Archive - Dec 11, 2015 - Story

Every year, roughly $1 trillion flows illegally out of developing and emerging economies due to crime, corruption, and tax evasion. This amount is more than these countries receive in foreign direct investment and foreign aid combined. This week, a new report was released that highlights the latest data available on this “hot” money. How does this “hot” money leave these countries? Global Financial Integrity has calculated that 83% of illicit financial flows are due to what it calls “trade misinvoicing”.

The lies we tell ourselves are only exceeded by the lies perpetrated by those controlling the levers of our society. The country has been living a Big Lie since the day Nixon closed the gold window in 1971, eliminating any vestiges of constraint upon central bankers and politicians.

As President Obama prepares executive action to pass further gun control legislation, one errant reporter dared to ask the White House press secretary exactly how such proposals would have prevented any recent mass shootings. The response was... as expected.

Moments ago Dow Jones reported that the $1.3 billion Stone Lion Capital, a distress-focused hedge fund, has just suspended redemptions after ""substantial requests."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ratcheted up the rhetoric in what appears to be one step closer to the potential for direct conflict with The West. While not detailing 'who' he was focued on, amid the obvious Turkey-Russia tensions, Putin told a session of the Defense Ministry's collegium that "I order to act extremely tough. Any targets that threaten Russian forces or our infrastructure on the ground should be immediately destroyed."

When we first detailed the link between a devaluing currency, increasing restrictions on outflows of China capital, and Bitcoin, the virtual currency soared (driven by Chinese flows, just as predicted). The last few days, as China has once again started devaluing its currency, authorities once again moved to tighten capital outflows - this time through caps on credit-card withdrawals (as warned here) - and sure enough, Bitcoin has been soaring recently. Specifically, a nationwide crackdown on illegal UnionPay point-of-sale devices, has sparked capital flight (on heavy volume) through the vurtual currrency.

After Tuesday’s dividend massacre, it’s plain as day that Kinder Morgan wasn’t the greatest thing since slice bread after all. That is, a “growth” business paying rich dividends out of rock solid profit margins and flourishing cash flow. In fact, it was just a momo stock on a borrowing spree.

You know you've 'made it' when the prince of one of the world's biggest human rights abuser (and leading 'beheader') nations calls you a "disgrace to America."

"A flip to fiscal stimulus is the most likely catalyst for a Great Rotation out of “deflation plays” into “inflation plays”, undoubtedly the biggest investment decision of 2016. Sadly it took the New Deal and WW2 to end the dominance of “growth” over “value” in the 1930s."

Duh. It was so obvious looking back. This is not a consequence-free environment... it’s time to find safety.

“Sooner or later we all sit down to a banquet of consequences” - Robert Louis Stevenson

One of Donald Trump's recurring refrains ever since the San Bernardino shooting, ostensibly the one which prompted him to declare he would bar Muslims from entering the country, is that the "US is at war." Whether or not that is the case remains to be seen but what is certain is that Trump is merely proposing to do what Democrat Jimmy Carter did back on April 7, 1980, when he banned Iranians from the US and deported Iranian students during the Iran hostage crisis - a time when some could argue the US was likewise in war with the Iranian regime.