It's Official: "The Bernank" Urges Japan To Unleash Helicopter Money...

Despite Bernanke's insistence to keep his mouth shut about what transpired during his historic meeting, the answer leaked out anyway: Koichi Hamada, a close adviser of the prime minister, said Mr. Bernanke may have discussed helicopter money with Japanese officials he met with during his visit, including BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda and Ministry of Finance policy makers. 

Stockman Rages: "The Bernank" Is "The Most Dangerous Man Walking This Planet"

Ben Bernanke is one of the most dangerous men walking the planet. In this age of central bank domination of economic life he is surely the pied piper of monetary ruin.

Dow Surges 1,300 Points Post-Brexit To Record High

From 17,036 post-Brexit lows,The Dow Jones Industrials Average has soared over 1300 points in 2 weeks to push above its May 2015 intraday record high (18,351.35).

Five Arrested After Shooting At D.C. Police Officers

The shootings continue.  According to AP, Police arrested five people for allegedly shooting at officers in Washington, D.C., early Tuesday, officials said. No injuries were reported. The good news is that the group allegedly fired at police to avoid arrest, not as part of a targeted attack on cops, a police official told The Washington Post.

11 Killed, Dozens Injured After Two Italian Tains Collide Head On

While most attention on Italy these days is focused on the slow-motion crash involving its banks, overnight a real - and tragic - train crash took place in Europe's third largest economy. The crash involved two passanger trains belonging to the North Bari line which collided head on resulting in the death of 11 people and injuring dozens according to Italian site Ansa.

China Lashes Out At "Washington-led Conspiracy" After Hague Decision "Farce"

"The U.S. actions near China, particularly those on the South China Sea issues, are part of its Asia-Pacific Rebalance strategies. Its intentions are no more than containing China to preserve its interests in the Asia-Pacific region and its global hegemony. The U.S. motives are apparent to the world, especially to the Chinese people. The current China is nothing like the country it was one hundred years ago. Any act that tries to violate China's territorial sovereignty will fail."

China Has No Legal Claim to Most of South China Sea, UN Tribunal Finds

In a widely anticipated, purely symbolic decision, just over an hour ago a UN tribunal, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, ruled unanimously in favour of the Philippines in its case against China’s extensive claims in the South China Sea. It found that China’s claim to historic rights in most of the South China Sea has no legal basis, dealing a setback to Beijing which, as the WSJ adds, the U.S. fears could intensify Chinese efforts to establish its control by force.

Jamie Dimon Explains Why He Is Raising The Wage For Some JPM Workers From $10.15 To $12 Or More

At JPMorgan Chase, we’re starting by giving thousands of employees a raise.  Our minimum salary for American employees today is $10.15 an hour (plus meaningful benefits, which I’ll explain later), almost $3 above the current national minimum wage. Over the next three years, we will raise the minimum pay for 18,000 workers to $12 to $16.50 an hour, depending on geographic and market factors.

Hillary's Lead Over Trump Shrinks To Just 3% As Two-Thirds Of Voters Find Her "Dishonest And Untrustworthy"

Following yesterday's report that a majority of Americans disapprove of FBI director Comey's decision on Hillary Clinton, it is perhaps not surprising that the Democrat's lead over Donald Trump has shrunk substantially in the latest NBC poll, and is now leading the presumptive Republican candidate by just three points after several days of "controversy" following FBI Director James Comey's recommendation that no criminal charges be brought against the former secretary of state over her use of a private email server.

US Refused To Prosecute HSBC Over Fears Of "Global Financial Disaster"

What had previously only been hinted by the likes of former US attorney general Eric Holder who infamous said some banks are "too big to prosecute" shortly before resigning, became fact when a US Congressional report found that US officials refused to prosecute HSBC for money laundering in 2012 because of concerns within the DOJ that it would cause a "global financial disaster."

Global Stocks Surge On Rising Hopes Of Japan "Helicopter Money"

A quick headline search for the phrases "Japan stimulus" and "helicopter money" is all one needs to understand the very familiar reason for today latest overnight global stock rally, which has sent the USDJPY surging some more, in the process pushing the Nikkei higher by 2.5%, China up over 1% (with the help of some late FX intervention by the PBOC), European stocks up 1%, US equity futures up 0.5%, and so on, in what is a global wave of green on the back of the helicopter money which after Bernanke's visit to Japan, market participants are now convinced is just a matter of time.

Loretta Lynch Defends "The Disturbing Politicization Of The Justice Department" - Live Feed

The U.S. Justice Department's Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, has already released her written statement that she will deliver in person to the House Judiciary Committee at 10:00 a.m. this morning. As WallStreetOnParade's Pan and Russ Martens point out, it says nary a peep about the private, half-hour meeting with Bill Clinton that she held on her plane on the tarmac in Phoenix just eight days before her FBI Director, James Comey, would hold a surprise press conference and opine that no responsible prosecutor would bring criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, while Comey simultaneously fleshed out a boatload of falsehoods that Hillary Clinton had told to the American people about her handling of Top Secret and other classified material.

