Armstrong Economics

• newMarket Talk- December 13, 2018
  A solid day for the Asian region with gains of 1.25% for core Shanghai and the Hang Seng and was closely mirrored by the Nikkei (+1%). Continued optimism surrounding the China-US trade negotiations is restoring confidence, as the constructive headlin…
  - 3 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 11:12pm -
• newGerman Yields Decline for Lack of Confidence or Expectation of Lower Rates at the Fed?
  QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; Do you agree with Bloomberg that the yield on German bunds has declined in anticipation of the Fed lowering rates? JV ANSWER: No  The falling yields on German government debt is simply intensifying the trade to buy German a…
  - 21 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 5:09am -
• newDeutsche bank to Merge with Commerzbank Bank
  Deutsche Bank is in crisis and everyone has known that. Its derivative book is hard to quantify what is the real net bottom line. The only bank it could have been merged with was BNP but that was French and they cannot allow cross-border capital flow…
  - 21 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 5:04am -
• newThe Fate of All Municipal Governments – Look to Peoria, Illinois
  The governmental system we have is totally corrupt and it outright UNSUSTAINABLE!!!! In Illinois, the city of Peoria has been forced to eliminate 22 firefighter and 16 police positions even after they made 27 layoffs earlier this year. Besides elimi…
  - 22 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 5:01am -
• Market Talk- December 12, 2018
  The, eventually, positive tone from the US markets were helpful for the Asian opening. However, talk that China and the USA are progressing on the trade talks was really what gave the whole region confidence. All core opened well with little sign of…
  - 1 day ago 12 Dec 18, 4:52pm -
• Custodial Risk
  QUESTION: I have been a reader for 10+ year, Socrates subs and reg for Orlando WEC. Thank you and as a Veteran, I admire your courage and service. Ques: Under Dodd-Franks & Bail-In & Bankruptcy Priority; and, due to the Global Debt Crisis, is there a…
  - 2 days ago 12 Dec 18, 5:06am -
• The First BREXIT – 260AD
  QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, thank you for your excellent commentary. Could you comment on the monetary system in Britain during the period following Rome’s waterfall event? I would be especially interested in the period following the capture of Valer…
  - 2 days ago 12 Dec 18, 5:03am -
• Michael Avenatti is Ordered to Pay almost $300,000 in Fees to Trump as Case is Dismissed
    A California federal judge has awarded attorneys for President Donald Trump nearly $300,000 in fees for Michael Avenatti and his failed defamation claim brought by porn star Stormy Daniels for which he raised $600,000. U.S. District Judge S. Jame…
  - 2 days ago 12 Dec 18, 5:01am -
• The Abuse of Prosecutor Discretion Is a Real Crisis
  QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; your explanation of Cohen’s plea is the most authoritative I have read. In other words, even Comey violated this statute by coming out to exonerate Hillary during the election since that was something of value and was inten…
  - 3 days ago 11 Dec 18, 2:00pm -
• Market Talk- December 11, 2018
  Following Wall Streets whippy session and especially their strong afternoon rally, many expected Asia to open firm. However, that was not what we saw and probably supports the view that capital is US bound. Australia did open higher but was almost ba…
  - 3 days ago 11 Dec 18, 1:04pm -

Wolf Street

• newChicago’s Budget Fix: Weed, Gambling, COLAs, and More Gambling? Nice Try
  Mayor Rahm Emanuel forgot to mention the biggie: Much More Debt.
  - 2 hours ago 14 Dec 18, 12:06am -
• Parker Drilling Bankruptcy Kicks off “Oil Bust 2”
  But look how the bonds got manipulated up 24% in one minute at the close.
  - 1 day ago 13 Dec 18, 12:42am -
• US Bank Stocks Spiral Down
  Something’s not right: Banks are heavily exposed to record business debt as credit quality deteriorates.
  - 2 days ago 12 Dec 18, 4:45am -
• China Auto Sales Plunge, Face First Annual Decline in 30 Years
  Industry panics, overcapacity spreads, but government brushes off the wailing and gnashing of teeth, looks to EVs.
  - 2 days ago 11 Dec 18, 8:38pm -
• “Severe Collapse” of Home Prices Might Trigger a “Financial-Institution Crisis” in Australia: OECD Frets about the Banks
  “Authorities should prepare contingency plans." The big four banks are too exposed to mortgages. Even if they don’t topple, the economy will get hit.
  - 3 days ago 11 Dec 18, 1:12am -
• THE WOLF STREET REPORT
  The West Coast Housing Bubble Bursts Even Without Tech Bust, which is still to come.
  - 4 days ago 10 Dec 18, 1:19am -
• The Wild East: Airlines in South & Southeast Asia
  Huge aircraft orders, booming traffic, dozens of upstarts with easy mega-funding, fierce competition, already a big collapse, and allegations of shady business.  
  - 5 days ago 9 Dec 18, 1:15am -
• Ugly Week for Stocks: Bad Sign that Even the WSJ’s Mega-Effort to Reflate them Fizzled
  Apple plunges. FANGMAN stocks down 10.4% for the week, down $1.12 trillion from peak.
  - 6 days ago 8 Dec 18, 12:23am -
• Fed’s QE Unwind Reaches $374 Billion
  But how low might the Fed's balance sheet go?
  - 7 days ago 7 Dec 18, 3:09am -
• It’s Happening: San Francisco House & Condo Prices Fall
  House prices down $265,000 from peak, down $60,000 from year ago. America’s most majestic housing bubble begins to deflate.
  - 8 days ago 6 Dec 18, 2:31am -

