"The Fed Suspended The Laws Of The Market In Order To Save It" - What Happens Next

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 18:28
"The intrinsic contradiction of policy response to the crisis – suspend the laws of the market in order to save it – is resolved only by understanding that suspension is temporary. Stimulus will have to be unwound. But, and here lies the problem, accommodation has been in place for a very long time and this has had a profound impact on investors behavior, market functioning and its dynamics."

That Didn’t Take Long—–Fed Heading For Even Deeper Monetary Depravity

by Jeffrey P. Snider, Contra Corner:

It wasn’t in any way magnanimous for the FOMC to state clearly what everyone already knew without any need for aid of GDP calculations. The policy statement for its January 2016 meeting included language that mitigated, if not fully than significantly, the continued reliance on labor indications alone. The Fed says the labor market continues to point in the right direction, even if the economy in all the wrong places slowed just as it judged recovery conditions met.
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December suggests that labor market conditions improved further even as economic growth slowed late last year. Household spending and business fixed investment have been increasing at moderate rates in recent months, and the housing sector has improved further; however, net exports have been soft and inventory investment slowed.
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"Time To Panic"? Nigeria Begs World Bank For Massive Loan As Dollar Reserves Dry Up

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 14:30 Having urged "don't panic" just 4 short months ago, it appears Nigeria just did just that as the global dollar short squeeze forces the eight-month-old government of President Muhammadu Buhari to beg The World Bank and African Development Bank for $3.5bn in emergency loans to help fund a $15bn deficit in a budget heavy on public spending amid collapsing oil revenues. Just as we warned in December, the dollar shortage has arrived, perhaps now is time to panic after all.
 

"Fight Me!": "Shocking" Video Shows Migrant Melee In Swedish Refugee Home

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 13:31 “You have a problem with me?” the youth then asks, getting closer, before he begins shrieking, "fight me! fight me! fight me!" and then breaks down screaming and sobbing uncontrollably on the floor.

The Civil War Of "The Right"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 18:00 The conservative movement is starting to look a lot like Syria.

WalMart "Absolutely Shafted" Washington DC; Here's How

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 17:30 “If I were mayor, I’d get on a plane and go to Bentonville,” Gray said. "We have absolutely been shafted. They should be held accountable.”

Did A Central Banker Just Margin Call All Other Central Banks' Credibility?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 17:00 Did the BOJ’s out-of-the-blue reversal on its monetary stance which was refuted just weeks prior by Mr. Kuroda himself take place because after listening to the arguments, suggestions, as well as concerns, from the participants at Davos he concluded much like what the movie “Margin Call” depicted: It was all about to unravel? And if so: is this him deciding to be “first” and considered it his only choice?

Who Warned "Be Careful What You Wish For... If Interest Rates Go Negative"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 16:28 "... if interest rates go negative, the incentives reverse: people receiving payments will prefer checks (which can be held back from collection) to electronic transfers. Such a reversal could impose novel burdens on payment systems that have evolved in an environment of positive interest rates.... that if interest rates go negative, we may see an epochal outburst of socially unproductive—even if individually beneficial—financial innovation."

What A Cashless Society Would Look Like

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 16:27 Calls by various mainstream economists to ban cash transactions seem to be getting ever louder, while central bankers have unleashed negative interest rates on economies accounting for 25% of global GDP, with $5.5 trillion in government bonds yielding less than zero. The two policies are rapidly converging. This is what the resulting cashless society would look like.

"As Goes January"... What Happens When Bullish Seasonals Fail

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 15:58 November-January is the strongest consecutive 3-month period of the year. During this period, the S&P 500 is up 66.7% of the time with an average return of 3.35% going back to 1929. However, not this year.   Both the November-January & the January Barometer are flashing bearish signals for 2016.

The Biggest (Vote) Loser

What must the rest of the world think?

