Archive - Jun 15, 2015

While most "inequality" discussions these days are focused on male-female pay, black-white opportunities, or rich-poor wealth, there is one in which the 'lesser' half of the unequal equation is gaining... that of weight. As WaPo reports, American women now weigh the same as American men did in the 1960s.

"Starr alleges in its own right and on behalf of other AIG shareholders that the Government’s actions in acquiring control of AIG constituted a taking without just compensation and an illegal exaction, both in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.... Having considered the entire record, the Court finds in Starr’s favor on the illegal exaction claim. As the Court noted during closing arguments, a troubling feature of this outcome is that the Government is able to avoid any damages notwithstanding its plain violations of the Federal Reserve Act. "

-  U.S. Court of Claims Judge Thomas Wheeler

Right now it’s pretty clear that the temperature is rising. People are starting to wake up to the fact that, when it really counts, they’re no more free than a medieval serf. They pay taxes at gunpoint. They have no access to real justice. And many of the most important aspects of their lives, from the value of their savings to their medical care to the way they’re allowed to educate their own children, are tightly controlled. If the surge in riots and anti-government violence is any indicator, it looks like history may be repeating itself. And we may soon be reaching our own Runnymede moment.

Moments ago, one of the biggest clothing retailers in the US confirmed the worst nightmares about the state of US consumer spending, when it reported that it would shut down over 25% of all of its specialty stores in the US, or about 175 (of which 140 will be shut in the current year), leaving the firm just 500 specialty locations and 300 outlet stores. And, in addition to the thousands of job terminations these closures would entail, the company will further fire another 250 in its headquarters.

Hillary Clinton actually supports Barack Obama’s trade-policy, and even supports the way in which he is trying to get it through Congress. However, the news-media didn’t report it that way. Hilary is repeating her earlier tactics, in 2008, when she tried to give the impression that she had opposed her husband Bill Clinton’s NAFTA, though in fact she had earlier bragged about how great it was for the country and claimed it as if it were her own.

Peak Bull-Crap indeed...

Rig counts went into free-fall after it became clear that OPEC was not interested in propping up the price of oil for the benefit of rapidly expanding shale oil producers. While that approach hurt OPEC’s income in the short term, it also immediately impacted rig counts in the shale oil fields. But - and here is the narrative - shale oil producers continue to make gains in production even as rig counts have been slashed because they are becoming more and more efficient.

Just as we hinted earlier when we reported that the ECB may use the "nuclear option" on Wednesday and yank Greek ELA, here comes German Suddeutsche Zeiting with a report that Eurozone countries have reached a Greek emergency plan which calls for the imposition of capital controls on Greece if no deal is concluded by the weekend.

It's different this time for sure when this makes headlines...

Is it just us or has the frequency of scary headlines with regardto potential terrorist threats increased since The Patriot Act was sacked? Today, it is Newark. As RT reports, a heavy police presence is in Newark Airport after threat was reported to Delta flight 69, which was bound for New Jersey from London. The plane was taken to a remote place after it landed, NBC 4 New York reported. There were 191 passengers and 11 crew members on board.

After the carnage of the 2008 crash, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker proposed a rule that would prevent banks from making short-term proprietary trades with financial instruments. In other words, no gambling allowed. This rule would become known as The Volcker Rule, and it went into partial effect on April 1, 2014. Full compliance is required by July 21, 2015. Of course, the bank lobbyists were hard at work, and numerous exceptions and loopholes were created.

"Why insist on pensions? Pensions and wages account for about 75% of primary spending; the other 25% have already been cut to the bone.  Pension expenditures account for over 16% of GDP, and transfers from the budget to the pension system are close to 10% of GDP.  We believe a reduction of pension expenditures of 1% of GDP (out of 16%) is needed, and that it can be done while protecting the poorest pensioners."

In the least shocking news of the day, white 'African American' Rachel Dolezal - the erstwhile president of Spokane's NAACP chapter, has officially resigned, seemingly surprised that "the dialogue has unexpectedly shifted internationally to my personal identity in the context of defining race and ethnicity."