The Dark Wave of Brexit Uncertainty
by Craig Wilson
Daily Reckoning
The UK voted to part ways with the EU in June. Since then Brexit uncertainty has left the UK’s market in disarray as the pound sterling’s fallen 18% since the referendum. While what happens in the UK might seem like “just something across the pond,” the coming months of Brexit negotiations could impact your money, investments and global trade.
The Bank for International Settlement (BIS) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have identified banks that are “systemically important” to the world economy. Under those same principles, the United Kingdom is a systemically important country for financial markets. What happens in the UK matters worldwide.
“If Trump Loses, I’m Grabbing My Musket”: Former Congressman Ready to Go Full Revolution
by Mac Slavo
SHTF Plan
This election remains more heated than any other in modern history – and for many, it has become a call to arms, even if only metaphorically.
Despite the fact that DNC operatives have been exposed as the ones inciting violence at rallies – Robert Creamer and Scott Foval for example – and working overtime to bus in illegal voters and rig the vote – the media is going out of its way to paint Trump supporters and grassroots Americans as the ones plotting violence.
Most recently, they are latching onto comments made by former congressman Joe Walsh, now a conservative radio host, who suggested he would ‘pick up a musket’ if Trump loses the election.
World is Out of Weapons
by Mark O’Byrne
GoldCore
Satyajit Das has written an excellent article in Bloomberg which clearly details the risks facing the global financial and monetary system and how central bankers are out of monetary ammunition and weapons.
Excerpt:
“No one likes to admit defeat. But global policymakers, who continue to insist that there’s more they can do to revive growth and inflation, are starting to sound like Monty Python’s Black Knight (click link to see video), the limbless and mortally wounded warrior who threatens to bleed on his victorious opponent. The truth is that governments and central banks have very few weapons left — and have probably lost any chance they once had of averting a prolonged stagnation.
Secular Stagnation
Clearly, the real economy hasn’t responded as hoped to zero and now negative interest rates. A whole host of factors continue to depress personal spending — high debt, stagnant incomes, unemployment and under-employment, and economic uncertainty. Even the rich, who have benefited immensely from the runup in asset prices, can’t really spend much more than they already are.”
Central Banks Fear Exposure of Their Interventions, So We GATA Press On
by Chris Powell
GATA.org
[…] Since 1999 the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee has been trying to get the financial industry, the mining industry, and mainstream financial news organizations to acknowledge that the gold market is aggressively manipulated by governments and central banks to protect their currencies and bonds against competition from a potentially superior currency and store of value. This year seems to have been the one when respectable people in the financial industry gave up disputing us.
Not that GATA still isn’t disparaged. Rather, respectable people in the financial industry have gone from denying that the gold market is manipulated to dismissing complaints of gold market manipulation because, they say, “All markets are manipulated.”
Is “The Donald” Finished?
by Bill Bonner
Acting Man
Too Late for Trump?
BALTIMORE – We checked. We checked again. Nothing. Despite our recent open letter to him, the person not sending us an email was Donald J. Trump. But let’s check with the markets before we return to politics.
[…] While the world’s attention is fixed on Mr. Trump, Mr. Market is playing it cool. U.S. stocks have barely budged for months. Yet the ground beneath the stock market’s feet is giving way. Corporate earnings are down 15% over the last two years.
And China – which economists told us was the “engine of growth” for the global economy – continues to dig itself into a debt hole as its order book goes blank. Meanwhile, U.S. home buyers are mortgaging themselves up again – just like they did in 2007. And the average ratio of rent to income is also back at pre-crash levels.
Populism is a Not an Ideology
by Joseph T. Salerno
Mises.org
A recent op-ed piece in The New York Times urged the Republican Party not to “throw away free enterprise” and embrace populism. Arthur C. Brooks, the author of the article, makes two bold but erroneous claims. First, he asserts that populist moments throughout history — including the Trumpian moment in the US — are triggered by severe financial crises that result in protracted and uneven recoveries that exacerbate existing income and wealth disparities.
In resorting to naïve economic determinism to explain populism, Brooks completely overlooks the awakening of the broad American middle class to political institutions and policies that have been designed by the entrenched elites of both parties to oppress and plunder them. Consider, for example, the never-ending and immensely costly war against “terror;” the Federal bailout of multi-billion dollar financial institutions both domestically and abroad; the ineffective and grossly expensive war on drugs; the pandemic of political correctness unleashed by Federal mandates and regulations that has infected American colleges and universities, and the egregious and unrestrained spying on American citizens by the bloated US security apparatus. All of these issues seem to count for nothing in Brooks’s simplistic analysis. For Brooks, “The real issue is weak, unevenly shared growth.” Brooks’s attribution of the rise of populism in the US and elsewhere almost exclusively to increasing income and wealth inequality is not only peculiar but absurd on the face of it and I will refrain from further comment on it.
