David Stockman: The Global Economy Has Entered The Crack-Up Phase

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/15/2015 - 19:30
Few people understand the global economy and its (mis)management better than David Stockman -- former director of the OMB under President Reagan - and he is now loudly warning that events have entered the crack-up phase, which he predicts will be defined by four key developments. As the crack-up phase gains momentum, he predicts an increasing number of "financial breaks" that will add to the unpredictability and instability of the environment for investors. Even 'dancing close to the door' sounds excessively risky at this point.

Are We Headed Into The Most Shocking Panic In World History?

from KingWorldNews:
The Romans, the Spartans and the Athenians are no longer. What remains is a physical legacy in the form of such structures as the Colosseum and the Acropolis, even though the empires that created those monuments have been gone for up to 2,500 years.
The most valuable legacy left behind was not the physical manifestation of their power, but the knowledge of what made them great and what made them fail. Someday those physical remnants might crumble, but their wisdom and their mistakes are eternal.
The negotiations between Greece and the EU over their impossible-to-pay debt load and the austerity that was imposed on the Greek people, will either force the Greeks to maintain austerity, in exchange for more financial aid, or for Greece to default on the debt and exit the Euro.
Robert Fitzwilson continues @ KingWorldNews.com

Former White House Official Just Made One Of The Most Terrifying Predictions Of 2015

from KingWorldNews:
The central banks as late as 2006 had combined balance sheets of $5 trillion. Today it’s $16 trillion. Total outstanding credit in the world is now past $200 trillion. There are going to be enormous losses and cascading effects. There is a huge amount of dislocation on the way and it’s going to be devastating in its scope and intensity.
There is going to be a massive conflagration (extensive fire that destroys assets) in the financial markets. It’s going to be the Great Repricing of all kinds of financial instruments — stocks and bonds. It’s already happened to commodities and derivatives are waiting in line. That’s where the carnage is going to occur.
David Stockman continues @ KingWorldNews.com

City of 20 Million People to Cut Water Service to Just 2 Days Per Week; Humanity Plunging Towards Ecological Disaster

by Jonathan Benson, Natural News:
A last-ditch effort to avoid a complete collapse of one of the city’s primary water sources, the city of Sao Paulo in Brazil, population 20 million, has proposed cutting off the water supply up to five days a week, allowing residents to access water only twice per week, or about eight times monthly.
As we reported back in December, Brazil’s largest city is barely surviving the worst recorded drought to ever hit the region. With demand for water far exceeding supply, officials have been frantically working to develop a system that will preserve what little water remains while avoiding a complete breakdown of this large metropolitan region.
The “Sistema Cantareira,” a series of five interconnected reservoirs that under normal conditions provides water for about 9 million of Sao Paulo’s residents, is almost completely dry. According to the latest reports, the utility, which sits almost halfway between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, is down to a mere 5.1 percent of its total capacity of 264 billion gallons of water.
Read More @ NaturalNews.com

How The News Works - A Reminder

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/15/2015 - 15:45 News - it's how they do propaganda these days... (and for that matter always).
 

The Greatest Obama "Error" Ever?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/15/2015 - 19:54 Presented without comment.

30 Years Ago, Greece Bluffed Europe... And Won

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/15/2015 - 22:25 "European leaders resolved a bitter financial dispute with Greece today, paving the way for Spain and Portugal to join the Common Market at the start of next year. Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou of Greece had threatened to veto an agreement reached this week on Iberian membership unless the other nine members gave Greek farmers $2 billion in special subsidies to help them compete with Spain and Portugal. But after two days of negotiations at a European Economic Community meeting here, Greece was persuaded to accept about $1.4 billion in new agricultural aid in return for lifting its veto threat."
- March 31, 1985

"I Live In Constant Fear" Kyle Bass Explains How We Got Here

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/15/2015 - 22:15 "I constantly feel inadequate, which may be what drives me," Kyle Bass tells Raoul Pal in this excellent discussion between two of the world's foremost (non-status-quo-hugging everything-will-be-fine) market practitioners. The interview with Bass, from the newly launched Real Vision TV, covers everything from how he got started in his career, what drives him, his process "it's an art - there is no science to it", and not only how we got here, but where we are going (inevitably)...

