Economy

What really happened in Beijing: Putin, Obama, Xi — and the back story the media won’t tell you

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apec-us-china-russia-obama-putin-xi

– What really happened in Beijing: Putin, Obama, Xi — and the back story the media won’t tell you (Salon, Nov 14, 2014):

Ukraine, Iran’s nukes, the price of oil: There are ties worthy of a Bourne film, if the media connected the dots

By way of events on the foreign side, the past few weeks start to resemble some once-in-a-while event in the heavens when everyone is supposed to go out and watch as the sun, moon and stars align. There are lots of things happening, and if we put them all together, the way Greek shepherds imagined constellations, a picture emerges. Time to draw the picture.

Read moreWhat really happened in Beijing: Putin, Obama, Xi — and the back story the media won’t tell you

Meet the Warmongering Billionaires Who Will Spend a Fortune to Influence the Next President

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– Meet the Warmongering Billionaires Who Will Spend a Fortune to Influence the Next President (Alternet, Nov 13, 2014):

Clinton has given backers like Saban ample reason for thinking of her as the perfect candidate for Israel. During the 2008 presidential election, Clinton was asked by ABC’s “Good Morning America” what she would do if Iran used a nuclear weapon on Israel. “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them,” she said. This year, in an interview with the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, she doubled down on her pro-Israel agenda. “If I were the prime minister of Israel, you’re damn right I would expect to have control over security [in the West Bank],” she said.

Read moreMeet the Warmongering Billionaires Who Will Spend a Fortune to Influence the Next President

‘Outraged’ French union urges Hollande to honor Mistral deal, 2,500 jobs at stake

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–  ‘Outraged’ French union urges Hollande to honor Mistral deal, 2,500 jobs at stake (RT, Nov 16, 2014):

One of the French biggest union federations, Workers’ Force, has urged Paris to fulfill the Mistral deal and deliver the two warships to Russia, otherwise 2,500 shipyard employees may lose their jobs.

The union expressed “shock and outrage,” Le Figaro reports, after Paris postponed the delivery on the Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia due to pressure from the US and EU, which imposed several waves of sanctions against Moscow after Crimea joined Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

President Francois Hollande’s decision has put 2,500 workers at risk of redundancy, which is absolutely unacceptable, Workers’ Force representatives told Le Figaro newspaper.

Read more‘Outraged’ French union urges Hollande to honor Mistral deal, 2,500 jobs at stake

And The Biggest Winner From The Oil Price Plunge Is …

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– And The Biggest Winner From The Oil Price Plunge Is… (ZeroHedge, Nov 15, 2014):

“The Chinese, among others, seem to be responding to the lower oil price with additional demand,” notes one tanker executive as Bloomberg reports the number of supertankers sailing toward China’s ports matched a record on Oct. 17 and is still close to that level now. The plunge in price has enabled China to add 35 million barrels to its inventories in the past three months as the nation fills its strategic petroleum reserves, OPEC said yesterday. Furthermore, though the oil slide is hurting nations from Venezuela to Iran – that depend on energy for revenues – ship owners serving the industry’s benchmark Middle East-to-Asia trade routes are reaping the best returns from charters in years as the slump drives down the industry’s single biggest expense. As one analyst notes, “we’ve seen the Chinese buying a lot from the Middle East and that’s really let rates cook.” So it appears the Chinese, in the face of the worst growth and economy in years, are rational enough to buy more at lower prices (as opposed to the buy-more-because-stocks-are-at-all-time-highs Western investors).

A near-record 113 tankers are destined for China…

china-oil

As Bloomberg reports,

Read moreAnd The Biggest Winner From The Oil Price Plunge Is …

When Did ‘Dickhead’ Become Part Of Federal Reserve Jargon?

