Wednesday, March 08, 2017

Peak Freedom - Orwellian CIA Leaking Sieve Vault-7 Hacking Tools Exposed by Wikileaks / Politics / Intelligence Agencies

By: Nadeem_Walayat

President Trump recently stated that he loves Wikileaks, predominantly in response to its leaking of Hillary Clinton's emails. And in that spirit Wikileaks latest leak of near 9000 CIA documents once more reminds all the extent to which the NSA and CIA wish to eavesdrop into the lives of potentially every person on the planet, friend or foe does not matter for the CIA seeks to surveil everyone and everything through hacking of a myriad of internet connected devices from Android and Apple smartphone's to Samsung smart TV's, to the more traditional PC's infected with malware and web cam hacking routes. ALL used to surveil, record, catalog and process near infinite amounts of data across a network of huge data centres that have sprung up across remote areas of the United States during the past 15 years that tap into an estimated 98.6% of the worlds internet traffic generated by web connected devices.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

The Fake News Blitz by the Deep State Establishment Elite / Politics / Mainstream Media

By: James_Quinn

“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.” –  H.L. Mencken

“The older I get the less I listen to what people say and the more I look at what they do.”– Andrew Carnegie

I’m 53 years old. The older I get the less sure I am about things I was sure about when I was 25 years old. I believed stocks for the long run was an unquestioned truth. I believed our economy was based on free market capitalism. I believed stock prices were based upon profits and cash flows. I believed a home was a place to live – not an investment. I believed the Catholic Church was run by good men doing good things. I believed journalists and the media were watchdogs working on behalf of the public. I believed our military was protecting our interests. I believed politicians legislated on behalf of the people. I believed the main purpose of bankers was to loan money to businesses and consumers in order to support economic growth. Boy, was I dumbass.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

How to Get a FREE PS4 Sony Games Console 2017 in Walkers Crisps UEFA Promo / Personal_Finance / Freebies and Comps

By: Anika_Walayat

Walkers Crisps 2017 UEFA Champions League Snap & Share promotion is proving to be a relatively easy to enter and win promo. Where entrants can win one of 40 pairs of match tickets, 500 play stations and 7000 footballs. Out own experience illustrates that after only 5 days of posting the requisite 3 pic's a day on Walkers pinned post facebook page we managed to win an Adidas UCL Finale 16 Capitano Football! And then just 10 days later won a PS4 Sony Games Console! Given how easy it was to firstly win the football which is as good as FREE to whomever wants one, and then for a little more persistence the PS4, then this is an not to be missed opportunity as there is still have plenty of time to win until the promo ends on the 23rd of April.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

US Real Estate & Interest Rate Change – You’ve Been Warned! / Housing-Market / US Housing

By: Chris_Vermeulen

Is this the moment which could spark a stock market sell-off?

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, in a speech given in Chicago, last Friday, March 3^rd, 2017, suggested that the FED will likely resume raising interest rates later this month.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Bitcoin Important Price Action to Be Seen / Currencies / Bitcoin

By: Mike_McAra

In short: no speculative positions.

Bitcoin is making its way into mainstream press. In an article on the CNBC website, we read:

Digital currency advocates had plenty to crow about last week when bitcoin's price overtook gold.

The event signaled a potentially important moment point for bitcoin, which is generally seen as asset that stores wealth. Bitcoin has gained more than 60 percent in price since mid-January.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Fake Gold Coins Warning - “Pure” Gold Coins that are Gold Plated, Collectibles and eBay / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: GoldCore

Gold Investing 101 – Beware eBay, Collectibles and “Pure” Gold Coins that are Gold Plated (Part I) 

• Investors looking to gold again but gold buyers need to exert caution
• ‘Wolves of Wall Street’ ready to hungrily gobble up life savings of unsuspecting ‘widows and orphans’
• Like all markets are few bad apples in gold market
• Need to do due diligence on company buying from
• Avoid companies marketing gold plated coins as “pure gold” coins
• Collectible coins do not capture the value of  gold and are not safe havens 
• Not liquid and pricing similar to art market
• Own gold bullion coins as insurance, to reduce counter party risk and to preserve wealth

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Cash ISA Season Limps into Action, with Very Few Contenders / Personal_Finance / ISA's

By: MoneyFacts

It’s been a very slow start to the ISA season, as the latest research from Moneyfacts.co.uk reveals that the average ISA rate has continued to fall to a new low of 0.82%. While there have been gradual increases to the ISA allowance over the years, the market remains deprived of intense competition.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

3 Maps Show How Water Access Can Make Or Break A Nation / Politics / Water Sector

By: John_Mauldin

BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN AND ALLISON FEDIRKA : Access to and control over water is a strategic imperative for all countries. As such, it has been a source of conflict throughout history.

Water access can impact a country’s geopolitics in many ways. The first (and one of the most obvious) is sea access. Access to the world’s oceans enables a country to use major maritime shipping routes. It also opens an additional route by which a country could project force by having a navy.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

The Agriculture Revolution Is Coming / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities

By: John_Mauldin

BY PATRICK WATSON : Humans have needs, but we need some things more than others.

