2016-10-20

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 14, 2016 to October 20, 2016:

Venezuela’s Latest Cruelty Is Full Shelves of Unaffordable Goods

Something strange has started to appear in Venezuelan grocery stores — food. After years of shortages of even the most basic items, shelves are once again heaving under the weight of imported goods such as Brazilian mayonnaise and margarine, or Colombian coffee and rice. This new-found abundance has come at a price though. Many shoppers can’t afford to buy the goods. “There is oil and bread, but it’s impossible to afford the prices,” said Veronica Parra, a teacher shopping in the eastern area of Caracas. “I earn more than the minimum wage, but I will still have to limit what I buy.” Without announcing any formal change in policy, Venezuela’s government has started to give up on imposing price controls at private stores, with shop owners reporting that they haven’t seen any inspectors since July. Instead, the government has ordered suppliers to sell half of their products to the state-distribution system known as CLAP that delivers subsidized food to the country’s poor. The rest can be sold at whatever price they want.

Investor Cash Levels Jump Toward Levels Not Seen Since 9/11

Fears of a bond-market crash, a breakdown in globalization, a new crisis in the euro area? There were a bevy of reasons for fund managers to push their cash balances to 5.8 percent of their portfolios in October, up from 5.5 percent last month, matching levels not seen since the aftermath of the Brexit vote. The share of cash hasn’t been higher than that since November 2001, shortly after the terrorist attacks in the U.S. The amount of dry powder in portfolios is above that seen during both Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis and the U.S. debt-ceiling debacle, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s monthly survey of money managers.

Commerzbank to Cut Most Jobs in German Branches, Union Says

Commerzbank AG, which announced the biggest overhaul since its 2008 bailout last month, plans to make most of the announced job cuts in its German branches, according to a letter by German labor union Verdi. About 3,000 jobs will be eliminated at the lender’s branch network in Germany, according to the letter seen by Bloomberg. Another 1,900 jobs will be cut outside of Germany and at Commerzbank’s subsidiaries. A Commerzbank spokesman confirmed that the management and the works council have held in talks on Monday over the job cuts, but declined to comment on them specifically. The news was reported earlier by Boersen Zeitung.

Two Major Central Bank Insiders Just Gave a Clear Signal What’s to Come

Are you ready for inflation? On Friday, both the Bank of England AND the US Federal Reserve made clear signals that they WANT inflation. “The Bank of England is prepared to tolerate higher inflation over the next few years and will keep interest rates low to support economic growth, according to Governor Mark Carney. In a further indication that the Federal Reserve will be inclined to let inflation run hot for a while, Chair Janet Yellen on Friday said it’s useful to consider the benefits of a “high-pressure economy.””…

The Big Retail Sales Lie

There’s a direct correlation between the scale and quantity of lies coming from Hillary Clinton and the Government. Why? It’s election season, of course. It’s easy enough to dismiss Hillary’s plea for debate viewers to go to her campaign website to see “fact” checking. We know how easy it is for her to hide the truth when she has assistance from the State Department, FBI and Obama. If you believe Hillary Clinton, you also believe in the Easter Bunny. But it’s also easy to fact check the Census Bureau’s retail sales reports. Now, it’s easy enough to believe that the Government would manipulate the statistics in order to help the incumbent party maintain control the White House. But it’s also easy to fact-check the Census Bureau’s tabulations for monthly retail sales, notwithstanding the fact that the Census Bureau is caught producing fraudulent statistics on a regular basis.

Why Oil Could Head Back To $90 Sooner Than Thought

I don’t know much about fashion, but I have heard that blue is the new black. And I know that by the time I buy blue, everyone else will be wearing green. In the oil business, modish pundits are now pronouncing, “60 is the new 90,” championing the thesis that productivity gains, cost improvements and price wars have pulled the global clearing price of oil to $60/B, down from $90/B a couple of years ago. The oilfields of the world share some similarity to fashion ateliers.

Subprime Auto Securitizations Show Signs Of Cracking As Delinquencies Rise

It will come as no surprise to our readers that sales of automobiles in the U.S. have bubbled over in recent years and stood at a SAAR of 17.7mm units at the end of September.  To put that number in context, a 15-year useful life would imply that’s more than 1 car for every driving age person in the United States.  Obviously that’s likely not sustainable which is probably why Ford executives admitted on a recent conference call that U.S. auto sales have likely reached a “plateau.”

Russia Is Deploying The Largest Naval Force Since The Cold War For Syria: NATO Diplomat

Just moments ago we reported that in the latest escalation involving Syria, the Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov was now sailing past Norway on its way to Syria, where it is expected to arrive in just under 2 weeks.  As part of the carrier naval group, Russia also deployed an escort of seven other Russian ships, which we dubbed the “most powerful Russian naval task force to sail in northern Europe since 2014” according to Russia’s Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily reports. It turns out it it was even bigger, because according to a NATO diplomat cited by Reuters, Russia is “deploying all of the Northern fleet and much of the Baltic fleet in the largest surface deployment since the end of the Cold War,” the diplomat said on condition of anonymity. “This is not a friendly port call. In two weeks, we will see a crescendo of air attacks on Aleppo as part of Russia’s strategy to declare victory there,” the diplomat said.

