Trump: The Great American Reset

[Foxie Loxie]

Aren't we ALL a little "insane"?!!

[turiya]

David Knight interviews Dr. Steve Pieczenik on Trump's nonsense
notion that 911 was done by terrorists from Afghanistan...
Slams Jared Kushner... Ivanka has to go... and more...

White House Generals Can’t Win This War
(Published on Aug 23, 2017)


https://youtu.be/5J7D2cl-8FQ
VIDEO

[Satori]

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...nation-letter/
Gorka's Explosive Resignation Letter to Trump
Dr. Sebastian Gorka, who since January has served as deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, resigned from the White House administration on Friday evening, saying, "it is clear to me that forces that do not support the Make America Great Again promise are -- for now -- ascendant within the White House."

[turiya]

The Economic Indicators Are Piling Up &
They Are Pointing Towards A Collapse - Episode 1405a
( Oct 19, 2017)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=xYok6sybQek

_______Related Articles_______

Economy


UK retail sales slump; Goldman hints at Frankfurt move – as it happened

• UK retail sales volumes fell by 0.8% last month, as inflation eroded Britons’ spending power
• UK third-quarter retail sales growth weakest in four years as inflation bites

Source: theguardian.com

Initial Jobless Claims Crash To Lowest Since 1973

• So much for the hurricane distortions of the US labor market…

• The DOL reported that filings for unemployment benefits tumbled to the lowest level in 45 years, or since 1973, as all those workers who were unable to work due to the two hurricanes, returned to their jobs.

Source: zerohedge.com

The State Of Illinois Is “Past The Point Of No Return”

• Summary

• Unless used for capital improvements, any new Illinois State borrowing, regardless of security structure, will amount to nothing more than kicking the can further down the road.
• Markets remain open to uncreditworthy government borrows longer than they should. In a low interest rate environment, investors will stretch credit standards.
• Benchmark bond ratings are at variance with the rating agencies.

• The State of Illinois, i is past the point of no return. It does not have the ability to raise taxes or cut spending to the degree necessary to reduce the annual cost of bond and retiree benefits from 33% to a sustainable level. The amount of debt issued by Illinois requires a moderate 8% of general fund revenues to pay P&I.

Source: zerohedge.com

GDP Is Bogus: Here’s Why

• The rot eating away at our society and economy is typically papered over with bogus statistics that “prove” everything’s getting better every day in every way. The prime “proof” of rising prosperity is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP),
• So if we borrow money to pay people to dig holes and then fill them with the excavated dirt, GDP rises to general applause. The debt we took on to fund the make-work isn’t accounted for at all.Longtime correspondent Dave P. of Market Daily Briefing recently summarized the key flaw in GDP: GDP doesn’t reflect changes in the balance sheet, i.e. debt.
• Here’s Dave’s explanation:
• Once I learned about accounting, I figured out why the GDP metric wasn’t sufficient. What is missing?
• The balance sheet.
• Hurricanes are a direct hit to your nation’s balance sheet. The national income statement goes up because of increased spending to replace lost assets, but the “equity” part of the national balance sheet ends up taking a hit in direct proportion to the damage that occurred. Even if you rebuild everything just the way it was, your assets remain the same, while your liabilities have increased.
• We know this because we use the balance sheet equation: equity = assets – liabilities. Equity is another word for wealth.
• Before hurricane:
• wealth = (house + car) – (home debt + car debt)
• After hurricane, you rebuild your house, and buy a new car, using borrowed money:
• wealth = (house + car) – (2 x home debt + 2 x car debt)
• Wealth (equity) has declined by the sum (home debt + car debt)
• So when you see pictures of a hurricane strike, you can now look through all that devastation and see the impact on the balance sheet. National equity (wealth) just dropped by the amount of damage inflicted by the hurricane. Whether it is ever rebuilt doesn’t actually matter; that equity is just gone. Destruction is always a downside for equity – even if there is a temporary positive impact on the income statement.

Source: charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/

Robert Shiller: A Stock Market Panic Like 1987 Could Happen Again

• In response to the 1987 crash and the Brady Commission report, the New York Stock Exchange instituted Rule 80B, a “circuit breaker” that, in its current amended form, shuts down trading for the day if the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index falls 20 percent from the previous close. That 20 percent threshold is interesting: Regulators settled on a percentage decline just a trifle less than the one that occurred in 1987. That choice may have been an unintentional homage to the power of narratives in that episode.

Source: zerohedge.com

[turiya]

The Event Warning Meter Has
Hit Code Red - Episode 1405b
(Oct 19, 2017)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=37coTHnHgLk

_________Relevant Articles_________

Political/Rights

A Look Inside The Secret Swiss Bunker Where The Ultra Rich Hide Their Bitcoins

• Somewhere in the mountains near Switzerland’s Lake Lucerne lies a hidden underground vault containing a vast fortune.
• It’s no ordinary vault, according to Quartz. Built inside a decommissioned Swiss military bunker dug into a granite mountain, it’s precise location is a closely guarded secret, and access is limited by myriad security precautions.
• But instead of gold bars, the bunker contains hard drives on which customers’ bitcoins are being kept in what’s call “cold storage”– i.e. the owners’ private keys are protected by an air-gapped hard drive. The vault is one of many operated by Xapo, an early bitcoin company known for its cold storage wallet products and a debit card that pays for transactions in digital currencies.

• The company won’t disclose how much bitcoin is stored in the vault, but one employee who spoke with Quartz said he sometimes takes customers with millions of dollars in bitcoin on tours of the vaults where their fortune is stored. Xapo was founded by Argentinian entrepreneur and current CEO Wences Casares, whom Quartz describes as “patient zero” of bitcoin among Silicon Valley’s elite. Cesares reportedly gave Bill Gates and Reed Hoffman their first bitcoins.

• As Quartz explains, the bitcoin vault doesn’t store actual bitcoin units. Instead, what’s being stored are the owners’ private cryptographic keys that allow the owner to access and transfer his or her bitcoins by matching the key with a public key that’s used to identify the coin on the blockchain. Gaining unauthorized access to someone’s private keys is akin to making off with a gold bar.

. The Swiss military built the facility in 1947, and it served as the army’s secret headquarters during the Cold War, Agence-France Presse has reported. Inside, walls covered with detailed maps and ancient radio electronics serve as vestiges of its military past.

• The cold room is encircled with steel slabs to form a Faraday cage: a barrier that protects against a possible electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack that could wipe out the data—and thus the keys to the bitcoin—stored in the room. For digital assets like bitcoin, thick walls and a secret location are not enough. A shield against invisible modes of attack like an EMP bomb must be provided for.

Source: zerohedge.com

FBI Informant “Threatened” After Offering Details Linking Clinton Foundation To Russian Bribery Case

• While the mainstream media has largely ignored it, the scandal surrounding Russian efforts to acquire 20% of America’s uranium reserves, a deal which was ultimately approved by the Obama administration, and more specifically the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) which included Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder, is becoming more problematic for Democrats by the hour.
• As The Hill pointed out earlier this morning, the latest development in this sordid tale revolves around a man that the FBI used as an informant back in 2009 and beyond to build a case against a Russian perpetrator who ultimately admitted to bribery, extortion and money laundering. The informant, who is so far only known as “Confidential Source 1,” says that when he attempted to come forward last year with information that linked the Clinton Foundation directly to the scandal he was promptly silenced by the FBI and the Obama administration.

“He can’t disclose anything that he came upon in the course of his work,” she said.
The information the client possesses includes specific allegations that Russian executives made to him about how they facilitated the Obama administration’s 2010 approval of the Uranium One deal and sent millions of dollars in Russian nuclear funds to the U.S. to an entity assisting Bill Clinton’s foundation. At the time, Hillary Clinton was serving as secretary of State on the government panel that approved the deal, the lawyer said.

Source: zerohedge.com

Former FEC Chair Demands Internet “Disinformation” Crackdown In Major Threat To Free Speech

• In one of the most reckless and chilling attacks on free speech, the former chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and Berkeley lecturer Ann Ravel is pushing for a federal crackdown on “disinformation” on the Internet – a term that she conspicuously fails to concretely define.

