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Ask Joshua Thevenin — who since last month has been a newspaper salesman, fireworks vendor and tele-marketer — what he thinks about assertions the economy is roaring toward recovery and you'll get a sigh and a shake of his head.
"I don't see it. If it is, I don't know where," he said.
THE POLITICO reports that President Obama, during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, gave shout outs to a number of American companies in an effort to highlight the strength of the U.S. economy. Nearly all of those companies, it turns out, are big political spenders and have contributed heavily to Democrats.
One of those companies was eBay, which Obama cited as an example of how "millions of Americans [are working] in jobs that didn't even exist 10 or 20 years ago." That now seems like an unfortunate choice, because less than 24 hours after Obama's speech, eBay announced it was cutting 2,400 jobs, or about 7 percent of its workforce. Investors welcomed the layoffs, and the company's stock jumped more than 4 percent on the news.
Well, he finally launched "whatever it takes" and that marks an inflection point. Mario Draghi has just proved that the servile apparatchiks who run the world's major central banks will stop at nothing to appease the truculent gamblers they have unleashed in the casino. And that means there will eventually be a monumental crash landing because the bubble beneficiaries are now commanding the bubble makers.
In two days time Greece is due to go to the polls and Syriza, a party looking to say no to ridiculous and unmanageable debts, is set to take power. This has the potential to cause a huge shift in economic policy throughout the world as it identifies austerity as a failed policy route. But not everyone in the Euro thinks it is a bad idea for the Greeks to do this, Hollande had no issue here but subsequently had his nation fall victim to a terrorist attack. This has the potential to cause huge changes in a world currently dominanted by Anglo-American financial hegemony.
The coalition of the radical left SYRIZA Party is poised to win the parliamentary elections on January 25 in Greece. If SYRIZA win, they could form the next government and confront the catastrophic austerity agenda that has plagued Greece and thrown it into a severe economic crisis. The possibility of SYRIZA-led government is sending chills down the spines of the European power centers in Berlin and in Paris and at the European Union headquarters in Brussels.
If the strategies and tactics within this document are implemented successfully, our movement will be more united, driven, connected, funded, and determined than ever before. The corporate state will be broken in both finances and spirit.
To fix its business problems and speed up its "transformation," next week about 26 percent of IBM's employees will be getting phone calls from their managers. A few hours later a package will appear on their doorsteps with all the paperwork. Project Chrome will hit many of the worldwide services operations. The USA will be hit hard, but so will other locations. IBM's contractors can expect regular furloughs in 2015. One in four IBMers reading this column will probably start looking for a new job next week. Those employees will all be gone by the end of February.
The head of a leading Kremlin-owned bank warned on Friday that further banking sanctions would lead Russia and the U.S. to the "brink of war."
United Parcel Service, Inc. warned of disappointing fourth-quarter and full-year results, as higher-than-expected seasonal expenses and currency headwinds dragged down earnings.
Shares of DreamWorks Animation fell close to 13% in pre-market trade Friday as investors reacted to a new strategic plan that calls for the slicing of 500 jobs, or 18% of its workforce, and the scaling back of original filmmaking.
Deere & Co. said it will place 910 employees on "indefinite layoff," from facilities in Iowa and Illinois that make agricultural equipment.
This is the backlash from the world's rejection of American GMO produce!
The euro plunged to an 11-year low on Thursday, after the European Central Bank announced that it would begin a 60-euro monthly asset purchasing program. But it could still have a ways to fall.
The Nevada Transportation Authority on Thursday wrapped up the adjudication of 24 citations and vehicle impoundment cases connected to the illegal operation of the Uber ride-sharing app.
At the authority board's monthly meeting, the three members unanimously approved in one vote the findings of hearing officers that reviewed each case.
The 24 cases involving Uber drivers and their vehicles was nearly half of the month's cases involving unlicensed drivers offering motor transport in violation of state statutes.
Uber officials, who directed operations in Las Vegas, Reno and Carson City between Oct. 23 and Nov. 26, believe the company should not be subject to transportation regulations because it considers itself a technology company that arranges rides through a smartphone app and are not the transporters.
Regulators think otherwise.
The great gold repatriation has begun…
Germany's Bundesbank announced that the country repatriated 85 tons of gold from New York in 2014, far surpassing its previous estimates of 30 to 50 tons — and laying to waste a Bloomberg article you might have seen last summer insisting that the Germans were happy to keep their gold in American vaults. Turns out, not so much happiness. You might really label it: concern about keeping their gold in America.
Thanks to a loyal reader, Lloyd, the full interview with Harry Markopolos that started a whole new leg on my journey is presented below. Please listen BEFORE reading this article in order to fully understand the depth of lies and alleged theft that are being perpetuated against YOU and ME as you are reading. It is mind blowing.
Harry Markopolos is the man who tried to alert the SEC to the fraud being committed by Bernie Madoff-with-the-loot, but was shunned by SEC investigators, many of whom actually gave their resumes to Bernie while they were supposed to be investigating him!
The head of one of the U.S.' largest banks Wednesday said that public anger at financial institutions has been "understandable" and acknowledged that Americans remain concerned about whether public policymakers have adequately protected the country from another financial crisis.
I am so glad you understand. Mind holding this bag of feathers and standing still while I get this pail of tar?
Seven months after federal officials fired CGI Federal for its botched work on Obamacare website Healthcare.gov, the IRS awarded the same company a $4.5 million IT contract for its new Obamacare tax program.
Adding insult to injury!
There are a bunch of things in the ECB post-mortem note just released by SocGen's Michel Martinez, reproduced below, but here are the punchlines.
First, on the impact of ECB QE on the economy: "we argue ECB QE could be five times less efficient than in the US. In December, press reports suggested that the ECB had run studies suggesting that a €1000bn QE programme would only boost price levels by 0.2-0.8 after two years, five to nine times less efficient than the studies for the US or the UK. The impact on GDP is not provided, but it would be reasonable to assume the same impact as on inflation on a cumulated basis."
In other words, it will be an outright failure as it "triest" to boost inflation expectations and the European economy in its current format. That, as a reminder, is its stated purpose.
So what does SocGen suggest? Simple: the same thing every Keynesian says when justifying why a piece of occult economic voodoo fails to work: it wasn't big enough. To wit:
now that the exports of Europe - the single largest economic block in the world - are cheap enough to compete with Japan's just as cheap, thanks to currency debasement, goods and services in the global arena, it means that the biggest loser is obvious: the United States, whose currency has soared to nosebleed levels on expectations that the Fed will hike and that the US will somehow decouple from a world that is drowning in economic malaise.
Debt-serfs who make the difficult and risky transition to small-scale business owners find they have simply moved to another class of serfdom.
The core dynamic of debt-serfdom is that debt-serfs must borrow money to buy essentials while the wealthy borrow to invest in productive assets.
This is not merely a random result of free-market capitalism; it is the structure of cartel-capitalism in which highly profitable goods and services must be paid for with highly profitable debt.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has asked the IMF for a new and broader rescue package, IMF head Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday (Jan 21) as the war-torn country fights to save its reeling economy.
Lagarde met Poroshenko on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos and said Ukraine requested that the Washington-based IMF deepen its relationship with Kiev.
The meeting took place soon after Poroshenko told an audience of the world's financial elite in Davos that 9,000 Russian troops were backing Ukrainian separatist fighters.
Because of the complicated nature of power-sharing in the European Union, some international agreements require the approval of both the European Parliament and of every Member State -- so-called "mixed agreements." It is generally accepted that both the Canada-EU trade agreement (CETA) and TAFTA/TTIP are mixed agreements, and will therefore require a double ratification: by the full European Parliament, and all the EU governments. Indeed, the European Commission has frequently cited this fact to bolster its assertion that both CETA and TAFTA/TTIP are being negotiated democratically, since the European public -- through their representatives -- will have their say in these final votes.
Yep; It's a bank run!
For six years, TransCanada has negotiated federal and state laws, and contended with the opposition of environmental organizations and landowners, to build the Keystone XL: a 36-inch-diameter, 1,700-mile pipeline that, if completed, would transport 830,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Canadian tar-sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf Coast.
The U.S. State Department has not issued the required presidential permit, which would declare the importing of tar-sands oil in the "national interest." And the Nebraska Supreme Court just heard oral arguments on a landowners' lawsuit that could cost TransCanada another year if it has to reapply for its permit in the state.
The stalled process has led one equities analyst to observe that, "Keystone XL doesn't look like it will ever get fully up and running."
The "wealth effect" exists. The top 1% benefited from it. Their assets
were bailed out by central banks. Their confidence grew, and they increased their leverage by borrowing at near-zero cost to buy even more assets that they were sure would continue to increase in price because central banks were continuing to print money and serve up ZIRP that would encourage more leverage and more buying. And they bought more assets and drove up prices further, which made them feel even better and more confident. They increased spending, and it started that "virtuous circle" where the 1% got richer and richer and the top 80 folks in the world made out like bandits.
Alas, there aren't enough of them to have any real impact on the economy
Greece is reeling from the effects of the biggest economic crisis in its recent history. Here are 12 statistics, via The Wall Street Journal, underscoring the severity of the crisis now reaching into all aspects of Greek life...
For the first time in 47 years, the Royal Mint is manufacturing gold and silver bars which are available for everyone to invest in
Non-financial lending has reached $15 trillion since the crisis and is outside the control of authorities warns the Fund's deputy chief
WEBMASTER ADDITION: What this means is that people are starting to do business without going through the privately-owned central banks, and the bankers are worried they may lose their monopoly.
Switzerland would have had to spend more than $100 billion this month alone if it had continued efforts to hold down the value of its currency, a senior central bank official said on Thursday.
