Blipits

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mes5464
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 29570
Location: Seneca, South Carolina

Re: Blipits

Post by mes5464 »

The BOJ news is a sign of things to come. I think it is a move to the mark of the beast.

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Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

mes5464 wrote:The BOJ news is a sign of things to come. I think it is a move to the mark of the beast.
Unless the mark of the beast is the cross...and that prophesy has already occurred. Kind of like the prophesy of Joel that President Hinckley said was fulfilled right after 9/11...

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iWriteStuff
blithering blabbermouth
Posts: 5523
Location: Sinope
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Re: Blipits

Post by iWriteStuff »

Jason - just gotta say, I love reading your collection of analyses and news bites. It's like a catch-all of my favorite reading materials. :)

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Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

iWriteStuff wrote:Jason - just gotta say, I love reading your collection of analyses and news bites. It's like a catch-all of my favorite reading materials. :)
thank you...its certainly been a labor of service over the years. and pretty light in the past couple of years...

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Jason
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Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

Japan’s Nikkei index plummeted more than 950 points on Tuesday, its biggest intraday loss since May 2013, and the yen briefly soared to a 14-month high against the US dollar, as continued fears over the health of the global economy saw a continuation of the previous day’s selloff in Europe and the US. The Nikkei dived 5.1% to 16,132.25 in morning trading and extended losses into the afternoon, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 2.6% to 4,946.70. Markets were also down in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and New Zealand. The MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1% and might have fallen further had several Asian markets not been closed. Markets in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea were closed for Lunar New Year holidays.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... -recession" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The yield on Japan’s benchmark 10-year government bonds fell below zero for the first time, an unprecedented level for a Group-of-Seven economy, as global financial turmoil and the Bank of Japan’s adoption of negative interest rates drive demand for the notes.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -7-nations" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image


More than $7 trillion of government bonds offered yields below zero globally as of Monday, making up about 29 percent of the Bloomberg Global Developed Sovereign Bond Index. The total is poised to swell further after Japan’s 10-year yield went below zero for the first time on record on Tuesday, as central-bank easing policies push borrowing costs to new depths. A negative yield means investors who buy the debt now and hold to maturity will receive less than they paid.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... lion-chart" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Monday’s drop in U.S. bank stocks follows concern over stress in the financial sector in Europe, where the cost of insuring the European financial sector’s senior debt against default climbed to its highest level since late 2013. Credit default swaps on several U.S. banks have followed suit. The cost for a five-year CDS contract on Morgan Stanley debt, for instance, has rocketed by more than 27% since last Thursday and now stands at its highest since October 2013, data from Markit shows. Citigroup’s CDS, likewise, is at the highest since June 2013.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-b ... SKCN0VH23X" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image

After The European Bank Bloodbath, Is Canada Next?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-0 ... -one-chart" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Last year’s sure thing in credit markets is quickly becoming this year’s nightmare for bond investors. The riskiest European bank debt generated returns of about 8% last year, according to BofAML index data, beating every type of credit investment globally. In less than six weeks this year, those gains have been all but wiped out, even after interest payments. Investors are increasingly concerned that weak earnings and a global market rout will make it harder for banks to pay the interest on at least some of these securities, or to buy them back as soon as investors had hoped. The bonds allow banks to skip interest payments without defaulting, and they turn into equity in times of stress. Deutsche Bank may struggle to pay the interest on these securities next year, a report from independent research firm CreditSights earlier on Monday said. The bank took the unusual step of saying that it has enough capacity to pay coupons for the next two years.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... rs-nervous" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While the euro was edged up against the dollar, bets on volatility ahead for euro-dollar exchange rates surged to a two-month high of 11 percent, as traders bet more on the dollar. That flipped most derivatives pricing in favor of a weaker euro over the next few months. By the far the biggest mover was the yen, long considered a safe haven given Japan's position as the world's top creditor nation. The dollar dived as low as 114.22 yen JPY= from above 121 a week ago. The euro fell as much as one percent to 128.24 yen EURJPY=.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-globa ... SKCN0VI011" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...driven by borrowing schemes vs. actual financial health. In other words, carry trade vs. economic fundamentals of the country.
DEFINITION of 'Currency Carry Trade'

A strategy in which an investor sells a certain currency with a relatively low interest rate and uses the funds to purchase a different currency yielding a higher interest rate. A trader using this strategy attempts to capture the difference between the rates, which can often be substantial, depending on the amount of leverage used.

Here's an example of a "yen carry trade": a trader borrows 1,000 Japanese yen from a Japanese bank, converts the funds into U.S. dollars and buys a bond for the equivalent amount. Let's assume that the bond pays 4.5% and the Japanese interest rate is set at 0%. The trader stands to make a profit of 4.5% as long as the exchange rate between the countries does not change. Many professional traders use this trade because the gains can become very large when leverage is taken into consideration. If the trader in our example uses a common leverage factor of 10:1, then she can stand to make a profit of 45%.

The big risk in a carry trade is the uncertainty of exchange rates. Using the example above, if the U.S. dollar were to fall in value relative to the Japanese yen, then the trader would run the risk of losing money. Also, these transactions are generally done with a lot of leverage, so a small movement in exchange rates can result in huge losses unless the position is hedged appropriately.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cur ... ytrade.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Deutsche Bank Stock Crashes To Record Low
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-0 ... record-low" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WTI Plunges Back Below $30 After Goldman "Teens" & IEA Excess-Supply Warning
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-0 ... ly-warning" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WTI Crashes To $27 Handle As US Energy Credit Risk Spikes Above 1500bps To Record Highs
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-0 ... cord-highs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Shares in Chesapeake Energy were halted in mid-morning trading after selling off more than 50% to new lows on a report from Debtwire that the company had hired restructuring specialists Kirkland & Ellis . Seeking to stem the panic, Chesapeake issued a statement saying it “has no plans to pursue bankruptcy” and that Kirkland & Ellis had been one the company’s law firms since 2010. Chesapeake also reportedly hired restructuring specialists Evercore Partners back in December.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopher ... tcy-fears/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

About 150 oil and gas companies tracked by energy consultant IHS Inc. may go bust as a supply glut pressures prices and punishes revenues. The number of companies at risk is more than twice the 60 producers that have already filed for bankruptcy, Bob Fryklund, chief upstream analyst at IHS, said in an interview. A further shake out would help stimulate deals that have been on hold because buyers and sellers have disagreed on asset values, he said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ear-bottom" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The storage tanks at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange crude contract, are edging closer to their limits, raising a new set of problems for an industry that has already suffered from a 70% drop in prices in the past year and a half. Cushing, which represents about 13% of the nation’s oil storage, has a working capacity of about 73.014 million barrels of crude oil, according to data from Sept. 2015, the latest available from the EIA. As of the week ended Jan. 29, there was 64.174 million barrels of oil in storage at Cushing, so it is at about 88% full. “Where inventories count the most—at the Nymex terminal complex in Cushing, Oklahoma—storage is already at a critical level,” said Stephen Schork, in The Schork Report published Monday.

“Approximately 6 out of 7 barrels available storage capacity at the Nymex hub are now full.” The report highlighted an article from Reuters that discussed delays in crude deliveries from storage tanks at Cushing because there wasn’t enough room to drain existing tanks to blend oil to meet West Texas Intermediate crude specifications. Cushing serves as a blending station, where crude oil from the midcontinent is mixed to the specific grades required by different refineries, according to StateImpact Oklahoma. “We soon might be in a situation that we have so much oil, that we don’t have enough of the right kind of oil,” Schork said.

Meanwhile, the market is dealing with a “constant high volume” of crude oil coming from the floating storage at the Gulf Coast, the Canadian crudes coming by rail to the U.S. and domestic production, said Hastings. “If the volumes get too high, then the intermediate delivery steps—moving large volumes from tanks to pipelines—could be difficult if the local hub’s pipeline capacity is constrained,” he said.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-in ... 2016-02-08" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As Airbus and Peugeot finally return to post-sanctions Iran, the trade-off is Iranian oil, with French Total SA taking the plunge in an agreement to buy up to 200,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude--but the catch is that sales will be in euros.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/iran-sig ... 01034.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The International Energy Agency, or IEA, warned oil prices could fall again as Iranian output increased as part of a broader surge in production by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, Benoit Faucon reports.
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/02/ ... y-journal/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

US Investment Grade Credit Risk Spikes To 5-Year Highs
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-0 ... year-highs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

New Zealand farmer Ian Diprose used to count on the dairy industry for most of his income. Today, he relies on tourism. As plunging milk prices push dairy farms into the red and hurt rural businesses, Diprose and wife Joy are making more money accommodating tourists than other farmers’ cows. Four out of five dairy farmers in New Zealand, the world’s biggest dairy exporter, will operate at a loss this season as the global slump in milk prices enters its third year, according to the central bank.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... e-for-milk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...lack of real demand...or lack of dollars to buy the milk??? My grandfather used to talk of the great depression...the farmer had wheat in the field, the miner had coal to light his furnace, the storekeeper had goods to sell, etc....but none of them had money to transact business. The farmer burned his wheat to stay warm, the miner basked in heat but suffered from an empty belly, and the storekeeper was cold and hungry. Fascinating and very real phenomenon.

Saudi Arabia Prepares To Send Special Forces To Syria; Will Fight As Part Of "US-Led Coalition"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-0 ... -coalition" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

World War III Starts In The Middle East? Saudi Arabia And Turkey Consider A Ground Invasion Of Syria
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archiv ... n-of-syria" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

U.S. To Send Reinforcements To Restive Afghan Province
http://www.rferl.org/content/afghanista ... 41465.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attacks by "homegrown" terrorists are among the most imminent security threats facing the United States in 2016, along with dangers posed overseas by Islamic State and cyber security concerns, the top U.S. intelligence official said on Tuesday.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cyber-to ... 00123.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A pro-Palestine hacker has released a data dump containing the alleged personal information of over 9,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and 22,000 FBI personnel.
https://ent.siteintelgroup.com/Dark-Web ... onnel.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In accordance with the decision of the commander-in-chief, today at 5 a.m. the troops of the Southern Military District, units of the airborne troops and military transport aviation have been placed on full combat alert.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?Article ... ryId=12395" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russian forces around Ukraine and the Caucasus have been called to a snap drill on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told state news agency Itar-Tass on Monday.
http://www.newsweek.com/putin-calls-sna ... ers-424011" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Southern Military District is one of the four operational strategic commands of the Russian Armed Forces. It includes troops based in North Caucasus and in Crimea, as well as the Black Sea Fleet and Caspian Flotilla. Shoigu also ordered troops from the Central Military District, which includes Eastern Siberia and the Urals, to participate in some stages of the exercises.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016- ... 085026.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In Sweden, the threat level on the second highest level. The Swedish SAPO chief says the challenges are significant. - The Islamist groups have grown significantly over the past five years, and the tension increases between the various ethnic groups said Anders Thornberg, head of the Swedish Security Service.
https://translate.google.com/translate? ... edit-text=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan threatened in November to flood Europe with migrants if EU leaders did not offer him a better deal to help manage the Middle East refugee crisis, a Greek news website said on Monday.
http://in.reuters.com/article/us-europe ... NKCN0VH1R0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Los Angeles (AFP) - Some 605,000 undocumented immigrants who live in California were granted driver's licenses in 2015, the first year they have been able to enjoy that benefit, officials said Monday.
http://news.yahoo.com/california-grants ... 00910.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Over 90 people have been injured, and 61 arrested, following clashes in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district, police say. Violence erupted overnight as police cleared illegal food stalls set up on a busy junction for Lunar New Year celebrations. It is the largest unrest in Hong Kong since massive pro-democracy street protests were held in 2014 - although some reports said Tuesday's clashes appeared more violent than those in 2014, which were largely peaceful.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-35529587" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

North Korea nuclear: Plutonium reactor 'restarted'
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35534995" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON -- North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering spent fuel in weeks or months, the U.S. intelligence chief said Tuesday in delivering the annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/intelligenc ... r-threats/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama assured the leaders of South Korea and Japan in the wake of North Korea’s weekend rocket launch that the US commitment to defend both nations and other US allies in the region was ironclad, the White House said in separate statements released on Tuesday.
http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160209/10 ... fense.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nine Dead, Hundreds Injured As German Trains Collide Head On
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-0 ... llide-head" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A record 4,279 individuals renounced their U.S. citizenship or long-term residency in 2015, according to data released by the Treasury Department.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/record-numb ... 1454698808" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...with 360 million people...a very small drop in the bucket...but a record nonetheless...
A study released late last year by two Princeton academics, Anne Case and Angus Deaton, who won the 2014 Nobel prize for economics, revealed that the death rate for white Americans aged 45 to 54 has risen sharply since 1999 after declining for decades. The increase, by 20% over the 14 years to 2013, represents about half a million lives cut short. The uptick in the mortality rate is unique to that age and racial group. Death rates for African Americans of a similar age remain notably higher but continue to fall.

Neither was the increase seen in other developed countries. In the UK, the mortality rate for middle-aged people dropped by one third over the same period.

“This change reversed decades of progress in mortality and was unique to the United States; no other rich country saw a similar turnaround,” the study said.

Deaths from poisonings by drugs or alcohol have risen dramatically to push lung cancer into second place as the major killer with a sharp increase in suicides now a close third.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016 ... eton-study" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...the far more popular way to leave...
A controversial genetic technology able to wipe out the mosquito carrying the Zika virus will be available within months, scientists say.

