Donald Trump

Donald Trump is not a pleasant man. He is egotistical, vain, bombastic, often mean-spirited. He revels in his financial superiority, which he conflates with human goodness. When he contorts his mouth into a kind of tube as he talks, you brace yourself for something outrageous—and it nearly always emerges as expected. His likability quotient, at least in terms of his public persona, is down somewhere in single digits. And yet he has just taken hold of the American political system by the neck and doesn’t seem inclined to let go anytime soon.

• Tsipras backs down on many Greece bailout demands (FT)
• Creditors skeptical of Tsipras' offer (Reuters)
• Greek Pension Rationing Begins; Poll Shows Tsipras Backed (BBG)
• Greek referendum poll shows lead for 'No' vote, but narrowing (Reuters)
• Greek Bank Controls Heap More Pain on Crisis-Weary Citizens (BBG)
• Greek Crisis Ripples Across European Companies as Markets Swing (BBG)
• China Stocks Fall: Shanghai Composite Index Drops 5.2% (BBG)
• China June factory, services surveys fuel hopes economy leveling out (Reuters)
• Some Chinese Are Taking 22% Margin Loans to Finance Stock Purchases (BBG)

• China’s Stocks Enter Bear Market as Rate Cut Fails to Stop Rout (BBG)
• Stocks Tumble Around the World on Greek Crisis (WSJ)
• Some say back to the drachma for a Greek reboot (Reuters)
• Greece Imposes Capital Controls as Fears of Grexit Grow (BBG)
• Panic Sets in Among Hardy Hedge Fund Investors Remaining in Greece (NYT)
• Euro off Greece-driven lows after SNB intervenes (Reuters)
• Western Union to close in Greece for rest of week (Reuters)
• European banks, bonds shaken by Greek turmoil (Reuters)

As we move toward the second half of 2015, signs of financial turmoil are appearing all over the globe. Slowly but surely, we are starting to see the smart money head for the exits. As one Swedish fund manager put it recently, everyone wants “to avoid being caught on the wrong side of markets once the herd realizes stocks are over-valued“.

I am knowledgeable concerning markets and believe Donald is completely correct to be concerned that we have “a big fat bubble coming up.  We have artificially induced low interest rates.” I personally believe we are sailing in dangerous unchartered waters.  I can only hope we get to shore safely.  Never in the history of the Federal Reserve have interest rates been artificially held down for so long at the extremely low rates existing today.  I applaud Donald for speaking out on this issue – more people should.

Billionaire real estate mogul and television personality Donald Trump announced Tuesday plans to run in the 2016 presidential election, marking the first time he will formally seek the Republican nomination after floating the idea in several previous election cycles. Here are some key facts to know about Trump...

They call it "voting," and we're told it's our civic duty. But it's just an illusion. Just like in Caesar’s time, the election will go to the people who spend the most money. But we're not talking about the candidates. They're just puppets. Entertainers. We're talking about the people who bankroll them.

Some say that eliminating the welfare-warfare state and the fiat currency system that props it up will cause the people pain. The truth is the only people who will feel any long-term pain from returning to limited, constitutional government are the special interests that profit from the current system. A return to a true free-market economy will greatly improve the lives of the vast majority of Americans.

Janet Yellen is very alarmed that some members of Congress want to conduct a comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve for the first time since it was created. During testimony this week, she made “central bank independence” sound like it was the holy grail. Even though every other government function is debated politically in this country, Janet Yellen insists that what the Federal Reserve does is “too important” to be influenced by the American people. Does any other government agency ever dare to make that claim? If the Fed is doing everything correctly, why should Yellen be alarmed? What does she have to hide?

The problem is inherent in the knowing “that it will end badly” and yet turning a blind eye and making money anyway. For that’s what a good Wall Street aficionado does after all, right? I mean, who cares about arguing about real economics or fundamentals. Who cares – I’m up 8%!! As if that’s all that now matters. For if that’s all that matters why don’t we embrace crony capitalism, embrace stagnant wages, embrace the 99% vs the 1% as that’s the best it’ll ever be. Who cares, as long as we’re getting ours. This disgusting bloated behemoth of an adulterated Central Bank infused market is now getting downright scarier.

There's something we 'regular' citizens wrestle with that the elites never seem to: a sense of moral duty.

It has been said, correctly, if only by those who see beyond the false "left-right" paradigm, that those who call the shots in US politics, and thus American socio-economics, are not so much America's lobbying corporations, but the people behind the corporations - i.e., those who have the money... all of it. Obviously, nobody has more money than America's billionaires. So who are the true puppetmasters who determine America's fate? For one answer we turn to Brookings Institution Governance Studies Director Darrell West in whose upcoming book "Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust" ranks the 25 most influential American billionaires.

While the closing of Trumpe Entertainment was well-known, and a bankruptcy was speculated, as of moments ago it is now fact:

TRUMP ENTERTAINMENT SAID TO PLAN CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY FILING

Which means the Trump Entertainment brand, or whatever it will be called soon, has filed for bankruptcy for record 4 times in its brief but volatile history. It will certainly will not file for a 5th time.

Two American healthcare workers, described as in 'grave condition and worsening' are being infected by the Ebola virus are on their way to Atlanta's Emory University Hospital for treatment. As WSBTV reports, the hospital has a separate isolation unit set up in partnership with the CDC to treat serious infectious diseases. CDC officials have called this "the biggest and most complex Ebola outbreak in history." Sentiment across social media appears rather biased towards the negative on bringing the patients back. As we warned last night, there are significant implications should Ebola come to America.