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"I realised that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than good... The NSA routinely lies in response to Congressional inquiries about scope of surveillance in America. The NSA is intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them.... What they're doing" poses "an existential threat to democracy."

- Edward Snowden, 29, PRISM Whistleblower

Blink and you have likely missed Obama's latest Watergate moment, this time following the disclosure that the White House has instructed the NSA to collect millions of daily phone records from Verizon (and likely all other carriers). What is surprising to us is that this is even news. We reported on just this in March of 2012 with “We Are This Far From A Turnkey Totalitarian State" - Big Brother Goes Live September 2013" and then again in April 2012 "NSA Whistleblower Speaks Live: "The Government Is Lying To You" using an NSA whistleblower as a source. Still, no matter the distribution platform, it is a welcome development for the majority of the population to know that the same Stazi tactics so loathed for decades in the fringes of the "evil empire" are now a daily occurrence under the "most transparent administration in history." This is especially true in the aftermath of the recent media scandals involving the soon to be former Attorney General.

• Global Stocks Tumble as Treasuries Rally, Yen Strengthens (BBG)
• China Export Gains Seen Halved With Fake-Data Crackdown (BBG) - so a crash in the GDP to follow?
• FBI and Microsoft take down botnet group  (FT)
• Quant hedge funds hit by bonds sell-off  (FT)
• Russia's Syria diplomacy, a game of smoke and mirrors (Reuters)
• Obama Confidantes Get Key Security Jobs (WSJ)
• BMW to Mercedes Skip Summer Breaks to Keep Plants Rolling even as European auto demand slides to a 20-year low (BBG) - thank you cheap credit
• Paris threat to block EU-US trade talks  (FT)

The last war America fought openly through proxy was the Vietnam War. The sad and disturbing reality is that most wars fought by our country over the course of the past century have not been fought on principle. Instead, they have been fought for profit and for the consolidation of power and oligarchy. The war in Syria will not be about Syria. It will not be about the freedom of the people. It will not be about dethroning Assad or establishing democracy. It will not be about defusing violence in the region. Syria will not be the target; we will be the target — our society, our rights, our nation. America is in the middle of the most insidious consolidation of power in history and Syria is merely a stepping stone in the game. If we cannot maintain our vigilance and allow ourselves to be sucked into the proxy war façade, the elites will get their global conflict with little to no home opposition. The globalists will win, and everyone else will lose.

If you look at the history of financial crises in Argentina, you will see there is almost no 10-year period when there isn't a financial crisis. Argentines have become masters at dealing with things like inflation and ridiculous government policies. How can the actions of the Argentine government give us insight into what a desperate government is capable of and what might be in store for the United States? The current Argentine government is dominated by true believers – young people who have that idealistic notion of equality for all, and who believe that government mandates can fix anything that ails. They are hardcore socialists, leaning towards communism. But, as is the case in the United States, they really don't know what they are doing and so pursue policies that are incredibly shortsighted. They are uninformed as far as history and economics are concerned and blunder from one harebrained policy to another. There is literally nothing that they will not try. It is like a textbook case in government gone mad. There is a lesson to be learned from all of this, and I think it is a very important one. When it comes right down to it, any government – not just the Argentine government, but the US government as well – will simply do whatever it thinks it needs to do to keep the status quo intact, with no moral or ethical considerations.

As more and more "baby boomers" head into retirement the need for high quality, independent, registered investment advisors will continue to grow.  The need for firms that do organic research, analysis and make investment decisions free from "conflict," and in the client's best interest, will continue to be in high demand in the years to come as more "boomers" leave the workforce.  While the "Wall Street" game is not likely to change anytime soon; the trust of Wall Street is fading and fading fast.  The rise of algorithmic, program and high frequency trading, scandals, insider trading and "crony capitalism" with Washington is causing "retail investors" to turn away to seek other alternatives.

Today, there is almost zero truth in mainstream media. The fascist corporate-banking-government machine has ensured that mainstream media has now become the official department of propaganda, not only in political news, but also regarding nearly all financial news as well.

• Record unemployment, low inflation underline Europe's pain (Reuters)
• The ponzi gets bigger and bigger: Spanish banks up sovereign bond holdings by more than 10% (FT)
• California Lawmakers Turn Down Moratorium on Fracking (BBG)
• China’s Growing Ranks of Elderly Beset by Depression, Study Says (BBG)
• Tokyo Prepares for a Once-in-200-Year Flood to Top Sandy (BBG)
• Morgan Stanley Cutting Correlation Unit Added $50 Billion (BBG)
• IMF warns over yen weakness (FT)
• Rising radioactive spills leave Fukushima fishermen floundering (Reuters)
• India records slowest growth in a decade (FT)

Moments ago the 101 USDJPY tractor beam was broken, sending the pair lower, as a red headline hit the tape saying that...