The Last (Policy-Induced) Gasp Of Speculative Excess

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 14:00 Markets these days have every reason to question the efficacy of global monetary management. Last week saw dovish crisis management vociferation from the ECB’s Draghi. Now the BOJ adopts a crisis management stance. The week also had talk of some deal to reduce global crude supply. Meanwhile, the PBOC injected a weekly record $105 billion of new liquidity. Nonetheless, the Shanghai Composite sank 6.1% to a 13-month low. There was desperation in the air – along with a heck of a short squeeze and general market mayhem.

60 Dead In Massive ISIS Suicide Attack On Syrian Capital

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 13:01

Trump Pulls Away From Pack As Iowa Countdown Begins; Hillary Tied With Bernie

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 12:38 America is inching ever closer to putting itself in a position of having to choose between an avowed socialist and what the Des Moines Register calls "a smash-mouth game show host" as Trump and Sanders poll strongly in Iowa ahead of caucus.

Russian ICBM Forces Placed On Highest Alert

by Dave Hodges, The Common Sense Show:

Russia’s air defense missiles, the S-400 have been moved into position in defense of Russian ICBM’s which is being readied for World War III
Russia’s TASS Agency,as reported by Next News Network, is reporting that 10 missile regiments of Russia’s Strategic Missile Force are combat ready and are now positioned at the highest level of alert.
In a press release, the Strategic Missile Force’s press office stated that Seven regiments armed with Topol, Topol-M and Yars mobile missile systems will advance for combat patrols in the Ivanovo, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Kirov and Irkutsk Regions, the Altai Territory and the Republic of Mary E.
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Crude Oil Bottoms and Blues

by Gary Christenson, Gold Silver Worlds:

Crude oil prices have dropped from about $106 in June of 2014 to briefly under $30 in January of 2016 – down about 74% peak to trough. This appears to be an on-going disaster for oil companies, the banks who loaned money to frackers, oil exporting countries, global stock markets and others.
Conventional wisdom suggests that crude oil prices will stay low for a long time because of low demand (global recession), huge supply (Iran, fracking, etc.), decline in commodity prices globally, and at least ten more reasons.
Maybe!
But crude oil prices have crashed before and then rallied. Examine the following chart and the 4 step sequences shown.
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Waiting For Perfect Storm – Pepe Escobar

by Pepe Escobar, The News Doctors:

Let’s start with the IMF «reform» which will be in full effect in a few weeks. Even this mini «reform» had been repeatedly vetoed by the Empire of Chaos. Washington still holds the largest quota and voting shares in the IMF, ahead of Japan. But now China is in the 3rd place and BRICS members Brazil, Russia and India are in the top ten.
This does not spell out radical change though. The US government still refuses to implement a full reform that will end up reducing the IMF’s global power. China, meanwhile, advances with facts on the ground such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and the BRICS with their New Development Bank (NDB), a serious attempt at breaking the stranglehold of a fraudulent – and hyper exploitative – monetary and financial system.
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Unlimited Credit Is The Real Threat To The Global Economy

from The Sleuth Journal:

Real money in US dollars accounts for $1.2 trillion worldwide. Of that, only about
$250 billion are in circulation in the US. The rest of the US dollars circulating around the country are worthless. The same situation occurs around the world.
What’s the problem with that? The US government alone spends $3.5 trillion a year. The same US government has spent over $14 trillion to unsuccessfully deal with the ongoing economic crisis.
Where has all that cash come from, if there are only $1.2 trillion worth of real money out there? It has been printed out of thin air.
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A Chinese Banker Explains Why There Is No Way Out

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 21:12
"If I don’t issue more loans, then my salary isn’t enough to repay the mortgage, and car loan. It’s not difficult to issue more loans, but lets say in a years time when the loan is due, if the borrower defaults, then I wont just see a pay cut, I’ll be fired, and still be responsible for loan recovery."

Glistening Gold & The Rumble In The Ruble - America's "Tribute Scam" Is Unraveling Fast

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 21:00 A case can be made that for Moscow it would be a tremendous waste of hard-earned foreign exchange to try to counter a rig against their currency they simply cannot beat, as the entire fiat financial power of the US is against them. Russia’s Central Bank by now should be all-out selling rubles for gold, and building Russia’s gold reserves. Well, it is happening, somewhat.