Money Game

• newThe 'father of the internet' says that Google employee backlash to its defense work was just 'a lot of misunderstanding' (GOOGL)
  Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the internet, this week defended Google's work on Project Maven — its controversial pilot program with the Pentagon. Employee objections to the work, which involved developing artificial-intelligence technologie…
  - 3 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 11:50pm -
• newThe co-founder of $725 million cloud startup Mesosphere is stepping aside as CEO to make way for a Symantec veteran
  Mesosphere, most recently valued at $725 million in a funding round this year, is getting a new CEO.Founder Florian Leibert is stepping aside to make way for Mike Fey, most recently COO of Symantec.Leibert had previously announced his intention t…
  - 4 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 10:56pm -
• newTrump is failing to achieve one of the biggest goals of his trade war, and he only has himself to blame
  President Donald Trump wanted to use tariffs to help bring down the trade deficit with China.The US-China trade deficit hit a record high in the month of October.According to economists from Goldman Sachs, Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods are act…
  - 4 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 10:46pm -
• newBitcoin slumps after bomb threats that were emailed across the US demanded it for ransom
  The New York Police Department said the bomb threats that have been reported around the country Thursday afternoon were emailed by someone demanding bitcoin.Following the news, bitcoin slumped to fresh lows, down more than 6%.Bitcoin has lost hal…
  - 5 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 9:34pm -
• newStartup founders are skeptical about the future of cryptocurrency, but that hasn't stopped them from investing in it anyway
  Cryptocurrency had reached 35 million users as of September 2018, reflective of the trend of people becoming increasingly familiar with blockchain technology and digital currencies like bitcoin, ethereum, and tether.Although individuals are invest…
  - 5 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 9:29pm -
• newAustralia's anti-encryption law is so unpopular, there was only 1 comment in support and 342 against — and now the head of its spy agency is defending the law (AAPL, MSFT, FB)
  The Australian government has passed a law that forces tech companies to give law enforcement access to encrypted messages. The law is widely disliked by the technology industry, especially Apple, because security experts believe that so-called "…
  - 5 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 9:12pm -
• newStocks end mixed and oil rallies
  Wall Street closed mixed Thursday amid trade hopes and economic growth concerns.The S&P 500 shed 4.6% last week, the most since March.Watch the major US indexes trade in real time here.Stocks were mixed Thursday as investors weighed optimism f…
  - 5 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 9:12pm -
• newBlackRock and Microsoft want to make retirement investing as easy as ordering an Uber
  BlackRock and Microsoft are teaming up to build retirement tools for individual investors, a growing market as employers move away from pensions. The partners will launch an unnamed product, still in development, next year for companies to offer…
  - 6 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 8:49pm -
• newShort seller Jim Chanos just revealed how he's playing Trump's trade war with China (WYNN, LVS)
  Short seller Jim Chanos told CNBC on Thursday that he is betting against the US casino giants that rely heavily on their presence in Macau.Shares of Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts, and Las Vegas Sands all fell.The three casino giants account for half…
  - 6 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 8:13pm -
• newRobinhood's options trading stopped working, and customers are furious over the money they say they lost
  Robinhood faced significant outages with its options trading services Wednesday.Some Robinhood customers attempting to access options trading Wednesday morning received a message stating "Account Deactivated" and were directed to the company's sup…
  - 7 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 7:07pm -