If you listened closely this morning, you could hear humanity vomit as JP Morgan CEO, Jamie Dimon, began to speak at Davos. In what amounted to some of the most egotistical and delusional statements heard at a conference filled with egotistical and delusional participants, Mr. Dimon didn't disappoint. Here are a couple highlights courtesy of Twitter:
This Sunday the citizens of Greece will be voting in a national election that will serve as a referendum on the EU-invoked austerity program that the country has been living through!
At stake is the decision that a newly elected government might make to pull Greece out of the Eurozone in what has widely become termed Grexit.
At stake also is the impact that a win by an anti-austerity and anti-EU party might have on the politics of other Eurozone countries that face similar issues and, perhaps, on the viability of the Eurozone itself.
U.S. Steel Corp. said it will shut down two more oil and natural gas pipe plants and lay off 756 workers, highlighting the fallout from the global collapse in the oil prices, which analysts say could muddy the company's turnaround plans.
The Chicago-based carrier, an arm of United Continental Holdings Inc UAL 4.67% , informed employees Monday that jobs up for review included baggage handlers and gate and customer service agents at 28 airports that are not hubs, ranging from Atlanta to Anchorage. It has yet to make any decisions.
Schlumberger Ltd, the world's No.1 oilfield services provider, said it will cut 9,000 jobs, or about 7 percent of its workforce, as it focuses on controlling costs in response to a continuing fall in oil prices.
Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes Inc. said it expects to lay off about 7,000 employees, days after industry leader Schlumberger Ltd said it would cut jobs as drilling activity slows due to a steep fall in oil prices.
Today: eBay announces that it will lay off more than 2,000 workers, and it may split off its enterprise unit in addition to PayPal. Also: Microsoft shows off Windows 10, Apple makes an acquisition.
A representative for the company told CNBC that it is planning to cut the jobs but that this is only a gross figure, and that the firm will also continue to hire selectively in parts of the organization. Additionally, American Express reported quarterly earnings that slightly beat analysts' expectations on Wednesday, and CEO Ken Chenault said in a release that "tight controls on the cost side of the ledger" had benefited the company.
The 14 stores are expected to close by early spring. The 14 account for $130 million in annual sales. The company expects some of that to be retained by nearby stores and online sales.
The company said employees displaced by store closings will be offered positions in nearby stores where possible or be given severance benefits.
Not "unambiguously good" as Shale states see initial jobless claims spiking. Overall initial jobless claims missed expectations for the 4th week in a row, holding above 300k for the 3d week in a row (for the first time since July). At 307k, this week's print is below last week's but well above the 300k expectation. However, across TX, CO, ND, PA, and WV, initial claims (1 week lagged) rose to over 75k (from 30k in October)... "crisis has passed"?
What actually happened was the Swiss National Bank realized that the balance sheet of the central bank's ratio to the Swiss GDP had already reached a level of nearly 100 percent. And given what's going on in the world — we've got inflation of 23 percent in Argentina, it's projected to be 17 percent in Russia — inflation is picking up rapidly in many parts of the world and social unrest is unfolding. All of that gives Switzerland inbound capital flight from other countries.
They concluded that the combination of euro quantitative easing, plus the inbound capital flight and the likelihood of more geopolitical confrontation with Russia, which also pushes money into Switzerland — all of that put them on a trajectory so that if they would have continued to defend the currency peg, the Swiss National Bank's balance sheet would have been over a staggering 200 percent of GDP within one year.
A proposal from the European Central Bank's Frankfurt-based executive board calls for bond purchases of roughly €50 billion ($58 billion) a month that would last for a minimum of one year, according to people familiar with the matter, an indication that officials are weighing massive stimulus to shore up the eurozone's fragile economy and boost inflation.
So the ECB (like the FED) creates a ton of cash out of think air to buy up government and corporate bonds, which means eventually the ECB (like the FED) basically own the governments and corporations ... and all for the cost of ink and paper.
Over the coming months, I believe we could see an economic meltdown at least six times the size of the 2007 subprime mortgage meltdown…
The next financial collapse, already on our radar screen, will not come from hedge funds or home mortgages. It will come from junk bonds, especially energy-related and emerging-market corporate debt. The Financial Times recently estimated that the total amount of energy-related corporate debt issued from 2009-2014 for exploration and development is over $5 trillion. Meanwhile, the Bank for International Settlements recently estimated that the total amount of emerging-market dollar-denominated corporate debt is over $9 trillion.
So, the only way to keep the debt-based economy working is to force massive additional debt onto the people.
When a small group of people subvert the laws that make everyone equal and place themselves above the law, it is only a matter of time before freedom becomes forced servitude.
The actions by the U.S. government are giving the tell tale signs of complete destruction of liberty and the institution of what can only be called slavery of the masses.
Those at the top are engaged in the transformation of the nation into a feudal society where a few are very rich and the rest are subjected to poverty and earning a meager existence at best.
From the point of view of the U.S. military and the national security state, the period from September 12, 2001, to late last night could be summed up in a single word: more. What Washington funded with your tax dollars was a bacchanalia of expansion intended, as is endlessly reiterated, to keep America "safe." But here's the odd thing: as the structure of what's always called "security" is built out ever further into our world and our lives, that world only seems to become less secure. Odder yet, that "more" is rarely a focus of media coverage, though its reality is glaringly obvious. The details may get coverage but the larger reality -- the thing being created in Washington -- seems of remarkably little interest.
In an exclusive interview with Money Morning, Jim Rickards, the CIA's Financial Threat and Asymmetric Warfare Advisor, has stepped forward to warn the American people that time is running out to prepare for this $100 trillion meltdown.
"Everybody knows we have a dangerous level of debt. Everybody knows the Fed has recklessly printed trillions of dollars. These are secrets to no one," he said.
"But all signs are now flashing bright red that our chickens are about to come home to roost."
The shipbuilding industry is launching a counteroffensive against Republican Sen. John McCain's effort to repeal a protectionist law that artificially raises domestic shipping costs.
The collapse in the prices of oil, natural gas, and natural-gas liquids has started to make its imprint on the largest hydrocarbon producer in the world, namely the US of A. Oilfield layoffs and project cancellations are raining down on the oil patch on a daily basis. Suppliers are hit too. Many energy stocks are in the process of evisceration. Energy junk bonds are in a rout.
But consumers love it – those who aren't losing their jobs over it – because they spend less on fuel. Consumers are voters. So politicians love it because voters love it. Hence, it's good for the economy. I get that.
Plans are moving ahead in the Austin area to house about 200 people who are chronically homeless. Community First Village has been about a decade in the making and in just a matter of months, it will break ground.
Financial repression is a term used to describe measures sometimes used by governments to boost their coffers and/or reduce debt. These measures include the deliberate attempt to hold down interest rates to below inflation, representing a tax on savers and a transfer of benefits from lenders to borrowers. Financial repression is also used to describe measures to facilitate a domestic market for government debt and the imposition of capital controls. The combined effect of all these measures means funds are channeled to the government that would otherwise flow elsewhere.
Now we find out that the Bundesbank [here after referred to as BuBa] announces they were able to pry 85 tons of gold out of the hands of the Federal Reserve in New York and an additional 35 tons out of France. Of course this was done under the watchful eye of the Bank for International Settlement (BIS) and all the gold was stamped with 2014 dates. The German people, according to Peter Boehringer, have no proof that BuBa actually received any gold, from anywhere. No documentation, no photos, no assays, no nothing, no shipping manifest; nothing. How can take possession of an item, any item, especially something as sensitive as YOUR NATIONAL GOLD, and not be provided with any paperwork? Really? The time I checked I did not see "fool" tattooed on my forehead. We are suppose to believe the BIS supervised the shipment, assayed the gold and accounted for all the bars but they can not provide ANY paperwork!
Remember after the scandal erupted over the missing gold from the New York Fed, there was an editorial from CNBC that stated that it didn't matter if the gold was really there or not, so long as the official records said it was there. So maybe what the BIS is doing is simply moving paper records around.
Again we see the adoption of a dialectical position. The mainstream media has been in full cry over the necessity for money printing and central bank bond purchases.
Now, comes a BIS former official – apparently someone with considerable clout – who says exactly the opposite thing. William White has come onto the record warning against what the European Central Bank plans to do as soon as possible.
Is the Pentagon preparing for civil unrest in the United States?
With the Russian Ruble about to collapse Russia and China are pushing for a collapse of the U.S. dollar. It's a race between the superpowers to see which currency will collapse first.
Experts have said that the U.S. and Europe cannot survive for much longer, and with Russia's economic surplus, its looking likely that the Ruble will out-live the dollar.
FROM THE COMMENTS: A long time ago people use to keep their money under the mattress. The problem was if the house burned down, you lost your life savings. So people started putting their money in banks for safekeeping. Now the banks are telling us they are not capable of safeguarding our money and they're going to need to start charging a monthly fee for identity theft insurance over above the service fees we already pay them. Well if the banks are incapable of safeguarding our money, maybe we need to rethink the mattress!
Maybe it is time to drop the plastic and go back to a cash system, if the banks are not able to keep our money safe (and are using negative interest rates on our savings accounts, and allowed to loot our savings when things get tough)
This is it. The hammer has fallen, the line in the sand is breached, and the camel's back is fractured. The foundation of the financial house of cards just gave it's first tremor. The move by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to unpeg the franc from the euro will go down in history as the first shot in this war. The likelihood that a derivatives time bomb has been lit is near certain. Currency market moves are often the most sensitive, the most deeply tied into the interwoven system of financial 'trading'.
The current anti-Israeli feeling in Europe has led to manufacturers and retailers opting for non-Israeli products and produce as more importers decide not to buy goods from a state that treats the United Nations and human rights law with such contempt.
