from Boom Bust
China’s “Lehman Moment?”
by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
Or Decades of Japan-Style Stagnation?
Last year, $674 billion fled China. This year through March, $175 billion did. The Institute of International Finance, in a report released today, estimated that $538 billion would flee China this year.
Reserves have plunged from $4 trillion in June 2014 to $3.2 trillion as of February. Much of it is illiquid and cannot be used to stabilize the currency. So the IIF said that capital flight could accelerate if Chinese investors fret that the yuan could fall in a “disorderly” manner.
It’s All About the Money, Honey
by Adam English
Outsider Club
It never fails. If you want to know who is behind anything, simply follow the money.
Earnings aren’t looking good, sales and revenue are shrinking, and central bank policies are wreaking havoc across all types of equities.
Corporate cash is piling up, but heavily concentrated in a handful of large corporations.
The rest of the market is issuing debt for cheap as fast as it can while the risk vs. reward balance is broken for investors. Companies are borrowing from their future, yet making no plans for when cheap debt will inevitably end.
Ticking TimeBomb: Americans In Horrible Financial Shape Just Prior to The Next Crisis
by Jeff Berwick
Dollar Vigilante
We said after the 2008 crisis that the financial system had died. In fact, that was our cue to start The Dollar Vigilante. And we said all they would do was print money to make it seem like the economic system was still functioning until the next major crisis/collapse, which we said was likely to occur between 2015-2020.
And that is exactly what happened as we now sit on the precipice of the next great collapse. Just look at US national debt… it has doubled since 2008! And, we’re now living in a world with negative interest rates. The system is in its final stages. Yet, your average American is more preoccupied about who should be allowed to use which bathroom than about the disintegration of the dollar economy.
And this collapse couldn’t come at a worse time for your average American. Usually, in recent history, busts have come after a boom… meaning that people could, to some extent, manage through the bust. Not this time. Your average American’s solvency has been decimated in the last seven years.
Lies, Propaganda and What is Really Going to Shock the World
from King World News
Forget the lies and propaganda, this is what is really going to shock the world.
Stephen Quayle, founder of SQ Metals: “Everybody knows that there is much more to the Deutsche Bank problem and their admitted manipulation of the silver market. People are now really frightened because they have been watching the purchasing power of their money being destroyed and they want a safe store of value. That’s why my clients are buying physical gold and silver at these levels.
China and Russian Look to Take Over Global Gold Trading
by David Kranzler
Investment Research Dynamics
BRICS countries are large economies with large reserves of gold and an impressive volume of production and consumption of this precious metal. In China, the gold trade is conducted in Shanghai, in Russia it is in Moscow. Our idea is to create a link between the two cities in order to increase trade between the two markets,” First Deputy Governor of the Russian Central Bank Sergey Shvetsov told TASS – RT.com, April 19
The article in RT.com from which the above quote is sourced surprisingly did not receive a lot of attention from the alternative media. Perhaps it was overshadowed by the highly anticipated move by China to commence fixing the price of gold on the Shanghai Gold Exchange in yuan. I suggested that we would not see an immediate impact on the price of gold, which we have not, but that the move was part of a larger plan by China to “de-dollarize” the world.
Wait Until You Get a Pitch Right Where You Want It!
by Jeffrey D Saut
Financial Sense
One of the most successful investors in history received the only A+ from Professor Benjamin Graham (of Graham and Dodd “Security Analysis” fame) at Columbia: the chairman and chief executive officer at Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., which traded as low as $38 per share in the early 1970s and now trades around $219,000 per share. If you haven’t guessed who by now, it’s Warren Buffett. How does he do it? Well, the following are excerpts from financial media interviews back in the late 1980s:
Poland-Germany Border Open But Not For Syrians; Polish-German Refugee Tensions Escalate
by Mike ‘Mish’ Shedlock
Mish Talk
A simmering feud between Poland and Germany has widened with the closure of a bridge between the two countries.
The bridge is not completely closed. Rather, it’s closed if you look like a Syrian refugee.
That’s just the beginning of Polish-German tensions over refugees.
Please consider Bridge Linking Poland to Germany is Now a Barrier Against Migrants.
If God Is Dead…
by Patrick J. Buchanan
LewRockwell.com
In a recent column Dennis Prager made an acute observation.
“The vast majority of leading conservative writers … have a secular outlook on life. … They are unaware of the disaster that godlessness in the West has led to.”
These secular conservatives may think that “America can survive the death of God and religion,” writes Prager, but they are wrong.
And, indeed, the last half-century seems to bear him out.
A people’s religion, their faith, creates their culture, and their culture creates their civilization. And when faith dies, the culture dies, the civilization dies, and the people begin to die.
Do Rich People Pay their “Fair Share”?
by Ryan McMaken
Mises.org
Earlier this month, information from a Panamanian law firm was leaked which showed that many wealthy people had set up Panamanian shell companies to hide income and avoid taxes.
