Oklahoma

One year ago, an 18-year old black man was fatally shot in Ferguson, Missouri by a police officer. Michael Brown’s death ignited a country-wide debate about the excessive amount of violence that occurs at the hand of police – particularly to African-Americans. Since then, at least 1,083 people have been killed by police in America...

It is absolutely normal for employers to completely miss the signs of impending doom. The 2007 extreme occurred just before the carnage of mass layoffs that was to begin a couple of months later. Employers were still clueless that the end of the housing bubble would have devastating effects. If they were clueless then, they are in an advanced state of delirium and delusion now. The devastating 1973-74 bear market, which cut the value of stocks by 50%, was in its early stages. This was an early example of employers being late to the funeral. Similar employer hoarding of workers has been associated with bubbles in the more recent past and has led to massive retrenchment, usually within 18 months or so.

If you feel you’ve had enough Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) related scandals for one lifetime, you’ve come to the wrong place...

“We want to get people out of their ruts. Have you been masturbating the same way for 20 years?” the instructor asked rhetorically. “How’s that going for you? Would you like to try something new?”

If a family disagreed as broadly as we Americans do on issues so fundamental as right and wrong, good and evil, the family would fall apart, the couple would divorce, and the children would go their separate ways. Something like that is happening in the country. A secession of the heart has already taken place in America, and a secession, not of states, but of people from one another, caused by divisions on social, moral, cultural, and political views and values, is taking place. America is disuniting.

"Strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then."

Health insurance companies around the country are seeking rate increases of 20 percent to 40 percent or more, saying their new customers under the Affordable Care Act turned out to be sicker than expected.

Despite much hopeful banter among the mainstream media, Goldman forecast nonfarm payroll job growth of 220k in June, notably below consensus expectations of 234k. This is roughly in line with Goldman's expectations for below average job growth over the remainder of 2015. Employment indicators were mixed in June: reported job availability, the employment components of most manufacturing surveys, and ADP employment growth improved, but jobless claims and job cuts both rose slightly and online job ads declined. Overall, the June data point to a gain below the very strong 280k increase in May.

The recent spike in earthquakes in Oklahoma could present a “game changer” for regulators. That is how regulators themselves described the spate of earthquakes that struck the state between June 17 and June 24, according to Reuters. “If there is damage and loss of life, you will see the political climate absolutely change overnight,” cautioned Jason Murphey, a Republican representative in the state legislature, according to Reuters. “When and if that happens, you will have a cloud that hangs over the energy sector for the rest of our lives.”

Wherever government officials sense a credible threat to their power, they invariably take every opportunity to crush it by any means necessary: this is the first principle of how governments function, and every libertarian is all too familiar with it. this latest tragedy, you can be sure, will be used to accomplish the same anti-libertarian ends: the calls to investigate “hate groups,” and even to ban “hate speech,” are already being heard. Of course, who and what constitutes a “hate group,” and who is hating whom are subjective evaluations that no government official is qualified to make...

Eerily reminiscent of the determinedly evil oil baron from the movie 'There Will Be Blood', Reuters reports the growing tensions amid California's drought-stricken wineries are boiling over: "There is way too much demand. I blame a lot of vineyards like other people do... It's a matter of who has the longest straw at the bottom of the bucket." No one should worry though, because the government is here to help - with a new water management agency...

For all who are still confused why there are no wage hikes despite the Fed's relentless efforts to micromanage the economy and stimulate wage growth via trickle-down record high stock market prices, the answer is that there is wage growth. Just not for 83% of the working population. Now, with pundits parroting the “robust” jobs market refrain on the nightly news, “everyday Americans” are beginning to ask “where’s my raise?”

"Wall Street’s generous supply of funds to U.S. oil drillers helped create the American energy boom. Now that same access to easy money is keeping them going, despite oil prices that are languishing around $60 a barrel," WSJ says, proving that the era of easy money has in fact led to deflation.