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:
The Dark Agenda Behind Globalism And Open Borders
When people unfamiliar with the liberty movement stumble onto the undeniable fact of the “conspiracy” of globalism they tend to look for easy answers to understand what it is and why it exists. Most people today have been conditioned to perceive events from a misinterpreted standpoint of “Occam’s Razor” — they wrongly assume that the simplest explanation is probably the right one. In fact, this is not what Occam’s Razor states. Instead, to summarize, it states that the simplest explanation GIVEN THE EVIDENCE at hand is probably the right explanation.
How the Ballooning “Pension Crisis” Will Impact the Economy
In the very simplest terms, the Dallas Police & Fire Pension Fund is going broke, and the police who are counting on it for their retirement are beginning to panic. Police involved are retiring as early as possible and taking cash payouts because they fear that the fund will run dry and future checks may not be forthcoming. The whole thing is beginning to look like a run on a bank and it is just making matters worse. It’s not that the DPFP is all that different from most of the public and private retirement funds; it’s just that what is happening has been noticed and made the headlines.
How the Ballooning “Pension Crisis” Will Impact the Economy
In the very simplest terms, the Dallas Police & Fire Pension Fund is going broke, and the police who are counting on it for their retirement are beginning to panic. Police involved are retiring as early as possible and taking cash payouts because they fear that the fund will run dry and future checks may not be forthcoming. The whole thing is beginning to look like a run on a bank and it is just making matters worse. It’s not that the DPFP is all that different from most of the public and private retirement funds; it’s just that what is happening has been noticed and made the headlines.
Here’s How Long-Term Silver Prices Can Get to $150/Oz
Precious metals analyst Gary Christenson explains the phenomenon of exponential increases in asset values over time, and what that means for silver prices. Our financial systems create exponential increases in: Debt, Prices for stocks, Prices for commodities, Currency in circulation, Prices for gold and silver.
Housing Bust 2? Subprime No-Down-Payment Mortgages Surge, “Shadow Banks” Dominate
The value of the US housing market has ballooned to $26 trillion. In many markets, prices exceed even the peak of the prior house price bubble that blew up so spectacularly. This construct is weighed down by $14 trillion in mortgage debt, or about 76% of US GDP. Of that, $10 trillion is owed on one- to four-family residences. The numbers are big – and they matter. But who’s doing the lending? More and more: nonbanks, evocatively called “shadow banks.” They have now overtaken commercial banks “to grab a record slice” of government-guaranteed mortgages, Attom Data Solutions reported in its housing report.
Here’s what happens when a currency hits an all-time low
I’ll start with an admission that I don’t do vacations very well. Or frequently. Over the past ten years I’ve probably only taken a week or two off in total. A big part of that is a deep character flaw of me being a workaholic… but that’s a natural extension of genuinely loving all the exciting business ventures and wonderful people that I’m involved with each day. I do recognize, however, that taking a break is healthy, and I’m trying to get better at it. The last few weeks in particular have been a blur. My fellow executives at our agriculture business and I have been busy negotiating credit facilities with some of the largest financial institutions in the world, all while the company has been planting hundreds and hundreds of acres at a record pace.
Why the Jobs Aren’t Coming Back
The candidates in the current campaign – or any campaign – are all promising to “bring back good jobs” to “create good jobs.” When asked how they would do that, they are all a little light on details. About a year ago, Joe Biden was in Michigan to celebrate the opening of a new manufacturing plant that made “small metal clamps” used in all kinds of industries to hold wiring, hoses. Etc. in place. The largest market is the auto industry but they are sold to hundreds of other manufacturers. Depending on size, shape, and material, these parts sell for a few pennies or less. You have to make a lot of these parts to have any substantial billing numbers. This new plant is fully automated and runs 24/7/365 with just 14 people. Joe was quite happy saying “manufacturing is returning to America.”
Rents Are Too Damn High: NYC Retail Vacancies Soar As Commercial Rents Start To Rollover
Cushman & Wakefield recently released their 3Q 2016 New York City retail rental update and it’s pretty much universally bad news for commercial real estate owners in Manhattan. Retail rental rates declined YoY in 9 out of the 11 Manhattan submarkets tracked by Cushman while vacancy rates soared to over 20% in several markets with the “Lower Fifth Avenue” corridor registering the highest vacancy rate in the city at 29.3%.
It Is Happening Again! Voting Machines Are Switching Votes From Donald Trump To Hillary Clinton
Is the 2016 election in the process of being stolen? Just a few weeks ago I issued a major alert warning that this exact sort of thing might happen. Early voting has already begun in many states, and a number of voters in Texas are reporting that the voting machines switched their votes from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton. The odd thing is that none of the other choices were affected when these individuals attempted to vote for a straight Republican ticket. If Hillary Clinton is declared the winner of the state of Texas on election night, a full investigation of these voting machines should be conducted, because there is no way that Donald Trump should lose that state. I have said that it will be the greatest miracle in U.S. political history if Donald Trump wins this election, but without the state of Texas Donald Trump has exactly zero chance of winning. So those living down in Texas need to keep reporting anything unusual that they see or hear when they go to vote.
Pre-crime returns to America with new Airbnb law
On Friday afternoon, New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill making it illegal to advertise your home for short-term rent on websites like Airbnb. The law specifically targets New York City homeowners in apartment buildings who advertise their properties, or even just a spare room in their homes, to rent for less than 30 days at a time. It’s important to note that New York already passed a law a few years ago making it illegal to rent your home out to short-term tenants. This new law makes it illegal to ADVERTISE… which is basically pre-crime.