Fed risks repeating Lehman blunder as US recession storm gathers

The risk of a US recession next year is rising fast. The Federal Reserve has no margin for error. Liquidity is suddenly drying up. Early warning indicators from US ‘flow of funds’ data point to an incipent squeeze, the long-feared capitulation after five successive quarters of declining corporate profits. Yet the Fed is methodically draining money through ‘reverse repos’ regardless. It has set the course for a rise in interest rates in December and seems to be on automatic pilot. “We are seeing a serious deterioration on a monthly basis,” said Michael Howell from CrossBorder Capital, specialists in global liquidity. The signals lead the economic cycle by six to nine months.

A Spirit Of Violence Rises In America Following The Unveiling Of The ‘Harbinger Of Baal’ In New York

Is it just a coincidence that we have seen violence erupt all over America since the unveiling of the arch that served as a gateway to the Temple of Baal in New York City on September 19th? First there were the terror attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota, then there were the unprecedented riots in Charlotte, and over the weekend there was a horrific mass shooting near Seattle. All of these events took place within a week after the Arch of Triumph was put up in New York. Baal was an ancient deity that was often associated with violence and bloodshed, and those that erected this arch have no idea what they are messing with.

Has World War 3 Already Started?

It took 3 million soldiers, 3,000 tanks, 7,000 artillery pieces, and 2,500 aircraft… “Operation Barbarossa” was the code name for Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. It was the largest military operation in human history. The Nazis had already conquered most of Europe. Hitler had grown overconfident from his recent military victories. Now he was hunting for big game… Stalin’s USSR.

An Inside Look At Two “Unrelated” Banker Suicides Reveals A Fascinating Rabbit Hole

It has been nearly four years since one of the most infamous, and still largely unexplained, banker “suicides” took place, the first in a series of many: we are talking about the death of the director of communications at Monte dei Paschi di Siena, David Rossi, who allegedly jumped to his death on March 6, 2013. Since this event has largely faded away from the public consciousness here is a quick recap: David Rossi, who was the head of communications for Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank, which was founded in 1472 and which is currently seeking to finalize its third bailout since the financial crisis, died after falling – or being pushed – from a third floor window of the bank’s headquarters in a 14th century palazzo in the Tuscan city of Siena.

Debate Post-Mortem: “Bad Hombres”, “Putin Puppets”, Chris Wallace Wins “Bigly”

The debate started with ‘no handshakes’ once again and while there was no ‘dancing’ around the ring, a quiet, polite start rapidly turned ugly once the two candidates warmed up. Second Amendment supporting Trump slammed babyslaying Clinton; questions over who was the biggest “puppet”; Trump declined to support election result and threw a “such a nasty woman” comment across the stage.  While it was a close-call between Trump and Hillary, for once we suggest Chris Wallace wins tonight.

The First Cities To Be Nuked

After all of the military command and control centers have been nuked, have you ever wondered which cities would be nuked first? You probably have not, because it is an unpleasant thought, and is something that most people believe would never happen. At one time between Russia and the United States alone, there were more than 20,000 nuclear warheads. Not that long ago during the years of the Cuban missile crisis, every American feared the worst while the U.S. and the USSR were seemingly ready to end the world as we know it… Since then, stockpiles have been reduced somewhat, but in the big picture it is mostly irrelevant. If anything, the world is more dangerous today as apparently radical nations add their own nuclear weapons to the world’s nuclear arsenal. Here is a mapped illustration of the top 30 most populated cities (and metro areas) in the United States which could potentially ‘go’ first in a nuclear war…

They think you’re crazy if you expect default. It’s crazy if you DON’T.

On May 12, 1780, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, “I must study politics and war that my sons have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. . . in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.” (… to which I would add, “so that their children can hide from the world in their safe spaces.”) There may be no other quote that so succinctly surmises the rise and fall of empire.

Wikileaks: Journalists Dined at Top Clinton Staffers’ Homes Days Before Hillary’s Campaign Launch

Several top journalists and TV news anchors RSVPed “yes” to attend a private, off-the-record gathering at the New York home of Joel Benenson, the chief campaign strategist for Hillary Clinton, two days before she announced her candidacy in 2015, according to emails Wikileaks has published from John Podesta’s purported accounts. The guest list for an earlier event at the home of John Podesta was limited to reporters who were expected to cover Clinton on the campaign trail.

Time to Buy Gold as Inflation Rises?

