Friday, May 6, 2016

Trumped! Why It Happened And What Comes Next, Part 2 - The Peace Deal




When it comes to the economic future, a Trump presidency could bring either a shitstorm or salvation. Regrettably, the odds of the former are immensely the higher. That’s because Trump is a welcome, but extremely unguided missile. 



California Fault Lines Are "Locked, Loaded, & Ready" For The Big One, Expert Warns

The San Andreas fault is one of California's most dangerous. While the last big earthquake to strike the southern San Andreas was in 1857, as LA Times reports Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, explained this week "the springs on the San Andreas system have been wound very, very tight. And the southern San Andreas fault, in particular, looks like it’s locked, loaded and ready to go."
 




Good News For Working 'Retirees' - Wal-Mart Reintroduces "The Greeter"

With record numbers of older workers in the workforce, as the beach/sunset/walks-in-the-park vision of retirement crashes on the shores of reality, there could be a light at the end of the tunnel. After a series of tests on ways to deter theft, Wal-Mart has decided that America's favorite supercenter position will be making a comeback. This summer, Wal-Mart will be rolling out a program that will bring door greeters back to the entrances in hopes of reducing theft, and improving customer service.



No Wonder We're Poorer: Wages' Share Of GDP Has Fallen for 46 Years

The problem is that limiting financialization will implode the system. The status quo now depends on financialization for its profits and taxes, and so ripping the heart out of financial skims and scams will also rip the heart out of the entire status quo. And so 95% of us will continue to get poorer, no matter who's in office.



Oil Shrugs As US Total Rig Count Continues Crash To Record Lows

WTI crude prices are unimpresed at the rig count data today (after spiking off the dismal jobs data). Total rig count fell 5 to 415 - a new record low while oil rigs fell 4 to 328, tracking lagged oil prices to their nadir.



Dramatic Footage Of Assassination Attempt On Turkish Journalist

Earlier today we reported that an assailant tried to assassinate the editor-in-chief of Turkey’s Cumhuriyet newspaper Can Dündar, before the court was to announce the verdict on his case. The incident was captured in the following dramatic video.



Corporate Tax Receipts Reflect Economic Slowdown

Not surprisingly, corporate tax payments and refunds mirror the many signs of a slowing economy that have recently emerged.



"I Mean, Every Trade Was A Tick Up" - Steve Wynn Shows How Stocks Are Manipulated

"The other day I was watching the stock open up, and it went up on share volumes of a few thousand shares. I mean, every trade was a tick up. That's not the way it should operate in an honestly or intelligently run exchangeBut that's the thing, all those guys sold their dark pools and their order flow and the positioning on the floors of the servers to the HFTs. And it's made a couple of guys that I'm friendly with very rich because they are high-frequency traders."



Since 2014 The US Has Added 450,000 Waiters And Bartenders, And No Manufacturing Workers

Behold: "Obama's recovery."



President Obama Explains What The "Fiction-Peddling" BLS Got Wrong - Live Feed

Grab your popcorn. Having proclaimed his greatest achievement during his presidency as "saving the world from another Great Depression," we wonder what President Obama will have to say today when he discusses the economy. Following the decline in corporate profits, a manufacturing sector in recession, an auto industry which is shuttering production, minimum wage state job losses rising, and an equity market that is unable to make new highs, what cynical, skeptical, "fiction-peddlers" will he blame today's dismal jobs data on?



"Following A String Of Disappointing Data" BofA Capitulates On "Two Rate Hikes" Call

"...the jobs report was not the sole factor for the revision to our call for the Fed. It was simply the last of a string of softer indicators that has prompted us to change our forecast. But remember, the economy is still expanding, inflation is still accelerating and the Fed is still normalizing." - BofA


Should You Be Scared of Gold Confiscation?

by Guy Christopher, Activist Post:
The specter of government forcefully confiscating gold is still roaming around out there.
That nagging prospect dampens many buying decisions, unfortunate at a time when gold, and especially silver, are near historically bargain basement prices when measured in fiat currency.
Buy low, sell high only works for those who buy low.
Somewhere in everyone’s buying decision is rebellion against government lunacy. So, what’s the plan if government outlaws that defiance?
In examples spanning eight decades over three continents, ordinary people caught in very different circumstances chose to defy government repression of personal gold ownership.
Read More