• JAPAN TO IMPOSE NEW RULES ON FOREX MARGIN TRADING, NIKKEI SAYS

Which incidentally was long overdue: with the BOJ scrambling to contain bond (and stock, if only to the downside) volatility, it was always the FX market that was the primary uber-levered culprit moving both asset classes. As such, it was very surprising that in a world in which all correlated asset classes (just look at the USDJPY-ES relationship) are driven by FX, that currency leverage and margin rules have remained largely untouched by regulators and central bankers whose credibility is suddenly slipping away, alongside the surge in global market volatility in the past week.

Two days ago we reported that the most recent escalation in the Syrian proxy war involved a bitter exchange between Russia and Israel, where the latter warned the former that it would proceed with destroying any arms shipments from Russia into Syria, specifically referencing the S-300 missiles that has been known to be en route to Damascus for several weeks now. The Israel defense minister warned that: "The shipments haven't set out yet and I hope they won't. If they do arrive in Syria, God forbid, we'll know what to do." Well, according to Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar not only has the shipment been sent out, but it has already arrived. Check to Israel and coming through on its warning to begin an offensive action not only against Syria, but more importantly, implicitly against Russia.

• South China Sea tension mounts near Filipino shipwreck (Reuters)
• OECD cuts economic forecasts as eurozone drags on growth (FT)
• Switzerland frees banks to settle U.S. tax evasion cases (Reuters)
• U.S. Says Firm Laundered Billions (WSJ)... no, it's not HSBC, also: Free Corzine!
• Ardent conservative Bachmann to not seek re-election to Congress (Reuters)
• Russia faults U.S. over 'odious' Syria rights resolution (Reuters)

• ‘Cov-lite’ loans soar in dash for yield (FT)
• Cambodian police clash with thousands of garment workers, 23 hurt (Reuters)
• Obama Accepting Sequestration as Deficit Shrinks (BBG)
• Having done nothing to restore confidence in a fragmented market, the SEC turns back to main street fraud (WSJ)
• Europe's austerity-to-growth shift largely semantic (Reuters)
• Germany thwarts EU in China solar fight (FT)
• In EU-China dispute, Beijing warns of trade  (FT)
• U.S. Oil Boom Divides OPEC (WSJ)
• Record Cash Sent to Balanced Funds (BBG)
• Hilsenrath: Fed Wrestles With Market Expectations About Pace of QE (WSJ)
• Worse-Than-Cyprus Debt Load Means Caribbean Defaults to Moody’s (BBG)
• States Raise College Budgets After Years of Deep Cuts (WSJ)
• U.K. Banks Cut 189,000 With Employment at Nine-Year Low (BBG)

The influence of central banks on markets seems to have reached unparalleled heights. We look at why, turning to behavioural finance for some clues.

• Global shares sink, following 7.3 percent drop in Japan's Nikkei (Reuters)
• When all fails, pull a Kevin Bacon: Japan Economy Chief Warns Against Panic Over Stock Sell-Off (BBG)
• White House Feeds IRS Frenzy by Revising Accounts (BBG)
• In any scandal, lying to Congress is tough to prove (Reuters)
• Debt limit resets at higher level, budget impasse grinds on (Reuters)
• China factory data to test political calculations (FT)
• European Leaders Saying No to Austerity (BBG)
• And yet, nobody wants in anymore: Iceland’s new coalition government suspends EU accession talks (FT)
• Oil Manipulation Inquiry Shows EU’s Hammer After Libor (BBG)
• The Fed Squeezes the Shadow-Banking System (WSJ)
• Diamond Said to Weigh Backing Barclays Alumni in Venture (BBG)
• Spain’s Private Jets Disappearing as Tycoons Cut Flights (BBG)

• IMF Tells Central Europe to Spend More (WSJ)
• Tornadoes Blast Oklahoma (WSJ)
• Frenetic search for survivors as 91 feared dead in tornado-hit Oklahoma (Reuters)
• JPMorgan investors on edge over vote on Dimon; what if they win? (Reuters)
• Wealthy bank depositors to suffer losses in EU law (Reuters)
• Yen Slips as Amari Backtracks (BBG)
• Japan Ready for More Yen Weakness Despite Recent Comments (WSJ)
• IRS officials back on Capitol Hill hot seat over targeting (Reuters)
• Li Keqiang pledges China boost to India trade (FT)
• Europe's Recession Sparks Grass-Roots Political Push (WSJ)
• Obama and Xi to meet in effort to calm growing US-China rivalry (FT)
• Berlin plans to streamline EU but avoid wholesale treaty change (FT)
• France must reform or face punitive measures - EU's Oettinger (Reuters)