Jim Rogers: It’s Time to Prepare; Economic And Financial Collapse Imminent
Regardless of how much information gets released through Wikileaks or Project Veritas revealing grossly immoral, or even criminal conduct between members of the Clinton campaign, neither the mainstream media nor our woefully corrupt Department of Injustice have done anything to even slow the Clinton Crime Syndicate’s march toward the oval office. With each passing day that brings us closer to the election, lies continue to be pumped out with impunity to the voting public at large by the very institutions the public should be able to trust to give them fair and honest reporting or education on important matters. In the following interview, legendary investor Jim Rogers, explains in detail why nothing being reported about the economy is true, and why financial and economic collapse is imminent. Who is Jim Rogers? Why should you care what he says?
USA Actually Bankrupt Now-Laurence Kotlikoff
Renowned Boston University Economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff is running for President with a write-in campaign. He says we need an economic expert, not a politician, to fix our severe financial problems. Dr. Kotlikoff explains, “Our democracy is in trouble. We have 14% of the electorate who have chosen Hillary Clinton for us to vote for, and a different 14% have chosen Trump to vote for. The vast majority of the population realizes neither Clinton nor Trump are qualified. Just on the economic front, these folks have no idea how fiscally sick our country is. The fact that we have off-the-book liabilities that make our true debt roughly 15 times larger than the amount the government is actually reporting, so, our true debt is about $206 trillion. The debt the Congressional Budget Office is telling us about is about $13.5 trillion. . . . We’re short $206 trillion. The country is 53% underfinanced. So, the country is actually bankrupt right this minute. It’s not $206 trillion in the future that we owe, it’s $206 trillion today. It’s our credit card bill, and we’re broke.”
Bank of England Asks UK Banks To Detail Their Exposure To Deutsche And Italian Banks
In what may or may not be a coincidence, just hours after Bloomberg reported that DB launched a probe into whether it “misstated” derivatives, moments ago the FT reported that the Bank of England is seeking details from large British banks on their current exposure to Deutsche Bank and some of the biggest Italian banks, including Monte dei Paschi, “amid mounting market jitters over the health of Europe’s financial sector.” The FT notes that the request was made in recent weeks by the BoE’s Prudential Regulation Authority as investors sold off Deutsche and Monte dei Paschi, both of which have been the subject of scrutiny over their capital levels. Supervisors worldwide have attempted to curtail the links between large institutions since the 2008 banking crisis, when the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other big groups threatened to drag down the entire global financial system.
US judge approves $15bn VW scandal settlement
A US court has approved Volkswagen’s $15bn (£12.3bn) settlement package for almost half a million customers in America over the diesel emissions scandal. Under the deal, signed off by a federal judge, the owners of 475,000 VWs and Audis with qualifying diesel engines can now either have their vehicle repaired or formally request the company buys it back. In addition, consumers can also net compensation of up to $10,000 (£8,200) in cash. The settlement is not the end of the road for the group’s troubles in the US as it still yet to agree terms with the owners of 3-litre diesel models. It faces regulatory action too – relating to the fitting of software designed to fool emissions tests.
Monte dei Paschi shares suspended after 23% fall
Shares in Italian bank Monte dei Paschi have been temporarily suspended from trading after plummeting 23%. It came after the ailing lender published a make-or-break turnaround plan which initially caused the stock to rally by up to 26.5%. Italy’s third-largest bank said it would write down bad loans, lay off one in 10 of its workers and raise €5bn (£4.4bn). The European Central Bank had ordered it to reduce its bad debt in April. “There is a lot of speculation ahead of the bank’s plan… amid rumours and leaks of possible interest of new investors in the bank,” Vincenzo Longo, a strategist for IG Markets in Milan, told Bloomberg. “We will soon discover if the plan is achievable and sustainable.”
The Boredom Before The Storm
With all the surprising and/or disturbing things going on – Brexit, China’s soaring debt, US/Russia/China saber rattling, the, um, unique US presidential race, the cyber attack that shut down big parts of the US Internet – you’d think that an unsettled world would be reflected in skittish financial markets. Instead we’re getting the opposite, with stock price movements becoming more and more placid as the year goes on. The following chart shows the volatility index (VIX) for the S&P 500 which, after some notable action in 2008 and 2011, has become ever-calmer, with recent readings comparable to the (in retrospect delusional) levels of 2006, just before the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
This Is What Gold Does In A Currency Crisis, Brexit Edition
In June the UK shocked the world – or at least the world’s elites – by voting to pull out of the European Union. Economists predicted disaster, EU leaders threatened pain for British exporters and tourists, and the media settled in to watch the UK shrivel and die. Four months later, the appropriate response is a yawn rather than a scream.
Rigged Elections Are An American Tradition — Paul Craig Roberts
Do Americans have a memory? I sometimes wonder. It is an obvious fact that the oligarchic One Percent have anointed Hillary, despite her myriad problems to be President of the US. There are reports that her staff are already moving into their White House offices. This much confidence before the vote does suggest that the skids have been greased. The current cause celebre against Trump is his conditional statement that he might not accept the election results if they appear to have been rigged. The presstitutes immediately jumped on him for “discrediting American democracy” and for “breaking American tradition of accepting the people’s will.”
