Fail

The world of Bubble Finance economies created by the Fed and other central banks is fundamentally different than that prevailing under the “Lite Touch” monetary policies which preceded the Greenspan era. The problem today is that the PhDs running the Fed have an economic model which is a relic of the Lite Touch era. It is not only utterly irrelevant in today’s casino driven system, but is actually tantamount to a blindfold. It causes them to look at a dashboard full of lagging indicators like jobs and GDP components, while ignoring the explosive leading indicators starring them in the face on CNBC. The clueless inhabitants of the Eccles Building do not recognize that they have created a world in which Wall Street supersedes main street.

The incentive structure throughout government, Wall Street, and big business generally is that “crime pays,” which is exactly why we’re seeing more and more of it. It will only get worse, until we grow up as a culture and demand accountability.

The perennial hopes of a strong retail shopping season are once again upon us. Given the current deflationary backdrop, small business spending pessimism, the sharp decline in imports and weak wage growth, it is quite likely that actual retail sales will likely disappoint the NRF's forecast of a "shopping season significantly above the 10-year average." But it is truly important to remember that for retailers all #BlackFridaysMatter

Ooops ...

The biggest event overnight came from Europe, where Draghi managed to once again jawbone the Euro lower by ober 50 pips when he told European lawmakers in a prepared testimony that downside economic risks are "clearly visible," repeating his October press conference statement, adding that the ECB will reexamine degree of accommodation in December as "inflation dynamics have somewhat weakened." And the statement that crushed the Euro: "If we were to conclude that our medium-term price stability objective is at risk, we would act by using all the instruments available within our mandate to ensure that an appropriate degree of monetary accommodation is maintained." I.e., another "whatever it takes" moment.

People are going to be pissed off no matter who wins this election and that is a very important social dynamic that is vastly under appreciated by the majority of mainstream pundits and analysts out there. The truth is, the American public is tricked into thinking they disagree with each other on the big issues, when in reality there’s enormous overlap. Until we stop being tricked, the status quo will continue to suck the economy dry through their religious-like embrace of corruption and crony capitalism. Unfortunately, the people who could benefit the most from reading this post, will never see it.

Now that there are "no taboos," and assuming the ECB doesn't take our advice on the '52 Mantles or the lumber, the only question is whether the central bank will pair a depo rate cut with the PSPP expansion (in whatever form it takes)....

“Debt wasn’t a problem during the boom years because profits kept growing. But it’s not sustainable when the economy slows."

Does it really take courage for unelected economic bureaucrats to print up trillions of dollars of taxpayers’ money in order to bail out Wall Street banks? I’m sure it will certainly take courage if the taxpayer finally wakes up to the ruse before it fails. And sooner or later, every ruse does fail, even when run by the world’s most powerful cartel.

"Social Security as a whole as well as Medicare cannot sustain projected long-run program costs...", and that the government should be "giving the public adequate time to prepare."

“Consider for example a tax cut for households and businesses that is explicitly coupled with incremental Bank of Japan purchases of government debt – so that the tax cut is in effect financed by money creation”

- Ben Bernanke, Some Thoughts on Monetary Policy in Japan, 2003

After seven long years, and following the State Department's denial of TransCanada’s request to suspend its permit application, the Obama Administration, according to The Wall Street Journal, is set to reject the Keystone XL Pipeline (the controversial project to link oil sands in Alberta to U.S. Gulf of Mexico refineries). Speaking from The White House shortly, President Obama is expected to cite the urgency of climate change as a key reason behind his decision (though is unlikely to name the biggest winner from this decision..).

“Inequality seems to be widening. A sales-tax hike and price increases last year hit households hard. Abe hasn’t succeeded to bring benefits to most ordinary people.”

Collapse begins when real reform becomes impossible.