Interest Rates Cannot Rise And Here’s Why …

Interest Rates Cannot Rise and Here’s Why… (Frist Rebuttal, Nov 3, 2014):

I wrote an article recently over at Voices of Liberty that lays out the very dire picture for those of us who have yet to retire.  The gist of the article is that the Fed has effectively robbed the retired class of any hope for having enough of a nest egg to live off through the end of their lives if they want to retire at 65.

Some may argue well this past 10 years has just been an anomaly of low interest rates but they will come back i.e. normalize to higher levels here in the next couple years.  Well let me show you why that is simply wrong.

Read moreInterest Rates Cannot Rise And Here’s Why …

It Begins: German Bank ‘Charging’ Negative Interest To Its Retail Customers

Don-Quixote-Disillusioned

It Begins: German Bank ‘Charging’ Negative Interest To Its Retail Customers (Sovereign Man, Nov 4, 2014):

Don Quixote is easily one of the most entertaining books of the Renaissance, if not all-time. And almost everyone’s heard of it, even if they haven’t read it.

You know the basic plot line- Alonso Quixano becomes fixated with the idea of chivalry and sets out to single-handedly resurrect knighthood.

His wanderings take him far across the land where he gets involved in comic adventures that are terribly inconvenient for the other characters.

Read moreIt Begins: German Bank ‘Charging’ Negative Interest To Its Retail Customers

Europe In Triple-Dip Recession, Goldman’s Internal Model Finds

Europe In Triple-Dip Recession, Goldman’s Internal Model Finds (ZeroHedge, Nov 4, 2014):

Here is Goldman with the loudest warning yet, courtesy of its internal RETINA model, that Europe is now effectively in a triple-dip recession, with Q3 GDP for the Euro area at -0.2%: “We are less than a fortnight away from Eurostat’s publication of its flash estimate of Q3 GDP growth in the Euro area. In today’s Daily, we look through the lens of our contemporaneous tracker of real-time inflation and activity. Since our previous update in mid-October, RETINA’s median estimate of Q3 GDP growth has moved deeper into negative territory, driven largely by a disappointing print for area-wide industrial production in August. The downside risks to our +0.1%qoq judgemental forecast for Q3 GDP now look skewed to such an extent that our point estimate no longer falls within a 50% confidence interval around RETINA’s median reading.

 …

‘Japan’s Debt Market Could Crash In Ways That Make The Collapse Of Lehman Look Like A Warm-up’

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–  “Japan’s Debt Market Could Crash In Ways That Make The Collapse Of Lehman Look Like A Warm-up” (ZeroHedge, Nov 4, 2014):

While it is remarkable that the same media organization that a week ago was fawning over the rotting carcass of Keynes’ disastrous economic legacy, can today issue a warning that “Japan Creates World’s Biggest Bond Bubble”, we have long since given up being surprised by things that make absolutely zero sense in the New Abnormal.

So here is William Pesek with a less than Keynesian view on why Banzainomics’ very own Kuroda-san will be regarded as either a genius or a madman in a decade. Spoiler alert: it won’t be “genius.”

Read more‘Japan’s Debt Market Could Crash In Ways That Make The Collapse Of Lehman Look Like A Warm-up’

Earliest And Deepest Snowfalls In More Than 100 Years In Southeastern U.S.

Earliest and deepest snowfalls in more than 100 years in Southeastern U.S. (Ice Age Now, Nov 3, 2014):

The snow, combined with record low temps, “is drawing predictions of a new mini ice age,” says Breitbart.com.

Tennessee, North and South Carolina and Georgia all saw unexpected snow, in some places almost two feet deep.

According to the Climatology Office in South Carolina, Concord, South Carolina has broken a 125-year record for the earliest snow seen. And Columbia, South Carolina’s capital, broke a 129-year record.

In fact, the state has already doubled its expected annual snowfall – more than 1½ months before any snow was even expected.

Read moreEarliest And Deepest Snowfalls In More Than 100 Years In Southeastern U.S.

