Archive - Jul 20, 2015 - Story

"If these people are ... disloyal to the United States, as a matter of principal that’s fine, that’s their right... It’s our right and our obligation to segregate them from the normal community for the duration of the conflict."

Capital controls imposed by the Greek government are taking a heavy toll on Greek businesses, according to a new report from Endeavour Greece. With over two-thirds of respondents reporting a "significant drop in revenues," and 1 in 9 firms forced to suspend production due to shortages of raw materials (unable to buy due to capital controls), the problems created by The Greek government's action seem asymmetric as almost a quarter (23%) of firms are now "planning to transfer their headquarters abroad for security, cashflow, and stability reasons."

The Obama administration is pushing to prohibit Social Security benefit recipients from owning firearms if they “lack the mental capacity to manage their own affairs,” a move which the Los Angeles Times reports would affect millions of people whose disability payments – for one reason or another – are handled by other people. The idea is to bring the Social Security Administration under the jurisdiction of laws that regulate who gets reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), a database that was initially supposed to pertain to illegal immigrants, drug addicts, and felons. Of course, it should be pointed out that, with the exception of illegal immigrants, prohibiting American citizens who are not confined to a prison cell from owning weapons is itself unconstitutional.

While the rest of the world attempts to convince themselves that a Chinese stock market bubble and bust is at worst irrelevant, CapitalEconomics notes, evidence that the labor market is coming off the boil arguably matters more to China’s economy. Chinese stocks futures are down 2% in today's pre-open after yesterday's whipsaw action as 'exit plans' for the stabilization were discussed (dumping stocks) and then denied (surging stocks) shows just how fragile (and quickly and entirely addicted to China's new 'measures' investors have become); but as BofAML warned earlier, selling pressure will likely remain relentless. Now that the spell is broken, we expect that many holders may want to sell to the forced buyers in the market.

While we have shown previously that over the past 30 years median incomes in the US have barely grown (indicative of a middle class whose income has been largely stagnant for some 35 years), we have never before shown just what how this middle class "stasis" looks like in comparison to other developed nations. Now, thanks to Max Roser and "Our world in Data", we know. Sadly, in this particular sample of median income growth since 1980, the US is dead last, behind such countries as the UK, Canada and even Spain and France!

"Now that the spell is broken, we expect that many holders may want to sell to the forced buyers in the market. In addition, although difficult to assess accurately, due to a lack of data, we estimate that around 1/5 of the free float is still carried on margin. The high margin cost means that selling pressure is high as long as investors do not expect the market to go up significantly.we expect the market to experience another leg down, possibly within months."

We hope the Greek government is watching and learning, and taking appropriate measures so that it too can, at least once, prioritize its own people's needs over those of a global banking oligarchy.

Russian municipal bond risk is surging once again (at 6-week highs) heading towards crisis-levels as Bloomberg reports numerous regions (including Chukotka - across from Alaska, Belgorod -near Ukraine, and three North Caucus republics) are prompting concerns as debt-to-revenue levels top 100% (144% in the case of Chukotka). The clock is ticking for President Vladimir Putin to defuse a situation he set off in 2012 with decrees to raise social spending. That contributed to a doubling in the debt load of Russia’s more than 80 regions to 2.4 trillion rubles ($42 billion) in the past five years and it all rolls within the next two to three years.

Chinese Gold reserves jump 604 tons from 1,054 tons last reported in 2009 to 1,658 tons. Many gold observers ask: "Is that it"? Since 2009 China has mined over 2,000 tons of gold and imported over 3,300 tons of gold through Hong Kong*. Where did it all go?

You know it's bad when... With most of California experiencing "extreme to exceptional drought," and the crisis now in its fourth year, state officials recently unleashed the first cutback to farmers' water rights since 1977, ordering cities and towns to cut water use by as much as 36%. With the drought showing no sign of letting up any time soon, and the state’s agricultural industry suffering (a recent study by UC Davis projected that the drought would cost California’s economy $2.7 billion in 2015 alone), Yahoo reports farmers have begun desperately turning to "water witches" who "dowse" for water sources using rods and sticks.

"We really want to stay away from positions we can’t get out of"...

If the US economy is truly firing on all four cylinders, then how are events such as the repeat bankruptcy of America's first national supermarket chain, supposed to happen?

"At least 50% of real estate agents have closed down."

"The market is only those who can afford to pay cash."

Since last week's FOX News poll, Donald Trump has extended his gains dramatically in the race to be GOP Presidential nominee. According to ABC-Washington Post latest poll, 24% of Republicans prefer Trump (up from 18% last week) with Scott Walker nudging ahead of Jeb Bush. Notably the poll was taken from Thursday to Sunday and so does include some reaction from Trump's McCain comments...

"We seriously need to hit the Cntrl-Alt-Delete button on government. This is total insanity and we are losing absolutely everything that made society function. Once they eliminate CASH, they will have total control over who can buy or sell anything."