by Patrick J. Buchanan
AntiWar

Does Hillary Clinton possess the integrity and honesty to be president of the United States? Or are those quaint and irrelevant considerations in electing a head of state in 21st-century America?

These are the questions put on the table by the report from FBI Director James Comey on what his agents unearthed in their criminal investigation of the Clinton email scandal.

Clinton dodged an FBI recommendation that she be indicted for gross negligence in handling U.S. security secrets, a recommendation that would have aborted her campaign. But Director Comey dynamited the defense she has been offering the country.

Continue Reading at AntiWar.com…

from RT America

by Dan Sanchez
David Stockman’s Contra Corner

Wednesday, two shocking videos of police officers fatally shooting civilians (Alton Sterling and Philando Castile) surfaced. The day before, many were appalled to hear the Director of the FBI announce that Hillary Clinton would not be charged for mishandling classified information. The two events may seem unrelated, but at bottom, they concern the same fundamental problem: impunity.

Impunity is the essence of power. What, after all, is power? Is it simply the capacity to exert unjust force? The ability to impress one’s will upon the flesh or belongings of another? No, it’s more than that.

Continue Reading at DavidStockmansContraCorner.com…

by Justin Spittler
Casey Research

Investors everywhere are taking cover.

As you probably know, Great Britain stunned the world by voting to leave the European Union on June 23.

The “Brexit,” as folks are calling it, triggered a selloff that wiped $3 trillion from global stocks in two days.

The announcement also shook the currency market. The pound sterling plunged 8% the day after the news broke. It was one of the British currency’s worst days ever. The U.S. dollar, euro, and Japanese yen experienced huge moves too.

Continue Reading at CaseyResearch.com…

from Stefan Molyneux

by Mike ‘Mish’ Shedlock
Mish Talk

In Hoisington’s Second Quarter Review (not yet posted online), Lacy Hunt takes on the widespread Keynesian belief that government spending boosts real (inflation adjusted) GDP.

Hunt states the multiplier is negative over time and short-term gains are an illusion. Here are a few key snips from an excellent report.

Deficit Spending Restrains Economic Growth

Negative multiplier. The government expenditure multiplier is negative. Based on academic research, the best evidence suggests the multiplier is -0.01, which means that an additional dollar of deficit spending will reduce private GDP by $1.01, resulting in a one-cent decline in real GDP. The deficit spending provides a transitory boost to economic activity, but the initial effect is more than reversed in time. Within no more than three years the economy is worse off on a net basis, with the lagged effects outweighing the initial positive benefit.

Continue Reading at MishTalk.com…

by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street

Chinese investors buy fewer homes in the US.

Oh no, we thought when we read the report from the National Association of Realtors. Not now! Not when there’s a huge unstoppable condo glut building up in the teetering housing markets of San Francisco, Manhattan, and Miami, when sales and prices are already dropping. Foreign investors are now needed more than ever to absorb this new high-end inventory and bail out these markets.

That’s what everyone has been praying for. The last thing we need is for Chinese investors to stay away from San Francisco and Manhattan; and Canadian, European, and Latin American investors to stay away from Miami.

Continue Reading at WolfStreet.com…

Record levels of comex gold causes bankers to execute another raid today/gold and silver hold up pretty good/3 more Great Britain property funds gated and some are demanding a haircut in value/European banking in chaos: three major problems: Monte dei Paschi/Deutsche bank and UK Ted spreads rise (banks will not loan to one another)/Despite all of its problems, China is still importing close to 750 tonnes in this first half of 2016

by Harvey Organ
Harvey Organ’s Blog

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen:

Gold: $1,360.10 DOWN $4.80 (comex closing time)

Silver19.80 DOWN 36 cents

In the access market 5:15 pm

Gold: 1360.10

Silver: 19.80

Continue Reading at HarveyOrganBlog.com…

China’s central bank has broken its promise and is letting the yuan slide, with huge global effects

by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Telegraph.co.uk

China has abandoned a solemn pledge to keep its exchange rate stable and is carrying out a systematic devaluation of the yuan, sending a powerful deflationary impulse through a global economy already caught in a 1930s trap.

The country’s currency basket has been sliding at an annual pace of 12pc since the start of the year. This has picked up sharply since the Brexit vote, suggesting that the People’s Bank (PBOC) may be taking advantage of the distraction to push through a sharper devaluation.

“This makes a mockery of the PBOC’s suggestion that its policy is to keep the currency’s value stable,” said Mark Williams, chief China economist at Capital Economics. “Markets will not take PBOC policy statements at face value in the future.”

Continue Reading at Telegraph.co.uk…

from Zero Hedge

During testimony before Congress on Thursday, FBI Director James Comey stated that the FBI’s interview with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not under oath or recorded, but was careful to point out for all the paeons listening that it still would be a crime to lie to the FBI.

As Breitbart notes, Comey stated that he did not personally interview Clinton, and did not talk to all of the “five or six” who did interview Clinton.

Continue Reading at ZeroHedge.com…

from The Daily Bell

CNN’s David Gergen Says US Well-Served by Diligent FBI: Is He Mentally Ill?