Let Them Eat Fried Chicken (If They Vote Democrat)


Let Them Eat Fried Chicken (If They Vote Democrat) (ZeroHedge, Nov 4, 2014):

First Lady Michelle Obama – tireless advocate for healthy eating and exercise – appears to have reached her ethical limit when it comes to ‘getting out the vote’. It is no longer enough to offer free phones if the good people of America vote for Obama’s Democrat party, now the self-confessed food-Nazi is suggesting fried chicken if people vote Democrat today:

Obama gave her fried chicken blessing during an interview Monday with Roland Martin on News One for Black America (Transcription by Kristinn Taylor)

Martin: So can we, if we go out to the polls, can we say, we have ‘souls to the polls’ on Sunday, can we do ‘soul food after we vote’?

Obama: Absolutely, I give everyone full permission to eat some fried chicken after they vote only after – if you haven’t voted…(laughter.)

Martin: Just checking!

Obama: You make a good point because I am, I do talk about health. But I think that a good victory for Democrats on Tuesday, you know, should be rewarded with some fried chicken.

*  *  *

So if you like your fried chicken, you can keep it, as long as you vote Democrat.

National Economic Suicide: The U.S. Trade Deficit With China Just Hit A New Record High

National Economic Suicide: The U.S. Trade Deficit With China Just Hit A New Record High (Economic Collapse, Nov 4, 2014):

Did you know that we buy nearly five times as much stuff from the Chinese as they buy from us?  According to government numbers that were just released, we imported 44.9 billion dollars worth of stuff from China in September but we only exported 9.3 billion dollars worth of stuff to them.  And this is not happening because our economy is so much larger than China’s.  In fact, the IMF says that China now has the largest economy on the entire planet on a purchasing power basis.  No, the truth is that this is happening because our economy is broken.  Every month, we consume far more wealth than we produce.  Because the outflow of money is far greater than the inflow, we have to go to major exporting nations and beg them to lend our dollars back to us so that we can pay our bills.  Meanwhile, the quality of the jobs in this country continues to go down and our formerly great manufacturing cities are rotting and decaying.  We are committing national economic suicide, and most Americans don’t seem to care.

Read moreNational Economic Suicide: The U.S. Trade Deficit With China Just Hit A New Record High

Silver Jews Frontman, Son Of ‘Dr. Evil’ Reveals Cause Of Split: ‘My father is a despicable man … a human molestor … an exploiter … a scoundrel’ ‘… a motherfucking son of a bitch’

H/t reader squodgy:

“There isn’t much more to be said about this other than how refreshing it is that his son has compassion.

Rick Berman is a classic example of what we know is the unacceptable face of corporate greed and unregulated capitalism…”

Related info:

‘Win ugly or lose pretty’: ‘Dr. Evil’ lobbyist teaches US oil and gas execs to play dirty (RT, Nov 2, 2014):

A top US political consultant, dubbed “Dr. Evil”, has been caught on tape at an industry conference, advising oil and gas execs to regard public policy as “endless war” and to play on people’s fear and greed to lobby their interests.

Richard Berman’s speech, which he gave in June in Colorado Springs, was leaked to The New York Times by one of the participant’s at the conference who said: “It just left a bad taste in my mouth”. The whistleblower asked for their identity not to be revealed.


David Berman of Silver Jews
David Berman of Silver Jews … ‘I am the son of a demon come to make good the damage’.

Silver Jews reveal cause of split: ‘My father is a despicable man … a human molestor’ (Guardian, Jan 26, 2009):

Frontman David Berman explains that he is breaking up his band so that he can undo the wrongs wrought by his father – a rightwing spin doctor dubbed ‘Dr Evil’ by the US media

The Silver Jews have announced that they are packing up their guitars, tidying away their lyric books and cancelling a forthcoming tour. The reason, according to founder David Berman, isn’t a dwindling of inspiration or the clash of personalities, it’s not the spectre of drugs or because of sickness. No, it’s because the evils of the world are too vast, too persistent, too severe – and his lobbyist father is too much of a “motherfucking son of a bitch”.

“Now that the Joos are over I can tell you my gravest secret,” Berman wrote on the Silver Jews messageboard. “Worse than suicide, worse than crack addiction: My father.” David Berman’s dad is Richard Berman, a Washington lawyer and lobbyist who has led campaigns against animal rights, trade unions, and even opposed anti-drink-driving groups. 60 Minutes called Richard Berman “Dr Evil”, but for his son even this is an understatement. He is “a despicable man … [a] human molestor … an exploiter … a scoundrel”.

