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• Alexis Tsipras: the Syriza leader about to take charge in Greece (Guardian)
• Tsipras to form anti-bailout Greek government after big victory (Reuters)
• Tsipras Forges Anti-Austerity Coalition in EU Challenge (BBG)
• East Coast braces, flights canceled as 'historic' blizzard bears down (Reuters)
• Rebels press Ukraine offensive, Obama promises steps against Russian-backed 'aggression (Reuters)
• Syriza Victory Brings Hope for Immigrants of EU Access (BBG)
• For Saudis, Falling Demand for Oil Is the Biggest Concern (BBG)
• Oil prices fall on market relief over Saudi policy (Reuters)

The government’s health insurance website is quietly sending consumers’ personal data to private companies that specialize in advertising and analyzing Internet data for performance and marketing... but it's for your own good - The Obama administration says HealthCare.gov’s connections to data firms were intended to help improve the consumer experience.

• ECB to decide on bond-buying plan to revive euro zone (Reuters)
• Draghi Is Pushing Boundaries of Euro Region with QE Program (BBG)
• Investors Wonder Whether ECB Will Do Enough (WSJ)
• Treasuries Drop With Bunds Before ECB; U.S. Futures Rise (BBG)
• European shares hit seven-year high (Reuters)
• At least eight civilians killed in shelling of Ukrainian trolleybus (Reuters), both sides blame each other
• OPEC Will Blink First in Battle With Shale Drillers, Poll Shows (BBG)
• China Injects $8 Billion Into Banking System (WSJ)
• New York says Barclays not cooperating in 'dark pool' probe (Reuters)

The timidness with which mainstream media in the U.S. approaches news has been well documented. In fact, the inability of traditional media to do a reasonable job of holding powerful interests accountable has been one of the primary drivers behind the ascendency of alternative news. Despite this reality, one thing we know less about is specifically how the power structure goes about suppressing news it doesn’t want reaching the plebs. Until now...

• Obama Targets Income Gap in Address That Shapes 2016 Election (BBG)
• Republicans Reject Obama’s Main Economic Proposals (WSJ)
• Senate’s Shelby Says White House Bank Tax Is Dead on Arrival (BBG)
• Is Dollar Next? Investors Reassess After Swiss Shock: Currencies (BBG)
• Bank of Japan Cuts Price Forecast, Maintains Record Stimulus (BBG)
• Pound Weakens After BOE Policy Makers Drop Call to Raise Rates (BBG)
• Putin not flinching on Ukraine despite economic crisis (Reuters)
• Indonesia will not make public full preliminary AirAsia crash report (Reuters)
• Party Hasn't Stopped for Russians at Davos Even With Ukraine Sanctions (BBG)

UPDATE: Full SOTU Speech released - "THE SHADOW OF CRISIS HAS PASSED"

By now it is well known that The State of The Union tonight will be about President Obama's Robin-Hood Agenda. Furthermore, it is entirely clear that his proposals have no chance of becoming law. As WaPo's Marc Thiessen notes, Obama is not delusional, his move is completely and transparently political... And just as Eric Cantor suggests will merely serve to inflame the GOP. From taxes to cyber security and from community college to housing... in 50-65 minutes, all will be clear...

• Obama to focus on middle class in State of Union address (Reuters) - all 4 of them?
• European Stocks Buoyed by ECB Hopes (WSJ)
• China's 2014 economic growth misses target, hits 24-year low (Reuters)
• Federer on Swiss Franc Shock: "Does It Mean I've Got to Win Now?" (BBG)
• First-time buyers help Christie’s reach record sales (FT)
• So it was the NSA? U.S. Spies Tapped North Korean Computers Prior to Sony Hack (BBG)
• Why Chinese Developer Kaisa's Default Risk Has Money Managers Spooked (BBG)
• Morgan Stanley Misses Estimates on Drop in Bond-Trading Revenue (BBG)