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andolfatto

– When Did “Dickhead” Become Part Of Federal Reserve Jargon? (ZeroHedge, Nov 14, 2014):

Update:

When in the course of human events, a simple tweet observing the farce that America’s centrally-planned economy and markets have become as a result of the relentless intervention of a few clueless economic hacks…

… Incites a response such as this by a taxpayer-funded peer of the abovementioned clueless economic hack, a peer who incidentally has never stepped a foot outside of academia in his entire “professional” career:

… a person who is a “Vice President” at the St. Louis Fed, the same Bank whose president is singlehandedly responsible for the last 10% upswing in these here rigged “markets”…

Read moreWhen Did ‘Dickhead’ Become Part Of Federal Reserve Jargon?

Iran launches Middle East’s ‘biggest’ gold plant, plans to double production

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Gold-bars

– Iran launches Middle East’s ‘biggest’ gold plant, plans to double production (RT, Nov 15, 2014):

Iran has opened a new gold processing plant, reportedly the biggest in the Middle East, hoping to double its production of precious metals. Using a unique technology, Tehran says it will now mine up to three tons of gold per year.

Iranian TV reported that the opening ceremony was attended by First Vice President Ishaq Jahangiri.

The new facility is located near one of the country’s richest mines, Zareh Shuran. It is located 35 kilometers from the city of Takaab in northwest Iran, in an area where gold, silver, and mercury are extracted.

The gold ore reserves of the Zareh Shuran mine are estimated at 20 million tons. ((…with an average karat of 5.5 gram per ton which is considered one of the most valuable known mines in the country.))

Read moreIran launches Middle East’s ‘biggest’ gold plant, plans to double production

This is What Neo-Feudalism Looks Like (Chart of the Day)

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Corporate Profit

– Chart of the Day – This is What Neo-Feudalism Looks Like (Liberty Blitzkrieg, Nov 14, 2014):

I got this from Naked Capitalism. Before presenting the chart, here are some words to bear in mind from Yves Smith:

Short omits some key elements from his discussion. One is that until recently, a profit share of GDP of 6% was perceived to be a cyclical peak; no less than Warren Buffet deemed a higher level to be unsustainable. And in fact, we see an explosion of profit share from 6% to 10% of GDP in the runup to the crisis, roughly from 2003 to 2007. The “rescue the banks and financial markets” measures succeeded in bringing the profit share back to its pre-crisis levels, at the expense of workers.

Notice the inflection point in profit share is 1987, when Greenspan became Fed chairman. Correlation may not be causation, but the timing is almost exact.

The Maestro strikes again!

Read moreThis is What Neo-Feudalism Looks Like (Chart of the Day)

Debt, Propaganda And Now Deflation

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FYI.

MississippiWoman1936
Dorothea Lange Negro woman who has never been out of Mississippi July 1936

– Debt, Propaganda And Now Deflation (The Automatic Earth, Nov 14, 2014):

Looks I have to return to the deflation topic. I’m a bit hesitant about it, because the discussion always gets distorted by varying definitions and a whole bunch of semi-religious issues. The Automatic Earth has for many years said that an immense bout of deflation is inevitable because of global debt levels, and it’s all only gotten a lot worse since we first said that. Our governments and central banks have ‘fought’ deflation with more debt, and that was always the stupidest idea in human history. Or at least, most of us were stupid for believing it would work, or was even intended to.

Just so we don’t get into yet more confusion, i probably need to explain that the debt deflation we’re talking about here is not some subdivision like consumer inflation or price inflation or cookie inflation, those are just hollow and meaningless terms. Debt deflation is deflation caused by too much debt, and the deleveraging it must and will lead to. Deflation does not equal falling prices, those are merely an effect of it.

Read moreDebt, Propaganda And Now Deflation

America Watches In Stunned Disbelief As Afghanistan Jails Two Failed Bank Executives

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– America Watches In Stunned Disbelief As Afghanistan Jails Two Failed Bank Executives (ZeroHedge, Nov 12, 2014):

Spot the banana republic:

  • Nation #1 spends and issues tens of trillions in taxpayer funds and debt, crushing the growth potential of future generations, just to bail out a banking sector full to the brim with criminal “riggers” (as today’s settlements once again prove), where bubble mania was so pervasive not a single bank would have survived absent a global central bank bailout, and where bank executives wouldn’t bend over for anything less than a million.
  • Nation #2 just sentenced two senior officials of a bank that collapsed under (a measly by New Normal standards) $1 billion in debt to 15 years in prison each for embezzlement and fraud.

