| |
 | James Howard Kunstler |
Stranger Things  |
| The hidden agenda in the so-called tax reform bill is to act as stop-gap quantitative easing to plug the “liquidity” hole that is opening up as the Federal Reserve (America’s central bank) makes a few gestures to winding down its balance sheet and “normalizing” interest rates. Thus, the aim of the tax bill is to prop up capital markets, and the apprehension of this lately is what keeps stocks making daily record highs. Okay, sorry, a lot to unpack there.
Primer: quantitative easing (QE) is a theFriday, December 8, 2017 |
|
| James Howard Kunstler |
 Diminishing Returns  |
| These two words are the hinge that is swinging American life — and the advanced techno-industrial world, for that matter — toward darkness. They represent an infection in the critical operations of daily life, like a metabolic disease, driving us into disorder and failure. And they are so omnipresent that we’ve failed to even notice the growing failure all around us.
Mostly, these diminishing returns are the results of our over-investments in making complex systems more complex, for instance theMonday, August 21, 2017 |
|
| James Howard Kunstler |
| The Value of Everything |
| W e are looking more and more like France on the eve of its revolution in 1789. Our classes are distributed differently, but the inequity is just as sharp. America’s “aristocracy,” once based strictly on bank accounts, acts increasingly hereditary as the vapid offspring and relations of “stars” (in politics, showbiz, business, and the arts) assert their prerogatives to fame, power, and riches — think the voters didn’t grok the sinister import of Hillary’s “it’s my turn” message?
What’s especiallThursday, July 27, 2017 |
|
 | Captain Hook - Treasure Chest |
| Pushing On A String |
| Interest rates are zero (ZIRP) now, at least for some people – right? If you are rich and don’t need money, they are zero. And if you have money in the bank they are also zero, and will likely be negative (NIRP) if trends in Europe are any indication, as central authorities continue attempting to force money into the markets / economy. With these policies, you would think the economy would be doing better, as who in their right mind would pay to keep money on deposit with risky banks, at least iMonday, September 26, 2016 |
|
 | Andy Hoffman - Miles Franklin |
| Tell Me If You’re Worried About Precious Metals Now |
| It’s Tuesday morning, roughly 36 hours since the Precious Metal “market” opened Sunday night. Yesterday was the lowest volume trading day of the entire year, and today will not likely be much better – as the entire world is on vacation; whilst the PPT, Fed, ESF, and gold Cartel seek to support “favored” financial assets, and keep their foot on the throat of Precious Metals, to…
“Prove” the Jackson Hole proceedings were “hawkish” (please disregard what was actually said);
Maintain “stability”Tuesday, August 30, 2016 |
|
| Andy Hoffman - Miles Franklin |
| Jackson Hole Saturday, When the Real Hyperinflationary Fireworks Occurred |
| Pardon me if this article starts out a bit disjointed, as I accidentally erased the notes I took last night, amidst the 155th “Sunday Night Sentiment” attack of the past 161 weekends. And afterwards, the 689th “2:15 AM” raid of the past 793 trading days, which I was able to document in real-time because someone called me at 3:00 AM, acting surprised that I wasn’t on “European time.” I mean, do I have a French, German, or British accent?
Thankfully, the amount of notes was minimal, as amidst thMonday, August 29, 2016 |
|
| James Howard Kunstler |
Burning Down the House  |
| There’s a new feature to the Anything-Goes-and-Nothing-Matters economy: Nothing-Adds-Up. The magicians who pretend to measure the growth of GDP (Gross Domestic Product — the monetary value of all the finished goods and services) came up with a second quarter “adjusted” figure of 1.2 percent. That would have to be construed by anyone acquainted with basic econ stats as perfectly dismal. And yet the Bureau of Labor Statistics put out a sparkly NonfMonday, August 15, 2016 |
|
| 24hGold - Publicnow |
| Quarterly Activities and Cashflow Report |
| 29 July 2016
QUARTERLY REPORT
For the Period Ending 30 June 2016
Redstone Resources Limited (ASX Code: RDS) ("Redstone" or "the Company") presents its quarterly report for the period ending 30 June 2016 ("the Quarter").
Redstone's primary focus is the advancement of the Tollu Project ("Tollu" or the "Project"), located in the southeast portion of the West Musgrave region of Western Australia. This Project hosts a giant swarm of hydrothermal copper rich veins in a mineralised system coveFriday, July 29, 2016 |
|
| Andy Hoffman - Miles Franklin |
| The Powers That Be, 2016 – Lower Highs, And Lower Lows |
| The best part of my job is watching the “PM community” – or better put, the monetary truth-seeking populace – coalesce in the war against a status quo that has destroyed global economic prospects for generations to come; enslaved the world with suffocating, unpayable debt; and destroyed the savings of countless billions. And not just the financial community, but the “99%” at large – which I considered last night, in watching Melania Trump speak at the Republican Convention. Frankly, it was asTuesday, July 19, 2016 |
|
 | Jesse - Le Cafe Américain |
| SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Three Day Weekend |
| Since the adults all seem to be leaving Wall Street early today to get a head start to the Hamptons, I will just post the charts as they are now and catch up on any late changes next week.
As a reminder, the US will be celebrating the 4th of July holiday on Monday.