Out of 11.5 million leaked documents, only 211 people (.00006% of the US population) with US addresses (not all of them citizens) were implicated by the documents. Nevertheless, American politicians and members of the media seized on the leak as an illustration of how high-income Americans aren’t paying “their fair share.”
Marking Time Til Obama Leaves
by Dave Gonigam
Daily Reckoning
To hear the mainstream tell it, the rulers of Saudi Arabia are planning for a long future of relatively cheap oil.
This morning, the kingdom took the wraps off a 15-year plan to make the economy less dependent on crude. “We have developed a case of oil addiction in Saudi Arabia,” says Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
To remedy that situation, the kingdom plans to “raise the capital of its public investment fund to 7 trillion riyals ($2 trillion) from 600 billion riyals ($160 billion) and would sell up to 5% of shares in state oil giant Aramco,” says a Reuters account.
Harvey Organ’s Daily Gold & Silver Report – 2016.04.25
Open interest in silver climbs above 200,000 at 201,787 within 200 contracts of its all time high and yet silver price is very low in comparison/Chicago Pensions system is in disarray/Deutsche bank echoes David Stockman in that Q one earnings are horrifying!
by Harvey Organ
Harvey Organ’s Blog
[…] Tomorrow is options expiry on the comex. However we have to wait until Friday afternoon as the London’s LBMA options expire along with the bankers OTC options.
So expect the prices of our precious metals to remain subdued to the rest of the week. The open interest in silver continues to rise despite Friday’s weakness in price. Somebody is accumulating massive amounts of silver and the longs are waiting patiently ready to pounce.
Earth Changes In 2016? How To Get Prepared For The Coming Earthquakes And Volcanic Eruptions
by Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
All over the world seismic activity is increasing. In recent weeks we have seen a dramatic earthquake in Ecuador, more than 600 earthquakes have experts extremely alarmed about what is happening to Japan’s southern Island, and 37 volcanoes around the planet are erupting right now. Most of the large earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that we have witnessed lately have come along the Ring of Fire, which is an area of seismic instability which roughly encircles the Pacific Ocean. Fortunately the west coast of the United States has been spared so far, but scientists tell us that tension has been building up along the San Andreas fault and the Cascadia Subduction Zone for decades, and they assure us that it is only a matter of time before we see a major event. What that day arrives, will you be prepared?
John Rubino – Money Grows on Trees, but the Forest is Dying
from Financial Survival Network
John Rubino spoke with us on Monday. Seems that China has printed up a cool trillion to bail out its stock market earlier this year. And Japan’s Central Bank is now one of the top 10 owners of 90 percent of Japan’s publicly traded companies. How did this happen? Is this really the way to bring the economy back? It hasn’t worked so far and there’s no reason to believe that it ever will. What’s the definition of insanity?
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Fractional Reserve Banking with G. Edward Griffin, Bestselling Author (Episode #663)
Jason Hartman is joined by returning guest and best-selling author of The Creature from Jekyll Island, G. Edward Griffin, for a discussion of the hot topic of the United States’ “fiscal cliff.” As Mr. Griffin shares, the fiscal cliff is nothing new. It has been there for roughly 50 years and applying a name to it now is a scare tactic by the government. Mr. Griffin talks about fractional reserve banking and how it has led to the economic mess our country and world are in today. It is no longer a fractional reserve; it is at zero reserve and Mr. Griffin feels the economy is going to collapse from all of the borrowing to pay old debt. This will lead to a fully regimented society, which Mr. Griffin describes as drifting toward totalitarian, a scary concept. He goes on to discuss short and long term ways to protect ourselves, preserving any wealth one might have, and being prepared as much as possible for anything that may come to pass. He feels the Fed will continue to inflate, raise taxes for a while, and then probably cut taxes again at some point. It will be more of the same, more and more governmental control over our lives, more and more money created out of nothing, and less and less freedom. G. Edward Griffin is a writer and documentary film producer with many successful titles to his credit. Listed in Who’s Who in America, he is well known because of his talent for researching difficult topics and presenting them in clear terms that all can understand. He has dealt with such diverse subjects as archaeology and ancient Earth history, the Federal Reserve System and international banking, terrorism, internal subversion, the history of taxation, U.S. foreign policy, the science and politics of cancer therapy, the Supreme Court, and the United Nations.
Just go to JasonHartman.com and get started now!
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Dave Bego – Are Unions Infiltrating the Republican Party?
from Financial Survival Network
Union fighter Dave Bego believes that because Republicans are firmly in charge of Congress and have been for a while and probably will continue on, the Unions in order to survive are starting to hedge their bets. And since there appears to be only one party at the national level, what difference does it make anyway? Politics and war always make for strange bedfellows.
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Jim Mosquera – Election 2020
from Financial Survival Network
The U.S. experiences a financial and terror crisis as it wrestles with the Presidential election of 2020.
So goes the theme of Jim Mosquera’s next book.
How far from reality will it be?