Paul Volcker Surfaces And What The Elites Are Trying To Foist On The Unsuspecting Public
Paul Volcker surfaces and what the elites are trying to foist on the unsuspecting public. Volcker Surfaces. John Embry: “Eric, the presidential campaign and debates have been so sophomoric as to be embarrassing to everyone connected to the whole process. It’s so bad it triggered an article in the New York Times by two luminaries, Paul Volcker and Peter G. Peterson, titled Ignoring The Debt Problem…
The Road To Financial Armageddon
With continued uncertainty in global markets, today the man who has become legendary for his predictions on QE, historic moves in currencies, and major global events, spoke with King World News about the road to financial Armageddon. Gold Has Skyrocketed In Foreign Currencies. Egon von Greyerz: “As the gold market takes a break in its journey to much higher levels, it is good to step back a bit and understand why gold has appreciated so dramatically in the last 100 years and why this will continue for many years to come…
Jean-Marie Eveillard Oversees $90 Billion Warns This Might End Badly And There Is A Possibility Of ‘Extreme Outcomes’
News that the grand central bank experiment might end badly and there is a possibility of “extreme outcomes.” Eric King: “There’s talk now of helicoptering in trillions of dollars. Looking at the bigger picture for the West, you are a student of Austrian economics and you’ve said all along that we can’t print our way into prosperity or create more debt to get rid of the debt problem we have. And when you look at this so-called solution of helicoptering in trillions of dollars, that’s not going to solve anything. That’s just going to take this nightmare and make it worse.” Jean-Marie Eveillard: “It (the behavior of central bankers) is mindless and I think there will be unintended consequences. I suspect that it might end badly, and we have to worry about the long-term. I want to be careful here because I’m so old that I’ve been in this business one way or the other for a little more than half a century…
America Needs To Wake Up – There is ZERO Hope For Our Country Until We Turn From Our Evil Ways
America is never going to be great again until we deal with the wickedness in our own hearts. In recent days I have listened to so many national leaders tell us that Donald Trump is going to win the election and that this will usher in a new golden age of blessing and prosperity for America. Supposedly this is going to happen even though we continue to slaughter babies on an industrial scale, sexually-transmitted diseases are spreading at the fastest pace in decades, the percentage of births out of wedlock is more than 10 times higher than in 1940, and approximately two out of every three Christian men watch pornography on a regular basis. Even though there aren’t any signs of widespread national repentance, we are supposedly going to be showered with wealth, favor, protection and good times for as far as the eye can see. You can believe this if you want, but it doesn’t have any basis in reality.
Are The Polls Rigged Against Trump? All Of These Wildly Divergent Surveys Cannot Possibly Be Correct
Some of these polls are going to turn out to be dead wrong. With just over two weeks to go until election day, some surveys are showing a very tight race, while others say that Hillary Clinton has a massive lead. For example, the tracking polls put out by Rasmussen, the L.A. Times and IBD/TIPP have all consistently shown that the race is either tied or Donald Trump is winning by a small margin. But Fox News has Hillary Clinton ahead by six points, Bloomberg has Clinton ahead by nine points, and the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll has Clinton ahead by twelve points. So what in the world is going on here? If the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll is correct, we are likely to see a landslide of historic proportions for Clinton, and this is what many of the experts are now projecting. But if Rasmussen and the L.A. Times are correct, the race could easily go either way. So who are we supposed to believe? Could it be possible that some of the polls are rigged against Trump?
If Donald Trump Wins The Election, It Will Be The Biggest Miracle In U.S. Political History
Are we about to see the largest election day miracle of all time? Because as I will show in this article, that is precisely what it is going to take in order for Donald Trump to win. Before I go any further, I want to make it exceedingly clear that I am not saying what the outcome will be on November 8th. As I recently told a national television audience, I do not know who is going to win. In this article I am simply going to examine the poll numbers and the electoral map as they currently stand. But in this bizarre election things can literally change overnight, and it is entirely possible that we could still have another “October surprise” or two before it is all said and done. And without a doubt Donald Trump desperately needs something “to move the needle”, because if the election was held today Hillary Clinton would almost certainly win.
Trump is Molotov Cocktail You Can Throw on Crooked System-Catherine Austin Fitts
Investment advisor Catherine Austin Fitts is backing Donald Trump. Fitts explains, “Michael Moore said in an interview that Donald Trump is a Molotov cocktail you can throw on the system. Interestingly enough, if you look at the federal system, it has a negative return on investment to taxpayers. If you believe you can never fix that, then throwing a Molotov cocktail into the middle of that is the most intelligent thing you can do for productivity. It was when I wrote the theme for productivity for the second quarter wrap-up I realized . . . I may have profound disagreements with Trump’s style, but I can throw the Molotov cocktail (voting for Trump). . . . I was going to vote for Gary Johnson, but in the second debate when Trump said I will appoint a special prosecutor, I stood up and cheered. For the first time, we were talking about real accountability in America. Then, when he said if I were the President, you’d be in jail, I said that’s it, I am giving money to Donald Trump because that is the first time I have ever seen someone of national prominence on corporate media hold the leadership accountable for their actions.”