Have a pleasant weekend.Friday, July 1, 2016 |
|
| Jesse - Le Cafe Américain |
| Mark Blyth On Neoliberalism, Brexit, and the Global Revolt Against the One Percent and their Unelected Elites |
| "...a full 95% of the cash that went to Greece ran a trip through Greece and went straight back to creditors which in plain English is banks. So, public taxpayers money was pushed through Greece to basically bail out banks...So austerity becomes a side effect of a general policy of bank bailouts that nobody wants to own. That's really what happened, ok?
Why are we peddling nonsense? Nobody wants to own up to a gigantic bailout of the entire European banking system that took six years. AusterMonday, June 27, 2016 |
|
 | Wolf Richter |
| Super-Luxury Homes Hit by End of Wall Street “Wealth Effect” |
| “We won’t see this again until 2021.”
This had to happen. Now we’re getting reports that in the Hamptons, on Long Island’s east end, where Wall Street’s richest hobnob over the summer, home prices at the very top, after a phenomenal boom, are getting crushed.
What’s getting blamed? The crummy performance of the markets last year.
The average price in 2015 of the ten most expensive homes sold in the area has crashed 20% from a year earlier – to a measly $35.5 million.
After soaring a mind-bendingSaturday, March 19, 2016 |
|
| James Howard Kunstler |
| Greek Pudding |
| T he proof of the pudding is in the eating, the old saw goes. This one, alas, is a mélange of several old shit sandwiches bound in liaison of subterfuge and seasoned with political absurdities. Having been fooled in this bistro before, citizen-patrons leave the table resigned to yet another bout of food poisoning as the music of universal upchuck rings across the European Union from Helsinki to Lisbon
What is on display more brightly and clearly than ever, though, is the utter fakery of internatMonday, July 13, 2015 |
|
| 24hGold - Noodls |
| Jundee Resource-Reserve Upgrade Informat |
| JUNDEE RESOURCE-RESERVE UPGRADE UPDATE INFORMATION
In accordance with ASX Listing Rule 5.8.1, the Directors of Northern Star Resources Limited (ASX: NST) wish to emphasise the following information regarding the increase in Resources and Reserves at its Jundee Gold Mine in WA released to the ASX on 16 February 2015, and contained within Appendix 1 (JORC Table 1) of that announcement, with no material change.
Resources have increased by 299,000oz to 1.15moz (9.2Mt at 3.9gpt) and Reserves have Wednesday, March 11, 2015 |
|
| James Howard Kunstler |
| Must Be the Season of the Witch |
| A s the Governor goblins at the Federal Reserve whistle past the graveyard of dead Quantitative Easing, and the US dollar magically expands like a prickly puffer fish, and Mario Drahgi does what it takes with Euro duct tape to patch all black holes of unpayable debt from Athens to Dublin, and Japan watches its once-wondrous economy congeal in a puddle of Abenomic sludge (with a radioactive cherry on top), and China chokes on its dollar-peg, and Russia waits patiently with its old friend, Winter,Tuesday, October 7, 2014 |
|
| Jesse - Le Cafe Américain |
| SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Holiday Shortened Week Packed with Economic News |
| There were just too many 'let them eat cake' moments on financial TV to recount this week.
So many smart people, feigning ignorance. Or at least one might presume they don't know. The discussion of world economic events such as the Argentine debt situation is bad enough and borderline delusional, but the discussion of median wages and The Recovery™ is just appalling.
The best part of this week is that it is over and done.
Next week will be shortened in the US for the natSaturday, June 28, 2014 |
|
| James Howard Kunstler |
 What’s Been and What’s Next |
| The wonder is that more Americans are not ticked off about the state of our country than whatever is happening ten thousand miles away. For instance, how come the US Department of Justice is not as avid to prosecute the pervasive racketeering in the US economy as the State Department is for provoking unnecessary wars in foreign lands on the other side of the planet, over matters that have little bearing on life here? This racketeering, by the way, amounts to a war against American citizens.
Monday, April 21, 2014 |
|
| James Howard Kunstler |
| The Smog of Fraud |
| Team Obama pulled a cute one last week nominating Blythe Masters, JP Morgan’s commodity chief, to an advisory committee of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) which supposedly regulates activities on the paper trades in corn, pork bellies, cocoa, coffee, wheat, corn — oh, and gold, too, by the way, in which JP Morgan has been suspected of massive gold (and silver) market manipulations and other misconduct lately. That would include the 2011 MF Global Fiasco in which nearly a billionTuesday, February 11, 2014 |
|
 | Tim Iacono - Iacono Research |
| Thursday Morning Links |
| MUST READS
Davos plebeians shrug at the elite gathering – USA Today
Pope Tells Davos’ High Rollers to Help Those in Need – Fiscal Times
Davos Bankers Try to Convince Elite That Markets Are Safer – Bloomberg
10 startling facts about global wealth inequality – Washington Post
Lew Warns Congress of Late-February Debt Deadline – ABC News
China’s central bank injects fresh funds before holiday – CNA
Trying to deleverage China without blowing up the system – Telegraph
Are Default Fears Spreading From Thursday, January 23, 2014 |
|
| James Howard Kunstler |
Jive Talkin’  |
| And so in his valedictory, Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke pulls one last dead rabbit out of his hat — it suffocated while the head-fake taper percolated in Ben’s brain lo these many months of jive talkin’. As the year turns, the central bank will supposedly monetize $10 billion less debt per month — $75 billion down from $85 billion — with $5 billion each deducted from the US Treasury stream and the rotten mortgage barrel. Was there a catch?
You could say that. For instance, what to makTuesday, December 24, 2013 |
|
|