• Ravel is pushing a proposal that she laid out in a a paper To combat “fake news,” Ravel and her co-authors would undermine the use of the Internet as a forum for free speech.
• The regulation would include the targeting of people who share stories deemed fake or disinformation by government regulators.
• In addition to new rules on paid ads, Ravel wants fake news to be regulated under her proposal titled Fool Me Once: The Case for Government Regulation of ‘Fake News.” If adopted, a “social media user” would be flagged for sharing anything deemed false by regulators:

“after a social media user clicks ‘share’ on a disputed item (if the platforms do not remove them and only label them as disputed), government can require that the user be reminded of the definition of libel against a public figure. Libel of public figures requires ‘actual malice,’ defined as knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth.
Sharing an item that has been flagged as untrue might trigger liability under libel laws.”

• Without clearly defining “disinformation,” Ravel would give bureaucrats the power to label postings as false and harass those who share such information.
• The authors of the proposal see greater government regulation as the solution to what they describe as “informational deficits” in the largely free exchanges of the Internet.

Source: zerohedge.com

Geopolitical/Police State

Catalan Leader Vows To Declare Independence If Spain Triggers “Nuclear Option”

• The Spanish government crackdown on Catalan separatists has intensified this week, with a judge jailing two of the movements leaders and the country’s constitutional court officially declaring the region’s Oct. 1 referendum to be illegal. However, after confusing the Spanish government with his independence (non) declaration, regional leader Carles Puigdemont is refusing to back down ahead of tomorrow’s second, and final, Spanish ultimatum.
• He would formally declare independence Thursday morning if Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy follows through with his threat to invoke the so-called “nuclear option” of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, and suspend Catalonia’s regional autonomy –

Source: zerohedge.com

War

NORTH KOREA BUILDS NEW BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINE, PROMISES “UNIMAGINABLE” STRIKE AGAINST U.S.

• This new class of submarine would be Pyongyang’s first operational ballistic missile sub.
• The new submarine, designated Sinpo-C by the US government, was detected by US intelligence. Sinpo-C is assessed as being a diesel-electric powered submarine with a displacement of 2,000 tons and a beam (width) of 36 feet. The submarine will carry at least one and perhaps two or more submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
• North Korea currently has one ballistic missile submarine, the Gorae (“Whale”),

Source: southfront.org

ISIS in Afghanistan is US tool to cause trouble in whole region – ex-Afghan President Karzai to RT

• The US uses the Islamic State insurgency as a tool in Afghanistan, aimed at destabilizing the whole region, the former Afghan president told RT, urging the international community to convince the US that it needs to actually fight terrorism.

• No action was taken against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists despite their atrocious acts being well known “since the arrival of Daesh [an Arabic acronym for IS] on the Afghan scene,” former President Hamid Karzai said. He then mentioned reports of “unmarked foreign helicopters” providing support to the terrorists.
• “From the two years onwards to today, every day the local people, the local elders, government officials, media and others began to report that unmarked helicopters, unmarked foreign helicopters, would go in and support extremists in all parts of the country,”

Source: rt.com

Iraq warns foreign oil companies against bypassing government

• Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq warned foreign petroleum companies on Thursday against engaging in deals in Iraq away from the federal authorities, reinforcing its takeover of oil resources disputed with Kurdistan Region.

Source: iraqinews.com

Breaking: Israel bombs Syrian Army in Golan Heights amid new advance against Al-Qaeda

• The Israeli Air Force bombed the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) inside the Golan Heights this evening after accusing them of shelling the occupied areas.
• The Israeli airstrike comes just hours after the Syrian Army advanced against the Al-Qaeda linked Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham terrorist group in the Beit Jinn pocket of the Golan Heights.

Source: almasdarnews.com

Cyber Attacks

U.S. Proposes New Cyber Security Controls to Protect Power Grid

• U.S. grid operators will have to take measures to guard against the risk of being infected by malware from electronic devices like laptops and thumb drives under proposals put forward by the nation’s top energy regulator.
• The aim is to mitigate cyber-security risks that could affect the reliability of the grid, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said in a release on Thursday.
• The regulator will ask the North American Electric Reliability Corporation — which monitors the grids — to provide clear criteria for electronic access controls for “low-impact” cyber systems and seek ways to reduce the threat posed by malicious code.
• The Energy Department said in a report in January that the electricity system faces “imminent danger” from cyber-attacks, A successful hack could cause widespread power failures, undermine national defense systems and hurt the economy.

Source: bloomberg.com

False Flags

DHS Secretary Just Warned Of “Severe Threat” Of New 9/11-Style Attack By ISIS And Al-Qaeda

• Islamic State and Al-Qaeda terrorists are plotting to take down a plane and carry out a devastating explosion on the same scale of 9/11 according to the United States Security Chief.
• “The terrorist organizations, be it ISIS or Al-Qaeda or others, want to have the big explosion like they did on 9/11. They want to take down aircraft, the intelligence is clear on that,”

• According to Duke, the terrorists are just using these recent smaller attacks to keep their members “engaged.”
• “In the interim, they need to keep their finances flowing and they need to keep their visibility high and they need to keep their members engaged, so they are using small plots and they are happy to have small plots,” Duke said.
• Duke warned that at the same time, however, smaller plots can be followed with major ones.
• “Creating terror is their goal. A bladed weapon attack causes terror and continues to disrupt the world, but that does not mean they have given up on a major aviation plot,” she said.
• What makes this warning particularly ominous is that, according to reports, just one day before the US security chief’s warnings, Andrew Parker, director general MI5, Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, said that Britain was under unprecedented threat from Islamist terrorists.

Source: activistpost.com

Source: X22Report.com

[turiya]

And with this recent X22Report, the situation goes on changing, especially in the Middle East, and tension in Spain... as it becomes more & more obvious that the Deep-State is running out of steam...

The US Just Admitted Something That They
Never Admitted To Before - Episode 1406b
(Oct 20, 2017)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=L8JSml1EGHw

_______Relevant Articles_______

Geopolitical/Police State

Catalonia independence supporters call on public to pull cash from Spanish banks

• The pro-independence Catalan National Assembly has urged Catalans who back the region’s independence to withdraw money from five banks, including those that moved their headquarters out of Catalonia.

• The group posted a tweet calling on its 270,000 followers to pull deposits from CaixaBank and Banco Sabadell branches between 8am and 9am on Friday to express their indignation over the lenders’ decision to shift their legal headquarters out of the region.

• Dozens of customers were lining up at a Caixa branch in downtown Barcelona to withdraw symbolic sums of up to €160 from the ATMs.

Source: rt.com

War

‘Unacceptably high’ number of Afghans flee military training in U.S.: report

• Afghan soldiers and police brought to the United States for training go “absent without leave” at far higher rates than those of any other country, potentially imperilling efforts to assist Afghan security forces, a U.S. watchdog said on Friday.

• Afghan Uniform Police and soldiers from the U.S. Army 4th Brigade Combat Team provide 360-degree security outside a compound during training at Ft. Irwin, California, September 2011. Courtesy Austin Pritchard/U.S. Army

1. Of the 320 foreign military trainees who left while on courses in the United States from 2005 to 2017, 152 – or more than 47 percent – were Afghans, said a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

Source: reuters.com

Russian ships visit, deliver military arms in Philippines

• Three Russian navy ships arrived in the Philippines on Friday and two others are coming to deliver donated military equipment in the country’s third naval visit under President Rodrigo Duterte, who has vowed to diversify the country’s ties away from the United States and toward China and Russia.
• Three Russian anti-submarine ships docked in Manila in time for Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s coming visit to the country, said Rear Admiral E. Mikhailov, the task force commander.

• 

• Two other vessels will be arriving Saturday at the port of Subic Bay northwest of Manila to unload donated military equipment, the Philippine Navy said in a statement.

Source: stripes.com

USS Ronald Reagan Joins South Korean Navy For Latest Round Of ‘War Games’

• 

• US and South Korean fighter jets will be accompanied by the USS Ronald Reagan, a 100,000-ton nuclear powered aircraft carrier which has been patrolling the waters east of the Korean peninsula on Thursday in a show of sea and air power designed to warn off North Korea from any military action.

