Archive - Aug 28, 2015 - Story

You can't say Nassim Taleb didn't warn you: the outspoken academic-philosopher, best known for his prediction that six sigma "fat tail", or black swan, events happen much more frequently than they should statistically (perhaps a main reason why there is no longer a market but a centrally-planned cesspool of academic intervention) just had a black swan land smack in the middle of the Universa hedge fund founded by ardent Ron Paul supporter Mark Spitznagel, and affiliated with Nassim Taleb. The result: a $1 billion payday, translating into a 20% YTD return, in a week when the VIX exploded from the teens to over 50, and which most other hedge funds would love to forget.

Damian McBride is the former head of communications at the British treasury and former special adviser to Gordon Brown, erstwhile Prime Minister of the U.K.

Yesterday he tweeted some surprising advice in response to the plunge in global equities markets....

It is undeniable; the final collapse triggers are upon us, triggers alternative economists have been warning about since the initial implosion of 2008. You would think that the more obvious the economic collapse becomes, the more alternative analysts will be vindicated and the more awake and aware the average person will be. Not necessarily... In fact, the mainstream spin machine is going into high speed the more negative data is exposed and absorbed into the markets. If you know your history, then you know that this is a common tactic by the establishment elite to string the public along with false hopes so that they do not prepare or take alternative measures while the system crumbles around their ears. At the onset of the Great Depression the same strategies were used.

"The PBoC’s actions are equivalent to an unwind of QE, or in other words Quantitative Tightening. The potential for more China outflows is huge [and] the bottom line is that QT has much more to go. It is hard to become very optimistic on global risk appetite until a solution is found to China’s evolving QT."

Late last year, Saudi Arabia "Plaxico'd" itself and the petrodollar when, in an effort to "preserve market share" and bankrupt US shale producers, the kingdom endeavored to purposefully suppress crude prices. Nine months and billions in liquidated FX reserves later, Saudi Arabia is facing a budget crisis of epic proportions. 

Our form of government today allows revolution (theoretically) through the ballot box rather than on the battlefield. But nonetheless, the message for our political elites today is much the same as it was in 1776: They ignore the people’s contempt at their own risk.

While most of the world will be hoping the following chart never (ever) mean-reverts to its previous historically devastating highs, there is one group that is 'banking' on it... The Military-Industrial Complex...

...as soon as credit expansion stops, the piper must be paid, and the inevitable readjustments must liquidate the unsound overinvestments of the boom and redirect the economy. And, of course, the longer the boom is kept going, the greater the malinvestments that must be liquidated, and the more harrowing the readjustments that must be made.

The United States lags far behind other developed countries in terms of personal, civil and economic freedoms, according to a study released this month. Its neighbor to the north, for example, ranked 14 spots ahead of the so-called “Land of the Free.”

Great news - Californians have managed to reduce water usage by 31% in July, surpassing the mandated 25% reduction amid the worst drought in centuries. However, this dramatic reduction is in now way thanks to local government in Los Angeles, where, as Daily News reports, the majority of LA County supervisors have their take-home cars washed two or three times a week, service records show, and actually washed them more frequently than before Governor Brown's orders. Once again - do as I say, not as I do!

People have their hopes and dreams tied on a quarter of a percent. That’s how ridiculous things have become. People are so horrified that if money isn’t absolutely free that all hell will break loose—that people are going to go broke, the market’s going to crash, and that there won’t be any jobs. That’s a pretty sad state of affairs, and it is by no stretch of the imagination the foundation for a free and prosperous nation. It is the height of central planning and it is a form of economic tyranny.

"There’s no flying beams of light, no 'pew! pew!' sound effects. But it is nonetheless a working laser cannon, and it will take your drone down."

Recent polls indicate that, despite public outcry against his incendiary comments on women and minorities, Donald Trump is still the leading Republican candidate. Here are some reasons Trump stays so popular with his supporters...

You know what they say: when it rains it pours, especially when you’re the poster child for an epic emerging market unwind and you’re suffering through the worst inflation-growth outcome in over a decade while trying to combat dual deficits and ward off political and social upheaval.