Ukraine Collapse Is Now Imminent

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/28/2016 - 15:15
Two years have passed since Yanukovich was deposed and, as it turns out, another ruthless clan of oligarchs has taken power. No wonder then that Ukraine is heading for a new wave of violence and chaos. It is a just matter of time before the Ukraine nationalistic militias will take power, resulting in a definite split of the country. Poroshenko can postpone the people final verdict by reviving the war in the east, but in the end, he can not escape the day of reckoning.

"Trump Must Be Stopped" Plead 'The Economist' And CFR As Financial Establishment Panics

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/28/2016 - 15:46 When such stalwart titans of financial establishmentarianism as the Council of Foreign Relations and "The Economist", who until now had been largely ignoring Trump's ascent in the political hierarchy finally unleash an all out assault and go after Trump on the very same day, you know that the flamboyant, hyperbolic billionaire has finally gotten on the nerves of some very high net worth individuals.

"Another Crisis Is Certain", Warns Former BOE Chief

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/28/2016 - 11:50
"Whatever can be said about the world recovery since the crisis, it has been neither strong, nor sustainable, nor balanced. There seems little political willingness to be bold, and so perhaps we should fear that the size of the ultimate adjustment will just go on getting bigger."

China's Housing Bubble Is Back: Locals Wait In Line For Days To Flip Houses

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/28/2016 - 14:47 Nowhere is the return of the Chinese housing bubble more ovious than in Beijing where scalpers are charging up to ?3000 for service numbers at the government office where property transfers are recorded, due to long wait times in the wake of the recent transaction tax cuts launched by the government to spur the housing market. The result is peole paying thousands of Yuan to get a better place in line as they scramble to "flip that house."

Gold & The Dollar Are Reaching A Critical Point

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/28/2016 - 14:10 While Americans don't seem to think of gold as money, it looks as though someone does.

Saxobank CIO Is "Shorting Everything" Into "Nasty March"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/28/2016 - 13:35 Fearful of a renewed rise in the US dollar, Saxo's chief economist Steen Jakobsen expects a "nasty March" as this will kill commodity stabilization as well as the ability of emerging markets to live up to their expectations to revitalize the global economy. Despite The Bank of Japan's clear "example of how not to do things," Jakobsen warns other central banks will follow Kuroda's cue and, as he explains below, is "shorting everything" as he sees two major canaries in the coalmine.

About That $1 Trillion In Distressed Credit: UBS Responds To Wall Street's Shock

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/28/2016 - 10:27 UBS' recent bearish assessment of the junk bond space led to a firestorm of protests from Wall Street asset managers for whom just the selloff in itself had become a catalyst to buy. So, to clear up any confusion, here is Matthew Mish responding to the barrage of angry bulls why the $1 trillion in distressed credit - a third of the entire universe - is not just an energy story, and responding to the five most important and recurring questions
 

The Global Run On Physical Cash Has Begun: Why It Pays To Panic First

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/27/2016 - 18:55 If, and when, a run on physical cash begins, there will be roughly $1 dollar in physical to satisfy $10 dollars in savers' claims, a ratio which drops to 20 cents of "deliverable" cash if the $100 bill is taken out of circulation.

Day Of Reckoning Imminent

The bill for all the fun is yet to be presented in full, but presented it will be.
 

Bull Rallies In Bear Markets - The Perfect Storm

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/28/2016 - 13:01 "Investor hopes of coordinated G20 policy actions proved to be pure fantasy... It’s every country for themselves." Use any rally this week to move to the lowest level of equity exposure for this part of the cycle.

The Second Tech Bubble Has Burst: Here Come The Mass Layoffs

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/28/2016 - 11:17 "Failure is often just around the corner." In this case failure means much more than just a few billionaires reseting their bubble-level valuation marks back to reality: it means that for millions of ordinary Americans who jumped on the second tech bubble bandwagon, the hangover from the party of the last few years is just around the corner. Said otherwise, the mass layoffs have arrived. 

Iran Pivots Toward Democracy As Moderates Sweep Elections

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/28/2016 - 09:38 Although ultimate power will likely always reside with the Ayatollah, voter sentiment in Iran is shifting dramatically, as moderates aligned with President Hassan Rouhani sweep parliamentary elections and put up a strong showing in a vote for the Assembly of Experts. If this is a referendum on the President's efforts to restore relations with the international community, the verdict is clear.

The Hidden Persuaders - How The Internet Flips Election & Alters Our Thoughts

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/27/2016 - 22:00 We are living in a world in which a handful of high-tech companies, sometimes working hand-in-hand with governments, are not only monitoring much of our activity, but are also invisibly controlling more and more of what we think, feel, do and say. The technology that now surrounds us is not just a harmless toy; it has also made possible undetectable and untraceable manipulations of entire populations – manipulations that have no precedent in human history and that are currently well beyond the scope of existing regulations and laws.

You Might Be A Tech Company If...