the major story for us right now is that the broad concept incorporated in “Exter’s Pyramid” is in operation. This something we mentioned in Autumn last year and it’s occurring across currency and credit markets and, to some extent, in equities. To recap, John Exter (a former Fed official, ironically) thought of the post-Bretton Woods financial system as an inverted pyramid resting on its apex, emphasizing its inherent instability compared with a pyramid resting on its base. Within the pyramid are layers representing different asset classes, from the most risky at the top down to the least risky at the bottom. He foresaw a situation where capital would progressively flow from the top layers of the pyramid towards the bottom layers. “…creditors in the debt pyramid will move down the pyramid out of the most illiquid debtors at the top of the pyramid…Creditors will try to get out of those weak debtors & go down the debt pyramid, to the very bottom."

After yesterday's report that two Greek banks had suffered sufficiently material deposit withdrawals to force them to apply for the unpopular and highly stigmatizing Emergency Liquidity Assistance program with the ECB, now the other two of Greece's largest banks have also succumbed to reserve depletion after the Greek bank run appears to have gone viral. As Greek Capital.gr reports, now all four Greek banks have requested ELA assistance from the ECB.

If 2014 was the year of militarized police, armored tanks, and stop-and-frisk searches, 2015 may well be the year of technologized police, surveillance blimps and scan-and-frisk searches. Just as we witnessed neighborhood cops being transformed into soldier cops, we’re about to see them shapeshift once again, this time into robocops, complete with robotic exoskeletons, super-vision contact lenses, computer-linked visors, and mind-reading helmets. Similarly, just as military equipment created for the battlefield has been deployed on American soil against American citizens, we’re about to see military technology employed here at home in a manner sure to annihilate what’s left of our privacy and Fourth Amendment rights.

Success, we’re constantly told, breeds success. And success breeds stability. The way to avoid failure is to copy successful people and strategies. The way to continue succeeding is to do more of what has been successful. This line of thinking is so intuitively compelling that we wonder what other basis for success can there be other than 'success'? As counter-intuitive as it may sound, success rather reliably leads to failure and destabilization. Instead, it’s the close study of failure and the role of luck that leads to success. In the macro-economic arena, we think it highly likely that the monetary and fiscal policies of the past six years that are conventionally viewed as successful will lead to spectacular political and financial failures in 2015 and 2016. How can success breed failure? It turns out there are a number of dynamics at work.

On the heels of Russia's decision, as we reported here, to "increase [their] combat units in accordance with the new military doctrine," particularly focused on Crimea, NATO responded with threats/promises of more military drills and patrols. Having used their airspace but condescended their perspective as "hysterical," Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves is calling for much stronger NATO presence as he rages that "the world order found after the Cold War has been destroyed," by Putin.

For anyone who has actually worn Google Glass, the news today will not be a surprise, but as The Wall Street Journal reports, Google will stop selling the initial version of Glass to individuals after January 19th and is moving it from the Google X research lab to be a stand-alone unit reporting to Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive who heads Nest Labs. Analysts remain confident it will be a cajillion dollar business at some point in the future (along with Apple Watch).

Thing is, that whole line about how lower oil prices were going to be a boost for our economies was ignorant from the start. And there’s still plenty people believing just that. That may explain those EU stock exchange gains. That sort of thing all comes from people who don’t understand to what extent oil is pivotal to our societies. We’re not in 2008 anymore, when an oil price drop actually helped us crawl out of a tight spot. We’re $50 trillion down the road, and there won’t be another $50 trillion, or another road. For all intents and purposes, we are the center today, and we cannot hold this way.

Do you know what an “extremist” is? In the wake of the horrible terror attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in France, Barack Obama is speaking very boldly about the need to win the war against “extremists”, and he has announced plans to host a major global summit on “extremism” next month. And on the surface that sounds great. But precisely how are we supposed to determine whether someone is an “extremist” or not? What criteria should we use?