KIM

Having recently opined that "2015 was one of the most difficult markets in 50 years," the venerable Art Cashin has once again unleashed annual holiday poem.

“To the intelligent man or woman, life appears infinitely mysterious, but the stupid have an answer for everything.” ~Edward Abbey

Americans today are blissfully distracted by their iGadgets, plotting out their holiday shopping strategies, leasing new cars, eating out, and buying advance tickets to the new Star Wars movie. They don’t see the wicked winter squalls ahead which will try their souls. We are experiencing the lull before the storms, but the storms are surely coming. The potential for catastrophe is high and burying our heads in the sand is not a strategy.

With geologists having confirmed the link between fracking and earthquakes in Oklahoma (and energy executives trying to get those geologists fired), the news this week that The Sooner State leads the world in seismic activity will likely see more uproar from residents.. and more lobbying dollars spent to 'calm' the politicians. As KFOR reports, this year, more than 5,000 earthquakes have been recorded and experts say earthquakes in Oklahoma will likely increase in magnitude over time warning that it's only a matter of time before the state gets a big one that will change life for those of living there.

In a subject as dry as global finance, I often I like to extract lessons from other areas of interest and relate them to investing strategies to turn typically dry subjects into a more compelling and interesting read. Today, I discuss investing lessons learned from UFC 193 Rousey v. Holm.

The institutional academic system is broken. We need less systemic, traditional education that only provides knowledge of low utility and more alternative education that provides the right high-utility knowledge to thrive during today's global currency wars.

It's that time of year.... when the bank-that-does-God's-work chooses who to bless with mass affluence. This year 425 Goldman Sachs' employees were annointed "Managing Directors" which according to Emolumnet.com means an average annual comp of approximatley $1 million.

• Stock futures little changed as Yellen comments awaited (Reuters)
• Draghi stimulus hint underpins stocks, knocks euro (Reuters)
• Black Friday's Losing Its Mojo and Retailers Might Be Relieved (BBG)
• Macy’s Fights Downward Spiral With Bet on Off-Price Backstage Stores (WSJ)
• Greece Comes to a Standstill as Unions Turn Against Tsipras (BBG)
• Euro zone production falls more than expected in September (Reuters)
• Valeant played a key role in building, operating Philidor RX (Reuters)

JS Kim Issues Critical Warning About Newly Introduced Global Banking "Gold Programs". Could Bankers Be Duping Us into Yet Another One of Their Reverse Alchemy Schemes?

While most of us would realize that something sinister is afoot right now in the global banking system if we merely diverted our attention away from the Sunday football game or the Game of Thrones episode on our TV for just 10 minutes to think about these issues, unfortunately, the vast majority of us still do not ever stop to do so.

Today, JS Kim of SmartKnowledgeU discusses why Ounces Over Dollars is the proper and only valuation methodology for physical gold and physical silver.

Brirriant!

Yesterday Doi and Gina were back at 7 Little Bloomfield Street, Surry Hills. Their fingers crossed for greater fools because Doi was keen to offload his March purchase. The reason? Like most of us who've bought $800k crack shacks, Doi had a healthy dose of buyers' regret and came to his senses "after realising just how small the property was he decided to sell." How lucky was Doi? This is Australia! Doi found a plumber willing to go 60k higher than he'd paid six months earlier

One of the most dangerous trends in America today is occurring on college campuses. These are the places we grew up viewing as laboratories for free speech, youthful energy and resistance to the status quo. Unfortunately, what they’re turning into are anti-intellectual wastelands in which America’s supposedly “best and brightest” are being transformed into unthinking, mentally shackled, emotionally stunted automatons. The only thing being produced on college campuses these days seem to be frightened, thoughtless worker-bees, conditioned to shut-up and instinctively worship authority.

"In the nuclear arms race, the acronym was MAD—mutually assured destruction—which kept everything nice and tidy. Here you have the same acronym, but it’s ‘mutually assured doubt,’ because you can never be sure what the attack will be." Fortunately, the US has the most advanced operations and the NSA is "the crown creator of cyberespionage." Which is great. Unless they're spying on you...