Big Miss: "August Curse" Continues As Payrolls Rise By Only 151,000; Hourly Earnings Disappoint

With Wall Street expecting another solid month of payroll growth, following multiple-sigma outlier prints in June and July, the whisper expectations was for a miss on the back of the previously discussed "August Curse" which has seen a consistent miss to the month, and that is precisely what happened when moments ago the BLS reported that in the month of August only 151K jobs were added, missing the consensus of 180K job growth by nearly 30,000 jobs.

Death Panel Discussion: Obamacare Costs Skyrocket; When Does It Stop?

Companies are taking advantage of a mix of laws that force insurers to include essentially all expensive drugs in their policies, and a philosophy that demands that every new health care product be available to everyone, no matter how little it helps or how much it costs. Anything else and we’re talking death panels...If Obamacare did not force insurers to provide coverage for every drug, and if Medicare put a cap on costs, prescription drug prices would crash. The same applies to operations and every other aspect of health care. Government is the problem, not the solution.

 

Frontrunning: September 2

  • Donald Trump Revised Immigration Speech After Mexican Leader’s Tweet (WSJ)
  • Hillary Clinton Raised $143 Million in August for Democrats and Her Campaign (NYT)
  • Putin says he doesn't know who hacked U.S. Democratic Party (Reuters)
  • Samsung issues recall for Galaxy Note 7 after battery fires (Reuters)
  • Putin Joins "OPEC Headline" Fray, Pushes For Oil Production Freeze, Iran Exemption (ZH)

Putin Joins "OPEC Headline" Fray, Pushes For Oil Production Freeze, Iran Exemption

Overnight the debate over the fate of the OPEC oil production got a new and unexpected entrant when Russian president, Vladimir Putin said he’d like OPEC and Russia to reach a deal to freeze supply and expects the dispute over Iran’s participation can be resolved. Putin sided with Iran saying that oil producers recognize that the middle-eastern nation, which has mostly restored the output halted during three years of trade restrictions, deserves to complete its return to world markets

70,000 Left Without Power As Hurricane Hermine Makes Landfall

Some 70,000 households were left without power after Hermine was became the first hurrican to make Florida landfall since 2005, slamming Florida's northern coast for, before it weakened to a tropical storm and ploughed its way overland toward the Atlantic Coast on Friday.

August Payrolls Loom: Futures Flat, Dollar Rises, Treasuries Slip

The much anticipated payrolls day, expected to provide at least some more clarity on future Fed policy, has arrived and heading into today's report both price action and newsflow has been muted. U.S. equity index futures were fractionally higher, as European stocks rise 0.6% while Asia was flat. Gold fell as the dollar rose, while comments by Vladimir Putin which endorsed an OPEC oil production freeze while granting Iran an exemption, have pushed oil higher.

Payrolls Preview: Brace For Disappointment (But Expect The Fed To Shrug It Off)

August Non-farm Payrolls have been weaker than consensus expectations in each of the last 5 years and in 14 of the last 18 years of available data. However, with all eyes focused on how Janet will see it, Goldman notes that it is possible that Fed officials would look through moderate weakness given 1) the strength of the June/July payroll gain, 2) their sub-100k estimate of the “breakeven” payroll gain, and 3) the well-publicized tendency for weak first prints in August.

The Secret Global Court: Why Corporate Criminals & Corrupt Politicians Desperately Want TPP

Obama needs to ensure he gets well compensated after leaving office for a job well done protecting, defending and further enriching the global oligarch class. This is precisely why he’s so adamant about passing the TPP during the upcoming lame duck session of Congress, when he knows “representatives” who no longer face reelection can be coerced or bribed into voting for this monumental public betrayal. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ins’t really a free trade deal, it’s a way for global oligarchs to consolidate, grow and protect their enormous wealth. The whole thing is absolutely disgusting and epitomizes all that is wrong and unethical about the world today.

YouTube Strips 'Politically Incorrect' Videos Of Revenue: "Controversial Subjects Like War, Tragedy"

"This is chilling. More subtle than other forms of censorship, this Google/YouTube policy is stripping away the honest debate about some of the most important and controversial topics that are going on in our world. How can people not be allowed to discuss – or especially to criticize – the failed and flawed policies that are dragging us to war? How can it be OK for Secretaries of State and Presidents to fund ISIS and cut deals with human right violators, but not OK for YouTubers to criticize it? "

Police Leader Slams NFL's "Downward Spiral" After Kaepernick's "Pig Cop Socks" Stunt

“I think the league is in a downward spiral regarding their obligations to the public ...It’s just ridiculous that the same league that prohibits the Dallas (Cowboys) football club from honoring the slain officers in their community with their uniforms stands silent when Kaepernick is dishonoring police officers with what he’s wearing on the field..."

Magical Thinking

... the more we embrace and encourage state-directed magical thinking, whether it’s of the monetary or fiscal policy sort, what we are actually doing is opening the city gates to the old evil magic and the alt-priests of fascism and totalitarianism.

Ultra-Violent Venezuelan Gangs Ignore Maduro Crackdown: "Better To Fight Police, Than Each Other"

Amid threats of violence, opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas today (2 million strong) in a major test of their strength and the government's ability to tolerate growing dissent. However, for a nation that is forced to slaughter stallions for meat, line up for toilet paper, and dying from lack of simple medicines, Reuters reports that there is another destabilizing factor - ultra-violent street gangs are thriving..."It's better to work together than be enemies. It's better to make war with the police than with each other."

"Life-Threatening" Hurricane Hermine To Hit Florida, Head For Tri-State

For the first time in over a decade a hurricane is expected to make landfall in Florida. Winds from strengthening Hurricane Hermine lashed at Florida's northern Gulf Coast, forcing residents to evacuate some coastal areas and stock up on provisions ahead of what the state's governor warned would be a lethal storm. Forecasters are also warning that Hermine poses a Labor Day weekend threat to states along the northern Atlantic Coast that are home to tens of millions of people.