Four Key Themes From Q4 Earnings: From Dollar Headwinds To Management Over-Confidence

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/15/2015 - 21:30 By reviewing the earnings transcripts from the companies of the S&P 500, Goldman Sachs notes 4 key themes emerge from the maelstrom of double-speak, bravado, and actual data (GAAP or non-GAAP). Without question the US Dollar strength is a drag on multinationals and CEOs are resolute in that (despite mainstream media prognostications that 'king dollar' is "unequivocally good") but what CEOs and CFOs seems just as resolutely positive about is that while macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties still exist in Asia and Europe, they expect solid US economic growth in 2015. It appears - given the data - they will be disappointed. 

Welcome To Eccles Island: Where Tulips Bloom In A Polar Vortex

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/15/2015 - 20:55 The week just ended laid bare any pretensions that there is not something wrong (seriously wrong) within the natural world of both the macro underpinnings of business as well as finance. Unimaginable just a short 6 years ago, the U.S. equity markets closed at a height once again never before seen in human history highs, (it has more than tripled from the 2008 bottom!) but has done so solely on Keynesian fairy tales. The issue now is: does the fairytale end in a nightmare?

"The World's Most Sophisticated Cyber Attack" - How Hackers Infiltrated The Banks & Stole Millions

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/15/2015 - 20:20 Since late 2013, The NY Times reports that an unknown group of hackers has reportedly stolen $300 million ­- possibly as much as triple that amount - from banks across the world, with the majority of the victims in Russia. The attacks continue, all using roughly the same modus operandi...
 

JPY Slides After Japanese GDP Disappoints (Again); Economy Minister "Hopes" For Wage Increases

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/15/2015 - 19:39 It appears "hope" is a strategy in Japan. Abe's nation emerged from recession in Q4 but with business spending (capex grew at a mere 0.1%) and private consumption (+0.3% - which Amari defined as "solid private demand supporting economic recovery") both coming in considerably below estimates, Japanese GDP QoQ SAAR grew at+2.2% (missing expectations of 3.7%) but real GDP growth was negative for the 3rd quarter in a row. Of course the GDP deflator grew at 2.3%, beating expectations, is desperately clung to by Japan's economy minster Amari as evidence of the end of deflation in Japan.
 

First Genetically Modified "Browning-Resistant" Apple Approved For US Consumption

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/15/2015 - 17:15 With only 37% of the public believing that genetically-modified foods are 'safe', The Arctic apple - which resists browning when cut open or sliced - faces an uphill battle for 'success'. But as WSJ reports, the non-browing trait makes it particularly attractive for restaurants, grocery stores, airlines and other companies that offer pre-sliced fruit, and since The Agriculture Department on Friday approved it as the first genetically modified apple for sale in the U.S., the debate over the safety (and labelling) of modified foods reignites. While "getting the consumer to buy in to the product has to be the priority," notes Okanagan, environmentalists warn "there is no place in the U.S. or global market for genetically engineered apples."
 

Sorry Monsanto: Organic Food Demand is Absolutely Exploding

by Christina Sarich, Natural Society:
Perhaps you remember a time not too far in our collective grocery-shopping past when regular grocery stores chains and places like Walmart had no idea what organic food was. Organic milk? Bread? Produce? They didn’t carry it. You had to find an obscure health food store or a farmer’s market if you didn’t live near a Whole Foods to find non-GMO, healthful food that wasn’t full of pesticides. But thankfully, consumers are demanding different products now. Demand for organic food has busted through its glass ceiling.
You can attribute this change in market demand to education. You can attribute it to the mass awakening happening around the planet. But either way, you can’t argue with the numbers. Eating organic is no longer ‘fringe’ or something done solely by health-nuts and athletes, hippies, and paranoids. In fact, consumer demand for organic food is seeing double digit growth year over year, and it doesn’t show signs of stopping.
Read More @ NaturalSociety.com

 



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