Read moreSilver Jews Frontman, Son Of ‘Dr. Evil’ Reveals Cause Of Split: ‘My father is a despicable man … a human molestor … an exploiter … a scoundrel’ ‘… a motherfucking son of a bitch’

Record snowfall in the Smoky Mountains

Record snowfall in the Smoky Mountains (Ice Age Now, Nov 3, 2014):

LeConte Lodge recorded 22 inches (56 cm) of snow and waist-deep drifts.


Some roads now reopened after Saturday’s record-breaking snowfall. On Saturday, rangers closed all roads in the park.

Saturday’s snowfall set a new daily record total for the Smokies. LeConte Lodge recorded 22 inches (56 cm) of snow and Newfound Gap picked up 15 inches (38 cm).

Waist-high snowdrifts

The LeConte Lodge posted on its blog that there are lots of drifts larger than waist high around the grounds.

Read moreRecord snowfall in the Smoky Mountains

Record-setting snowfall across northern and eastern Maine

Record-setting snowfall across northern and eastern Maine (Ice Age Now, Nov 3, 2014):

Never Snowed This Much This Early at Bangor & Caribou


The massive, “nor’easter” left more than 140,000 homes and businesses without power on Monday and dropped snow as far south as South Carolina.

“Smashed” previous record, says Weather Service

“A total of 10.1 (25.6 cm) inches of snow was observed at Caribou, Maine, yesterday,” says the National Weather Service. “This smashed the daily snowfall record for November 2nd of 1.3 inches in 2002.”

“This was also the largest calendar day snowfall ever observed so early in the season, breaking the record of 9.4 inches on October 29, 1963.

Read moreRecord-setting snowfall across northern and eastern Maine

It’s Currency War! – And Japan Has Fired The First Shot

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It’s Currency War! – And Japan Has Fired The First Shot (Economic Collapse, Nov 3, 2014):

This is the big problem with fiat currency – eventually the temptation to print more of it when you are in a jam becomes too powerful to resist.  In a surprise move on Friday, the Bank of Japan dramatically increased the size of the quantitative easing program that it has been conducting.  This sent Japanese stocks soaring and the Japanese yen plunging.  The yen had already fallen by about 11 percent against the dollar over the last year before this announcement, and news of the BOJ’s surprise move caused the yen to collapse to a seven year low.  Essentially what the Bank of Japan has done is declare a currency war.  And as you will see below, in every currency war there are winners and there are losers.  Let’s just hope that global financial markets do not get shredded in the crossfire.

Read moreIt’s Currency War! – And Japan Has Fired The First Shot

Anonymous Now: Million Mask March descends on London

FYI.


Anonymous Now: Million Mask March descends on London (RT, Nov 4, 2014):

The Million Mask March will course through London on Wednesday November 5. The march, in which all demonstrators obscure their faces to protect their identity, is in protest against austerity, mass surveillance and attacks on human rights.

Organized by the global hacktivist group Anonymous, the London protest will march from Trafalgar Square and finish at the Houses of Parliament.

Read moreAnonymous Now: Million Mask March descends on London

New EU foreign chief calls for creation of Palestinian state in 5 years

In 5 years? You’ll probably won’t recognize the world by then.


New EU foreign chief calls for creation of Palestinian state in 5 years (RT, Nov 4, 2014):

The EU’s newly appointed foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini has called for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the next few years, saying that the European community should ‘move forward’ with its role in the Middle East.

I would be happy if by the end of my term, a Palestinian state existed,” the 41-year-old former Italian foreign minister said in her first newspaper interview as successor to Britain’s Catherine Ashton in the post of EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.

Read moreNew EU foreign chief calls for creation of Palestinian state in 5 years

NATO asks US for more troops in Baltic states, Poland to counter ‘Russia threat’

NATO asks US for more troops in Baltic states, Poland to counter ‘Russia threat’ (RT, Nov 4, 2014):

The North Atlantic bloc has asked the Pentagon to send more troops to Eastern Europe to counter the perceived threat of Russia. There are currently 750 US soldiers in Poland and the Baltic states, but the organization believes that this is not enough.