MSM Lies for Hillary, Russia US Closer to War, Economic Update
The mainstream media (MSM) is totally lying to the public about everything from voter fraud to Wiki Leaks. There are many current examples of possible voter fraud such as the recent revelation by the Pew Center that 24 million U.S. voter registrations are “significantly inaccurate.” Pew Center also says there are 1.8 million dead people still on the voter rolls. The other part of the MSM lie is done by omission. The MSM is simply not covering major news stories that are negative to the Clinton campaign. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is pure fraud on shareholders and the public by so-called news organizations that are really functioning as Democrat propaganda shills.
Banks’ Brexit Exodus to Start Before Year-End, Lobby Chief Says
Banks in the U.K. will start relocating operations out of the country by year-end, months before formal talks to leave the European Union begin, as London looks set to lose access to the EU single market, the head of the British Bankers Association said in a newspaper commentary. International banks’ “hands are quivering over the relocate button,” Anthony Browne, chief executive officer of the banking lobby group the BBA, wrote Sunday in the Observer newspaper. “Many smaller banks plan to start relocations before Christmas; bigger banks are expected to start in the first quarter of next year.” Without identifying any banks by name, he said lenders can’t wait until the last minute and have to “plan for the worst,” especially because “public and political debate at the moment is taking us in the wrong direction.”
Central African Republic: Four dead in UN Bangui shooting
Four people have been killed during protests against the UN peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic. Peacekeepers opened fire when demonstrators tried to force their way into the UN headquarters, says a BBC reporter, who saw bodies being taken away in a police vehicle. The UN denies using live bullets and says its soldiers only used tear gas.
A group of Central Africans wants the UN mission to withdraw, saying it is failing to protect people. The peacekeepers were deployed after civil war broke out in 2013 when then-President Francois Bozize was ousted by mainly Muslim Seleka rebels.
Where the Next Crisis Will Come From
Next year ends in a 7. If you’re superstitious or a little loose with statistics, that makes us due for another financial crisis. The biggest one-day stock drop in Wall Street history happened in 1987. The Asian crisis was in 1997. And the worst global meltdown since the Great Depression got rolling in 2007 with the failure of mortgage lenders Northern Rock in the U.K. and New Century Financial in the U.S. You can’t really mark the next crisis down on your calendar, of course. The point is that crackups come fairly regularly. And some of the prerequisites for the next one do seem to be falling into place.
Banker Deaths and WikiLeaks Deaths Have a Common Thread
Julian Assange, founder and Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks, is the man responsible for the daily release of emails showing the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign to be an unprecedented machine whose tentacles and snitches reach into Wall Street, big corporations and big media. Earlier this year, WikiLeaks released emails showing that the Democratic National Committee had maliciously conspired to undermine the presidential campaign of Clinton challenger, Senator Bernie Sanders, in order to elevate Hillary Clinton to the top of the ticket.
Look up! Facial recognition may soon replace MRT fare cards for Singapore commuters
Singapore commuters might soon be able to ditch their MRT fare cards and/or rely less on EZ-Link cards. The Straits Times today reported that Singapore Technologies (ST) Electronics has plans to roll out a facial recognition system that will identify commuters passing through the gates and charge the fares through post-paid methods such as credit cards (similar to ride-hailing apps like Grab and Uber). To be eligible to use the Advance Gate System, commuters must use a self-help terminal to sign up for an account, which includes having their photographs taken. This terminal will also allow commuters to purchase tickets, top up fare cards, and interact with customer service officers via video conferencing.
The Drug Story
Thirty years ago the Standard Oil Company became impressed with the methods of the big packing houses which used, processed and sold every part of the hog but the squeal. Their sales research department went ‘way back to the 1860’s when “Old Bill” Rockefeller, the itinerant pappy of John D. (the first) and a patent medicine showman, used to palm off bottled raw petroleum on the yokels as a cure for cancer. “Old Bill” was an upstate New York farmer, until 1850. He moved to Cleveland then, entered the patent medicine racket and had himself listed as a “physician” in the city directory. In selling raw petroleum in a pretty bottle “Old Bill” did nothing new.
Deutsche Bank pays $38 million to settle silver manipulation lawsuit
2016 is shaping up as the year when countless conspiracy theories will be confirmed to be non-conspiracy fact: from central bank rigging of capital markets, to political rigging of elections, to media rigging of public sentiment, and now, commercial bank rigging of silver. In short, tinfoil hat-wearing nutjobs living in their parents basement have been right all along. Two weeks ago we reported that “In A Major Victory For Gold And Silver Traders, Manipulation Lawsuit Against Gold-Fixing Banks Ordered To Proceed,” however one bank was exempt: Deutsche Bank. The reason why was known since April, when we first reported that Deutsche Bank had agreed to settle the class action lawsuit filed in July 2014 accusing a consortium of banks of plotting to manipulate gold and silver.
Bombardier to cut 7,500 jobs, raising fears for British workforce
Bombardier has announced it will cut another 7,500 jobs worldwide, raising fears for its British aerospace and rail workforce. It is the second wave of job cuts announced by the Canadian manufacturer in a year, meaning it will shrink its workforce by about 20% in two years. The multinational did not give full details of where the jobs would be lost other than 2,000 redundancies in Canada, while confirming that two-thirds of the total would be in Bombardier Transportation, the division that builds and maintains trains and track systems.
