JPMorgan Chase

As Bloomberg reports, "JPMorgan Chase & Co. is set to pay almost a third of a $1.86 billion settlement to resolve accusations that a dozen big banks conspired to limit competition in the credit-default swaps market, according to people briefed on terms of the deal."

Clearly the title to this piece will be viewed as controversial, if not entirely heretical, by many readers. However, the facts (and more importantly) the economic principles here are unequivocal. “Bigger” is not better.

"It’s like a pig on LSD. You don’t know which way it’s going to run"...

The Federal Reserve system was created in December 1913 with the stroke of the pen by then President Woodrow Wilson. Since that time, consumer purchasing power has fallen from $1,000 in December 1913 to … $40 today.

• 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)

"The one thing I do worry a little bit about, by the way, is Treasuries. So I wouldn’t be shocked to see 10-year Treasuries, when rates are going up, people change their mind, they change direction, that they will be violently volatile and go up much faster than people think."

Behind the veneer of “all is well” being promoted by both world Governments and the Mainstream Media, the political and financial elite have begun implementing moves to prepare for the next Crisis.

September is here. As expected, market volatility is increasing. The Great Zombie War is intensifying. And investors are getting scared. Now they even want to do away with the State’s own scrip... You see where this is going, don’t you? If the feds are able to ban cash, they will have you completely under their control. You will invest when they want you to invest. You will buy when and what they want you to buy. You will be forced to keep your money in a bank – a bank controlled, of course, by the feds.

• Global Stocks Struggle to Shrug Off China Fears (WSJ)
• Brief Respite Ends for European Stocks Amid Renewed Retreat (BBG)
• Stock futures rise after China injects $21.8 billion (Reuters)
• China turmoil needn't rattle BOJ, yen rise not a worry: Abe adviser (Reuters)
• Stock-Market Tumult Exposes Flaws in Modern Markets (WSJ)
• Dollar gains as stocks recover, lessens safe-haven bid for yen (Reuters)

The eventual outcome to all this is captured brilliantly in this quote by Ludwig Von Mises, the Austrian economist: "There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved." The credit expansion happened between 1980 and 2008, there was a warning shot which was soundly ignored by ignorant central bankers, and now we have more, not less, debt with which to contend.

Everyone knows the disparity between CEO pay and worker pay is vast in America. Now, the SEC is set to require companies to publish how much more their executives make than their employees. According to Bloomberg, at least one of these 11 CEOs "may have some explaining to do."

After years of moving lower, the past two quarters have seen a marked increase in Commercial & Industrial Nonperforming Loans.

What the data does suggest is while the BEA can change the methodology for calculating economic growth, a change in the "math" does not change the "reality."

• Turkey says coalition to launch 'comprehensive battle' against Islamic State (Reuters)
• Buffett’s Celebration Tempered by 50th Anniversary Stock Slump (BBG)
• SEC Set to Approve CEO Pay-Gap Disclosure Rule (WSJ)
• Greece wants full bailout, not bridge loan, ruling party says  (Reuters)
• Stocks Rise Fueled by Strong European Corporate Earnings and Chinese Data (WSJ)
• JPMorgan Reclaims Place Among U.S.'s Top 10 Biggest Stocks (BBG)
• Eurozone retail sales fall sharply in June (MW)

Did you know that the Federal Reserve pays an annual 6% dividend to its shareholders, i.e., the member banks of the cartel? Must be nice, considering savers who had nothing to do with cratering the world economy, and failed to receive a taxpayer funded bailout, can barely earn 0.5% on their money. It’s also quite bizarre. How many other “public institutions” have private shareholders to whom they pay 6% risk free dividends? None, which once again highlights the point that the Federal Reserve is NOT a public institution working on behalf of the citizenry, but is rather a banking cartel designed to enriched and protect its member banks (as we saw on clear display in 2008). It appears that some members of Congress are now targeting the estimated $17 billion per year paid out by the Fed to its member banks via the highway-funding bill.