The alliance cites the current situation in Ukraine, as well as Russian military aircraft “incursions” into the airspace of the organization’s allies.

Read moreNATO asks US for more troops in Baltic states, Poland to counter ‘Russia threat’

Woman Sets Herself On Fire In Front Of Presidency Of Europe’s Poorest Country

Woman Sets Herself On Fire In Front Of Presidency Of Europe’s Poorest Country (ZeroHedge, Nov 4, 2014):

With French youth revolting, Spanish regions seeking secession, and GREXIT back on the cards, Europe’s social unrest concerns are starting to rise once again to troubling levels. However, it is in Europe’s poorest nation, Bulgaria that the message of dissatisfaction is loudest. As The BBC reports, a woman has set herself ablaze near the presidency building in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. There were six similar self-immolations in Bulgaria last year, amid anger over chronic poverty and alleged corruption.

10 Examples Of The Extreme Incompetence That Now Pervades The Federal Government

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10 Examples Of The Extreme Incompetence That Now Pervades The Federal Government (The American Dream, Nov 2, 2014):

There has always been a substantial level of incompetence at federal agencies, but under the Obama administration incompetence has risen to unprecedented levels.  This year the incompetence of the Secret Service, the Veterans Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and the CDC have all made national headlines.  And it is hard to forget how the launch of Obamacare was such a failure that it became a global joke.  We live at a time when our government officials can’t seem to do anything right.  When Americans complain about the government, most of the time they focus on how corrupt and wicked our politicians have become, and that should not be downplayed whatsoever.  But just replacing those politicians is not going to fix what ails our government.  The quality of the workers throughout the government bureaucracy has fallen so dramatically that our federal agencies can no longer be depended upon to perform even the most basic governmental functions competently.

The following are 10 examples of the extreme incompetence that now pervades the federal government…

Read more10 Examples Of The Extreme Incompetence That Now Pervades The Federal Government

New quantum mechanics theory says parallel universes exist, interact

From the article:

“… in some universes the dinosaur-killing asteroid missed Earth. In others, Australia was colonised by the Portuguese.”

In some universes the Illuminati and their agents were strung from the lampposts, new technologies and alternative medicine treatments were not suppressed, diseases of civilization like cancer and diabetes are virtually unknown and the crime rate is zero.


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New quantum mechanics theory says parallel universes exist, interact (RT, Nov 4, 2014):

To the average person, quantum mechanics is the convoluted, science fiction-y branch of physics. A radical new theory plays into that, proposing that parallel universes exist and interact with each other ? and that scientists may be able to test for them.

Prof. Howard Wiseman, a physicist at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, along with his collaborators Dr. Michael Hall, also of Griffith University, and University of California, Davis mathematician Dr. Dirk-Andre Deckert, published their new “many interacting worlds” (MIW) theory in the journal Physical Review X. They posited that other universes are real, exist in vast numbers and exert influence on each other.

Read moreNew quantum mechanics theory says parallel universes exist, interact

China unveils anti-drone laser weapon able to shoot down ‘small aircraft’ within 5 seconds

DRONE

China unveils anti-drone laser weapon able to shoot down ‘small aircraft’ within 5 seconds (RT, Nov 3, 2014):

China has developed and successfully tested a highly accurate laser defense system against light drones. The homemade machine boasts a two-kilometer range and can down “various small aircraft” within five seconds of locating its target.

Boasting high speed, great precision and low noise, the system is aimed at destroying unmanned, small-scale drones flying under an altitude of 500 meters and at speeds below 50 meters per second, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement by one of the developers, the China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP).

