SWIFT

Is Low-Level Radiation Dangerous … Or Harmless?  How Much Radiation Will We Be Exposed To?  How Can We Protect Ourselves from Radiation?

• What can possibly go wrong: Tepco Successfully Removes First Nuclear Fuel Rods at Fukushima (BBG)
• Japan's Banks Find It Hard to Lend Easy Money (WSJ)
• U.S. Military Eyes Cut to Pay, Benefits (WSJ)
• Airbus to Boeing Cash In on Desert Outpost Made Field of Dreams (BBG); Dubai Air Show: Boeing leads order books race (BBG)
• Sony sells 1 million PlayStation 4 units in first 24 hours (Reuters)
• Russian Tycoon Prokhorov to Buy Kerimov's Uralkali Stake (WSJ)
• Google Opening Showrooms to Show Off Gadgets for Holidays (BBG)
• Need. Moar. Prop. Trading: Federal Reserve considering a delay to Volcker rule (FT)
• Raghuram Rajan plans ‘dramatic remaking’ of India’s banking system (FT)
• SAC Capital's Steinberg faces insider trading trial (Reuters)

In a few years’ time we might all be whining because there is no more water left in the world apparently. That’s because according to the World Economic Forum “we are now on the verge of water bankruptcy in many places around the world, with no clear way of repaying the debt”.

Radiation Levels Will Concentrate in Pockets at Certain  West Coast Locations

If you’re anything like us, you may have reached the conclusions that:

1. Our elected officials are charting a course to a fiscal disaster.
2. The Fed is repeating past mistakes by setting us up for another bust.

After the drama of the debt ceiling debate and the Fed’s non-tapering surprise, we see no reason to doubt these views. But the latest developments got us thinking, and we have an unusual proposal.

• Central Banks Drop Tightening Talk as Easy Money Goes On (BBG)
• More Democrats voice Obamacare concerns as website blame goes around (Reuters)
• Contractors Point Fingers Over Health-Law Website (WSJ)
• Jury Decides Against BofA on 'Hustle' Program (WSJ)
• Credit Suisse to overhaul interest rates trading business (FT)
• Home Builders Target Higher End (WSJ)
• The Many Lives of Iron Mountain (NYer)
• Busy tourist season nudges Spanish unemployment lower (Reuters)
• Morgan Stanley Joins BofA in Broker Recruiting Truce (BBG)
• Ending World’s Longest Nonstop Flight Adds Five Hours (BBG)

In his last book, The Five Stages of Collapse, Orlov viewed collapse through rose-colored glasses - after all, it is human nature to try to be optimistic no matter what; and so almost subconsciously crafted a scenario where industrial civilization fades away quickly enough to save what's left of the natural realm, allowing some remnant of humanity to make a fresh start. Ideally, it would start of with a global financial collapse triggered by a catastrophic loss of confidence in the tools of globalized finance. That would swiftly morph into commercial collapse, caused by global supply chain disruption and cross-contagion. As business activity grinds to a halt and tax revenues dwindle to zero, political collapse wipes most large-scale political entities off the map, allowing small groups of people to revert to various forms of anarchic, autonomous self-governance. Those groups that have sufficient social cohesion, direct access to natural resources, and enough cultural wealth (in the form of face-to-face relationships and oral traditions) would survive while the rest swiftly perish. Of course, there are problems even with this scenario.

The Spying Has Been Going On For DECADES

Bonus: Did the Saudi Intelligence Chief and Other High-Ranking Officials Trade on Inside Information Regarding 9/11?

"... the announcement of a reduction in asset purchases at this meeting might trigger an additional, unwarranted tightening of financial conditions, perhaps because markets would read such an announcement as signaling the Committee’s willingness, notwithstanding mixed recent data, to take an initial step toward exit from its highly accommodative policy...the tightening of financial conditions observed in recent months, if sustained, could slow the pace of improvement in the economy and labor market...  it was noted that if the Committee did not pare back its purchases in these circumstances, it might be difficult to explain a cut in coming months, absent clearly stronger data on the economy and a swift resolution of federal fiscal uncertainties.... postponing the reduction in the pace of asset purchases would also allow time for the Committee to further discuss and to implement a clarification or strengthening of its forward guidance for the federal funds rate, which could temper the risk that a future downward adjustment in asset purchases would cause an undesirable tightening of financial conditions."

In what had already been exposed as a 'contentious' meeting the minutes of the last Un-Taper FOMC meeting show a Fed in turmoil...

• *MOST FED OFFICIALS SAW QE TAPERING THIS YEAR, HALTING MID-2014
  
• *FOMC FORECAST `GRADUAL ABATEMENT' OF HEADWINDS SLOWING GROWTH
  
• *A NUMBER OF FOMC PARTICIPANTS SAW RISING FISCAL POLICY RISK
• *SEVERAL FOMC PARTICIPANTS SAW FINANCIAL CONDITIONS AS TIGHTER

Of course, the question is - will Yellen be a consensus-seeker or dictator?

Pre - S&P 500 Futs 1653, 10Y 2.66%, 10/17 bill 40bps, EUR 1.3515, Gold $1310

With Chairsatan Ben's days at the Fed officially numbered, it seems some enterprising Nigerian businessmen have already found a new (and far more reputable many would say) position for the man who never once in his Chairman tenure initiated a tightening cycle, and single-handedly exploded the Fed's balance sheet over threefold.

“Spies … Can Now, For The First Time, Monitor Everything About Us, And They Can Do So With A Few Clicks Of A Mouse And – To Placate The Lawyers – A Drop-Down Menu Of Justifications”

Earlier today, one of the most popular websites that use and promote the use of BitCoin, Silk Road, was shut down by the US government. As Reuters reports, U.S. law enforcement authorities raided an Internet site that served as a marketplace for illegal drugs, including heroin and cocaine, and arrested its owner, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Wednesday. The FBI arrested Ross William Ulbricht, known as "Dread Pirate Roberts," in San Francisco on Tuesday, according to court filings. Federal prosecutors charged Ulbricht with one count each of narcotics trafficking conspiracy, computer hacking conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, according to a court filing. Anyone visiting the site would be greeted with the following "game over" screen.

Back in August, just after the false flag chemical weapon attack in Syria, we showed that despite all the posturing by the Obama administration (and, of course, France's belligerent, socialist leader Francois Hollande), the nation behind the entire Syrian campaign was not one of the "democratic", Western nations but none other than close neighbor Saudi Arabia, and the brain orchestrating every move of the western puppets was one Bandar bin Sultan, the nation's influential intelligence chief. We also explained the plethora of geopolitical and mostly energy-related issues that Saudi and Qatar had at stake, which they were eager to launch a regional war over, just to promote their particular set of selfish interests. A month later, in clear confirmation that this was precisely the case, the WSJ reported that the recent overtures by Obama, brilliantly checkmated by Putin, to push for a peaceful resolution with not only Syria, but suddenly Iran as well, has managed to infuriate Saudi Arabia: traditionally one of the US' closest allies in the region and the key source of crude oil to the western world.