from RT America
The Kinder Morgan Myth Shrivels With Each Quarter
by David Kranzler
Investment Research Dynamics
The KMI fantasy continues to shrivel, along with its “vaunted” DCF and its CAPEX. The CAPEX narrative is part of what fueled the myth surrounding KMI. Richard Kinder is self-serving Ponzi master who learned his trade under Ken Lay at Enron. He was sucking money out of KMI at a rate of close to half a billion dollars annually by the time the banks forced him to slash and burn the dividend.
Per yesterday’s earnings report for its Q1 2016, Kinders revenues and earnings continue to decline. What happened to the famed “stabilility in earnings and cash flow” – the narrative promoted by Wall Street, the media and the Company itself? The legend had it that Kinder’s contracts insulated the Company’s cash flow from volatility in the energy market. Operating income continues to plunge, falling 24% from Q1 2015 to Q1 2016.
Is the Price of Gold Really Going to Hit $20,000?
from King World News
With everyone focused on the launch of China’s gold fix, today King World News thought it was a good idea to take a step back and look at the big picture of the war between gold and the Federal Reserve. This led to a remarkable question: Will the price of gold really hit $20,000?
MacroTrends: This chart shows the ratio of the gold price to the St. Louis Adjusted Monetary Base back to 1918. The monetary base roughly matches the size of the Federal Reserve balance sheet, which indicates the level of new money creation required to prevent debt deflation. Previous gold bull markets ended when this ratio crossed over the 4.8 level.
Boulevard of Broken Retirement Dreams
by Dave Gonigam
Daily Reckoning
Wow. If you’re a retired Teamster, we’re glad we’re not you today. And even if you’re not a retired Teamster, you’ll want to pay heed.
“More than a quarter of a million active and retired truckers and their families could soon see their pension benefits severely cut,” says The Washington Post — “even though their pension fund is still years away from running out of money.”
The move would amount to “the first cuts in earned pension benefits to current retirees in over 40 years,” writes David Dayen at The Intercept. Not all Teamster retirees would be affected, only those covered by the Central States Pension Fund. But they face an average cut of 23% come July 1.
The decision isn’t final. And the decision rests with the Treasury Department.
Harvey Organ’s Daily Gold & Silver Report – 2016.04.21
Bankers orchestrate another raid, offer a huge 16,000 short non backed gold contracts in a span of 5 minutes/ in silver they offer 7500 contracts/Chinese official plan is to stiff suppliers: they are behind by 192 days late/Saudis state that they will have to recalibrate their relationship with the USA/Volkswagen agrees to a 10 billion dollar settlement on the emission fraud
by Harvey Organ
Harvey Organ’s Blog
[…] I WROTE THE FOLLOWING YESTERDAY:
“Today(Tuesday) the boys disappointed me. Not for the lack of trying as they tried whacking gold/silver in normal trading hours but to no avail. However in the access market THIS (Tuesday) AFTERNOON they raided knocking gold down to $1243 and silver 16.94. It will be a slug fest tomorrow”
And it surely was a slug fest with the bankers firing on all cylinders trying to knock gold and silver down. During the night silver started to take off reaching its zenith at $17.60. Gold, this time was beating to the silver drum as our ancient metal of kings took off in sympathy rising to $1271.00 before the crooks lowered the boom on both metals.
Meet the Selfish Tycoon Who Dodged Billions in Taxes
by Simon Black
Sovereign Man
Chances are you’ve never heard of Chuck Feeney. And he’s worked very hard to keep it that way.
Feeney, who will turn 85 on Saturday, had an incredibly successful business career, amassing a multibillion dollar empire based primarily on duty-free retail shopping.
I know what you’re thinking: he already sounds like a bad person… earning a vast fortune by enabling shoppers around the world to avoid paying sales tax and VAT.
This alone constitutes an almost incalculable loss of government tax revenue that could have clearly been much better allocated to more wars and bombs!