Commodities analyst John Ross Crooks explores the ramifications of rising inflation on gold prices, and concludes that a buying opportunity is likely developing. Alert the media — three key measures of U.S. inflation have exceeded the Federal Reserve’s threshold of 2%.

Trump’s Invisible Shield

It already seems like a lifetime ago that MachadoGate and Lewd-Comments-on-the-Bus-Gate appeared on the political scene and, according to all news sources, derailed the Trump candidacy.  Little did we know that a few days later, the Trump campaign would be dealt yet another setback — only this time by a cadre of women parading around the alphabet stations with sudden flashbacks of memory that conveniently materialized just a few weeks before the election.  According to the punditry and press, the Trump campaign has received a death blow from which it cannot recover.  Clinton is president!

More Good News For Gold Bugs: The Bottom Is Getting Closer

In the latest gold and silver commitment of traders (COT) report (click here for an explanation of what this report involves), paper players made big strides in bringing the market back into balance — and setting the stage for an eventual rebound. Speculators – who tend to be emotional and therefore wrong at the extremes – scaled their long positions way back, while the commercials – who time-and-again sucker the speculators into those emotional extremes and then fleece them – are now considerably less short.

Doug Casey on the Self-Identified Elite

Mark Twain said, “If you don’t read the papers you’re uninformed. If you do read them, you’re misinformed.” That’s why I want to draw your attention to a recent article called “The Isolationist Temptation,” in The Wall Street Journal, written by Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations. The piece wasn’t worth reading—except that it offers some real insight into what the “elite” are thinking. The CFR is one of about a dozen groups, like Bilderberg, Bohemian Grove, and Davos, where the self-identified elite gather.

Who Brought the World to the Brink of World War III?

Who has the major responsibility for creating the confrontation between the U.S. and Russia in Syria? How have these two major nuclear powers moved closer and closer to the brink of World War III? At the moment, one clear way to resolve this clash is for Syria’s armed forces to win an unambiguous victory over the forces seeking to overturn the existing government. Bloody as it may be, the defeat of the rebel forces will defuse the military portion of the conflict between the U.S. and Russia, at least within Syria. Russia, invited by Assad to aid him militarily, has been following that path. Obama has haltingly and unevenly been following a different but also effective path, which is that the U.S. pull back from the brink, that it stop calling for Assad’s resignation, and that it not directly become involved in attacking Syrian forces.

‘With Her’ – Lobbyists Raise $20 Million for Clinton vs. Zero For Trump

With so much mud being slung from all directions in this circus of an election, it’s often hard to separate fact from fiction. However, on one particular topic there is little doubt. When it comes to the big money crowd, they are definitely “with her.” The Wall Street Journal reports: “Not a single registered lobbyist has raised a substantial amount of money for Republican nominee Donald Trump‘s campaign, according to campaign-finance disclosures filed over the weekend. Democrat Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has drawn more than $20 million over the course of her race for her campaign and joint Democratic Party accounts through funds raised by registered lobbyists, according to her disclosures.”

Ganging Up on Gold

In last week’s update on the gold sector, we mentioned that there was a lot of negative sentiment detectable on an anecdotal basis. From a positioning perspective only the commitments of traders still appeared a bit stretched though, while from a technical perspective we felt that a pullback to the 200-day moving average in both gold and gold stocks shouldn’t be regarded as anything but a normal – and in this case actually long overdue – event. Between May and August, gold stocks became quite “overbought”. They had clearly risen too far too fast and a correction shouldn’t have been a surprise. The pullback was quite sharp, adequately mirroring the relentlessness of the preceding rally. This is nothing unusual in this sector.

James Turk – The Coming Financial Storm Will Devastate The World

As we kick off the third week of trading in October, today James Turk warned King World News that the coming financial storm will devastate the world. James Turk:   “There was some remarkable news about the future of the euro reported here in London over the weekend, Eric. The Daily Telegraph picked it up from an obscure central banking publication, and I am pleased that they did… Otherwise this shocker might have been buried without the attention it rightly deserves. And the Daily Telegraph did not hold back, as the following quote leading into their article makes clear. “The European Central Bank is becoming dangerously over-extended and the whole euro project is unworkable in its current form, the founding architect of the monetary union has warned. ‘One day, the house of cards will collapse,’ said Professor Otmar Issing, the ECB’s first chief economist and a towering figure in the construction of the single currency.”