Here’s The 30 Seconds After The Last Debate That CNN Would Rather You Didn’t See
And continued and constant propaganda-peddling that the race is over because Trump’s sexual assauly allegations are “sucking all the air out of the room” compared to Hillary’s stream of WikiLeaks facts. CNN made the mistake of asking its focus group of real Americans who won the final debate… and instantly regretted it…
Government borrows higher-than-expected £10.6 billion
The UK’s public finances were in worse shape last month as the Government surprised economists by borrowing a higher-than-expected £10.6 billion. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, jumped by 14.5% – or £1.3 billion – in September, compared with the same month in 2015. Economists were pencilling in a figure of £8.5 billion. However, Government borrowing excluding banks in the financial year to date – April to September – fell by £2.3 billion to £45.5 billion in contrast with the same period last year.
Air Force Chief Foresees Decades More US Wars
In comments yesterday at a spouse and family forum, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein discussed the growing number of airmen being deployed abroad for longer periods of time, saying that this problem is going to continue for decades to come. “We’ve been deploying now for 15 years, we’ve probably got 15, 20 years to go,” Gen. Goldfein warned. This wasn’t just about the current wars, either, as the general laid out some of the new deployments against new enemies, citing a “resurgent Russia and China” as driving future deployments.” The Air Force says they want a 1:2 deployment time, with airmen spending six months abroad then remaining at home for a year afterwards. Gen. Goldfein insisted the Air Force needs to be more flexible on the matter of combat deployments, saying he thinks there are too many individual deployments and not enough group deployments.
Obamacare Premiums Up 30% In TX, MS, KS; 50% In IL, AZ, PA; 93% In NM: When Does The Death Spiral Blow Up?
Obamacare premiums are skyrocketing out of sight. A jump of a mere 30% looks like a good deal compared to jumps of over 50% in six states, and 93% in New Mexico. Congratulations are in order for those living in a handful of states whose premiums only rose 20%. The Wall Street Journal reports Rate Increases for Health Plans Pose Serious Test for Obama’s Signature Law.
Risk of ‘Mass Exodus’ of Doctors from Medicare
In what may be the most significant modification to Medicare since the program began in 1966, on Oct. 15, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule for implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). It dramatically changes how Medicare pays doctors for their services. Does it really matter how doctors get paid? Yes — the success or failure of the new payment system will profoundly influence the future of the U.S. health care system. And while the goals of MACRA are laudable, its implementation carries a number of unknowns and the potential for unintended consequences — for patients and doctors alike.
The Federal Reserve Is Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon
Say what you want about Donald J. Trump, but he is correct about one thing: the Federal Reserve has, with near certainty, been holding interest rates down for political purposes — namely, to aid Hillary Clinton in getting elected president of the United States. In September’s first presidential debate, Mr. Trump said: “We have a Fed that’s doing political things. … The Fed is [being awfully] political by keeping the interest rates at this level. And believe me: The day Obama goes off, and he leaves [office], and goes out to the golf course for the rest of his life to play golf, [is the day that] they raise interest rates. … The Fed is being more political than Secretary Clinton.” The Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) September meeting minutes, released on Wednesday, have proven Mr. Trump’s assertion to be true. As the 2016 election season draws to a close, the Fed has suddenly become more bullish on the prospect of raising interest rates — and this precipitous change-of-heart has come despite there being few notable signs of hope in the US’s economic data.
Social Security checks get measly $3.92 bump in 2017
The typical retiree’s monthly Social Security check will get only $3.92 bigger next year. That amounts to an increase of just 0.3% — the smallest ever put in place to help cover higher prices. That’s still an improvement from this year, when the lack of inflation kept benefits from increasing at all. The average retiree’s monthly benefit is currently $1,305.30. Social Security benefits go to 66 million people, including retirees, widows, orphans and people with disabilities. The annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) was put in place in 1975.
Social Security Taxes to Rise for Higher-Income Americans
Higher-income workers will pay more in payroll taxes next year to support Social Security, while retirees and other program beneficiaries see a scant increase in their monthly benefits. Nearly 66 million people, or roughly 1 in 5 Americans, receive Social Security and Supplemental Security Income payments from the U.S. government. Based on subdued inflation over the past two years, their benefits will see a 0.3% cost-of-living increase for 2017 following no adjustment this year, the Social Security Administration said Tuesday.
To Some, it “Feels More Like a Crash”
“There’s enormous risk in public markets because that’s the one that central banks have distorted to the greatest extent,” El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz SE, told Bloomberg TV, in reference to stock and bond markets. He confessed to the heresy of holding 30% of his portfolio in cash. “It’s very hard to say I’m going to buy a basket of public equities and go to sleep for the next five to 10 years and feel good about the returns. Similarly with bonds,” he said. These “public markets” are not the only markets that central banks have totally distorted and larded with “enormous risks.” Practically everything that is an asset has been inflated, including residential and commercial real estate in much of the country, and assets that are the objects of admiration of the wealthy: collector cars and art. But these markets have started to crack at the edges, and some of the cracks are spreading.
Is Chicago’s Housing Market Next?
