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News That Matters

• Commodities in crisis as Asian shares tumble and shipper files for bankruptcy (Reuters)
• Global Rout Eases as S&P 500 Futures Advance With Oil, Glencore (BBG)
• Chinese Stocks Decline Most in a Month in Hong Kong on Economy (BBG)
• India cuts interest rates by more than expected (BBC)
• Glencore Rebounds as $50 Billion Plunge Is Seen as Excessive (BBG)
• How Congress May Have Saved Goldman Sachs From Itself (BBG)

We are a scant 40 years away from the futuristic world that science fiction author Philip K. Dick envisioned for Minority Report in which the government is all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful, and if you dare to step out of line, dark-clad police SWAT teams will crack a few skulls to bring the populace under control. Increasingly, the world around us resembles Dick’s dystopian police state in which the police combine widespread surveillance, behavior prediction technologies, data mining and precognitive technology to capture would-be criminals before they can do any damage. In other words, the government’s goal is to prevent crimes before they happen: precrime.

• Headline winner: "Read Beyond Massive Job-Cuts Headlines: Labor Market Is Fine" (BBG)
• And speaking of lies: The More Yellen Talks Up Inflation, the Less Traders Believe Her (BBG)
• How Some Investors Get Special Access to Companies (WSJ)
• Victorious Catalan separatists claim mandate to break with Spain (Reuters)
• Russia seizes initiative in Syria (Reuters)
• Former VW boss Winterkorn investigated for fraud (Reuters)
• Investors Pull Back From Junk Bonds (WSJ)

• Stocks slip for fifth straight day, euro holds steady (Reuters)
• VW recall letters in April warned of an emissions glitch (Reuters)
• VW Cheating Scandal Threatens to Ensnare BMW as Probe Widens (BBG)
• Pope Francis set to address fractious U.S. Congress (Reuters)
• Norway Cuts Rates to Record Low to Save Economy From Oil Slump (BBG)
• Taiwan Cuts Rate for First Time Since 2009 as Exports Falter (BBG)
• Janet Yellen to speak at UMass on Thursday (Daily Collegian)
• A Big Bet That China’s Currency Will Devalue Further (NYT)
• Debt Relief for Students Snarls Market for Their Loans (WSJ)

• Fed is out so...BOJ brainstorms stimulus overhaul as options dwindle (Reuters)
• And... Yellen Pause Ups Pressure on Draghi as Global Pessimism Mounts (BBG)
• But... Eurozone Nears Limits of What Monetary Policy Can Do (WSJ)
• Global shares struggle on global growth concerns (Reuters)
• VW's Emissions Cheating Found by Curious Clean-Air Group (BBG)
• David Cameron allegedly fucked a dead pig's head (Mirror)

She's a block away from the ghost of Steve Jobs. It's a lovely neighbhorhood, to be sure. But...........thirty million dollars???

While Lindsay Graham was a clear winner in the undercard (like being the tallest midget?), the main event was a mosh-pit of anatagonistic self-abuse for The GOP as candidates ran rough-shod over each other and the moderators. Fiorina stood up to Trump (though not too aggressively) and Trump replied how beautiful Fiorina's face was, Paul was bowled over (by Trump), and Trump was ironically dismissed as "a great entertainer" as the debate took place in great entertainer Ronald Reagan's library. It was clear that "the rest" of the GOP field was not about to let Trump dominate... and he didn't but the night was, in one word, chaos. Trump spoke the most as expected and in most polls was voted as 'winner' with Fiorina gaining most.

"A couple of days there is no currency. Only buy dollars and euros, in the tenge no changes, so there is no currency. People go, constantly ask dollars or euros."

• China stocks resume sharp slide as economic worries mount (Reuters)
• OECD head says sees further cut to global growth forecasts (Reuters)
• The U.S. Dollar Is Gaining Like It's the 1980s — For Better or Worse (BBG)
• Glencore Slumps to Record Low, Erasing Gains Since Debt Plan (BBG)
• Woman killed, 400 homes destroyed by California wildfire (Reuters)
• Why Morning Is the Worst Time to Trade Stocks (WSJ)
• German Investor Confidence Damped by Weaker Emerging Markets (BBG)

• China stocks slide as data raises fresh economy worries (Reuters)
• Was Tom Hayes Running the Biggest Financial Conspiracy in History? (BBG)
• The Fed’s Policy Mechanics Retool for a Rise in Interest Rates (NYT)
• Germany re-imposes border controls to slow migrant arrivals (Reuters)
• Thousands flee California wildfire as homes go up in flames (Reuters)
• Bavarian minister says German border controls could last for weeks (Reuters)
• China sells record FX in August, shows pressure after devaluation (Reuters)

We Americans are in something approaching complete denial about how truly horrible our nation’s recent impact on the rest of the world has been. We are universally hated, even by those who have their hands out to receive their Danegeld, and the world is undoubtedly shaking its head as it listens to the bile coming out of the mouths of our presidential candidates. Shakespeare observed that the “evil that men do lives after them,” but he had no experience of the United States.

News That Matters

Late last year, Paul Krugman took a field trip to Japan to observe Keynesian insanity prowling around in its natural habitat. While he was there, he gave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe some sage advice which can be roughly summarized as follows: "Abenomics is working so why would you screw it up by getting fiscally responsible all of the sudden?" Nine months later, Japan is still a deflationary deathtrap and Krugman is "really, really worried"...