The technology, called a “gene drive,” was demonstrated only last year in yeast cells, fruit flies, and a species of mosquito that transmits malaria. It uses the gene-snipping technology CRISPR to force a genetic change to spread through a population as it reproduces.

Three U.S. labs that handle mosquitoes, two in California and one in Virginia, say they are already working toward a gene drive for Aedes aegypti, the type of mosquito blamed for spreading Zika. If deployed, the technology could theoretically drive the species to extinction.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/6006 ... osquitoes/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...lots of labs at work...from creating problems to solving problems...

Hawai’i County Mayor Billy Kenoi declared a State of Emergency in Hawai’i County Monday morning as the Big Island continues to face the dengue fever outbreak.
http://bigislandnow.com/2016/02/08/deng ... emergency/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America
http://www.organic-systems.org/journal/ ... -et-al.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A congressional review of more than 300,000 pages from Turing Pharmaceuticals and Valeant Pharmaceuticals reveals how executives planned to maximize profits while fending off negative publicity over the price hikes.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) released the information Tuesday ahead of a hearing Thursday to examine exorbitant price spikes. Cummings has used his position atop the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to investigate several companies that have bought previously low-cost drugs and jacked up their prices many times over.

At the center of the investigation is Turing's former CEO Martin Shkreli, who became the poster child of pharmaceutical-industry greed last fall for hiking the price of a life-saving drug by more than 5,000 percent. That drug, Daraprim, is the only approved medication for a parasitic infection which mainly strikes patients with weakened immune systems, including those with cancer and AIDS. The patent on the drug expired decades ago.

Company presentations released Tuesday show that as early as last May, Turing planned to turn Daraprim into a $200-million-a-year drug by dramatically increasing its price. Turing purchased the six-decade-old drug from Impax Laboratories in August for $55 million and promptly raised its price.

Shkreli said in an email to one contact: "We raised the price from $1,700 per bottle to $75,000. Should be a very handsome investment for all of us."
http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/ ... ews=858213" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
SITUATION REPORT (SITREP) - Funeral for LaVoy Finicum
https://info.publicintelligence.net/UT- ... uneral.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

FIRST RESPONDER IMPERSONATORS: THE NEW TERRORIST THREAT
https://info.publicintelligence.net/PAC ... ngLEOs.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Countering Violent Extremism
https://info.publicintelligence.net/ARL ... remism.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sea ice extent over the Arctic last month was the lowest for any January in the satellite record, with freeze-up slowed by unusually high air temperatures over the Arctic Ocean and an atmospheric pattern in the Atlantic side that moved cold weather to more southern latitudes, scientists said.
http://www.adn.com/article/20160205/arc ... ow-january" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Arctic sea ice extent during January averaged 13.53 million square kilometers (5.2 million square miles), which is 1.04 million square kilometers (402,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average. This was the lowest January extent in the satellite record, 90,000 square kilometers (35,000 square miles) below the previous record January low that occurred in 2011. This was largely driven by unusually low ice coverage in the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, and the East Greenland Sea on the Atlantic side, and below average conditions in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk.
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Deforestation report for the Brazilian Amazon (November 2015) SAD
http://imazon.org.br/publicacoes/defore ... d/?lang=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Earth changes intensifying: Volcanoes across the globe go ballistic as 2016 arrives
https://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress ... 6-arrives/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

An enhanced solar wind stream contributed to periods of elevated geomagnetic activity at higher latitudes, including a short duration minor (G1) geomagnetic storm. Minor enhancements will remain possible during the next 24 hours.
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of minor geomagnetic storms today, Feb. 9th, when a CME could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magetic field. The nearly-new Moon favors dark skies for Arctic auroras.
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

In a speech in Washington last week, previewing his announcement, Ash Carter said he would ask for spending on US military forces in Europe to be quadrupled in the light of “Russian aggression”. The allocation for combating Islamic State, in contrast, is to be increased by 50%. The message is unambiguous: as viewed from the Pentagon, the threat from Russia has become more alarming, suddenly, even than the menace that is Isis.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... sia-europe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Allied warships now on a counter-terrorism mission in the Mediterranean and anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia could be reassigned to monitor and potentially go after human traffickers in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey. A naval mission, to be discussed Wednesday and Thursday at a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels, is controversial.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... fugee-flow" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

Silver and gold up a tad...markets down...

Gold climbed to the highest in a year, nearing bull-market territory, as investors sought a haven from tumbling stock markets after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested the central bank may delay raising interest rates.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... rates-path" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sweden's central bank cut its main interest rate even further below zero on Thursday as it sought to hold down the national currency to support a recovery in the inflation rate toward a 2% target.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sweden ... 1-54851335" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the Fed was taking another look at negative interest rates as a potential policy tool if the U.S. economy faltered, a scenario some investors view as a mounting possibility amid a darkening outlook for world growth.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... tes-in-u-s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There are “no limits” to how far central banks can ease monetary policy. That’s a recent declaration of both ECB President Mario Draghi and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, who have joined their counterparts in Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland in embracing interest rates of less than zero.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -way-lower" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

..they've dug quite a pit with debt...

When you find yourself in a hole, the saying goes, stop digging. A simple lesson that arguably has bypassed a mining industry that’s wiped out more than $1.4 trillion of shareholder value by digging too many holes around the globe. The industry’s 73% plunge from a 2011 peak is far beyond the oil industry’s 49% loss during the same time.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... look-great" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The relief rally of Wednesday stopped short, with European stocks falling for the eighth time in nine days, heading for their lowest levels since September 2013.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... nto-plunge" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hong Kong stocks headed for their worst start to a lunar new year since 1994 as a global equity rout deepened amid concern over the strength of the world economy.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... r-holidays" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The DAX Index has tumbled 16% this year through Wednesday, posting a loss that exceeds declines in France, the U.K. and Switzerland by as much as seven %age points. It plunged another 3.1% at 9:40 a.m. in Frankfurt. Carmakers such as BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler have already tumbled more than 23% this year on weakening demand there.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... nk-rebound" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wells Fargo CFO John Shrewsberry highlighted the bank’s $42 billion in total oil and gas credit in his presentation at the conference; 41% ($17.4 billion) is already outstanding. The lender already has prepared for losses in outstanding paper by setting aside $1.2 billion to offset credit losses. The difference between Wells’ energy exposure and many of its competitors is that much of the California-based bank’s paper is non-investment grade. But the finance chief doesn’t sound like he’s sweating it. “This is not new for Wells Fargo,” Shrewsberry said at the event, and he noted “most of these loans are senior secured credit facilities.”
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/10/european ... osure.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At least 67 U.S. oil and natural gas companies filed for bankruptcy in 2015, according to consulting firm Gavin/Solmonese. That represents a 379% spike from the previous year when oil prices were substantially higher.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/11/investi ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Borrowing costs for U.S. junk-rated energy companies have soared to records, with yields on their bonds surging past 20% for the first time, exceeding the past peak of about 17% in 2008, Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show. Moody’s expects the U.S. default rate to reach the highest in six years in 2016, and a growing pool of investment-grade energy debt will most likely be downgraded to junk in the near future.
http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/article ... der-market" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Should the Chinese banking system lose 10% of its assets because of nonperforming loans, the nation’s banks will see about $3.5 trillion in equity vanish, Bass, the founder of Hayman Capital Management, wrote in a letter to investors obtained by Bloomberg. The world’s second-biggest economy may end up having to print more than $10 trillion of yuan to recapitalize banks, pressuring the currency to devalue in excess of 30% against the dollar, according to Bass. Bass, 46, scored big after betting against mortgages in 2007, racking up gains as the world’s largest banks wrote off more than $80 billion in subprime losses.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ime-crisis" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After toying with the idea for nearly a decade, six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council group of countries—Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman—have agreed to introduce a value-added tax across the region in 2018, Younis Al Khoori, the U.A.E.’s undersecretary of finance, told The Wall Street Journal. The International Monetary Fund recently warned that the Middle East’s oil exporters face a $1 trillion budget shortfall if crude prices stay low and economic reforms aren’t introduced more quickly. It has urged Gulf governments to review their tax regimes and expressed support for the proposed value-added tax and other new tariffs.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-prof ... 00630.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MADINAH: A teacher armed with an automatic weapon stormed a Ministry of Education office in the southern region of Jazan and shot dead at least six people on Thursday, local media reported.
http://www.arabnews.com/featured/news/878801" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Saudi Arabia Makes "Final" Decision To Send Troops To Syria As US, Russia Spar Over Aleppo Strikes
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... eppo-strik" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

To Iran, Saudi Arabia sending troops to Syria is “suicidal,” at least according to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammad Ali Jafari, who made the remark Feb. 6 at the funeral of a senior IRGC officer who was killed in Syria. “The Saud family would probably not survive for long in such a confrontation. They are destroying their economy, and they simply do not have the capability to launch another war,” Marandi said in an interview with Al-Monitor. "A Saudi intervention in Syria would be illegal according to international law, and that would be a gift to Iran and Iraq to finally punish the Saudi regime.”
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origina ... syria.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

U.S. Navy rebukes Iran after propaganda video shows sailor crying
http://www.navytimes.com/story/military ... /80186322/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More Afghan Electricity Towers Destroyed, Raising Fears Of New Battle Tactic
http://www.rferl.org/content/afghanista ... 45913.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Will United States and Russia wipe each other off the face of Earth?
http://www.pravdareport.com/world/ameri ... sia_war-0/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russia says U.S. planes bombed Syria's Aleppo on Wednesday
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-midea ... SKCN0VK0JD" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Austria is considering closing its borders and expects Balkan countries will follow suit, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said on Thursday.
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160211/ ... order.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
PAJU, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul's earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North's recent rocket launch a "dangerous declaration of war."

North Korea said it was responding to Seoul's shutdown order by immediately deporting the hundreds of South Koreans who work at the complex just across the world's most heavily armed border in the city of Kaesong, pulling out the tens of thousands of North Korean employees and freezing all South Korean assets. The North also said it was shutting down two crucial cross-border communication hotlines.

"I was told not to bring anything but personal goods, so I've got nothing but my clothes to take back," a manager at a South Korean apparel company at the complex, who declined to give his name, told The Associated Press by phone before he crossed to the South.

North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement that the South's shutdown of Kaesong was a "dangerous declaration of war" and a "declaration of an end to the last lifeline of the North-South relations." Such over-the-top rhetoric is typical of the North's propaganda, but the country appeared to be backing up its language with its strong response.

The statement also issued crude insults against South Korean President Park Geun-hye, saying she masterminded the shutdown and calling her a "confrontational wicked woman" who lives upon "the groin of her American boss." Such sexist language is also typical of North Korean propaganda.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/korea-sh ... 34831.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Monterrey (Mexico) (AFP) - At least 52 inmates died in a Mexican prison on Thursday as prisoners ignited a fire during a brawl between two rival groups, authorities said.
http://news.yahoo.com/dozens-dead-mexic ... 50120.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

‘Acts of terror’: HSBC faces lawsuit over laundering of Mexican drug money
https://www.rt.com/uk/332135-hsbc-carte ... aundering/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Three of four occupiers at Oregon wildlife refuge surrender
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-orego ... SKCN0VK05F" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Single protester left at OR wildlife refuge after three others surrender to FBI
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/3119 ... der-to-fbi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Based on Conley’s readings, the state would estimate that in less than a month, Aliso released more than 68 million pounds of methane. Since then, it’s leaked 132 million pounds more, the state says, based on Conley’s subsequent flights. That makes Aliso potentially the largest-ever single release of methane into the atmosphere—at least, the largest ever recorded. If the leak is stopped by the end of March, the total cost could be about $250 million, he estimates. That includes roughly $115 million to stop the leak and relocate families, $40 million for civil liabilities, and $11 million in state fines. One of the biggest expenses could come from mitigating the climate damage, which the state says it will require. Buying carbon offsets would cost about $92 million, according to Barnes’s calculations. SoCalGas won’t comment on the liabilities. “Our focus is to stop the leak,” Cho says.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -leak-ever" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ecuador's government had recently granted Andes Petroleum Ecuador, a consortium of two Chinese state-owned oil firms, China National Petroleum Corp. and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., complete rights to explore two oil blocks in the Amazon jungle, which cover an area of about 500,000 acres. With the deal signed, the Chinese oil company would be able to fully explore the land and harvest its oil for the next four years. In order to earn the exploration rights, the Chinese conglomerate paid the Ecuadorian government about $80 million, a rather small amount for a massive piece of pristine, untouched jungle.
http://www.latinpost.com/articles/11307 ... ration.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

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while aggregate debt of Gen-Xers has admirably declined by 12% in the past 12 years, the aggregate debt of the average Baby Boomer has soared by an unprecedented 169%
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... t-12-years" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As of last week, 111 companies worldwide had defaulted on their obligations, the highest tally since 2009 when the the figure hit 242 for the same period.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... 5-s-p-says" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A new report by real estate site Trulia.com found that the number of renters across the United States grew by about five percentage points between 2006 and 2014, to just over 43 percent.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy ... ng-n516806" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico — the largest United States “territory” — is broke, and a human calamity is unfolding there. Unless a constructive course of political action is found in 2016, Puerto Rican migration to the 50 states will rival the scale of the 1930s Dust Bowl exodus from Oklahoma, Arkansas, and other climate-devastated states. With public debt service (principal plus interest) projected to reach nearly 40% of government revenue in 2016, Puerto Rico needs a new set of economic policies. One response has been to demand further belt-tightening, for example, in the form of wage reductions and health care cuts. But residents of Puerto Rico are also U.S. citizens and they vote with their feet — the population has fallen from 3.9 million to 3.5 million in recent years as talented and energetic people have moved to Florida, Texas, and other parts of the mainland.
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commen ... rrier=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ukraine is set to receive around $9bn in rescue cash in 2016, including $4.5bn from the IMF, $1.5bn from the EU, and $1bn loan guarantee from the United States, which will be released in the first quarter of next year.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... lapse.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Two 15-year-old girls have been shot dead at a high school in Arizona. The girls, who both had a single gunshot wound, were found dead and were lying next to a gun, police said.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... eport.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Massive gas leak plugged; residents seek return to normal
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There Will Be No OPEC Cut
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-Gener ... C-Cut.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