Up to now, the EU has been Israel's primary, bilateral trading partner but the political climate has radically changed in recent months as Europe loses patience with the Netanyahu government and its all too obvious moves to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. The EU urgently wants a settlement to the Palestinian conflict but now sees that the current right-wing, Israeli administration of Binyamin Netanyahu is not, and never will be, a partner for peace.
As stocks, copper, crude, and bond yields plunge this morning, gold (and silver) prices are surging. With gold near $1,300 - 5-month highs, and silver topping $18 - 4-month highs; it appears investor demand for non-fiat currency is growing (and not just for China and Russia)...
A larger global currency shift is underway.
And it may be happening much more quickly than anyone has realized.
Things are definitely in motion. Call it a game of musical chairs, or an exercise in rearranging chairs on the Titanic, or just that a tilting balance of power. Just don't make the mistake of thinking this is all routine.
I invested in gold coins, but I discovered that they lose their value if you eat the chocolate part inside!
China has a 4-way global gold supply domination strategy. And it's starting to corner the market.
First, China buys physical gold in world markets, fabricates it where necessary into "good delivery" bars – in Switzerland or the Middle East – then ships the bullion, transparently through Hong Kong or Shanghai (or quietly through Beijing and other ports of entry).
Second, it keeps virtually all domestically mined gold "in house."
Iceland may be a small country, but when it comes to dealing with big problems it is truly the modern equivalent of David in the battle against the status quo Goliath. First, it was Iceland, and only Iceland, refusing to bail out its banks, when every other western nation was being held hostage by those who stood to lose the most from a financial collapse, and even going so far as throwing some of its banking executives in prison. And now, as MBL reports, Iceland's conservative Independence Party will support a resolution in parliament to formally withdraw Iceland's application to join the European Union.
FBN's Jeff Flock reports on the state of the shopping mall.
Exactly six years after President Obama took office in the depths of the recession, the economy has finally improved enough for the president to brag about it Tuesday night in his annual State of the Union address.
According to a recent opinion poll, 72 percent of French citizens believe that failure to deliver Mistral-class helicopter carriers to Russia will have direct negative consequences for France's defense sector and affect other contracts.
H&R Block, the nation's largest retail tax preparation company warns that the newly released Obamacare tax code, officially called the Affordable Care Act, is likely to confuse millions of taxpayers who try to tackle their tax returns for 2014.
"Now that the Affordable Care Act has made health care a tax issue, no one can understand it," H&R Block flatly tells taxpayers in a video that resides on its dedicated Obamacare web site.
A former IRS Commissioner agrees, and cautions that the new tax requirements will be a "shock to the system," especially afflicting low-income earners who have never itemized on their tax return.
Why is the Fed threatening to raise interest rates when the economy is still in the doldrums? Is it because they want to avoid further asset-price inflation, prevent the economy from overheating, or is it something else altogether? Take a look at the chart below and you'll see why the Fed might want to raise rates prematurely. It all has to do with the sharp decline in petrodollars that are no longer recycling into US financial assets.
There's blood on the Street.
In a wild swing of the ax that has shocked many pundits, Wall Street's biggest banks have slashed nearly 50,000 jobs, and bonuses and expense money are being cut as profit opportunities dry up.
Awwwww ... let's all feel weally bad for the poo widdle bankers. Boo Hoo Hoo!
Sorry guys. You plundered the American people for a fast buck and it was a hell of a ride, but now that the entire system is coming down because of your antics, don't expect the American people to shed a single tear over your misfortune, because these things are relative and even in your declines, you are living far higher than the rest of the people.
Sorry guys. You plundered the American people for a fast buck and it was a hell of a ride, but now that the entire system is coming down because of your antics, don't expect the American people to shed a single tear over your misfortune, because these things are relative and even in your declines, you are living far higher than the rest of the people.
Gold continues to power higher on safe-haven buying ahead of the ECB's stimulus announcement on Thursday and the Greek election scheduled for Sunday. Except for palladium, which I believe is not only responding in sympathy with gold but also moving higher on fundamental supply issues, the other industrial metals continue to lag.
In my opinion gold reached an important low in November, and in spite of a rising dollar, has rallied since then in dollar terms, and even more in most other fiat currencies.
However gold is still undervalued by about 16% according to my long-term empirical model. Further, gold has potential to rally far higher and is likely to overshoot the 2014 equilibrium price of $1,527 calculated by the gold model. Gold could easily reach $2,000 by late 2015 or 2016.
Another day, another unambiguously bad announcement from America's bettered energy sector which are bolting down ahead of the crude storm, and firing thousands. Last week it was Schlumberger which announced it would fire 9000, today it is Baker Hughes which just warned it too will hand out about 7000 pink slips in the first quarter. And as a reminder, when it comes to comp: each Baker Hughes job is equivalent to about 10 waiter and bartender jobs, which have been the basis of this "recovery."
As President Barack Obama prepares to give his highly-anticipated State of the Union address in which he's expected to target the people he believes are America's real enemy -- the American people who possess wealth -- the nations of Iran and Russia plan to sign what is a significant memorandum of understanding (MOU) on increasing the two nations' military cooperation.
In short, enjoy the $2.50-a-gallon fill-ups while you can, grasshoppers, because when the current crop of fast-depleting shale oil wells dries up, that will be all she wrote. When all those bonds held up on their skyhook derivative hedges go south, there will be no more financing available for the entire shale oil project. No more high-yield bonds will be issued because the previous issues defaulted. Very few new wells (if any) will be drilled. American oil production will not return to its secondary highs (after the 1970 all-time high) of 2014-15. The wish of American energy independence will be steaming over the horizon on the garbage barge of broken promises. And all, that, of course, is only one part of the story, because there is the social and political fallout to follow.
"A debt is a debt and it is a contract," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told The Irish Times in an interview on Monday when asked about the general idea of holding a debt conference. "Defaulting, restructuring, changing the terms has consequences on the signature and the confidence in the signature," she said.
The instant Greece's debt is forgiven, every other EU member will demand the same. That is the reason for Christine Legarde's hard line.
The rumors of Russia selling its gold reserves, it is now clear, were greatly exaggerated as not only did Putin not sell, Russian gold reserves rose by their largest amount in six months in December to just over $46 billion (near the highest since April 2013). It appears all the "Russia is selling" chatter did was lower prices enabling them to gather non-fiat physical assets at a lower cost. On the other hand, there is another trend that continues for the Russians - that of reducing their exposure to US Treasury debt. For the 20th month in a row, Russia's holdings of US Treasury debt fell year-over-year - selling into the strength.
Worth a repeat
If you haven't been paying attention in the last 24 hours, the currency and equity markets have been rocked by a surprise move to delink the existing currency peg between the Euro and the Swiss Franc. This move has set off what many are calling a "financial tsunami" that could leave behind a path of destruction across the continent.
This is a "Bash the Swiss" article, but the reality is that with the ECB about to launch QE across Europe, the Swiss saw the losses from the resulting inflation as too great to accept.
Last year there was a report highlighting that LA and Orange County ranked number one in being the bubbliest housing markets in the US. The report essentially found that people in the area lagged in income relative to housing values compared to folks in New York or San Francisco and most in SoCal basically funneled a large portion of their net income into housing. LA and OC are also expensive to rent in.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that a wave of anti-Semitism and what he called "Islamization" in Western Europe are factors in the government's push to expand trade with Asia.
Barack Obama enters the final two years of his presidency with a blemish on his legacy that looks impossible to erase: the decline of the middle class he has promised to rescue.
European Economy ... No More Excuses for Draghi ... For months, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has hinted that he's ready to announce a full-blown program of quantitative easing. [Now] the EU Court of Justice's advocate general cleared away a possible legal obstacle.
... which triggered the Swiss unpegging.
Beyond that, there is a simple process at work here. In a world using a debt-based currency issued by private central banks, the process of QE is how those bankers, using just ink and paper and numbers in a computer, come to own all the hard assets of planet earth.
Beyond that, there is a simple process at work here. In a world using a debt-based currency issued by private central banks, the process of QE is how those bankers, using just ink and paper and numbers in a computer, come to own all the hard assets of planet earth.
Marko Dimitrijevic, the hedge fund manager who survived at least five emerging market debt crises, is closing his largest hedge fund after losing virtually all its money this week when the Swiss National Bank unexpectedly let the franc trade freely against the euro, according to a person familiar with the firm.
The surprise move by Switzerland to scrap its currency ceiling against the euro EURCHF, +0.76% last week is a reminder there can be unexpected collateral damage from central banks waging currency wars. As markets digest last week's turmoil, expect focus to turn to other fault lines on the global currency map.
Here China stands out, as like the Swiss, it runs an implicit currency peg that is becoming increasingly painful to maintain.
Troubled electronics retailer is considering selling its assets out of bankruptcy to a private equity firm.
The European Central Bank faces another moment of truth as its governors debate whether to buy up the sovereign bonds of euro zone countries to avert a deflationary spiral. At issue still is the attitude of the German faction in the bank, which is resolutely opposed to such moves. But what explains this stance?
The stock response is that German hypersensitivity over the use of central bank printing presses can be traced right back to the country's painful encounter with hyperinflation in the 1920s, when the Weimar Republic printed more and more banknotes to finance expenditure.
We also added that "We have yet to find out just which hedge funds were blown up yesterday", for the simple reason that unlike public banks who have an obligation to reveal news, especially bad, to their shareholders, hedge funds PMs hope to avoid the LP firing squad until the last second. Alas, there is only so long that the day of reckoning can be delayed.
One such fund is the Everest Capital Global macro fund, which went from just shy of a billion to zero in milliseconds as a result of a near wipe out due to a massive CHF-short position.