Read moreChina unveils anti-drone laser weapon able to shoot down ‘small aircraft’ within 5 seconds

How The Petrodollar Quietly Died, And Nobody Noticed

How The Petrodollar Quietly Died, And Nobody Noticed (ZeroHedge, Nov 3, 2014):

The Petrodollar, long serving as the US leverage to encourage and facilitate USD recycling, and a steady reinvestment in US-denominated assets by the Oil exporting nations, and thus a means to steadily increase the nominal price of all USD-priced assets, just drove itself into irrelevance. A consequence of this year’s dramatic drop in oil prices, the shift is likely to cause global market liquidity to fall.  This decline follows years of windfalls for oil exporters such as Russia, Angola, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. Much of that money found its way into financial markets, helping to boost asset prices and keep the cost of borrowing down, through so-called petrodollar recycling. But no more: “this year the oil producers will effectively import capital amounting to $7.6 billion.

Iron Sword 2014: NATO Stages Massive Military Drill In Lithuania

Iron Sword 2014 - NATO stages massive military drill in Lithuania

– Iron Sword 2014: NATO stages massive military drill in Lithuania (RT, Nov 3, 2014):

Servicemen from nine NATO member states are taking part in nearly two weeks of military exercise in Lithuania. What used to be a national military drill has become a multinational NATO war game in response to events in neighboring Ukraine.

2,500 servicemen from Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Germany, Lithuania, Luxemburg, the UK and the US are taking part in the Iron Sword 2014 military drill in Lithuania, November 2-14.

The troops will be training “interoperability in NATO units, co-ordination of actions and readiness to complete defensive and offensive operations,” reported Lithuania’s DELFI news agency.

Read moreIron Sword 2014: NATO Stages Massive Military Drill In Lithuania

Why Housing Is Dead: First-Time Buyers Collapse To 27-Year Lows

Why Housing Is Dead: First-Time Buyers Collapse To 27-Year Lows (ZeroHedge, Nov 3, 2014):

The Millennials (one of the biggest generations in US history) are just not getting with the status quo program. As we detailed previously, with lower credit scores, less disposable income, and a soaring number of people living with their parents; so it should be no surprise that The National Association of Realtors (NAR) today admitted that first-time homebuyers plunged to the lowest level in 27 years. The blame – of course – rather than low/no-growth fiscal policies, student debt servitude, and inequality-driving cheap-funding monetary policy, is price comnpettion from ‘investors’ and too “stringent credit standards,” perfectly mirroring FHFA’s Mel Watt’s Einsteinian insanity desire to dramatically ease lending standards and slash minimum down-payments (as we noted previously). Perhaps NAR accidentally stumbles on the biggest reason no one is buying in their profiling: the typical first-time buyer was 31-years-old, while the typical repeat buyer was 53 – smack in the middle of the Millennial collapse.

Russia Conducts Full “Nuclear Triad” Drill, Launches Topol-M ICBM

Topol M

Russia Conducts Full “Nuclear Triad” Drill, Launches Topol-M ICBM (ZeroHedge, Nov 3, 2014):

While east Ukraine, aka the Donetsk Republic, was voting over the weekend in what the west pre-emptively classified as another sham vote as its outcome would merely push east Ukraine even closer to the Kremlin, Russia was busy conducting its most comprehensive Nuclear preparedness drill in recent history, one involving the entire “nuclear triad” consisting of strategic bombers; submarines and an the ICBM shown below on Saturday morning.

As reported earlier by the Barents Observer, the silo-based Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from Plesetsk in Arkhangelsk Oblast. A few minutes later, the dummy nuclear warhead hits its target on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s far eastern corner, the Ministry of Defense reports.

The Ministry, conveniently, adds that the Topol-M missile has an “extremely high accuracy of target destruction.”

Read moreRussia Conducts Full “Nuclear Triad” Drill, Launches Topol-M ICBM

Japan’s Monetary Pearl Harbor

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Japan’s Monetary Pearl Harbor  (Of  Two Minds, Nov 2, 2014):

Trying to “fix” a sclerotic, inefficient state-cartel economy by boosting inflation–the ultimate goal of Japan’s Monetary Pearl Harbor– is a self-liquidating path to destruction.

The Bank of Japan’s surprise expansion of financial stimulus strikes me as the monetary equivalent of Pearl Harbor –not in the sense of launching a pre-emptive war (though the move does raise the odds of a global currency war), but in the sense of a leadership pursuing a Grand Strategy to the point of self-destruction because they have no alternative within their intellectual and political framework.