Source: zerohedge.com

‘U.S. will not interfere in EU trade with Iran’

• The United States does not aim to impede European trade and business transactions with Iran Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
• European Union leaders in Brussels on Thursday highlighted the need to protect their companies and investors dealing with Iran from any adverse effects should Washington reinstate sanctions against Iran, officials said.
• “The president’s been pretty clear that it’s not his intent to interfere with business deals that the Europeans may have under way with Iran,”

Source: thehindu.com

Eastern Libyan central bank launches its own coins made in Russia

• Authorities in eastern Libya will circulate their own coins for the first time to ease shortages of money, a central bank official said on Friday, in another sign of disunity in the country that has two rival governments in east and west.
• The new coins, made in Russia, will join Russian-made paper currency that has already been issued in the eastern half of the country, which is outside the control of the U.N. recognised government based in Tripoli in the west.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

BRAZIL PLANS TO INVEST IN SYRIA

• Brazil plans to reopen its embassy and restore full diplomatic relations with Syria in the hope of participating in the war-torn country’s reconstruction, according to Bloomberg.
• Brazilian President Michel Temer had instructed foreign minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira to carry out a feasibility study. Preliminary feedback from intelligence and defense officials is positive, he said, and a decision will be taken in the next few days. Brazilian foreign minister said “Our wish is to fully reactivate the Embassy and send a resident ambassador to Damascus.”

Source: southfront.org

US-Backed Syrian Kurds Transfer Key Gas Field To Russians After Secret Talks

• In a move that surprised many observers of the ongoing war for Deir Ezzor province, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) handed over one of Syria’s largest gas fields to Russian forces on Thursday, possibly as the result of unprecedented direct talks between high ranking Russian officials and Kurdish leaders in Qamishli in northeastern Syria.
• Conoco gas plant (also locally called Al-Tabiya, which is the plant’s main feeder field) lies on the eastern side of the Euphrates outside of Deir Ezzor city – which was recently liberated from ISIS as the Syrian Army and Russian forces approached from the west of the Euphrates. The Conoco field had been held by ISIS since 2014, and was taken by the SDF on September 23rd as the mainly Kurdish force advanced from the east.

Source: zerohedge.com

Syrian Kurds ‘Don’t Want Partition of Syria, Do Not Seek Kurdistan’s Autonomy’

• “We are open for a dialogue with the central government. We do not want the partition of Syria, do not harbor plans of separating from the country and do not want to set up an independent Kurdistan. Such rumors are not true,” Shahoz Hasan told Sputnik.

• The PYD co-chair explained that the Syrian Kurds and the party are calling for a federalization of Syria. Their federal project is based on the principle of a “democratic autonomy,” which would embrace the whole country.
• “We are open for a dialogue and are eager to take part in negotiations on the political settlement of the Syrian crisis,” he said.

Source: sputniknews.com

US-backed forces succeed in making Raqqa 80 percent “uninhabitable”

• As was predicted by some military analysts at and since the beginning of this year, the operation by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to capture Raqqa from ISIS has resulted in the city’s complete annihilation.

Source: almasdarnews.com

US State Dept: Al-Nusra affiliate using chemical weapons in Syria

• The US Department of State admitted that militants linked to Al-Nusra Front are carrying out terrorist attacks using chemical weapons in Syria. Russia’s defense ministry says it’s the first admission of its kind.The assertion was made in the latest Syria travel warning issued by the State Department on Wednesday. It also mentions Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL].

  “Terrorist and other violent extremist groups including ISIS and Al-Qaeda linked Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham [dominated by Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Al-Nusra, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization], operate in Syria,” the travel warning reads. “Tactics of ISIS, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and other violent extremist groups include the use of suicide bombers, kidnapping, small and heavy arms, improvised explosive devices, and chemical weapons,” it said.
  

  “This is the first official recognition by the State Department not only of the presence, but the very use of chemical weapons by Al-Nusra terrorists to carry out terrorist attacks, which we repeatedly warned about,” General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the ministry, commented on Friday.

Source: sott.net

X22Report.com



.

[Honesty]

Market "meltup" confirmed - https://orders.cloudsna.com/chain?ci...ea199#AST66335

[turiya]

X22Report focus on banks begin not allowing credit card purchases of cryptocurrencies....

The Crackdown Begins, Central Banks Move
To Control Of The Economic System - Episode 1488a
(Feb 2, 2018)


VIDEO
https://youtu.be/wAUcnm5MQ94?t=12m26s

______relevant article______

Bank Of America, JP Morgan Bar Crypto Purchases On Credit Card -- ZeroHedge



The second largest US bank said it “will begin declining credit card transactions with known cryptocurrency exchanges” starting today.

• Feb 2, 2018 3:12 PM

• The latest crackdown against cryptos was unveiled on Thursday when the largest US bitcoin exchange, Coinbase, sent out notices to clients, informing them that purchasing cryptocurrencies on credit would now be prohibitively expensive, if not impossible, as banks have started to process payments for bitcoin et al as “cash advances”, which tend to come with extremely high interest rates:

Dear Coinbase Customer
We’re writing because you have a credit card on file and want to inform you of a recent change that may increase the cost of purchasing digital currency with a credit card.

Recently, the MCC code for digital currency purchases was changed by a number of the major credit card networks. The new code will allow banks and card issuers to charge additional “cash advance” fees. These fees are not charged or collected by Coinbase. These additional fees will show up as a separate line item on your card statement.

• The move came as a number of bank and card issuers announced that they would be reviewing changes to their policies around the purchases of crypto assets using credit cards.
• Capital One banned customers from using credit cards to purchase bitcoin or coins on the Ethereum blockchain, Discover Financial announced it would likewise block bitcoin transactions.
• According to an internal memo to employees , the second largest US bank said it “will begin declining credit card transactions with known cryptocurrency exchanges” Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank, confirmed the bank will no longer allow the transactions.
• A
• JPMORGAN TO HALT CRYPTO PURCHASES ON SATURDAY,
  

The good news: 82% of all crypto purhcases were not made using a credit card.
Source: zerohedge.com

[turiya]

The Central Bankers Move To Control
The Economic Transition - Episode 1496a
(Feb 12, 2018)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mBq7iYEWNGA

_____Relevant Articles_____

Economy

Brexit Has Reached The Point Of No Return -- ZeroHedge



"On the evidence, Remainers cannot argue their case effectively. Furthermore, the cost of backtracking on Brexit, which receives too little attention, is now considerable, and almost certainly unpalatable to the electorate..."

• Feb 12, 2018 3:30 AM

• The actual negotiations could easily run right up to the deadline in March 2019, when Britain is due to leave. If no agreement is forthcoming by that date, both sides might agree to extend negotiations, but that only seems likely if there is a good prospect of an agreement. Otherwise, Britain leaves and falls back on WTO trading rules, or does away with tariffs altogether.

• Mrs May’s greatest problems are likely to be in dealing with her own advisors, senior civil servants whose only world is one of bureaucracy, and the Treasury, populated with staunch neo-Keynesians. of the House.

• In any event, time is short, not only given the Brexit timetable, but ideally it must be concluded, or at least set in stone, before the disruption of the next crisis of the global credit cycle.

Source: zerohedge.com


"There's So Much Stress On Campus": Amazon Cuts 100s Of Jobs At Seattle Headquarters -- ZeroHedge



"People are in terrible shape..."

• Feb 12, 2018 5:01 PM

• Amazon is taking the unusual step of laying off hundreds of corporate employees, what the Seattle Times describes as a “rare” cutback as the company continues to grow at a rapid clip.
• Amazon tried to spin the cuts as necessary culling after an explosive hiring spree –

• But others see a more sinister motive…
• As readers might recall, Amazon was the subject of an unflattering New York Times bombshell back in 2015 that described a workplace culture where employees were constantly pitted against each other, and managers were expected to be on call day and night. The culture reportedly emanated from Jeff Bezos himself, who has frequently pushed for the company to cull inadequate performers.
• Amazon denied that story, but the Seattle Times says managers are under pressure from Bezos to weed out the lowest-performing employees…

Source: zerohedge.com

Trump's $4 Trillion Budget Proposal Unveiled: Here Are The Main Highlights



President Trump’s just released FY19 budget proposal calls for $1.7 trillion in cuts to mandatory spending and receipts, a 2% yearly reduction in non-defense discretionary spending offset by a boost on defense spending and $18 billion for Wall construction.

