Economic pressures

[Danny B]

Killing the Euro....Medicade fraud

Zero Hedge speculates that the "music has stopped"
"Did The Music Just Stop?" | Zero Hedge
Joseph Stiglitz, the NOBEL winning genius has finally figured out the fatal flaw in the Euro. https://sputniknews.com/europe/20160...e-economy.html"The Fed Is Planning For The Next Crisis," Ron Paul Warns Welfare-Warfare State Collapse Looms | Zero Hedge
It's not the doctors who get the money.
The Medicaid Ticking Time Bomb ? A Budget-Gobbling Fiscal Disaster

It's the bureaucrats, lawyers, crooks and shysters;
17th Obamacare Co-Op Exits Due To "Hazardous Financial Conditions" - Only 6 Left | Zero Hedge

[Danny B]

Hinkley Point C is no more than a doomed attempt at face-saving ...
News, sport and opinion from the Guardian's US edition | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-gets-go-ahead
https://sputniknews.com/us/20160915/...ar-plants.html


The PTB at The Economist tries to rationalize the whole thing;
"Nuclear power plants, however, are vastly expensive. A new plant at Hinkley Point, in south-west England, for example, is likely to cost at least $27 billion. They are also uninsurable commercially. Yet the fact that they run around the clock makes them only 75% more expensive to build and run per MW of capacity than a solar-power plant, Mr Frank reckons.
The S.O.B NEVER mentioned the cost of decommissioning.
What is the cost of TMI, Chernobyl, Fukushima? Small parts of the Ukraine are covered in 2 METER thick steel plates. Fukushima is the gift that keeps on giving.
Carbon-cuts,,,, my culo !
Four Studies Find ?No Observable Sea-Level Effect? From Man-Made Global Warming

Maker Of Drug Fueling Heroin Overdose Epidemic Is Lobbying To Keep Weed Illegal | Zero Hedge

[Danny B]

The implosion of the grand experiment

"Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent". YES, but then what?
"EVERY central banking press release is seen as nothing but more heroin for
stock bulls, while ignoring the much larger sovereign debt marke
ts of the world," This is by design. IGNORE sovereign debt.

http://www.bestmindsinc.com/documents/BMI_TheCentralBankersExperiment_TheGreatBust_Sept15.16.pdf

Lotsa extra cars.
They copied the West
Ah yes. Goldman Sachs is trying to kill it's competition and the $IMF is trying to kill the Euro.
No kidding!
NOT entirely accurate.

" 5.Corporate investments are at a 60 year low. U.S. corporate debt has risen by $ 2.8 trillion over the last 5 years while corporate cash has only risen by $ 600 billion"
"We estimate that two-fifths (43%) to half (47%) of nonfinancial corporates (unrated and rated) are highly leveraged-of which 2% to 5% face negative earnings or cash flows, based on a sample of about 14,400 corporates."
Six Striking Observations About Corporate Debt | Zero Hedge

Not everybody at Harvard is asleep at the wheel, "lack of economic strategy, especially at the federal level" and a "political system was once the envy of many nations" but has now "become our greatest liability."
There is no recovery and there never was. Harvard Crushes The "Obama Recovery" Farce With 9 Simple Charts | Zero Hedge

LBJ was responsible for the creation of the welfare state with his "Great Society" program. JFK was no piker on this account either. BUT, socialism always breaks the bank. In a general sense, GOV gives make-work jobs to people that aren't qualified enough to hold employment in the private, competitive sector. They are more-or-less insulated from competition. The other cadre who benefit from GOV money is the legions of lawyers and bureaucrats and crooks who latch on to GOV programs to suck at the government teat even though they ARE qualified for the private sector. See "obamacare".

Globalization essentially threw governments into worldwide competition. The currency wars killed wages in the name of preserving domestic jobs. The low-wage labor markets had an advantage going into the competition. BUT, automation is constantly chipping away at the labor markets. China maintains the job market by force-feeding money into the private sector building unnecessary buildings and infrastructure. The West seems to prefer creating more and more GOV jobs.
The essence of the problem is ; a grand collision between socialism and automation. Globalization of capital flows allowed low-wage markets to jump into the competition. This has put enormous strain on the budgets of States around the world. They go deeper and deeper into the negative trying to keep their populace from revolting.

The "Great Experiment" was an effort to offset the effects of automation and job loss with money printing. BUT, this money was created carrying an interest charge. It was CLAIMED that this money would be paid back by future generations. Those future generations won't be born and won't have jobs in the productive sector. The PTB are HIGHLY resistant to the idea of creating the amount of money necessary to keep the economy going without incurring interest charges.
The unfolding crash of sovereign debt means that nobody will have any confidence in buying sovereign bonds. GOV will have to live within it's (our) means OR create debt-free money. The bankers will try to hold on to the old system until the cascade of defaults makes their business plan completely unworkable. Wages have been stagnant for decades and we are now debt saturated. The CBs print to cover up our increasing defaults. At some point, they will NOT be able to print enough to keep the economy from imploding. The distortions are just too great.
Money creation goes way up while wealth creation goes down.

