South Carolina

“If the freedom of speech be taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” - George Washington

To many Americans, even many who did not vote for him, the election of Barack Obama seemed to hold out the promise that our racial divide could be healed by a black president. Even Obama’s supporters must concede it did not happen, though we would, again, argue angrily over why.

At a certain point, we suppose Joe Biden took a look at the state of the 2016 race for The White House and thought: "why not me?"

The three men shown left, who are not from Texas but in fact reside some 1,400 miles away from the “front lines” in North Carolina, allegedly "had a deadly plot to lure government forces into a trap," in retaliation for the Pentagon’s supposed plan to “use the armed forces to impose martial law in the United States."

Amid the 16 (yes sixteen!) candidates for Republican Presidential nominee, there is one, and only one, that stands above the rest in terms of sheer un-filtered, un-political, and some would say un-presidential outspoken-ness. In an oustanding aggregation of abuse, The Hill has documented Donald Trump's Top 30 insults (so far in the 2016 campaign alone).

As dozens now vie for residence in the big white one of Pennsylvania Avenue, MarketWatch, courtesy of LoanDepot.com and CoreLogic, unveil the homes (since most own more than one) and mortgages of the 2016 presidential candidates. With homeownership rates at multi-decade lows, and the American Dream disappearing for most, it appears it pays to be in government - from Trump Tower and Clinton's Compounds to Bernie Sanders' underwater mortgages and Carly Fiorina's five fireplaces...

The pantsuit revolutionary is at it again. Once again demonstrating her populist chops by employing the services of lobbyists to bundle millions in campaign funds. It’s no wonder opinion polls on her have been plunging as of late.

The nuclear industry in the United States has been at a standstill for several decades. After an extraordinary wave of construction in the 1960s and 1970s, the nuclear industry ground to a halt. Operating nuclear reactors for 80 years may be feasible, but wear and tear cannot only raise safety questions, but constant maintenance can make them economically unviable. Cracks can form in plants as they age, forcing the plant offline. The cost of repairs have already forced some power plants offline for good. The San Onofre plant in California, for example, was shut down by Southern California Edison after the bill to repair leaks ballooned. Duke Energy closed a reactor at its Crystal River power plant in Florida as repair costs got out of hand. Such incidents could be more frequent in the years ahead. But if the industry gets its way, some plants could operate well beyond their current 60-year licenses.

"A Ku Klux Klan chapter and an African-American group plan overlapping demonstrations on Saturday outside the South Carolina State House, where state officials removed the Confederate battle flag last week", Reuters reports.

Piling on more debt is the worst possible way to correct structural trade and productivity imbalances, yet that is the Eurozone's "solution" to Greece's debt/ trade/ productivity/ corruption crisis.

Despite losing marquee PGA and LPGA events, a bankruptcy at his Puerto Rico golf course, and the lowest ratings for his Miss USA pageant ever, Donald Trump has topped the rest of the GOP presidential field in polls for the second time in as many weeks...

• Only update software on down days: NYSE, SEC Suspect Software Update Triggered Trading Halt (BBG)
• Trade halts add to China’s Potemkin market problem (Reuters)
• Why Beijing’s Efforts Have Failed to Tame China’s Stock Market (WSJ)
• Irrational Exuberance Triggers Chaos as China Watchdog Sidelined (BBG)
• China bounce ends five-day losing streak for stocks (Reuters)
• Fear Grows in Greece as Decisive Hour Nears (WSJ)
• Once Swarming with Greek Visitors, a Bulgarian Town Reels as Business Languishes (WSJ)
• Greece Shuts Markets Through July 13 as Officials Debate Bailout (BBG)
• Germany calls for European defence sector consolidation (Reuters)

A day of diplomatic blow-ups in Europe just had a more literal, if perhaps more tragic echo, in the US when minutes ago in a scene straight out of Breaking Bad took place in real life when an F-16 fighter jet is said to have crashed into a civillian Cessna airplane, above Highway 52, near Cooper River in Berkely County, 30 miles north of Charleston, South Carolina.

Last month we made the following admittedly stark prediction: "Ultimately, it appears America has become a country wherein everyone feels marginalized and/or aggrieved in one way or another. In the absence of a dramatic societal reboot, we fear social instability is likely here to stay." That assessment appears to have been quite accurate because over the course of just two weeks, six predominantly African American churches in the US have burned, with authorities suspecting arson in several of the blazes.