• Feb 12, 2018 10:46 AM

• budget request calls for $716b for defense and includes a 2.6% pay raise for troops
• $80b in IT and cyber- funding as well as $210m for a technology modernization fund
• Nearly $17b in opioid-related spending in 2019, including $10b in new funding for HHS
• Requests $18b for border wall construction

Source: zerohedge.com


JPMorgan Publishes The "Bitcoin Bible"



We have officially gone from "Bitcoin is a fraud" to "cryptocurrencies could potentially have a role in diversifying one’s global bond and equity portfolio"...

• Feb 12, 2018 9:55 AM

• Five months after Jamie Dimon’s infamous outburst, in which the JPM CEO called Bitcoin a fraud, and threatened any JPMorgan trader caught trading cryptocurrencies with immediate termination “for being stupid”, which was followed by JPM’s head quant alleging bitcoin was a pyramid scheme, the largest US bank has released what can only be called the “Bitcoin Bible”: 71 pages of excruciating detail on everything from the technology of cryptocurrencies, to their applications and challenges.

"Given the hurdles, CCs are more likely to be used as ancillary payment methods rather than gaining traction as a primary source of exchange.While seeing a potential for the deployment of the underlying Blockchain technology in payments, we do not see cryptocurrencies competing with central bank-issued money for lawful transactions.

Some of the early buyers of CC were clearly dismayed by ballooning balance sheets of the major central banks in the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC), but the lack of any meaningful inflation since, in both developed markets (DM) and emerging markets (EM), has surely reduced concerns about fiat (legal tender issued by a central bank) money.

Several central banks, as discussed in Feroli, are investigating whether they should issue CCs in their own currency, but are very far from actually doing so, as any increased efficiency in payments technology does not appear to be that obvious. In addition, the issuance of crypto dollars, for example, would give non-banks access to the Fed balance sheet, and thus could endanger the economically and socially important financial intermediation function of commercial banks.

If CCs survive the next few years and remain part of the global market, then they will likely have exited their current speculative phase and would then have more normal returns, volatilities (both much lower) and correlations (more like that of other zero-return assets such as gold and JPY). Based on its historical performance, CCs can be 10 times more volatile than core assets like stocks, or than portfolio hedges, like commodities. In the current market conditions, we do not believe that an allocation to Cryptocurrencies as insurance should be a portfolio’s main or only hedge. Note that even though CCs have improved risk-adjusted returns over the past several years, they have not prevented portfolio drawdown during periods of acute market stress, like the equity flash crashes of August 2015 and February 2018."

Source: zerohedge.com


Cryptocurrency regulation is ‘inevitable,’ says IMF boss Lagarde

• It’s only a matter of time before cryptocurrencies come under government regulation, according to the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde.

• “ “It’s clearly a domain where we need international regulation and proper supervision.” She also noted that “there is probably quite a bit of dark activity [in cryptocurrencies].”

• The IMF is actively trying to prevent digital currencies from being used to launder money or finance terrorism, according to Lagarde. She said regulators need to focus less on entities, and more on activities – who is doing what, and whether they’re properly licensed and supervised.

• Earlier, the head of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Agustin Carstens said bitcoin is “a combination of a bubble, a Ponzi scheme and an environmental disaster,” calling central banks to crack down on cryptocurrencies.

Source: rt.com


NY Fed Economists: ‘Advanced Economies’ May Not Need Crypto

• The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published an interview on their site Friday, Feb. 9, in which two of its economists explain cryptocurrency, highlighting crypto’s “trustless” nature, but expressing doubt that cryptocurrency could ever “realistically compete with current payment methods.”
• On the notion that virtual currencies are not “backed by anything real”, such as gold, Lee declared pointedly:

“You’re right that they [virtual currencies] are not backed by a physical commodity, but then neither is the dollar and most other modern currencies.”

• Lee added that trust in a given currency is what gives it value in a payment environment and makes it an “acceptable medium of exchange”. In the case of cryptocurrency, said trust is not provided by any given government or institution, but by Blockchain technology itself.
• Is crypto the ‘future of money’?
• Responding to the question of whether or not cryptocurrencies would ever become the “future of money”, Martin expressed doubt, stating that the problem cryptocurrency ostensibly solves may not actually need solving, at least not in “advanced economies”:

“Cryptocurrencies arguably solve the problem of making payments in a trustless environment, but it is not obvious that this is a problem that needs solving, at least in the United States and other advanced economies.”

Source: cointelegraph.com

X22Report.com

[turiya]

SGT Report - Sean interview w/ Bill Holter...

Is Rothschild Going To Tank The Market
To Punish Trump? -- Bill Holter
(Feb 11, 2018)


VIDEO
https://youtube.com/watch?v=C1hTvYOMSiQ

Description:

The day the Nunes FISA memo was released, stocks plummeted 666 points. Was it a message to President Trump? Q anon thinks so, and so do I. Is Rothschild ready to tank the US stock market as way to punish Trump for daring to challenge the ruling elite and shadow government? Remember too that the 1988 cover of 'the Economist' predicted that 2018 would be a tumultuous year for the US Dollar.

[turiya]

X22 Spotlight interview w/ Bix Weir.... discussion includes the 'good guys' & the 'bad guys'... "crypto currencies have to be embraced"... the economic transition... the old system is dying...

Image result for "Good Guys Are Preparing America
For A Major Economic Transition:Bix Weir"
(Feb 10, 2018)


VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbMmdohw4bg

[Gemma13]

Trump and Assange are tweeting on the $1.7B in cash given to Iran early 2016.

18 Feb 2018: Never gotten over the fact that Obama was able to send $1.7 Billion Dollars in CASH to Iran and nobody in Congress, the FBI or Justice called for an investigation!

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...w/54043744.cms

As previously reported, the first shipment of $400 million in cash was delivered on January 17, the same day Tehran agreed to release four American prisoners. Two more such shipments totalling another $1.3 billion were sent in the next 19 days, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"The cash payments--made in Swiss francs, euros and other currencies--settled a decades-old dispute over a failed arms deal dating back to 1979," the paper reported based on the information obtained from Congressional officials who were briefed on this issue by the US State, Treasury and Justice departments.

I wonder if the reminder about this shocking CASH spending of tax payers money, (with their BS spin of saying it saved tax payers money), has anything to do with the three months it would reasonably take for investigators to comb through the “trove of Bin Laden documents” reported in November 2017.

Perhaps we could assume the comment that "he hasn't gotten over the fact" means he has been quite diligent in getting to the bottom of this rabbit hole and that news is going to be break.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...sed-trove-bin/

TROVE OF BIN LADEN DOCUMENTS REVEAL IRAN’S SECRET DEALINGS WITH al-QAEDA

With 470,000 files released in one trance, it will likely take weeks for journalists, academics, and other researchers to shift through the documents in the trove and contextualise their significance.

CIA Director Pompeo reveals how astute Trump is with intelligence information and strategy.

http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/20...s-fitness.html

POMPEO: This president reads material that we provide to him, he listens closely to his daily briefing. Different presidents, the previous president didn't receive his briefing in that same way. He didn't take up daily briefing from his CIA director. President Obama chose not to do that.

This president is an avid consumer of the work product that our team at the CIA produces and we do our best to convey that to him nearly every day.
[…]
This is a man who is leading the United States of America, and who engages with intelligence community in ways that are sophisticated. He deals with the most complex issues and has handled them in a way that I have great admiration and respect for. We're keeping America safe and President Trump is completely capable of working alongside of us and leading us in that effort.
[…]
Chris, with this issue in the protest in Iran is very real. The economic conditions in Iran are not good. That's what caused the people to take to the streets. President Trump made very clear that America supports the Iranian people and is looking for them to have a voice and better economic and living conditions.

Meanwhile, the Iranian regime threatens violence. Qasem Soleimani wastes their money in places like Lebanon and Syria and Yemen, trying to foment goodness knows what, making them the world's largest state sponsor of terror.

Look, that is a backward looking regime and is a theocratic regime that is looking backwards. Instead of a regime that is looking forward to making the lives of their people better. Whether it's Rouhani, who himself 1999 crushed violent revolts or Soleimani, pick a leader, or whether it's the ayatollah, each of them views themselves as running a theocracy and the Iranian people don't want that.

So, my full expectation that you'll see the Iranian people continue to revolt against this.

IN RESPONSE TO TRUMP TWEET TO NK PEOPLE RE NUCLEAR THREAT

WALLACE: And just quickly, how do you respond to people who are very critical of the tweet and say, you know, it lowers the threshold, it trivializes the possibility of nuclear war?