Report: Store Inventory Levels Reduced Nationwide: “Stock Up Now While You Can!”

by Jeremiah Johnson, SHTFPlan:

Sometimes good comments are worth an entire article.  This author is a big believer in the fostering of good, intelligent dialogues with commenters on these various alternative media sites.  We all have the ability (with comments) to function in the manner of unofficial reporters.  The nation is huge; however, the distance is nominal and the situations that arise in the nation as a whole can be chronicled and reported by we, the average citizens.  The comments and interactions are a means to that end.
In this light, I wish to ask you, the Readership to report on this important topic in order to present others with the situations taking place in their locales.  The topic referred to being declining inventories and a lack of purchases to meet with customer (I despise the word “consumers”) needs in terms of foodstuffs and nondurable goods.
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Peak "Sharing Economy" - Syphilis Rates Soar To Record Highs

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 20:25

Trump Pulls Away From Pack As Iowa Countdown Begins; Hillary Tied With Bernie

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 09:58 America is inching ever closer to putting itself in a position of having to choose between an avowed socialist and what the Des Moines Register calls "a smash-mouth game show host" as Trump and Sanders poll strongly in Iowa ahead of caucus.

How The Masses Deal With Risk (And Why They Remain Poor)

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 12:33 Education today is an advertising agency which leads us to believe we need the society on which it relies upon for its existence.

Citi On Why Negative Rates Are Like Potato Chips: "No One Can Have Just One"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 12:00 "Experience in other countries that have entered into this territory should sober you up on the likely economic and inflation impact. No country that has gone into negative rates has experienced major shifts in its growth and inflation profile – minor, yes; major, no. As a consequence every dip into negative rates has been followed by additional moves."

RIP: Robert “LaVoy” Finicum Shot In The Back With Hands Above His Head

from David Dees, SGTreport.com:

Obama To Make First Ever Mosque Visit To "Celebrate Muslim Contributions To America"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 11:20 The White House has decided it's time “to celebrate the contributions Muslim Americans make to our nation and reaffirm the importance of religious freedom to our way of life."

Forget About "Stocks For The Long Run"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 10:40 On our scales, the balance between risk and reward in U.S. stocks falls heavily toward the risk. We see a reasonable likelihood of a ruinous loss against a remote possibility of a big gain. So go ahead and panic. You may be glad you did.

A Norwegian Gold Allocation Would Counter Sovereign Incompetence Risk

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2016 - 09:13 Many believed that the NOK was backed by oil, not requiring a gold reserve. However, oil is no longer a scarce resource but an abundant commodity. Switzerland, Germany, America and other first world nations have gold reserves. Norway should have one too.

200 Swedes Storm Occupied Stockholm Train Station, Beat Migrant Children

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 23:31

"Pandora's Box Is Open": Why Japan May Have Started A 'Silent Bank Run'

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 22:28 "... if the negative interest rate continues for longer or goes deeper, commercial banks may have to set negative interest rates on deposits, which would expand not only the tax on commercial banks, but also on depositors (households and companies). This could lead to a ‘silent bank run’ via a shift of deposits to cash (banknotes), which in turn damages the sound banking system by enlarging the leakage of funds from the credit creation mechanism in the banking system."

Deep State: Inside Washington's Shadowy Power Elite

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 22:10 Meet "the deciders"...

The United States Of Crazy Laws

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 21:35 Presented with no comment... apart from Arizona wins!

I-Owe-Ah & The Crime Called Ethanol

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 19:50

Ethanol – corn alcohol – won’t take you as far as a gallon of gas. But that doesn’t mean it is isn’t powerful stuff. Politically powerful stuff.

2016's "Biggest Risk": Markets Will "Need To Panic" To Wake Up "Impotent" Policymakers

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 18:40 "In addition to the risk of a deeper profit recession, there is no doubt the recent sell-off has been exacerbated by policy impotence; the sense that policy-makers have little solution for global demand deficiency."