Why Gundlach Thinks It's Going To Get Worse, And Why He Is "Pretty Sure That Trump Will Win"

"What is really happening here is that there’s massive technological change, and big changes almost always lead to political instability. People who benefit from the old construct are loath to see it change, because they don’t want to lose their power and economic advantage. And so they dig their heels in even harder. That’s what we’re seeing in Britain right now. People who remember the good old days when they had factory jobs and made a good living—that’s been taken away, and they want to do something about it."

North Korea Threatens To Retaliate "Physically" If US Deploys THAAD On Peninsula

North Korea vowed to "take a physical counter-action to thoroughly control THAAD, aggression of the U.S. towards world domination, from the moment its location and place have been confirmed in South Korea... the closer they will come into the firing range of the KPA and the more miserable end the U.S. will meet without even a moment to make a shrill cry..."

Merkel Admits That Terrorists Were Smuggled In Europe's "Refugee Flow"

Following months of sternly refusing to accept that her "noble" initiative to open up Europe to over a million refugees from the middle east had adverse consequences in not only sending anti-immigrant parties soaring in the polls but also indirectly encouraging terrorism, German Chancellor Angela Merkel today admitted that some terrorists entered Europe among the wave of migrants that fled from Syria adding that the refugee flow was used in part to “smuggle terrorists” on to the continent.

Here's How Much Europe Depends On The UK

As the following charts show, Europe can’t afford a break-up with Britain. The EU and Britain, therefore, are likely to reach a trade deal and maintain close economic and military ties despite the Brexit vote.

Don't Just Blame The Cops: Who Is Responsible For America’s Killing Fields?

We’re getting distracted, people. Instead of focusing our ire on the architects of the American police state, who are responsible for turning the streets into mini-war zones, we’re getting distracted by the many voices eager to play the blame game by pointing their fingers at someone else.

The Chinese Will Need Another Bailout

Here we go again. China is primed for more bailouts as their corporations and State Owned Enterprises (SOE) continue burning through billions of yuan.

Harvard Study Finds No Racial Bias In Police Shootings

A very recently published Harvard study on racial bias in police use of force finds that, as the mainstream narrative proffers, black men and women are treated differently in the hands of law enforcement. However, in what the (African-American) author of the study calls "the most surprising result of my career," when it comes to the most lethal form of force - police shootings - the study finds no racial bias, contradicting the mental image of police shootings that many Americans hold.

Kyle Bass Was Right: Here Is SocGen's Primer How To Trade The Biggest Yuan "Depreciation Wave" Yet

The new risk scenario for CNY is 8.0 (20% increase in USD-CNY). The caveat is that the pain threshold for the market appears to be much higher than before and the implications for the global financial markets will primarily depend on the speed of depreciation. We believe that it would take significantly more pressure on capital flows than what we have seen over the past few years, or an economic hard landing, for our risk scenario to unfold.

One Year After Surpassing Walmart, Amazon Is Now Bigger Than Berkshire

Jeff Bezos has marked another milestone. Nearly one year to the day following Amazon's surpassing of Walmart's market capitalization on the heels of a great report on AWS (Amazon Web Services) growth numbers, Amazon has surpassed another American business icon's market capitalization, that of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway...

Civil Unrest Explodes In Berlin - Over 3500 People Riot Against Police

"Civil Unrest is exploding," warns Armstrong Economics' Martin Armstrong, just as his long-term cycle models had predicted, as the biggest and most violent protest in Germany in over five years erupted in Berlin over the weekend...

Congress: “Too Big to Jail: Inside the Obama Justice Department’s Decision Not to Hold Wall Street Accountable”

A galling read by the US House of Representatives.
from Wolf Street:
The US House of Representatives today released the results of its three-year investigation – hampered along the way by the Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury – into why HSBC and its executives weren’t prosecuted.
Empirical evidence has told us for years that in the US a bank and its executives cannot be prosecuted if the bank is big enough. We’ve come to call this type of bank “Too Big to Jail.”
Empirical evidence has also told us that a bank can do essentially whatever it wants to, given that, if caught, it may have to pay a fine that then becomes just part of the cost of doing business. Wall Street doesn’t care about fines. They’re “extraordinary items” that banks and analysts systematically exclude from their “ex-items” per-share earnings.
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Canada Inks Free Trade Deal With Ukraine, Emphasizes Security Relationship

by Brandon Turbeville, Activist Post:
Canada’s Obama, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, is now making good on his task of providing a young and well-spoken face to a continuation of oppression, authoritarianism, globalization, and imperialism, much like his American counterpart did with great success eight years ago. Thus, it was to the cheers of many that Trudeau met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev to announce a greater “cooperation” between the two countries both in security and in trade, despite the announcement being nothing more than the telegraph of a continuation of imperialism and the giant sucking sound of “free trade.”
During the news conference, Poroshenko stated that Ukraine has requested 200 Canadian military trainers to remain in Ukraine after the 2017 expiration date for the current arrangement. While Canadian military “trainers” are currently deployed in Ukraine, Trudeau did not publicly commit to a continuation of the arrangement. Still, he re-emphasized Canada’s “commitment” and “relationship” with Ukraine both on the military and economic front. Given Trudeau’s statements about Russia and the Ukrainian crisis, however, informed observers tend to suspect that Canada’s military role in Ukraine will continue as needed.
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CONDITION RED: Important Silver Threshold Line Broken… What Next??

