Several more slips like this one and the President’s strongest, most durable economy in the world could backslide into recession. On top of that, ‘the big one’ could rupture at any moment.

"Why has public opinion changed so much? How did our party misread public opinion? We failed. The Nationalist Party lost the elections. We didn't work hard enough."

After the worst two-week start to US stock trading in history, bulls need some cheering up. So here, courtesy of Citi's Brent Donnelly, is some levity: this is what China's Curriculum Vitae would look like if it was applying for a job. It is also a great summary for those who need a handy cheat sheet of where China was, where it is, and where it is going.

According to JPM's chief economist Michael Feroli, in the 4th quarter, the same quarter in which Yellen finally felt confident enough to declare the US economy strong enough to withstand a rate hike and a tightening cycle, US growth ground to a halt and as a result JPMorgan just cut its Q4 GDP forecast from 1.0% to 0.1%.

The U.S. government, in particular, has been overrun by the wrong kind of person. It’s a trend that’s been in motion for many years but has now reached a point of no return. In other words, a type of moral rot has become so prevalent that it’s institutional in nature. There is not going to be, therefore, any serious change in the direction in which the U.S. is headed until a genuine crisis topples the existing order. Until then, the trend will accelerate.

The Great War ended on the 11th hour of November 11th, 1918, when the signed armistice came into effect. Though this peace would signal the end of the war, it would also help lead to a series of further destruction: this time the destruction of wealth and savings. The world’s most famous hyperinflation event, which took place in Germany from 1921 and 1924, was a financial calamity that led millions of people to have their savings erased.

The consequences of all this will be felt all over the world, and for a long time to come. All of our economic systems run on oil, so many jobs are related to it, so many ‘fields’ in the economy, and no, things won’t get easier when oil is at $20 or $10, it’ll be a disaster of biblical proportions, like a swarm of locusts that leaves precious little behind. Squeeze oil and you squeeze the entire economic system. That’s what all the ‘low oil prices are great for the economy’ analysts missed (many still do). Entire nations will undergo drastic changes in leadership and prosperity.

Since 1928, there have been 22 Presidential Elections. In 14 of them, the S&P 500 climbed during the three months preceding election day. The incumbent President or party won in 12 of those 14 instances. However, in 7 of the 8 elections where the S&P 500 fell over that three month period, the incumbent party lost. Statistically, the market has an 86.4% success rate in forecasting the election!

With the feds probing Deutsche Bank's exaggerating Auto ABS demand, car dealerships suing automakers for being forced to channel-stuff, direct evidence of massive channel-stuffing with near-record inventories-to-sales, and sales now beginning to tumble after last month's weak credit growth, it is perhaps no wonder that Fitch has raised the warning flag about automotive vehicle and parts makers...