Sovereign Man

• newThe boogeyman is coming for you… no matter where in the world you are
  The anti-terrorism unit suited up. This was an international affair… a deal between the USA and New Zealand, two members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. Helicopters, tactical suits, high caliber firearms—the whole shebang. They busted in…
  - 8 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 6:32pm -
• Steve Jobs and the secret to investing in public markets
  One of the most brilliant businessmen of our time decided to do nothing. In 1997, after being kicked out of his own company, Steve Jobs took back the reins of Apple. At the time, Apple had less than 4% of the personal computer market. And the market…
  - 1 day ago 12 Dec 18, 4:25pm -
• What do the Paris riots and Japan’s lack of sex have in common?
  The thick black smoke… the smell of burning rubber… overturned smoldering cars. Looters smashed out shop windows and took whatever they could carry away. Ancient landmarks were desecrated. Soldiers patrolled the wreckage as tanks are parked on th…
  - 2 days ago 11 Dec 18, 5:24pm -
• This beautiful country is in crisis again, offering CHEAP living + a FAST passport
  Last year, when Argentina offered a 100-year bond, I argued it was plain insanity. Argentina sold $2.75 billion of the debt… but the issue was nearly four times oversubscribed. How could investors place so much faith in a country that spent most of…
  - 3 days ago 10 Dec 18, 4:44pm -
• I thought this deal was ABSURD, but pensions are piling in…
  We have been talking about the pension crisis for years now. It’s without a doubt one of the biggest, financial disasters. These pools of capital, responsible for paying out retirement benefits, are terribly underfunded. So anyone depending on a pe…
  - 6 days ago 7 Dec 18, 3:26pm -
• This banking scandal is awful… even for Wells Fargo
  I guess none of this should surprise me anymore. Our old friends at Wells Fargo are involved in yet another banking scandal. And this one is really bad… people wrongfully lost their homes and ended up on the street. But before I get into the detail…
  - 7 days ago 6 Dec 18, 3:35pm -
• Why buy gold now? Because I don’t know
  From 2000 through 2012, the price of gold increased every year, rising from around $280 an ounce to nearly $1,700. It was an unprecedented run. Then, in 2013, gold took a nose dive, losing over 27% of its value. It was widely reported that the Swiss…
  - 8 days ago 5 Dec 18, 5:28pm -
• Lenin would be so proud
  Several years ago back in 2004-2006, if you had a pulse, you could borrow money from a bank to buy a house. In fact, bank lending standards were so loose back then that there were some infamous cases of people who DIDN’T have a pulse who were still…
  - 9 days ago 4 Dec 18, 5:27pm -
• Government now wants to seize your car for going 5 MPH over the limit
  [Editor’s note: While Simon is traveling today, other members of the Sovereign Man team penned today’s missive.] We’ve discussed this on and off for several years now. Civil asset forfeiture is a legal process that allows the government to seiz…
  - 13 days ago 30 Nov 18, 5:45pm -
• Three strikes against Social Security’s already dismal batting average
  [Editor’s note: While Simon is traveling today, other members of the Sovereign Man team penned today’s missive.] This doesn’t make front page news… But it should. Every year, cost of living adjustments increase Social Security benefits. Over…
  - 15 days ago 28 Nov 18, 3:26pm -

Financial Survival

of two minds

• France in a Nutshell: "The Government Stopped Listening to the People 20 Years Ago"
  The elites' clever exploitation of politically correct cover stories has enthralled the comatose, uncritical Left, but not those who see their living standards in a free-fall.A family member who has lived in France for decades summarized the source o…
  - 1 day ago 12 Dec 18, 4:15pm -
• The Conflicting Forces of Modernism: Kafka and Kierkegaard
  We seem to be heading into a confrontation between the two forces of Modernism: the primacy of the individual versus the increasing technological and economic might of the central state.In Kafka's Nightmare Emerges: China's "Social Credit Score" (M…
  - 4 days ago 10 Dec 18, 12:56am -
• Are We in a Recession Already?
  The value of declaring the entire nation in or out of recession is limited.Recessions are typically only visible to statisticians long after the fact, but they are often visible in real time on the ground: business volume drops, people stop buying h…
  - 6 days ago 7 Dec 18, 3:45pm -
• The View from the Trenches of the Alternative Media
  What's scarce in a world awash in free content and nearly infinite entertainment content?After 3,701 posts (from May 2005 to the present), here are my observations of the Alternative Media from the muddy trenches.It's increasingly difficult to make a…
  - 9 days ago 5 Dec 18, 5:47am -
• Truth Is What We Hide, Self-Serving Cover Stories Are What We Sell
  The fact that lies and cover stories are now the official norm only makes us love our servitude with greater devotion.We can summarize the current era in one sentence: truth is what we hide, self-serving cover stories are what we sell. Jean-Claude…
  - 11 days ago 3 Dec 18, 2:58am -
• America Needs a New National Strategy
  A productive national Strategy would systemically decentralize power and capital rather than concentrate both in the hands of a self-serving elite.If you ask America's well-paid punditry to define America's National Strategy, you'll most likely get t…
  - 14 days ago 30 Nov 18, 2:21am -
• Bearish on Fake Fixes
  This systemic vulnerability is largely invisible, and so the inevitable contagion will surprise most observers and participants.The conventional definition of a Bear is someone who expects stocks to decline. For those of us who are bearish on fake…
  - 15 days ago 28 Nov 18, 5:06pm -
• The Politics of Debt-Serfs and Tax Donkeys: Our Only Choice Is the Least Bad Option
  The reality is there is no avenue left for advocacy, grievances or redress in a system dominated by global corporations and self-serving political insiders.What's striking about the protests in Paris against higher fuel taxes is the universality of t…
  - 17 days ago 26 Nov 18, 2:38pm -
• The Two Paths to Collapse
  The very structure of our systems guarantees their failure once conditions change beyond their limited ability to adjust.As a general rule, there are two paths to collapse: gradual erosion and sudden crash. The two are intertwined, of course; in mos…
  - 19 days ago 24 Nov 18, 6:16pm -
• Thanksgiving 2018: A Few of the Many Things I'm Grateful For
  Lots to be grateful for.Of the many things I'm grateful for, the most important are: after 50 years of work I still have my health and more work than I know what to do with; good friends; family; freedom, opportunity, the good fortune that a few of…
  - 21 days ago 22 Nov 18, 5:51pm -