The Untold History of US War Crimes

by Peter Kuzinick and Edu Montesanti, Global Research:
It is interesting to me that when I speak to people from outside the United States, most think the atomic bombings were unnecessary and unjustifiable, but most Americans still believe that the atomic bombs were actually humane acts because they saved the lives of not only hundreds of thousands of Americans who would have died in an invasion but of millions of Japanese.
That is a comforting illusion that is deeply held by many Americans, especially older ones. It is one of the fundamental myths emanating from World War II. It was deliberately propagated by President Truman, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, and many others who also spread the erroneous information that the atomic bombs forced Japanese surrender. Truman claimed in his memoirs that the atomic bombs saved a half million American lives.
Read More

The Next Employment Crisis Is Here: Job Cuts At U.S. Companies Jump 35 Percent In April

by Michael Snyder, Economic Collapse Blog:

Should we be alarmed that the number of job cuts announced by large U.S. companies was 35 percent higher in April than it was in March?  This is definitely a case where the trend is not our friend.  According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. firms announced 65,141 job cuts during April, which represented a massive 35 percent increase over the previous month.  And so far this year overall, job cut announcements are running 24 percent higher than for the exact same period in 2015.  Meanwhile, on Thursday we learned that initial claims for unemployment benefits shot up dramatically last week.  In fact, the jump of 17,000 was the largest increase that we have seen in over a year.  Of course the U.S. economy has been slowing down for quite a while now, and many have been wondering when we would begin to see that slowdown reflected in the employment numbers.  Well, that day has now arrived.
Read More…

Spontaneous Protests in Baghdad Green Zone Show Cracks in the Security Apparatus

by Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism.com:
Yves here. Readers may recall that we flagged the incursion of protestors into Iraq’s Green Zone, where both the US Embassy and Iraq’s Parliament had safely sat, well protected from citizens. The initial reports were that the occupiers appear to have been let in and were peaceful (only one politician injured and some damage to furniture in the Parliament). Most important, they did not want to overthrow the government but wanted an end to corruption, seeing it as necessary to get improved delivery of services to the population.
Lambert highlighted the minimal mainstream media coverage of this development and the lack of crisp talking points from sources close to the Administration. And the story appears to have dropped from the news radar.
Read More…

The Death Knell of the Constitutional Republic

from The Daily Bell:

The president claims that Congress’s authorizations in 2001 and 2002 for the wars against Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein can be stretched to cover his current campaign [against ISIS]. – The New York Times
The U.S. Constitution is gone. Kaput. For years it stood as the bedrock of a republic that kept its government chained. For years the constitution limited government intervention, letting the free market operate instead of domestic, well-connected crony business interests.
Likewise, elected leaders consulted the constitution when government intervention abroad was considered. There once was a time in America when Congress debated the merits and risks of a government’s most pressing issue: war.
Read More

Silver Stocks to Shine Bright This Earnings Season

from Nasdaq:

Silver is on a raging bull run this year having gained 26% so far, even outshining gold’s 21% gain. The precious white metal is currently reigning at an 11-month high of $17.427 an ounce.
A soft USD and weak stock markets have driven its prices up. The U.S GDP rose a meager 0.5% in the first quarter, the slowest pace in two years. Further, weaker-than-expected April jobs report adds to the woes. Also, weak data coming from the world’s second biggest economy, China, also continues to stoke concerns.
Given the state of affairs, the Fed has slowed down the projected pace of subsequent rate increases since its December lift-off. This uncertainty has also led to the surge in silver prices . Apart from macroeconomic factors, let’s have a look at the basic supply and demand fundamentals that influence prices.
Read More

SILVER DEMAND… HIT RECORD HIGH in 2015

by Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.com:

Demand for silver hit a record-high last year with the jewellery, coin and bar, and photovoltaic sectors, helping to boost the precious metal’s sales to 1.17 billion ounces.
Overall, however, the market registered its third consecutive annual deficit, which was 60% larger than 2014, shows the latest World Silver Survey published Thursday by GFMS in collaboration with the Silver Institute.
According to the report, the shortage was led by the continued weakness in scrap sales and a sharp increase in physical demand.
Read More



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