Declaration of Hillary’s Innocence Jeopardizes FBI Credibility

Continue Reading at TheDailyBell.com…

Silver has seen double the percentage gain of gold since Brexit

by Myra P. Saefong
Market Watch

Silver has outshined its sister metal since the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union sparked turmoil in global equities markets, and the rally could lift the white metal to a three-year high.

Gold and silver futures recently reached their highest levels in about 2 years. On Wednesday, gold futures settled at $1,367.10 an ounce, marking their highest finish since March 2014, while silver futures hit a 23-month high of $20.203 an ounce. Prices for both eased back a bit Thursday, with silver booking its first decline in seven sessions.

But silver prices are still set to surpass some analysts’ $21 to $22 predictions from earlier this year and talk of $25, $27, and even $32 an ounce have emerged. Those levels would take prices to their highest since at least 2013.

Continue Reading at MarketWatch.com…

from Kitco NEWS

by Bloomberg News
Bloomberg.com

Global gold holdings topped 2,000 metric tons for the first time in three years as the Brexit fallout and speculation that U.S. interest rates won’t rise anytime soon sent investors hunting for a haven.

Holdings in bullion-backed exchange-traded funds rose 4.1 tons to 2,001.4 tons on Wednesday, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s larger than gold reserves held by China, the biggest consumer and a consistent central-bank buyer in recent months. The latest increase followed the biggest one-day gain since 2009 in the SPDR Gold Shares, the largest gold ETF.

Continue Reading at Bloomberg.com…

by Mike ‘Mish’ Shedlock
Mish Talk

Ahead of the vote on Brexit, IMF head Christine Lagarde warned of a prolonged period of uncertainty.

After the vote, Largarde said Brexit provided the EU a better opportunity for reform.

Today Largard is certain of disastrous consequences if another large county turns protectionist. In doing so, she pointed her finger at Donald Trump.

Continue Reading at MishTalk.com…

by Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg

Earlier today, I mentioned that I couldn’t muster the energy to write more words about the police murder of Philando Castile. Things have changed.

As is often the case, it was a series of tweets I composed that provided the inspiration for this piece. One tweet in particular really set things off:

[…] I wasn’t expecting the enormous reaction this tweet generated, but I was happy to see that it really connected with so many people who had never heard of me and never read my stuff before. I continued with my tweet storm until most of my angst was out, and then realized I needed to put these thoughts into a post. So let’s start with the title of this post.

Continue Reading at LibertyBlitzkrieg.com…

from Bill Still

by Ryan McMaken
Mises.org

Like all employees of the FBI, James Comey lives off the sweat of the American taxpayer. His large salary, upon retirement, will be converted into a very generous pension. Like most federal employees in a high ranking position like his, Comey continues to look forward to decades of living at a standard of living far above what is experienced by ordinary people in the private sector.

To maintain this life of comfort, all he had to do was agree to look the other way as a powerful politician clearly — by Comey’s own admission — broke federal law.

Naturally, this same treatment would never be afforded to an ordinary taxpayer, who would likely be looking at years in federal prison for offenses similar to that which Hillary Clinton has apparently committed.

Continue Reading at Mises.org…

by Lance Roberts
Real Investment Advice

Another Measure Of Overvaluation

My friend and colleague, Doug Short, regularly posts updates on multiple levels of valuation on the market. To wit:

“Here is a summary of the four market valuation indicators we update on a monthly basis.

To facilitate comparisons, we’ve adjusted the two P/E ratios and Q Ratio to their arithmetic means and the inflation-adjusted S&P Composite to its exponential regression. Thus the percentages on the vertical axis show the over/undervaluation as a percent above mean value, which we’re using as a surrogate for fair value. Based on the latest S&P 500 monthly data, the market is overvalued somewhere in the range of 43% to 90%, depending on the indicator, up slightly from the previous month’s 42% to 89%.“

Continue Reading at RealInvestmentAdvice.com…

from Paul Joseph Watson

by Paul Mampilly
The Sovereign Investor

“Walk fast. Don’t stop. Don’t look at anyone. Put your cash in your shoes. Stay on the edge of the pavement so you can escape if someone grabs you.”

It was April 1987. And that was the advice I got about navigating New York City alone as a 19-year-old college student. This was during a time when the streets were riddled with crime, and I’d been living in the U.S. for less than a year. Looking back now, I can see I was a naive kid, even though I felt independent. After all, I’d been on my own for most of my childhood, going to boarding school since the age of 6.

I thought I knew how to handle myself.

So I made rash decisions, like the time I traveled alone at night to see one of my favorite singers back then, Paul Simon, who was performing at Radio City Music Hall.

Continue Reading at TheSovereignInvestor.com…

by Nick Hodge
Outsider Club

Publisher’s Note: Yesterday you received Part 1 of my interview with Marin Katusa, in which we discussed the resource market and gold stocks. You can see that here. Part 2 is below. We pick up with me following up with Marin about a metric he devised to ensure you’re not being diluted out of your gold exposure in any given stock. Enjoy.