Jesse's Cafe Americain

• newStocks and Precious Metals Charts - Swing Kids - The Gathering Storm
  "The NSDAP was nationalistic, respectful of the armed forces, socially conservative, disdainful of laziness, hostile to eccentric or incomprehensive ideas that came from cities, disapproving of homosexuals and other unconventional human types, and av…
  - 3 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 11:08pm -
• Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Equities Rally, Fade in the Afternoon - Sitting In a Savage Garden
  "It is no exaggeration to say that since the 1980s, much of the global financial sector has become criminalised, creating an industry culture that tolerates or even encourages systematic fraud.   The behaviour that caused the mortgage bubble and fi…
  - 1 day ago 12 Dec 18, 11:31pm -
• Why Are the 'Yellow Vests' Protesting
  "Four weekends of mass protests in Paris and in towns and villages across France have hampered economic activity while hurting the country’s image with investors, the government said Monday...He [Macron] did not mention changing course on the mos…
  - 1 day ago 12 Dec 18, 3:10pm -
• Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Pop and Flop - ECB Tomorrow
  Stocks made an attempt to rally today, an effort that largely faded to nothing in the afternoon.The dip buyers lack conviction and are quick to take profits.No doubt that this is a side effect of the increased uncertainty, and therefore risk, in…
  - 2 days ago 12 Dec 18, 12:55am -
• Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Is Paris Burning? - The Fire in the Minds of Men
  "The central bank gold lending market, centered in London, is probably the most secretive financial market in the world, with very little known about its transactions and market structure.  The gold lending market’s opacity is further supported by…
  - 3 days ago 11 Dec 18, 3:32am -
• Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - No Capitulation Yet
  “The worst continued to worsen. What looked one day like the end proved on the next day to have been only the beginning. Nothing could have been more ingeniously designed to maximize the suffering, and also to insure that as few people as possible…
  - 6 days ago 8 Dec 18, 5:12am -
• What Do China and Goldman Sachs Have in Common?
  Gold is not only flowing from West to East.It is also flowing into the house account at Goldman Sachs.  Or at least the paper claims for it in New York.Below is the monthly report showing the large amounts of physical gold which have been steadi…
  - 7 days ago 7 Dec 18, 6:27am -
• Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Mr. Trump's Wild Ride - Santa Takes One for the Team
  "Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. ‘Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!’ he said: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. ‘Forward, the Light Brigade…
  - 7 days ago 7 Dec 18, 1:01am -
• Bernie Sanders: Concentrated Wealth Is Concentrated Power
  "I will never forget, Lloyd Blankfein, the head of Goldman Sachs, came to Congress a few years ago. And this is after the taxpayers of this country bailed them out because of their greed and their illegal behavior.  This is chutzpah.  These guys, a…
  - 7 days ago 6 Dec 18, 4:32pm -
• Summary of Carroll Quigley's Last Public Lecture by Christopher Quigley
  Summary of Prof. Carroll Quigley’sLast Public Lecture Given Months Before He Died:"The 3rd. Oscar Iden Lecture 1978"By Christopher M. Quigley B.Sc., M.M.I.I., M.A.“This shift from customary conformity to decision making by some other power,…
  - 7 days ago 6 Dec 18, 3:14pm -