Apple Suffers Another iPhone Blow
iPhone unit estimates lowered at Raymond James following Qualcomm’s disappointing outlook
by Jennifer Booton
Market Watch
Apple Inc.’s iPhone estimates have been lowered yet again ahead of its quarterly earnings, this time triggered by a weak chip outlook by supplier Qualcomm Inc.
A number of reports from Apple AAPL, -0.65% suppliers in recent weeks have set off alarms that Apple could be headed for its first ever year-over-year decline in iPhone sales when it reports fiscal second-quarter earnings after the market’s close on Tuesday.
This week, Qualcomm QCOM, -0.48% which supplies chips to the iPhone 6 and Samsung Electronics’ 005930, -0.38% Galaxy 7 phone, reported a 19% decrease in chip shipments to 189 million and gave a weak chip segment outlook of between 175 million and 196 million, which implies a 13% to 22% year-over-year decrease.
One of Nation’s Largest Pension Funds (Truckers) Will Reduce Benefits or Go Broke by 2025
by Mike ‘Mish’ Shedlock
Mish Talk
The Central States Pension Fund, which handles the retirement benefits for current and former Teamster union truck drivers across various states applied for reductions under that law.
Currently the plan pays out $3.46 in pension benefits for every $1 it receives from employers. That’s a drain of $2 billion annually.
If benefits are not cut, the fund may go broke as soon as 2025.
Quick Followup: Autism and Vaccines
by Karl Denninger
Market-Ticker.org
Folks, let’s be clear: Autism is almost-certainly not caused by vaccines.
Let’s remember the first rule of observational studies, which incidentally I was surprised to find a few years ago in my daughter’s High School intro-to-stats class: Observational studies can only show correlation and correlation cannot prove causation.
However, the absence of correlation is damn near bomb-proof evidence that the alleged cause you believe exists is false.
Measles vaccination in the US began in 1963 following approval in 1962. Within five years near-complete compliance was obtained within the US. MMR, the combined vaccine that people like to blame autism on, replaced the single measles vaccination in 1971. MMR is typically given at approximately age 1, with a second dose before starting school.
While America Debates the $20, China Moves Closer to Gold
by Tho Bishop
Mises.org
On Wednesday, Jack Lew announced that the US Treasury was following Ben Bernanke’s advice and keeping Alexander Hamilton on the $10, instead deciding to bring Harriett Tubman to the $20. While Lew’s news left America distracted in debate over whose portrait should grace the Federal Reserve’s most popular bank note, Zerohedge was highlighting how China was taking important steps to distance themselves from the dollar.
Earlier this week, Reuters reported China taking the bold step of launching a yuan-denominated gold price. Reuters noted:
As the world’s top producer, importer and consumer of gold, China has baulked at having to depend on a dollar price in international transactions, and believes its market weight should entitle it to set the price of gold.
Why is the Progressive Left Helping the Elite Elect Hillary?
by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org
Have you noticed that it is not only the presstitute media and the two establishment political parties that are beating up on Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump but also the progressive left? Sometimes the messages overlap so much that the progressive left sounds like the One Percent. But mainly the progressive left is down on Sanders because he is “not pure,” and they don’t like Trump because he hurts people’s feelings and doesn’t apologize.
This is astounding. Here we are faced with the corrupt media and the corrupt party establishments determined to put in the Oval Office a tried and proven agent of the One Percent, and the progressive left is beating up on the only two alternatives!
I doubt that Sanders or Trump would be able to achieve much for the American people except to reduce the flow of official lies that the presstitutes turn into truths by constant repetition. The Oligarchy is too strong.
Greek Economy Defies Expectations by Moving Back Into the Black
by Telegraph Reporters
Telegraph.co.uk
Greece’s economy has performed “substantially better” than forecast in its massive bail-out deal, according to the EU, ahead of Friday’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers to discuss the rescue.
Greece and officials from the “troika” of the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund are in crunch talks in Athens to finish a vital review of the €86bn bail-out of the Mediterranean nation before talks in Amsterdam between by 19 eurozone finance ministers on Friday.
Ahead of the meeting, fresh data released by the EU’s Eurostat statistics agency showed that Greece’s public spending last year, not counting the heavy cost of borrowing, delivered a surplus of 0.7pc of GDP.