"When they first come in my door in the morning, the first thing I do is an inventory of immediate needs: Did you eat? Are you clean? A big part of my job is making them feel safe," said Sonya Romero-Smith, a veteran teacher at Lew Wallace Elementary School in Albuquerque. Fourteen of her 18 kindergartners are eligible for free lunches.
She helps them clean up with bathroom wipes and toothbrushes, and she stocks a drawer with clean socks, underwear, pants and shoes.
From the Washington Post article: Majority of U.S. Public School Students are in Poverty
It's a recovery so lopsided only Timothy Geithner or an oligarch could love it. Since 2008, U.S. economic policy has concentrated on funneling as much money as possible to billionaires, keeping the poor alive and submissive through government programs, and squeezing the middle class to death while at the same time holding out the carrot of hope that things will return to how they were before (they won't).
Please be aware that numbers like this do not just happen by accident.
Obama has been a master at waving his faux populism about,in order to get the masses to believe that he actually thinks this way.
But at the end of the day, he is no less a flunky to the monied classes who got him elected twice than was his predecessor, George Bush.
your savings
image: http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png
, pensions, insurances etc. will all be gone, as derivatives are now the most protected assets according to the new law…
A fiat currency is only worth what people think it is worth. That goes for a country's banking system as well. In Greece, where the Eurozone crisis started almost five years ago, it seems the Greek people do not have much faith in their banking institutions.
The bank runs have started. Who knows where this current round of Greek tragedy will end? I can say it will not end well.
The top Obama official overseeing the so-called rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, commonly called ObamaCare, has notified the administration on Friday that she his leaving her position after serving five years. Marilyn Tavenner, the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) administrator, said she will official vacate her office in February.
Tavenner's service included the rollout snafu in which the multi-million dollar HealthCare.gov website cause enormous problems for both the Obama administration and the Americans attempting to enroll. It also included allegations of "gaming the numbers" when it was discovered the administration released a report containing inflated enrollment statistics.
The fallout from the decision taken by the Swiss National Bank to remove the cap on its currency is a dream for some and a nightmare for others.
In Geneva queues formed outside foreign-exchange offices as those with Swiss francs hastily changed them into euros while the going was good.
One such man expressed his delight: "For me it is excellent news, for everything, for holidays, for shopping. I do a lot of shopping in France it is cheaper than in Switzerland and now its even cheaper we must seize the moment."
Not much chance for cheer in Poland where more than 1.5 million are exposed to higher interest repayments on Swiss loans.
Moody's has downgraded the government bond rating for Russia from Baa3 to Baa2, the agency has said in a statement, adding that it expects the country's GDB to contract by 5.5 percent this year and by 3 percent in 2016.
Of course, Moody's also told us those mortgage backed securities were Triple-A back in 2008, so I wouldn't pay any attention to them when they talk about Russia!
It has been brought to my attention that someone, intending to discourage the public from reading this article, has circulated a PDF version of "All Wars Are Bankers' Wars" that is causing damage to the computers of people who try to read it. This link is the only official WRH PDF version of this article.
Despite a slowing economy, massive layoffs, declining oil prices and general volatility, Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver would like Canadians to know that it is definitely not time to panic.
Unfortunately, even though that's what he's saying, almost everything Oliver is doing suggests panic has already taken root in Ottawa.
When the stock market starts to behave like a roller coaster, that is a sign that a major move to the downside is right around the corner. As I have stated repeatedly, when the market is very calm it tends to go up. But when the waters start getting really choppy, that is a clear indication that stocks are about to plummet.
I don't want to make too much of today's news and market action, but on the other hand, I want to make sure to acknowledge what importance it does have and the fact that I think today will be looked back on as a red letter day for "administered rates" on the part of the central planners who call themselves central bankers.
Family and friends of missing AIG executive Omar Meza announced via Facebook Thursday evening that the Los Angeles man has died.
Details weren't provided in the post on the "Find Omar Meza" Facebook page, but the family thanked supporters for their search efforts while asking that their privacy be respected as they grieve.
A Friday morning press conference with the family has been canceled.
Maybe he shorted Swiss Francs?
Headed up!
As usual. Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, former assistant secretary of the US treasury, provides crucial (and scathing) analysis of both US government policies and recent events in FOREX markets. He offers this simple explanation for why the Swiss central bank removed the currency peg they initiated on their franc only three years ago, leaving behind a landscape littered with currency carnage:
The answer is that the EU attorney general ruled that it was permissible for the EU central bank to initiate Quantitative Easing–that is, the printing of new euros–in order to bail out the mistakes of the private bankers. This decision means that Switzerland expects to be confronted with massive flight from the euro and that the Swiss central bank is unwilling to print enough new Swiss francs to maintain the peg. The Swiss central bank believes that it would have to run the printing press so hard that the basis of the Swiss money supply would explode, far exceeding the GDP of Switzerland.
For the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of U.S. public school students come from low-income families, according to a new analysis of 2013 federal data, a statistic that has profound implications for the nation.
The colonists who wrote the founding documents of the United States detested the British Empire, and vowed to do whatever it took to gain their freedom and sovereignty from a foreign power that was depleting the wealth of the country without giving anything in return. Just as King George extracted wealth and resources from the colonies for his own gain in the 18th century, the current U.S. corporate state is extracting wealth and resources from the American people, at a much greater rate than King George could have ever hoped for. If the outrage that swept the U.S. in the last months of 2014 continues to escalate, 2015 may just be the year that a new revolutionary movement coalesces to bring this hopelessly corrupt, parasitic, and toxic system to a halt.
All morning, mainstream media has been down-playing the insolvency of various retail-focused FX brokers using words like "contained" and even suggesting retail 'moms-and-pops' should not be allowed to trade FX. Now, we get more news from a non-retail institution:
So should Citi be banned from FX trading too? It appears so - Citi's head of European FX sales is 'said to leave' the company.
State economists agreed Friday that general fund tax revenue will come in $324.6 million below previous estimates, creating a likely deficit four months into a new fiscal year.
"But, but, but ... Washington DC assured us we only have a 5% unemployment rate!!!" :)
The euro continued to extend losses against the U.S. dollar, hitting a fresh 11-year low of $1.156.
Hamilton faces a gravel road renaissance without a cash influx to fix fast-deteriorating local roads, warned the city's top public works manager warned Thursday.
As I covered in yesterday's update, "The one with the jaw dropping drop," the Swiss National Bank surprised markets yesterday with the announcement of the end of Swiss Franc's peg to the Euro at 1.20 EUR/CHF. Many traders lost or gained a bunch of pips money on the shock... and some firms even went bankrupt.
FXCM Inc, the largest US foreign-exchange brokerage, is struggling to keep up with capital requirements. It was down almost 15% on Thursday, and is down more than 75% in pre-market trading on Friday. A majority of clients suffered massive losses on their Swiss "safe-haven" trades.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits last week increased to the highest level since early September, but the underlying trend continued to point to a strengthening labor market.
And you don't get more George Orwell than THAT!
The Foreign Exchange Currency Market has suffered major losses since the Swiss announcement, and today the pre-market is showing an 82% loss! The opening bell has been delayed, suggesting trading has been halted while the PPT looks for more duct tape!
UPDATE: FXCM is still closed. PPT has shoved the stock market back into the green, but it's already trending down again. Investors are looking for those hard PPT up-shoves and selling at the peak.
UPDATE: FXCM is still closed. PPT has shoved the stock market back into the green, but it's already trending down again. Investors are looking for those hard PPT up-shoves and selling at the peak.
Back in November, before most grasped just how serious the collapse in crude was (and would become, as well as its massive implications), we wrote "How The Petrodollar Quietly Died, And Nobody Noticed", because for the first time in almost two decades, energy-exporting countries would pull their "petrodollars" out of world markets in 2015.
This empirical death of Petrodollar followed 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.
Baby Boomers are entering their prime 'stock selling' years with little relief from those entering their 'stock buying' years
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote in February to decide whether municipalities can bypass state laws to provide their own internet service – a policy that President Barack Obama threw his weight behind earlier this week.
The vote is controversial but has support from the Obama administration, and proponents say it would give the public more options and faster service. Many Republicans and opponents argue that permitting such behavior exceeds the FCC's authority.
The Obama administration shut off the bank accounts of an Indian tribe as part of its Operation Choke Point program, The Daily Caller has learned.
The Otoe-Missouria tribe of Red Rock, Oklahoma reported that it is the latest victim of Operation Choke Point, according to a whistleblower response the tribe sent to the U.S. Consumer Coalition, which was obtained by TheDC.
Now brace for everything you ever could have wanted to know about the country's impact on global markets, but were afraid to ask. The whiz kids have had a few sleepless hours to think yesterday's bombshell over, and some are worried about the after shocks.
Since 2008 the entire financial world has been turned upside down. In late 2011 the Swiss decided to peg their currency to the Euro, in essences giving up their national currency for the debt soaked Euro experiment.
When the Swiss pegged the Franc to the Euro, the Swiss people sold their sovereignty to the European Union. Approximately 22% of the people wanted their sovereignty back and voted on November 30, 2014 to repatriate their gold and reclaim their nation. Unfortunately, the other 78% (less the people that did not vote) said they were perfectly happy being debt slaves to their overlords at the European Central Bank. Thomas Jordan, the President of SNB, was actually campaigning AGAINST the gold repatriation movement, which in light of today's announcement seems to be a contrarian move!! Why would a person vote against reclaiming their gold and then do a complete 180 degree turn against your own policy!!! This seems like it is going to have an ugly ending.
The parties say they will support the development of both domestic and international gold trading in the Asian nation by "leveraging the opportunity provided by the internationalization of the Chinese gold market, through the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, to support market expansion", the WGC said.