[Danny B]

I really don't think that the numerous CBs can get it together in time to produce helicopter money. It can't be done by a single CB. That leaves default.
"Pension plans and savers are hurt by low and negative interest rates. They have been sacrificed for the continued levitation in the stock and bond markets.
All of the above indicate a correction and possible collapse are coming. Perhaps it began this month, September 2016." Not quite yet.
GREAT graphs; Grand Ascension or Great Collapse? - Gold And Liberty

Armstrong warned GOV that currency manipulation would harm the markets. The reply; "Nonetheless, the White House disagreed since we were the only people with such a model warning that volatility would rise if they embarked on such a path or coordinated manipulation of currency markets. I was flat outright told back then that nobody else had such a model and until others agreed with our forecast, they could not rely upon a single model."
"All it has done is set the stage for a massive dollar rally as more and more countries begin to move to try to exit the EU." About that dollar rally,,, "And the key item to watch is the $USD.
The US Dollar is coiling tighter and tighter into a triangle pattern. If we get a breakout to the upside, the next target is 97.

Historically, spikes to this level have resulted in a stock market meltdown soon after."

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/markets-by-sector/foreign-exchange/the-coming-dollar-rally-chaos-in-europe/

This is political BUT, it is too funny to pass up; https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...ble-candidate/
" spending by the United States Departments of Defense, State, Homeland Security, and Veteran Affairs since 9/11 is now close to $5 trillion USD. "
The US War on Terror Has Cost $5 Trillion and Increased Terrorism by 6,500%
The war profiteers would like to thank the generosity of Americans.

[Danny B]

Afk

I'm going to Oregon for a few days. I'll leave you to find entertainment and truth with Alex Jones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrlEOgEweSs

[quantumfanatic]

Tent Cities Full Of Homeless People Are Booming In Cities All Over America As Poverty Spikes
By Michael Snyder, on September 11th, 2016

Just like during the last economic crisis, homeless encampments are popping up all over the nation as poverty grows at a very alarming rate. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than half a million people are homeless in America right now, but that figure is increasing by the day. And it isn’t just adults that we are talking about. It has been reported that that the number of homeless children in this country has risen by 60 percent since the last recession, and Poverty USA says that a total of 1.6 million children slept either in a homeless shelter or in some other form of emergency housing at some point last year. Yes, the stock market may have been experiencing a temporary boom for the last couple of years, but for those on the low end of the economic scale things have just continued to deteriorate.
Tonight, countless numbers of homeless people will try to make it through another chilly night in large tent cities that have been established in the heart of major cities such as Seattle, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis. Homelessness has gotten so bad in California that the L.A. City Council has formally asked Governor Jerry Brown to officially declare a state of emergency. And in Portland the city has extended their “homeless emergency” for yet another year, and city officials are really struggling with how to deal with the booming tent cities that have sprung up…
There have always been homeless people in Portland, but last summer Michelle Cardinal noticed a change outside her office doors.
Almost overnight, it seemed, tents popped up in the park that runs like a green carpet past the offices of her national advertising business. She saw assaults, drug deals and prostitution. Every morning, she said, she cleaned human feces off the doorstep and picked up used needles.
“It started in June and by July it was full-blown. The park was mobbed,” she said. “We’ve got a problem here and the question is how we’re going to deal with it.”
But of course it isn’t just Portland that is experiencing this. The following list of major tent cities that have become so well-known and established that they have been given names comes from Wikipedia…