OPEC shows no sign of reversing its market strategy, and Iran has outlined plans to ramp up its exports once economic sanctions against the country are lifted. At the same time, the U.S. just repealed a four-decades old limit on its exports. With on-land inventories already at record levels, this could mean more barrels will eventually be stored on ships, further increasing profit, said Tsakos.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... sters-rule" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Large chunks of this cash are now being repatriated back to the region to finance widening budget deficits, which this year are expected to be in the region of 13% of GDP in the GCC. Should oil prices average $56 per barrel next year, then GCC states would need to liquidate some $208 billion of their overseas assets, or just below 10% of their sovereign fund holdings, based on a Breakingviews analysis of their fiscal break-even costs. But if oil prices fall to $20 a barrel, as Goldman Sachs has warned, the GCC states may have to sell $494 billion worth of booty to make up the budgetary shortfalls based on forecast fiscal costs for their oil production in 2016. This is provided they maintain the lavish rates of public spending that the region’s populations have become accustomed to.
http://www.breakingviews.com/arab-sover ... 69.article" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

N. Korea cuts all hotlines with South amid rising tensions
https://www.rt.com/news/332304-north-ko ... ine-south/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Patient with narcissistic personality disorder discovers massive source of narcissistic supply, so he sets about securing its regular delivery. So one comment about Mexicans turned into another about Megyn Kelly’s “wherever,” which turned into a call for a Black Lives Matter protester to be “roughed up,” which turned into an insane slapstick routine about a Times reporter with arthrogryposis, and so on. By December, you had to check Twitter every few hours just to see which cultural taboo Trump was stomping on now. The presidential campaign Trump began as just the latest in a long line of zany self-promotional gambits has now turned into the long-delayed other shoe dropping from the American civil rights movement. This goofball billionaire mirror-gazer has unleashed a half-century of crackpot grievances about the post-civil rights cultural landscape that a plurality of seething white people felt they never had permission to air, until he came along.

2015 was the same kind of mistaken-identity tale. The Silent Majority has been waiting 50 years for a prophet, but this year it settled for a billionaire loudmouth with a comb-over and a personality disorder. Like all comedies, this one is bound to end with an explosion of unintended consequences. What we won't know until 2016 is whether this joke will end up being on all of us — or just those of us who waited too long to take Trump's accidental war seriously.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/ne ... d-20151229" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

An eruption peaking at C8.9 was just observed at 21:03 UTC (Feb 11) around region 2497. Incoming imagery courtesy of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) suggests that a coronal mass ejection (CME) will be associated. More updates to follow. CME UPDATE #2: Complete coronagraph imagery is now available and appears to reveal a relatively faint, partial halo coronal mass ejection (CME). According to NOAA, a portion of the plasma cloud is Earth directed and could deliver a glancing blow to our geomagnetic field by late on Valentine's Day February 14th, or early 15th. This could lead to increased geomagnetic activity at higher latitudes. More to follow in the days ahead.
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sunspot AR2497 erupted on Feb. 11th (2103 UT), producing a C9-class solar flare and hurling a coronal mass ejection (CME) in space. Newly-arriving images from SOHO show that the CME does have an Earth-directed component: movie. NOAA analysts say it should reach our planet on Feb. 15th, possibly sparking minor geomagnetic storms.
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
mes5464
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 29570
Location: Seneca, South Carolina

Re: Blipits

Post by mes5464 »

I find it interesting how we get conflicting news on the same subject. For example, I have read news that oil prices are rising and production is dropping, then I read the opposite, sometimes in the same publication. It makes you wonder what is the truth.

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

mes5464 wrote:I find it interesting how we get conflicting news on the same subject. For example, I have read news that oil prices are rising and production is dropping, then I read the opposite, sometimes in the same publication. It makes you wonder what is the truth.
Yes...difficult to sort through it all at times. And the need for multiple sources...and the daily fight to get good information. Hopefully something Blipits is useful for....

I know lots of farmers that are buying 1000 gal fuel tanks because they are buying bulk diesel from .78 to .98 cents a gallon. I imagine the same from small farmers to countries like China. Definitely everyone is trying to fill every storage container they can get their hands on.
Much to the chagrin of Israel and any number of GOP lawmakers in the US, the nuclear accord is a done deal and creates a $100 billion windfall for Tehran.

And that’s just the beginning of the story.

Starting in Q1, Iran will ramp crude production by 500,000 b/d and by 1,000,000 b/d by year end. The sharp increase in production is expected to help Iran quintuple its oil revenue by the end of 2016 compared to what the country was pulling in while languishing under international sanctions.

Assuming $29/ barrel crude, Iran would bring in some $2.35 billion a month assuming production of 2.7 million b/d, which is below the 2.86 million b/d that Tehran actually pumped in January.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... ons-lifted" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Russia and Hezbollah are closing in on Aleppo, the country’s largest city and a key urban center where rebels are dug in for what amounts to a last stand. If the city is liberated by the government (and yes, “liberated” is more accurate than “falls” because occupied territory belongs to the Syrian government, not to Sunni extremists), Assad will have regained control of the country’s backbone in the west.

That would effectively mean the end of the rebellion and the Gulf monarchies, not to mention Turkey, are not happy about it. “The main battle is about cutting the road between Aleppo and Turkey, for Turkey is the main conduit of supplies for the terrorists,” Assad said in an interview with AFP on Friday.

That supply line has been severed and now, it’s do or die time for the rebels’ Sunni benefactors in Ankara, Riyadh, and Doha. Either intervene or watch as Hezbollah rolls up the opposition under cover of Russian airstrikes, restoring the Assad government and securing the Shiite crescent for the Iranians.

As we documented extensively this week, the Saudis and the Turks are now set to invade. Assad has promised to “confront them”, which of course means that the IRGC and Hassan Nasrallah's army are set to come into direct contact with Turkish and Saudi troops, setting the stage for an all-out sectarian war that will almost invariably end up pitting NATO against the Russians. Note that this is different from Yemen, where Tehran fights via proxies rather than directly against the Saudi military.

On Saturday the stakes were raised when Turkey said Saudi Arabia is set to send warplanes to Incirlik.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... airstrikes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Turkey Shells Aleppo, Says "Massive Escalation" In Syria Imminent As Saudis Ready Airstrikes
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... airstrikes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Saudi Arabia deploys fighter jets to Turkish air base
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/33e1e688-d262 ... 28e54.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Saudi Arabia sends troops and fighter jets to military base in Turkey ahead of intervention against Isis in Syria
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 71611.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russia warns the Saudis: Deploying ground troops in Syria would unleash ‘a new world war’
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world ... -world-war" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chilling claims ISIS have ‘gained NEW WEAPONS’ as they ‘shoot down Libyan jet’
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/643 ... Libyan-jet" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russia sends new cruise missile ship Zeleny Dol to Syria
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/02/13 ... v-Medvedev" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Congress passes tougher North Korea sanctions, sends bill to Obama
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/latestnew ... bill-Obama" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Not long ago, Shinzo Abe was being heralded for the early success of his grand design to bring Japan out of a deflationary spiral that had haunted the world’s third-biggest economy for two decades. Soon after Abe became prime minister in December 2012, the first two of the three tenets of his ‘Abenomics’ programme – monetary easing and fiscal stimulus – were having the desired effect. In the first year of the programme, the Nikkei index jumped nearly 60%, and the strong yen, the scourge of the country’s exporters, finally ceded ground to the US dollar. And in April 2013 came the appointment of Haruhiko Kuroda, a Bank of Japan governor who shared Abe’s zeal for deflation busting through ever looser monetary policy.

But by Friday, at the end of a dismal week for the Nikkei share index, market volatility caused by renewed fears over the health of the global economy has left Abe’s prescription for economic recovery in jeopardy. While, as some suggest, it is too early to read the last rites for Abenomics, few would disagree that its symptoms are in danger of becoming terminal.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/econom ... e-terminal" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Japan’s currency may extend its biggest two-week rally since 1998 as investors continue to seek out refuge assets amid market turmoil, according Citigroup Inc. State Street Global Advisors Inc., which oversees about $2.4 trillion, says it’s buying yen and selling dollars as the tumult gripping financial markets bolsters the Japanese currency’s appeal.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -citigroup" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

....called cheap money....
Money, debt, spent on ghost cities and on what now turn out to be ghost factories. Ghost jobs, ghost prosperity,a ghost future. Makes us wonder all the time what people thought when they saw China used as much cement in 2011-2013 as the US did in the entire 20th century. Did anyone think that would continue for decades, even grow perhaps? Have we lost all sense of perspective?

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How much cement or steel can one country need, even if it’s that large? How much coal and oil can it burn, let alone store? Blinded as we were, apart from the financial shenanigans, much of what the ‘developed nations’ engaged in since 2008 was overleveraged overinvestment, facilitated by ultra-low rates, in industries that would feed China’s hunger for ever more forever. Blind? Blinded?

And now we’re done. If Elon Musk doesn’t come back soon with a zillion little green Martians to pick up China’s slack, we’re all going to be forced to face just how distorted our media-fed visions of our economic futures have become, and how much pain it will take to un-distort them.

Which is what we’re watching crash down to mother earth now. And the central bankers’ loss of ‘omnipotence credibility’ is not something to be underestimated. It encourages people like Kyle Bass to dare the PBoC to show what it’s got left, even if, as Bass said, he’s got maybe a billion to go up against the multi-trillion Chinese state windmills of Beijing. It shouldn’t matter, but it does. Because the windmills are crumbling.

As we watch the world crash down to earth in epic fashion -and it ain’t even the 1st inning- people are already looking for a bottom to all of this (a waste of time). But if there’s one law in economics, it’s that when a bubble pops it always ends up below where it started. So look at where levels were before the bubble was blown, and then look out below.

Want to argue that this is not a bubble? Good luck. This is the mother of ’em all.

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http://www.theautomaticearth.com/2016/0 ... st-rattle/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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The Baltic Dry Index, which measures the cost of shipping coal, iron ore, grain, and other non-oil commodities, has fallen 76% since August and is now at a record low. Shipping rates for Asia-originated routes have dropped, too, and traffic at some of the region’s major ports is falling. In Singapore, the world’s second-largest port, container traffic fell 8.7% in 2015, the first decline in six years. Volumes at the port of Hong Kong, the fourth-busiest, slid 9.5% last year. Beyond Asia, the giant port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands recorded a dip in containerized traffic for the year. Globally, orders for new vessels dropped 40% in 2015, to $69 billion, according to Clarksons Research. The demolition rate for unwanted vessels jumped 15%.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... e-slowdown" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China’s foreign reserves fell for a third straight month in January, as the central bank dumped dollars to defend the yuan and prevent an increase in capital outflows.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china ... SKCN0VM05L" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Total U.S. debt breaks $19 trillion mark: Total debt rises by $8.4 trillion in last 8 years and is on pace to hit $22 trillion by 2020.

Total U.S. debt blew right through the $19 trillion mark and has expanded by $8.4 trillion only in the last 8 years. There are countless obligations in the form of Social Security, Medicare, military, education, and other expenses that almost guarantee that total U.S. debt is going to expand further. This brings up an interesting situation in the respect that we will never pay this debt off. I think people get this, right? In fact, the entire debt foundation is built merely on the servicing of debt, not the actual payoff. Yet the amount of interest we owe is now also ridiculous. In December alone we paid $86 billion in interest for one month. The pace of debt growth is unsustainable and has created a world where central banks are chasing negative interest rates just to keep servicing costs low assuming they can find a borrower.

