Archive - Apr 6, 2014 - Story

"Why aren't Americans like you saving more for retirement?"

From Presidential edicts of 'MyRA' being for your own good and "will never go down in value" to Poland's 'precedent-setting' confiscation of public pensions funds for the good of the nation's debt load; and from the IMF's "one-off" wealth tax 'idea' to Europe's recent consideration of 'wholesale savings confiscations and enforced redistribution', it appears Marc Faber's warning that "from now onwards, the bailouts will also be at the expense of the asset holders, the well-to-do people. So if you have money I am sure the governments will one day take away 20-30% of my wealth," is becoming more likely every day. As the following mini-documentary explains, confirming Ron Paul's warning that "there is more chaos to come," Jim Rogers' fear that "they won’t take our bank accounts...they will take our retirement accounts," is coming true.

With all eyes focused on Eastern Europe, tensions appear to be quickly mounting between the erstwhile allies North Korea and China.

"Russia was unable to seize Ukraine by means of military aggression," Ukraine's PM Yatsenyuk blasted, "Now they are implementing plans to seize Ukraine through economic aggression." His comments come after Russia's Gazprom raised prices for gas 81% from $268.50 to $485.50 (on the basis that the previous discount was a subsidy for allowing the use of the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, which Russia now has annexed) to which Yatsenyuk chided "political pressure is unacceptable, and we are not accepting the price of $500." Mr. Yatsenyuk, as WSJ reports, said his government will not pay the new price and will raise the issue in the Stockholm Arbitrage court, which was selected by the two countries years ago to settle the gas disputes - but warned his people that the country should prepare for Russia switching off natural-gas supplies.

Earlier this morning we reported that "Pro-Russia Protesters Seize Government Building In East Ukraine, Demand Autonomy." We suggested that this was only the first city in eastern Ukraine that would see this kind of internal revolt. Sure enough, hours later, the largest city in East Ukraine and one located in close proximity to Russia, Kharkiv, also saw its state building fall to what appear to be pro-Russia protesters, making it the third major city after Donetsk and nearby Luhansk. This coordinated and largely unexpected pro-Russian action triggering accusations from the pro-European government in Kiev that President Vladimir Putin was orchestrating "separatist disorder."

We noted on Friday that something happened in the US stock market that day that has not been seen since the Fed unveiled QE4EVA. It went quietly under the radar of the mainstream media; talking-heads did not mention it; and strategists shrugged it off. What happened? BTFD Failed... and, as BofAML's Macneil Curry warns, popular trades are in trouble (bad news for equity bulls and treasury bears).

How much has the average cost of attending college at four-year degree-granting institution in the U.S. risen since the 1969-1970 school year?

Just as we should be re-assured by Shinzo Abe's declaration that the Olympics will be 'safe' in Japan (despite his incessant calls for recovery in the Japanese economy when it is actually collapsing under its own devalued currency import costs); the UN is out with a report that states it did not expect “significant changes” in future cancer rates that could be attributed to radiation exposure from the reactor meltdowns. The levels, according to their report, were much lower than Chernobyl and therefore the Fukushima nuclear disaster is unlikely to lead to a rise in people developing cancer. But... some children 'might' have received doses that could affect their risk of developing cancer later in life...

Forget sanctions; forget denouncements; forget red lines... there is only one thing that can stop Putin from taking over Europe...

Presenting: Japan.

In an excellent interview with STA Wealth's Lance Roberts, A. Gary Shilling dives into a number of issues. From four more years of deleveraging to go to five potential major shocks that will force "an agonizing reappraisal and switch to "risk off" strategies" for most long-only equity investors, Shilling is cautious; but his biggest fear is China (for these 8 reasons)...

While the general sentiment may be that Russia has put its territorial expansion plans vis-a-vis Ukraine on hold, if only for the time being, pro-Russian protesters in East Ukraine, whether premeditated or spontaneous, seem to have not gotten the memo. Earlier today, in a repeat of events that took place just as the pre-Crimea annexation plotline hit a fever pitch, dozens of pro-Russia protesters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk stormed the regional government building on Sunday and hung a Russian flag, demanding once again for autonomy from Ukraine.

A mere two weeks since former JPMorgan banker, Kenneth Bellando jumped to his death, Bloomberg reports that the former CEO of Dutch Bank ABN Amro (and his wife and daughter) were found dead at their home after a possible "family tragedy." This expands the dismal list of senior financial services executive deaths to 12 in the last few months. The 57-year-old Jan Peter Schmittmann, was reportedly discovered by his other daughter when she arrived home that morning. Police declined to comment on the cirumstances of his (and his wife and daughter's) death. This is not the first C-level ABN Amro banker to be found dead. In 2009, former CFO Huibert Boumeester was discovered with (assumed self-inflicted) shotgun wounds.