Nation #1 is, of course, the US (or any other western nation). Nation #2 is Afghanistan.

Which one is the banana republic again?

Read moreAmerica Watches In Stunned Disbelief As Afghanistan Jails Two Failed Bank Executives

And The 10th Most Prosperous Nation, Placing 31st In The World For ‘Safety & Security’ And 21st For ‘Personal Freedom In The World Is …

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–  And The 10th Most Prosperous Nation In The World Is… (ZeroHedge, Nov 14,  2014):

USA! USA! USA!

Mapping Prosperity 2014

(click image for massive legible version)

Despite all the bravado from political leaders and the record high stock prices – which prove how clean America’s dirty short is – The Legatum Institute finds the United States is just the 10th most prosperous nation in the world… after Holland, Canada, New Zealand, and Denmark to name a few.

Still, could be worse… could be 11th, like Iceland…

Read moreAnd The 10th Most Prosperous Nation, Placing 31st In The World For ‘Safety & Security’ And 21st For ‘Personal Freedom In The World Is …

PIMCO Paid Bill Gross & Mohamed El-Erian Over $500 MILLION Dollars In 2013 Bonuses

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Bill Gross and Mohamed El-Erian

– Pimco Paid Gross, El-Erian Over Half A Billion Dollars In 2013 Bonuses (ZeroHedge, Nov 14,  2014):

And a stunner just out of of Bloomberg:

PIMCO PAID GROSS $290 MILLION BONUS FOR 2013, DOCUMENT SHOWS
PIMCO PAID FORMER CEO EL-ERIAN ABOUT $230 MLN BONUS IN 2013

More from the source:

Pacific Investment Management Co. paid its former Chief Investment Officer Bill Gross a bonus of about $290 million in 2013, a year in which his Total Return Fund trailed a majority of peers, according to documents provided to Bloomberg View by someone with knowledge of Pimco’s bonus policies.

Read morePIMCO Paid Bill Gross & Mohamed El-Erian Over $500 MILLION Dollars In 2013 Bonuses

The Reason Small Businesses Are Disappearing, As Explained By A Small Business Owner

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going out of business

– The Reason Small Businesses Are Disappearing, As Explained By A Small Business Owner (ZeroHedge, Nov 14,  2014):

Confused why despite endless daily propaganda that the US economy is getting better – after all “just look at the record high S&P 500” – fewer and fewer Americans believe the narrative, as the Democrats and Obama found out the very hard way in last week’s midterm elections? Then the following explanation written by the owner of a small business – the segment of the US economy that has historically led every single recovery but this time was left behind – should help answer some questions.

The reason small businesses are disappearing written by a small business owner.

Read moreThe Reason Small Businesses Are Disappearing, As Explained By A Small Business Owner

U.S. Department of Justice Handles Banker Criminals Like Juvenile Offenders … Literally

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rule-of-law

– The U.S. Department of Justice Handles Banker Criminals Like Juvenile Offenders…Literally (Liberty Blitzkrieg, Nov 14, 2014):

These agreements were created 100 years ago to give juvenile defendants and first-time offenders a chance to for rehabilitate themselves. Only in the last 20 years have DPAs migrated to the field of corporate criminals, treating them like kids who’ve just gone down a bad path in life.The Justice Department is leaning on these toothless agreements more and more. Of the DoJ’s 283 deferred prosecution agreements since 2000, half have come since 2010, Reilly found in a working paper for BYU Law Review.

Why has the DoJ been so keen on deferred prosecution since 2010? It coincides exactly with investigations into the 2008 financial crisis.

– From the Guardian article: In market-rigging case, US Justice Department treats corporate criminals like juvenile offenders

We all know by now that if you’re a woman with an overgrown lawn, a child walking by himself to the park, a homeless person, or someone feeding a homeless person, you’re a contemptible criminal in the eyes of the U.S. injustice system. As such, police and prosecutors will come down on you as hard as they possibly can. Subjecting you to the full and brutal force of the law, including jail sentences for non-crimes.