The Burning Platform

• newWhat We Said to a Group of D.C. Elite
  Guest Post by Bill Bonner DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA – First, Bloomberg reports that: U.S. government debt is on track this year to rise at the fastest pace since 2012, as a stronger economy fails to keep pace with the wave of red ink that’s rising un…
  - 5 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 9:27pm -
• newCash spill on New Jersey highway leads to multiple crashes, chaos during morning commute
  Early Christmas for NJ commuters! It was raining 💵 on Route 3!! @njdotcom @ABC7NY @News12NJ #commute pic.twitter.com/oNC7bs3fZz — Sabrina Quagliozzi (@squagliozzi) December 13, 2018 Via Fox Thursday morning might mark the first time a New Jersey…
  - 6 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 8:11pm -
• newWashington Is Changing The World Order Against Its Own Interests
  Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts The hubris and arrogance of Washington have been at work since the Clinton regime to destroy the power and relevance of the United States. This website has an international audience. The most asked question from this…
  - 6 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 8:06pm -
• new“You’re A F*cking Idiot!”: Shocking Tesla Expose Reveals The Horror Of Working For A “Depressed” And “Angry” Elon Musk
  Via ZeroHedge Wired has published a stunning longform expose on what it has been like to work for Tesla over the last few years. The piece dives into life at the company’s Nevada Gigafactory and the seemingly abusive management style of CEO Elon Mu…
  - 8 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 6:12pm -
• newAverting World Conflict with China
  Guest Post by Ron Unz As most readers know, I’m not a casual political blogger and I prefer producing lengthy research articles rather than chasing the headlines of current events. But there are exceptions to every rule, and the looming danger of a…
  - 8 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 6:03pm -
• newWhat Should Investors Expect In 2019
  With our current political climate, the EU punishing Britain for Brexit, tariffs, trade wars, the Fed raising rates, record government deficits and whatever hysteria the media can create – the crystal ball is full of clutter. How should investors a…
  - 10 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 4:58pm -
• newExiles
  Guest Post by The Zman Exile is a central part of human existence, most certainly as old as human settlement and probably predating it. Human are a social animals. Banishment and ostracism are primeval weapons, wielded by human groups for the worst c…
  - 12 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 2:58pm -
• newBankrupt Boy Scouts
  Guest Post by Eric Peters The Boy Scouts of America is – apparently – about to file for bankruptcy. This makes me happy, as a former Scout and an Eagle Scout. Because it’s not Boy Scouts anymore. It’s just Scouts – to reflect the new inclus…
  - 12 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 2:49pm -
• newWhy Are the ‘Yellow Vests’ Protesting
  Guest Post by Jesse “Four weekends of mass protests in Paris and in towns and villages across France have hampered economic activity while hurting the country’s image with investors, the government said Monday… He [Macron] did not mention chang…
  - 15 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 11:44am -
• newDon’t Underestimate Dumb Voters’ Appetite For Idiot Leftist Politicians
  Guest Post by Kurt Schlichter You should not for a moment fail to appreciate the risk posed to your freedom by left-wing It-Fascists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Beto O’Rourke. There’s an undeniable appeal of this kind of Potemkin Politician…
  - 15 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 11:40am -