Which means that western banks will no longer be able to artificially suppress the price of gold any longer!
Mark O'Byrne, executive director at Goldcore Ltd., says there is increased demand for gold following yesterday's shock move by the Swiss National Bank.
God-like status of central banks questioned. All paper currencies will continue to be devalued ...
A month ago, when the Russian Ruble was crashing, developed nations were delighted to poke fun of Russians who lined up in front of currency exchange kiosks, supposedly to convert their rapidly devaluing Rubles into Dollars or other rising fiat.
Today, those same developed nation hecklers are deathly silent after what may be the biggest western central bank faux pas in recent history, and which in addition to sending the Swiss Franc soaring has - perhaps for the first time in history - manifested in lines of people in front of currency exchange bureaus nowhere else, but in that bastion of capitalism: Geneva.
Plunging yields on U.S. Treasury notes and bonds, record low yields on the sovereign debt of countries in the European Union, together with plunging industrial commodity prices, are sending a crystal clear message to stock markets: there is a glut of supply and too little demand from consumers.
The first time the phrase Emergency Liquidity Assistance, or ELA, was used in the context of Greece was in August 2011, when Greece was imploding, when its banking sector was on the verge of collapse, and just before the ECB had to unleash a global coordinate bailout with other central banks including global central bank liquidity swap to preserve the Eurozone.
Russia's central bank replaced its head of monetary policy after President Vladimir Putin criticized the failure of emergency measures to halt ruble's decline.
The World Gold Council (WGC) and the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) signed Thursday a memorandum of understanding to develop a Shanghai free trade zone for bullion and so encourage foreign participation in China's tightly controlled gold market.
The G20 told you on November 20, 2014, they plan to steal your bank account. Secretary of Treasury, Jack Lew, has positioned the federal government to steal back federal pensions and now your local police can rob you blind for the crime of going out in public.
People have a hard time wrapping their minds around the fact that 93 million Americans are not in the labor. In December alone we added over 451,000 to this category. Much of this figure comes from people retiring and those simply not eligible to work but there is a disturbingly large number of people that are eligible for work and are simply lacking a job. There seems to be a perception that all of the people hitting retirement age are somehow prepared to weather the years of older age with a sizable nest egg. Nothing could be further from the truth.
TRNN's Jessica Desvarieux looks at the key bill provisions benefiting Wall Street, and also examines the so-called opposition of Democratic lawmakers
Sony is closing all its stores in Canada over the next six to eight weeks, the company announces in a statement today.
In an interview with CBC News, a spokesman for Sony Canada said he couldn't disclose why the stores were closing, or how many stores and jobs will be affected.
The White House confirmed Thursday that Canada has postponed the North American Leaders Summit scheduled for next month but would not say whether tension over the Keystone XL oil pipeline is the reason.
Gold prices jumped more than 2 percent after earlier hitting a 4-month high on Thursday as European shares and the dollar turned lower after a shock move by Switzerland to abandon its three-year cap on the franc sent Europe's shares and bond yields tumbling.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) quietly dropped a bomb in its October Fiscal Monitor Report. Titled "Taxing Times," the report paints a dire picture for advanced economies with high debts that fail to aggressively "mobilize domestic revenue." It goes on to build a case for drastic measures and recommends a series of escalating income and consumption tax increases culminating in the direct confiscation of assets.
Gold prices continued to show its safe-haven appeal as the Swiss National Bank unleashed, what one analyst described as, "carnage" in the marketplace.
Overnight, February Comex gold futures hit a four-month high of $1,261 an ounce after the Swiss central bank said that it would no longer support its peg against the euro. The central bank has maintained a floor of one euro to 1.20 Swiss francs since 2011.
February gold continues to hold on to most of its gains, currently trading at $1,259.00 an ounce, almost 2% on the day.
While you were sleeping, all hell broke loose in Switzerland, as the central bank ditched its currency cap against the euro after four years and slashed interest rates to negative 0.75%. The Swiss franc is rallying wildly, while the Swiss stock market is cratering and U.S. stock futures are mostly on the losing side as investors figure out this latest shock to the markets
Tumbling retail sales and now surging jobless claims... perhaps the "low oil is awesome" narrative is not true after all. Initial Jobless claims surged to 316k (smashing expectations of 290k) and has not been higher since June 2014. The BLS reports no unusual activity - so economists can't hust shrug this one off. Details on state-by-state job losses are lagged a week so we will not know if this is Shale Oil region-related but yesterday's Beige Book and day after day of announced job cuts by the energy sector suggest it is.
The unraveling of the complicated financial structure of Caesars Entertainment Corp. began Thursday when the casino operate placed its largest operating division into bankruptcy, taking the initial steps to eliminate almost $10 billion of company's gaming industry high debt.
Target Corp said Thursday it would shut down its Canadian operations, ending long-term speculation over the viability of the struggling business.
Target Canada has 133 stores and employs some 17,600 people. Target Corp said it would report $5.4 billion in pre-tax losses on discontinued operations in the fourth quarter.
One of the major goals of Russia's presidency will be implementing the BRICS decisions on setting up its own financial institutions, namely the New Development Bank and a currency reserve pool
The preppy lifestyle brand started by Tory Burch's ex-husband, Chris Burch, is shutting down its remaining locations 'due to the highly competitive nature of the current retail environment,' a spokesman said.
Just two days after it warned that it might file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Body Central is shutting all of its stores and headquarters completely.
Struggling consumer electronics retailer RadioShack Corp. RSH, -12.56% is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection as soon as next month, according to people familiar with the matter.
Oil isn't Russia's only problem.
The energy exporter is losing its dominance over the European gas market.
Russia isn't losing anything. They shut off the valves today for non-payment of the bill!
The first edition of Charlie Hebdo since terror attacks in Paris last week left 17 people dead sold out at newsstands across France shortly after going on sale Wednesday.
Wow! That is really impressive when you think about it. One week ago, Charlie Hebdo was broke, asking for donations, and struggling to publish less than 50,000 copies of their magazine. Then their offices were attacked, their staff severely reduced, the survivors traumatized, and here we are just one week later with 3 million printed magazines in 16 languages all delivered to the newstands around the world?
Anyone who has ever worked in publishing knows this is an impossible feat. The lead time for content creation, translation into 16 languages, layout for those 16 versions, adding of additional printing resources, and supply chain time, all suggest this new issue had to be in production before last week's attack!
Anyone who has ever worked in publishing knows this is an impossible feat. The lead time for content creation, translation into 16 languages, layout for those 16 versions, adding of additional printing resources, and supply chain time, all suggest this new issue had to be in production before last week's attack!
We should all do so well while under assault.
JPMorgan Chase earned $4.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014, the company announced on Wednesday, down from a year ago, but capping what CEO Jamie Dimon called a record year for the biggest U.S. bank by assets.
Despite this success, Dimon warned that "banks are under assault," from government regulators.
The US Treasury Department has the authority to impose secondary sanctions on foreign entities, working with the DPRK, but the Obama's administration does not appear willing to expand its interpretation of the executive order.
Probably because every time the US sanctions someone, they run off to join BRICS!
Just two days ago we detailed the possibility that Russia could accelerate debt repayment on a $3 billion loan it granted to Ukraine that has broken its covenants. While there is no word yet from Russia on a decision whether to demand the payment, it appears, as Reuters reports, the US taxpayer - just as we warned - is quite willing to step up (thanks to their leaders in Washington) and guarantee $2 billion in loans to the world's 2nd most credit risky nation (after Venezuela).
How sweet of those generous American taxpayers!
Police are using bloodhounds and divers as part of a huge search for a missing AIG executive, last seen at a Californian hotel on Thursday.
Omar Arce Meza, 33, from Los Angeles, was last seen at around 11pm at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert.
Police divers have searched a pond at the hotel, but to no avail. They have, however, found his jacket and wallet on the hotel golf course.
His wife, Diane, described him as 'highly responsible and reliable', with his disappearance completely out of character.
The number of beneficiaries on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—AKA food stamps--has topped 46,000,000 for 38th straight months, according to data released by the Department of Agriculture (USDA).
We're in an "economic recovery", MY ASTROLABE!!!!!
Some corporations may be doing better; but they are laying off employees; reducing employee benefits; parking large wads of cash off-shore (Luxembourg is the poster-child for this activity); and have armies of accountants and lawyers to find every possible loophole to make this possible.
Brushing aside Democrats' warnings of permanent political doom, House Republicans voted Thursday to cancel President Obama's deportation amnesties, casting it as an effort to undo a runaway White House untethered either to the Constitution or even to its own words and promises.
In a debate freighted with political, symbolic and constitutional significance, House Speaker John A. Boehner read the 22 times Mr. Obama had denied he had the kinds of executive powers he ended up claiming last year when he announced his new amnesty, which applies to millions of illegal immigrants, granting them tentative legal status and work permits so they can compete legally for jobs.
JPMorgan Chase reported 2014 fourth quarter earnings this morning, missing analyst estimates. Analysts had expected $1.31 per share while the actual number came in at $1.19. Listening to the conference call this morning, there was the impression that the $1.19 would have been worse had the bank not released loan loss reserves in a number of business areas.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, was back to characterizing the bank's P&L as the "fortress balance sheet." The London Whale credit derivatives traders almost blew up the fortress in 2012 and the markets are becoming skeptical as to just how much visibility there is on energy and emerging market loans souring on the books of the mega Wall Street banks.
Stocks tumbled in early trading Wednesday after a weak reading on December retail sales and a profit miss from JPMorgan added to investor worries.
Taking direct aim at the oil-and-gas industry, President Obama on Wednesday put forth long-awaited regulations on methane emissions, setting an ambitious goal of reducing those emissions by 45 percent over the next decade.