As of the end of January, total U.S. debt hit $19,012,827,698,417.93. And $8.4 trillion of that growth happened in the last 8 years:
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http://www.mybudget360.com/total-us-deb ... blic-debt/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Americans in their 50s, 60s and 70s are carrying unprecedented amounts of debt, a shift that reflects both the aging of the baby boomer generation and their greater likelihood of retaining mortgage, auto and student debt at much later ages than previous generations. The average 65-year-old borrower has 47% more mortgage debt and 29% more auto debt than 65-year-olds had in 2003, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released Friday. For the last two years, household debts have been slowly rising, although they remain well below where they were in 2008. That trend continued in the final quarter of 2015, with overall household indebtedness rising by $51 billion to $ 12.1 trillion.
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/new-york- ... 0212-00427" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When it comes to residential mortgages, big banks are waving the white flag. Banks originated 74% of all mortgages in 2007, but their share fell to 52% in 2014, the most recent data available from the Mortgage Bankers Association. And it could go even lower. But even at these levels, the big bank backtrack is reshaping a lending landscape that’s already undergone seismic shifts since the housing bubble burst.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/big-ba ... 2016-02-12" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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There are over $1.8 trillion of US junk bonds outstanding. It’s the lifeblood of over-indebted corporate America. When yields began to soar over a year ago, and liquidity began to dry up at the bottom of the scale, it was “contained.” Yet contagion has spread from energy, metals, and mining to other industries and up the scale. According to UBS, about $1 trillion of these junk bonds are now “stressed” or “distressed.” And the entire corporate bond market, which is far larger than the stock market, is getting antsy. The average yield of CCC or lower-rated junk bonds hit the 20% mark a week ago. The last time yields had jumped to that level was on September 20, 2008, in the panic after the Lehman bankruptcy. Today, that average yield is nearly 22%! Today even the average yield spread between those bonds and US Treasuries has breached the 20% mark. Last time this happened was on October 6, 2008, during the post-Lehman panic:
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/02/12/how-fi ... os-begins/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Trading volumes in the credit-default swaps market — where banks and fund managers go to hedge against losses on corporate and government debt — have surged. Transactions tied to individual entities doubled in the four weeks ended Feb. 5 to a daily average of $12 billion, according to a JPMorgan analysis of trade repository data. The volume of contracts on benchmark indexes in the market increased two-fold during that period to an average of $87 billion a day.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... nic-button" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oregon Treasurer and Portland mayoral candidate Ted Wheeler issued a statement last week noting that the state pension fund’s investment returns were 2.1% in 2015. That beat the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and topped the performance of 88% of comparable institutional investment funds. What Wheeler’s statement didn’t mention was that investment returns for the year still fell 5.6 percentage points below the system’s 7.75% assumed rate of return for 2015. That’s terrible news for public employers and taxpayers. It means the pension system’s unfunded liability just increased by another 20% — growing from $18 billion at the end of 2014 to between $21 and $22 billion a year later. That will put renewed upward pressure on payments the system’s 925 public-sector employers are required to make.
http://www.argusobserver.com/news/pensi ... 3fe01.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


If one line of reasoning for the plunge in bank stocks is that monetary policy has lost its punch, investors would do well to recall a law of modern investing: “Don’t fight the Fed.” As the week draws to a close, some Wall Street economists and strategists say monetary authorities have plenty more tricks up their sleeve – even after more than 635 interest-rate cuts since the financial crisis by Bank of America’s reckoning and with central banks now sitting on more than $23 trillion of assets. “Time and time again policy makers have shown themselves to be bolder and more inventive than asset markets give them credit for,” Stephen Englander, Citigroup’s New York-based global head of Group-of-10 currency strategy, said in a report to clients late on Thursday. “Pessimism is unwarranted.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... rs-sleeves" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...notice that the ownership of all assets are flowing to the central banks (and their small private ownership)? This is the design of the current financial system starting with the creation and implementation of the Federal Reserve system...the culmination of a 100+ years of planning and financial strategy. What did it cost them for that $23 trillion in assets? The cost of creating a system of credit and issuing that credit. In the last several decades...the cost of entering 1's and 0's into a computer. I suppose there are lots of peripheral business costs though like buying off government officials, politicians, and bankrolling control enterprises like CIA and NSA for starters (although those are heavily subsidized by the people, drug trafficking, and other enterprises)....

Henry Kissinger came to Moscow to discuss new financial system with Putin
http://www.pravdareport.com/society/sto ... r_putin-0/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Martial Law in Burns, Oregon: Post Siege, Feds Terrorizing Local Citizens at Gunpoint
http://thelastgreatstand.com/2016/02/13 ... -gunpoint/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Austrians should have the constitutional right to use cash to protect their privacy, Deputy Economy Minister Harald Mahrer said, as the European Union considers curbing the use of banknotes and coins.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ahrer-says" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As we've documented extensively, Venezuela is staring down an imminent default, despite the fact that the country does in fact try to service its debt. As Barclays noted last month, the country will need to spend 90% of its oil revenue on debt payments assuming $32 crude. Obviously, that's not a tenable proposition.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... -emergency" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Venezuela Is Out of Food: Here’s What an Economic Collapse Really Looks Like
http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/venezue ... e-02132016" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

With the proposed connection between the Zika virus and Brazil's outbreak of microcephaly in new born babies looking increasingly tenuous, Latin American doctors are proposing another possible cause: Pyriproxyfen, a pesticide used in Brazil since 2014 to arrest the development of mosquito larvae in drinking water tanks. Might the 'cure' in fact be the poison?
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_a ... phaly.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Gov. Cuomo releases update on radioactive leak at Indian Point
http://cbs6albany.com/news/local/gov-cu ... dian-point" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cuomo to launch probe into troubled Indian Point power plant as radioactive leak gets worse
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ind ... -1.2526779" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Critics decry radioactive leak at New York nuclear plant
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/8a2057bc ... lear-plant" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tritium Levels Spike In Groundwater Tests At Indian Point
http://wamc.org/post/tritium-levels-spi ... t#stream/0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Despite rough seas and harsh winter weather, more than 80,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe by boat during the first six weeks of 2016, more than in the first four months of 2015, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, announced today. In addition it said more than 400 people had lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean. However, despite the dangers over 2,000 people a day continue to risk their lives and the lives of their children attempting to reach Europe. Comparable figures for 2015 show such numbers only began arriving in July. Fleming added that over 91% of those arriving in Greece come from the world’s top ten refugee producing countries, including Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
http://www.unhcr.org/56bdf0f26.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Huge Temperature Swings to Sock the Northeast Ahead of Early-Week Storm

From frigid, near-record lows this weekend to mild, soggy highs on Tuesday, New York and New England are about to experience one of the most dramatic chill-down-to-warm-up sequences in memory. The brief but sharp cold will extend across the eastern U.S., but the most dramatic temperature swings are expected from Washington, D.C., northward. Some locations from Philadelphia to Portland will rocket from temperatures near or below 0°F on Saturday night--plus much lower wind chills--to readings near or above 50°F by Tuesday.

The weather whiplash is being produced by a highly dynamic pattern that’s pushing cold northerly winds across the region this weekend. As we discussed on Wednesday, this is a deep-layered cold intrusion rather than a shallow, frigid surface air mass. This means that the cold may not set dramatic records at low-elevation towns and cities, but at higher elevations, the chill will be truly exceptional (see below). Because there won’t be a sharp inversion locking in the surface cold air, it will be much easier to scour out than usual. That’s exactly what will happen from Sunday through Tuesday as a strong surface low spins up over the Carolinas and moves northward near the coast, perhaps just inland or just offshore. To the east of the storm, winds will be howling at all levels from the south, pushing in mild maritime air to displace the weekend chill. The orientation of this flow may actually bring milder temperatures to New England than to the mid-Atlantic, accentuating the whiplash effect further north.

The exact track of this storm--impossible to pin down at this point--will dictate how a potpourri of heavy rain, sleet, freezing rain, and snow evolves across the region. The ECMWF model has consistently taken the surface low inland toward central New York, whereas the GFS model has trended further east, but with more run-to-run variation.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... yweek-stor" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Three dead as 'total whiteout' causes FIFTY-vehicle pile-up on Pennsylvania highway as polar vortex sweeps across the north east and New York braces for windchill of -24F
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... l-22F.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The coldest temperatures in a DECADE': 'Life-threatening' polar vortex hits the Northeast for record-breaking icy weekend
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ecade.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good morning folks. Here is a look at region 2497 as it rotates across the northwest quadrant on Saturday. Solar activity during the past 24 hours declined to low levels with numerous B-Flares and C-Flares observed around the active region. The cluster of sunspots still maintains a delta magnetic layout and should remain a threat for a moderately strong solar flare during the next 24 hours. All of the other visible regions were either stable or in a state of decay. No Earth directed coronal mass ejections were observed during the past day. A reminder that a minor (G1) geomagnetic storm watch will be in effect beginning tomorrow (Feb 14) as a CME observed late on February 11th could deliver a glancing blow to our geomagnetic field. Sky watchers at very high latitudes should be alert for visual aurora displays should the event unfold.
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sunspot AR2497 is crackling with M-class solar flares, and it has developed a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for even stronger X-flares. Any eruptions this weekend will be geoeffective as the sunspot is approximately facing Earth.
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NOAA forecasters estimate a 50% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms on Valentine's Day. This in in response to a CME, expected to strike Earth's magnetic field during the late hours of Feb. 14th. Sunday could bring a romantic evening to the Arctic Circle.
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Region 2497 has the potential to show us some love with a moderately strong solar flare withing the next 24 hours.
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At least two-thirds of the global population, over 4 billion people, live with severe water scarcity for at least one month every year, according to a major new analysis. The revelation shows water shortages, one of the most dangerous challenges the world faces, is far worse previously than thought. The new research also reveals that 500m people live in places where water consumption is double the amount replenished by rain for the entire year, leaving them extremely vulnerable as underground aquifers run down.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... arch-finds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

Since the fall of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, eight of Europe’s biggest banks have announced layoffs adding up to about 100,000 employees, paid $63 billion in legal penalties, and lost $420 billion in market value. In 2015, Deutsche Bank lost a record €6.8 billion ($7.6 billion). In mid-February the industry suffered an epic selloff as subzero interest rates, China’s slowdown, the oil crash, and looming regulatory and litigation costs triggered an outbreak of fear not seen since the fall of 2008.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/ ... ntech-loom" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China Created More Debt In January Than The GDP Of Norway, Austria Or The UAE
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... ria-or-uae" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Amid a tumbling stock market, plunging trade data, weakening Yuan, and soaring volatility, China’s aggregate debt (so-called total social financing) rose a stunning CNY3.42 trillion (or an even more insane-sounding $520 billion) in January alone. In fact, since October, China has added over 1 trillion dollars of credit… and has nothing but margin calls, ghost-er cities, and over-supplied commodity-warehouses to show for it… oh and even-record-er debt-to-GDP ratio.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... bt-january" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image

Soured loans at Chinese commercial banks rose to the highest level since June 2006 as the nation’s economic expansion slowed to the weakest pace in a quarter century. Nonperforming loans rose 7% from September to 1.27 trillion yuan ($196 billion) by December, the slowest quarterly increase in two years, data from the China Banking Regulatory Commission showed Monday. Including “special-mention” loans, where future repayment is at risk but yet to become nonperforming, the industry’s total troubled loans swelled to 4.2 trillion yuan, representing 5.46% of total advances.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... nomy-slows" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Chinese authorities are bolstering the yuan, in part, by selling off chunks of their foreign currency reserves and dumping dollars in the market. Nonetheless, the money stock in China is growing about twice the pace of its economy, at about 14% year-on-year.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/15/chinas-p ... ntuan.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The three biggest banks are losing capital. A crisis of staggering proportions is looming in China, and tiny Singapore will be caught right in the middle of the storm once the disaster finally erupts. Speaking at the annual Barron’s roundtable, Swiss billionaire investor Felix Zulauf warned that Singapore’s largest banks are at risk of massive capital outflows if the Chinese economy experiences a hard landing, which he expects will happen this year. “We are in a down cycle that will end with crisis and calamity. China in today’s cycle is what US housing was during the financial crisis in 2008,” Zulauf warned. Zulauf warned that capital outflows in China will continue, prompting regulators to devalue the yuan by as much as 15% to 20% within the year.
http://sbr.com.sg/financial-services/ne ... ire-zulauf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China's exports fell 11.2 percent on-year in January, while imports declined 18.8 percent, clocking far bigger slides than expected by analysts.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/14/china-re ... ports.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chinese Exports Plunge 11.2 Percent As Economic Activity Continues To Collapse All Over The Planet
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archiv ... the-planet" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Thing is, deflation starts not at the top, it starts at the bottom. It’s not the banks or the bankers or the well-off who are maxed out and stop spending, but the people in the street.

They are responsible for most of the spending in an economy, and therefore for the velocity with which money moves in a society. And if the velocity of money falls below a critical point, no increase in the other side of the inflation/deflation equation -the money/credit supply- can make up for the difference. There is a point where all of the King’s horses and all of the King’s central bankers can’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.

The people in the street are not just maxed out in the sense that they have no money, they have less than no money, since they’re deep in debt. An increasing part of whatever they do still have, and what they make in their ever lower paying jobs, goes toward debt payments. Yeah, that’s the giant sucking sound.
http://www.theautomaticearth.com/2016/0 ... omes-from/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Velocity of M2 Money Stock
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/M2V" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Velocity of M1 Money Stock
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/M1V" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Velocity of MZM Money Stock
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MZMV" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In the 11 days since the BOJ board’s announcement, the benchmark Nikkei index has fallen 8.5%, despite a sharp rebound on Monday, while the yen has climbed 6.5% against the dollar. Japanese bank shares have slumped by as much as 30% as they are unlikely to pass on negative rates to savers, who already get negligible interest on their deposits but would baulk at paying to save. Negative rates could push down bank operating profits by 8-15%, Standard and Poor’s said. The 10-year Japanese government bond yield nitially fell below zero on the easing – a first among Group of Seven economies. But it has recovered from minus 0.035% last week to 0.090% above zero, with Japanese markets becoming more unstable as investors are at a loss on how to reckon fair value.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan ... SKCN0VP08T" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Soldiers from 20 countries are to gather in Saudi Arabia for massive military exercises lasting 18 days, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said. It comes as Riyadh has openly warned Syrian President Bashar Assad that he will be toppled.

The Saudi state agency made the announcement on Sunday, adding that participating troops will begin arriving in “the next few hours.”

The oil-rich nation described the exercises as “the largest and most important” military drills in the region’s history.

