Archive - Jul 14, 2015 - Story

On November 7, 2011 Dr. Eric Ben-Artzi walked into a conference room at Deutsche Bank’s U.S. headquarters in lower Manhattan. Seated at a conference table was Sharon Wilson from the Human Resources department. Lars Popken, DB’s head of market risk methodology and Ben-Artzi’s manager, was videoconferenced in. Ben-Artzi’s job, Popken said, was being moved to Germany. Ben-Artzi thought back to the summer when, in response to rumors that some U.S. positions were likely to be moved overseas, he had mentioned he’d be happy to relocate to Berlin. No such luck. Minutes later, he was terminated and Wilson hurriedly ushered him out of the building. Ben-Artzi wasn’t even allowed to collect his personal belongings.

"Over the next couple of years, China is likely to be the biggest source of vulnerability for the global economy."

Something's profoundly wrong with our global financial system. Pope Francis is only the latest to raise the alarm...What the Pope calls “an economy of exclusion and inequality, where money rules” is widely evident. What is not so clear is how we got into this situation, and what to do about it.

After a brief respite of 2 weeks of inventory builds, API just reported a major 7.3 million barrel inventory draw (far bigger than the 1.2mm barrel expected)...

The Greek crisis provides a look into what awaits us unless we stop overspending on warfare and welfare and restore a sound monetary system. While most commentators have focused on Greece’s welfare state, much of Greece’s deficit was caused by excessive military spending. Even as its economy collapses and the government makes (minor) cuts in welfare spending, Greece’s military budget remains among the largest in the European Union. Congress will only reverse course when a critical mass of people reject the entitlement mentality and understand that the government is incapable of running the world, running our lives, and running the economy.

There is no democracy in Europe. None.

"At times, self-trading may reflect unlawful conduct. For example, unlawful self-trades may constitute “wash sales.” In the futures markets, “wash sales” involve a purchase and sale of the same delivery month of the same futures contract at the same or similar price, made without an intent to take a genuine, bona fide position in the market, and instead, are intended to negate risk or price competition. In the securities markets, for example, a “wash trade” is a transaction that does not result in a change of beneficial ownership when there is a fraudulent or manipulative purpose behind the trade. This report is not making any findings on the legality of any self-trading that occurred on the days covered in this analysis."

At an annualized return of approximately 20,622,184,553,370,800,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000%, Greece just gave everyone the best trade opportunity of the year...

GREEK PM TSIPRAS SAYS I SIGNED I DEAL I DO NOT BELIEVE IN BUT I'M WILLING TO IMPLEMENT AND WILL ASSUME RESPONSIBILITIES

Give-and-take... and Trust...

Just when you thought it was safe to buy Greek Banks (which it is not!) based on the mainstream media narrative that Greece is now fixed, ekathimerini reports that not only are deposits flying out the door at unprecedented pace (albeit stalled by capital controls) but non-performing loans have increased dramatically in the last few weeks as hundreds of households and enterprises have stopped making their repayments either due to a genuine inability to pay or because of the general uncertainty in the economy that has seen transactions freeze.

The BLS continues to perpetuate the distraction officially known as the "unemployment rate" to hide the grim reality portrayed by the labor force participation rate, which shows the true decline of employment in America. The labor force participation rate of college graduates has never been lower. In the new normal, McDonald's has a lower acceptance rate than Ivy League schools. Just when you thought you had seen everything, a new story emerges: Alfred Postell has three degrees - accounting, economics, and law - but he is unemployed and homeless.

With all hopes and dreams of economic renaissance in America pinned on small businesses (see ADP's recent gains), today's data from the NFIB will strike fear in the heart of the wealth-effect-creating Fed. The NFIB small business optimism index disappointed expectations in June (94.1 vs. consensus 98.5), falling to its lowest level since March 2014 - the biggest drop since 2012. All components were weaker but most notably hiring and plans to raise worker compensation tumbled. Furthermore, Deloitte's Q2 latest survery shows American CFOs are more worried than at any time since 2013.