Does it always start at the top? Because there’s just no letup in dismal tidbits piling up about big-city high-end condo market: Manhattan, San Francisco, Miami – and now Chicago too? Just last year, things were still so good on the Magnificent Mile, those tony 13 blocks of Michigan Avenue from the Chicago River north to Oak Street, of landmark towers, shops and restaurants – rents rank among the most expensive in the country – museums, hotels, and high-end condos. April last year, the 65th-floor penthouse at the Park Tower on 800 N. Michigan Ave sold for $18.75 million, “to a firm with ties to ‘Star Wars’ creator George Lucas and wife Mellody Hobson, president of a Chicago investment firm,” the Chicago Tribune speculated. It was an all-time record. The real estate business was ecstatic. But it might have marked the peak.
Housing starts unexpectedly plunge
New residential construction unexpectedly fell in September. Housing starts fell by 9% at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.05 million, according to the Census Bureau. Starts of multi-family structures with five or more units fell 39%, and were the biggest drag on overall construction. Regionally, the biggest drop was recorded in the Northeast, where new construction fell 36% from August, and 32% year-on-year. Housing starts in the South — typically the strongest region for construction in the US — fell 5.3% from August. Economists had forecast that starts rose by 2.9% at a rate of 1.18 million, according to Bloomberg.
WikiLeaks: Donna Brazile Shreds Obama Economy
In an email to Hillary Clinton campaign Chair John Podesta from February 2016, released Friday by WikiLeaks, now-acting chair of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile gave a frank and honest assessment of the Obama economy — and it wasn’t good. “I think people are more in despair about how things are — yes new jobs but they are low wage jobs,” she admits. “HOUSING is a huge issue. Most people pay half of what they make to rent,” she continued.
Visa to Launch Blockchain Payments Service Next Year
Visa has announced new details about a forthcoming business-to-business payments service developed in partnership with blockchain startup Chain. Dubbed Visa B2B Connect, the near real-time settlement platform is aimed at providing a more secure, transparent mechanism for businesses making payments via Visa’s netowrk. That the two firms would co-develop a platform for payments is perhaps unsurprising given their existing relationship and the fact that Visa was took part in Chain’s $30m funding round, announced last September. The credit card giant has made other blockchain tests related to payments public in the past year.
Will a US Digital Currency Make the Fed Even More Dangerous?
In a recent episode of Ron Paul’s Liberty Report, the former presidential candidate and Libertarian icon examines the future of digital currency. Paul and co-host Daniel McAdams talk with NYU Law Fellow and digital currency expert Max Raskin about how a future form of US digital money might give the Federal Reserve even more control over monetary policy than it enjoys today.
China House Price Bubble Soars Most Ever, Government Freaks out, Preannounces Plunge
As a consequence of a dizzying buying frenzy in September, the average price of new homes in China soared 11.2% from a year ago, after a 9.2% jump in August, the National Bureau of Statistics reported today. It was the 12th month in a row of year-over-year gains, and the largest increase on record. The average price of new homes rose in 63 of the 70 cities in the index. It dropped in six cities and remained flat in one. But all heck broke lose in tier-one cities: In Beijing, the average price skyrocketed 27.8%, in Shanghai 32.7%.
Who’s Powering the War on Cash?
On Monday in Japan, Apple CEO Tim Cook vented his spleen once more against physical currency, telling the Nikkei that “we don’t think the consumer particularly likes cash.” It’s a bizarre conclusion to reach, especially in Japan where cash is still the undisputed king. At ¥90 trillion ($885 billion), or about a fifth of gross domestic product, the value of banknotes in circulation is the highest in the world as a proportion of the economy. Many small businesses, including many restaurants, don’t even take plastic. Yet, the country was also the first to popularize mobile wallets and smartphones. “We would like to be a catalyst for taking cash out of the system,” Cook said, his mind fixed on Apple Pay, which takes a cut on every transaction it processes.
Before It Is Over This Decline Will Engulf Every Country On The Planet
On the heels of yesterday’s KWN viral interview with Gerald Celente This Is The Shocking Truth About How Bad The Economy Really Is In The United States, it appears that an already bad situation for the U.S. and the rest of the world may be about to get a lot worse. What Celente noticed after yesterday’s viral interview about the collapsing restaurant industry in the United States was this note from Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. analyst Paul Westra, who just cautioned: “We warn investors that restaurant-industry sales tend to be the ‘Canary that Lays the Recessionary Egg,’” He also stated this “may also represent a harbinger to a U.S. recession in early 2017.”
What is the Taxpayer Protection Pledge?
“It has transformed American politics.” — Jonathan Alter, Newsweek. “Signing it has become de riguer for GOP candidates running for federal or statewide offices across the country.” — The Hill. “Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge has solidified opposition to tax increases in Congress and state legislatures over the years.” — Michael Barone. “The Pledge has become something of a rallying cry in conservative circles.” — National Journal. Politicians often run for office saying they won’t raise taxes, but then quickly turn their backs on the taxpayer. The idea of the Pledge is simple enough: Make them put their no-new-taxes rhetoric in writing.
50 Holistic Doctors Have Mysteriously Died In The Last Year, But What’s Being Done About It?
Recently, Erin Elizabeth from HealthNutNews wrote up an expose about the past year’s findings concerning the many disappearances of holistic doctors. In case you’re not aware, the confusing conundrum first began when Dr. Bradstreet was found dead exactly one year ago – yes, on Father’s Day – in the U.S. The noted autism doctor, researcher, and parent was found in a river with a gunshot wound to the chest. While authorities at first thought his death was a result of suicide, it has since been confirmed that Dr. Bradstreet was murdered and that the wound was not self-inflicted. His family, like the families of many other missing and dead naturopathic practitioners and MD doctors, believe that he was murdered for using and promoting controversial therapies, such as GCMaF.