2 Of The World's 20 Most Violent Cities Are In America

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 18:05 While Caracas - the capital of socialist utopia Venezuela where gun control is extreme - remains the number one most violent city in the world, there are two new entrants from the USA into the World's Top 20 least desirable places to walk the streets - St. Louis (15th most violent city in the world) and Baltimore (19th). America, land of the free to indiscrimanently kill other people?

The Happiest Place On Earth?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 17:30 ...if you are an immigrant...

The Chinese Economy Is Sinking, Not Transitioning

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 16:55 China’s stock market is a small, relative matter; the more troubling imbalances lie and remain elsewhere. This change in production profitability is concerning on three fronts: China’s industry persists at only getting worse even though it has already reverted to a state not seen in a decade or more; consumer appearances may seem generally optimistic despite all that but only because industrial activity has yet to fully make adjustments through resources and labor; and financial trends are likely already at the stage of self-reinforcement within and without.

Here's Which Stocks Sovereign Wealth Funds Will Be Selling In 2016

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 16:21 "Within equities which sectors are most vulnerable? We aggregate publically available holdings data to see how overweight these SWFs funds are positioned in terms of sectors and regions relative to the composition of the MSCI AC World index. With the caveat that these publicly available data represent only a portion of their public equity holdings, we find that SWFs are most overweight Financials and Consumer Discretionary, and most underweight Healthcare, Consumer Staples and Technology."

The Bank Of Japan - Ringing In The Keynesian Endgame

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 15:45 The time for more insanity has come... It is the Keynesian mantra: the fact that the policies recommended by Keynesians and monetarists, i.e., deficit spending and money printing, routinely fail to bring about the desired results is not seen as proof that they simply don’t work. It is regarded as evidence that there hasn’t been enough spending and printing yet.

Ignore Day To Day Market Spikes: Are Stocks Being Accumulated Or Distributed?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 15:07 While on any given day, stocks may tumble or surge as marginal buyers send increasingly illiquid indices lower or higher on ever lower volume, a more important question is what is taking place below the surface: are large holders looking to offload large exposure (by selling), or vice versa. For the answer we go to Bank of America, which has models to measure precisely this.

The Islamization Of America In 2015, Part 2

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2016 - 14:40 More than half (51%) of Muslims in America believe they should "have the choice of being governed according to Sharia." Only 39% of those polled said that Muslims in the U.S. should be subject to American courts. Nearly a quarter believed that, "It is legitimate to use violence to punish those who give offense to Islam by, for example, portraying the prophet Mohammed."

Targeted Individuals: what the US .01% MUST do to avoid arrests for obvious crimes centering in war, money, lies

from Washington’s Blog:

We’ve documented US government use of harmful and deadly experiments upon the public (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here for just a few, that the US tortures people in Orwellian violation of six binding areas of law), and that the US spies on absolutely everything (here, here). We publishedtestimony of a “targeted individual,” Ramola D, who asked that we share her story. This is a second request from Ricardo Camilo López.
19-minute TED talk on the history of government secret surveillance and coercive control of political dissent. This history is ordinary on Earth:
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Court denies bail to Ammon Bundy & 3 others as Oregon occupation continues

from RT:

A federal court judge in Portland has denied bail to Ammon Bundy and three of his cohorts as the occupation of a federal wildlife refuge building in Burns, Oregon continues. The FBI says four people remain there as the protest hits its fourth week.
The leader of the group of armed men that occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Ammon Bundy, as well as his brother Ryan, Brian Cavalier, and Ryan Payne, were all denied release on Friday. US Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman said that they posed a danger to public safety and were considered a flight risk, as she was concerned they would not follow orders to return to Oregon for criminal proceedings.
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Former Prime Minister of Japan: Fukushima Nuclear Crisis “IS STILL UNFOLDING”

from Japan Times:
Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant is not over five years since a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered the meltdowns.
“There is no doubt” radioactive materials have been seeping into the sea after mixing with groundwater, Kan, who has been a vocal critic of nuclear energy since the crisis started, told the National Press Club in Washington.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly said the issue of water contaminated with radioactive substances at the Fukushima plant is “under control,” including when he was making a pitch for Tokyo as host of the 2020 Olympic Games.
Kan disputes this. “The accident is still unfolding,” he said.
Read More @ Japantimes.co.jp

