From P.J. O’Rourke and American Consequences: In the interest of adding a little cogitation to the process of governance, let’s conduct a “thought experiment.” Let’s think about just one of the purposes that the federal government has been put to – providing entitlement handouts. Let’s think about not doing that anymore. The term “thought experiment” was coined … Read more
From Vox: The federal government remains partially shut down as President Donald Trump refuses to sign a spending deal that doesn’t include $5 billion for his wall at the US-Mexico border. But as Americans start to think about filing their taxes, they may wonder: How will this affect tax returns and refunds? The short version: If the … Read more
from Financial Survival Network Jeffrey Small returns… There have been warnings for decades and now it’s finally coming to pass. Pretty soon, interest on the public debt will become the largest line item on the federal budget. It’s going to slow down economic growth and require dramatic restructuring of your government and the services it provides. Jeff … Read more
by Martin Armstrong While the BitCoin people have hated me for not agreeing with them that a private currency could displace the currencies of all nations and BitCoin would be the new “reserve currency” killing the dollar, to me they are in serious need of help. They have ZERO comprehension of governmental power and ZERO understanding of what is going on … Read more
via mishtalk: The majority of board members at Banca Carige, Italy’s 10th largest bank, resigned and the ECB took Over. The Telegraph reports ECB Steps in at Italian Bank as Country Teeters on Recession. The European Central Bank has announced the appointment of temporary administrators and a “surveillance committee” at troubled Italian lender Banca Carige, as new … Read more
BILLIONAIRE Mark Zuckerberg has halted the sale of his Facebook stock after the company’s value collapsed last year. The controversial 34-year-old has seen his company fall from grace, and failed to sell a single share in the last three months of 2018. Back in September 2017, Zuck promised to flog between 35million and 75million of … Read more
via Twitter: Meanwhile, look at the things that aren’t tone-policed: Complaints about “tone” are always an attempt to silence the right. That’s true regardless of whether the people complaining about “tone” are Democrats or Republicans. People on the Left can and do say the most extraordinarily incendiary, racist, and divisive things, and they never … Read more
By Rodney Johnson As I’ve written before, Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) has many problems, including quality control (it now ranks 27th out of 29 vehicle makes, according to Consumer Reports) and a quick burn rate. But one issue hit harder on New Year’s Day than all the others. Because the car company reached the milestone of … Read more
by DCG A new law has gone into effect in Washington State where employees have monies deducted from their paychecks to pay for paid family medical leave. Employers also kick in some money into the insurance program. The state is collecting monies a year in advance; benefits won’t be available until 2020. About the program … Read more
by Richard Rosso Bear markets characteristically align with economic contraction. In his seminal tome – “Anatomy of the Bear – Lessons from Wall Street’s Four Great Bottoms,” which should be required reading for advisors and professional investors, author Russell Napier provides comprehensive analysis of market where stocks cycle from overvalued to undervalued (14 years on average) coupled with … Read more
From the Texas Tribune: Law enforcement leaders say civil asset forfeiture is a necessary tool for fighting crime, but several lawmakers see it as a violation of Americans’ civil liberties. Texas legislators are poised to take up the issue once again in 2019. In February 2016, prosecutors in Houston filed a lawsuit against a truck: State … Read more
by Harry Dent of Economy & Markets Bubbles ultimately die of their own extremes, although it always helps to have a trigger like the subprime crisis in 2006. But the San Francisco area takes the cake when it come to the U.S. real-estate bubbles! (That Canadian honor goes to Vancouver and in Australia it’s Sydney and Melbourne.) And … Read more
For news consumers, 2018 was the year that the US media went into Trump hysteria overdrive, repeatedly and erroneously predicting his imminent downfall. RT plunged headfirst into a year’s worth of Trump obsession. Within three months of Donald Trump’s inauguration, important people on television were already forecasting the president’s resignation over the still unproven allegations … Read more