POMPEO: Yes, I just simply disagree with them. We in this administration understand the seriousness of what it is we are undertaking. We understand the threat. We speak -- I speak with the president about it nearly every day.

But we are intent upon laying out a set of plans that achieve the goal that frankly previous administrations have been unprepared to engage in.

Wondering if (hoping) they may have found valid connections/evidence of Obama/Clinton collusion with the Iranian Regime.

[Foxie Loxie]

Thanks, Gemma 13.....This makes an excellent BUMP!!! Important info here!!

[turiya]

The Race To Bring Down The Economy
Has Officially Begun - Episode 1511a
(Mar 2, 2018)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=2qFzNY21QRg

______Relevant Articles______

Economy

IMF: Trump’s Steel, Aluminum Policy Could Hurt World Economies

• President Donald Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum would likely hurt both the US and world economies, International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Source: sputniknews.com


In 2002, President Bush Imposed 30% Steel Tariffs; This Is What Happened Next

• In an eerie analogue of what is about to take place, on March 5, 2002 President George W. Bush imposed tariffs as high as 30% on global steel imports.

• The temporary tariffs of 8–30% were originally scheduled to remain in effect until 2005. They were imposed to give U.S. steel makers protection from what a U.S. probe determined was a detrimental surge in steel imports, as more than 30 steel

• makers had recently declared bankruptcy. Canada and Mexico were exempt from the tariffs because of penalties the United States would face under NAFTA. Additionally, some developing countries such as Argentina, Thailand, and Turkey were also exempt.

• on November 11, 2003, the WTO came out against the steel tariffs, saying that they had not been imposed during a period of import surge—steel imports had actually dropped a bit during 2001 and 2002—and that the tariffs therefore were a violation of America’s WTO tariff-rate commitments. The ruling authorized more than $2 billion in sanctions, the largest penalty ever imposed by the WTO against a member state, if the United States did not quickly remove the tariffs.

• But it was the market’s response that broke the camel’s back: what followed immediately after the tariffs were announced was a 30% plunge in the S&P 500, a slump in the dollar and a rally in bonds that slashed 10Y yields in half.

• After receiving the verdict, both from the market and the WTO, the United States backed down and withdrew the tariffs on December 4, 2003.

Source: zerohedge.com


Trump Triples-Down: “We Will Soon Be Starting RECIPROCAL TAXES”

• Which followed condemnation from most countries – including Canada, China and much of Europe, and also eliciting outraged howls from economists and pundits, who argue that the tariffs will make American goods less competitive, and will dethrone the US from global trade flows as shown schematically in the chart below.

Source: zerohedge.com


Bitcoin Tops $11k As Germany Refuses To Tax Cryptocurrency Payments

• the German Federal Ministry of Finances considers Bitcoin as tax-exempt so long as it is used as a means of payment,

• The German federal authority published its decision to not subject purchases with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency to taxes on Feb. 27, citing the European Court’s 2015 decision, which set a precedent for all members of the European Union.

• The Court justified its taxing decision by stating that it considers cryptocurrency as a legal means of payment:

“So-called virtual currencies (cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin) are considered equal to the legal means of payment, as long as these so-called virtual currencies have been accepted as alternative and contractual means of payment by the parties involved in the transaction and have no other purpose than being used as a means of payment.”

• These guidelines distinguish Germany from the US where The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) treats Bitcoin like property, meaning that each purchase using Bitcoin is technically considered to be a sale of property and is, therefore, subject to capital gains tax.

Source: zerohedge.com


Cryptocurrencies failing as money, but technology has promise: Carney

• Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are failing as a form of money and have shown clear signs of being a financial bubble, but their technology could improve the financial system in future, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Friday.

• Carney joined a chorus of concern among global policymakers over the rise of digital currencies, saying authorities needed to prevent their use by criminals and new rules were needed to treat them like other assets.

• Facebook (FB.O) banned adverts for cryptocurrencies last month and Carney said on Friday that younger investors, who typically invested in them, were probably less aware of the bubbles in markets that led to the 2007-09 financial crisis.

• Carney said regulations would be done on a country-by-country basis initially.

Source: reuters.com

[turiya]

X22Report.com.....

Step 1. Control The Economic Narrative, Step 2.
Dismantle The Central Bank - Episode 1515a
(Mar 7, 2018)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hEQ6VENtpWs

Description:

• SEC is now warning that crypto trading platforms might be unlawful.
• Job market is at full capacity, the only problem is that the quality of jobs is low and wages are declining.
• Trump pushes his agenda in regards to tariffs, more individuals resign their posts in government.
• The IMF warns not to push trade wars, the FED says they might halt hiking the interest rate if Trump pursues implementing these tariffs.
• Rand Paul pushes hard with the audit the Fed bill, now is the time to control the economic narrative and to take down and dismantle the Fed.
• As North Korea and South Korea talk about peace the US pushes sanctions on NK, why?
• Dan Coats says the White House is getting ready to send in troops into Syria for a major op, this is not going to happen, its propaganda.
• The White Helmets are at it again staging false flags, this time with a baby.
• Q drops more intel, the social media platforms are censoring those who speak out, this is about to change.
• The IBOR is now being pushed and the deep state is scared of it.
• 11.11.18 the parade that will not be forgotten, 100 years ago WWI can to an end on this date and our troops came home.
• Snowden has been located, he is in Hong Kong, who is allowing Snowden to move from country to country?
• Everyone should have the right to disappear.

X22Report.com

______Relevant Articles______

Economy

“Job Market Is Red Hot, Threatens To Overheat” Zandi Warns After ADP Beat

• ADP printed a much-better-than-expected 235k (200k exp), a modest downtick from an upwardly revised January. Job gains were very broad-based and Mark Zandi confirmed “we’re going into the 3s” for unemployment.

Source: zerohedge.com


2017 Wage Growth At Lowest In 9 Years

• US nonfarm labor costs rose just 0.35% YoY in 2017 – the weakest growth in American worker compensation since 2010…

Q4 productivity was revised up to unchanged from -0.1%…

2017 remains a dismal year for American workers…

Source: zerohedge.com


Cohn Resigns After Confrontation With Trump, His Replacement Will Be Chosen “Wisely”

• Gary Cohn, Chief Economic Advisor, Resigns Because Trump Puts #AmericaFirst, Rather Than Engage In “Free Trade” Which Cause Large US Trade Deficits. Cohn, a Goldman Sachs Globalist, HAS NO ANSWER FOR LARGE TRADE DEFICITS good for Arbitrage

IMF chief Lagarde says nobody wins a trade war

• No one emerges victorious from a trade war, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday. She warned that the economic impact of US import tariffs would be serious if other countries respond with their own barriers,

Source: rt.com
U.S. Steel to reopen dormant Illinois plant, credits proposed Trump tariffs

• U.S. Steel said Wednesday that it is preparing to restart its steelmaking facilities and one blast furnace at an Illinois plant as a result of President Trump’s promise to levy tariffs on foreign steel.
• If U.S. Steel restarts part of its plant in Granite City, Ill., which has been out of commission for more than two years, the company could hire 500 workers. The company anticipates the restart could take about four months.

Source: usatoday.com


Fed President Warns Trade Wars May Delay Rate Hikes

• , the Fed has penciled in three moves this year, a number that will be revised later this month. New Fed Chair Powell told Congress last week that headwinds to U.S. growth had become tailwinds, prompting investors to up their bets that he’ll move four times in 2018. But that outlook could be thwarted if U.S. trade partners retaliate against sweeping tariffs on steel and aluminum planned by President Donald Trump.

Source: zerohedge.com


Rand Paul Adds ‘Audit The Fed’ Amendment To Senate Banking Bill

• Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) announced on March 5 that he will introduce his “Audit the Fed” legislation, which would permit a full audit of the Federal Reserve System, as an amendment to the Senate Banking Bill. The Senate is expected to vote on the Banking Bill, S. 2155 – officially known as the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act— this week.

“While we have made great strides in reviving our economy through curbing overzealous regulation and cutting taxes, lasting prosperity will escape us if we do not hold the enabler of big government and our astronomical national debt accountable. It’s time for the Senate to side with the American people by removing the shackles on congressional oversight and lifting the Fed’s veil of secrecy. It’s time for us to pass Audit the Fed,” Paul said in his press release.