The so-called “Northern Thunder” exercise will take place in the north of the country and will include air, sea and land forces. SPA said that it will show that Riyadh and its allies “stand united in confronting all challenges and preserving peace and stability in the region.”
https://www.rt.com/news/332454-saudi-arabia-big-drills/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

350,000 soldiers, 20,000 tanks, 2,450 warplanes and 460 military helicopters are massing in northern Saudi Arabia for a military exercise that is being called “Northern Thunder”. According to the official announcement, forces are being contributed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Sudan, Kuwait, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia and several other nations. This exercise will reportedly last for 18 days, and during that time the airspace over northern Saudi Arabia will be closed to air traffic. This will be the largest military exercise in the history of the region, and it comes amid rumors that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are preparing for a massive ground invasion of Syria.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/arch ... vade-syria" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

According to the source - “the gates of hell will be open in the next 3 months in Syria against al-Qaeda and its allies and also against ISIS. As agreed in Geneva between Russia and the United States, any cease-fire shall not include Jihadists and their allies. If Syrian opposition groups do not disengage from al-Qaeda, they will be considered legitimate targets because they become united as one group and will be dealt with accordingly”.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/saudi-troo ... os/5507857" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Syria and Iraq Conflict Without Borders: 2015 Year in Review
https://info.publicintelligence.net/DoS ... a-2016.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Turkey Will "Definitely" Join Ground Operation In Syria, Accuses Russia Of "War Crimes"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... war-crimes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Turkey Seeks Allies' Support For Ground Operation In Syria
http://www.rferl.org/content/syria-turk ... 55655.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Greek police have arrested three British men in two separate operations on suspicion of trying to move a large number of guns and ammunition into Turkey. The men, aged 22, 28 and 39 and all Iraqi Kurds with British passports, were found to have tens of thousands of small-calibre cartridges and more than 20 pistols and rifles close to the border with Turkey on Saturday evening.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/f ... -in-greece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran will sign a contract with Russia for the purchase of Sukhoi-30 fighter jets, Iran's defense minister said Wednesday.
http://www.myfoxboston.com/news/iran-to ... a/70185829" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON — The US State Department has approved the sales of eight F-16 Block-52 aircraft and other equipment to Pakistan worth $699 million, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced Friday.
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defens ... /80304896/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

KABUL - The number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan during 2015 are the highest recorded, the UN said today on the release of its 2015 Annual Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict. The annual report, produced by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in coordination with the UN Human Rights Office, shows that increased ground fighting in and around populated areas, along with suicide and other attacks in major cities, were the main causes of conflict-related civilian deaths and injuries in 2015.
https://unama.unmissions.org/civilian-c ... -high-2015" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Paragon Offshore, which operates offshore drilling rigs from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Sea, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday evening, the latest filing in a painful shakeout buffeting the oil industry. The company was able to negotiate a deal with its lenders — a mix of bondholders and banks — ahead of its bankruptcy filing. The so-called prepackaged bankruptcy agreement sealed last week allowed Paragon to cut its $2.7 billion of debt by about $1.1 billion and to keep operating.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/16/busin ... .html?_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Core retail sales in South America’s most important economy slid 2.7% M/M in December, erasing a meager gain the country eked out in November when the numbers got a boost from promotions.

Broad retail sales, on the other hand, declined 0.9% marking the eleventh decline in thirteen months. They’re now off more than 16% since peaking in August of 2012.

The breakdown is a veritable disaster, with sales of office and telecommunications equipment down 9.1%, furniture and appliances down 8.7%, and clothing and footwear lower by 2.1%. Goldman sums it up: “The near-term outlook for private consumption and retail sales remains challenging owing to the continuing deceleration of credit flows from both private and public banks, high levels of household indebtedness, declining employment and real wages, higher interest rates, rising local and federal taxes (including via inflation), higher utility and transportation tariffs, heightened economic and political uncertainty and depressed consumer confidence.” Oh, is that all?

Here’s what “disaster” looks like:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... dit-crisis" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image

Call it fingerprints for food. In the latest effort to keep shelves stocked in Venezuela, the government on Tuesday will begin registering the biometric information of customers who use state-run grocery stores. President Nicolás Maduro says the measure will prevent hoarding and help keep price-controlled food from being resold for a profit on the black market. Food Minister Félix Osorio said those who sign up for the program by registering their fingerprints will be eligible for discounts and prizes.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation- ... 62147.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Andrea Nahles has called for €450 million to help integrate refugees into the labour market. EurActiv Germany reports. Nahles has asked for nearly half a billion euros from Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble in order to provide better access to jobs, according to German media. Nahles told the Funke Mediengruppe that the current budget is not sufficient. In order to create 100,000 new jobs for new arrivals to Germany, she needs at least €450 million extra per year. The arrival of over 1 million refugees last year has put a strain on nearly every aspect of German society, with the health, education and employment sectors all struggling to cope with the influx of people. Germany’s situation is paralleled In Turkey, where legislation has been passed to allow Syrians to work legally in the country.
http://www.euractiv.com/section/social- ... -refugees/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Law Enforcement Arrests Domestic Extremists for Illegal Occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
https://info.publicintelligence.net/DHS ... pation.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ARMED INDIVIDUAL
https://info.publicintelligence.net/USS ... iduals.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When Poindexter tried to awaken Scalia about 8:30 the next morning, the judge’s door was locked and he did not answer. Three hours later, Poindexter returned after an outing, with a friend of Scalia who had come from Washington with him. “We discovered the judge in bed, a pillow over his head. His bed clothes were unwrinkled,” said Poindexter.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/ ... 830372.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
According to a report from Pemex released in November of 2015, incidents of illegal pipeline tapping rose a staggering 43.7 percent in 2014 over the previous year. This amounts to over 4,100 recorded pipeline taps and over 7 million liters of stolen gasoline. Pemex estimates the cost of the thefts to be $1.29 billion.

But lost revenue is just part of the story.

Fuel theft is incredibly dangerous, and there are increasing reports of injuries and death. Earlier this month, criminals illegally tapped a pipeline, causing an explosion. They were lucky to escape without injury but the pipeline had to be shut down while officials investigated the theft and repaired the damage.

In addition to pipeline tapping, thieves have reportedly broken through security perimeters at fuel facilities and raided disabled transport trucks.

Environmental damage is also a major concern for Mexican officials.

In September, an illegal pipeline tap caused 4,000 barrels of crude to pour into the San Juan River, threatening the immediate water supply for surrounding residents and farmers.

Just downstream from the spill sits Monterrey, Mexico’s third largest city and home to over 4.1 million people. Pemex assigned more than 500 people to assist with the clean-up, which is expected to take months. The full scope of the environmental damage to the surrounding plant and wildlife may not be understood for quite some time.

Criminal organizations have clearly seen an opportunity in fuel theft.

The Zetas gang reportedly has an entire cell dedicated to fuel theft. Their operatives are equipped with specialized vehicles that can smuggle thousands of liters of stolen fuel. This new form of profit is an obvious departure from their usual means of revenue, which include drug smuggling and kidnapping.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... pecialized" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Every January, Bill Gates sets out his vision for a better world and the role the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation can play in achieving this in an annual letter to us all. With assets of $43.5 billion, the foundation is the largest charitable foundation in the world. It is arguably the most influential actor on issues of global health and agriculture, and distributes more aid for global health than any government. At present, the foundation is obliged to only report its high level financial figures to the US government and its programmes are not subject to independent or public evaluation.

When it comes to global health and agriculture policies, two of its key grant areas, the BMGF has become probably the most
influential actor in the world. It is also likely that Bill Gates, who has regular access to world leaders and is in effect personally bankrolling hundreds of universities, international organisations, NGOs and media outlets, has become the single most influential voice in international development. Unlike governments, which are formally accountable to their electorates, the BMGF is a private US foundation, and remains unaccountable to public bodies (except for tax reporting purposes).

The evidence suggests that the Gates Foundation has bought itself a role in a number of highly influential global organisations. The vast sums of money given by the BMGF are allowing it to operate a global patronage system whereby it is in effect buying the loyalty of influential actors. the BMGF has been the largest or second largest contributor to the World Health Organisatio’s budget in recent years. The BMGF provided 11 per cent of the WHO’s entire budget in 2015, which is 14 times greater than the UK government’s contribution. The foundation has also become the world’s largest funder of health research for communicable diseases, such as TB, malaria and HIV- financing more than the WHO itself. Seed money from the foundation launched the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation(GAVI) in 1999, on which board the foundation sits as one of four permanent members (along with WHO, UNICEF and the World Bank). The BMGF has given $2.5 billion to the GAVI Alliance since 2000.

In February 2012, the Gates Foundation announced it was giving $200 million to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), one of the three Rome-based agricultural organisations of the UN. The BMGF has given CGIAR $720 million since 2003 and in 2014, the BMGF was the world’s third largest donor to the CGIAR Fund (after the US and UK) contributing 13 per cent of its entire budget. Merck currently sits on the board of the Global Fund while members of the GAVI board always include companies inthe International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, which involves GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, and Pfizer, among others.
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/sites/d ... ce-now.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More records fall as California heat wave continues
http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topsto ... ar-BBpxufE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A winter’s worth of cold seemed to be stuffed into this President’s Day weekend across the eastern United States. The most frigid air in years--in some places, in decades--swept across much of the Northeast from Friday into Sunday. Borne on strong northwest winds, the Arctic air had little chance to modify, which allowed subzero readings to penetrate virtually all of New England, including Nantucket Island and Provincetown, MA--a rare occurrence even in this chilly corner of the United States. Crisp sunshine allowed a feeble recovery on Sunday, but the bigger shift began on Monday with the gradual organization of a major inland storm. A precipitation shield extending from the mid-Atlantic to New England began as snow but will transition to freezing rain in many areas and eventually to heavy rain by Tuesday, as the freezing line whips northward (it was already through the D.C. area by late Monday). Further south, multiple tornadoes were reported on Monday afternoon along the central Gulf Coast as several supercell thunderstorms spun up within a larger region of severe weather.

Meanwhile, Westerners are asking “What winter?”, as springlike conditions work their way eastward from California. Beneath a stout upper-level ridge, southern California is pleasantly warm but unnervingly dry, while forecasters in Phoenix, AZ, are projecting that Wednesday could be the city’s earliest 90°F day on record by a full week.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... -northeast" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How hot is Oklahoma? Another round of three earthquakes struck near the towns of Fairview and Mooreland last week. These registered just under the benchmark of 3.0 magnitude, which is considered to the level at which most people feel them, but that’s just a taste. So far this year alone, more than 90 earthquakes of 3.0 or greater have hit the state....the small town of Cushing, Okla., received special attention. Even though it is home to fewer than 10,000 people, Cushing is the largest commercial oil storage hub in North America, second only in size to the U.S. government’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
https://cleantechnica.com/2016/02/15/ke ... rthquakes/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Earth is entering a stream of high-speed solar wind, and this is causing G1-class geomagetic storms around the Arctic Circle on Feb. 16th. This is not the CME we have been waiting for since Valentine's Day. Instead, the solar wind is flowing from a coronal hole on the sun. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of continued geomagnetic storms today, increasing to 55% on Feb. 17th.
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
iWriteStuff
blithering blabbermouth
Posts: 5523
Location: Sinope
Contact:

Re: Blipits

Post by iWriteStuff »

Jason - maybe this is a dumb question, but how likely do you think it is that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait et al will really be invading Syria under the pretext of fighting ISIS? There seems to be a lot of rumblings in the foreign press but a near white wash of the issue here in the U.S. If true, and if Russia responds as predicted, I think the event would be far more significant than the attention it has(n't) been getting...

Thoughts/opinions?

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

iWriteStuff wrote:Jason - maybe this is a dumb question, but how likely do you think it is that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait et al will really be invading Syria under the pretext of fighting ISIS? There seems to be a lot of rumblings in the foreign press but a near white wash of the issue here in the U.S. If true, and if Russia responds as predicted, I think the event would be far more significant than the attention it has(n't) been getting...

Thoughts/opinions?
Its not entirely clear to me exactly why Syria is such a strategic position. I've been studying it...but have yet to come across information that really resonates and makes sense.

As such (without the Why) its very difficult to estimate How bad they want it...and to guess as to what lengths they will go to obtain it. Or for the Russians, Iranians, and others to try and prevent that. For example Afghanistan has poppies...95% of the world's heroin production...big big business.

Plenty of opinions out there like this one...

Washington’s Machiavellian Game in Syria
http://journal-neo.org/2016/02/17/washi ... -in-syria/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...and this one...

The Russian Intervention – Why Syria, Why Now
http://uchicagogate.com/2015/11/12/the- ... a-why-now/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...and this one...

What is the strategic importance of Syria?
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-strat ... e-of-Syria" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...and this one...

Why the Push for Syrian Intervention Is About More Than Just Assad
http://www.thenation.com/article/why-pu ... ust-assad/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...but not quite gelling together for me...your thoughts on it???

Certainly a proxy battleground to a large degree....
The Army of Conquest, or Jaish al-Fatah in Arabic, is a loose alliance of armed rebel groups formed in March to fight the forces of President Bashar al-Assad. It is not a unified army; its member groups share resources and coordinate their efforts in battle, but they remain independent, and there is no overall military commander.

The alliance consists of a number of mostly Islamist factions, including the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate; Ahrar al-Sham, another large group; and more moderate rebel factions that have received covert arms support from the intelligence services of the United States and its allies.