Negative Shocks, Deeper Recessions And The Great Threat To Financial Stability

As the world awaits the next round of monetary madness, here is a dire warning about negative shocks, deeper recession and the great threat to financial stability. Here is what Peter Boockvar wrote today as the world awaits the next round of monetary madness:  In a speech titled “Why are interest rates so low? Causes and implications”, Stanley Fischer is premising the speech on “why we should be concerned about such low interest rates.” He raises the possible explanations for why and risks that it entails. Firstly, “the economy’s long run growth prospects are dim.” Secondly, “low interest rates make the economy more vulnerable to adverse shocks that can put it in a recession” which “could therefore lead to longer and deeper recessions when the economy is hit by negative shocks.” Thirdly, “low interest rates may also threaten financial stability as some investors reach for yield and compressed net interest margins make it harder for some financial institutions to build up capital buffers.”…

Saudis, China Dump Treasuries; Foreign Central Banks Liquidate A Record $346 Billion In US Paper

One month ago, when we last looked at the Fed’s update of Treasuries held in custody, we noted something troubling: the number dropped sharply, declining by over $27.5 billion in one week, the biggest weekly drop since January 2015, pushing the total amount of custodial paper to $2.83 trillion, the lowest since 2012. One month later, we refresh this chart and find that in the latest weekly update, foreign central banks continued their relentless liquidation of US paper held in the Fed’s custody account, which tumbled by another $22.3 billion in the past week, pushing the total amount of custodial paper to $2.805 trillion, another fresh post-2012 low.

The Danger Zone: Why Israel Greatly Fears Barack Obama’s Last Few Months In Office

Between right now and January 20th, 2017 is a real “pressure point” for U.S. relations with Israel. Barack Obama has always desired to “leave a legacy” in the Middle East, and at this point the only option for accomplishing anything tangible is through the United Nations. The Israeli government is extremely concerned that Obama may attempt to take such action before he leaves office, and so they recently asked Secretary of State John Kerry if the U.S. would promise to veto any anti-Israel resolutions that come before the UN Security Council for the rest of Obama’s time in the White House. Unfortunately for Israel, the New York Post is reporting that Kerry flatly refused to make such a promise…

RT: NatWest to close Russian channel’s UK bank accounts

NatWest bank is to close the accounts of Russia’s state-run broadcaster, RT. Editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan tweeted: “They’ve closed our accounts in Britain. All our accounts. ‘The decision is not subject to review.’ Praise be to freedom of speech!” The bank said the decision was “not taken lightly” and that the accounts were “still operative” at present. An MP from Russia’s ruling party has said its parliament will demand an explanation from the UK. RT says the entire Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group, of which NatWest is part, is refusing to provide its services.

Why Is Obama Threatening Russia With World War 3 Right Before The Election?

It sure seems like an odd time to be provoking a war with Russia.  As I write this, we stand just a little bit more than three weeks away from one of the most pivotal elections in U.S. history, and Barack Obama has chosen this moment to strongly threaten the Russians.  As I wrote about on Friday, Reuters is reporting that Obama is contemplating “direct U.S. military action” against Syrian military targets, and the Russians have already indicated that any assault on Syrian forces would be considered an attack on themselves.  The rapidly deteriorating crisis in Syria has already caused tensions with Russia to rise to the highest level since the end of the Cold War, but now Obama is adding fuel to the fire by publicly considering “an unprecedented cyber covert action against Russia”.  Apparently Obama believes that Russian hackers are interfering in the election and so he wants payback.

Huge Red Flags Could Be Telling Us Global Currency Reset Is Upon Us!

If you’ve listened to many of Dr. Willie’s interviews, or you follow his work regularly, you probably already know that there aren’t too many people who have mixed feelings about the man. He’s either loved by people, or hated, and very little in-between. As a huge fan of his myself, I’ve often found it’s hard to get people who are unacquainted with Dr. Willie to listen to him, or give him a chance. Why? Without a doubt, Dr. Willie can be arrogant, overly sarcastic, insensitive, or even downright rude at times, and that can be a huge turnoff for some. He doesn’t have the same charm during interviews that someone like Peter Schiff does, and he often exhibits very little patience for those who can’t keep up with him on a subject matter level.

U.N. Says They Will Soon Occupy America: “Going Door-to-Door Taking Guns…”

My fellow patriots, do you realize that from the time of this writing, there are only 25 days left until the day we cast our ballots (however meaningless they may be) for the next President of the United States? The case can very easily be made, that in 26 days, we’ll know whether the United States as we’ve known it will live on to fight, or begin the slow march (or maybe not so slow, who knows), toward the ash bins of history. That is how important this election is, and it’s a safe bet that everything you’re about to learn in this post, is unfolding in preparation for all out chaos…

All Paper Will Burn-Rob Kirby

Macroeconomic analyst Rob Kirby has wealthy global connections. He says forget about the recent takedown in precious metals because his sources don’t think anything paper will survive the upcoming financial meltdown.  Kirby explains, “The commentary that I get from people with much higher pay grades than me is that, in the end, the only thing that will stand is physical metal gold and silver. They say all paper will burn.” Kirby goes on to confirm that “stocks, bonds and pensions” will be toast.