FUKUSHIMA: IMPACT OF FALLOUT ON OCEANS

A DEVIL’S PACT
from Leuren Moret:

The Anglo-American Permanent War Crimes Racketeering Syndicate
Scientific research is always sold to the public with a promise that the benefit will be for the people in order to get them to pay for it.  Once the research is finished, the science is always perverted into a weapon used against the people and the Environment that benefits the bankers.  – Leuren Moret, former President of the Association for Women Geoscientists and former City of Berkeley Environmental Commissioner, May 17, 2014.
The consequences of the unprecedented, irreversible, and unstoppable Fukushima nuclear earthquake and tsunami disaster that occurred on March 11, 2011, is not just a serious local genpatsu (nuclear power plant) disaster in Japan. It is a global nuclear extinction event that was banker-centric every step of the way, and will affect in unknown ways every living creature on the Earth for hundreds of thousands of years.
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‘Exoatmospheric kill vehicle’ designed to crash into nuclear missiles heading for the US tested over California

by Mark Prigg, Daily Mail:
A missile defense rocket designed to smash incoming missiles out of the sky has been successfully launched from a military base in Central California.
Authorities say a long-range interceptor blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The launch was testing thrusters on the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, which is designed to crash into enemy missiles and destroy them.
Officials said a target representing a missile was launched from an Air Force plane over the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii.
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The WHO’s Ambient Air Pollution Report

by Catherine J. Frompovich, Activist Post:

The World Health Organization (WHO) released its “Ambient (outdoor) air pollution in cities database 2014” [1] which, I think, really doesn’t depict the true status and quality of the ‘fresh air’ humans are forced to breathe globally. Why do I say that? Well, consider all the weather geoengineering chemicals that are being sprayed [2] overhead daily, and globally, to control the weather.
Read this to understand what’s going on, plus the University of Michigan Department of Environmental Health Sciences has just published a Science study, “Assessing The Direct Occupational And Public Health Impacts Of Solar Radiation Management With Stratospheric Aerosols” .
Will that U of M study be powerful, and provocative enough, to get the UN and WHO to face and to admit the reality about what’s really going on? Or, is WHO part of the problem for not recognizing weather geoengineering and SRM—Solar Radiation Management, which includes chemtrails sprayed to produce and effectuate blanket clouds and other weather anomalies?
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Dallas Fed "Responds" To Zero Hedge FOIA Request

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 20:17
Two weeks ago we, in collaboration with several readers, requested an official response from the Fed through a Freedom Of Information Act submission. Surely if the Fed would go so far as to call us liars, it would have no problem either responding or providing the required information. This is what we got back. 

War Party On The Run - The Roots Of The Anti-Trump, Anti-Sanders Camps In Both Parties

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 22:05 We are hearing the voices of the Mushy Moderate Middle rise up in defense of the status quo: Democrats like the Washington courtier Dana Milbank are warning us against Sanders, while the neocons to a man are railing against the Trumpist Temptation. This should be enough to tell us what is the right road to take and what our answer to the Mushy Middletarians must be: Extremism in defense of peace is no vice – and moderation in the fight against the War Party is no virtue!
 

ISIS Planning To Build Navy, NATO Commander Imagines

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 21:30 “I think it won’t be a planned, horrible mischievous act, I think it will be an act which is almost a mistake, or it will be an act of random terrorism that will suddenly have extraordinary implications for the Western world."
 

Meanwhile In Canada, A Real Estate Bargain Emerges...

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 16:50 "I don’t want to invest in stocks because they’re crazy and real estate is a solid, safe investment."