Tanden To Podesta: “Whoever Told Hillary She Could Use A Private Server Should Be Drawn And Quartered”
from Zero Hedge
As part of the latest edition of Wikileaks Podesta emails, we find an interest tidbit contained in a July 25, 2015 email from Clinton aide Neera Tanden to Campaign Chairman John Podesta, in which the two discuss recent CNN polling which shows Bernie Sanders catching up to Hillary:
I’m doing jake tapper and they have a national poll coming out. They wouldn’t tell me results but if I had to guess it – discerning from our prep call -will show Bernie doing pretty well w Hillary and doing as well against Jeb or close to it.
To which Podesta replies “can you imagine what the Republicans would do to him if he were the nominee?”leading to Tanden saying “Well, let’s see what the poll actually says. Let’s hope the Democratic party is not suicidal”
A Wake Up Call?
by Chuck Butler
Daily Pfennig
Good Day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to you! One of these days… Yes, that’s what I was thinking on the way to work this morning… I was leaving the house so late, that neighbor, friend, Brad, drove by, as I was backing out of the garage, and sent me a text.. “You’re Late” Well, “one of these days” that’s not going to matter any longer… So There! HA! And one of these days, this country won’t have piles of debt, and people that think that debt doesn’t exist! But until then, we have to deal with people like that… UGH! Jesse Colin Young and the Youngbloods greet me this morning with their song: Let’s Get Together… Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try to love one another, right now…
Look at This Remarkable Chart as the Public Dumps Stocks! 5th Largest Outflow in the Past 10 Years!
from King World News
With continued uncertainty in global markets, the public is dumping stocks as we just witnessed the 5th largest outflow from domestic stocks funds in the last 10 years!
Public Dumping Stocks
From Jason Goepfert at SentimenTrader: “U.S. equity funds got punched again. There was a huge outflow from domestic funds that focus on stocks, the 5th-largest since 2007. Total fund assets have grown over that time, but even if we express the outflow as a % of total assets, it was large. There is a temptation to automatically consider such an outflow to be a contrary indicator (and bullish for stocks) but the history of other large weekly outflows has been mixed…
This is the Biggest Election Game-Changer Yet…
by Greg Guenthner
Daily Reckoning
Twelve more days and it’s all over…
You’ve almost made it through election season. In less than two weeks, you’ll be able to venture back out into the world without risking exposure to political debate. Heck, you might even have a chance to turn on the television without getting bombarded by ads for Hillary and The Donald.
But there is something other than the presidential candidates on this year’s ballot that’s caught our eye…
I’m talking about the legalization of marijuana.
Fiscal Stimulus: Just an Excuse to Grow Government
by David Stockman
Daily Reckoning
Between 1870 and 1913, the real GDP of the United States — as best they can estimate it — rose from $20 billion to $131 billion (1958$).
That gain of 4.3% per annumcompounded over 43 years is the highest real GDP growth on record for a continuous equivalent period of time. But here’s the wonder of it…
During that golden age of growth and prosperity, the U.S. had no central bank and not even one episode of fiscal stimulus!
If you allow for population growth from 39 million in 1870 to 97 million by 1913 and look at the U.S. economy on a per capita basis, the gains in those dark days before the invention of “stimulus” were pretty robust.
Leaked Memo Exposes The Ties Between Clinton Foundation Donors And Bill’s “For-Profit” Activities
from Zero Hedge
We have written frequently in recent weeks about a feud that erupted between Chelsea Clinton and Doug Band back in 2011 after Chelsea raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest between Band’s firm, Teneo, the Clinton Foundation and the State Department (see here, here, here and here). The feud ultimately resulted in Band being forced to draft a memo spelling out, in vivid detail, the many entangled relationships between himself, Teneo, the Clinton Foundation and the State Department. Fortunately, today’s Wikileaks dump included that memo which reveals, for the first time, the precise financial flows between the Clinton Foundation, Band’s firm Teneo Consulting, and the Clinton family’s private business endeavors.
The memo starts with a brief background on Teneo, which was created in June 2011, shortly after Declan Kelly resigned from his position as “United States Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland,” a position to which he was appointed by Secretary Clinton.
Our Landfill Economy
by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
This “maximizing growth and profits is the highest good” mode of production is insane.
Correspondent Bart D. (Australia) captured the entire global economy in three words: The Landfill Economy. Stuff is manufactured, energy is consumed shipping it somewhere, consumers buy it and shortly thereafter it ends up as garbage in the landfill.
This is of course the definition of “economic growth”: waste, inefficiency, environmental destruction–none of these matter. Only two things matter: maximize “growth” by any means necessary, and maximize profits by any means necessary.
The Landfill Economy now encompasses the entire planet. The swirling gyre of plastic trash the size of Texas between Hawaii and California: it’s just one modest example of the planetary trash dump that “growth” and profit generate as byproducts/blowback.