The move comes just days before the State of the Union address and underscores that, in the final two years of presidency, Mr. Obama is looking to cement his legacy on climate-change and environmental issues.
It's a laudable goal but Obama's timing sucks. Right now the entire oil industry is being hammered by this ill-conceived oil price war against Russia. The very last thing they need is a whole new raft of "Obamaoil" regulations that will escalate costs, all in the name of controlling climate change, which changes no matter what we humans do. Methane in the atmosphere does not persist. In the presence of oxygen it decomposes to water and carbon dioxide, the first being what we need to live and the latter being what plants need to live. This underscores an observation I have been making all along; that the quality of thinking in this administration is rather poor. Policy decisions are being made for political (and in this case historical) reasons but are not thought all the way through to find potential negative consequences!
A gauge of U.S. consumer spending unexpectedly fell in December as demand fell almost across the board, but that is probably not the start of a weak trend given lower gasoline prices and a firming labor market.
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday retail sales excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services fell 0.4 percent last month after a 0.6 percent rise in November.
There was a huge upshove at the opening bell, but as of midday, it's already falling off again, as of this writing, down -129 and dropping. Investors are no longer viewing PPT manipulations as a signal to buy, but as a signal to sell!
If you follow the markets and you follow the unemployment numbers–they go hand-in-hand in my opinion–then you know the unemployment numbers from Friday January 9 were a complete joke. Once you drill down, just slightly below the surface, you begin to see the actual numbers and not the numbers designed to get Steve Liesman over at CNBC giggling like a little girl and tell everyone about the rainbow-spewing unicorns that greeted him this morning.
But, but, but... homebuilder stocks were surging early on - just like they did at one point yesterday - proving that 'they' know something right? Right? Homebuilders are now the biggest losers - down 3% from the highs - as KB Home's conference call slashes guidance, pulls land deals, and expects margin compression...
Is it sensible to pay insolvent banks to hold your currency? Negative interest rates are now common.
Is it sensible to lend your savings to insolvent governments for 10 years at 2% interest or less when history shows us that the purchasing power of the currency will decrease far more than 2% per year?
Is it sensible that the time value of currency is effectively zero? Zero or negative interest rates are not a sign of economic health.
A new report from the Oakland Institute, Walking on the West Side: the World Bank and the IMF in the Ukraine Conflict,exposes how the international financial institutions swooped in on the heels of the political upheaval and are vying to deregulate and throw open Ukraine's vast agricultural sector to foreign investors. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's rejection of an EU Association agreement in favor of a Russian deal was a major factor in the crisis that led to his ouster in February 2014. Immediately following the change to a pro-EU government, the country's pivot to the West was solidified with a $17 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and an additional $3.5 billion aid package from the World Bank, both of which require significant economic reforms and austerity measures that are set to have disastrous effects within the nation.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) is helping biotech run the latest war in Ukraine. Make no mistake that what is happening in the Ukraine now is deeply tied to the interests of Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, and other big players in the poison food game.
Monsanto has an office in Ukraine. While this does not shout 'culpability' from every corner, it is no different than the US military's habit to place bases in places that they want to gain political control. The opening of this office coincided with land grabs with loans from the IMF and World Bank to one of the world's most hated corporations – all in support of their biotech takeover.
Parent company's stock has underperformed Delta, where there is less union representation.
Hundreds of leading scientists and technologists have joined Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk in warning of the potential dangers of sophisticated artificial intelligence, signing an open letter calling for research on how to avoid harming humanity.
California-based fast-food chain Carl's Jr. announced on Monday plans to shut down more than 30 outlets in three Russian cities amid a volatile economic environment.
The eurozone euphoria that is driven by quantitative easing talk is not felt in London as natural resource stocks weigh on the British market.
Oil and mining stocks are leading the FTSE 100 lower as turmoil in the commodity markets has taken the shine off the European Central Bank easing chatter.
One of the symptoms of a declining empire is that it becomes less and less productive and therefore less relevant to other countries. Any empire, whilst in its prime, will have a strong currency. As its productive relevance declines, so will its currency. Invariably, its leaders attempt to keep the currency strong, in spite of the decline in national relevance. Rather than return to a more productive condition, the empire almost invariably resorts to force.
The US has been unusually forceful in this regard. In order to retain the dollar as the currency upon which oil is denominated and paid for, the US has attacked countries (Iraq, Libya) when their leaders have announced that they will, in future, accept other currencies or gold as payment for oil.
Two recent reports show that Obama and his Administration lied when they promised to prosecute Wall Street executives who had cheated outside investors and deceived homebuyers when selling mortgages to them.
A town is working to "demolish a working-class neighborhood" by seizing 354 homes and passing the land off to a private commercial developer. Using federal dollars and the highly-abused power of eminent domain, the city intends to evict multitudes of families to make way for economic progress.
The community under fire is called "Pleasant Ridge." It contains hundreds of small homes that were built during World War II as military housing. Today the homes are privately-owned and contain working-class and poor families, many of which have owned their homes for decades.
The City of Charlestown intends to demolish the community in order to allow new commercial and residential real estate to be built in its place — privately-owned real estate.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the U.S. economic recovery is the halo effect on manufacturing, which accounts for 1 in 6 private-sector jobs. Yet a new study is dismissing that renaissance as little more than a "myth."
Even after having a super holiday season sales, shares of Apple Inc. AAPL 0.11% have witnessed significant declines. However, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White thinks that the going will be great for Apple in 2015, especially after the Apple Watch release.
They said the same thing about Google Glass.
China, leading member of the BRICS, is lining up the bloc of the BRICS and that of the SCO – and their currencies – to support Russia in need. Currency swaps between Russia (ruble) and China (yuan) for an initial US$ 25 billion equivalent have already been implemented, to allow direct transactions between the two countries. Similar swaps are under way between China and Russia with other countries, primarily the BRICS and the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) members – including the soon to become new members – Iran, Pakistan, India (also a BRICS member) and Mongolia – and possibly in some not too distant future also strategically located NATO member Turkey.
oca-Cola Co. is axing at least 1,600 white-collar jobs globally as part of a cost-cutting move in response to sluggish soda sales.
The euro has hit a fresh nine-year low against the dollar, in part after a surprise decrease in German manufacturing.
Greece and the troika (the International Monetary Fund, the EU, and the European Central Bank) are in a dangerous game of chicken. The Greeks have been threatened with a "Cyprus-Style prolonged bank holiday"if they "vote wrong." But they have been bullied for too long and are saying "no more."
The mainstream media narrative - that Germany is ready and prepared for Grexit and that it is no longer a threat to financial stability - is all hype, according to German opposition finance minister Joachim Poss. As Bloomberg reports, all that is mostly posturing for an electorate tired of the aid and angst Greece has demanded since 2010. Simply put, the potential for Euro instability from a Grexit is a detriment to Germany's massive benefits from the single currency - "Europe can't afford a Greek exit," Poss concludes, complacency by Merkel is "playing with fire."
British Prime Minister David Cameron says he is "convinced" he can mend the relationship between Britain and the EU, as pressure grows to call a referendum on UK membership.
An IMF mission has arrived in Ukraine to resume talks on providing financial assistance to the country, which is on the brink of default. The IMF estimates Kiev needs an extra $15 billion of aid to overcome the crisis.
"Bend over and spread 'em, Vlad!"
As Congress removes restrictions on taxpayers bailing out the too-big-to-fail banks, the right is blaming environmentalists and Russia for the demise of the fracking boom. In reality, the banks' junk bonds and derivatives have flooded Wall Street, and now the fracking bubble threatens another financial crisis.
The House passed a bill Thursday that defines full-time work under Obamacare as a traditional 40 hours, with a dozen Democrats choosing to rebuff President Obama's veto threat before the measure heads for a tougher test in the Senate.
Earlier this week, conservative talk show host Mark Levin warned that Barack Obama is campaigning and preparing the country for what amounts to a coup against the Constitution over the debt ceiling, Breitbart.com reported Sunday.
Levin said that it's clear Obama has moved on from the shutdown and is now focused on the debt ceiling, paving the way for low-information liberals to support him as he bypasses Congress and unilaterally seizes control of the nation's economy, Dr. Susan Berry wrote..
President Putin is known to be a master at Martial Arts and appears to be using the principles of Ju-Jitsu to topple the Western Banks, especially in regard to his support of the BRICS Development Bank.
brics-logo-320x116The new BRICS Development Bank is now up and running now, is part of his master chess strategy, and is known to be seriously stressing the US Petro Dollar.
The BRICS Banking System is known to be based on Gold, Silver and real commodities unlike the Rothschild's largest Franchisee the Federal Reserve System.
The brilliant Mel Brooks 1974 parody Young Frankenstein ranks No. 28 on Total Film magazine's list of all-time funniest movies. When QE-infinity was first announced, I drew analogous similarities between the monstrous experiments of Dr. Frankenstein (Dr. F) and the Fed.
In the movie, it was only after the monster went berserk that Dr. F (Gene Wilder) learned that Igor had snatched the "Abby Normal" brain. Clearly, even the most well-intentioned experiments can have unintended consequences. In this vein, the Fed created a financial market monster via six years of 'pedal to the metal' Fed stimulus designed to encourage risk-taking and speculation, and like Dr. F, the Fed was confident it had the tools to control it. Unfortunately, history will likely view QE- infinity as the "Abby-Normal" brain that sent its grand experiment awry.
For those hoping that the recent brief dip in Brent crude below $50 - most notably Venezuela's intrepid socialist leader Nicolas Maduro whose numbered days get shorter with every day Brent closes red, and countless bondholders of junk- debt capitalized shale companies - would mean that Saudi Arabia's vendetta against OPEC would finally be put on hiatus, we have bad news: the vendetta just wen nuclear because as Reuters reports, there is "no chance of OPEC output cut."