Chart Of The Day: $17 Trillion In Student Debt By 2030

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 20:55 Student Loan Debt is a cancer for our society. This misconception that getting a college education equals a steady career has been dashed by the recession. For-profit colleges pray on undereducated and low-income individuals. Text book prices have risen exponentially while the cost of a quality education has as well. This industry of education is going backwards, and will one day burst – will that happen soon?

Helicopter Money Arrives: Switzerland To Hand Out $2500 Monthly To All Citizens

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 19:45 With Citi's chief economist proclaiming "only helicopter money can save the world now," and the Bank of England pre-empting paradropping money concerns, it appears that Australia's largest investment bank's forecast that money-drops were 12-18 months away was too conservative. While The Finns consider a "basic monthly income" for the entire population, Swiss residents are to vote on a countrywide referendum about a radical plan to pay every single adult a guaranteed income of around $2500 per month, with authorities insisting that people will still want to find a job.

Indictment Looms As FBI Declares 22 Clinton Home-Server Emails "Top Secret"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 19:41 Just as we warned, and she mush have known, it appears at least 22 of the emails found on Hillary Clinton's private email server have been declared "top secret" by The FBI (but will not be releasing the contents) according to AP. The revelation comes just three days before the Iowa presidential nominating caucuses in which Clinton is a candidate. As we previously noted, the implications are tough for The DoJ - if they indict they crush their own candidate's chances of the Presidency, if they do not - someone will leak the details and the FBI will revolt...

Former Citi Trader Exposes How Wall Street Came To Own The Clintons

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 19:15 "I owe almost my entire Wall Street career to the Clintons. I am not alone; most bankers owe their careers, and their wealth, to them."

BofA Presents The 4 "D's" Of Deflationary Doom

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 18:45 "The nominal GDP of the industrialized world has grown just 4.1% since the lows of Q1’2009, one of the tiniest, deflationary expansions ever. And while asset prices are up significantly since their 2008/09 lows, the underlying message from Wall Street in recent years has been doggedly deflationary."

Who Can Afford The American Dream? "Rental Rates Have Reached Apocalyptic Levels"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 18:15 That American Dream thing is a going up in smoke. Upward mobility has stalled, and stagnation is setting in. Skyrocketing costs and shrinking opportunity are meeting head on with full on economic disaster. The "Dude, Where’s My Stuff?" generation doesn’t have much motivation to go on for growing up and getting their life together these days.

China's 3 Trillion Yuan Margin Call Time Bomb Is About To Explode

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 17:45 Abandon all hope for China's equity markets ye who enter here...

Zika Outbreak Epicenter In Same Area Genetically-Modified Mosquitoes Released In 2015

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 17:15 Coincidence?

The Disturbing Reasons Why The Bank Of Japan Stunned Everyone With Negative Rates

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 17:03 "... When stocks are falling this much, it's hard to justify not acting"
"... Davos - where he mingled with central bankers such as ECB President Mario Draghi and leading company executives - likely prompted him to pull the trigger"

Weekend Reading: Mental Floss

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 16:25 “The real enemy of investors is not these fairly routine 10 or 20% downturns. The real enemy is the bear market that is associated with a recession or crisis, the one that knocks your equity block down by 40 or 50%. And actually it isn’t even the depth that is the real enemy. For most investors the enemy is time.”

WTF Just Happened Here?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 16:12 Early in the day, VIX spiked 'oddly' and instanly broke the options market - prompting the start of an epic ramp in stocks. In the last minute of the US day-session today, we have only one question as a follow up... WTF just happened here...

The BoJ "Gift" Is A One Day Reprieve - Use It Wisely

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2016 - 15:55 By surprising markets with a move to a negative deposit rate, the Bank of Japan gave investors temporary reprieve, providing a much needed opportunity to pare portfolio risk at better prices. Unfortunately, the improvement in financial asset prices will be short-lived; except, of course, for long-maturity Treasuries.

