US led to a stronger dollar, Xinhua news agency reported. In September, the yuan exchange rate composite index, which measures the yuan’s strength relative to a basket of currencies including the US dollar, euro and Japanese yen, weakened by 0.28 per cent month on month to 94.07, CFETS data showed.

A Look Inside The Pound Flash Crash: What Really Happened In Those 30 Seconds

At just after 7 minutes after hour, whether 7pm on the east coast, midnight GMT or early Friday morning in Asian trading, pound sterling plunged by more than 6%, in the span of 2 minutes although the bulk of the plunge took place in just 30 seconds: from 7:16 to 7:46, when the market became “disorderly” in technical parlance, or in simple terms, broke. And since earlier today the Bank of England mandated none other than the BIS (specifically the bank’s “Head of Foreign Exchange & Gold”, Benoit Gilson) to explain what happened, here is a place to start trying to reverse engineer the latest flash crash. For the best forensic analysis piecing together what happened last night, we go to Citi’s Daniel Randall who tells the overnight story of the GBP, who also shows that the key pair involved in the selling was indeed cable…

Deutsche Bank Tells Investors Not To Worry About Its €46 Trillion In Derivatives

Having first flagged Deutsche Bank enormous derivative book for the first time back in 2013, it wasn’t until last week that JPMorgan admitted just what the biggest risk facing Deutsche Bank was. In a note by JPMorgan’s Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, the strategist warned that, “in our opinion it is not so much funding issues but rather derivatives exposures that more likely to trouble markets going forward if Deutsche Bank concerns continue. This is especially true if these concerns propagate into a confidence crisis inducing more rapid unwinding of derivative contracts.”

USA’s Day Of Reckoning Looms – “We’ve Had 2 Warnings, The 3rd Strike Is Game Over”

History shows that once or twice in a generation a global crisis comes along that radically devastates people’s way of life. A fundamental shift so big and drastic and overwhelming that it destroys their standard of living and impacts every area of their lives. We are about to experience one of those events… As Mike Maloney outlines in his brand new episode of the Hidden Secrets of Money, that next major event is deflation. And the culprit will be a relatively obscure monetary term that will impact virtually every area of your life: money velocity. You may not know exactly what money velocity means, but we will all soon experience it firsthand. In fact, money velocity will be the cu

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