Did a Secret Central Banking Cabal Just Turn AGAINST the US?
Quietly and with little if any attention, foreign Central Banks have begun DUMPING US Debt. Take a look at this chart. Does this look like a bull market to you? Because to me it looks like it could be the beginning of a panic sale. Put simply, foreign Central Banks haven’t owned this little US Debt since 2012. Bear in mind, these SAME Central Banks are currently buying their OWN debt (national and corporate) AT A PACE of nearly $200 BILLION per month!!!
List of dead bankers 2016
Yep. The list keeps growing. Just focusing on major players, or cases where ‘foul-play’ may be involved. I’ve done a little research into the causes of all these bankers dying, which can be found at the bottom of the article. Having had to spend too much time on youtube recently, has led to the accumulation of the latest and most credible conspiracy theories. Perhaps the most interesting, is the demise of the common-or-garden ‘master of the universe’. Banker, as they were once known.
They’ve been having problems with mortality recently. And there’s a very long list of them.
Canada Walks Out Of European Trade Talks, “Deal Impossible”
With ‘trade’ at the center of any substantive differences between US presidential candidates, 1000s protesting ‘trade’ deals across Europe, ‘trade’ collapsing in China, and lame-duck Obama trying to push his ‘trade’ agenda, it is perhaps shocking that Canada’s trade minister walked out of talks to finalize a trade pact with the European Union, saying it now seems the bloc is incapable of reaching such agreements and that Canadian officials are returning home.
US Freight Volume Drops to Lowest Level since 2009, “Industrial Recession” Hits Full Stride, Overcapacity Crushes Rates
This just keeps getting worse. The Cass Freight Index, tracking US shipment volumes by all modes of transportation, fell 3.1% in September from a year ago, the 19th month in a row of year-over-year declines, and the worst September since 2009! Donald Broughton, Chief Market Strategist at Avondale Partners, wrote in the report: “After offering a glimmer of “less bad” hope in August [the index was down “only” 1.1% year-over-year], the Cass Freight Index shipments data in September disappointed, providing hindsight that August only gave us “false hope.” September data is once again signaling that overall shipment volumes (and pricing) continued to be weak in most modes, with increased levels of volatility, as all levels of the supply chain (manufacturing, wholesale, retail) continue to try and work down inventory levels.”
Head Of Democratic Party Makes Stunning Admission: “The People Are In Despair About How Things Are”
While readers may be used to tin-foil-hat-wearing digitial dickweeds and alt-right bloggers seeing through the veil of ignorance and media hype that hides a considerably uglier economic reality than The White House (and the stock market) might suggest, many Democrats may be shocked to discover that none other than now-acting chair of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile agrees…
Shadow Banks, No-Down-Payment Subprime Mortgages in Canada’s House Price Bubble
“The pundits have been raising red flags on the Canadian housing market for more than five years – and have been consistently wrong,” former Royal Bank of Canada CEO Gord Nixon told BNN today, in response to the federal government’s new mortgage rules designed to tamp down on risk in the housing market: “I appreciate why policymakers have been moving in the direction they have been moving but we have yet to have – and I don’t believe we are going to have – a major, major collapse in housing.”
DNS Cyber Attack Returns As Northeast Internet Traffic Grinds To A Crawl For Second Time
What was supposed to be a temporary internet outage, after an attack “of unknown origin” on DNS service provide DYN took down much of the internet in the North East, appears to have returned, and moments ago DYN announced that it was once again experiencing the same “attack” as this morning. DDOS ATTACK MAY ALSO AFFECT MANAGED DNS ADVANCED SERVICES: DYN. DYN SAYS DDOS ATTACK MAY CAUSE POSSIBLE DELAYS IN MONITORING. Even the White House was involved.
It Starts: Shutdowns, Production Cuts, Layoffs at Auto Plants
It’s been years since we’ve heard about production cuts by automakers, but here they come. After a record-breaking 2015, the hot air is audibly hissing out of the auto industry. September sales were down 0.5% from a year ago. Year-to-date sales were about flat. Some individual models got clobbered. Inventories are piling up on dealer lots. Automakers lavished incentives on the market. Nothing worked. Yet, auto production in September had jumped 7.3% year-over-year, according to the industrial production report this morning. In my article earlier today on this phenomenon [Is this Why US Industrial Companies Don’t Invest?], I explained: “Something has to give: either a miraculous jump in sales or a cut in production.”
With Cash Levels Drying Up, Who is Left to Buy Stocks?
While the “cash on the sidelines” myth has infuriated many, it remains a staple excuse for why there’s always a buying opportunity in stocks when the market dips. However, as Ned Davis Research warns “we can’t find much cash on the sidelines… and when we do it seems mostly offset by debt/liabilities,” crushing yet another pillar of strength for stocks. Ned Davis notes there is a lot of talk about all the cash on the sidelines from pessimistic investors that could power the market higher. There is some public caution and overall savings have risen somewhat, but I am having a hard time finding evidence that cash (potential demand) is anywhere near the market value of stocks (potential supply).