Back in the 1940s, American psychologist Abraham Maslow famously classified human needs into a hierarchy, often shown as a pyramid.

At the foundation are our physiological needs: air, water, food, etc. Only when these needs are met can we reach upward to more and more refined stages of material, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual fulfillment.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Here’s All You Need to Know About US Strategy In Asia-Pacific / Politics / US Military

By: John_Mauldin

BY XANDER SNYDER AND CHEYENNE LIGON : On a recent trip to the Pacific, US Defense Secretary James Mattis reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to guard Japan against foreign threats. Both the US and Japan have interests in the South China Sea. Geopolitical expert George Friedman has written extensively about this shared interest in This Week in Geopolitics (subscribe here for free).

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

China’s Domestic Problems Are Good News for Gold Investors / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: John_Mauldin

In 1978, one year after taking control of impoverished China, Deng Xiaoping declared “to get rich is glorious.” Since Deng’s declaration, China’s per-capita GDP has grown by over 5,000%.

China is without question the biggest economic success story in recent history. However, rapid growth has come at a cost. China’s total debt/GDP ratio is now a staggering 277%—and the credit expansion is showing no sign of slowing. New bank loans in 2016 totaled $1.84 trillion—8% above the previous record.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

10 Million Self-Driving Cars Will Hit The Road By 2020, Here’s How To Profit / Companies / Auto Sector

By: David_Galland

Given the advanced state of driverless technologies and the amount of money being poured into the sector, there is little question—make that, no question at all—that within 10 years, driverless cars will be the norm.

The implications are immense and widespread.

There are currently about 1.4 billion cars on the road. Many of those cars, and eventually all, are going to be replaced by self-driving vehicles.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Chartology of the Commodities: The Inflation/Deflation Barometer / Commodities / Commodities Trading

By: Rambus_Chartology

One of the biggest questions investors have is what type of environment are stocks and the economy in, deflation or inflation? Knowing the answer to that question can give you a heads up on what different sectors to invest in and what sectors to stay away from. Tonight I would like to update some of the different commodities indexes to see if they can give us any clues on which way the deflationary or inflationary pendulum is swinging. Commodities are often an under analysed asset class as compared to Stocks and Bonds. However they are the nuts and bolts , the real stuff supporting human existence.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Glass-Steagall Essential Banking Regulation / Stock-Markets / Market Regulation

By: BATR

The central struggle since the inception of the Republic has been about the control of money. Since the U.S. Constitution clearly defines coinage, the objective of the mercantile elite was to circumvent the law and establish a National Bank. Woe to any defender of President Andrew Jackson for abolishing the Second Bank of the United States and rendering the Bankster Nicholas Biddle to his ignominious place in hell. This victory for the common man was ultimately betrayed when the Federal Reserve Central Bank was instituted with all the ills of fractional reserve banking.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Stock Market Euphoria, China's Dumping of Treasuries Ignite Recession Concerns / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: The_Gold_Report

Citing the uncertainty caused by China dumping U.S. Treasuries, an impending debt ceiling crisis, the upcoming French elections, and more, Wealth Research Group editor Lior Gantz advises investors to make sure their portfolios are diversified.

Each of the last five major U.S. recessions were preceded by a shrinking global trade as a percentage of GDP.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Sound Money Is Rising at the State Level / Politics / US Politics

By: MoneyMetals

Inflation is the most pernicious of taxes levied by our government. Officials systematically devalue the Federal Reserve Note "dollar," then levy capital gains taxes on assets when their dollar price rises.

The "gains" are largely illusory. Rising asset prices over time reflect the fact that the dollar buys less of everything. But the tax obligations triggered by this inflation are very real.

Monday, March 06, 2017

Stock Market Basic Movements - Basic High / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: Ed_Carlson

With the failure to see the expected correction in our longer term forecast, this is probably a good time to review that forecast.

A 15yr interval points to a top sometime in the period from September 2016 until the end of August 2017.

Monday, March 06, 2017

Financial Markets Have Priced in Trump Getting EVERYTHING He Wants... What If He Doesn’t? / Stock-Markets / Financial Crisis 2017

By: MoneyMetals

Mike Gleason: It is my privilege now to welcome in Michael Pento president and founder of Pento Portfolio Strategies and author of the book The Coming Bond Market Collapse: How to Survive the Demise of the U.S. Debt Market. Michael is a money manager and who ascribes to the Austrian School of Economics and has been a regular guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business News, and also the Money Metals podcast.

Monday, March 06, 2017

The Stock Market "Trump Bump" Was in the Cards LONG Before Trump / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: EWI

How to breach limitations of conventional market forecasting

[Editor's Note: The text version of the story is below.]

Monday, March 06, 2017

This Map Shows How Much Four US States Depend On Mexico / Politics / US Politics

By: John_Mauldin

Eighty-five percent of goods traded between the US and Mexico are transported by truck or railway, according to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Two-way trade across the border totals $1.4 billion per day and takes place at 25 major ports of land entry between the US and Mexico.