Read moreU.S. Department of Justice Handles Banker Criminals Like Juvenile Offenders … Literally

‘Economic Isolation Breach Of International Law’: Top 5 Takeaways From Putin Ahead Of G20

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– ‘Economic isolation breach of intl law’: Top 5 takeaways from Putin ahead of G20 (RT, Nov 14, 2014):

Vladimir Putin says the G20 must address global imbalances together, and economic isolation, especially in the case of sanctions, which not only leads nowhere but is a crude violation of international economic law.

Here are the Russian president’s top takeaways he gave in an interview to TASS ahead of the G20 summit being held in Brisbane, Australia from November 14-15.

…

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Depression-Level Collapse In Demand: In Historic First, Glencore Shuts Coal Mines For 3 Weeks

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glencore

–  Depression-Level Collapse In Demand: In Historic First, Glencore Shuts Coal Mines For 3 Weeks (ZeroHedge, Nov 14,  2014):

In a historic move showing just how profound the collapse in global commodity demand and trade is, earlier today the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Australia’s biggest coal exporter Glencore, which last year concluded its merger with miner Xstrata creating the world’s fourth largest mining company and world’s biggest commodity trader, will suspend its Australian coal business for three weeks “in a move never before seen in the Australian market, to avoid pumping tonnes into a heavily oversupplied market at depressed prices.” Putting this shocking move in context, it is something that was avoided even during the depths of the global depression in the aftermath of Lehman’s collapse, and takes place at a time when the punditry will have you believe that the US will decouple from the rest of the world and grow at 3% in the current quarter and in 2015.

…

Swiss National Bank Admits Directly Buying Small-Cap Stocks

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– Swiss National Bank Admits Directly Buying Small-Cap Stocks (ZeroHedge, Nov 14,  2014):

While we have noted previously that “a cluster of central banking investors has become major players on world equity markets,” and the BoJ has recently tripled its direct manipulative buying of stocks (after buying a record amount in August)… the conspiracy-theorist-dismissers will have to close their eyes and ears as the Swiss National Bank admits in its 2013 annual report that it greatly expanded its share of foreign stocks purchased… most notably small-cap companies.

Maybe it is time to reign in the SNB with the Gold Initiative?

SNB

h/t @Gloeschi

*  *  *

So does anyone still think the Fed does not do this?

Deutsche Bank Says “Yes” Vote Has “Narrow But Clear Lead” In Swiss Gold Referendum As 1M GOFO Hits Most Negative Since 2001

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Switzerland’s Role in the Gold Market

– Deutsche Bank Says “Yes” Vote Has “Narrow But Clear Lead” In Swiss Gold Referendum As 1M GOFO Hits Most Negative Since 2001 (ZeroHedge, Nov 14,  2014):

As we explained over the weekend, should the Swiss gold referendum pass successfully, the price of gold will surge. It was none other than JPM who warned that the “markets under appreciate this event”, explaing that “If the referendum is passed, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) will be forced to increase reserves by around 1,500 tonnes over five years, i.e. 300 tonnes per year. This 300 tonnes per year accounts for 7.5% of annual gold demand of 4,000 tonnes per year.”

Well, even as the SNB has been scrambling to make the referendum seem like a non-event, with very little chance of passing, moments ago Deutsche Bank released a piece that roundly refuted everything the Swiss Central Bank has been peddling. To wit, here is a note just out from DB’s Robin Winkler:

Read moreDeutsche Bank Says “Yes” Vote Has “Narrow But Clear Lead” In Swiss Gold Referendum As 1M GOFO Hits Most Negative Since 2001

Italy’s Grillo Rages “We Are Not At War With ISIS Or Russia, We Are At War With The ECB”

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– Italy’s Grillo Rages “We Are Not At War With ISIS Or Russia, We Are At War With The ECB” (ZeroHedge, Nov 14,  2014):

Next week, Italy’s Beppe Grillo – the leader of the Italian Five Star Movement – will start collecting signatures with the aim of getting a referendum in Italy on leaving the euro “as soon as possible,” just as was done in 1989. As Grillo tells The BBC in this brief but stunning clip, “we will leave the Euro and bring down this system of bankers, of scum.” With two-thirds of Parliament apparently behind the plan, Grillo exclaims “we are dying, we need a Plan B to this Europe that has become a nightmare –  and we are implementing it,” raging that “we are not at war with ISIS or Russia! We are at war with the European Central Bank,” that has stripped us of our sovereignty.

