None

“We want to make it completely clear to voters that there’s absolutely no reason - none at all - why we couldn’t shell out another $10 billion between now and next November,”

“Consider for example a tax cut for households and businesses that is explicitly coupled with incremental Bank of Japan purchases of government debt – so that the tax cut is in effect financed by money creation”

- Ben Bernanke, Some Thoughts on Monetary Policy in Japan, 2003

No, not Donald Trump...

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

Collapse begins when real reform becomes impossible.

A modest 1.4% rise in unit labor costs in Q3 was dramatically below the expected (and hope-strewn) 2.5% growth and means unit labor costs have missed expectations for the 3rd quarter in a row for the first time since 2003. Perhaps just as bad, historical (weak) data was revised notably lower but of course, as Yellen and Fisher have made clear - none of this matters for the data-un-dependent Fed's December decision.

Collectivism requires the homogenization of society, to the point that individualism is frowned upon and success is treated as negligible. The nightmare of collectivism is the defining battle of our age. It is in this era that we will decide whether or not individual liberty and freedom of thought are more important than the illusory security and “harmony” of the collective. Collectivism and individualism cannot coexist; confrontation is inevitable. Recognizing this, and preparing for it, is our duty as free human beings.

The story behind Malaysia PM Najib Razak's Goldman-backed slush fund just got even stranger as it now appears some $2.3 billion in mystery money tied to an ill-fated investment with the Saudis ended up being managed by an Australian penny stock pusher via a shady Cayman Islands account. 

The real interesting part of the latest Quinnipiac University National Poll, is not the fact that 60% of Americans think Hillary Clinton is dishonest, but that 40% of Americans don’t.

When Saudi Arabia moved to Plaxico themselves last November by killing the petrodollar in an effort to bankrupt the US shale space and tighten the screws on Moscow, Riyadh set in motion a series of events that culminted in a 20% fiscal deficit and, most recently, an S&P downgrade. Now, the kingdom is not only running out of money, but water and food as well.

Over the past decade; our markets have ceased to behave like “markets”, at all. 

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.

The stock market has been soaring, but all of the hard economic numbers are telling us that a major global recession is here.  This is so reminiscent of what happened back in 2008.  Back then, all of the fundamentals were screaming “recession” by the middle of that year, but the equity markets didn’t respond until later.  It appears that a similar pattern is playing out right now. Just like in 2008, the irrational optimists are going to keep chanting their happy mantras for as long as they possibly can.

If you thought the increases in insurance premiums incurred to date, you ain't seen nothing yet. According to a new study by McKinsey looking at the perverse consequences of Obamacare, "insurers struggled to predict their costs, and many didn’t set rates high enough to cover the care of those they enrolled." And now, they are going to do just that...