As Reuters further adds, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf OPEC allies are showing no sign of considering cutting output to boost oil prices, despite Brent's dip below $50 a barrel this week, where it is surely headed once again in the coming days.
Workers used hammers and acetylene torches to strip away bits of gold and other metals from the warheads' corrosion-proof plating and circuitry. Useless parts were dumped into trenches. But the gold – some of it still radioactive – was tossed into a smelter and molded into shiny ingots.
Exactly what happened next is one of the most intriguing questions to arise from a workers' lawsuit against the former operators of the U.S.-owned uranium plant in western Kentucky. Three employees contend that the plant failed for years to properly screen gold and other metals for radioactivity. Some metals, they say, may have been highly radioactive when they left Paducah, bound perhaps for private markets.
"So all you nations asking for your gold back; you should shut up, because we are saving your lives by not sending it back to you!" -- Official White Horse Souse
Stocks are up nearly 2% today alone, with the S&P back to green for 2015. Among the reasons for today's rally: lower overhead courtesy of KO and CAT, which announced that between the two of them, they would fire some 2,000 workers, which is great news for stocks if not for actual employees as there will be even more dry powder for another record quarter of stock buybacks.
A number of acute-care hospitals closed across the United States last year -- 18 to be exact -- and experts who see a raft of new regulatory processes being heaped upon the healthcare industry in the coming years, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, believe that a wave of additional closures are ahead.
Russia replaced EU food imports with those from Argentina. It will partly pay for them by leasing a squadron of Su-24 attack aircraft
Another unforeseen consequence of the oil price wars!
Plummeting Brent oil prices are putting pressure on North American shale, which has sunk hundreds of billions of dollars into investment, and could soon come crashing down.
A Delaware man says he's devastated after a luxury hotel thwarted his plan to give five homeless people a warm bed and a hot shower on Christmas night.
Matt Senge of Newark tells WDEL-AM (http://bit.ly/1yEKsoR ) he booked a two-bedroom suite at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington for $639 on Christmas and told hotel managers and the reservation clerk about the gift.
He says everyone was enthusiastic and supportive, and that he got an email confirmation about the room. But three hours before check-in - after Senge told the homeless people about the gift - Senge says the hotel called to say the reservation was canceled because of safety concerns for other guests.
It is tiresomely obvious that we live in an era dominated by the idea that virtually all economic difficulties can be fixed by printing more money. There are various means of distributing the new money, but the dominant ideology is really very simple:whatever the problem might be, the solution is to print more money and/or issue more credit.
If the problem persists, clearly, we didn't print enough money/credit.
Is the world's biggest hedge fund going all-in on HFT and Dark Pools? We ask because Ray Dalio's Westport, CT-based Bridgewater, which at last check manages around $160 billion between its Pure Alpha and All Weather fund products, and which according to preliminary data had a solid performance in 2014, has just hired Jose Marques, the former global head of the quant and algo-heavy electronic trading at Deutsche Bank, to become Bridgewater's new head of trading.
Economists are in shock over what should be a welcome event. Deflation is exactly what consumers need. Some say this increases the likelihood the ECB will act on January 22.
Actually, it does nothing of the kind. The ECB is already 100% certain to do something counterproductive, and odds cannot exceed 100%.
Car accidents, unexpected medical bills, an emergency plumber visit—there are all sorts of events that can interfere with even the best budget plans.
But according to a study released Wednesday, more than 60 percent of Americans do not have enough rainy day funds set aside to deal with even minor calamities.
France faces a tough decision to either deliver two Mistral ships to Russia and face the anger of its NATO allies, or to terminate the Mistral deal, paying a heavy price and further deteriorating its economy
"There are too many ugly balance sheets," warns one energy industry analyst, adding simply that "the group is not positioned for this downturn." While the mainstream media continues to chant the happy-clappy side of lower oil prices, spewing various 'statistics' about how the down-side of low oil prices is 'contained' and the huge colossal massive tax cut means 'everything is awesome' for America, the data - and now actions - do not bear this out. Macro data has done nothing but disappoint and now, we have the first casualty of the shale oil leverage debacle as WSJ reports, on Sunday, a private company that drills in Texas, WBH Energy LP, and its partners, filed for bankruptcy protection, saying a lender refused to advance more money. There are many more to come...
The Target Corporation has plans to close a store Feb. 1 that's part of a Metro Detroit mall that's on DeadMalls.com's endangered list.
The current economic and currency crisis in Russia isn't your typical economic crisis. That is, this isn't just a part of the business cycle. And it isn't something that is happening because demand for oil is up or the supply of oil is down.
This is a two-pronged attack by the U.S. — and it is a desperate one, at that.
"If my sons did not want wars, there would be none." -- Gutle Schnaper, wife of Mayer Amschel Rothschild and mother of his five sons
Today's shooting in Paris has all the hallmarks of another government false-flag to revive the war fever in the minds of those who will pay and die for it, so I figured it was time for a repost of this article.
BNP Paribas says Russia no longer has enough reserves to cover external debt and enters this crisis 'twice as levered' as it was before the Lehman crash


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A night of celebration for the teams, manufacturers and the drivers who leave Petit Le Mans with the final championships in the American Le Mans Series.
Alex Job sat down with Endurance-Info's Laurent Mercier for an insight into the team's present and future in the newly merged championship for 2014 - the Tudor United SportsCar Championship.
Victory takes Flying Lizard Motorsports to GTC team title in final ALMS race
Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, CORE autosport and Alex Job Racing also score in Canada
Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup takes points lead in GTC; Paul Miller Racing, CORE autosport and Team Falken Tire all finish on lead lap.
This seventh round of the 2013 American Le Mans Series season will be run on a 2.02 mile, twelve turn temporary circuit through the Inner Harbor neighborhood.
Fourth place Petit finish secures championship
The Sebring winner joins regulars MacNeil and Bleekemolen in the GTC Porsche.
Nelson Canache Jr. and Spencer Pumpelly share the driver championship points lead.
The team was swapping the lead all race through pit stops, never falling below second place during the first half of the race.
Marco Holzer grabs fastest Porsche position in GT for Paul Miller Racing.
Sebastian Bleekemolen joins team.
The Falken Tire and the Paul Miller were the fastest Porsches in the GT class. Alex Job Racing and TRG topped the charts in the GTC class.
Jeroen Bleekemolen and Cooper MacNeil have had the WeatherTech.ca Porsche at the very top of the time sheet for three of the four sessions this weekend.
MacNeil and Keen 2in GTC in WeatherTech Porsche, MacNeil has class points lead.
Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda gets the green flag at 11:30am ET on Saturday, October 19th.


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Days Inn Chester
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Finding My Seoul
... t found my niche yet. Or maybe, it's something else. Maybe traveling is inherently a novelty that is meant to escape the mundane. Whatever it is, I can't wait to fuel my addiction again.
Here's to finding myself through travel in 13 days. 10 days of Seoul searching (couldn't resist the pun). Thanks again Aunt Joyce for one of the best graduation present I could've asked for.
Philadelphia: Following in Rocky's Footsteps
... that down at some point this year.
As we made our way towards Philadelphia's City Hall we came across our next sculpture, a 45-foot steel clothespin which apparently looks like two lovers entwining. I could just see a giant clothes peg but it was impressive nonetheless. We found a real gem for lunch tucked away down a side street and enjoyed the famous Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwich. Tom and Steve also ordered an Ale taster each ...
Chicago to New York. Wait make that Philadelphia.
... We sit on the taxi way for about an hr, before they take us back to the gate and let us off. We were encouraged to go and get some food, but to stay close to the gate so we can leave as quickly as possible. I still had a salad that I had brought the day before in my bag, so I sat and ate that. After about another hour, they re boarded us again. Once on the plane, the lady next to me was talking with the flight attendant, and said that the ground stop had ...
Goodbye Philadelphia
Saturday was a crazy day. We packed. We made a rock shrine. We ate Chinese. Played a life size game of Tetris with our stuff in my car and my moms. Thanks to Andy. Paul. Tishna. Emily and my momma for helping us out. Sad to leave such wonderful people so willing to help us and see us off. It doesn't feel real yet that we left. And aren't going ...
We're in Philly!!! Almost!!!
... Who drove us around the block and then said he wouldn't drive us there haha. But he dropped us off at another taxi who would... I had to give him directions off my iPad to the hotel, yep this is going well, so we get to the hotel and the guy is mad ****** at the price we booked it at. More than half the price then what it should be.Wining! The hotel ...


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Shepherd Mountain Cove
Austin, Texas, 78730
Commute to Downtown Austin
Almost all errands require a car.
It is possible to get on a bus.
Very steep hills, minimal bike lanes.
Score Details
Shepherd Mountain Cove has a Walk Score of 12 out of 100. This location is a Car-Dependent neighborhood so almost all errands require a car.
This location is in Austin. The closest park is Bull Creek Park.
Nearby schools include Andrews Elementary School and Bridge Point Elementary School.
Nearby coffee shops include Bridgepoint Cafe and Catering and Tuscany Cafe. Nearby restaurants include Bridgepoint Cafe and Catering, Siena Restaurant and Waterloo Ice House.
Shepherd Mountain Cove is near 360 Bridge Boat Landing, Bull Creek Greenbelt Park - Upper and Bright Leaf Natural Area.
There are minimal bike lanes and the terrain has very steep hills. Shepherd Mountain Cove is somewhat bikeable, there is minimal bike infrastructure.
Explore how far you can travel by car, bus, bike and foot from Shepherd Mountain Cove.
