Archive - Jun 19, 2014

Tyler Durden's picture

Forget Piketty's 700-Page Tome - Here Is The Shortest Economics Textbook Ever





Forget the 700-plus-page Piketty 'socialism for all' tome; here is economics that everyone can understand.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Did Saddam Have WMDs After All: ISIS Overruns Iraq Chemical Weapons 'Mega-Facility'





With all eyes firmly focused on what really matters (the oil refineries), The Telegraph reports that ISIS has over-run a Saddam Hussein-era chemical weapons (CW) complex. The al-Muhanna 'mega-facility', about 60 miles south of Baghdad, gives the jihadists access to disused stores of hundreds of tonnes of potentially deadly poisons including mustard gas and sarin. The US state department is 'concerned' but "do not believe that the complex contains CW materials of military value." However, as a former commander of Britain's chemical weapons regiment warned, "we have seen that ISIS has used chemicals in explosions in Iraq before and has carried out experiments in Syria." This is likely great for ISIS 2014 Annual Report; but, of course, the other awkward question is: does this mean Saddam did have WMDs (and ISIS found them) after all?

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Darrell Issa Fuming Upon Learning Lois Lerner's Hard Drive Was Destroyed





Following Darrell Issa's subpoena of Lois Lerner's hard drive, the rather stunning (and ripped from the pages of a badly written inside-Washington TV mini-series) news is that the IRS reports that the hard drive in question has been destroyed (just as we hinted last night). "We've been informed that the hard drive has been thrown away," Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, said in a brief hallway interview and as Politico reports, Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner’s crashed hard drive has been recycled, making it likely the lost emails of the lightening rod in the tea party targeting controversy will never be found, according to multiple sources. Issa is pissed... blasting in a statement that the 'lost emails' meme was "just one more attempted deception... e-mails of a prominent official, don’t just disappear without a trace unless that was the intention." His response... requesting the White House attorney's testimony on Lerner's emails.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

The Keynesian Apotheosis Is Here; But Blame The Final Destruction Of Sound Money On The Bushes





The only thing that can be said about Janet Yellen’s simple-minded paint-by-the-numbers performance yesterday is that the Keynesian apotheosis is complete. American capitalism and all political life, too, is now ruled by a 12-member monetary politburo, which is essentially accountable to no one except its own misbegotten doctrine that prosperity flows from the end of a printing press.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

"De-Dollarization" Continues - China Starts Direct Trade With UK





Following the initial de-dollarization meeting, there has been a slew of anti-dollar moves around the world (including Gazprom's shift of 90% of its clients to non-dollar payments). However, on the heels of the "anti-dollar alliance" discussions yesterday, DW reports that China would start direct trade between the renminbi and the British pound on Thursday. China's Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) confirmed Sterling and yuan would be directly swapped without using the US dollar as an intermediary.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

25 Shocking Facts About The Earth's Dwindling Water Resources





War, famine, mass extinctions and devastating plagues - all of these are coming unless some kind of miraculous solution is found to the world's rapidly growing water crisis. By the year 2030, the global demand for water will exceed the global supply of water by an astounding 40 percent according to one very disturbing U.S. government report.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

NY AG Says Android, Windows Phones Will Have "Kill Switch"





"It's for your own good, remember." As Bloomberg reports, based on a study showing the "stunning effectiveness of kill switches," Google and Microsoft have agreed to NY AG Schneidermann's calls that such 'security measures' be incorporated in all new Android and Windows phones (following Apple's inclusion in September). With Android phones making up 80.2% of global shipments this year, "control" will be pleased...

 

Capitalist Exploits's picture

The March of Technology





When it comes to disruptive technologies, being pro-active rather than re-active is a far smarter strategy.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Energy Markets Are On The Brink Of Crisis





The multitudes of people, especially Americans, who view U.S. government activity in a negative light often make the mistake of attributing all corruption to some covert battle for global oil fields. In fact, the average leftist seems to believe that everything the establishment does somehow revolves around oil. This is a very simplistic and naïve view. A very real danger within energy markets is the undeniable threat that the U.S. dollar may soon lose its petrodollar status and, thus, Americans may lose the advantage of relatively low gas prices they have come to expect.  That is to say, the coming market crisis will have far more to do with the health of the dollar than the readiness of oil supply.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Lessons Learned From London





Having spent a week in surprisingly bright and sunny London, ConvergEx's Nick Colas reports that the consensus opinion in this global financial hub is that equities are where the sun shines the brightest. Public companies are intent on tapping those better days with more aggressive global investor outreach, and asset managers/brokers of all stripes feel that the developed economy bull market has a few more years to run. At the same time, everyone agrees that the near term feels a bit damp and acknowledges that the low levels of actual volatility are worrisome for their artificial “Keep calm and carry on” sentiment. Other heard/seen observations: London is no longer a British city, the surge in foreign buyers is creating a world-class property bubble. His conclusion, as long as humans are humans there will always be financial bubbles, either due to groupthink over real estate prices or financial assets. Just as surely as there will always be an England.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

"What Could Possibly Go Wrong?"





While Janet Yellen yesterday explained that low levels of realized and expected volatility in financials were not a signal of complacency; we suspect, like The Fed's Bill Dudley, some are concerned she is talking out of her academic ass... As JPMorgan warned, volatility currently is entirely dislocated from fundamentals, and the day of realization is approaching...

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Is The Fed Trying To Create A "Bond Run" Panic? Yes... In Its Own Words





Is the Fed trying to start the very bond run it is allegedly attempting to prevent? Read the following, then decide.

 

EconMatters's picture

Gold Becomes Inflation Hedge as Bond Markets Manipulated by Central Banks





An interesting dynamic taking place in financial markets on Thursday as Gold saw some substantial buying interest up $22 to the $1295 an ounce area. 

 

Tyler Durden's picture

5 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Fracking





We would hazard a guess that most people in the developed world are now aware of what hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is. Fracking has had profound effects on the energy industry, so far mostly in the U.S., where it has created oil and gas booms in non-traditional places, moved the country closer to energy independence, and resulted in a huge reduction in the cost of energy, particularly natural gas. It is, however, not without controversy. Here are 5 things that you may not know about fracking.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Atlantic City's Revel Casino Files For Second Bankruptcy 16 Months After The First One





It feels like it was only yesterday when we wrote about the plight of what was once supposed to be the ultramodern east-coast competitor to the glitzy kitsch of Las Vegas: Atlantic City's Revel casino which back in February 2013 "filed for bankruptcy ten months after opening." Well, a short 16 months later it is time for an update because Revel, which was supposed to have a viable balance sheet upon emergence from its first Chapter 11 filing, just filed for bankruptcy for a second, and most likely final time: the dreaded "Chapter 22." And not only did the company admit its business model is not viable not due to its overlevered balance sheet, but because of the sad state of the economy and the AC gambling market, it also warned it may shut down permanently if it can't find a buyer in bankruptcy court.

 
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