Camp Hope, Las Cruces, New Mexico [1]
Camp Quixote, Olympia, Washington State[2]
Camp Take Notice, Ann Arbor, Michigan[3]
Dignity Village, Portland, Oregon
Opportunity Village, Eugene, Oregon
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Tent City, Phoenix, Arizona
New Jack City and Little Tijuana, Fresno, California[2]
Nickelsville, located in Seattle[2][4]
Right 2 Dream Too, Portland, Oregon[5]
River Haven,[6] Ventura County, California[7][8]
Safe Ground, Sacramento, California[2]
The Jungle, San Jose, California[2]
Temporary Homeless Service Area (THSA), Ontario, California[2]
Tent City (100+ residents) of Lakewood, New Jersey[9][10]
Tent City, Avenue A and 13th Street, Lubbock, Texas[11]
Tent City, New Jersey forest[12]
Tent City, Bernalillo County, New Mexico[13]
Tent City, banks of the American River, Sacramento, California[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]
Tent City 3, Seattle
Tent City, Chicago, Illinois [1]
Tent City 4, eastern King County outside of Seattle
The Point, where the Gunnison River and Colorado River meet[23]
The Village of Hope and Community of Hope, Fresno, California[2]
Transition Park, Camden, New Jersey
Tent City, Fayette County, Tennessee, [2]
Camp Unity Eastside, Woodinville, WA [3]
China Hat Road, Bend, Oregon
Most of the time, those that establish tent cities do not want to be discovered because local authorities have a nasty habit of shutting them down and forcing homeless people out of the area. For example, check out what just happened in Elkhart, Indiana…A group of homeless people in Elkhart has been asked to leave the place they call home. For the last time, residents of ‘Tent City’ packed up camp.
City officials gave residents just over a month to vacate the wooded area; Wednesday being the last day to do so. The property has been on Mayor Tim Neese’s radar since he took office in January, calling it both a safety and health hazard to its residents and nearby pedestrian traffic.“This has been their home but you can’t live on public property,” said Mayor Tim Neese, Elkhart.If they can’t live on “public property”, where are they supposed to go?
They certainly can’t live on somebody’s “private property”.
This is the problem – people don’t want to deal with the human feces, the needles, the crime and the other problems that homeless people often bring with them. So the instinct is often to kick them out and send them away.Unfortunately, that doesn’t fix the problem. It just passes it on to someone else.
As this new economic downturn continues to accelerate, our homelessness boom is going to spiral out of control. Pretty soon, there will be tent cities in virtually every community in America.
In fact, there are people that are living comfortable middle class lifestyles right at this moment that will end up in tents. We saw this during the last economic crisis, and it will be even worse as this next one unfolds.Just like last time around, the signs that the middle class is really struggling can be subtle at first, but when you learn to take note of them you will notice that they are all around you. The following comes from an excellent article in the New York Post…Do you see grocery stores closing? Do you see other retailers, like clothing stores and department stores, going out of business?
Are there shuttered storefronts along your Main Street shopping district, where you bought a tool from the hardware store or dropped off your dry cleaning or bought fruits and vegetables?
Are you making as much money annually as you did 10 years ago?Do you see homes in neighborhoods becoming run down as the residents either were foreclosed upon, or the owner lost his or her job so he or she can’t afford to cut the grass or paint the house?Did that same house where the Joneses once lived now become a rental property, where new people come to live every few months?Do you know one or two people who are looking for work? Maybe professionals, who you thought were safe in their jobs?Don’t look down on those that are living in tents, because the truth is that many “middle class Americans” will ultimately end up joining them.The correct response to those that are hurting is love and compassion. We all need help at some point in our lives, and I know that I am certainly grateful to those that have given me a helping hand at various points along my journey.
Sadly, hearts are growing cold all over the nation, and the weather is only going to get colder over the months ahead. Let us pray for health and safety for the hundreds of thousands of Americans that will be sleeping in tents and on the streets this winter.

[Danny B]

Accelerating craziness

In Paris, they can't even afford the tents; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju79YT_lBVI
Well, the level of madness is rising fast.
Money was created to move goods. When money/credit became untethered from actual tangible wealth, it lost it's relevancy. All GOV is socialist because all GOV does redistribution. A gold standard is the only practical thing that holds currency inflation in check.

This long, meticulous article examines the motivations at the FED. They claim that the FED will raise rates to maintain it's credibility and image. Essence of Decision - Salient A rise in rates is, GAME OVER.
Europe is galloping towards it's guaranteed destiny. This destiny was guaranteed when the European Union was forced down the throats of the European Tribes. https://mises.org/blog/why-eu-doomed

Headlines;
The Ongoing Collapse of Economics - Graham Caswell

Essentially, the economists that advise the PTB mistakenly believe that economics is a science. Far from it. The bankers tried to keep the credit system alive after the wage system broke down. This made things MUCH worse.
This has resulted in a humongous mountain of bull feces that will soon collapse and inundate the productive economy.

[Danny B]

Kunstler; The Future's Revenge

Slowly, Then All at Once - KUNSTLER

[Danny B]

Hold on to your gold

This writer swears that the FED is going to raise rates to try to preserve/reclaim credibility. Essence of Decision - Salient

"If the Fed raises interest rates, gold should drop precipitously."
"As the final countdown to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) monetary policy decision winds down, gold sits like a coiled spring on an unsteady rock pile. Either its foundation will give way and it will fall precipitously or the spring will uncoil, propelling gold much higher."
Gold - The Final Countdown - SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSEARCA:GLD) | Seeking Alpha

Armstrong; "The greater the slingshot on the downside, the steeper the move on the upside."
"The most bullish position for gold would not be a rally, but a slingshot to the downside first

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrongeconomics101/basic-concepts/slingshot-v-phase-transition/

[Danny B]

socialism gone bad

"Not counting the financial crisis, and a few anomalous months following a debt ceiling reset, August 2016 was the single biggest expansion of US debt EVER.