War Room

• newThe 7 best lessons successful people taught us about money in 2018
  Building wealth is a little easier when you have advice from people who've done it themselves.We rounded up some of the best money lessons successful people, like CEOs and entrepreneurs, shared in 2018.Among the most important: Invest in low-cost…
  - 4 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 10:31pm -
• newStartup founders are skeptical about the future of cryptocurrency, but that hasn't stopped them from investing in it anyway
  Cryptocurrency had reached 35 million users as of September 2018, reflective of the trend of people becoming increasingly familiar with blockchain technology and digital currencies like bitcoin, ethereum, and tether.Although individuals are invest…
  - 5 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 9:29pm -
• newShare your opinion — become a BI Insider!
  As a dedicated Business Insider reader, we’d like to invite you to join our BI Insiders Panel, an exclusive online community of Business Insider readers!Here are some of the TOP benefits of being a BI Insider!Earn points towards cutting-edge re…
  - 7 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 7:45pm -
• newI've been successfully self-employed for a year — here are 9 things I wish I'd known before starting
  Being self-employed will present you with many challenges and some distinct advantages.Here, author Jamie Friedlander details 9 things she wishes she'd known before she started being self-employed as a writer.  In January, I received an unset…
  - 9 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 5:22pm -
• newGraduates who flock to Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and big law in search of prestige might be in for a harsh wake-up call only a few years later
  People dream of working for big-name companies like Goldman Sachs or Google ... so why would anyone ever leave such a prestigious job?Many workers quit high-paying jobs at impressive companies because, as their careers progress, prestige feels les…
  - 11 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 3:30pm -
• newThe job market is so hot right now that workers are 'ghosting' employers without even saying goodbye
  More and more workers are "ghosting" their employers by not showing up to work and cutting off contact with the company, according to The Washington Post.It's a sign of the tight labor market, The Post said, as there are more job openings in the U…
  - 12 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 2:38pm -
• newI started my own business more than 15 years ago, and I wish I could have given myself 3 crucial pieces of advice
  Ramit Sethi is an entrepreneur and CEO of I Will Teach You To Be Rich and GrowthLab,After 15 years building his businesses, he's narrowed down three pieces of entrepreneurship advice to share with people who ask.He wishes he had focused on gettin…
  - 12 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 2:09pm -
• newA former Goldman exec who thinks just about every meeting can be wrapped up in 15 minutes explains why he purposely puts longer meetings in his schedule
  Just about everything that needs to be accomplished in a meeting can be done in 15 minutes or less, according to Marc Spilker, a former Goldman Sachs exec who's now chairman of Chiron Investment Management. Spilker said the final thing that can't…
  - 13 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 1:59pm -
• A CEO who starts Monday mornings with her most 'boring and difficult' tasks says any chronic procrastinator should do the same
  The best way to avoid procrastinating is to tackle your most boring task first thing Monday morning, Rodial CEO Maria Hatzistefanis said.Your ability to make decisions breaks down over the course of a week, so you should knock out difficult tasks…
  - 1 day ago 12 Dec 18, 7:16pm -
• JPMorgan Chase is investing $10 million into Chicago's South and West Sides as part of a $500 million worldwide plan
  JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon announced a commitment to $10 million in long-term, low-cost commercial real estate loans for Chicago's South Side and its West Side.The two parts of the city contain neighborhoods with more crime and less developmen…
  - 1 day ago 12 Dec 18, 5:09pm -

Washington's Blog

• newFrance in a Nutshell: “The Government Stopped Listening to the People 20 Years Ago”

  

  A family member who has lived in France for decades summarized the source of the gilets jaunes protests in one sentence: “The government stopped listening to the people 20 years ago. It would be difficult to deny the generalization of this: many…
  - 7 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 7:47pm -
• newThe Abolition of War Requires New Thoughts, Words, and Actions

  

  By David Swanson Remarks in Albuquerque, New Mexico, December 12, 2018 Video is uploading now, at airplane internet speed, to Youtube.com/WorldBeyondWar There’s action happening now in the U.S. Senate on ending U.S. participation in the war on Yeme…
  - 11 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 3:45pm -
• newIs Ukraine setting up a winter offensive in LDNR?
  
  - 20 hours ago 13 Dec 18, 6:45am -
• Talk Nation Radio: Mark Colville Tells Why He Hammered and Poured Blood on Nuclear Weapons

  

  Mark Colville is one of the seven Kings Bay Plowshares activists. We recorded this interview on December 11th 2018, and Mark planned to turn himself in hours later at the Glynn County Jail in Brunswick, Georgia. Learn more: http://kingsbayplowshares7…
  - 2 days ago 11 Dec 18, 3:49pm -
• The U.S. Government’s Plan Is to Conquer Russia by a Surprise Invasion
  Eric Zuesse, originally posted on the Saker blog The following combination of articles explains — and they link to conclusive evidence proving — that the United States Government is actually designing its nuclear forces now with the intention to…
  - 3 days ago 11 Dec 18, 2:50am -
• The Conflicting Forces of Modernism: Kafka and Kierkegaard

  

  In Kafka’s Nightmare Emerges: China’s “Social Credit Score” (May 7, 2018), I wrote about Kafka’s vision of a bureaucratic nightmare emerging in China’s “Social Credit Score.” The idea here is the central state sets up a vast, pervas…
  - 3 days ago 11 Dec 18, 2:05am -
• U.S. the World’s Invasion Nation
  How Big Brother Grips Americans’ Minds to Support Invasions Eric Zuesse, originally posted at strategic-culture.org On November 29th, Gallup headlined “Democrats Lead Surge in Belief U.S. Should Be World Leader” and reported that “Three-fourt…
  - 6 days ago 8 Dec 18, 12:00pm -
• The Ancient Mythical Rites of Pearl Harbor Day

  

  Last week I spoke at a high school. As I often do, I told them I’d perform a magic trick. I only know one, but I know it will almost always work with no skill required. I scribbled on a … Continue reading →
  - 8 days ago 5 Dec 18, 8:51pm -
• Earth Over the Brink

  