Some of its fighters want to found an Islamist government in Syria, while others want a secular state. But they are united in opposing both the Assad government and the Islamic State, the jihadist group that holds large areas of Syria and Iraq and has declared a caliphate there.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/world ... .html?_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...more of the same...
http://www.syriadeeply.org/op-eds/2015/ ... ria/?lang=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Aleppo is Syria's second-largest city. And after four years of war, the eastern side of the city, held by opposition groups, is now largely rubble. The western side of the city is held by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. And last week, the Assad regime announced that it is beginning a final push to take all of Aleppo with help from Russia and from Iran.

The Russians are essentially providing air cover for the Assad regime and for Iranian-backed forces to try and encircle the city. They've been trying to do it for years, sort of finger or hand reaching up from the east towards the west to encircle the city and the rebels inside, and they've been unable to do it. They're going to again.

They might succeed in closing the gap. But, again, the regime and those forces would have to take and hold that city, and that's where the regime has always fallen short. The manpower disadvantage the regime has after four years of war is significant. So what I think any kind of taking of Aleppo might take quite some time.
http://www.npr.org/2015/10/19/449862285 ... ias-aleppo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Syrian forces backed by Russian airpower have made major advances across the battlefield along multiple fronts.

Around Aleppo, Syrian forces have cut supply lines from Turkey that were for years, supplying terrorists operating inside the country. Just east of a growing encirclement of the city of Aleppo, a secondary encirclement of so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS) forces is forming as the offensive to relieve Kuweris Airbase has evolved into a northern advance toward Al Bab – a critical logistical hub used by US-NATO-GCC backed terrorists during the initial invasion of Aleppo in 2012 and onward.

Deeper within the interior of Syria, Syrian forces have advanced eastward into the Al Raqqa Governorate, approaching the Tabaqa Airbase. The airbase is a crucial waypoint toward seizing back the city of Al Raqqa itself, which has become the defacto capital of ISIS.

This second operation aimed at ISIS in Al Raqqah has only been made possible because of successes amid the first operation around Aleppo and along the Turkish-Syrian border. It is now demonstrably clear that the source of ISIS’ fighting capacity originated almost exclusively from NATO-member Turkey’s territory and more specifically, from between the Afrin-Jarabulus corridor.

So far, NATO has been unable to account for this obvious fact, or explain why it has been unable to secure the Turkish border from the Turkish side, particularly when nations including the United States and United Kingdom have for years been conducting military and intelligence operations precisely in the same locations ISIS supplies have been crossing over into Syria from.

As Syrian and Kurdish forces backed by Russian airpower close one logistical corridor after another along the border, the fighting capacity of ISIS has withered to the verge of collapsing.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/syria-at-t ... ar/5508349" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In recent months, the military stalemate that defined the Syrian conflict after 2013 was broken by the unrelenting onslaught by the Russian military.

Today, the Syrian conflict is congealing in the Northern parts of the country with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Kurdish forces, and regime-aligned groups all converging around the remaining rebel-held areas.

And this is precisely what the Russian intervention was always about -to eliminate the geographic and political space between ISIL and the Syrian regime, and to present the international community with this most abominable of options for the future of Syria: Either ISIL or the Syrian regime.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/02/s ... 21442.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lots of rambling and sabre rattling...
Military moves: Turkey and Saudi Arabia close ranks on Syria
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspec ... yria-.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kremlin asks to distinguish between Russia-Saudi Arabia dialogues on oil, Syria
http://tass.ru/en/politics/857263" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russia and Saudi Arabia on course to collision in Syria
http://www.timesofisrael.com/russia-and ... -in-syria/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Video: Raining Shells: Turkish army fires on Kurdish forces in Syria
http://rinf.com/alt-news/multimedia/vid ... -in-syria/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Syria's president announces amnesty for army deserters
http://tass.ru/en/world/857390" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russia dismisses proposal for creating no-fly zone in Syria
http://217.218.67.231/Detail/2016/02/17 ... ne-Merkel/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Stratfor, the US-based intelligence think tank often called the 'Shadow CIA', has released satellite photos showing a buildup of Russian air power at the Hmeymim Airbase in Latakia, northwest Syria. The think tank bluntly warns that if Turkey or Saudi Arabia were to attack Syrian forces, they would be "met with significant Russian air defenses."
http://sputniknews.com/military/2016021 ... fense.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'We have proof' Turkey backs ISIS & other terrorists – Kurdish commander
https://www.rt.com/news/332794-kurds-pr ... islamists/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wesley Clark: In Syria, Russia is the real threat (updated)
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2 ... /80228140/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Why Are Neocons So Desperate To Rescue al-Qaeda in Syria?
http://antiwar.com/blog/2016/02/12/why- ... -in-syria/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At least 28 dead, 61 injured as blast hits military bus in Turkish capital Ankara
https://www.rt.com/news/332788-ankara-b ... tary-dorm/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Saudi Arabia intervening in the Syrian civil war would risk Russian wrath
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 68166.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Saudi’s decision to send troops in Syria ‘final’
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/mi ... final.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Saudi Arabia, Turkey Backtrack On Sending Troops Into Syria Amid Russian Airstrikes
http://www.ibtimes.com/saudi-arabia-tur ... es-2307895" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Gov Officials Admit Turkey Has REPEATEDLY Carried Out False Flag Terror
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/02/ ... error.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Blipits

Post by iWriteStuff »

Thanks for the great research! I'll add one more piece of news I found this morning:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/expans ... beforebell" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If one looks solely at the price of oil over the last week (up more than 16%), I think it's fairly clear that investors are practically betting there WILL be an escalation of war over there.... There just doesn't seem to be enough incentives NOT to go to war, seeing as nearly all players are dependent on the price of oil to fund their governments and the ensuing spike in price will net them all billions of dollars.

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Jason
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Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

iWriteStuff wrote:Thanks for the great research! I'll add one more piece of news I found this morning:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/expans ... beforebell" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If one looks solely at the price of oil over the last week (up more than 16%), I think it's fairly clear that investors are practically betting there WILL be an escalation of war over there.... There just doesn't seem to be enough incentives NOT to go to war, seeing as nearly all players are dependent on the price of oil to fund their governments and the ensuing spike in price will net them all billions of dollars.
Thank you for the link. Definitely some serious interest and apparently high stakes in Syria...my take away from your article...
Russia’s Syrian buildup threatens Turkey externally, Moscow’s backing of Syria’s Kurds threatens Turkey domestically. A ploy aimed at dividing Assad’s Sunni enemies along ethnic lines, the Syrian Kurds’ empowerment might result in their joining their already restive brethren across the Turkish border. This is why Turkish artillery fired into Syria at Kurdish outposts this week.

Russian divisions are but a three-hour flight away, and Turkey’s formidable army is camping along the Syrian border.

Turkey’s call on Tuesday for its allies — namely, the U.S. – to jointly invade Syria is an ominous statement of intentions.

Lurking behind the Russian-Turkish confrontation are Saudi Arabia and Iran, which crouch over the world’s second and fourth largest oil reserves, alongside the fifth, sixth and seventh, Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

The Riyadh-Tehran enmity is now open and festering. The Saudis are financing and arming the Sunni rebels that Russia is bombing, and Iran feeds Hezbollah and has sent oil, cash, advisers, and special units to Assad.

Moreover, the Saudis, led in this by the bellicose, 30-year-old Defense Minister Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, are also threatening to join an invasion. This prospect was substantiated last week by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s statement that Saudi warplanes will soon land in Incirlik, the Turkish air base from which American, French and British aircraft are bombing the Islamic State.

Iran’s National Guards, who might be tempted to fire missiles across the gulf, or about ISIS, which will happily unleash suicide attacks on Saudi wells, or even about the soft-spoken Assad, who if feeling cornered might send his MiGs south.

The Saudis, for their part, if suffering defeats after invading Syria, might be tempted to attack Iranian fields, which are easily accessible for its missiles and aircraft. Iraq’s oil fields, now split between the Iranian-backed Shiite south and the American-backed Kurdish north, would also become fair game in such a brawl, as would Kuwait’s and the UAE’s.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/expans ... beforebell" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...the thing you have to remember is that there is not a real market...monopolies drastically skew the supply/demand curve....and the corresponding price fluctuations may or may not represent the market dynamics.

here's an older but pertinent article (with further consolidation since it was written - Glencore merged with Xstrata, addition of COFCO which acquired 50% of Noble Group, )...

Corrected: Commodity Traders: The trillion dollar club ("The top trading firms are price makers")
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-commo ... S320111028" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...and some more current information and insight into their power & control over markets...

Behind the $100 Billion Commodity Empire That Few Know
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... t-few-know" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Glencore slump spoils commodity trader appetite for IPOs
http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-commod ... 3820150923" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Vitol Group and Litasco SA declared their support for Libya’s Tripoli-based National Oil Corp., bringing to three the number of commodity traders backing the state oil company in the west of the country over a competing entity in the east.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... over-rival" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In the words of Glencore chief executive Ivan Glasenberg, the world’s largest trading houses had a “blowout” year in 2015 as a sharply falling oil price has spurred profitable storage and arbitrage trades. The opportunities presented have been too profitable to turn down after years when growing competition and stable prices squeezed margins. The deals have also allowed the companies to increase the volume of oil they can access, often through pre-pay arrangements to lock in supplies.

Mr Salmon says US banks were among those helping to finance Trafigura’s deals with Rosneft, as well as long-term loans to other producers.

To limit the risk of a showdown with the government in Baghdad, which has publicly opposed independent Kurdish oil sales, Vitol and Trafigura have employed tactics to blur the supply chain. Methods include ship-to-ship transfers off Cyprus and deliveries into and out of Israel, a country that is not recognised by Iraq.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3606d1a0-b3c0 ... f6b2f.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Commodity Traders Win Billions in Loans Amid Glencore Storm
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... dity-fears" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Banks keep faith in commodity traders as Vitol, Trafigura raise $10 bln
http://www.reuters.com/article/commodit ... 5D20151006" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...and the hidden but real power of the banks behind the trading enterprises...

...meanwhile the sabre rattling continues...

Turkey blames Kurdish militants for Ankara bomb, vows response in Syria and Iraq
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turke ... SKCN0VQ25S" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


...and the stakes get higher...

China Unleashes A Debt Tsunami: Creates $1 Trillion In Debt In First Two Months Of 2016
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... onths-2016" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China’s central bank took another step to guide interest rates lower, offering to reduce the medium-term borrowing cost it charges lenders in the second such move this year. The People’s Bank of China has told banks it can provide cash through its Medium-term Lending Facility at 2.85% for six-month loans, down from 3%, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The producer-price index fell 5.3%, extending declines to a record 47 months.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... na-s-banks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Including “special-mention” loans, which are those showing signs of future repayment risk, the industry’s total troubled advances swelled to 4.2 trillion yuan ($645 billion) as of December, representing 5.46% of total lending. That number is already higher than the $600 billion total subprime mortgages in the U.S. as of 2006, just before that asset class toppled the world into the worst financial crisis since 1929. The news looks to have scared Chinese authorities into reacting. Note that they aren’t curbing the ability of Chinese banks to lend or asking them to write off bad credit. Instead they’re considering putting aside checks already in place that are aimed at ensuring the health of the financial system: by reducing the ratio of provisions that banks must set aside for bad debt, currently set at a minimum 150%.

Banks are lending more. China’s new yuan loans jumped to a record 2.51 trillion yuan in January, the People’s Bank of China reported on Tuesday. Aggregate financing, the broadest measure of new credit, also rose to a record, at 3.42 trillion yuan. China’s bad loans have grown 256% in six years even as their ratio to total lending dropped. The true amount of debt that isn’t being repaid is open for debate.

The dynamic is clear. A splurge of new lending can help to dilute existing bad loans, but only at a cost. This is a game that can’t continue forever, particularly if credit is being foisted on to an already over-leveraged and slowing economy. At some point, the music will stop and there will have to be a reckoning. The longer China postpones that, the harder it will be.

http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/article ... ready-here" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image

Chinese lenders are reacting to a regulatory crackdown on shadow financing by increasing activity in their more opaque receivables accounts, a practice Commerzbank estimates may result in losses of as much as 1 trillion yuan ($153 billion) over five years. Banks are increasingly using trusts or asset management plans to lend and recording them as funds to be received rather than as loans, which are subject to stricter regulatory oversight and capital limits. The German bank’s forecast is based on total outstanding receivables of around 11.5 trillion yuan. Official data show nonperforming loans at Chinese commercial banks jumped 51% last year to a decade-high of 1.27 trillion yuan amid a stock market rout and the worst economic growth in a quarter century.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... s-accounts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image
The U.S. dollar has gained over 35% against major currencies since 2011. China’s government has pegged its currency, the yuan (renminbi) to the USD for many years. Until mid-2005, the yuan was pegged at about 8.3 to the dollar. After numerous complaints that the yuan was being kept artificially low to boost Chinese exports to the U.S., the Chinese monetary authorities let the yuan appreciate from 8.3 to about 6.8 to the dollar in 2008. This peg held steady until mid-2010, at which point the yuan slowly strengthened to 6 in early 2014. From that high point, the yuan has depreciated moderately to around 6.5 to the USD. Interestingly, this is about the same level the yuan reached in 2011, when the USD struck its multiyear low.