In other words, US federal debt is expanding at its fastest rate since the financial crisis, and one of the fastest rates in all of US history."
US Federal Debt Is Expanding At The Fastest Rate Since The Crisis | Zero Hedge
"The study by the NIRS found that the average American household has $2,500 saved for their retirement. Even worse, the study found that even people near retirement (aged 55-64) have only set aside $14,500 which should allow them to live very comfortably for about 2-3 months."

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-20/retirement-crisis-looms-average-us-household-has-saved-2500-retirement

[Danny B]

China facing full-blown banking crisis, world's top financial watchdog warns

Japan has gone from stupid to STUPIDER in it's quest to save it's banks.
Bill Blain: What The BOJ Just Did Is "Recipe For Disaster" | Zero Hedge
Signs Are Building That the BOJ Is Reaching Its 'Endgame' - Bloomberg
Japan crashed up against it's low-wage competitors. Business crashed but still, they try to avoid shrinking the financial system. Japan will definitely reach it's Minsky Moment before long.

The scalawags, war mongers, carpetbaggers and criminals who make money off of corrupt GOV have been kicking in money to keep the party going. LOTS of money. Money Laundering Scheme Exposed: 14 Pro-Clinton Super PACs & Non-Profits Implicated | Zero Hedgefor I will print money to buy ALL of them.
U.S. Big Banks: A Culture of Crime | Zero Hedge
ALL GOV does redistribution if it isn't corralled by a gold standard. Without a link to gold, GOV prints with wild abandon to support itself and all the corrupted people who come to suck the vitality out of the productive sector without doing any actual work.
The FED demands that we have 2% inflation rate. Decades ago, that was enough to support the legions of non-producers. Today, FEDERAL debt is growing faster than exponentially. This type of situation never ends well.

[aljhoa]

Japan has gone from stupid to STUPIDER in it's quest to save it's banks.

Al

[Danny B]

No nookie in Japan

The Japanese are just giving up; https://www.rt.com/news/359631-japan...-demographics/

[Danny B]

More deaths than births

Japan shows us the road ahead. EVERYTHING collapsing, including population. There is no exit with current thinking. Here is a good writeup on the Chicago Plan.
An Unorthodox Solution To The World's Economic Problems | Zero Hedge
Ms. Fitts has her own observations; Former Wall St. Banker Suggests Global Debt May Not be Owned by Humans : Waking Times

Dallas, Tx has a problem with a lack of confidence in the system; Dallas Police Pension On Verge Of Collapse As Record Number Of Cops Seek Full Withdrawals | Zero Hedge
The FED is looking to put interest rate changes on Autopilot. Janet Yellen's "Footnote 8" - The Negative Rate 'Smoking Gun' That Everyone Missed | Zero Hedge
That way, they can blame any problems on a computer.

The Chairman and CEO of Gallup has some bad news/observations.
"We Haven't Seen This Since The Great Depression" - Gallup CEO Destroys The "Recovery" Lie | Zero Hedge
"The number of publicly listed companies trading on U.S. exchanges has been cut almost in half in the past 20 years"
"In the nearly 30 years before that, the U.S. consistently averaged a surplus of almost 120,000 more business births than deaths each year. But from 2008 to 2011, an average of 420,000 businesses were born annually, while an average of 450,000 per year were dying."


I suspect that inaction is going to be the name of the game in the future. Nobody wants to be blamed for the market meltdown. It is still an open question what will set it off.
China is 3 times as bad in the as the level that is considered dangerous. Italy is the 10 largest economy but, the 3rd largest bond market. Their prime minister is screaming at the Germans.
Revolution is on the wind and death is in the air but, the PTB are paralysed.

[Danny B]

Keynesian claptrap

$5,000 bucks a week to drive around in a big shiny truck; Average Costa Mesa Firefighter Makes Nearly $250,000 Per Year. Why? Pensions. - Union Watch

Automation should have brought us far more price deflation. BUT, the gains in productivity were handed out as stock earnings. Our productivity was handed to the upper loop of the economy.
"Price deflation is an imagined problem. The real problem is asset price deflation fuelled by economic bubbles in the fight against routine price deflation."

https://mishtalk.com/2016/09/21/commitment-to-be-irresponsible/

50% of the cost for an average product is for the cost of finance. Labor's share of the economic pie has been shrinking severely for decades. The bankers like it that way and want it to continue.

The Keynesian Deflation Humbug—–A Reality Check | David Stockman's Contra Corner
The election promises to bring lots of excitement; David Stockman Warns: The Elections Will Bring Pandemonium To Washington and Chaos To The Markets | David Stockman's Contra Corner

It was also predicted that the Eurozone project would fail but, that didn't stop the world-improvers.
Gerald Celente Issues Major Trend Forecast For The Rest Of 2016 | King World News