Hillary is running against locker room talk and the Russians
Russia’s very able Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said that the US presidential campaign is “simply some sort of a global shame” unworthy of the American people. She certainly hit the nail on the head. Hitlery’s criminal record had to be suppressed by the Obama regime in order to move the oligarchs’ candidate in the direction of the White House. So here we are on the verge of nuclear war with Russia and China, and the important issue before the American people is Trump’s lewd comments with Billy Bush about sexually attractive women. I mean really. Men’s talk about women is like their fish and hunting stories. It has to be taken with a grain of salt. But this aside, why is lewd talk about women more important than military conflict with Russia, which could mean nuclear war and the end of life on earth? Trump has declared that he sees no point in conflict with Russia and that he sees no point in NATO a quarter century after the demise of the Soviet Union.
10-Trillion-Dollar Bye-Bye – The Calm Before The Storm
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. We don’t expect the current situation to end well for investors who insist on taking larger investment exposures than they’re actually willing to hold, with discipline, through a period of severe market losses. From present valuation extremes, a 40-55% market loss would represent a fairly run-of-the-mill resolution to the current market cycle; a decline that would take valuations only to the high-end of the range they’ve visited or breached over the completion of every market cycle in history. By the completion of the current cycle, I expect over $10 trillion of what investors count as paper “wealth” in U.S. equities to disappear without a trace.
Hidden Fragility – What Happens When The Electricity Is Off For Three Days?
What happens when an electricity dependent society and economy has an extended loss of electrical grid and communications? One of the hidden realities of modern life is its fragility. For example, few people are aware of the precariousness of the supply chain that refills gasoline/petrol stations around the world every few days. A new book, When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation explores the fragilities of our truck-dependent supply chains. Longtime correspondent Bart D. (Australia) recently experienced a multi-day regional loss of electricity. His first-person observations help us understand what breakdowns in energy are like on the ground.
This Is The Shocking Truth About How Bad The Economy Really Is In The United States
With continued uncertainty in global markets, this is the shocking truth about how bad the economy really is in the United States. (King World News) Gerald Celente — Across America, from established restaurant chains to upstarts, bankruptcies are rising, locations are closings and profit margins are shrinking…
The Man Who Made A Perfect Call On The Silver Market Just Released This
Tom Fitzpatrick: “Crude WTI (West Texas Intermediate) is seeing a bullish break through the triangle top which may develop into a double bottom… For now this remains a short term dynamic; however, it is worth noting that major resistance levels come in around $52.08. A weekly close above that area would be bullish and suggest a broader medium term rally is taking shape that could see a move in WTI to $60+ and potentially higher. A weekly close (above $52.08), if seen, would confirm the pattern which would then target $77, in line with the lows from 2011 and 2012. The 200 week moving average is around $72.”
Fed Fearful About What It Has Done-Gregory Mannarino
Trader/analyst Gregory Mannarino says don’t be fooled by the recent surge in the markets. Mannarino explains, “I think the Federal Reserve is legitimately becoming fearful of what they have done. There is no recovery here whatsoever. All you have to do is look at two metrics and two metrics only. The Labor Force Participation Rate remains near record lows. The money velocity, that’s the rate the money is moving through our economy, is remaining at record lows. Without these two metrics moving higher, you cannot have a recovery. What we have here is a debt bubble, and everything is being inflated right now on the back of that debt bubble. I think some people at the Federal Reserve are trying to warn people that the environment we are in is very dangerous. We’re hearing the biggest guns on Wall Street, all of them, and not one of them is not trying to say something is very wrong here. We keep hearing about a debt market super nova, that the bond market is in a bubble, which is inflating a stock market bubble. . . . There’s never been anything like this. This is uncharted territory. The Federal Reserve never had a plan to get out. . . . Now, their new scheme is they want the economy to ‘run hot.’ . . . Janet Yellen (Fed Head) said ‘the only way to prevent this economic horror show from becoming a permanent scar is to allow the economy to run hot. Meaning, to let inflation creep in while continuing to suppress interest rates. In other words, make all of us pay more for everything. They are so desperate.”
The Federal Reserve Is Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon
Say what you want about Donald J. Trump, but he is correct about one thing: the Federal Reserve has, with near certainty, been holding interest rates down for political purposes — namely, to aid Hillary Clinton in getting elected president of the United States. In September’s first presidential debate, Mr. Trump said: “We have a Fed that’s doing political things. … The Fed is [being awfully] political by keeping the interest rates at this level. And believe me: The day Obama goes off, and he leaves [office], and goes out to the golf course for the rest of his life to play golf, [is the day that] they raise interest rates. … The Fed is being more political than Secretary Clinton.” The Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) September meeting minutes, released on Wednesday, have proven Mr. Trump’s assertion to be true. As the 2016 election season draws to a close, the Fed has suddenly become more bullish on the prospect of raising interest rates — and this precipitous change-of-heart has come despite there being few notable signs of hope in the US’s economic data.
DANGER: The Last Time This Happened Was Right Before The Stock Market Collapsed!
With the Dow trading near the 18,000 level, the last time this happened was right before the stock market collapsed. From Jason Goepfert at SentimenTrader: “Speculative assets have reached a 16-year high. In the Rydex family of mutual funds, traders have allocated more than $2 in assets betting on a market rally for every $1 invested in the money market or inverse funds. That’s the widest ratio since 2000 and at a level that has been eclipsed only three distinct times since 1994, all of which led to a struggling stock market.
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – October 20, 2016
Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his fourth short weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams’ weekly newsletter.
THE FINAL BUBBLE! <stron