New York Times

With winter looming, some European states are warning that a humanitarian crisis may be right around the corner as the proliferation of anti-migrant fences and border controls has slowed refugees on their trek to Germany. Now, hundreds of thousands could end up stranded. Fearing a "catastrophe" on its soil, Slovenia has now built its own razor wire border barrier, a move Croatia calls "a waste of time." 

Meet Melissa Click. Assistant Professor of Mass Media at the University of Missouri, and woman who was caught on video asking for “muscle” in order to physically remove a reporter from reporting on a story in a public place. Yes ladies and gentleman, welcome to America’s college campuses. If you haven’t seen this video, you must watch it immediately... (and put down any sharp objects before you do).

He built the world's fastest road-legal car. He produced a classic British gangster flick. And he fell to his death on Sunday amid the global deflationary supply glut.

"All. Bets. Are. Off"...

In what's being described as a "palpably tense" tense auction, a "Chinese Beverly Hillbilly" dubbed "The Eccentric Mr. Liu" paid the second highest price at auction in history for a Modigliani. 

"...middle-aged whites have lost the narrative of their lives. ... while universal health care, higher minimum wages, aid to education, and so on would do a lot to help Americans in trouble, I’m not sure whether they’re enough to cure existential despair."

20...!

Based on last week’s developments, which included the launch of an investigation into the world’s largest oil company and the rejection of the most politicized energy project to date, the “above ground” problems for the energy industry are growing much worse. That could complicate the future fortunes of oil and gas companies.

• Global Stocks Slip Lower (WSJ)
• Dollar sits pretty, bond yields rise as Fed bets firm (Reuters)
• Takeover Loans Have Few Takers on Wall Street (WSJ)
• Chinese Buyers Seek Dollar Assets as Promise of Yuan Gains Fades (BBG)
• Banking Giants Learn Cost of Preventing Another Lehman Moment (BBG)
• Eurozone Finance Ministers Won’t Release $2.15 billion Loan to Greece (WSJ)

There was a time when there were needs, and there were wants, and we knew the difference. Now? Now, no such boundaries exist. Your 4,000 Facebook friends should know if you can’t pay for your rent - or your plastic surgery. And who knows? They may just pay up.

"This is essentially the result of very low export prices out of China that are impacting prices worldwide. It is obvious that we are operating in a very challenging market."

It is now open season on "climate change deniers" everywhere.

"The Trans-Pacific Partnership means that America will write the rules for 21st century trade," according to President Obama, but as Reuters reports, U.S. unions, lawmakers and interest groups questioned the long-awaited text of a landmark U.S.-backed Pacific trade deal on Thursday. "It's worse than we thought,” Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, told members and U.S. labor representatives said the agreement contained weak, poorly worded or unenforceable provisions, concluding "we do not believe those improvements are significant or meaningful for workers." It appears, that ObamaTrade may be a boon for factory and export economies like Malaysia and Vietnam, but - as expected - will achieve little for the average joe in America.

These are not problems that can be glibly dismissed with a few well-chosen words, as most politicians are inclined to do. Nor will the 2016 elections do much to alter our present course towards a police state. Indeed, it is doubtful whether the popularity contest for the new occupant of the White House will significantly alter the day-to-day life of the average American greatly at all. Those life-changing decisions are made elsewhere, by nameless, unelected government officials who have turned bureaucracy into a full-time and profitable business.