Prime Minister Resigns in Belgium Over Migration Issue

by Martin Armstrong The European refugee issue just will not go away no matter how hard the politicians try to cover-up their mistakes. Now Charles Michel, the Belgian Prime Minister, resigned on Tuesday after his government collapsed in the face of opposition to his signing of a UN migration pact. Michel found himself abandoned after he lost … Read more

Fund Manager: It’s Lose-Lose For The Fed And For Everyone

by Dave Kranzler of Investment Research Dynamics A friend asked me today what I thought Powell should do.  I said, “the system is screwed. It ultimately doesn’t matter what anyone does.   The money printing, credit creation and artificially low interest rates over the last 10 years has fueled the most egregious misallocation of capital in history of the … Read more

The Absurd Theory of Rising Sea Levels is a Child’s Bedtime Story

by Martin Armstrong QUESTION: Marty I read your daily newsletters as the only source of real news ‘out there’ Fascinated by the report that Canadians are discovering thickening ice cover How do I convince reporters for the much respected ‘Wired’ magazine and the Popular Mechanics website that their constant refrain of ice melts, rising sea levels … Read more

Did the Riksbank of Sweden just panic?

by Shaun Richards This morning has brought news of an event that had been promised so many times but turned out to be a false dawn. Indeed on their way to apparently making sense of this world Rosa & Roubini Associates told us this. Riksbank Likely to Wait Longer Before Lift-Off I guess you are … Read more

Blue vests feeling yellow: ‘Exhausted & overworked’ French police unions ready for action

With anti-government Yellow Vest protests still roiling France, it now seems that some fed-up French police unions are ready to get in on the action, complaining of low pay, unpaid overtime and unacceptable working conditions. Speaking to RT on Wednesday, French police union representative Loic Travers said that when some officers are not in uniform “they … Read more

The S&P 500 is now down -15%. What’s next for stocks

by Troy The S&P 500 is now down approximately -15% Go here to understand our fundamentals-driven long term outlook. Let’s determine the stock market’s most probable medium term direction by objectively quantifying technical analysis. For reference, here’s the random probability of the U.S. stock market going up on any given day, week, or month. *Probability ≠ certainty. Past performance ≠ … Read more

Ann Coulter, Ben Shapiro And Other Conservatives Are Slamming Trump For Surrendering To The Democrats On Border Wall Funding

by Michael Snyder Many conservatives are absolutely furious that President Trump has reversed course and has decided not to fight for funding for a border wall.  With the Democrats poised to take control of the House of Representatives in January, this was Trump’s last best chance to get border wall funding, and now the battle … Read more

Downturn in Local Housing Markets Hit National Averages

Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, http://www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter Existing home sales across the US drop 7% from a year ago, plunge 15.4% in the West. Sales of existing homes — including single-family houses, townhouses, condos, and co-ops — in November, dropped 7.0% from November last year, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 5.32 million homes, according to … Read more

Next Housing Crash Worse Than 2008? | Ben Jones

Silver Doctors, Released on 12/19/18 Real estate expert Ben Jones says the 2008 Housing Bubble is still going on. If it is, we could see prices fall even lower than last time. Speculation and over exuberance has reentered the real estate industry, he says and predicts a major correction ahead. “It’s popping right now.” “You’re … Read more

Housing starts, Existing home sales, Fedex

by WARREN MOSLER Up some but the chart not looking so good: Highlights Mostly goods news finally greets the housing sector as both starts and permits are showing an uplift in November results that top Econoday’s consensus range. Starts jumped to a 1.256 million annualized rate for a 4-month high with permits at a 1.328 … Read more

The Warmongers are out in full force and the media has all of a sudden become military and foreign policy experts even thought they haven’t been covering the wars for the past 10 years.

by Shepyd Republicans are not happy about @realDonaldTrump tweet declaring victory over ISIS and withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria https://t.co/uUu4bmNbov — Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) December 19, 2018 When presidents normally “wag the dog” they start a war. Trump is unique in all sorts of ways, including that he may now be wagging the dog by … Read more

Map: Where Real Estate Prices are Rising Fastest

via visualcapitalist: The real estate market is a location game. While forces like interest rates, demographics, and the economy help drive the housing market as a whole, the strength of your local market depends on other factors closer to home. When you zoom out to look at U.S. real estate from a bird’s eye view, you’ll … Read more

Chris Vermeulen – Stocks at a Turning Point

from Financial Survival Network Chris Vermeulen, the Gold and Oil Guy, joined us for a look at major markets. He says we’ll know very shortly whether we’re in a bear market. A couple more trading sessions should point the way. Gold is looking pretty good, but it’s not going to be straight up for it like … Read more

Heather Wagenhals – That Special Time of Year for Scammers

from Financial Survival Network Heather Wagenhals thinks this could be the merriest of Christmas for the online scammers. Their latest scheme is to redirect potential marks to sites that appear to be legitimate shopping sites. The unsuspecting victim believes they’re placing an actual order, but in reality they’re divulging their credit card info and personal information. It’s … Read more