Since 2015, the proponents of neoliberalism have been pushing ahead with their plans for open borders and globalist agenda without the consent of the people. The last 365 days saw that destructive agenda greatly challenged… The Financial Times’ ‘person of the year’ award.. was bestowed upon the billionaire globalist, George Soros, who has arguably done … Read more
Elizabeth Warren Tweets Message to Americans Without Pay Due to Democrat Shutdown: I’m Sending Money to Refugees Instead of You Elizabeth Warren Verified account @SenWarren Over 7,000 people in Massachusetts have been sent home or are working without pay during the #TrumpShutdown. Until @realDonaldTrump re-opens the government, I’m donating my salary to @HIASrefugees, a nonprofit … Read more
Whether it’s a matter of bad choices, tough circumstances or a bit of both, accepting life in debt can only bring debtors ongoing emotional turmoil. There’s also the fact that 73 percent of U.S. adults die in debt — a significant chunk of the deceased (68 percent) had credit card debt. What’s more, the … Read more
by Ruby Henley Jack Burkman tweets the following – “The sudden death of my friend 26 year old Bre Payton is beyond strange. She dies just after breaking the story of DOJ wiping the Page-Strozek emails. The Profiling Project may open a major investigation.” 8:22 AM – 2 Jan 2019 https://twitter.com/Jack_Burkman/status/1080499698744680448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1080499698744680448&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnewspunch.com%2Fjournalist-exposed-mueller-wiping-anti-trump-texts-dead%2F I am not accusing … Read more
Via @GregMannarino Interest in “bear market” as per @Google Search Trends much higher than GFC-era @SoberLook pic.twitter.com/eZSwBviRLs — Liz Ann Sonders (@LizAnnSonders) January 3, 2019 Systemic Risk is coming. https://t.co/59tmXKgBoM — Paranoid Bull (@paranoidbull) January 2, 2019 What a difference a year makes (ISM Commentary) pic.twitter.com/U9rOUAjQYn — Bespoke (@bespokeinvest) January 3, 2019 Manhattan real-estate had … Read more
UST10Y 2.5692 pic.twitter.com/Ho3ihk5AFR — Alastair (@StockBoardAsset) January 3, 2019 CNBC panicking pic.twitter.com/SXGG3oMNS9 — Alastair (@StockBoardAsset) January 3, 2019 ISM finally catches down to PMI pic.twitter.com/DM3K4O2Ltt — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 3, 2019 Manufacturing ISM Bloodbath: Largest Crash Since the Financial Crisis “Kiss the US economic recovery goodbye. Printing just days after both Chinese manufacturing surveys … Read more
by markyu007 Largest positive changes to net worth Jeff Bezos (Amazon): +$24 billion Lei Jun (Xiaomi): +$8.6 billion Colin Huang (Pinduoduo): +$6.9 billion Largest negative changes to net worth Georg Schaeffler (Schaeffler Group): -$13.6 billion Amancio Ortega (Zara): -$16.6 billion Mark Zuckerberg: -$19.9 billion https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-31/here-are-the-world-s-biggest-billionaire-winners-losers-of-2018 FYI: Those latter two on the largest … Read more
via CNBC: Shortly after Apple slashed its revenue guidance for the first quarter, Goldman Sachs said the iPhone maker will likely have to bring down numbers for the full year. As those results drop further, so will the company’s shares, the firm said. “We see the potential for further downside to FY19 numbers depending on … Read more
Following the worst year for stocks in a decade, Philip Kennedy sees a massive stock market decline in the next 18 months. Kennedy thinks the stock market has hit a high and it’s down from here. When the crash occurs, he sees the Dow/gold ratio falling significantly. It’s about 20/1 right now. He says it … Read more
by axolotl_peyotl This article argues that there is a pernicious and pervasive myth that the “left” is “anti-war” when in fact they are just as hawkish and genocidal as the neocons on the “right.” This propaganda was at its peak during the 2000’s and the illegal, immoral and genocidal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan: In … Read more
You must watch this. I have never in my life witnessed something so lucid. Tucker Carlson just keeps getting better and better. His humility is where the power is there. We need a results-based system, not a bunch of “values and principles” gibberish. Let us all ask: why is Sheryl Sandberg saying these things she … Read more
by Dr. Eowyn “Every nation has the government it deserves.” – Count Joseph-Marie de Maistre (1763-1821) Today is the first day of the 116th United States Congress. Last November, American voters saw fit to elect a majority of Democrats to the House of Representatives. As a demonstration of the House majority Democrats’ priority, their first … Read more