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/27/2016 - 21:00 It happens at the top of every tech cycle – everyone wants to be a tech company. We’re there now. Tech is clubby - if you’re not inside, you’re outside. But before you try to argue for a higher valuation for a public company just because it claims to be 'Tech', consider our seven point checklist – "You might be a tech company if..."

Coal Mine Canary Or "Opportunity?" You Decide

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/27/2016 - 20:35 Be our guest. Lever up in junior US CLO tranches. It should be fine. Of course if it turns out poorly you'll look like the biggest sucker on the planet because you should be able to divine something about the suitability of an investment by observing supply and demand dynamics.

Russia Bans US GMO Products – F. William Engdahl

from The News Doctors:

Russia is making consequent its decision last fall to ban the commercial planting of Genetically Modified Organisms or GMO in its agriculture acreage. The latest decision, effective February 15, 2016 does not at all please Monsanto or the US Grain Cartel.
On February 15, a Russian national import ban on soybeans and corn imports from the United States took effect. The Russian food safety regulator Rosselkhoznadzor announced that the ban was because of GMO and of microbial contamination and the absence of effective US controls on soybean and corn exports to prevent export of quarantinable grains, also known as microbial contamination. The Russian food safety regulator added that corn imported from the US is often infected with dry rot of maize. In addition, he said, corn can be used for GMO crops in Russia. The potential damage from import and spread of quarantinable objects on the territory of Russia is estimated at $126 -189 million annually.
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Why Is The Dutch Central Bank Suddenly Moving Its Gold? And Why Is ABN Amro Becoming Bullish?

from Zero Hedge:

An interesting fact has hit the newswires earlier this week, as the Dutch Central Bank confirmed it was looking to (temporarily?) move its gold reserves to another secure location. The DNB claims it has to renovate its vaults and thus needs to store the yellow metal elsewhere and that’s quite surprising as the central bank repatriated a large part of its gold reserves less than 18 months ago.
If this renovation has been scheduled a long time ago, why were the Netherlands so anxious to bring its gold back home? And why is the central bank using ‘renovations’ as the official reason even though some officials have indicated the DNB might be looking to permanently store the gold elsewhere?
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Exposing the Great GDP LIE

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to prevent savings from confiscation through inflation. – Alan Greenspan (1966)
by SGT SGT Report:
Hey friends, I just received this personal note from Jeff Nielson along with his latest article flushing it all out. No one does a better job dissecting what the bad guys are up to than Jeff Nielson. And what they are up to is going to hurt us all.
Jeff writes:
…”Follow the perversity. Most of the world’s governments (starting in the West) are openly engaging in what they call “competitive devaluation”, an official race by these reckless regimes to see which one can drive the value of its currency to zero the fastest. Monetary suicide. Death-by-money-printing.
When you devalue a currency, you create inflation. It is the flip-side of the same coin. Yet we have corrupt regimes, particularly in the West, pretending there is virtually “no inflation” in their own economies, while they “competitively devalue” their currencies. In other words, we have the utterly absurd scenario where Western governments are openly trying to destroy the value of their own currencies as fast as they can via excessive money-printing, but claiming they are ‘unable’ to do so – i.e. create inflation.”
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The Socialist Lie that We have had Always a Growth Economy Since Roosevelt

from ArmstrongEconomics:

A comment by a reader with a philosophy is interesting and delusional at the same time. “Armstrong chose not to seek any compromise but to put all the blame on government. In principle, that’s got to be an absurd point of view. So it seems to me. One more thing, to his alleged factual correlation. Government really began to grow during the Roosevelt years, including the war years, and the economy has been growing ever since. Is your buddy playing fast and loose with history and, hence, with reality?”
Corporations only have influence because they buy government and that is possible only because we have career politicians. Corporations cannot run the world for they compete against each other. We do need government, but an honest one.
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This Will Crush the Insane San Francisco & Silicon Valley Housing Bubble

from Wolf Street:

Two treacherous forces, with impeccable timing.
In the city of San Francisco, the median condo price is $1.11 million and the median house price is $1.25 million, up 72% and 88% respectively from the first quarter 2012. Median means, 50% of the units cost more, and 50% cost less.
Which creates an absurd situation: only 11% of the households in San Francisco can afford to buy a median home, according to Paragon Real Estate’s report on “affordability.” In other Bay Area counties, it’s similar. In the Silicon Valley counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara, 14% and 20% of the households can afford a median home; in Marin (just north of the Golden Gate), 17%; in Napa 21%, Alameda (East Bay) 22%, Sonoma 26%. In the US overall, 58% can.
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Russia’s Syrian Puzzle: How the West Misread Putin

from Sputnik News:
Senior western officials were unable to recognize Russia’s objectives in Syria, and when the West woke up to the Russian President’s intentions, it was short of ideas how to respond and as a result had to “swallow some pride” and accept Russia’s terms, says Reuters.
Russia’s air operation in Syria came as a big surprise to senior western officials and forced them to radically change their approach to the ongoing conflict, the agency says.
Back in July, Western officials seemed to be absolutely sure that Syrian President Assad’s days “were numbered and predicted he would soon be forced to the negotiating table.”
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