Simon Black: Social Security Will Cross Another Dangerous Milestone Next Year

by Simon Black of Sovereign Man In the year 1890, according to census records, my great-great-grandfather was spending the final years of his life living with one of his children on a farm in Choctaw County, Oklahoma. I’ve spent most of the last twenty years doing some hardcore research into my family history– and I’ve identified records going … Read more

California bill would keep Trump off 2020 ballot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW6DJqDyATY California lawmakers may pass a bill that keeps Trump off the 2020 ballot. The bill would require Trump to release his tax returns to be on the presidential ballot in that state. In the meantime, the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is raising eyebrows by discussing a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, but not … Read more

Tradewar is NOT COMING TO A CONCLUSION but only just getting started

Chinese banks quietly lower daily limit on foreign-currency cash withdrawals Lenders have reduced the ‘scrutiny benchmark’ for US dollar withdrawals to US$3,000 from US$5,000 on the instructions of the central bank Chinese banks have increased their scrutiny of foreign-currency withdrawals and quietly reduced the amount of US dollars people are allowed to withdraw, tightening the … Read more

Is the never ending rally ready to blast off or is it running out of steam setting up to finally correct?

by northmantrader Is the never ending rally ready to blast off or is it running out of steam setting up to finally correct? Let’s first separate facts from fiction. Forget data and earnings, only 3 things truly mattered this past week: The Fed, the incessant efforts to verbally hype markets into a frenzy every single day … Read more

Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Over Selling Customers’ Location Data

The lawsuits come after a Motherboard investigation showed AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile sold phone location data that ended up with bounty hunters, and The New York Times covered an instance of Verizon selling data. On Thursday, lawyers filed lawsuits against four of the country’s major telecommunications companies for their role in various location data scandals … Read more

Kimberley Strassel: The attorney general gets attacked because his probe endangers many powerful people…. Rep. Steve Cohen on CNN: We are expecting to arrest and Jail attorney general Barr

via WSJ: These attacks aren’t about special counsel Robert Mueller, his report or even the surreal debate over Mr. Barr’s first letter describing the report. The attorney general delivered the transparency Democrats demanded: He quickly released a lightly redacted report, which portrayed the president in a negative light. What do Democrats have to object to? … Read more

Lynette Zang: The Rise Of The Insolvent Zombie Firms

by Lynette Zang of ITM Trading One look at global financial plumbing (which we do in Part 2 of this series) verifies that, short-term debt provided by private corporations is providing the propellent for emerging market and developing country economies. This debt is based on collateral that is vulnerable to runs. Because of the 2008 stock market crash, … Read more

The Fed Is Paralyzed By Mixed Messages

BY JOHN RUBINO  The Fed tightens and stocks tank. The Fed promises to stop tightening and stocks soar. The Fed implies that it might actually cut rates and stocks soar some more. The Fed appears to take back the rate cut promise and the markets turn choppy. It’s been a wild ride. But during the past … Read more

CULTUREAnimation: The Earnings of the Biggest Movie Franchises Over the Last 20 Years

by visualcapitalist https://vimeo.com/334166680 From Iron Man to Luke Skywalker, viewers love watching their favorite heroes triumph over evil time and time again. These successful movie franchises have won our hearts, and padded film studios’ wallets in the process. Today’s animation comes from Reddit user /u/rebellious_scum and it charts North American box office sales for select movie franchises, as … Read more

In 1996, a federal welfare reform prohibited convicted drug felons from ever obtaining food stamps.

The increase is driven by financially motivated crimes, suggesting that ex-convicts returned to crime to make up for the lost transfer income. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257%2Fpol.20170490 R.I.P. Michael Ruppert. Flooded drugs into their community. Killed or assassinated their role models. Broke up their families through backhanded policies. Subjected to stacked odds from the very beginning and a private … Read more