• Passage of the Federal Reserve Transparency Act (S. 16), commonly referred to as Audit the Fed legislation, would require the nonpartisan, independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors and reserve banks within one year of the bill’s passage and to report back to Congress within 90 days of completing the audit.
• Paul remains steadfast in his commitment to this legislation that he and his father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), worked for years to pass, with the intent to stop the Federal Reserve’s “unchecked” and “arguably unconstitutional” meddling in the free market economy.
• “The main lobby against auditing the Fed is the Fed,” Paul said. When Carlson asked what the major arguments against auditing the Federal Reserve would be, Paul cautioned:

Source: zerohedge.com

[turiya]

The Economy Has Never Recovered,
It's An Illusion, Wake Up - Episode 1516a
(Mar 8, 2018)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=w_XJb7oxnjE

Description:

• UK retailers getting hit hard, just like in the US. This is spreading to all countries.
• Credit card usage starts to slow, people are maxed out, we saw this right before the crash of 2008.
• Half the companies are losing money, how can we have a recovery.
• It’s starting to look alot like 1987, credit is going to be a major problem.
• The US does not import 90% of its alluminum only about half, the other comes from recycle material.
• Bitcoin seller identified.
• Banks are bankrupt, the facts are in and it shows the economy is in big trouble and when the system collapses the banks are going down.

________Relevant Articles_________

Economy

UK retailers requesting rent reductions, shutting stores and laying off staff as economy tanks

• Up to 980 jobs are being axed at retailer New Look under plans to shut 60 stores and slash rent on nearly 400 shops as part of a rescue deal, the company said.
• It is the latest high street chain to face difficulties with more than 5,000 retail jobs under threat with the demise of Toys R Us UK and Maplin. UK store estate, we are having to take tough but necessary actions to reduce our fixed cost base and restore long-term profitability.

• Comment: They can try to blame Brexit all they like but the US is seeing an equally dire future and it isn’t facing Brexit; this financial crash is happening all over the Western world:

Source: sott.net


After Record Debt-Fuelled Splurge, US Credit Card Usage Post Sharp Slowdown

• After a massive surge in consumer credit in the last three months of 2017, when October thru December saw a massive increase in revolving and non-revolving credit, amounting to a total $73 billion, the Fed reported that 2018 started off with a whimper, with a modest $701 million increase in credit card debt, coupled with a $13.2 billion increase in non-revolving, or auto and student loan, credit in the first month of the year.

• • • 

• we doubt it will be a surprise to anyone that both student debt and auto loans hit a new all time high in the quarter ending December 2017, with $1.491 trillion for the former, and $1.12 trillion for the latter

• The sharp slowdown in consumer credit growth may be the latest red flag for the US economy,

Source: zerohedge.com


What Economic Recovery? Half Of U.S. Companies Are Losing Money

• Baruch Lev is the Philip Bardes Professor of Accounting and Finance at the Stern School of Business, NYU.
  
• We are inundated with great economic news: The stock market is at all-time high (despite wide fluctuations), unemployment is the lowest in two decades, consumer confidence is the highest in many years, and corporate profits are surging from quarter to quarter. A real economic recovery to be sure.
• So, you will be shocked to see the following figure which I haven’t seen anywhere else, nor mentioned by economists and pundits. The figure shows the percentage of U.S. public companies reporting an annual loss, from 1960 through 2016. The two curves portray the percent “losers” from all public companies (lower curve), and the percent “losers” from all technology and science-based companies (computers, software, pharma, biotech, etc.), presented by the upper curve.

The main finding: Both curves are fast increasing.

The percent losers from all companies increased from 18% in 1980 to 46% in 2016.
For high tech and science-based companies the losers reached 69%! In 2016.
v

• So, where is the economic recovery if half the companies are reporting losses? Shouldn’t a recovery be reflected by an increasing number of profitable companies?

Source: zerohedge.com


Rosenberg: Everything Today Is Eerily Similar To 1987

• • The Strategic Investment Conference 2018 kicked off in San Diego with a keynote speech from David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff titled, “Year of the Dog: Will It Bark or Bite?” (Spoiler: The latter). Rosenberg began by running through a list of his own metrics: forward P/E, price/sales, price/book value, enterprise value/EBITDA. Not surprisingly, and as shown here previously, all of them pointed to record-high valuations.

• • 

• Rosenberg pointed out that even the Fed admits that valuations are high. Our policymakers themselves believe this can’t continue for long. In fact, the Shiller CAPE ratio now stands at its second-highest level in decades. History shows that high P/E ratios are usually followed by years of low returns in equities. In fact, even the San Francisco Fed now predicts that equity returns over the next decade will be, at best, 0%, to wit:

• Credit Shows Warning Signals
• Rosenberg then shifted to what is one of the biggest recession threats to be observed in this late-cycle behavior by looking at the erosion in credit quality as one of the warning signals, something we noted two weeks ago in “This Is Where The Next US Debt Crisis Is Hiding“

• • He also stressed that former big buyers of corporate debt have started to “pull back.”
  • The situation on the retail side isn’t better either. Rosenberg pointed out that consumers begin to struggle to make credit card payments.

Source: zerohedge.com


Trump: “Cohn May Be A Globalist But I Like Him”

• , President Trump joked at a mid-day cabinet meeting that he still likes former economic advisor Gary Cohn – even though he’s a “globalist.”

Source: zerohedge.com


FACT CHECK: Does The US Import 90% Of Its Aluminum?

• Fact Check:
• “America imports 90 percent of the aluminum that U.S. companies use to make products as diverse as beer cans and fighter jets,” WaPo reported.
• A parenthetical in a NYT article noted, “Aluminum is more heavily dependent on imports, with only 10 percent made domestically.”
• “Imports make up … more than 90% of the 5.5 million tons of aluminum used here,”
• “In 2016, the United States imported five times as much primary aluminum on a tonnage basis as it produced,” the report explains. “The import penetration level was about 90 percent, up from 66 percent in 2012.”
• But what reporting by these outlets overlooks, however, is that this figure does not capture the entire U.S. aluminum market – it only reflects the production and trade of “primary” aluminum, or aluminum that has been smelted from raw ore.
• Most unwrought (or unfinished) aluminum that the U.S. produces, on the other hand, is recycled and re-molten scrap, or “secondary aluminum.” The Commerce Department report makes clear that it is excluding this key component of the American aluminum industry.
• “The United States is the world’s leading producer of secondary unwrought aluminum,” the report notes. “While aluminum produced through secondary production is an important feedstock for the U.S. aluminum industry, it is fundamentally a different industry sector and is not the focus of this report.”
• The proportion of aluminum that is imported nearly halves when secondary aluminum is also considered.

Source: dailycaller.com


ECB To Phase Out QE With €10Bn In Monthly Purchases By End Of 2018: Report

• The reason for the mini taper, is that “policy makers have long been in agreement that QE shouldn’t stop abruptly — a view ECB President Mario Draghi has publicly voiced in the past.”

Source: zerohedge.com


Meet The ‘Man’ Who Crashed Bitcoin In 2018

• Bitcoin’s Tokyo Whale (not to be confused with that Tokyo Whale) revealed on Wednesday that he has sold off about $400 million in bitcoin and bitcoin cash since late September.
  Nobuaki Kobayashi, bankruptcy trustee for Mt. Gox, the largest bitcoin exchange in the world before hackers absconded with tens of thousands of customers’ bitcoins worth billions at recent prices, said he started selling in late September, meaning it’s quite possible he sold at least some of the coins at the highs reached toward the end of last year.

• Kobayashi made his disclosure in the report from the 10th creditors’ meeting, which took place Wednesday.
• In the report, he said he’d started selling off the bitcoin and bitcoin cash to raise money for disbursements that the trustee will soon need to begin making as bankruptcy claims are being evaluated, per Bloomberg.
• Which brings us to the crash of Bitcoin from December 2017 through February 2018.
• Matt Odell (@Matt_Odell) presents the full list of transfers out of their wallet.
  
