Archive - Jul 29, 2014

While the US continues to escalate the conflict with Russia in a tit-for-tat recreation of the Cold War, things for US foreign policy just keep going from bad to worse, with the latest insult coming from none other than close US ally, Israel.

Despots, dictators, and power hungry presidents arise in an atmosphere of fear, scarce resources, hopelessness, and misery. As the power of the central government grows; the freedoms, liberties and rights of the people are diminished and ultimately relinquished.

"One reason we know voters will embrace populism is that they already have. It’s what they thought they were getting with Obama...He turned out to be something else altogether. Not long ago optimism was in vogue. Obama’s slogan then was “Yes we can.” Today it could be “It turns out we can’t.”"

Over a year ago we first brought China's 'fake' trade data and abundant discrepancies to the public's attention and in December China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) began clamping down on trade-financing on fabricated deals after the first crackdown failed to eliminate the deception. Now over a year later, as Bloomberg reports, China's data still does not add up. "It's still a bit of a mystery," said StanChart's Stephen Green, the data "suggest that some of that is still going on."

While we have 'joked' about it in the past, Elliott Management's Paul Singer believes "there is one risk that stands way above the rest in terms of the scope of potential damage adjusted for the likelihood of occurrence" - an electromagnetic pulse (EMP).

The US Navy, perhaps ironically, begins their introduction to RIMPAC by saying "The future is maritime partnerships." Of course, there is the ubiquitous hashtag (#PartnershipsMatter) and statement of fellowship, "The world’s navies must be able to come together quickly to work on common interests and things that are important worldwide." Twenty-two nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel have come together (including China for the first time and The US but not Russia) for the exercise. One wonders just how much 'partnerships matter' when Russia pulls the pin on its sanctions retaliation (especialy in light of the recent drills with China).

The global economy is structured to systematically funnel wealth to the very top of the pyramid, and this centralization of global wealth is accelerating with each passing year. According to the United Nations, 85 super wealthy people have more money than the poorest 3.5 billion people on the planet combined. Seven out of every ten people on the planet live in countries where the gap between the wealthy and the poor has increased in the last 30 years... And when our fundamentally flawed financial system finally does collapse, it will be the poor that will suffer the worst.

US and European financials faded notably after Europe and then US unveiled new sanctions against Russia today. Most notably, the decision to sanction Russia's largest banks (and ban trading and capital markets access) has ramifications for the global financial system's stability given the increasingly inter-connected nature of the world. For that reason, we thought Bloomberg Briefs' chart of the most exposed banking systems by nation to any systemic issues in Russia would be useful.

The issue of impeachment is now no longer whispered about. Talk is prevalent and a recent poll indicated that 35% of the public believe the president should be impeached. Interestingly, the topic is being promoted more by Democrats than Republicans. Democrats don’t truly believe the President should be impeached, but they see it as a chance, likely their only chance, to bolster their election possibilities this November.

"Yoohoo, don't forget me..."

Find the silver lining in this utter disaster... and remember, it's not moar of the same QQE as the BoJ is starting to hit its inflation mandate, misery indices are soaring, and approval ratings tumbling. Japanese Industrial Production in June fell 3.3% (almost triple the expected 1.2% drop) and the biggest plunge since March 2011 (the tsunami). This is the 10th miss in the last 12 months. Simply put, while the progressives would dearly love it not to be true, Abenomics is an epic fail leaving Japan readying itself for yet another lost decade (if it makes it that far without Abe going full militarist).

While Goldman's "derivative-based financial advice" to Greece before the EU enabling them to join the party seemingly went unpunished, Nomura has not been so lucky. Having created complex derivatives transactions to 'help' Sicily's regional government, which have now produced major losses for the duped managers, The FT reports Nomura has had property and cash worth $150 million seized related to allegations that the investment bank defrauded the regional government of Sicily with the sale of derivatives in 2002.

High yield bond markets are another victim of the "new normal"

Imperial Washington is truly running amuck in its insensible confrontation with Vladimir Putin. The latest round of new sanctions is a counter-productive joke. But it is the larger narrative that is so blatantly offensive - that is, the notion that a sovereign state is being wantonly violated by an aggressive neighbor arming “terrorists” inside its borders. Once again, the American Warfare State has confected a false narrative to justify policies and missions that have nothing to do with the safety and security of the citizens of Lincoln NE and Wooster MA. Unfortunately, false narratives are what the Warfare State does.

We warned last week that the scandal over Chinese meat supplier OSI was spreading (and Asians were increasingly shunning western fast-food restaurants) and now, as The FT reports, McDonald’s Japan has pulled its full-year profit guidance on the back of falling sales. It had previously forecast sales of $2.45bn for the year to December but warned it could not commit to new targets as it was too soon to estimate the scandal’s full impact. McDonald's is hardly ready to cope with this as sales are slumping and Russia is banning certain products.