The Latest Updates from Mac Slavo at SHTFPlan.com – 2016.04.21
by Mac Slavo
SHTF Plan
How to Start Prepping Without Breaking the Bank: “All About Self-Reliance”
Is This The End Of The U.S Dollar? Geopolitical Moves “Obliterate U.S Petrodollar Hegemony “
U.S. Ranks Dismally in Press Freedom As Obama Wages “War on Whistleblowers Who Leak Info”
Shock: Denver Schools To Patrol Students With Military-Style Rifles: “Certainly Ratchets Up A Notch”
South Carolina Pension Shifts Assets Into “Alternative Investments” – Disastrous Performance Follows
by Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg
[…] One of the largest, most destructive scams I’ve ever come across in the financial sphere (and that’s saying a lot), relates to the purposeful shift of state pension fund assets into opaque, shady, punitive and one-sided relationships with “alternative investment” managers, specifically hedge funds and private equity firms.
But don’t take my word for it, this is what former SEC official, Andrew Bowden admitted back in 2014:
Dumping Dollar Assets the Key to Protecting Onself from Economic Warfare
by Ken Schortgen Jr.
Rogue Money
And as many predicted, Barack Obama caved to his geo-political masters and assured them that he would veto any demands that came before his desk to reveal the truth about Saudi involvement in 9/11.
We Can’t Save the Economy Unless We Fix Our Debt Addiction
by Michael Hudson
Washington Post
[…] Our economy has increasingly been financialized, and the result is a sluggish economy with stagnant wages. We need to decide whether to stop the cycle and save the economy at large or to stay in thrall to our banks and bondholders. Without clearing our debt, the economy will continue to languish in debt deflation and polarization between creditors and debtors.
As a statistical measure, financialization is the degree to which debt accounts for a rising proportion of income or the value of an asset, such as a company or piece of property. The ratio tends to rise until defaults lead to a crisis that wipes out the debt, converts it into equity or transfers assets from defaulting debtors to creditors.
International Lending Continues Its Decline
Widespread fall in cross-border credit hits advanced economies as well
by Jon Sindreu
Wall St Journal Blogs
Lending across international borders kept nosediving in the final quarter of last year, fresh data from the Bank for International Settlements showed Thursday, a testament of the hardships that weaker economic growth in emerging markets and stricter banking regulations have imposed on global finance.
Cross-border banking activity has been in decline since early 2015, but it was mostly concentrated in lower interbank activity and a drop in lending to emerging-market economies, which have been struggling with low commodities prices. But the final quarter of the year saw a widespread decline of cross-border lending across regions—including developed economies—sectors and currencies.
World’s Largest Bond Insurer Economist Suggests Central Banks Should Use QE to Buy and Monetize Gold
from The Daily Economist
Quantitative easing (QE) has been the primary tool, along with zero percent interest rates, for central banks to increase liquidity and to try to stimulate the economy over the past four years. And with that money expansion they have purchased sovereign bonds, municipal bonds, mortgage bonds, and even stocks.
But the one thing they haven’t bought is gold, which ironically is the most sound form of money available.
Yet as these central banks run out of assets to purchase, as seen by the incredible deflation that began to surface in nearly all assets in the middle of last year, an economist with the world’s largest bond insurer has suggested that it is time for central banks to not only buy gold, but to also monetize it in their QE purchases.
Dealing Desk: White Metals Out Shine Gold
by Kelly-Ann Kearsey
Gold Money
This week, clients have been net buying their metal positions; this was seen more so with the increased silver prices.
Clients have been speculating the market conditions and chasing the silver price as it increased. We have also seen an increase in the value of orders this week as clients take the opportunity to purchase gold at a lower rate.
GoldMoney’s clients have continued to favour the Singapore vault along with more interest being shown toward the Switzerland and Hong Kong vault and less preference being shown toward the London and Canadian vaults.
Kelly-Ann Kearsey, Dealing Manager at GoldMoney said, precious metals have continued in strength this week with spot gold reaching USD 1,285/oz.
