Why Is WalMart Mysteriously Shuttering Stores Nationwide For "Plumbing Issues"?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 19:25 WalMart has abruptly closed multiple stores across the country affecting an estimated 2,000 employees over the past several days citing "ongoing plumbing issues" which it will apparently take the company 6 months or more to fix. Interestingly, the stores are geographically distinct, and have nothing in common other than "clogs and leaks," and no plumbing permits have been obtained for any work.

Congress Will Increase The Deficit By 20% This Year

from Armstrong Economics:
There is little doubt that the elected Republicans will fail to change Washington’s economic direction. According to Forbes, Republicans are planning to increase the deficit by 20% this year. This decision is setting the stage for a Third Party run in 2016. It does not matter if we elect a Democrat or Republican – neither will do anything different.
To rise to the head of either ticket, candidates have to kiss so much ass that they will never be a leader anymore. I laugh at those who ask me during on-air interviews, “Would you ever consider running for President?”. There is no such thing as “considering”, no one will ever get a slot in either party coming in from the outside.
Read More @ ArmstrongEconomics.org

Road to White House: New Boss Will Be the Same as the Old Boss

by John W. Whitehead, Activist Post:
“What the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. It’s not good at much else.”—Author Tom Clancy
The American people remain eager to be persuaded that a new president in the White House can solve the problems that plague us. Yet no matter who wins this next presidential election, you can rest assured that the new boss will be the same as the old boss, and we—the permanent underclass in America—will continue to be forced to march in lockstep with the police state in all matters, public and private.
Indeed, as I point out in my new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, it really doesn’t matter what you call them—the 1%, the elite, the controllers, the masterminds, the shadow government, the police state, the surveillance state, the military industrial complex—so long as you understand that no matter which party occupies the White House in 2017, the unelected bureaucracy that actually calls the shots will continue to do so.
Read More @ Activist Post

All Hail Hillary – Iowa Students Locked in Classrooms as Clinton Arrives at College to Visit “Everyday Iowans”

by Michael Krieger, Liberty Blitzkrieg:
You can’t make this up. You really can’t.
So just days after oligarch extraordinaire Hillary Clinton finally put us out of our misery and announced her campaign for the U.S. Presidency, she decided it would be shrewd to kick things off by “having conversations with everyday Iowans” via a “van tour.” These aren’t my words, it is exactly how the PR stunt was marketed by her campaign.
Naturally, the whole thing was staged, and the experience of most “everyday Iowans” was far from any sort of conversation. In fact, many were locked in their classrooms to prevent her highness from even having to view the rabble. The Des Moines Register notes that:
Read More @ Libertyblitzkrieg.com

Dave Kranzler: Amazon.com A Giant Ponzi Scheme?

from WallStForMainSt:

Deutsche Bank's Ominous Warning: A "Perfect Storm" Is Coming In 2018

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 15:05 "We could now be at a crossroads," warns Deutsche Bank in its annual default study report. As the 'artificial bond market' is exposed and yield curves flatten on Fed rate hikes so carry risk-reward is reduced and default cycles have often been linked to the ebbing and flowing of the YC through time with a fairly long lead/lag. With HY defaults having spent 12 of the last 13 years below their long-term average (with the last 5 years the lowest in modern history), "a perfect default storm could be created for 2018 if the Fed raises rates in 2015."

The Collapse Of The Petrodollar: Oil Exporters Are Dumping US Assets At A Record Pace

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 18:30 Back in November we chronicled the (quiet) death of the Petrodollar, the system that has buttressed USD hegemony for decades by ensuring that oil producers recycled their dollar proceeds into still more USD assets creating a very convenient (if your printing press mints dollars) self-fulfilling prophecy that has effectively underwritten the dollar’s reserve status in the post WWII era. Now, with oil prices still in the doldrums, oil producers are selling off their USD assets in a frenzy threatening the viability of petrocurrency mercantilism and effectively extracting billions in liquidity from the system just as the Fed prepares to hike rates.

The World Has Gone Mad - Fed's Lacker Edition

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 20:43 During a Q&A this evening, Richmond Fed's Jeffrey Lacker unleashed a stream of what can only be described as total idiocy:
*LACKER: INDICATORS POINT TO NEED TO RAISE RATES THIS YEAR (US macro data is the worst since Lehman?)
*LACKER: I'M UNDETERRED BY RECENT WEAKNESS IN DATA, "CAN'T GO ON FOREVER" (Hope is a strategy?)
*LACKER: DON'T EXPECT UNUSUAL MARKET VOLATILITY AROUND RATE RISE (because the Taper Tantrum went well?)
These are the people that the world trusts to centrally plan the world? The people that are there to 'save' investors at the merest downtick in stocks? They seriously have no clue whatsoever!!