  IMAGE: https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defa...CwX4AAtEnv.jpg
  h/t @alistairmilne
• As Odell points out “More than half of the bitcoin they sold (18k btc) was transferred to an exchange on Feb 5th. The day before bitcoin hit its 3 month low of ~$6000. They panicked and sold the bottom. Market absorbed it well.”
• This is what Kobayashi’s “sells” look like on the chart of Bitcoin…

Source: zerohedge.com


EXPOSED: Your Bank Is BANKRUPT! – This May Cause A Bank Run!

• every major bank and credit union and the truth is truly shocking (if you don’t study this kind of stuff on a daily basis). The fact is, they’re all bankrupt. Totally insolvent. Not even going into their derivative exposure, their cash to deposit ratio is alarmingly low, and by low we mean likely 0.20 to 5% covered.
  the bank run and collapse of ABLV in Latvia which just got bailed out. Their cash to deposit ratio was 13%. Compared to most of the big banks, they were doing well!
• Here are some examples…
• JP Morgan:
  98.26% of deposits are not covered. So they cover about 1.74%.
• Wells Fargo:
  98.41% of their deposits are not covered. So about 1.59% is covered with cash on hand.
• Goldman Sachs:
  98.76% of their deposits are not covered. So about 1.24% is covered by cash on hand.
• Alpha Bank in Greece:
  99.48% of their deposits are covered. 0.52% is covered by cash on hand.
• Then looking at some of the credit unions…
• Assiniboine Credit Union in Canada:
  97.53% of deposits are covered. 2.47% covered by cash on hand.
• Cambrian Credit Union in Canada is astounding:
  99.84% of deposits are not covered! 0.16% is covered by cash on hand!
• the banking system is insolvent!

Source: investmentwatchblog.com

X22Report.com

[WhatTha']

Posted by turiya (here)

The Economic Indicators Are Piling Up &
They Are Pointing Towards A Collapse - Episode 1405a
( Oct 19, 2017)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=xYok6sybQek

_______Related Articles_______

Economy


UK retail sales slump; Goldman hints at Frankfurt move – as it happened

• UK retail sales volumes fell by 0.8% last month, as inflation eroded Britons’ spending power
• UK third-quarter retail sales growth weakest in four years as inflation bites

Source: theguardian.com

Initial Jobless Claims Crash To Lowest Since 1973

• So much for the hurricane distortions of the US labor market…

• The DOL reported that filings for unemployment benefits tumbled to the lowest level in 45 years, or since 1973, as all those workers who were unable to work due to the two hurricanes, returned to their jobs.

Source: zerohedge.com

The State Of Illinois Is “Past The Point Of No Return”

• Summary

• Unless used for capital improvements, any new Illinois State borrowing, regardless of security structure, will amount to nothing more than kicking the can further down the road.
• Markets remain open to uncreditworthy government borrows longer than they should. In a low interest rate environment, investors will stretch credit standards.
• Benchmark bond ratings are at variance with the rating agencies.

• The State of Illinois, i is past the point of no return. It does not have the ability to raise taxes or cut spending to the degree necessary to reduce the annual cost of bond and retiree benefits from 33% to a sustainable level. The amount of debt issued by Illinois requires a moderate 8% of general fund revenues to pay P&I.

Source: zerohedge.com

GDP Is Bogus: Here’s Why

• The rot eating away at our society and economy is typically papered over with bogus statistics that “prove” everything’s getting better every day in every way. The prime “proof” of rising prosperity is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP),
• So if we borrow money to pay people to dig holes and then fill them with the excavated dirt, GDP rises to general applause. The debt we took on to fund the make-work isn’t accounted for at all.Longtime correspondent Dave P. of Market Daily Briefing recently summarized the key flaw in GDP: GDP doesn’t reflect changes in the balance sheet, i.e. debt.
• Here’s Dave’s explanation:
• Once I learned about accounting, I figured out why the GDP metric wasn’t sufficient. What is missing?
• The balance sheet.
• Hurricanes are a direct hit to your nation’s balance sheet. The national income statement goes up because of increased spending to replace lost assets, but the “equity” part of the national balance sheet ends up taking a hit in direct proportion to the damage that occurred. Even if you rebuild everything just the way it was, your assets remain the same, while your liabilities have increased.
• We know this because we use the balance sheet equation: equity = assets – liabilities. Equity is another word for wealth.
• Before hurricane:
• wealth = (house + car) – (home debt + car debt)
• After hurricane, you rebuild your house, and buy a new car, using borrowed money:
• wealth = (house + car) – (2 x home debt + 2 x car debt)
• Wealth (equity) has declined by the sum (home debt + car debt)
• So when you see pictures of a hurricane strike, you can now look through all that devastation and see the impact on the balance sheet. National equity (wealth) just dropped by the amount of damage inflicted by the hurricane. Whether it is ever rebuilt doesn’t actually matter; that equity is just gone. Destruction is always a downside for equity – even if there is a temporary positive impact on the income statement.

Source: charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/

Robert Shiller: A Stock Market Panic Like 1987 Could Happen Again

• In response to the 1987 crash and the Brady Commission report, the New York Stock Exchange instituted Rule 80B, a “circuit breaker” that, in its current amended form, shuts down trading for the day if the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index falls 20 percent from the previous close. That 20 percent threshold is interesting: Regulators settled on a percentage decline just a trifle less than the one that occurred in 1987. That choice may have been an unintentional homage to the power of narratives in that episode.

Source: zerohedge.com

It makes sense that Trump would energize the stock market for all the obvious reasons...money does support money. Here is a perfect example. The day after the Trump inauguration stock values for Private Prisons jumped by 50%. Sounds like an authoritarian's dream!

[WhatTha']

One of the interesting dichotomies of red and blue state economics is how their basic philosophies impact economic policies. Blue states try to foster egalitarian policies that benefit all. Of course, the money grabbers do everything in their power to short-circuit any process that actually doesn't keep all power and money in their hands. In the other case, Red states go for it. They forego the moral imperative of equal treatment and just acknowledge that the wealthy want to stay that way and thus predicate their policies to hoard wealth on the backs of the underpaid subsistence level underclass. It's a wonderful system if one likes wealth imbalance, exploitation, a general lack of fair play, and economic morality.

[turiya]

Posted by WhatTha' (here)
One of the interesting dichotomies of red and blue state economics is how their basic philosophies impact economic policies. Blue states try to foster egalitarian policies that benefit all. Of course, the money grabbers do everything in their power to short-circuit any process that actually doesn't keep all power and money in their hands. In the other case, Red states go for it. They forego the moral imperative of equal treatment and just acknowledge that the wealthy want to stay that way and thus predicate their policies to hoard wealth on the backs of the underpaid subsistence level underclass. It's a wonderful system if one likes wealth imbalance, exploitation, a general lack of fair play, and economic morality.

Edit add:

Fourth Turning's Neil Howe: "Today's Demographics Defy Conventional Wisdom" -- ZeroHedge



According to Neil Howe, generational wealth transfer is going to be highly concentrated, reflecting current wealth inequality. Boomer wealth will flow to younger generations but the vast majority of Generation X and Millennials will get very little.

• Mar 9, 2018 10:20 PM

• Today’s Demographics Defies Conventional Wisdom.
• The main example Howe shared is that people in the 75+ age bracket still dominate stock ownership by far. This defies conventional wisdom that people reduce risk as they retire and leave the workforce. Meanwhile, Millennials have lower income and stock ownership levels than previous generations did at the same age.
• This is a key change as senior adults once had the highest poverty rates. Younger people are now challenging that once-safe assumption.

___________________

Under the present political environment, I don't think what you have written (above) is at all relevant. The language is divisive. The kings of the "money grabbers" - that of which you speak of - are those that are presently at the top of the pyramid... These are the central banksters. And all those that have manipulated the fiat money system to work in their favor. These days are coming to an end - a.k.a. "The Last Days" for the Central Banksters & all their kind... & the system that they've set up - based on FRNs - the Federal Reserve Note... it is in the process of all coming down.

Egalitarianism has embraced socialism, communism, marxism... this is where the political left has moved to... Yes, Obama's "spread the wealth" meme... is what your words are colored with...

Trump is in place to make the transition... out & away from that economic system - the central banking system - the fractional-reserve debt-based monetary system.

I'm sure you must be aware of the portrait that sits behind the desk & on the wall of the Oval Office, if not then, well, here ya go...

