Gambling
Priced For Perfection - Why This Burrito Market Is Heading For A Fall
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/08/2016 14:40 -0500In March 2014 Wall Street’s ex-items S&P 500 earnings forecast for 2015 was about $133 per share; it ended up 20% lower at $106. Yet here they go again - the consensus for 2016 started out at $137 per share last spring, and is just now beginning to make its way back toward the high $120s. It is a barometer of the abject complacency and intellectual sloth that has descended on the casino owing to two decades of Fed coddling and seven year of free money for the carry trades. In the case of Chipotle, it was always just a burrito. In the case of the US and world economy and financial markets, it’s not even that.
Poker's 10 Most Valuable Investment Lessons
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/01/2016 14:20 -0500While most amateurs will bet on most hands, take speculative positions where the odds of success are stacked against them or try to bluff their way through a losing hand; professionals play with a cold, calculated and unemotional discipline. The professional gambler understands the odds of success of every play and measures his “bets” accordingly. He knows when to be “all in” and when to “fold and walk away.” Do they succeed all the time – of course not. However, by understanding how to limit losses they survive long enough to come out a winner over time.
Time For Torches & Pitchforks: The Little Guy Is About To Get Monkey-Hammered Again
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/30/2015 22:15 -0500The prospect that the leaders of our monetary politburo are about to be tarred and feathered by economic reality might be satisfying enough if it led to the repudiation of Keynesian central planning and a thorough housecleaning at the Fed. Unfortunately, it will also mean that tens of millions of retail investors and 401k holders will be taken to the slaughterhouse for the third time this century. And this time the Fed is out of dry powder, meaning retail investors will never recover as they did after 2002 and 2009.
The Catastrophic Threat Of Bail-Ins
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/30/2015 08:48 -0500Once upon a time, we had strong, vigorously enforced laws that made a bank the safest place to store paper assets. That is no longer. Now banks are where your wealth is most likely to be stolen – and by the bank itself. Thanks to the bail-in, the term “bank robbery” now has an entirely different meaning.
The Plutocrats Are Winning (Don't Let Them!)
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/29/2015 14:15 -0500The $1.15 trillion spending bill passed by Congress last Friday and quickly signed by President Obama is just the latest triumph in the plutocratic management of politics that has accelerated since 9/11...proof that Washington can work. Mainstream media didn’t stop to ask: “Yes, but work for whom?” Instead, the anchors acted as amplifiers for official spin - repeating the mantra-of-the-hour that while this is not “a perfect bill,” it does a lot of good things. “But for whom? At what price?” went unasked. Secrecy today. Secrecy tomorrow. Secrecy forever. They are determined that we not know who owns them.
The Catastrophic Threat of Bail-Ins
Submitted by Sprott Money on 12/29/2015 12:17 -0500Once upon a time, we had strong, vigorously enforced laws that made a bank the safest place to store paper assets.
7 Investment Lessons From Mom
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/28/2015 15:40 -0500"Don't run with sharp objects" ... "If everyone jumped off the cliff - Would you do it too?" ...and "Don't talk to strangers!"
Economists Confirm Financial Aid Is Inflating Student Loan Bubble
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/22/2015 21:45 -0500A paper recently published by the National Bureau of Economic Research confirms that a large percentage of the increase in college tuition can be explained by increases in the amount of available financial aid: "Essentially, [financial aid] lead to higher college costs and more debt, and in the absence of higher labor market returns, more loan default inevitably occurs."
Congress's $1.15 Trillion Spending Bill: Heads They Win, Tails You Lose
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/21/2015 15:30 -0500Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s seminal masterpiece Crime and Punishment is often thought of as one of the longest classics at more than 200,000 words. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, which was signed into law on Friday, is nearly twice as long. At 887 pages, the bill allocates $1.15 trillion in war and discretionary spending for fiscal year 2016 which began almost three months ago. (That’s an average of $1.3 billion in spending PER PAGE of the bill.) In making it public law, President Obama has effectively signed the death warrant of the US government’s finances.
Global Trade Snapshot - "The Pain Is Getting Worse"
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/19/2015 19:25 -0500In December 2013, in a sign of robust global trade driving demand for container ships, the Baltic Dry Index peaked at 2,330. By July 2014, rates had collapsed to 730. Today, rates have fallen to 471, the lowest since the recession began (in fact, the lowest ever). The BDI is a leading indicator pointing to worse trade conditions. Just as the 2014 collapse in the BDI reflected a collapse in global trade, the recent erosion in the BDI signals further trade weakness to come. Here's a snapshot of the meltdown.. and the pain is getting worse.
The Fed Rate Hike: the Torpedo is Launched
Submitted by Sprott Money on 12/19/2015 05:59 -0500One would think that the Criminals, themselves, would not have the audacity to use the same Script (with just minor plot variations) every eight years. But here we go, again.
Thirty Years of Zero Price Discovery in Silver
Submitted by Sprott Money on 12/18/2015 05:58 -0500Despite these economic dynamics that are automatic in any legitimate market, there has been no price discovery in the silver market for three decades.
The Billionaire's Pick: How Marco Rubio Became The Preferred Puppet Of GOP Oligarchs
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/15/2015 19:00 -0500As concerning and hateful as so much of Trump’s commentary is, we can at least be sure he speaks from his own twisted mind. This is precisely why he appeals to so many people in this day and age of completely captured politicians. People like the fact that every word out of his mouth hasn’t been carefully placed there by some billionaire patron. On the exact opposite end of that spectrum we find Marco Rubio. A man so incapable of free-thought, he becomes the ideal target for billionaires looking to craft the perfect puppet. Forget Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio is now the establishment GOP’s pick, and they will do everything in their power to get him the nomination.
Fractional-Reserve Banking is Pure Fraud, Part IV
Submitted by Sprott Money on 12/14/2015 05:58 -0500At this point, many readers may be thinking to themselves that it can’t get any worse.
Bitcoin Breaks Out Higher After China Announces Crackdown On UnionPay POS Devices
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/11/2015 20:30 -0500When we first detailed the link between a devaluing currency, increasing restrictions on outflows of China capital, and Bitcoin, the virtual currency soared (driven by Chinese flows, just as predicted). The last few days, as China has once again started devaluing its currency, authorities once again moved to tighten capital outflows - this time through caps on credit-card withdrawals (as warned here) - and sure enough, Bitcoin has been soaring recently. Specifically, a nationwide crackdown on illegal UnionPay point-of-sale devices, has sparked capital flight (on heavy volume) through the vurtual currrency.