The South (China) Sea Bubble

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 14:34 Given the recent weakness in Chinese data, you might think that investor spirits would be dampened but, as anyone who has opened a paper in recent days will be aware, that is very much far from being the case. Indeed, China is currently enjoying the somewhat dubious fruits of one of the all-time great stock manias. Of course, it is not just Chinese stock markets that are being driven beyond the bounds of sanity by wild-eyed policy measures. Nor will it be just the Chinese who will eventually have to pay the price of such folly but, at the moment, it does appear as if they may be suffering from a more virulent strain of the pandemic that is afflicting the rest of the world, too. So, possibly, it will be in their country first that, in Cantillon’s words, ‘this furtive abundance [of fictitious and imaginary money] vanishes at the first gust of discredit and [so] precipitates disorder.’

China's True Economic Growth Rate: 1.6%

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 20:35 While the world gasped last night when China's production-based, and goalseeked GDP number came in at 7.0% - the lowest in 6 years the truly scary numbers were in the details, which revealed unprecedented deterioration. Details which suggest China is now growing at a 1.6% annual pace: the lowest in modern history.

Algos Celebrate Virtu's IPO With Massive Euro Stop Smash

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 20:19 EURUSD just exploded 80 pips higher as Japanese markets opened (once again for no good reason - just like DAX at the EU close). No ther markets are moving with it (as both spot and futures are poked higher on relatively heavy overnight volume). We assume this is just the machines over at Virtu (which IPO'd at a $19 price tonight) celebrating... after all they said the FX market was the next to be rigged by them (allegedly)...

The Weak Suffer What They Must: Yanis And The End Of Europe

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 20:00 Yanis Varoufakis’ publisher, Public Affairs Books, posted a promo for an upcoming book by the Greek Finance Minister, due out only in 2016 that reveals a few things that haven’t gotten much attention to date. Varoufakis simply analyzes the structure of the EU and the eurozone, as well as the peculiar place the ECB has in both. Some may find what he writes provocative, but that’s beside the point. It’s not as if Europe is beyond analysis; indeed, such analysis is long overdue. Indeed, it may well be the lack of it, and the idea in Brussels that it is exempt from scrutiny, even as institutions such as the ECB build billion dollar edifices as the Greek population goes hungry, that could be its downfall. It may be better to be critical and make necessary changes than to be hardheaded and precipitate your own downfall.

The Four Chartsmen Of The Recession

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 19:30

The Fed Never Learns - Another Inventory Dump Is Brewing

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 19:00 The fairy dust peddlers who moonlight as Wall Street economists were out in force yesterday after March retail sales came in with a positive m/m change for the first time since November.  This purportedly confirms that we’re back on track for a big rebound in Q2. In any event, what happens next is not too hard to figure. Unless you are a Wall Street economist.

America, Meet Your Brand New Largest Foreign Creditor

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 18:05 Exactly one month ago we wrote that "Japan Ties China As America's Largest Creditor" when, according to Treasury International Capital in the month of January, China sold just over $5 billion in Treasurys while Japan bought $8 billion in US paper. Fast forward to today when we are pleased to announce that, as expected, the trend has continued and for the first time since the great financial crisis, Japan is once again America's largest foreign credito. 

This Is Why Sandisk Is Firing 5% Of Its Workers (In Charts)

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 17:52 Sandisk is down around 5% after-hours after drastically lowering expectations (sees $5.4bn FY Revs vs Prev Est. $6.1bn). As a result, the CEO just announced that SANDISK LOWERING NON-FACTORY HEADCOUNT BY 5% IN Q2. It did not take long to discover why they felt the need to do that as the Sandisk CEO shunned Larry Fink and unveiled an ADDITIONAL $750M IN BUYBACKS THIS YR. So to the 5% of employees about to get laid off - Thank you for your service and thank you more for the wealth you are creating for 'others'.

High-School-Educated Chinese Speculators Have Learned Well From US Investors

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 17:45 Because when the macroeconomic backdrop is as bad as it's ever been... there's only one thing for it - panic-buy equities...

Europe Will Be Very Angry When It Learns Greece Is About To Buy Russian Anti-Aircraft Missiles

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 17:21 Just days after Russia lifted sanctions on providing anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, Reuters reports that The Greeks are in talks with Russia to purchase missiles for the S-300 defense system. Greece, a NATO member, has been in possession of the advanced Russian-made systems since the late 1990s and in a defiant show of independence towards Troika, is now negotiating with Russia for the purchase of additional missiles and for their maintenance.
 

China Takes Aim At Dollar Reserve Status: Promotes Yuan In Investment Bank

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 16:55 The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will establish an AIIB currency basket with China set to push for the yuan to take a prominent role and for “special currency funds” to be established in order to issue yuan-denominated loans through the fund. "The AIIB's grand vision for infrastructure investment [comes] with challenges but China should do its best to establish the yuan as a currency for settlement and denomination," one analyst says.
 