_______________________________

POTUS Will Ask The People, Do
We Need The Fed? - Episode 1517a
(Mar 9, 2018)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=os4CJhvZh5M

Description:

• Wholesale trade sales decline this is one of the biggest drops since 2 years ago.
• The Housing market is doomed, everything has been engineered away from the big banks to non-banks and when the crisis hits they will take the fall.
• Fed governor says QE unwind to slow that’s why we are seeing the market react the way it is, faster unwind will fix the problem.
• Cohn leaves the White House Blankfein leaves Goldman, coincidence, I think not.
• 11 countries decided to sign the TPP without the US. They are doomed in the long run.
• Soon POTUS will ask the people if we really need the Fed, the IMF etc.

_______Relevant Articles_______

Economy


Wholesale Trade Sales Tumble In January, Biggest Drop In 2 Years As Inventories Build

• After 7 straight months of growth, wholesale sales tumbled in January – the worst drop since Jan 2016.

Source: zerohedge.com


]Housing Liquidity Crisis Looms: Debt Deflation Follows[/SIZE]

• A liquidity crisis in housing is on the way. Non-banks are at the center of the storm.

• • The Brookings Institute says a Liquidity Crises in the Mortgage Market is on the way.

• Nonbanks originated about half of all mortgages in 2016, and 75% of mortgages insured by the FHA or VA. Both shares are much higher than those observed at any point in the 2000s. We describe in this paper how nonbank mortgage companies are vulnerable to liquidity pressures in both their loan origination and servicing activities, and we document that this sector in aggregate appears to have minimal resources to bring to bear in a stress scenario. We show how these exact same liquidity issues unfolded during the financial crisis, leading to the failure of many nonbank companies, requests for government assistance, and harm to consumers. The extremely high share of nonbank lenders in FHA and VA lending suggests that nonbank failures could be quite costly to the government, but this issue has received very little attention in the housing-reform debate.
  
• There is now considerable stress on Ginnie Mae operations from their nonbank counterparties:

“. . .Today almost two thirds of Ginnie Mae guaranteed securities are issued by independent mortgage banks. And independent mortgage bankers are using some of the most sophisticated financial engineering that this industry has ever seen. We are also seeing greater dependence on credit lines, securitization involving multiple players, and more frequent trading of servicing rights and all of these things have created a new and challenging environment for Ginnie Mae. . . . In other words, the risk is a lot higher and business models of our issuers are a lot more complex. Add in sharply higher annual volumes, and these risks are amplified many times over. . . . Also, we have depended on sheer luck. Luck that the economy does not fall into recession and increase mortgage delinquencies. Luck that our independent mortgage bankers remain able to access their lines of credit. And luck that nothing critical falls through the cracks. . . ”

Nonbank Share in $Billions

• Shocks Coming
• Nonbanks are vulnerable to macroeconomic shocks, rising interest rates, home price declines and job losses, often with a bare minimum down payment.
• This is happening while debt-to-income DTI ratios are on the rise and median FICO scores are dropping.
• This is hardly surprising given homes are not affordable.
• Failure is a Given
• Brookings provides the failure hierarchy, and failure is a given.
• To keep the latest bubble going, nonbanks kept lowering and lowering credit standards as home prices kept rising and rising.
• This is a recipe for disaster, and disaster is at hand.
• Looking Ahead
• Credit card delinquencies are priced as if they will be paid back. They won’t.
• As soon as recession hits, defaults and charge-offs will mount. In turn, this will reduce the amounts banks will be willing to lend.
• Subprime corporations who had been borrowing money quarter after quarter will find they are priced out of the market, unable to roll over their debt.
• In a fiat credit-based global setup, this is how the real world works.

Source: zerohedge.com


Goldman CEO Blankfein Set To Leave, WSJ Reports

• The Wall Street Journal reports that Lloyd Blankfein is preparing to step down as Goldman Sachs chief executive as soon as the end of the year, capping a more than 12-year run that would make him one of the longest-serving bosses on Wall Street.
• , one can’t help but wonder about the timeliness of Gary Cohn’s White House exit.

Source: zerohedge.com


QE Unwind Is Too Slow, Says Fed Governor, Thus Launching First Trial Balloon

• So we have the first Fed Governor and member of the policy-setting FOMC who came out and said that the QE Unwind that began last October with baby steps isn’t fast enough. And because it’s so slow it may actually contribute to, rather than lower, the “financial imbalances.”
• Kansas City Fed President Esther George pointed at the growth of the economy, the tightness in the labor market, the additional support the economy will get from consumers and companies as they spend or invest the tax cuts, etc., etc. And despite this growth, “the stance of monetary policy remains quite accommodative,” she said.
• She cited the federal funds rate – the overnight interest rate the Fed targets. The Fed’s current target range is 1.25% to 1.50%, which is “well below estimates of its longer-run value of around 3%,” she said.
• The Fed would have to raise rates at least six more times of 25 basis points each, for a total of at least 1.5 percentage points, to bring the federal funds rate to around 3% and get back to neutral. If the Fed wanted to actually tighten after that, it would have to raise rates further.
• Under QE, the Fed acquired $1.7 trillion in Treasury securities and $1.78 trillion in mortgage-backed securities, for a total of about $3.5 trillion. After QE ended in October 2014, the Fed then maintained the levels by replacing maturing securities.
• But in October last year, it commenced the QE-Unwind and started to not replace some maturing securities. This has the effect of shrinking its balance sheet. Just like the Fed “tapered” QE by phasing it out over the course of a year, it is also ramping up the QE-Unwind over the course of a year.
• But the pace of the QE-Unwind has been too slow, according to George – and this may be destabilizing the financial markets:
  

• because the QE Unwind is so slow, it doesn’t really work as an unwind but continues to inflate asset prices, which would be the opposite of what the Fed wants to accomplish:
  
• it’s probably her job to launch the first trial balloon about speeding up the QE Unwind.

Source: wolfstreet.com


11 countries sign Trans-Pacific trade deal in slap to US

• eleven countries have signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a sweeping trade agreement that was thought to be dead after US President Donald Trump’s decision last year to pull out his country.

• Trade ministers from 11 Pacific Rim countries officially signed the agreement during a ceremony in Chile’s capital of Santiago on Thursday.
• The deal, now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), drops Washington’s demands for protection of intellectual property and covers some 500 million people living in Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Source: presstv.ir

Q anon:

How do you defuse a bomb? Knowledge of which wires/strings to cut? Cutting the wires (and puppet master strings) is the real mission
–
the central bankers, the global internationalists, the New World Order crowd, including the Council on Foreign Relations. These are the wires and strings we need to cut. President Trump will ask the American people if we really need the Federal Reserve. Should we pull out of the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund? Why would we ever tolerate international law imposed on us by The Hague?
Gonna drop the Fed.

• Guess what THAT means??

X22Report.com

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by turiya (here)
[INDENT][INDENT]Under the present political environment, I don't think what you have written (above) is at all relevant. The language is divisive. The kings of the "money grabbers" - that of which you speak of - are those that are presently at the top of the pyramid... These are the central banksters. And all those that have manipulated the fiat money system to work in their favor. These days are coming to an end - a.k.a. "The Last Days" for the Central Banksters & all their kind... & the system that they've set up - based on FRNs - the Federal Reserve Note... it is in the process of all coming down.

Egalitarianism has embraced socialism, communism, marxism... this is where the political left has moved to... Yes, Obama's "spread the wealth" meme... is what your words are colored with...

Trump is in place to make the transition... out & away from that economic system - the central banking system - the fractional-reserve debt-based monetary system.

I will confess to being less optimistic.

I currently expect only parts of the deep state and banking system are being taken down, weakened or threatened. These parts would be roughly the Aryan, Nazi, Neo-Nazi, Muslim Brotherhood backed manifestation that we see manifest in the US Petro-Dollar, the Bush-Clinton-Obama crime syndicate, the overly expansive and offensive US Military-Intelligence complex, portions of the CIA, main stream media, and American politics, especially the Democrat party, the dominant world drug (opiate and pharmaceutical) trade, some of the pedophilia, and various individuals or institutions of various other governments, banks, and corporations working with these.

I expect that the fundamental basis of modern banking, which is control of each nation's money supply through the use of credit based monetary systems, in which money is lent into existence, will remain, and I expect that the world's central banking system will remain largely in place, with some reforms to portions of their activity specific to the above activities that are being taken down or weakened.