Letter Urges EU Health Commissioner to STOP Re-Approval of Glyphosate Herbicide

by Christina Sarich, Natural Society:
Citing concerns that glyphosate has been proven to be an endocrine disruptor, along with other health and environmental issues, 67 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have written a letter to the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, asking that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s Round Up weed killer, NOT be re-approved.
The letter to Andriukaitis draws attention to the scientific controversy between the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization (IARC) with regard to the carcinogenicity of glyphosate. The IARC called glyphosate ‘probably carcinogenic,’ while the EFSA peer review, based on the renewal assessment report by the rapporteur Member State (BfR), concluded that glyphosate is “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans and the evidence does not support classification with regard to its carcinogenic potential.”
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Doug Casey Shines a Light on the Sociopaths in Politics

by Doug Casey, International Man:

There are seven characteristics I can think of that define a sociopath, although I’m sure the list could be extended:

1. Sociopaths completely lack a conscience or any capacity for real regret about hurting people. Although they pretend the opposite.

2. Sociopaths put their own desires and wants on a totally different level from those of other people. Their wants are incommensurate. They truly believe their ends justify their means. Although they pretend the opposite.

3. Sociopaths consider themselves superior to everyone else, because they aren’t burdened by the emotions and ethics others have – they’re above all that. They’re arrogant. Although they pretend the opposite.

Read More…

They Don’t Bother To Hide The Criminality In Silver And AMZN Trading

by Dave Kranzler, Investment Research Dynamics:

When they’re trading 1.5 billion oz. of silver each day in London, the ‘silver’ fix each day is a complete sham. Now the fix has been found to be openly manipulated, it will be interesting to see what happens with the London silver market. – David Jensen, “Silver: Is It The LBMA’s Greatest Rig?”
Strange things are happening in the global financial markets.  Most likely evidence of a massive systemic earthquake starting to shake.  As many of you know, the LBMA price fix “fixed” the a.m. price of silver 84 cents below the front-month futures price right before the price was “fixed.”   This graph to the right shows how the criminal activity went down (click to enlarge).
I awoke this morning and had an email from Bill “Midas” Murphy asking me if the $13.98 low print shown on Kitco was correct.  I responded that it looked like there were some “low hanging” stop loss orders that were attacked in an attempt to get the price of silver down.  This was before I had learned of the crime committed on the LBMA.
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North America being bathed in radiation from Fukushima… alarming levels now 1,000 times above normal for alpha particles

by Sarah Landers, Natural News:

Official data reported at the National Conference on Radiation Control shows that the U.S. has been experiencing a huge spike in radiation from Fukushima. Levels are considered to be far exceeding the federal regulatory limit, with nearly 1,000 times the normal amount of alpha particles recorded, including plutonium.⁽¹⁾
Data analysis of Californian air samples, taken seven weeks after Fukushima began to release radiation in 2011, shows gross alpha activity of 200 femtocuries per cubic meter, which is 790 times the normal levels experienced in the state.
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Be Your Own Medicine

by Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds:

Treatment of atomized individuals in a setting of atomized symptoms and treatments is by any measure the opposite of a system that encourages and enables everyone to be their own medicine. 
I recently saw a slogan that encapsulated what’s wrong with the U.S. healthcare system: Be Your Own Medicine. To Be Your Own Medicine is the essence of prevention, and a way of taking full ownership of one’s health, body, mind, diet, fitness and daily habits.
Alas, being your own medicine strips the $3.5 trillion healthcare system of profit, power and control, so the last thing the healthcare cartels want is for us to be our own medicine, as that would reduce our reliance on highly profitable pharmaceuticals, tests, procedures and high-cost facilities.
Read More…

FBI Video Shows Deadly Confrontation Between Finicum and Feds *Graphic Video Content*

by Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan:

The shooting of LaVoy Finicum by law enforcement agents near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge had left scores of unanswered questions before video of the incident captured by an FBI helicopter camera was released late Thursday evening. Police claim that Finicum, who had been part of the group protesting Federal land grabs in Oregon, reached for a weapon after being confronted by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
But an eye witness report from Victoria Sharp, one of the passengers in the vehicleshown in the video below, contradicts initial law enforcement statements.
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