  Glacier National Park is drip drip dripping into a puddle. People and companies and governments are cutting down trees to burn them to save the planet from global warming, mixing the sacrificial trees with oh-so-clean coal, and in Detroit with … Co…
  - 9 days ago 5 Dec 18, 2:37am -
• Talk Nation Radio: Dave Lindorff on the Pentagon’s Fictional Budget

  

  Dave Lindorff is an investigative reporter who writes for the Nation, London Review of Books, Salon and Tarbell.org. He is founder of the collectively run journalists’ news site thiscantbehappening.net. Lindorff has just published an articled calle…
  - 10 days ago 4 Dec 18, 3:00am -

Dr. Housing Bubble

• We’ve added 10 million new renter households over the last decade.  What does it mean when renting is now part of the new American Dream?
  Since the Great Recession hit, we have added 10 million renter households.  The trend to renting was largely spurred by the crash in the housing market but also over qualifying Americans to purchase a piece of the American Dream.  The trend has slo…
  - 10 days ago 3 Dec 18, 5:52pm -
• Millennials are not going to save the California housing market:  Nearly half of California’s Millennials live at home with parents.
  The housing correction has arrived.  This should not come as a surprise given that the level of affordability is near historical lows.  The real estate cheerleaders continued to mention that money from China and other factors would keep prices movi…
  - 18 days ago 25 Nov 18, 6:46pm -
• Is the Los Angeles housing market in another bubble?  Prices at new peak and up 181% since 2000.  The market is shifting but does this mean a bust?
  We are creatures of habit and suffer from historical financial amnesia.  As you would expect, the market is now turning and the question now shifts to how big of a correction we are expecting.  Los Angeles has been in a decade long renting trend wh…
  - 38 days ago 6 Nov 18, 6:58am -
• Here comes the inventory:  Southern California unsold housing inventory now at 6-year high.  Housing starting to plateau.
  It was only a matter of time before inventory started hitting the market and unsold homes started to pile up.  Not that home sales ever saw big volume increases but given the low inventory, any normal amount of homes sales pushed home values into th…
  - 73 days ago 2 Oct 18, 7:50am -
• The incredibly high cost of construction and more open attacks against Prop 13.  California housing takes a turn.  
  There is now a concerted attack on Prop 13 as people with two ounces of common sense realize that no, grandma isn’t being kicked out onto the streets because property taxes are going through the roof.  In fact, there is now evidence highlighting w…
  - 19 Aug 18, 11:37pm -

China Financial Markets

• China: Choosing More Debt, More Unemployment, Or Transfers
  I have often written in this blog and elsewhere about the three policy choices Beijing faces as it tries to manage through the adjustment process. My argument is that subject to two very plausible assumptions, every economic policy Beijing implements…
  - 18 Nov 16, 1:23pm -
• The impact in China and abroad of slowing growth
  This blog entry is largely something I wrote a year ago about the impact of a Chinese rebalancing on the global economy, rx and except for this first paragraph nothing has been changed. The entry on my blog that had been posted a couple of weeks earl…
  - 30 Sep 16, 12:00pm -
• Does it matter if China cleans up its banks?
  I’ve always thought that Shirley Yam of the South China Morning Post has a great nose for financial risk, and this shows in an article she published last week on mainland real estate. For anyone knowledgeable about the history of financial bubbles…
  - 31 Aug 16, 12:59pm -
• Rebalancing, wealth transfers, and the growth of Chinese debt
  For the past ten years much of what I have written about debt in China was aimed mainly at trying to convince analysts and policymakers that the Chinese economy was structurally dependent on an unsustainable increase in debt in order to generate GDP…
  - 22 Jun 16, 9:58am -
• How Much Investment is Optimal
  A few years ago I wrote an essay on my blog that received a lot of attention and in which I tried to explain what the underlying assumption was for analysts who considered that China’s low level of investment relative to that of, troche say, help t…
  - 2 Jun 16, 5:19am -
• The titillating and terrifying collapse of the dollar. Again.
  Foreign perceptions about the Chinese economy are far more volatile than the economy itself, and are spread across a fantastic array of forecasts. On one extreme there are still many who hold the view that overwhelmingly dominated the consensus just…
  - 8 May 16, 9:08am -
• The re-emergence of the Jacksonians
  We’ve pelted Donald Trump with all the withering humor we can muster, malady and even though it is hard to imagine an easier target for elitist humor, pharm with his blustering narcissism, prescription his intellectual inconsistency, his questionab…
  - 23 Mar 16, 4:35am -
• Will China’s new “supply-side” reforms help China?
  It wasn’t enough that we started 2016 with one of the worst weeks in the recent history of Chinese and global markets, but the panic continued into the following weeks and wreaked a great deal of damage to confidence. A lot of the reflexive China b…
  - 25 Jan 16, 3:33am -
• China’s rebalancing timetable
  We often read in the press rather alarming stories about the rise of an ugly and belligerent nationalism in China, buy cialis but while these stories are certainly very real, sovaldi after the November 13 bombings in Paris I was struck by a very diff…
  - 29 Nov 15, 2:45pm -
• Thin Air’s money isn’t created out of thin air
  A recurring conversation I have with clients concerns the ability of banks to create credit, buy and of governments to monetize debt, pilule and whether this ability is the solution to or the cause of financial instability and economic crisis. Moneta…
  - 19 Oct 15, 4:00am -

