via Mark St. Cyr: It is the great free lunch of capitalism. Rank and file voters believe that one of the primary motivators of governmental decision making is how those decisions will impact them. It’s not that the government exists at the back and call of the 1%. That includes far too many who are … Read more
via Economica: Everyone knows the parable of the frog and scorpion. The scorpion asks the frog for a ride across the river, and while the frog is making his way across, the scorpion stings him. As the frog is dying, he asks the scorpion why he stung him if he knew they’d both drown. The … Read more
Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, http://www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter The Fed shouldn’t be getting into “allocating credit.” The new Fed has trouble taking shape. The seven-member Board of Governors, which is at the core of the policy setting FOMC, has four vacant slots. President Trump’s nominee for one of those slots, Marvin Goodfriend, has been hung up in the Senate … Read more
Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, http://www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter The peso drops again, inflation surges, nothing is fixed. Argentina was able to refinance about $26 billion in maturing peso-denominated short-term government debt, called Lebacs, but at a huge cost, after asking the IMF for a bailout loan – a “high access stand-by arrangement” that will come with creditor-imposed conditions – … Read more
by Martin Armstrong The EU migration chief, Dimitris Avramopoulos, has demonstrated that politicians are just so out of touch with reality they are securing their own demise. Avramopoulos has made a speech that Europe is set to absorb massive waves of migration “for the decades to come” and that the EU will “never become a fortress” building walls to keep people … Read more
by Martin Armstrong Naturally, the major had to be wrong that the dollar was in this inevitable bear market. These prognostications were typically those who kept cheering gold higher and ignore everything else on the silver plate of politics. The implications of the Italian elections have been ignored by so many. They were a major blow … Read more
From Birch Gold Group Sometimes it feels like the U.S. drinks a little bit too much of their own “dollar domination Kool-Aid.” It seems like the U.S. assumes foreign countries will just keep storing the bulk of their forex reserves in the greenback. And as a result, the country keeps running deficits and borrowing cheap money … Read more
by WARREN MOSLER Pretty much as expected. These numbers are not adjusted for inflation, which is running around 2%: Highlights Consumer spending was weak in the first quarter and the first look at the second quarter is no better than moderate. Total sales rose an as-expected 0.3 percent in April which pretty much tells the … Read more
More and more indicators are popping up and showing us that the economy has not improved at all but declined since 2008. Nothing has been fixed and the illusion is starting to disappear, it is getting harder to hide what is really going on. The subprime chaos is continuing and the damage is going to … Read more
A relative of the Skripals has been denied a visa by the UK, nobody knows where the Skripals are. Satellite images show NK is dismantling their nuke program, the White House says the talks are still on between NK and the US. Europe tries to keep the Iranian deal together, they are just not sure … Read more
by Frank Holmes, CEO, U.S. Global Investors For more than a week now, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil has been trading north of $70 per barrel, a level we haven’t seen since November 2014. Gas prices are likewise trending up, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the average … Read more
Brennan put some of the dossier material into the PDB [presidential daily briefing] for Obama and described it as coming from a ‘credible source,’ which is how they viewed Steele,” a source close to the House probe told Real Clear Investigations reporter Paul Sperry. “But they never corroborated his sources,” the source added. The allegations began … Read more
IG report must be something else This NYT story says that FBI was worried that if it came out they were spying on Trump campaign it would "only reinforce his claims that the election was being rigged against him." Yes, I can imagine that would reinforce those claims. I mean, !!! !!! !!! !!! — … Read more
I highly recommend you take a few minutes and watch this Why I support president Donald Trump Before you judge… why don’t you listen? The whole thing. h/t QuantumLove
by Dana Lyons The following post was initially issued to TLS members on May 11, 2018. The VIX may struggle to move much lower than current levels — and may signal limitations to further stock market gains. Some folks argue that technical analysis cannot be applied — and therefore should not be attempted — on volatility markets. We actually … Read more
via truth-out.org: Sen. Bob Corker and Sen. Tim Kaine talk during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, March 11, 2015. Sens. Corker and Kaine have introduced a new Authorization of Military Force bill to Congress in April 2018. (Photo: Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call) Support from readers provides Truthout with vital funds to keep investigating … Read more
About 34 million — of households that live above the poverty line but cannot pay for ordinary expenses like phone bills, rent and child care. via axios: Now, a new study begins to show the scale of the problem: at a time of rock-bottom joblessness, high corporate profits and a booming stock market, more than 40% of U.S. households … Read more
Soon, you may be able to use cryptocurrency to pay for anything from your morning coffee to happy hour drinks (or, you know, maybe some things that aren’t a beverage). And you could do it as easily as you use your credit card or Venmo today. Circle, a payment startup owned by Goldman Sachs, announced … Read more
The paper states: “The genome of the Octopus shows a staggering level of complexity with 33,000 protein-coding genes more than is present in Homo sapiens. “Its large brain and sophisticated nervous system, camera-like eyes, flexible bodies, instantaneous camouflage via the ability to switch colour and shape are just a few of the striking features that … Read more
U.S. Has Spent $2.8 Trillion on Terrorism Fight, Study Finds Figure includes spending on wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria WASHINGTON—The U.S. has spent as much as $2.8 trillion on the fight against terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a study published Wednesday. The report from the Washington-based Stimson Center think tank … Read more