…

 

Russia Is Preparing For A “Catastrophic” Oil Price Collapse

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– Russia Is Preparing For A “Catastrophic” Oil Price Collapse (ZeroHedge, Nov 14,  2014):

Vladimir Putin told the state-run TASS news agency that Russia’s economy faces a potential “catastrophic” slump in oil prices, saying, as Bloomberg reports, such a scenario is “entirely possible, and we admit it.” However, Putin reassures that with reserves at more than $400 billion, the country will weather such a turn of events because “we handle our gold and currency reserves and government reserves sparingly.”

…

ISIS Unveils Its New Gold-Backed Currency To Remove Itself From ‘The Oppressors’ Money System’

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– ISIS Unveils Its New Gold-Backed Currency To Remove Itself From “The Oppressors’ Money System” (ZeroHedge, Nov 13, 2014):

It appears the rumors are true. Islamic State is set to become the only ‘state’ to back its currency with gold (silver and copper) as it unveils the new coins that will be used in an attempt to solidify its makeshift caliphate. ISIS says the new currency will take the group  out of “the oppressors’ money system.”

20141113_isis

As Zaid Benjamin notes, ISIS releases details of its new currancy with golden 1 & 5 dinar, silver 1, 5, 10 dirham and copper 10 & 20 fils

Read moreISIS Unveils Its New Gold-Backed Currency To Remove Itself From ‘The Oppressors’ Money System’

Putin ‘Prepares For Economic War’, Buys Whopping 55 Tonnes Of Gold In Q3

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Putin-Gold

– Putin “Prepares For Economic War”, Buys Whopping 55 Tonnes Of Gold In Q3 (ZeroHedge, Nov 13, 2014):

Just as China is buying ‘cheap’ oil with both hands and feet, so Russia, according to the latest data from The World Gold Council (WGC) has been buying gold in huge size. Dwarfing the rest of the world’s buying in Q3, Russia added a stunning 55 tonnes to its reserves, as The Telegraph reports, Putin is taking advantage of lower gold prices to pack the vaults of Russia’s central bank with bullion as it prepares for the possibility of a long, drawn-out economic war with the West.

Russia bought more gold in Q3 then all other countries combined…

Read morePutin ‘Prepares For Economic War’, Buys Whopping 55 Tonnes Of Gold In Q3

“World’s Richest Restaurateur” Sees An Imminent Crash In America’s “Crazy” Real-Estate Market

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–  “World’s Richest Restaurateur” Sees An Imminent Crash In America’s “Crazy” Real-Estate Market (ZeroHedge, Nov 13, 2014):

When it comes to the fair value of assets, especially cash-flow generating real estate, few are as qualified to opine as the man dubbed “World’s Richest Restaurateur”, billionaire Tilman Fertitta, chairman of Landry’s Restaurants which counts among its properties such brand names as Morton’s, Rainforest Cafe, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., McCormick & Schmick’s, Saltgrass Steak House, Claim Jumper, Chart House, The Oceanaire, Mastro’s Restaurants, Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse and many more.

Which is why his dire warning about the state of the “crazy” US real estate market, which he believes set for an imminent crash, are likely worth keeping in mind as all the panglossian permabulls see nothing but a 4th dead housing cat rebound ahead. That, and his take on inflation: “There is huge inflation going on right now.” 

From his interview on Bloomberg TV yesterday:

Read more“World’s Richest Restaurateur” Sees An Imminent Crash In America’s “Crazy” Real-Estate Market