From roughly 1989 to 2014 -25 years- the “sure bet” in the global economy was to invest in China by moving production to China. This flood of capital into China only gained momentum as the yuan appreciated in value against the USD once Chinese authorities loosened the peg from 8.3 to 6.6 and then all the way down to 6 to the dollar. Every dollar transferred to China and converted to yuan gained as much as 25% over the years of yuan appreciation. Those hefty returns on cash sitting in yuan sparked a veritable tsunami of capital into China. Now that the tide of capital has reversed, nobody wants yuan: not foreign firms, not FX punters and not the Chinese holding massive quantities of depreciating yuan.

Anyone seeking high quality overseas production is moving factories to the U.S. for its appreciating dollar and cheap energy, or to Vietnam or other locales with low labor costs and depreciated currencies. For years, China bulls insisted China could crush the U.S. simply by selling a chunk of its $4 trillion foreign exchange reserves hoard of U.S. Treasuries.

Now that China has dumped over $700 billion of its reserves in a matter of months, this assertion has been revealed as false: the demand for USD is strong enough to absorb all of China’s selling and still push the USD higher. The stark truth is nobody wants yuan any more.
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogfeb16/yuan2-16.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image

Overproduction Swamps Smaller Chinese Cities, Revealing Depth of Crisis
http://www.wsj.com/articles/overcapacit ... 1455738108" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More than one-third of oil and natural-gas producers around the world are at risk of declaring bankruptcy this year, according to a new report from Deloitte. The only moves left for most producers are dividend cuts and share buybacks, Deloitte says. The firm estimates that 175 companies, or 35% of the E&Ps listed world-wide, are in danger of declaring bankruptcy this year.
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/02/ ... roduction/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Despite widespread fears of a major supply collapse, the US’ shale oil output since late 2014, sharp deflation in service sector costs and greater drilling efficiencies have seen shale oil output remain more resilient to lower prices than first thought. Wood Mac said falling production costs in the US over the last year have resulted in only 190,000 b/d being cash negative at a Brent price of $35/b. The latest study contrasts with a similar report from the research group a year ago when it estimated that up to 1.5 million b/d of output – focused in the US – was vulnerable to being shut in at $40/b Brent.
http://www.platts.com/latest-news/oil/l ... t-26360999" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

negative rates are a creeping threat to civil liberties since the only way to enforce such a regime over time is to abolish cash, for otherwise people will move their savings beyond reach
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... ilure.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
G-SIBs, D-SIBs, SRBs, RWAs, Tier 1, Basel III, CoCos … These names will float across your vision, like the members of the world’s most boring rap group. You will read about the appropriate threshold for the activation of “a risk-weighted SRB rate of 3%” and the relevance of “counter-cyclical buffers” and, you will, quite understandably, conclude there is something better you could be doing with your time. But ignore the detail. This complexity is the outcome of years, perhaps even decades, of horse trading between bank lobbyists, regulators and politicians from all around the world. As a non-expert you’re not supposed to be able to follow it. It hasn’t been designed to confuse ordinary people. That’s just a happy side-effect (as far as the banks are concerned).

A bank has a balance sheet just like any other business. On the asset side of the balance sheet are its loans to customers. On the liabilities side are the current account deposits of customers, plus borrowings from the wholesale capital markets and, most importantly of all, the equity of its investors. The liabilities of a bank fund its assets. Equity is what gets eaten into first when a bank makes losses. If the equity is all used up, the bank is bust. And as we saw in 2008, that can mean taxpayers forced to step in to stop these institutions collapsing and taking the entire economy down with them. That’s why regulators must make sure banks have a sufficiently large tranche of equity financing on their balance sheets.

So what would you guess is the current level of equity for banks being targeted by the Bank of England? Fifteen per cent? Ten per cent? Try 3 per cent. Or 4 per cent at most. And even Sir John’s report, despite his complaints today, only wanted banks to have equity worth a maximum of around 4 per cent of assets. Consider what this means: it implies that a mere 3 or 4 per cent fall in the value of a bank’s assets would bankrupt it – and government ministers and regulators would, once again, need to consider whether to step in. To state what should be obvious: that’s not very much. And that simple ratio – known as the “leverage ratio” – should be focus of debate.

British banks have an aggregate balance sheet several times the size of the entire economy. As 2008 showed, failures by large banks represent the pre-eminent economic threat to all our livelihoods. If people grasped what was at stake and how little had been done on equity, the clamour for action would be deafening. But the ordinary citizen, whose money is on the line, is blinded by jargon. And the vested interests prevail.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 79996.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image

Germany’s powerful central bank chief has said quantitative easing is no longer appropriate for Europe, putting Berlin on a collision course with the ECB over expanding stimulus measures to revive the single currency area. Jens Weidmann, head of the Bundesbank and a member of the ECB’s governing council, said QE was “no longer necessary” for the eurozone, despite the widespread expectation that more stimulus will be announced as early as next month.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... er-QE.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Japan exports to China down 18%. Japan imports also down 18%. World trade falls off a cliff.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... since-2009" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Japan’s government has put off a plan to let its $1.1 trillion public pension fund buy and sell stocks directly, following criticism that the move could lead to excessive state influence on the market. The GPIF currently outsources decisions on its nearly ¥60 trillion ($520 billion) stock portfolio to more than a dozen outside asset managers. It handles domestic bonds in-house.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/japan-shelv ... 1455690688" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Venezuela hiked gasoline prices for the first time in almost two decades and devalued its currency as President Nicolas Maduro attempts to address triple-digit inflation and the economy’s deepest recession in over a decade. The primary exchange rate used for essential imports, such as food and medicine, will weaken to 10 bolivars per dollar from 6.3, Maduro said in a televised address to the nation.

Something had to change after the bolivar lost 98% of its value on the black market since Maduro took office in 2013. The government was hemorrhaging funds as it struggled to meet international debt obligations and maintain the supply of essential items amid the collapse in oil prices. By long subsidizing the cost of fuel, the government has ensured that Venezuelans enjoy the cheapest gasoline in the world. Gasoline prices on Thursday will leap more than 60-fold to 6 bolivars a liter from 9.7 centavos. That’s equal to about 11 U.S. cents per gallon using the weakest legal exchange rate of 202.94 bolivars per dollar, up from about 0.2 U.S. cents per gallon. The price of 91-octane gasoline will increase to 1 bolivar a liter from 7 centavos. Even after these increases, Venezuela still has the lowest gasoline prices in the world.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... 6-ikrf0ppn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hungary’s central bank, already facing criticism for a spending spree ranging from real estate to fine art, is now beefing up its security force, citing Europe’s migrant crisis and potential bomb threats among the reasons.

The National Bank of Hungary bought 200,000 rounds of live ammunition and 112 handguns for its security company, according to documents posted on a website for public procurements.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... error-risk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...risk risk risk...

2EstablishZion
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Posts: 337

Re: Blipits

Post by 2EstablishZion »

I think this is a good overview of the dangers (and motives) of those promoting a cashless society.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... t-end-well" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'll go out on a ledge and disagree with Glen that the mark of the beast is fulfilled prophecy; I'd be interested when in history one could not buy or sell without the sign of the cross. I think marking this off as fulfilled prophecy lowers our guard to the current push towards a one world money system where every transaction is under the scrutiny of government and eventually would need to be "approved" by our overseers.

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SmallFarm
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Re: Blipits

Post by SmallFarm »

iWriteStuff wrote:Jason - just gotta say, I love reading your collection of analyses and news bites. It's like a catch-all of my favorite reading materials. :)
I just wish it was divided into sections :D \
I'm not too interested/ able to understand the financial stuff :ymblushing:

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Jason
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Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

2EstablishZion wrote:I think this is a good overview of the dangers (and motives) of those promoting a cashless society.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... t-end-well" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'll go out on a ledge and disagree with Glen that the mark of the beast is fulfilled prophecy; I'd be interested when in history one could not buy or sell without the sign of the cross. I think marking this off as fulfilled prophecy lowers our guard to the current push towards a one world money system where every transaction is under the scrutiny of government and eventually would need to be "approved" by our overseers.
yes very good summary on both of those aspects.

just an opinion on the mark of the beast...reckon we'll see how it unfolds shortly enough...

...of course my overriding opinion is based around the belief that the financial aspect is the pit that has been dug over the last 100+ years. The flow of ownership of all assets to the private banks (and their private owners) for simply providing a system of credit to the people. I believe they'll fall in before being able to pull off the grand schemes (the great plan). Basically that the system will implode into chaos. Much like 3rd Nephi ch 7 where the orchestration to place dictator on the land...actually implodes the government structure and everyone breaks up into tribes. Things like NSA Data Center at Camp Williams, Jade II software development, Stellar Wind, DHS, GardenPlot, etc etc etc etc etc etc...

Image

Because the reality is....everything is fragile...

The entire site will be self-sustaining, with fuel tanks large enough to power the backup generators for three days in an emergency
http://www.wired.com/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The data center was plagued with electrical problems in 2013, resulting in more than 50,000 man-hours of investigation and troubleshooting. There were 10 arc flash “meltdowns” in the data center’s first year or so.
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/arch ... ta-center/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...and it takes just a gentle nudge in the right direction to collapse all the plans...so I've ceased to worry so much about smart phones, data collection, sign of the beast, etc. More power to them. I know who is in charge...and He'll pull the plug when He's ready.

2EstablishZion
captain of 100
Posts: 337

Re: Blipits

Post by 2EstablishZion »

I concur with that. I also do often think of the current financial situation as the pit that the diggers will fall into...whichas you correctly point out, if that is the case it can;t also lead to the "mark of the beast" global financial system. definitely living that Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times"...

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Jason
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Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

2EstablishZion wrote:I concur with that. I also do often think of the current financial situation as the pit that the diggers will fall into...whichas you correctly point out, if that is the case it can;t also lead to the "mark of the beast" global financial system. definitely living that Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times"...
indeed!

speaking of interesting tidbits or blipits...

After recording its warmest year on record in 2015, Earth continued its record-warm streak into 2016, with January 2016 being the planet's warmest January since record keeping began in 1880. January 2016 also marked the ninth consecutive month that the monthly temperature record was been broken and the fourteenth consecutive month (since December 2014) that the monthly global temperature ranked among the three warmest for its respective month in the NOAA database. Global ocean temperatures during January 2016 were the warmest on record, and global land temperatures were the second warmest on record. Arctic sea ice extent during January 2016 was the lowest in the 38-year satellite record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Two billion-dollar weather-related disasters hit the Earth during last month, according to the January 2016 Catastrophe Report from insurance broker Aon Benfield. Both were due to winter weather: Winter Storm Jonas in the Eastern U.S., and a remarkable cold wave in Eastern Asia. Both disasters cost at least $2 billion.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... -on-record" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Jason
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Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

US Airstrikes Destroy More Than $500 Million in ISIS Cash Reserves
http://abcnews.go.com/International/us- ... d=37010061" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...they've made this claim several times over the past several months...meanwhile...

Pentagon to Request $7.5 Billion, a 50% Hike, in Fight Against ISIS
http://abcnews.go.com/US/pentagon-reque ... d=36665610" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Syrian Army and its allies confirmed killing 74 ISIS grubs, most of whom, have been identified as Chechens, Turks, Jordanians and Tunisians.
http://syrianperspective.com/2016/02/da ... ot-to.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Moscow is concerned about the escalation of tensions on the Syrian-Turkish border, and "Turkey's announced plans to put boots on the ground in northern Syria," Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Friday, adding that the situation in the region is worrying because Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) fighters are entering Syria and creating terrorist bases there.
https://www.rt.com/news/333012-unsc-tur ... ops-syria/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

....everyone claims to be fighting ISIS/ISIL....pictures worth a thousand words though...

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=9376&p=669687#p669687" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
...here the new "organizational" commander of ISIS is getting an award from Senator John McCain....


Saudi Arabia planning another Charge of the Light Brigade
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2016/02 ... t-brigade/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...particularly insightful...

Ten Saudi Major Generals Decry Riyadh's Syria Deployment Plan
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13941129000604" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russia says it is calling for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council later Friday to discuss what it calls the deteriorating situation on the Turkish-Syrian border and Turkey's plans to send troops into Syria.
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/d ... The-Latest" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A source close to Russian President Vladimir Putin told me that the Russians have warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow is prepared to use tactical nuclear weapons if necessary to save their troops in the face of a Turkish-Saudi onslaught. Since Turkey is a member of NATO, any such conflict could quickly escalate into a full-scale nuclear confrontation.
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/02/18/r ... -al-qaeda/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fighting has fighting intensified in Syria over the past weeks and a deadline to cease military activities was not observed. The United States, Russia and other world powers agreed Feb. 12 on a deal to cease hostilities within a week, the delivery of urgently needed aid to besieged areas of Syria and a return to peace talks in Geneva.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/new ... t-restart/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

U.S.-Russia hold Syria cease-fire talks as deadline passes without action
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/ru ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russia and the U.S. held “intensive” talks on implementing a limited truce in Syria on Friday as diplomats at the United Nations sparred over a Russian proposal to head off any new intervention by outside powers in the war-torn nation. The former Cold War foes held consultations in Geneva on a “joint approach” to a cease-fire ahead of a wider meeting of major powers that they will chair, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. In New York, Russia circulated a draft resolution to the UN Security Council calling for all parties to refrain “from interfering in internal affairs of Syria,” support its territorial integrity and “abandon plans for ground operations,” said Vladimir Safronkov, a senior Russian official at to the UN.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... talks-held" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


The States With the Most Household Debt
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ehold-debt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

The 5,000 biggest publicly traded companies tracked by Bloomberg in the iron and steel, metals and mining, and energy sectors have a combined $3.6 trillion in debt, according to their most recent financial reports, double what they had at the end of 2008.