Shepherd Mountain Cove compared to all of Austin.
Lower crime area.
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Popular apartment searches include fitness, fireplace and pool.
Find a Austin real estate agent who knows walkable neighborhoods. Links will open on our partner site Redfin.com.
This location is in the city of Austin, TX. Austin has an average Walk Score of 35 and has 790,390 residents.


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Bilderberg Residence Heideborgh
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Day 1 - On the road or something similarly cheesy
Hello and welcome to this, my travel blog.
Today I start. This is it. The start of my journey to Japan.
Do I have any idea what on Earth my plans are once I'm there? Not really. Of course I've browsed the websites and seen a ton of things I want to see but you simply can't see them all, right?
Regardless of that, the lack of my planning could be due to one, or both, of the following reasons:
1) I am trying out an ...
... go inside. Instead we headed to a famous Pancake House where we had a pancake (thin like a crepe) with strawberries, whip cream, ice cream and chocolate and one with cheese, chicken and mushrooms. Although they were similar to a crepe they were cooked more like an omelette, with the chefs flipping them up in the air and were all served flat not rolled up. We then met back up with the main group to partake in a canal cruise around ...
Leanne on bus tour, Don at Rabobank
... per sq km they can't afford to have urban sprawl. Our first stop was Zaanse Schans (a windmill village) with its typical green-timbered houses and warehouses. We were told every windmill is different according to its purpose. We got to see the working parts of a windmill that operates as a sawmill. The spice grinding windmill wasn't actually operating when we were there but oh the fragrance when we walked in the door - glorious! It was at this stop that ...
Day 1- Saturday
... minute train ride to Utrecht. Fun college city. Walked around a little, got to the apartment, cleaned up and went to Cafe Madrid for a Heinekein and tapas platter. Ice cream after! Takes a little to remember how fast the bikers are and you need to be watching at all times ...
Medieval Castle!
... paintings, and authentic decor that we are not allowed to touch. The tour is in Dutch with occasional translations in English, but the surroundings speak for themselves. You can almost taste the oily, fatty, juicy meats the guide talks about cooking over the large cast-iron spit near the fireplace. Living in this time would be very tough, but it is fascinating and keeps you imagining what life was really like, in each room.


text: We had average food and the place is very hollow inside almost cavernous. Just not liking the atmosphere that much I think they could do a better job with the presentation of the food and clean up the restaurant and add better lighting. It appears that large groups like to meet here


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Featured Article
Kent State University at Ashtabula Students Earn Top Honors at Information Technology Conference
Kent State University at Ashtabula students who are members of the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) won honors and awards at the association's National Collegiate Conference that took place recently in St. Louis. Mo.read more
University Services Ready for Students This FallPosted Aug. 19, 2013
As Kent State welcomes new and returning students, the Opening of School Master Schedule of University Services is a useful tool for departments, parents and students alike. This schedule lists the days and hours various university service areas are open from the week before school starts through the first week of classes, Sunday, Aug. 18, through Friday, Aug. 30.


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A participant in the Occupy DC protest in Washington's McPherson Square says he thinks the movement will continue to grow in cities around the country.
The protests began a month ago with Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan and have since spread to other cities. Participants are demonstrating against corporate greed and economic inequality.
Legba Carrefour has been part of Occupy D.C. since it started on Oct. 1 and says more tents are going up in the downtown square every night. He says the appeal of the movement is that participants don't have specific demands. He says people see their own lives and their own desires among the participants.
Demonstrators in Washington and elsewhere took part in a "global day of protest" Saturday that Carrefour says has further galvanized the movement.


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- TRRT April 1-7 | Online Edition
- Guest Commentary: the Rockford Apartment Association
- State Roundup: NIU employee improperly reimbursed $30K
- State Roundup: Governor signs budget fix bills
- Rauner, Democratic leaders shake hands and make law
- State roundup: National guardsman and cousin arrested in terror plot
- Lawmaker says license plate readers a privacy threat
- Bryant not the first to feel impact of free agency rules
- State Roundup: Parents' group calls for standardized test opt-out bill
- Hononegah Mack: 'The best woman in the county'
R.E.A.C.H. to fight tax plan
R.E.A.C.H. to fight tax plan
By Joe Baker
By Joe Baker
Senior Editor
R.E.A.CH., at its monthly meeting Monday night, voted to launch a petition drive to require the school district to abandon a proposed backdoor referendum and put the proposition before the voters.
Dr. Alan Brown, superintendent of District 205, recently revealed the district might use such a referendum to slip through a tax increase in order to get money to pay back the tax protesters.
This is a terrible thing to do to this community now that the litigation is settled, said Barb Dent of R.E.A.CH. She said that plan was not presented to the present school board, but one member of the incoming board knew about it. Chicago attorney Bob Howard also had learned of it, she said.
Dent said there is no present timetable for beginning the petition drive because the school district probably will take no action before January or February.
We are looking for others to help us form a coalition, Dent said. The honest approach is to put it before the voters.
Dent commented that if the school district removed the ineffective court-mandated programs as of June 30, it would have a surplus of $9 million to $10 million at a minimum. That would be enough to pay the tax protesters over a three-year period. It also would be necessary to remove some of the layers of bureaucracy generated by the desegregation lawsuit.
They have the money, Dent said, its a matter of how they spend it.
R.E.A.CH. members also voted to urge the school district to send a second notice to those protesters who waived their rebates, informing them they have the right to change their minds in light of a potential tax increase.
Dent said she estimates the district is about two years away from state intervention. If the overspending continues, she said,state intervention is inevitable.
Anyone wanting to assist in the petition campaign may contact R.E.A.CH. at 749-1900.


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Not local, but my parents used to winter at a mobile home that owned in Palmetto until about 5 years ago.
You have moved to a nice place to live a quiet life if you want.
I would enjoy visiting. Images of the poinsetta farms, the costal islands, the beaches, jetties with fishermen at dusk, etc. are great images of the times I spent there.


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A VINEYARD and winery at Lower Wield near Alresford is holding an open day on Sunday August 31 from 11am-4.30pm.
There will be guided tours, wine-tasting, live music, sheep racing, a vintage car display and a bar serving Hattingley Valley produce.
Entry is £5, free to 14 years and under.


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KAPALUA, Hawaii – Tim Clark knows all about pressure, and not just when he's in contention at a golf tournament.
KAPALUA, Hawaii - Tim Clark plans a return to Torrey Pines, this time to compete with his long putter rather than to make a passionate protest of the rule to ban them.
Along with a new calendar and the PGA Tour's annual fortnight in Hawaii, the New Year always brings a slate of resolutions that are as varied as golf swings.
The 2014 golf season had its share of memorable moments, many of them being chronicled by Golf Channel as we count down the year's top newsmakers.
With Phil Mickelson suffering through the worst full season of his career in 2014, and Mike Weir continuing a free-falling slump than began in 2010, it has been up to Bubba Watson to pick up the s


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Amy follows Josh into the bedroom and asks if he means it. He says, "No! Of course I'm right, and his relationship with you has everything to do with politics! He's a power dater. That's what power daters do. You know how I know?" I'm afraid he's going to claim to be one, which indeed he does. On what possible basis...? Amy asks, "You know how I know that you're wrong?" Josh: "'Cause you looked in his eyes, saw into his soul, and confronted him in a moment of human honesty?" She says that's right. Josh replies, "Then he was sure to tell you the truth." She says he didn't have to, and then drops the bomb: "He asked me to marry him." Josh, who'd wandered out of the frame, wanders back in looking a bit stunned and finally says, "No..." And she says, "How do you like them apples?" Josh asks if she wants him to talk her out of it. She says that she doesn't, and that she already told Congressman Sprint no, and that she thought they should stop seeing each other for a while. Josh kinds of smiles and says, "Okay." Amy smiles and comments, "Now you're nervous." Which he totally is, but he denies it. She says, "Josh, you and I have spent four nights with each other. I didn't break up with him for you. I'm not Pathetic Stalking Woman who, you know..." Shows up uninvited at people's apartments at 5:00 AM? She struggles for words and comes up with, "...does things." Josh says, as he walks over to her, that they spent six nights together. I wonder how the Josh-and-Donna 'shippers are taking all this. Amy wonders what he's counting; he says he's counting them all. She says it was four. He asks, "He just up and proposed?" She snipes, "Yes, Hamlet, it's called being decisive." Ah, there's the Bard. Sort of. Josh: "No, Ophelia, it's called a political asset." She asks what it matters now. As Josh brushes past her, he says it doesn't.
Amy seems peeved not to be getting more of a response out of this, and asks, "And that's all you're gonna say?" Josh replies, almost smugly, that he'll say more when she calls him from her cell phone in thirty seconds. She puts on her coat and states, "You know, for the most insecure guy I've ever met, you're pretty sure of yourself." Well, that's spot on. She's a few inches from his face now. He persists: "You'll call me from your cell phone. That's where the real conversation always takes place." Amy: "You can't afford pyjamas that fit?" Josh: "It's laundry day." Amy says, "I'll see ya," and walks out, closing the door quietly. Almost instantly the phone rings. Aw, Josh, it's a trap: it's too soon! Don't. Fall. Into. That. TV. Trap! What are the odds it's not POTUS or Leo or some other bigwig calling? But Josh walks right in; almost smirking, he picks up the phone and immediately says, "Time #1 was on the steps in front of my apartment when you kissed me. It was snowing. Time #2 was when you came over after the State of the Union. Time #3 was at your house when you put on your bootleg tape of the Stones at Wembley Stadium and put on your feather boa and sang 'Honky Tonk Woman.'" And no doubt did a mean impersonation of Mick Jagger.