Hussman Predicts 55% Decline in Stocks in “Hard-Negative” Outlook

From John Hussman: Several weeks ago, we shifted from a rather neutral near-term stock market view, to a hard-negative outlook, based on fresh deterioration in various trend-sensitive components within our broad measures of market action. From a cyclical perspective, the stock market has effectively gone nowhere since mid-2014 (with zero total return on the broad NYSE Composite since then). The past two years can be characterized less as an ongoing bull market than as the extended top-formation of the third speculative episode since 2000, the third most extreme equity market bubble in history (next to 1929 and 2000), and the most extreme point of overvaluation in history across the broad cross-section of individual stocks and asset classes.

They Will Not Allow Trump to Win Regardless of the Vote

The preparation to declare the election a fraud is in high gear. The newspapers are full of the planted stories that Russia will hack the election to ensure Trump wins – not Hillary. The Democrats are now putting out the argument that Wikileaks’ source on all these emails is also Russia saying they use to be about the truth and are now a pawn of Trump and Putin. The Democrats are even trying to claim that the emails are fake. Moving the disinformation plot to cartoons demonstrates this is a full fledged campaign for the coronation of Hillary regardless of what the people vote. Russia will be blamed regardless of what Putin does. It is impossible to absolutely identify the hacker who is truly professional. You can trace it to an IP address, but that will be typically several layers deep rerouting it around the world. Someone in the USA can create a fake hack from Russia with the first IP being placed there. So there would be no possible way to prove it was the Russian government. This is all hype.

Local GOP office in North Carolina firebombed

A GOP office in Hillsborough, North Carolina, was firebombed over the weekend, with a swastika and the words “Nazi Republicans leave town or else” spray painted on an adjacent building, according to local officials. No arrests have been made. Gov. Pat McCrory on Monday called the fire an “assault on our democracy.”

HP To Cut Up To 4,000 Jobs As PC Market Declines

In a filing with the SEC, HP said the cuts are part of a restructuring designed to reduce costs. The news came the same week that Gartner reported an 8th consecutive quarter of declining PC shipments. HP Inc., the PC and printing company that resulted from the split of Hewlett-Packard last year, plans to cut between 3,000 to 4,000 jobs in the next three years, the company said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week. The layoffs will come in fiscal 2019 and are expected to generate a gross annual run rate savings of $200 million to $300 million beginning in fiscal 2020, according to the filing.

Analyst: S&P 500 Will Plunge 22% By The End Of 2016

Analyst Theo Vallee is out today with a bold prediction for a massive decline in the S&P 500 through the end of this year — and he has plenty of charts to back up his case. We see the SPX losing 22% over the next 2-3 months. The call is primarily based on technical factors; however, given the market’s current valuation, the fundamentals also support this view. We contend that the texture of today’s price action is very similar to the early 2000’s.

Euro ‘house of cards’ to collapse, warns ECB prophet

The European Central Bank is becoming dangerously over-extended and the whole euro project is unworkable in its current form, the founding architect of the monetary union has warned. “One day, the house of cards will collapse,” said Professor Otmar Issing, the ECB’s first chief economist and a towering figure in the construction of the single currency. Prof Issing said the euro has been betrayed by politics, lamenting that the experiment went wrong from the beginning and has since has degenerated into a fiscal free-for-all that once again masks the festering pathologies.

Germany HELL: Doom for Deutsche Bank as largest lender Qatar ‘pulls plug on future equity’

SINKING Deutsche Bank has been dealt a hammer blow today after its biggest backer pulled the plug on future equity, it has been claimed. According to sources the bank is now facing a crisis of gargantuan proportions after the Qatari royal family, who were reported to be involved in bond deals just last week, expressed concern over their long-term strategy. Analysts say this could be the final nail in the coffin for the bank which this week was accused of using stealth methods to woo investors.

ALERT: Massive Commercial Short Covering Has Taken Place In The Gold And Silver Markets!

There has been massive commercial short covering in the gold and silver markets on the recent takedown. The following charts are from Jason Goepfert at SentimenTrader. King World News note:  Below you can see the commercial hedgers position in the silver market market.  Note that commercial hedgers been dramatically reducing their short positions recently in the silver market.

China’s Stunning Move To Dominate The World And The Real Reason Why China Is Buying So Much Gold

With many investors worried about the economic turmoil that has engulfed the globe, here is a look at China’s stunning move to dominate the world and the real reason why China is buying so much gold. China Quietly Increasing Its Global Dominance. Stephen Leeb:  “In a fairly lackluster week for the markets, the only news that seemed to arouse any response was China trade data. The headline numbers reported that, contrary to expectations, both Chinese exports and imports had declined in September compared to year-earlier levels, with exports dropping by more than 10 percent in dollar terms. Stock and commodity markets in the West fell in response, believing the numbers signified Chinese weakness that would hurt global growth…

MSM Committing Massive Fraud, Economic Red Alert, WWIII Update

The Wiki Leaks slimy revelations about the DNC and the Clintons’ emails prove the mainstream media (MSM) is committing massive fraud on shareholders and the public. Organizations such as the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, CNBC, Politico, The Boston Globe and many others hold themselves out as news organizations and fair arbiters of the truth, when they are really just one sided political hacks.  I predict the public will reject the MSM in droves, and share prices will plunge.  Look out for shareholder lawsuits in 2017.

