Archive - Feb 2015

One thing is becoming clear: Greece will almost certainly not last until the proverbial D-Day on February 28 before it either i) runs out of money, ii) is forced to sign a "bailout extension" deal with the Eurogroup thus crushing its credibility with the people, or iii) exits the Eurozone. Needless to say, two of the three above options are very unpleasant for Greek savers, assuming any are left. And it is those savers that the Eurozone is directly targeting when it does everything in its power to provoke a bank run with statement such as these: "The situation of the banks is getting more and more difficult every day," said a European official. "In the end, in order to safeguard the banking system, capital controls will probably have to be imposed."

Operation Choke Point is an initiative of the DoJ that was announced in 2013 which investigates bank interactions with certain businesses believed to be at higher risk for fraud and money laundering. When first disclosed it was heavily criticised for bypassing due process with critics warning that "it's a thinly veiled ideological attack on industries the Obama administration doesn't like, such as gun sellers," and precious metals dealers. However, as Mike Maloney explains, it is far worse than that... "it violates the most fundamental principles of the rule of law and accountable, transparent government."

Back in 1940, the US plan was to "entrap" Japan to declare war on the US - a declaration which the US would have long anticipated - which would then allow America to engage Europe and Hitler as part of its broader entry into World War II from which it had been previously separated. The plan worked out when just over a year later, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Today, some 75 years later, is that same plan being redrawn?

Parsing the Russian media (corporate and social) illustrates the stunningly different way the issue of western sanctions is discussed. As we show below, there are six notable factors that leave an entirely unavoidable conclusion: western sanctions have exactly zero chance of achieving any change at all in Russian foreign policy and exactly zero chance of weakening the current regime. In fact perhaps the opposite.

When Obama interrupted the Grammy's to discuss sexual abuse and rape victims, he probably did not have this in mind...

State Department spokesperson Marie Harf explains to no lesser pillar of unbiased reporting than Chris Matthews that - as opposed to President Obama's 'bomb them into oblivion' perspective, "we can't kill our way out of this war [with ISIS]... we must address the root causes - like joblessness." Even Matthews is stunned at this perspective, exclaiming "we're never going to chieve that in 50 lifetimes, there'll always be poor muslims." But, as the administration appears to be suggesting, even every radical muslim deserves $10.25 an hour to work at Baghdad McDonalds...

While Obama desperately tries to stick to his now crushed "Nobel peace prize winner" image, by not succumbing to an all-out land war in the one nation where his progressive "pacifism" brought him fame (and according to some, the presidency), namely Iraq, the rest of militant, "interventionist" US foreign policy is rapidly starting to resemble that waged by the most brutally rabid, neo-con Republican leader. Case in point an absolute stunner reported minutes ago by the WSJ, according to which the White House has decided to provide pickup trucks equipped with mounted machine guns and radios for calling in U.S. airstrikes to some moderate Syrian rebels aided by American B-1B bombers!

The "conundrum" between lower gasoline prices and retail sales is not really one at all. Furthermore, the real story behind the weakness in retail sales also suggest that something is "amiss" within the broader economic backdrop. When combined with the deterioration in earnings, the risk of a "gotcha" moment in the market has risen markedly.

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Prosperity Requires Privacy

The arrogant European Union has seriously overplayed its hand and now is no longer certain exactly who is the fool still seated at the table.

While representatives have reportedly tried to block the release of footage of Michael Bloomberg's remarks at The Aspen Institute on Feb 6th, audio has surfaced of the former New York City mayor’s controversial comments about getting "guns out of the hands of minorities."

Our clueless President observed, "You cannot keep on squeezing countries that are in the midst of depression. At some point there has to be a growth strategy in order for them to pay off their debts..." No, paying off their debts is exactly the wrong medicine. You do not kick the can and extend and pretend that Greece can service its crushing debt. Instead, you permit it to default, and then to rebuild it’s economy and credit the old fashioned way. In any event, its a problem for the Europeans and the Greeks to resolve. Obama should stop sending Keynesian witch doctors to spread more policy poison around Europe.