Corruption

Update: *LOCKDOWN LIFTED AT U.S. CAPITOL AFTER GYRO COPTER ARREST

US Capitol Police have locked-down buildings after a man landed a gyrocopter on the lawn. As The Tampa Bay Times reports, the man is a mailman from Ruskin named Doug Hughes who was attempting to deliver campaign reform messages to Congress.

* Fall 2015 turning point - civil unrest and riots globally says forecaster Armstrong
* European banks will collapse and “blood in the streets”
* Advocates diversification and holding bullion coins familiar to public such as $20 gold coins
* “Your portfolio has got to include everything … including bullion”

• China growth slowest in six years, more stimulus expected soon (Reuters)
• EU charges Google over shopping searches, to probe Android (Reuters)
• A Chinese Paradox: Slow Growth Is Good, Stock Bubbles Welcome (BBG)
• Draghi Seen Dispelling Duration Doubts About QE Program (BBG)
• IEA Sees OPEC Supply Jumping Most in Four Years on Saudi Surge (BBG)
• SEC Reaches Settlement with Former Freddie Mac  (WSJ)
• Kerry says confident Obama can get final deal on Iran (Reuters)
• Regulators Call for Short-Term Loan Changes to Handle ‘Too-Big-to-Fail’ (WSJ)
• Florida Doctor Linked to Sen. Robert Menendez Indicted for Medicare Fraud (WSJ)

This isn’t yet another in a long series of articles lamenting the Federal Reserve... this article is about something else: you.

GE’s announcement that its getting out of the finance business should be a reminder of how crony capitalism is corrupting and debilitating the American economy. The ostensible reason the company is unceremoniously dumping its 25-year long build-up of the GE Capital mega-bank is that it doesn’t want to be regulated by Washington as a systematically important financial institution under Dodd-Frank. Oh, and that its core industrial businesses have better prospects. We will see soon enough about its oilfield equipment and wind turbine business, or indeed all of its capital goods oriented businesses in a radically deflationary world drowning in excess capacity. But at least you can say good riddance to GE Capital because it was based on a phony business model that was actually a menace to free market capitalism. Its deplorable raid on the public purse during the Lehman crisis had already demonstrated that in spades.

In a move that, if confirmed, is certain to escalate the Yemen conflict which as a reminder is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, overnight local media first, and Reuters subsequently, reported that local militiamen in the southern Yemeni city of Aden said they captured two Iranian military officers advising Houthi rebels, during fighting on Friday evening.

Everything this nation once stood for is being turned on its head. Free speech, religious expression, privacy, due process, bodily integrity, the sanctity of human life, the sovereignty of the family, individuality, the right to self-defense, protection against police abuses, representative government, private property, human rights - the very ideals that once made this nation great - have become casualties of a politically correct, misguided, materialistic, amoral, militaristic culture.

The full breakdown of the biggest energy deal in the past decade and the 14th largest ever corporate takeover.

In Order To Beat 'Em, You Have to Know Their Game ...

• Iranians celebrate, Obama hails 'historic' nuclear framework (Reuters)
• Iran Nuclear Accord Hailed as Landmark After Marathon Talks (BBG)
• Two New York City women accused of planning 'terrorist attack' (Reuters)
• Cyprus Lifts Capital Controls Two Years After Deposits Bail-In (BBG)
• Jury Hits Chrysler With $150 Million Penalty in Boy’s Death (WSJ)
• Greece says ready to make IMF payment on April 9 (Reuters)
• Germanwings Co-Pilot Set Plane to Go Faster Before Crash (BBG)
• IBM hire advisers to deal with restless investors - sources (Reuters)

The appointment of a number of non-Ukrainians to important government posts appears to have been implemented as a move aimed at curbing corruption. This was almost certainly under “orders” of Western powers which are currently financing Ukraine’s government. The IMF wants to get its money back one day, and that won’t be possible unless some things change rather dramatically. However, we believe this also means that the Minsk agreement will not hold forever. In US neo-con circles the idea of Kiev negotiating with the rebels in the East is detested – only unconditional surrender is held to be acceptable.

In America’s fraudulent oligarch economy in which corruption and theft have become the preferred means to earn money, it’s no surprise doctors feel a need to participate. “Mr. Rorie was recruiting homeless people, prosecutors said, ...after hours of unnecessary tests and fake diagnoses, the homeless people would be sent off with sneakers - selected from stacks of shoeboxes in the clinics’ basements... "We can use the same patients like guinea pigs for anything we want,” Mr. Vainer was recorded saying in a government wiretap." Do no harm indeed.

It appears Beijing isn’t opposed to throwing billions behind serving as a lender of last resort and we can’t help but wonder if the new round of Petrobras financing is indicative of where China will steer initial AIIB funding — that is, into oil and into Washington's backyard.

Unlike yesterday's vertigo-inducing overnight session, today has been a smooth sea by comparison even if one which has flowed from the top left to the bottom right for now, with futures erasing all of the last minute surge which was HFT programmed to sticksave the S&P just green for the year and then some. It is difficult to pinpoint the catalyst that will be today's market narrative although with NFP in just over 24 hours, falling on a holiday which will allow S&P futures just 45 minutes of trading after the BLS report hits before closing for the day, and with the weak ADP not to mention the 0.0% GDP, the "whisper" expectation is for a NFP print that will be well below consensus, somewhere in the mid-100,000s if not worse now that the bartender hiring spree is over. The fact that March payrolls have missed on 6 of the last 7 reports probably adds to the dollar weakness, even if a huge miss tomorrow may just be the catalyst Yellen needs to launch the QE4 trial balloon.