The Republican Party Has Spent $0 On TV Ads For Trump After Spending $42 Million For Romney In 2012

With so much stacked against him, can Donald Trump pull off a miracle and actually win this election? Right at this moment, things are looking quite grim for the Trump campaign. Following the release of the lewd audio tape, six women have come forward and have accused him of doing the exact sorts of things that he admitted to on that tape, and the mainstream media is going after him with all they’ve got. Of course the Clintons have done far worse things than Trump has, and that is the case that Trump must make to the American people in the last 25 days of this election. But it certainly isn’t helping that Trump is receiving very little help from his own party. In fact, earlier today Politico published an article entitled “RNC TV ad spending for Trump: $0” which documented the fact that the Republican National Committee has not spent a single penny on television advertising for Trump so far in 2016.

Drowning In Debt: 35 Percent Of All Americans Have Debt That Is At Least 180 Days Past Due

More than a third of all Americans can’t pay their debts.  I don’t know about you, but to me that is a shocking figure.  As you will see below, 35 percent of the people living in this country have debt in collections.  When a debt is in  collections, it is at least 180 days past due.  And this is happening during the “economic recovery” that the mainstream media keeps touting, although the truth is that Barack Obama is going to be the only president in United States history to never have a single year when the economy grew by at least 3 percent.  But at least things are fairly stable for the moment, and if this many Americans are having trouble paying their bills right now, what are things going to look like when the economy becomes extremely unstable once again.

World War 3? Barack Obama Could Take A Major Step Toward War With Russia On Friday

Because the mainstream media is devoting almost all of their time and energy to covering the Trump and Clinton campaigns, most Americans don’t realize that the Obama administration is bringing us perilously close to war with Russia.  On Friday, Barack Obama is going to sit down with his foreign policy team and discuss “military options” in Syria.  As you will see below, the options under consideration include direct strikes “on Syrian military bases”.  Russia has already pledged to respond militarily to any direct strikes on Syrian forces, and so the decisions that Barack Obama makes regarding Syria on Friday could literally be the spark that sets off World War 3. The daily drama surrounding Trump and Clinton is far less important than a potential war with Russia.  This should be front page news all over the country, but unfortunately most of the big news organizations are giving it very little coverage.

The US just bombed Yemen, and no one’s talking about it

What if the United States went to war and nobody here even noticed? The question is absurd, isn’t it? And yet, this almost perfectly describes what actually happened this past week. While many Americans, myself included, were all hypnotized by the bizarre spectacle of the Republican nominee for president, a US navy destroyer fired a barrage of cruise missiles at three radar sites controlled by the rebel Houthi movement in Yemen. This attack marked the first time the US has fought the rebels directly in Yemen’s devastating civil war.

World War III On The Brink: War Will Continue Until It Triggers Economic Collapse

One of the main Shemitah Trends of late 2016 is the emerging war in the Middle East. It has every indication of turning into a conflict resembling World War III and day-by-day is becoming more dangerous and extreme. This could be the war that finally triggers the great economic collapse being planned. Certainly, the storm clouds of war are gathering, as we’ve been covering. In fact, on Friday, Barack O’bomber is scheduled to decide whether or not to initiate direct US military action against Syria – in part because of Russia’s bombing of Aleppo. Obama has been forced into making this decision because the Russians along with the Syrians are now winning the war. The wars in Libya, Iraq and now Syria are bankers wars intended to redraw the map in the Middle East while adding to the military burdens of the West – specifically the US.

European Commission denies fraud problem after EU auditors FAIL to sign off accounts AGAIN

THE European Commission has denied that Brussels has a problem with fraud after the EU’s auditors refused to sign off its accounts for the 21st year running. The 141.5 billion euro budget for 2015 – including £20 billion from Britain – has been blasted by the Court of Auditors for being “materially affected by error”. The court has issued an “adverse opinion” – reserved for serious accountancy failures – on the legality and regularity of the payments underlying the accounts. The report highlights dubious areas of spending, including a bid for a monorail for olive farmers in Italy.

The Day Has Arrived: As Of Today Prime Money Markets Can Suspend Withdrawals – Here Are The Implications

The big day has finally arrived: starting today, as previewed repeatedly over the summer, the SEC’s 2a-7 money fund reform adopted in 2014 officially requires many prime money market mutual funds (those that invest in non-government issued assets such as short-term corporate and municipal debt) to float their net asset value. More importantly, these prime MMFs are allowed to delay client withdrawals under adverse market conditions. The rule aim to prevent the sort of chaos that hit the money market after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s 2008 bankruptcy, which helped spark the financial crisis. The goal is to give investors a way to monitor a fund’s health by tracking its fluctuating net asset value, and to contain the fallout that could be caused by many investors cashing out at once, the SEC wrote in the final rules.

