Archive - Jul 2013

Russ's rebutal to Paul's article: Gold Mining Shares: Less than Glittering. Who's right?

As we head into the heart of earnings season, amid the drastic slashes in guidance that we have seen in the last few weeks (for example here and here), we thought the following six charts may shed some further light (in addition to this eye-opening chart) on what is going on under the covers of the multiple-expanding, fundamentals-don't-matter, unreality that is the US equity market...

Dispassionate review of some of next weeks important developments.

Tired of tapering talk? We couldn't resist. Then, on to more pressing matters. Seems an investment in China might just not be what it seems to be.  Think Three Paddy Hat Monty.

Exactly HOW MUCH do Americans Hate Congress?

Amid the turmoil in Portugal, the Barcenas-Affair in Spain had dropped to the back-pages of the European press... until now. The illegal party-funding that ex-Treasurer Barcenas is now whistle-blowing on has been linked directly to Spanish prime-minister - despite Rajoy's ongoing denial of everything - via text messages uncovered by Spain's El Mundo newspaper. The opposition leadership is demanding Rajoy's "immediate resignation," noting he "is incapacitated," amid the damage that the texts - which prove an ongoing and direct link to the man at the hub of the funding debacle for at least the last two years (when Rajoy has expressly denied any relationship). "You cannot govern well," another congressman noted, when there is "very clear data" linking Barcenas with the PP (Rajoy's party) and the alleged illegal funding. Only a few screen shots have been released of the dozens of texts that the paper has apparently received...

While the (chemical) dust over Syria has yet to settle, one country is not waiting around before in tried and true fashion it kicks the proverbial hornets nest. Only this time the recipient of Israeli aggression is not some small country that can hardly afford to defend itself against made in the US, state-of-the-art weapons: it is Russia, if only indirectly. Last Friday, July 5, in the fog of the Egyptian coup, a contingent of 50 Russian-made Yakhont P-800 anti-ship missiles at the Syrian port-city of Latakia was destroyed. It has since become clear that the attack was launched by none other than an Israeli Dolphin-class (German-made) submarine according to a report in the British Sunday Times, which in turn contradicts a previous report that the attack had been the work of the Israeli air force. Fast forward one week when we learn that in a perfectly unrelated event, a massive military drill involving naval forces, strategic bomber aircraft, missile-defense teams, tactical and strategic missiles, infantry, and armored vehicles took place in Russia's far east: a perfectly unrelated exercise that just happened to be the largest  in the post-Soviet period.

Sometimes it is what is not discussed among the mainstream media that is most critical to understanding the new normal...

While it has become difficult to distinguish fact from fiction from mere propaganda when it comes to events in Syria, the general plot line is a simple one: "X/Y has chemical weapons so the ["free and democratic world"|Russia] has the moral authority to provide military assistance to Y/X." Recently, it was the "free and democratic world" that decided that the general public has forgotten the epic Iraq WMD disinformation campaign, and ploughed into a decision to arm the Syrian rebels who are really nothing more than Qatar-funded mercenaries led by Al Qaeda, as it was finally ascertained that it was the Assad regime that had used chemical weapons. Well, the "free and democratic world" may have some serious explaining to do if the latest news out of Syria is confirmed, namely that the the Syrian army has discovered rebels' storehouse in the Damascus area, where toxic chemical substances, including chlorine, have been produced and kept, State TV reported.

Oops.

Despite the worst fears of many that this morning America might wake up to a redux of a flaming Compton and Watts, so far there have been no widespread riots or looting, even if vandalism has broken out sporadically among the countrywide angry protests.

Looks like everybody was in on the act with complying with the National Security Agency’s spying around the world according to secret files. The Guardian newspaper of the UK has just obtained secret fails from Edward Snowden detailing the full extent of the affair. The affair was revealed just about a month ago now, but it now seems that Prism had everybody doing their dirty work.

Edward Snowden may be America's persona most non grata in the entire world, but he has an insurance policy against "accidents": a treasure trove of supposedly damaging secrets about the US that will hit the public domain if something were to happen to the 30 year old whistleblower. A trove is so damaging that according to Glenn Greenwald, Snowden "poses more of a threat to the U.S. than anyone in the country’s history." Well, maybe a threat to the "government" which now only represents the interests of various corporations and Wall Street, but certainly not to what the US was supposed to be before it was hijacked by special interests, lobbies and the creature from Jekyll Island.

The catch 22 is that the Fed cannot exit now without markets and asset classes free-falling with markets at hundred year highs!