Shadow Stats

• Hyperinflation Watch No. 4
  (SGS Subscription required) • Intensifying Risks of Financial-Market and Systemic Instabilities • November U.S. Monetary Base Declined at an Extreme Annual Pace of 12% (-12%); As Seen Similarly With Federal Reserve Policy Errors of 1936/1937 Tha…
  - 2 days ago 12 Dec 18, 1:38am -
• No. 978 Second Part Residential Construction, Home Sales, Construction Spending and Revised GDP
  (SGS Subscription required) • FOMC Tightening Has Strangled Consumer Liquidity • October 2018 U.S. Construction Spending Revised and Turned Sharply Lower, Both Before and After Inflation Adjustment, Consistent With an Unfolding New Recession…
  - 8 days ago 6 Dec 18, 2:09am -
• No. 978 Part I: October CPI and PPI, Retail Sales, Production, New Orders and Freight Activity
  (SGS Subscription required) • Fed Begins to Waffle on Interest Rates and Tightening? Watch the Dollar and Gold! • Broad Systemic Liquidity and Real Earnings Growth Have Been Impaired by Federal Reserve Tightening • Constrained Consumer Liqu…
  - 12 days ago 2 Dec 18, 12:50am -
• Consumer Liquidity Watch No. 5
  (SGS Subscription required) • Stresses Mount on Consumer Income, Credit and Wealth • Cascading Consumer Liquidity Issues, Aggravated by Federal Reserve Tightenings, Wallop Headline Activity in Home Sales, Construction, Retail Sales and Manufactu…
  - 22 days ago 21 Nov 18, 7:44pm -
• No. 977: October Labor Numbers and Money Supply, September Trade Deficit, Construction Spending
  (SGS Subscription required) • Third-Quarter U.S. Real Merchandise Trade Deficit Was the Worst Ever • Consumer Outlook Plummets • Private Surveying of October 2018 Labor-Market Demand Showed Sharp Slowing • October U.3 Unemployment Rose to…
  - 37 days ago 6 Nov 18, 5:36pm -
• No. 976: Third-Quarter 2018 GDP, September 2018 New Orders for Durable Goods, New-Home Sales
  (SGS Subscription required) • Real Third-Quarter 2018 GDP Gained 3.50%, Against 4.16% in Second-Quarter, Yet, Where 70.7% of the Increase in the Level of Quarterly GDP Was in Inventories, Annualized Real Final Sales Growth Plunged to 1.43% from 5.3…
  - 44 days ago 30 Oct 18, 8:49pm -
• No. 975: September Retail Sales, Production, Freight, Housing Starts, Hurricanes and FOMC
  (SGS Subscription required) • FOMC Discussions of Raising Rates to Restrictive Levels Are After the Fact; Higher Rates Already Are Pummeling Near-Term Economic Prospects and Threatening Financial-System Stability in this Still-Experimental and Unre…
  - 52 days ago 22 Oct 18, 6:58pm -
• No. 974: September Consumer and Producer Price Indices, Liquidity and Markets
  (SGS Subscription required) • As Some Acorns Begin to Fall, Beware the Dollar; Risks of Major Financial-Market Upheaval Are High • Ongoing Federal Reserve Rate Hikes and Related Policies Have Continued to Tighten Systemic and Consumer Liquidity,…
  - 59 days ago 15 Oct 18, 11:40pm -
• No. 973: ALERT Mounting Risk of Intense Financial Market Turmoil
  (SGS Subscription required) • As Some Acorns Begin to Fall, Beware the Dollar • Risks of Major Financial Market Upheaval Are High in the Next Six Months, But Watch Out for the Near-Term
  - 60 days ago 14 Oct 18, 10:14pm -
• No. 972: September Labor Numbers and Money Supply, August Trade Deficit, Construction Spending
  (SGS Subscription required) • Second-Half 2018 Economic Growth Prospects Continue to Weaken, With Tightening Systemic Liquidity and a Deepening Trade Deficit • Annual M3 Growth Sank to a 13-Month Low in September 2018, with the Level of the Mone…
  - 67 days ago 8 Oct 18, 12:59am -

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