Deutsche Bank To Fire Another 10,000 Bankers, Bringing Total Layoffs To 20% Of Workforce

The hits for Deutsche Bank just keep on coming. One day after a report that the German lender has imposed a hiring freeze in the latest bid to reassure investors that it has expenses under control and is stemming the outflow of cash, moments ago Reuters reported that Deutsche Bank’s finance chief told his staff that job cuts at the bank could be double that planned, a step that could remove 10,000 further employees. Such cuts would likely take many years but setting such a goal could reassure investors that the bank is determined to tackle costs that sources said the European Central Bank sees as bloated. Unless, of course, they are forced to cut much faster. If 10,000 job losses were ultimately to follow the 9,000 announced by management in October 2015, roughly one in five of the bank’s workforce around the globe would be affected.

A “Cat 5” Financial System Hurricane Swirls Offshore

Things are worse than are even being reported by alternative media. Heard from a friend east of the Atlantic ‎whose employer is a financial institution in Europe – you can probably guess which country. Words used were “chaos” and “possible shutdown.” Advised to buy silver as much as possible…

Billionaire Gives NY Fed A Fire-Hose of Reality, Warns Of “Big Squeeze”

Ray Dalio, founder of the $160 billion investment firm Bridgewater Associates, was invited to speak at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s 40th Annual Central Banking Seminar yesterday. Rather than gush about how wonderful the Fed’s zero interest rate policies have been since the financial crisis, Dalio gave them a fire hose of reality.

Thai Stocks, Currency Plunge On Concerns Over King’s Health, Fed Hike

Ever since the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, investors have kept a close eye on financial developments in Thailand as canary in the Asian financial conditions coalmine, and overnight there was little to look forward to after Thai stocks crashed the most in over a year, plunging as much as 6.9% before settling 4.1%, lower while the baht currency tumbled 1.1%, its steepest plunge in three years. The Thai stock market was the worst performing in Asia, with the sharp selloff attributed to concerns about the health of the king and “sudden” fears about the prospect of a December rate hike. Thai stocks approached a correction, after sliding 8.8% in the week, the most among about 100 benchmark share indexes tracked by Bloomberg. Default risk also spiked with Thai CDS rising 8%, and more than 12 per cent since the start of the week. The Thai currency traded at 35.768 per dollar, headed for an eighth day of losses in the longest stretch since July 2015. It sank as much as 1.5 percent to 35.902, the lowest since Jan. 26, and is headed for its steepest weekly drop since 2013. The 10-year sovereign bond yield rose five basis points to 2.35 percent, the highest since January.

“We Didn’t Know Things Were This Bad” – Ericsson Shares Plunge 17% After Shocking Profit Warning

Our condolences to anyone long Swedish telecom giant Ericsson, who will observe the following chart first thing upon waking up today. The reason for Ericsson’s 17% crash, is that the Swedish network maker reported a surprising slump in third-quarter sales and profitability, warning investors that its business was deteriorating faster than expected, with no turnaround in sight. Unexpectedly, the company said sales in the third quarter had dropped by 14% while its operating profit was all but wiped out, falling from SKr5.1bn a year ago to SKr300m. The sales drop was the biggest in 13 years, going back all the way to 2013.

Please Assume Crash Positions

Very few punters expect a real downturn here in stocks. The reasons for confidence are many: the Fed has our back, buy the dip has worked great and will continue to work great, the Fed won’t raise rates until December (if ever), the Powers That Be will keep the market aloft lest a plunging market upset the election of the status quo candidate, and so on.

Extinction Level Event

Since they can’t sell people on electric cars, the next best thing is to outlaw internal combustion-engined cars. In order to force people into electric cars. Since they can’t sell people on electric cars, the next best thing is to outlaw internal combustion-engined cars. In order to force people into electric cars. The German Bundesrat (their version of our Congress) just passed a bipartisan agreement toward that end. The legislative details have yet to be worked out, but the idea is to impose a comprehensive ban on the use of cars powered by internal combustion on not just German roads but all European Union roads as well.

Wal-Mart Expects Profit Pressures, Fewer New Stores

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. wants to make a big pivot: Instead of building supercenters to drive growth, the retailer hopes to become an e-commerce powerhouse that draws more shoppers to its existing stores. At an investor meeting Thursday, executives said Wal-Mart would open only about half as many supercenters next year as it did last fiscal year. Instead, Wal-Mart will direct more of its $11 billion in annual capital spending toward boosting e-commerce sales, technology used in stores and customer service. The decision is a fundamental shift for the world’s largest retailer that will require significant investment and also weigh on profit.