NFLX Goes Full Amazon: Burns Record Amount Of Cash But Stock Surges On Jump In International Subscribers

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 16:24 The Amazon model of burning countless amounts of cash in hopes of one day reaching profitability has fully arrived at Netflix.
 

Oilpocalypse Wow - Stocks Pop, Dollar Drops As Crude Hits 5-Month Highs

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 16:07

 

America Divided - The Taxed & The Taxer

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 15:51 Presented with no comment...
 

SEC Reaches "Appropriate" Settlement With Freddie Mac Execs Who Will Pay Nothing And Receive No Punishment

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 15:25 Three former Freddie Mac executives who understated the amount of subprime exposure on the GSE's book by a factor of 28 came to terms with the SEC today on a settlement which imposes fees no one has to pay and "limitations on future behavior" that "will not limit [anyone] in any practical way."
 

Ahead Of Varoufakis' Meeting With Famous Sovereign Bankruptcy Lawyer S&P Downgrades Greece To CCC+

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2015 - 12:10 To think it was just recently in September of last year when the S&P, seemingly unaware of the tragic reality facing Greece in just a few months (by reality we meen democratic elections which overthrew the previous regime which was merely a group of Troika picked technocrats), upgraded Greece to B and said "The upgrade reflects our view that risks to fiscal consolidation in Greece have abated." Well, the risks have unabated, and two months after S&P flipflopped and downgraded Greece back to B- on February 6, moments ago it downgraded it again, this time to triple hooks, aka the dreaded CCC+. But, as City AM reports, the biggest news is that the Greek Finance Minister "will on Friday meet with infamous sovereign debt lawyer Lee Buchheit, who has helped numerous countries restructure their debt. Buchheit is a partner at top US law firm Cleary Gottlieb."
 

DHS to Purchase 62 Million Rounds of AR-15 Ammo

by Paul Joseph Watson, Infowars:
The Department of Homeland Security is set to purchase over 62 million rounds of ammo typically used in AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, just weeks after the ATF was forced to back down on a ban on M855 bullets.

A posting on FedBizOpps.gov this week reveals that the DHS is looking to contract with a company to provide 12.6 million rounds of .223 Remington ammunition per year for a period of five years – totaling 62.5 million bullets.

The solicitation explains that the purchase is intended, “to achieve price savings over the current .223 Rem duty ammunition.” The bullets will be used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents nationwide for “training” purposes. The .223 Remington is one of the most common rifle cartridges in use in the United States and is used both in bolt action rifles and semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15 and the Ruger Mini-14.

Read More @ Infowars.com

A Powerful Weapon of Financial Warfare—The US Treasury’s Kiss of Death

from International Man:
It’s an amazingly powerful weapon that only the US government can wield—kicking anyone it doesn’t like out of the world’s US-dollar-based financial system.
It’s a weapon foreign banks fear. A sound institution can be rendered insolvent at the flip of a switch that the US government controls. It would be akin to an economic kiss of death. When applied to entire countries—such as the case with Iran—it’s like a nuclear attack on the country’s financial system.
That is because, thanks to the petrodollar regime, the US dollar is still the world’s reserve currency, and that indirectly gives the US a chokehold on international trade.
Read More @ InternationalMan.com

OPEC Going Broke, Dumping Dollars. Is That Good Or Bad?

by John Rubino, Dollar Collapse:
When oil prices fell out of bed last winter there was much hand-wringing over the fate of the former beneficiaries of high-priced crude. Trillions of dollars of junk bonds issued by frackers, for instance, might default, oil field services companies could fail, and layoffs in the oil patch might swamp the nascent employment recovery.
Some of this has happened, though not on the apocalyptic scale the worst-case scenarios suggested. More might be coming, but right now it’s not headline news in North America.
For OPEC, however, the sudden 50% diminution in export revenue is a clear and present danger, and the response is noteworthy:
Read More @ DollarCollapse.com

Proofs of a Conspiracy, by John Robison 1798

from Impious Digest:
How a Bavarian secret order managed to undermine, and ultimately control international freemasonry. The classic work referenced by George Washington in 1798 regarding the Illuminati infiltration of American lodges. Proofs of a Conspiracy by John Robison 1798
PROOFS OF A CONSPIRACY AGAINST ALL THE RELIGIONS AND GOVERNMENTS OF EUROPE, CARRIED ON IN THE SECRET MEETINGS OF FREE MASONS, ILLUMINATI, AND READING SOCIETIES, COLLECTED FROM GOOD AUTHORITIES …
Read More @ ImpiousDigest.com

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