What is at Stake in the Election
by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org
Here Are The Presstitutes Who Control American’s Minds: http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2016/10/26/1010359-65-us-journalists-at-a-private-dinner-with-hillary-clintons-team-and-john-podesta/
I just heard an NPR presstitute delare that Texas, a traditional sure thing for Republicans was up for grabs in the presidential election. Little wonder if this report on Zero Hedge is correct. Apparently, the voting machines are already at work stealing the election for Killary. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-25/texas-rigged-first-reports-voting-machines-switching-votes-hillary-texas
From my long experience in journalism, I know the American public is not very sharp. Nevertheless, it is difficult for me to believe that Americans, whose jobs, careers, and the same for their children and grandchildren, have been sold out by the elites who Hillary represents would actually vote for her. It makes no sense. If this were the case, how did Trump get the Republican nomination despite the vicious presstitute campaign against him?
Get Ready for Civil Unrest: Survey Finds That Most Americans Are Concerned About Election Violence
by Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
Could we see violence no matter who wins on November 8th? Let’s hope that it doesn’t happen, but as you will see below, anti-Trump violence is already sweeping the nation. If Trump were to actually win the election, that would likely send the radical left into a violent post-election temper tantrum unlike anything that we have ever seen before. Alternatively, there is a tremendous amount of concern on the right that this election could be stolen by Hillary Clinton. And as I showed yesterday, it appears that voting machines in Texas are already switching votes from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton. If Hillary Clinton wins this election under suspicious circumstances, that also may be enough to set off widespread civil unrest all across the country.
Ugly! “Failure Almost Guaranteed” Regardless of Who Wins the Election
by Mike ‘Mish’ Shedlock
Mish Talk
The word of the day is “ugly”. That’s how Steen Jakobsen, Saxo Bank CIO and chief economist describes the US presidential campaign, broken social contracts, public debt, and productivity.
Things are so ugly, Jakobsen says “failure is almost guaranteed” regardless of who wins the election.
[…] This is a guest post by Steen Jakobsen. The original appears at US Election: Nothing to lose — #SaxoStrats
US Election: Nothing to Lose
My present macro speech is titled “Ugly: Don’t fight with ‘ugly’ people as they have nothing to lose”.
To me, this is the essence of the US presidential campaign. The ugly truth surrounding this ballot lies in the bigger picture, as whomever becomes president will go down in history as the “non-president” – the president who made us need, see, and demand something else.
Earnings Magic Exposed
by Lance Roberts
Real Investment Advice
Following the end of each fiscal quarter, SEC registered corporations release their financial statements. Typically, investors and the media place a lot of importance on these results. Consequently, stock prices tend to rise or fall based on how the financial results compare to a consensus of estimates made by Wall Street analysts.
Since the beginning of the current quarter (10/1/2016), 76% of the 113 S&P 500 companies that have released earnings results have exceeded expectations. Like so many quarters before, many investors and media pundits are supporting the naïve conclusion that earnings are better than expected. Unfortunately, few investors are paying attention to the measurement tool, expected earnings, to gauge its usefulness as a measure of earnings quality. In this article we uncover the crafty game that Wall Street and corporate investor relations departments’ play to put a positive spin on earnings releases and at the same time give the impression that stock prices are cheap based on forward looking earnings expectations.
Meet Peter Kadzik – Another Clinton Stooge at the Justice Department
by Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg
The name Peter Kadzik probably doesn’t ring a bell for many of you, although it probably should. This guy is a real piece of work, as an excellent article published earlier today at the Daily Caller demonstrates.
Here’s some of what we learned:
The day after Hillary Clinton testified in front of the House Select Committee on Benghazi last October, John Podesta, the Democrat’s campaign chairman, met for dinner with a small group of well-connected friends, including Peter Kadzik, a top official at the Justice Department.
The dinner arrangement, revealed in hacked Podesta emails released by WikiLeaks, is just the latest example of an apparent conflict of interest between the Clinton campaign and the federal agency charged with investigating the former secretary of state’s email practices.
The Math Thickens
by Jeffrey P. Snider
Alhambra Partners
It has been my contention for some long while that one of the biggest parts of this “rising dollar”, that is, again, nothing more than a euphemism for the various ways in which there is a “dollar” shortage, is balance sheet math. The problem in as simple terms as perhaps possible is that positions were taken, balance sheets constructed, and “capital” allocated (through RWA budgets) all based on the idea that QE was money printing and that money printing would lead to inflation then recovery.
To find out instead that at the very least it wasn’t so simple threatens not just trading positions but balance sheet capacity itself. The eurodollar being not an actual thing, it is described as close as possible as balance sheet capacity. The world where QE is a failure is much, much different than the one where liquidity is overwhelming and perfectly fluid.