Google starts deploying its self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans: first prototypes spotted

While Tesla’s fleet recently reached 222 million miles driven on Autopilot in about a year, Google’s fleet of self-driving cars just passed the 2-million miles mark last month after 7 years on the road. As we previously discussed, Tesla’s Autopilot miles are not really equivalent to Google’s self-driving miles, but it still gives us a good indication of the speed at which each company is deploying their semi-autonomous and autonomous programs. Now Google is about to speed up its effort by deploying a lot more vehicles through its partnership with Fiat-Chrysler to build a fleet of self-driving Pacifica, Chrysler’s new plug-in hybrid minivan. The first few prototypes were spotted in Mountain View over the weekend.

Deutsche Bank Implements Hiring Freeze, Stock Slides

While much attention in recent weeks has fallen on Deutsche Bank’s balance sheet, with concerns over both the bank’s capitalization as well as its liquidity forcing its stock price to all time lows as recently as two weeks ago, today we got a timely reminder that the bank also has substantial income statement problems when Bloomberg reported that the biggest German lender is implementing a companywide hiring freeze as CEO John Cryan “seeks to lower costs and shore up investor confidence.” However, the confirmation that the bank continues to hemorrhage cash and is in expense-slashing mode, and which hits just a day after Deutsche Bank completed a tack-on bond offering in which it sold a total of $4.5 billion in 5 year bonds in two tranches, paying junk bond spreads for the privilege of obtaining funds, will hardly “shore up investor confidence.” If anything it will short it, or perhaps short DBK stock, which was down 2.5% to €12.04 in German trading as of this writing.

Germany To Cut Off Welfare Benefits For EU Citizens

In what may be the latest indication that Merkel’s immigration policy blowback is being heard by the government, Germany’s Handelsblatt reports that Merkel’s government plans to prohibit foreign E.U. citizens from receiving welfare benefits for five years if they haven’t worked in Germany before. Labor Minister Andrea Nahles, a center-left Social Democrat, introduced a corresponding draft measure during a cabinet meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government on Wednesday, according to the news agency Reuters. Under the draft law, E.U. citizens can claim one-time assistance for the period of a month to pay for food and shelter. They can also receive a loan to cover the cost of the trip back to their home country if they fail to find work.

US Retailers Blame “Election Preoccupation” For Slumping Sales

While record food-stamps, sinking real wages, and soaring healthcare and shelter costs are all in the realm of peddled fiction; US Retailers are never shy of alternative excuses for their underperformance. It’s too-hot, it’s too-cold; it’s too-low gas prices; it’s too-high gas prices; but now, as Bloomberg reports, US retailers and restaurants are floating another excuse to explain their lackluster performance – it’s the election, stupid!

List of Hillary Tax Hikes

Trillion dollar tax hike – Hillary’s tax hike proposals will raise taxes on the American people by over $1,000,000,000,000 over the next ten years, based on her campaign’s own numbers. Payroll Tax Hike; Soda Tax Hike; 25% National Gun Tax; Doubling of federal excise tax on guns; 65% Death Tax; Capital Gains Tax Hike; No Corporate Income Tax Rate Relief for Anyone; No Personal Income Tax Rate Relief for Anyone; AND CARBON TAX.

Did Stumpf Lie To Congress? Wells Manager Admits Fake Account Creation As Far Back As 2006

Just when you thought the public floggings were over and another US bank proved that crime pays, it appears Wells Fargo – and its CEO – may not be as ‘Teflon’ as they hoped. Having told Congress under oath that his bank committed criminal activities since 2011, VICE News reports that in fact John Stumpf’s banking head Carrie Tolsetedt was actually aware of the creation of fake accounts since 2006.

2 Simple Charts Show Which State Pensions Are Most Likely To Enforce Benefit Cuts

A new research note from Moody’s found that State pension funds were underfunded by $1.3 trillion at the end of FY15 but was expected to grow to $1.8 trillion at the end of FY17 as pensions continue to struggle with low returns.  We’ve discussed the unintended consequences of the Central Bank’s low-rate polices on pension funds multiples times (see “Pension Duration Dilemma – Why Pension Funds Are Driving The Biggest Bond Bubble In History”)…with the two most likely outcomes being benefits cuts for pensioners and/or crippling tax hikes for citizens.

Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – October 13, 2016

Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his third 10 minute weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams’ weekly newsletter.

THE FINAL BUBBLE! Pastor Williams says the information shared by this economist is outstanding and correct. What he says will happen. >>> CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO (This video is being shared because the information within it is truly good and correct. Half way through the video it turns into a sales pitch to sell a book and related products. Pastor Williams has asked me to state that Pastor Williams and LindseyWilliams.net do not endorse this book).

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