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Mike Gazzola – Don’t Give Up On Foreclosures (Episode #59)
from Mike Gazzola’s Instant Equity: A Proven Real Estate Investment System
Yes the foreclosure inventory is decreasing. Some places in Florida and elsewhere are seeing their inventories are getting back to normal levels. However, buying REO’s (Real Estate Owned) won’t necessarily save you money and could cost you dearly. However, there are good values available. One trend that is definitely happening is that a higher percentage of homes that wind up in foreclosure are being sold to investors at auction. Previously, banks were taking back a high percentage of those properties and then selling them as REO’s. We’re not quite sure what to make of this trend yet, but it could be very favorable.
Just go to TeachMeMike.com and get started now!
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Jason Hartman – Newer Technologies Changing the Real Estate Game? (Episode #662)
Jason takes a break from a Social Media conference to analyze stories from the USA Today’s Money section. He shares the new tech items which will affect real estate pricing in the future, the underemployment issue in the US and the median wage of CEO’s of major corporations. Early Bird pricing is available for the Cincinnati, Ohio Real Estate Investment Property Tour scheduled for June 4th and 5th. There will also be a new Creating Wealth Seminar during the visit.
Just go to JasonHartman.com and get started now!
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The Lemmings of Wall Street
by David Stockman
David Stockman’s Contra Corner
I mistakenly took Squawk Box off mute this morning. It was just in time to hear one of the regular anchors—–the one who makes Joe Kernen sound slightly insightful by comparison——forecast a pick-up in global growth on the grounds that “China is recovering”.
Yes, the credit intoxicated land of the Red Ponzi just tied one on for the record books. During Q1 it generated new debt at a madcap annual rate of $4 trillion or nearly 40% of GDP.
And that incendiary deposit of more unpayable debt, which came on top of the $30 trillion already smothering history’s greatest construction site and open air gambling den, did indeed goose China’s real estate prices, state company CapEx, infrastructure building and steel production. Call it fiat growth because even pyramid building adds to stated GDP, at first.
Saudi Prince Vows Thatcherite Revolution and Escape from Oil
by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Telegraph.co.uk
Saudi Arabia has launched a radical ‘Thatcherite’ shake-up to an avert economic crisis and prepare the kingdom for the post-carbon world, stunning analysts with claims that it could break reliance on oil within just four years.
Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler, vowed to build a $3 trillion wealth fund and break onto the world stage as an investment superpower, the spearhead of an historic package of measures intended to bring the deformed economy kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.
“We have an addiction to oil. This is dangerous. I think that by 2020 we can live without it,” he told Al Arabiya television.
April 27th, A Day of Central Bank Infamy
by Andrew Hoffman
Miles Franklin
How blatant has the manipulation become in “2016, the Cartel’s last stand?” Take a look at the silver charts on Thursday and Friday, and tell me if anything appears “familiar.”
[…] Better yet, take a gander at last night’s 140th “Sunday Night Sentiment” capping of the past 146 weekends; and 627th “2:15 AM” raid of the past 719 trading days. Again, does anything appear “similar?”
A Visit with Max Porterfield of Callinex Mines
by Turd Ferguson
TF Metals Report
As you know, we’ve been trying to feature certain mining shares here in 2016 as a way of helping these companies to raise their overall visibility. To that end, earlier today I had the pleasure to visit with Max Porterfield, CEO of Callinex Mines.
In this brief call, Max and I discuss:
- the resource sector, in general, and the prospects for base metals as well as precious metals
- the team he’s put together at Callinex and why that makes them such an intriguing exploration company
- the recent news of some major, outside investors taking a position in his company
Contest Announced – Win $1,500 for Most Offensive Limerick Mocking Turkish President Erdogan
by Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg
[…] It’s been really nauseating watching German Chansellor Angela Merkel pander to Turkey’s thin-skinned, petty tyrant of a President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the hopes that he will reduce the flow of refugees into Europe.
By now, you’ve probably all heard about how Merkel cowed to Erdogan’s demands by allowing the prosecution of a German comedian for the crime of mocking the sensitive strongman. As the Washington Post reported:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has cleared the way for the prosecution of German comedian Jan Böhmermann, whose poem mocking Turkey’s president has become the centerpiece of a clash between Germany’s free-speech traditions and the government’s efforts to safeguard its important relations with Turkey.
Government-Sponsored Corporatism Leading to Rise of Populism
by Daily Bell Staff
The Daily Bell
2016 Campaign’s Populist Tone Rankles America’s CEOs … Chief executives at big American companies are increasingly frustrated by the populist tone of the presidential campaign, and concerns are mounting in boardrooms and corner offices that anti-business rhetoric may solidify even after the November election. – Wall Street Journal
This Wall Street Journal article makes the point that Trump has positioned himself at the head of an increasingly anti-business GOP.
More:
The GOP “has been captured by a large number of people who basically do not like big,” said Judd Gregg, a Republican former U.S. senator and governor of New Hampshire, who sits on the board of Honeywell International Inc.
By default, there’s nothing wrong with “big.” Theoretically, big business can mean economies of scale and economic efficiency. The oversized corporations of the US, however, are not natural products of the market. Instead, they are the artificial results of government policy.