Nick Hodge: Let’s start with the gold growth per share. If you just continue to finance your company, and you continue to issue more shares, and your resources, or your assets aren’t growing then of course you’re being diluted out of the asset you invested in to begin with. With BRI, with Brazil Resources they’ve taken this bear market over the past couple of years to really add ounces in the ground. Just look at the Whistler acquisition, the property up in Alaska. That’s taken BRI to over 10 million ounces indicated and inferred. I think something like 13 million ounces of gold equivalent.

Marin Katusa: Spot on, Nick. What people have to understand, and differentiate is a lot of companies claim they have ounces in the ground, but what are the quality of those ounces? Now a very good friend of mine just sold his company for over $125 million in Argentina.

Continue Reading at OutsiderClub.com…

by Jeffrey P. Snider
Alhambra Partners

Nominal disposable income in Japan fell 4.4% year-over-year in May 2016. In what can only be a sign of the times being far too familiar in Japanese, real disposable income was thus slightly better at “only” -3.9%. For all the hundreds of trillions in new Japanese bank reserves provided by so many QE’s I have lost count, “real” in Japan means better than nominal since the CPI is negative yet again. For the month of May, the overall CPI was -0.38% less than May 2015; excluding imputed rent, the CPI was -0.48% below the same month a year earlier.

Continue Reading at AlhambraPartners.com…

from Kitco NEWS

by Stefan Gleason
Gold Seek

Under certain circumstances, seemingly decent human beings are capable of horrific things.

So it is with Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who parlayed his sound money bona fides into the top post at America’s private banking cartel and current issuer of our un-backed currency. In betrayal of his own stated free-market principles, Greenspan spent his tenure at the Fed pumping up financial markets with easy money and enabling runaway government spending commitments.

Today, however, the “maestro” of central banking is playing a very different tune. He’s warning against an inevitable crisis resulting from the very policies he helped implement.

Continue Reading at GoldSeek.com…

by Alex Barrow
Financial Sense

One of our more profitable trades this year was in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

[…] We caught it breaking out of a long-term triangle pattern and rode it to the very top of its trend. We then successfully exited our position right before Bitcoin began breaking down last week.

For those who maybe unfamiliar, Bitcoin is a digital asset and payment system — a virtual currency. It’s considered a cryptocurrency because it doesn’t require a central bank to handle its transactions. It’s all self-contained through technology that encrypts and records a ledger over a distributed computer system. This technology is called the blockchain.

Continue Reading at FinancialSense.com…

from Zero Hedge

In another reminder why most of the population is increasingly furious at the “elites”, over the holiday weekend a 31-year-old portfolio manager for Moore Capital, Brett Barna, threw a wild “Wolf of Wall Street”-style Hamptons party, complete with Champagne, scores of bikini-clad women and costumed gun-toting midgets, and in the process trashed a $20 million mansion.

According to Page Six, Barna, “a portfolio manager at Louis Bacon’s Moore Capital Management, hosted the all-day “#Sprayathon” pool party on Sunday, where 1,000 people doused themselves in bubbly as rapper Ace Hood performed.”

Making things more complicated is that Barna is not the owner of the 9-bedroom, 8 acre Hamptons mansion which “comes with tennis court, gym, outdoor pool & jacuzzi” where he celebrated US Independence Day in decadent style, and instead rented it from “Tommy” for $29,000 on AirBNB, a fee he is now disputing.

Continue Reading at ZeroHedge.com…

by Chris Campbell
Laissez Faire Books

“I found your latest Bitcoin article interesting,” an LFT reader, Art N., wrote yesterday in response to our “Swiss bank account in your pocket” episode.

“But,” Art went on, “even though I’ve been interested in buying some Bitcoins for the past couple of years I don’t know how to actually get my hands on some.

“I’ve came across some things in the past but I don’t know how to find out if they are legit or how to price Bitcoins. Might you do another article on this subject?

“Or point me to a reliable source for good information? The Swiss-bank account in one’s pocket… is even more interesting now than it would have been just a few years ago!”

Continue Reading at LFB.org…

Utilities sector is up some 21% in the first half of 2016

by Ellie Ismailidou and Anora Mahmudova
Market Watch

Buying the stocks that Wall Street calls boring has paid off over the past six months—but now this “defensive” strategy is starting to look pretty risky.

Utilities, a sector traditionally viewed as a safety play in times of market turmoil, have risen 21.2% in the first half of 2016—the sector’s best first-half performance in over 25 years.

But if you ask some analysts, the run-up in prices leaves the sector extremely overextended and valuations dangerously high; some analysts believe the sector is in bubble territory.

Are some investors already catching on? Thursday’s decline marked the utilities sector’s sharpest daily drop, at 1.8%, in seven weeks.

Continue Reading at MarketWatch.com…

from King World News

Today top trends forecaster Gerald Celente spoke with King World News about the action in gold and silver and what KWN readers around the world should expect next.

(King World News) Gerald Celente: “$10.7 trillion of negative yields — that is what is driving the gold market, along with the turmoil in the currency markets. The British pound just plunged over 20 percent in a matter of days. So these are the catalysts for the bid in the gold market…

Continue Reading at KingWorldNews.com…