Testimony

Germany has long been a pioneer in the field of renewable energy, generating a record 78 percent of its power consumption from renewables in July of this year. In fact, Germany is one of the very few countries in the world that is actually struggling with too much renewable energy. The latest testimony to this fact is the new issue of decommissioning its old wind farms... and that is a growing problem (for The US too).

There was a very troubling 100 second interval at the end of Yellen's 50 minute, 5,000+ word speech in Amhert on Thursday, in which the 69-year old Yellen suddenly seemed unable to read the words on the page, was rereading the same phrase over and over, paused for long stretches at a time, and then had a violent reaction that forced her to end her speech prematurely. Watch it again below. But more disturbing was the Fed's reaction. As the WSJ reports, a Federal Reserve spokeswoman declined Friday to say if Chairwoman Janet Yellen resumed a normal work schedule or sought follow-up medical attention a day after she appeared ill near the end of a long speech in Amherst, Mass. Ms. Yellen returned to Washington on Friday.

European equity have been weighed on by BMW after reports in German press that the Co.'s emission tests for their X3 model could show worse results than that of the Volkswagen Passat. The Norwegian and Taiwanese central banks have both cut interest rates, taking the number of central banks to cut rates this year to 40. Today's highlights include US weekly jobs data and durable goods orders as well as comments from ECB's Praet and Fed's Yellen. Of note US data, including jobless claims, durables and home sales will be delayed today & not released to newswires 1st due to Pope's visit

Great companies like Hewlett-Packard are now being run not by adult professionals but day-trading punters. Carly Fiorina was one of the latter. She excelled at mastering her flash cards and pitching financial bubbles from the time of the misbegotten Lucent IPO, to her campaign for the Compaq acquisition, to her final days at Hewlett-Packard. What she didn’t excel at was learning a single thing that qualifies her to be President of the United States - not the least of which is humility. Fiorina needs to shut-up, sit down and flush her flash cards. The furtherance of liberty, prosperity and peace are not what Torquemada’s do.

Paying a premium for a pet rock?

Non-bombasitc overview of the investment climate.  No, the sky is not falling.  This is not the end of days.  

"Our Investor Desk would comply with a weekly request from (a client) for details of Central Bank activity that Citi had transacted."

The world is becoming increasingly chaotic and the American people are seeking a leader who can bring order, make tough decisions, and capture the zeitgeist of this moment in history. They are in search of a prophet generation (Boomer) Grey Champion, whose arrival marks the moment of darkness, adversity and peril as the Fourth Turning careens towards its climax. The Grey Champion doesn’t necessarily have to be a good person, but they must lead and display tremendous confidence in their cause and path. Franklin, Lincoln, and FDR have many detractors, but during their Fourth Turnings, they most certainly led, casting aside obstacles (sometimes illegally) and enduring dark days and bleak prospects for success. Is there someone of that stature ready to lead the American people now?

Until now the two men who have supposedly discovered the final resting place of the Nazi "Gold Train" had kept their identity secret, fuelling suspicion that their claims were a hoax. This week, they finally revealed themselves to the Polish media. “We have clear evidence of the train,” said Mr Koper from reading a short prepared statement, adding they had found it by using “our own resources, eyewitness testimony and our own equipment and skills.” As proof of their discovery, the men released an image taken with ground penetrating radar purportedly showing an armoured train.

"Not 'IF' but 'WHEN central banks lose control?' The global financial repression pushed investors to invest cash in risky assets, such as property and equity. The scale of global policy interventions is trumping all fundamental factors for now. Investors should keep in mind that the road is never straight and next month should be full of potentially disruptive events impacting sharply overcrowded assets and trades. History shows that such misallocation of resources creates bubbles that can last before fully blowing; the question is not if, but when."

• China’s Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates (WSJ)
• Chinese Stocks Crash Again to Extend Biggest Plunge Since 1996 (BBG)
• China cuts rates, reserve ratio to aid economy as stocks sink (Reuters)
• Wall St. suffers worst day in four years, S&P confirms correction (Reuters)
• Europe's Stocks Head for Best Day Since 2011 (BBG)
• Market turmoil clouds Fed rate outlook (FT)
• For All Its Heft, China’s Economy Is a Black Box (WSJ)

“The Americans allowed ISIS to rise to power because they wanted to get Assad out from Syria. But they didn’t anticipate that the results would be so far beyond their control.” This was not, then, a US intelligence failure as such. Rather, the US failure to to curtail the rise of ISIS and its likely destabilization of both Iraq and Syria, was not due to a lack of accurate intelligence? - ?which was abundant and precise? - ?but due to an ill-conceived political decision to impose ‘regime change’ on Syria at any cost. We can’t come up with any other logical conclusion. Either way, such people have no business running the affairs of these United States, and their actions are merely increasing instability and violence across the planet. The longer they remain in charge with no accountability, the more dangerous this world will become.

The police and surveillance state predicted in the forward-looking 1940s classic “1984” by George Orwell, has slowly, but steadily, come to fruition. However, like a frog sitting idly in a pan of steadily-warming water, too many Americans still seem unaware that the slow boil of big government is killing their constitutional liberties. The latest sign of this stealth takeover of civil rights and freedom was epitomized in recent Senate testimony by FBI Director James Comey, who voiced his objections to civilian use of encryption to protect personal data – information the government has no automatic right to obtain.

August 6th and 9th of 2015 mark the 70th anniversary of the U.S. dropping two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was the first and only time a state used a nuclear device on cities (or civilians) of another state. Some conservative estimates put the immediate death toll of the two bombs at 200,000 people. This is more than the total number of American soldiers killed in the Pacific front of World War II. Since the bombs were dropped, the U.S. government, U.S. high school history texts, and the American public have asserted that dropping the bombs was necessary. But was it?

Earlier this year, Germany’s attorney-general Harald Range has suspended the investigation into the NSA phone tapping affair. Due to Edward Snowden’s revelations, it had emerged that the NSA had wire-tapped even chancellor Merkel’s mobile phone. The reason for suspending the investigation? “We can’t prove it, and the Americans won’t tell us anything”. Of course documented proof does exist, and US officials have even admitted to tapping Ms. Merkel’s phone. It couldn't be any clearer that Germany is essentially a US vassal state. Since then, a plethora of NSA and BND-related scandals has emerged. But now, the president of Germany’s “Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution” (another spook agency) brought criminal charges against journalists working for the online publication “Netzpolitik”. Allegedly, the journalists are guilty of treason. Their offense? They reported on the spook bureaucracy’s plans to vastly expand internet surveillance of Germany’s citizens.