by Steven St. Angelo, SRS Rocco:

The important silver threshold line was broken briefly last week and continues to bump up against it in early trading today.  If the silver price closes above this threshold line by a significant margin, it could mean big trouble for the bullion banks who hold record silver short contracts.
I wrote about this in my article, WATCH OUT if Silver Breaks Through This Threshold Next Week.  The important silver threshold line is the 50 (MA), or what is known as in technical terms, the 50 month moving average line.  Because I used a 20 year monthly chart, the 50 (MA) line refers to the moving average in monthly terms.  If the chart is shown in weeks, then its a weekly moving average… and if it is a daily chart, then it is a daily moving average.
Here is an updated 20 year silver chart which now shows a 50 (MA) of $20.35:
Read More…

Some Illegal Aliens Enjoy Food Stamp Advantage Over U.S. Citizens

by Penny Starr, CNS News:
A new report produced by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) shows that people in the United States illegally can in some cases get more food stamps than U.S. citizens.
The report, released on Monday by the Washington, D.C.-based organization, reveals that the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) “provides benefits to families with an illegal alien (or other ineligible alien) wage earner in it, while denying benefits to an identical family comprised of only U.S. citizens.”
The press release announcing the report states: “Although two families may be identical in terms of income and family size, states have the option of including only part of the wages of an employed ineligible alien when calculating SNAP eligibility.”
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“This Is The Disaster Everyone Will Wish They Prepared For”: SoCal Megaquake Threatens 20 Million

by Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan:

Experts in business and policy have conducted a survey of the potential damage that could be expected after what scientists now say is an inevitable mega-earthquake along the San Andreas fault. It exposed many deep flaws in the system, and forecast a disaster of epic proportions for of Southern California.
Because the pressure has been building for over a century, and simply must be released, the earthquake is not just a potential event, but a liability that is sure strike sooner or later, and models show that the magnitude could easily approach 8.0.
It could easily become every prepper’s worst nightmare – an event big enough to test the shaky resolve of the entire population as they face being cut off from food, water and electricity; even a modestly large earthquake could disrupt pipelines and power lines for water supply, sewage, natural gas and more for several weeks or even months… and it would only take a matter of hours and days for riots and looting to begin.
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GOLD FALLS ON A BANKER RAID BUT SILVER REMAINS POSITIVE/THE EU REFUSE TO LET ITALY DO A BANKING BAILOUT HELICOPTER MONEY TO COMMENCE IN JAPAN/DEUTSCHE BANK’S COCO BONDS ARE NOW YIELDING 11.3% SIGNALING TROUBLE!

from Harvey Organ:
For the July gold contract month, we had 18 notices served upon for 1800 ounces. The total number of notices filed so far for delivery: 4,065 for 406,500 oz or 12.643 tonnes
In silver we had 55 notices served upon for 275,000 oz. The total number of notices filed so far this month for delivery: 1110 for 5,550,000 oz — Let us have a look at the data for Monday.
Several months ago the comex had 303 tonnes of total gold. Today, the total inventory rests at 296.777 tonnes for a loss of 6 tonnes over that period
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In silver, the total open interest ROSE BY 2594 contracts UP to 211,873, AND STILL CLOSE TO AN ALL TIME RECORD. THE OI ROSE IN SYMPATHY TO THE PRICE OF SILVER RISING BY 26 CENTS IN FRIDAY’S TRADING. In ounces, the OI is still represented by just over 1 BILLION oz i.e. 1.059 BILLION TO BE EXACT or 151% of annual global silver production (ex Russia &ex China).
Read More @ Harveyorganblog.com

BoE Set to Save the Day, But the World’s Banking System Is Set to Fail

from The Daily Bell:

Britain’s central bank is on the cusp of pulling an unprecedented move to stop Brexit destroying the economy … The Bank of England is on the cusp of cutting interest rates to a new historic low again on Thursday in a bid to mitigate an impending economic slowdown caused by a Brexit. -Business Insider
This Business Insider article points out how the Bank of England is getting ready to save the British economy from the upcoming Brexit recession.

Many in the investment industry are positive about the Bank of England’s move to reduce rates from 0.5% to 0.25%. According to a survey in the Financial Times, markets “have already priced in a 75% chance of interest rates being cut from 0.5% to 0.25% this week.“
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Crisis Is Us – The Inexorable Result Of Modern Central Banking

by David Stockman, David Stockman’s Contra Corner:
The inexorable effect of contemporary central banking is serial financial booms and busts. With that comes increasing levels of systemic financial instability and a growing dissipation of real economic resources in misallocations and malinvestment. At length, the world becomes poorer.
Why? Because gains in real output and wealth depend upon efficient pricing of capital and savings, but the modus operandi of today’s central banking is to deliberately distort and relentlessly falsify financial prices.
After all, the essence of ZIRP and NIRP is to drive interest rates below their natural market clearing levels so as to induce more borrowing and spending by business and consumers.
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