President Obama's Final State Of The Union Address - Live Feed
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 20:50
As President Obama prepares to unleash his final State Of The Union speech, The White House has conveniently focused attention on the following six "success stories": The Economy (record low number of men in workforce), The Climate (too hot for retail, too cold for construction), Foreign Policy (bwuahahaha), Health Care (record number of Americans cutting back to afford medical costs), and Social Progress (record high racial tensions, police state, surveillance state, and record low trust in government). But apart from that, Americans have The Kardashians, iGadgets, record levels of syphillis, and, of course, a record surge in national debt during any President's "reign."
Iran Seizes 2 US Navy Boats, Crewmen For "Illegally Entering Iranian Waters"
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 18:10
The Demise Of Dollar Hegemony: Russia Breaks Wall St's Oil-Price Monopoly
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 22:20
Russia has just taken significant steps that will break the present Wall Street oil price monopoly, at least for a huge part of the world oil market. The move is part of a longer-term strategy of decoupling Russia’s economy and especially its very significant export of oil, from the US dollar, today the Achilles Heel of the Russian economy.
Jews Told Not To Wear The Kippa After Machete Attack At Marseille Synagogue
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 21:50
"Not wearing the kippa can save lives and nothing is more important. It really hurts to reach that point but I don't want anyone to die in Marseille because they have a kippa on their head."
Guest Post: 2016 - Year Of The 'Epocalypse'
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 21:20
As the towering forces that are prevailing against failing global economic architecture and the pit of debt beneath that structure, as laid out below, it is clear that the 'Epocalypse' - encompassing the roots "economic, epoch, collapse" and "apocalypse" - is here, and it is everywhere. The Great Collapse has already begun. What follows are the megatrends that will increasingly gang up in the first part of 2016 to stomp the deeply flawed global economy down into its own hole of debt.
China Trade Balance Surges As Exports Surprise To The Upside
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 21:12
Mission Accomplished? It's a modern monetary miracle - China's trade surplus surged to CNY382bn (from 434bn), dramaticlaly higher than the expected drop to 338bn thanks to better than expected data for imports and exports. Imports dropped 4.0% (less than the 7.9% drop expected) and the smallest decline since December 2014 but it was exports that "proved" China's policymakers are large and in charge. For the first time since February 2015, China exports rose year-over-year (by 2.3%) dramatically better than the 4.1% plunge expected. So - no need for more policy support... despite earlier comments from officials of export policy support?
China Is The New Japan After All: Here's How To Trade It
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 20:38
China = Japan: China, like Japan in the early-1990s, has entered a secular period of significantly slower economic growth, compounded greatly by debt deflation; like Japan in the 1990s, Chinese asset prices, currency, banks (Chart 5) and capital flows will periodically cause severe disruptions to global financial markets, even if China does not itself cause a global recession.
Some Chinese Banks Run Out Of Physical Dollars As PBOC Holds Yuan Fix Flat For 4th Day
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 20:19
Having apparently taken the day off from selling US Treasuries and buying Offshore Yuan (following yesterday's "murderous" short-squeeze"), completing a 40 handle round trip in the "stable" currency year-to-date, PBOC decided to hold Yuan flat for the 4th day but make a statement that they would "give policy support to exports" - in other words devalue more. The unintended consequence of their decision to withdraw liquidity and crush shorts in offshore Yuan is more problematic as it has reportedly left Chinese banks short of dollars at their ATMs (and are delaying withdrawals). Meanwhile, another of China's favorite outlets for capital outflows - Bitcoin - just got stomped.
How Corrupt Is The US: An Extraordinary Example
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 19:30
For imprisonments, the US really does have no close second: it’s the unquestionable global market-leader, for prisons and prisoners. And this gets us to the market-leader for prisons within America itself, and to the stunning corruption that stands behind it. So, here’s that extraordinary example, and the story behind its corruption, which will provide a close-up view of America’s general corruption, from the top (including the government itself) on down.
The International War On Cash
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 19:00
When we first wrote on the subject, there was considerable criticism as to the possibility that such a program would ever be attempted, let alone succeed. And, granted, it was so Orwellian that it was understandably seen as a crackpot idea. But since that time, the program has been developing extremely rapidly. In the last six months alone, it has become so visible that it has even garnered a name - "the War on Cash." Once complete, state wealth control will exist.
Former UK Cop Says Jihadists Are Hiding In Refugee "Jungle" Camp
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 18:35
"If I were a returning jihadi, I would smuggle myself in amongst this group; you would easily get lost." "That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard".
Sorry Warren Buffett: Things Just Went From Bad To Worse For U.S. Railroads
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 18:21
Tank cars, once feverishly ordered during the US shale boom, are sitting on sidings. Lessors are obtaining car rents 20-30 per cent below early 2015 — “if you’re lucky enough to keep your car in service”, said James Husband of RailSolutions, a consultancy.
What Bernie And The Donald Portend
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 17:45
Three weeks out from the Iowa caucuses, and clarity emerges. Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, is in trouble. But if a cloud is forming over the Clinton campaign, the sun continues to shine on The Donald. What does the surge for socialist Sanders and the Republican base’s backing of the outsiders Trump and Cruz and collective recoil from the Republican establishment candidates tell us? As Dylan sang, "The times they are a changing."
Meanwhile In Chicago, 120 People Shot In First 10 Days Of 2016
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 17:37
Even as Obama takes his anti-gun crusade to new highs with every passing week, having recently started dispensing executive orders, the president conveniently continues to ignore the state of affairs in his native Chicago - a city in which guns are banned - yet where the shooting epidemic has never been worse, and is truly emblematic of the "gun problem" that America has. And judging by the most recent developments, Obama will have nothing to say about this topic any time soon...
Here's Why Automaker Stocks Are Falling (Despite The Media's Exuberance)
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2016 - 17:20
How can it be that automaker stock prices are tumbling given that auto sales (if one listens to CNBC) are surging, that (if one listens to the CEOs) everything is awesome for automakers, and (if one listens to Phil LeBeau) there is no bubble in auto credit? The answer is simple... (you just don't want to admit it)