Five years ago, those companies tracked by Bloomberg had more operating income than debt, on average. Now, it would take them more than eight years' worth of current earnings, without provisioning for interest, taxes, depreciation or amortization, to clear their combined net obligations.

Yield-hungry bond investors sucked up a lot of the debt that was issued and now hold about $2.1 trillion of outstanding notes. They'll be first to feel the pain considering Standard & Poor's has already downgraded securities equivalent to 47 percent of that amount and made some 400 negative-ratings moves in the basic materials and energy sectors over the past 12 months alone. Such scale and depth is reminiscent of the way banks were slaughtered by ratings companies during the 2008 financial crisis.
On the Hook

It's unclear where the other portion of the $3.6 trillion in liabilities lies but probably, most of it is owed to banks. If the remaining $1.5 trillion is indeed on the balance sheets of financial institutions, that would represent about 1.5 percent of the total assets of all the world's publicly traded banks. That doesn't seem very significant, or any cause for concern. But to put it in some context, U.S. subprime mortgages represented less than 1 percent of listed banks' assets at the end of 2007.
http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/article ... t-mountain" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We have every major economic zone in the world in financial trouble. You have Japan with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 280%. You have China at 300% debt-to-GDP. China has over $34 trillion of debt and the banking system is flooded with bad loans. The best estimate—and this was two years ago I wrote a book called The Coming China Crisis—and I said the best estimate is that they have $11 trillion of bad loans in the banking system. $11 trillion is the annual GDP of China—this is huge! You have Europe, you have Latin America in trouble, you have Russia in big trouble, you have Saudi Arabia even thinking about doing an IPO on their big oil company in order to make up for the shortfall of oil revenues. You have every major economic zone in the world in big, big trouble including the US and that is why I say this crisis has the potential of becoming much, much worse than the last one.”
http://www.financialsense.com/contribut ... ock-market" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


The World Is Red
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-20/world-red" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China has removed the head of its securities regulator following a turbulent period in the country’s stock markets, appointing a top state banking executive as his replacement, as leaders move to restore confidence in the economy.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/19/chinas-t ... -down.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Photographs Of The "Surreal, Uncanny" Emptiness Of China's Ghost Cities
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-1 ... ost-cities" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The U.S. shale industry must come up with $1.2 billion in interest payments by the end of March as $30-a-barrel oil makes it harder for companies to scrape up the cash needed to stay current on their debts. Almost half of the interest is owed by companies with junk-rated credit, according to data compiled by Bloomberg on 61 companies in the Bloomberg Intelligence index of North American independent oil and gas producers.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -comes-due" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fannie Mae, the state-sponsored U.S. mortgage backer, is at risk of needing a government bailout that could shake confidence in the housing finance market, senior officials have warned. Fannie Mae’s chief executive and its regulator are sounding the alarm on a decline in the institution’s capital cushion, which is on course to vanish in 2018. Because the government does not let Fannie Mae retain profits, Tim Mayopoulos, its chief executive, told the Financial Times on Friday that its capital buffer, which has dwindled from $30 billion before the crisis to $1.2 billion today, was on track to disappear by January 2018. At that point it would be unable to weather quarterly losses and would need to draw on Treasury funds to avoid being placed into receivership.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/20/fannie-m ... ilout.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...discussion well worth a few minutes to watch (in my opinion)....particularly just after the 3 minute mark...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/20 ... just-begun" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well now, Turkey is not only set to use the fight against the YPG as an excuse to intervene in Syria on behalf of the Sunni rebels battling to beat back the Russian and Iranian advance, but Ankara is also demanding that the US recognize the YPG as a terrorist group. If Washington refuses, "measure will be taken."

"If the Unites States is really Turkey's friend and ally, then they should recognize the PYD — a Syrian branch of the PKK — as a terrorist organization. If a friend acts as an enemy, then measures should be taken, and they will not be limited to the Incirlik Airbase, Turkey has significant capabilities," Erdogan advisor Seref Malkoc told Bugun newspaper.

So yeah. Turkey just threatened the US. It's notable that Malkoc specifically said actions would go "beyond Incirlik," because pulling access to the base would be the first thing any regional observers would expect from Ankara in the event of a spat with Washington. For Turkey to say that measures will go beyond that, opens the door for Erdogan to become openly hostile towards his NATO allies.

"The only thing we expect from our U.S. ally is to support Turkey with no ifs or buts," PM Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conferenceon Saturday."If 28 Turkish lives have been claimed through a terrorist attack we can only expect them to say any threat against Turkey is a threat against them."

In other words, Turkey is explicitly asking the US to support Ankara's push to invade Syria and not only that, Erdogan wants Washington to sanction attacks on the YPG which the US has overtly armed, trained, and funded. "The disagreement over the YPG risks driving a wedge between the NATO allies at a critical point in Syria's civil war," Reuters wrote on Saturday. "On Friday, a State Department spokesman told reporters Washington would continue to support organizations in Syria that it could count on in the fight against Islamic State - an apparent reference to the YPG."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-2 ... terrorists" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Original_Intent
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 13008

Re: Blipits

Post by Original_Intent »

China has removed the head of its securities regulator following a turbulent period in the country’s stock markets...
Odd choice of words, I thought they were more into firing squads.
...discussion well worth a few minutes to watch (in my opinion)....particularly just after the 3 minute mark...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/20" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... just-begun
I agree. It's six minutes long. yeah they get a little jargon-ish. I'd also venture to say that when the "non-black swan" event happens, managed funds such as 401(k) for main street are going to be the last out and therefore left holding the bag while institutional investors and the big money will get out first and with the least damage.

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

Original_Intent wrote:
China has removed the head of its securities regulator following a turbulent period in the country’s stock markets...
Odd choice of words, I thought they were more into firing squads.
...discussion well worth a few minutes to watch (in my opinion)....particularly just after the 3 minute mark...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/20" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... just-begun
I agree. It's six minutes long. yeah they get a little jargon-ish. I'd also venture to say that when the "non-black swan" event happens, managed funds such as 401(k) for main street are going to be the last out and therefore left holding the bag while institutional investors and the big money will get out first and with the least damage.
Nice catch!

Yeah mom & pop's 401k money will certainly go up in smoke....and with the new banking regulations and the ability to seize deposits to shore up the bank....that money will likely go up in smoke as well....

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

At least 21 deaths had been reported by late Monday Fiji time as the island nation slogged through the daunting early stages of recovery from ferocious Cyclone Winston, the strongest tropical cyclone on record in the Southern Hemisphere. Officials expect the death toll to rise when they're finally able to reach outlying islands that were hit hardest by the powerful storm, said the BBC, and it would not be surprising if Winston ends up being the deadliest and costliest natural disaster in Fiji's history. Fiji's deadliest tropical cyclone in recorded history was Category 3 Cyclone Eric of 1985, which made a direct hit on the capital of Suva, killing 25.

Since satellite records began in 1970 (with high-quality satellite images only available since 1990), just eleven Cat 5s (including Winston) have been observed anywhere in the South Pacific east of Australia. Winston is the strongest of these. As it passed over Fiji’s Koro Island on Saturday, Winston’s winds were estimated by satellite at 185 mph. This puts Winston in a three-way tie--with 1959’s Typhoon Joan in Taiwan and the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane in the Florida Keys--for the second strongest winds at landfall among all tropical cyclones with reliable data (see Figure 4 below). Only 2013's catastrophic Super Typhoon Haiyan brought stronger winds ashore: 190 mph in Samar, Philippines. Wind speeds of 185 mph are characteristic of an EF4 tornado, and damage photos from the New Zealand Air Force showed many areas of incredible damage characteristic of at least EF3 tornado speeds (136 - 165 mph) on Koro Island (Figure 1.)

Patricia and Winston: strongest cyclones in Northern and Southern Hemisphere records
Remarkably, both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere have experienced their strongest cyclones in decades of record-keeping in the space of the last five months. NOAA recently announced the result of its post-storm analysis of Hurricane Patricia from October 2015, which spun up phenomenal sustained winds of 215 mph--the strongest ever measured by instruments via Hurricane Hunter aircraft--as the storm was approaching the Pacific coast of Mexico. Like Winston, Patricia was a relatively small storm, so its central pressure was not as low as its fierce winds might imply.

Since early 2015, we have had four Category 5 landfalls: Tropical Cyclone Pam (Vanuatu), Super Typhoon Maysak (Micronesia), Super Typhoon Noul (Philippines), and Cyclone Winston (Fiji). (Patricia was a strong Category 4 at landfall.) Although several of these tropical cyclones left major devastation in island nations that have relatively modest resources, we can take some comfort in the fact that none produced the kind of tragic death toll that occurred when Haiyan came ashore in the central Philippines.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... ropical-cy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

FUKUSHIMA – A Nuclear Regulation Authority commissioner has suggested that removing all fuel debris from reactors at the meltdown-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant may not be the best option. “I wonder if the situation would be desired that work is still underway to extract fuel debris 70 or 80 years after” the nuclear disaster, NRA Commissioner Toyoshi Fuketa told reporters Friday. His remarks could affect the decommissioning plan drafted by the government and the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Under that scenario, fuel debris is to be disposed of over the course of 30 to 40 years.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/0 ... est-option" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster may go down as one of history’s boundless tragedies and not just because of a nuclear meltdown, but rather the tragic loss of a nation’s soul.

Imagine the following scenario: 207 million cardboard book boxes, end-to-end, circumnavigating Earth, like railroad tracks, going all the way around the planet. That’s a lot of book boxes. Now, fill the boxes with radioactive waste. Forthwith, that’s the amount of radioactive waste stored unsheltered in one-tonne black bags throughout Fukushima Prefecture, amounting to 9,000,000 cubic metres

But wait, there’s more to come, another 13,000,000 cubic metres of radioactive soil is yet to be collected. (Source: Voice of America News, Problems Keep Piling Up in Fukushima, Feb. 17, 2016).

And, there’s still more, the cleanup operations only go 50-100 feet beyond roadways. Plus, a 100-mile mountain range along the coast and hillsides around Fukushima are contaminated but not cleansed at all. As a consequence, the decontaminated land will likely be re-contaminated by radioactive runoff from the hills and mountains.

Indubitably, how and where to store millions of cubic metres of one-tonne black bags filled with radioactive waste is no small problem. It is a super-colossal problem. What if bags deteriorate? What if a tsunami hits? The “what-ifs” are endless, endless, and beyond.

“The black bags of radioactive soil, now scattered at 115,000 locations in Fukushima, are eventually to be moved to yet-to-be built interim facilities, encompassing 16 square kilometers, in two towns close to the crippled nuclear power plant,” Ibid.

By itself, 115,000 locations each containing many, many, mucho one-tonne bags of radioactive waste is a logistical nightmare, just the trucking alone is forever a humongous task, decades to come.

According to Japanese government and industry sources, cleaning up everything and decommissioning the broken down reactors will take at least 40 years at a cost of $250 billion, assuming nothing goes wrong. But dismally, everything that can possibly go wrong for Tokyo Electric Power Company (“TEPCO”) over the past 5 years has gone wrong, not a good record.

And, Japan is hosting the 2020 Olympics?
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/22/ ... p-trouble/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Turkey intends to CLOSE the Bosporus Strait to Russian Naval Vessels, sealing them in (or out) of the Black Sea, claiming Russia is aiding "Kurd Terrorists" in Syria.

"Russia strengthens and supports PYD organization of Syria, (Kurds) which Ankara considers to be terrorists, and also responsible for the recent car Bombing in the Turkish Captial which left 28 dead.

According to the pro-government Turkish daily "Sabah" Turkey complained that Russia, with its warships passing through the Straits toward the eastern Mediterranean, are carrying weapons and ammunition to supply the Kurds for "terrorist operations."

For this reason, Turkey says, it has the right to close the strait to the Russian Fleet.

In the past, Russia has publicly and specifically stated "Closing the Turkey Strait would automatically mean war."
https://www.superstation95.com/index.php/world/923" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Largest ever US-South Korea military drill planned as a 'warning to Pyongyang'. The US will deploy a combat aviation brigade to South Korea for the duration of the manoeuvres, as well as a mobile US Marine brigade.

The joint US-South Korean exercises scheduled for March will be largest military drills ever staged on the Korean Peninsula and are both a warning to Pyongyang and an effort to reassure the jittery public in the South.

The parallel Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises are scheduled to commence on March 7, with the field-training exercises that make up Foal Eagle lasting until April 30. The drills will involve 15,000 US troops, twice the number of previous years, and will serve to demonstrate Washington's firepower.

The US will deploy a combat aviation brigade to South Korea for the duration of the manoeuvres, as well as a mobile US Marine brigade, an aircraft carrier and its attendant fleet, a nuclear-powered submarine and aeriel tankers to refuel fighter aircraft.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... gyang.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Three respected broadcasters in Japan with a reputation for asking tough questions have lost their jobs.

The imminent departures of Ichiro Furutachi, Hiroko Kuniya and Shigetada Kishii from evening news programmes is not just a loss to their profession; critics say they were forced out as part of a crackdown on media dissent by an increasingly intolerant prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and his supporters.

Only last week, the internal affairs minister, Sanae Takaichi, sent a clear message to media organisations. Broadcasters that repeatedly failed to show “fairness” in their political coverage, despite official warnings, could be taken off the air, she told MPs.

Under broadcast laws, the internal affairs minister has the power to suspend broadcasting that does not maintain political neutrality.
http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia ... wn-dissent" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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