Pimco Economist Has a Stunning Proposal to Save the Economy: The Fed Should Buy Gold
from Zero Hedge
Back in December 2014, just before the ECB officially launched its initial phase of QE in which it would monetize government bonds, Mario Draghi was asked a very direct question: what types of assets could the ECB buy as part of its quantitative easing program. He responded, “we discussed all assets but gold.”
The reason for his tongue in cheek response was because over the past few weeks speculation had arisen that gold could be part of the central bank’s asset purchases after Yves Mersch, a member of the ECB executive board and former Governor of the Central Bank of Luxembourg, said on November 17 that “theoretically the ECB could purchase other assets such as gold, shares, ETFs to fulfill its promise of adopting further unconventional measures to counter a longer period of low inflation.“
President Trump? President Clinton? Gold Up in Both Scenarios: Mackie’s Barry Allan
by Gordon Holmes
The Gold Report
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton may have very little in common, but Barry Allan, vice chair of mining for Mackie Research Capital, says if either moves into the White House, the U.S. dollar will fall and gold will rise. A higher gold price bodes well for gold equities, and in this interview with The Gold Report, Allan and his colleague Ryan Hanley share the names of some of their top picks for this environment.
The Gold Report: Barry and Ryan, welcome back to Streetwise Reports. I’m excited to get your thoughts on the market and a few stocks. We’ve had the first wave of a possible uplift in the precious metals markets. The presidential election is coming up in the U.S. in November. What do you think a Donald Trump or a Hillary Clinton win would mean for gold, gold equities and the Canadian dollar?
Barry Allan: Looking at the election from north of the border and as it pertains particularly to gold bullion, we have taken the view that either a Clinton outcome or a Trump outcome would probably lead to a weaker dollar and, hence, a stronger gold price environment.
Gold Stocks: Maximize Gain, Minimize Risk
by Gerardo Del Real
Outsider Club
During the raging gold bull-market of the late 70s, returns for disciplined, contrarian investors that were positioned early — and in the right companies — were absolutely spectacular.
What kinds of returns? The kinds of returns that few investors ever see.
Take, for example, Carolin Mines. It managed to go from a $3.10 stock at the end of 1978… to a high of $57 in 1980 — a return of 1,739%.
Lincoln Resources went from a $0.78 penny stock to a high of $20 during that same period. That’s a gain of 2,464%.
Toxic Mix Eats into Hedge Funds
by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
The wrath of investors: worst capital outflows since 2009.
Big public pension funds are slow-moving apparatuses. So dramatic shifts in investment decisions take a long time to be discussed and decided, and even longer before they’re felt by the investment community. But now they’re being felt – painfully.
In September 2014, the $300-billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the nation’s largest pension fund, announced that it would liquidate over the following year its investments totaling $4 billion in 24 hedge funds and six funds-of-funds; they were too complicated and too expensive.
China Challenges the West… Using Their Own Tools Against Them
by Daily Bell Staff
The Daily Bell
China’s Economic Recovery Masking Financial Risks, Fitch Says … Are We Heading Back Into China Markets Turmoil? … -Bloomberg
China is run by a communist party but its policies are increasingly mercantilist and reminiscent of European and US strategies.
Whether the world is run out of Washington or Beijing, the economic, political and military approach is increasingly similar.
China is in better shape financially than the West because of its central bank’s emphasis on buying and retaining gold. China probably has at least several thousand tons of gold stored on the mainland, though officials will only admit to around 1,000 tons.
Mining for a Secret Gold Strategy
by Paul Mampilly
The Sovereign Investor
“What’s your edge?” the pretty blonde asked me.
That morning, it was a young woman from a major French bank. The previous day, it was a chic man from an exclusive Swiss financial institution. It was nothing new. These banks always sent the same fresh-faced men and women in sleek, dark Euro-styled suits, armed with checklists in beautiful leather binders. Their job: to vet hedge fund managers like me. I’ve had to endure endless interviews with an army of them, once meeting 10 times in just one day.
At every meeting, I was asked the same question about “our edge,” a reference to a hedge fund’s secret sauce.