SHOULD THE FED HIKE RATES NEXT MONTH?

Not everyone thinks the Fed should hike interest rates next month. The strong dollar has already hit emerging markets hard and that goes to some extent for U. S. multinationals. So has enough Fed members taken the attitude of "We gotta do something and we just don't care? It's time to act,"

"But even though the wonks at the Federal Reserve supposedly know the damage that a strong dollar is already doing to the global economy, they seem poised to make things even worse by raising interest rates in December…

Considering the tremendous amount of damage that has already been done to the global economy, this is one of the stupidest things that they could possibly do.

But it looks like they are going to do it anyway.

Most Federal Reserve policymakers agreed last month that the economy “could well” be strong enough in December to withstand the Fed’s first Interest rate hike in nearly a decade, according to minutes of its meeting Oct. 27-28.

The officials said global troubles had eased and a delay could increase market uncertainty and undermine confidence in the economy.The meeting summary provides the clearest evidence yet that a majority of Fed policymakers are leaning toward raising the central bank’s benchmark rate next month, assuming the economy continues to progress.

Considering the tremendous amount of damage that has already been done to the global economy, this is one of the stupidest things that they could possibly do.
But it looks like they are going to do it anyway.

It has been said that those that refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And right now so many of the exact same patterns that we saw just before the great financial crisis of 2008 are playing out once again right in front of our eyes. More:

  http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-u-s-dollar-has-already-caused-a-global-recession-and-now-the-fed-is-going-to-make-it-worse

OUR VIEW

Sending U.S.special forces into Syria is a colossal mistake by an administration noted for making colossal mistakes.

It will be a few years before those famous history revisionists get their hands on the history books, but by then most of you will know the truth and not be hoodwinked.

The current Syrian situation is one this administration yawned it usually indecisive yawn about a while back. Using the cover of the Paris tragedy, once again an administration that campaigned on bringing overseas American troops home and criticized a previous administration for it incompetent foreign policy in now trying to CYA.

That the American populace has tolerated such foreign policy incompetence, and that includes Benghazi where innocent Americans lost their lives, not just with this pitiful administration but several previous ones, is the real mystery here. It's a mystery that continues to be shrouded by MSM and their shills for Washington.

If the pen is indeed mightier than the sword, pick up yours and let your elected incompetents in Washington know exactly how you feel.

After all, 2016 is suppose to be what they call an election year. That's our view. We hope you know yours.

FOR THE NONCE

Well, we've all been cleared to consume genetically modified salmon, according to the WSJ.

Federal regulators approved the production and commercial sale of a strain of salmon whose DNA has been altered to make it grow faster, marking the first U.S. approval for a genetically modified animal raised for human consumption.

In case you 're wondering and we hope you're not, it's called agricultural biotechnology, something the Journal labels a milestone. The modified species is an Atlantic salmon developed by a Massachusetts firm that can grow to market weigh two times faster than the salmon nature provides or the farm raised variety.

If that smells like the odor of money rather than fish, your olfactory nerve is working just fine.

Some might hail this as good news. Others might take a different tact. One of  the things we know about cancer cells is that can multiply or grow much faster than ordinary healthy cells. It 's being marketed by its creators as a great thing for science and for consumers.

A gene from a larger Pacific Ocean breed of salmon gets implanted in the Atlantic species that increases growth hormone production. One wonders if any of the new species will eventually show up with acromegaly or a big head? There's enough of those to go around already in politics, media and Wall Street.

In most areas of sport, other than the clandestine world, artificially stimulating HGH is outlawed.

The environmental worry-wort crowd (They are never without their nervous-Nelly concerns; one could call it a human version of inbred GMO.) voices another concern, call it cross pollination as some of these genetic freak salmon escape into the natural waters and wipe what you and I know as natural species.

It's not like certain fish species didn't start disappearing from the globe before the climate change freaks arrived. We all have to make choices. What would you rather have, a bunch O2-spewing, coughing automobiles clumping around or herds of flesh-eating, fire-breathing dinosaurs?

For the nonce, we will pass on the GMO-altered salmon when it hits the market.

FALLOUT VERSUS SLOWING GROWTH

From the economic looks of things for 2016, the major EU economic engine, Germany, is expected to slow further next year. A report on MarketWatch today notes:

BERLIN--Germany's economy will grow less next year than in 2015 due to fading optimism in emerging economies and uncertainty about the consequences of the influx of migrants to Europe's largest economy, according to a survey from a leading German institute published Monday.

The growing uncertainty has prompted many companies to scale back their growth expectations, business-funded IW economic institute said.

"The series of years with modest growth years will continue," said IW director Michael Huether. "This is due to slowing export growth in an global economy marked by institutional uncertainties and restructuring."

The institute forecast growth of around 1.5% for next year, which is roughly in line with recent forecasts by other institutes but more pessimistic than the 1.8% forecast by the German government. For this year, IW estimates growth of 1.75%.

German Chancellor Merkel has a full plate at the moment with further fallout from the recent Paris tragedy and the already heating up controversy over the EU's open border policy. Many in Germany don't like it. And they're not lone. This is a sentiment that threatens the very core of the entire EU itself.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/german-economy-to-slow-next-year-iw-institute-2015-11-23

TIME TO BUY?

High rated bond buyer says it is time to consider bank debt.

As an unprecedented era of rock-bottom U.S. interest rates comes to an end, finding a bond fund manager who will protect your money is more crucial than ever.

One of the best in the business says that, right now, there’s no better way to do that than by scaling back on Treasuries, betting big on U.S. banks and taking some risk in emerging markets such as Mexico. More:

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-23/best-bond-trader-says-wager-on-wall-street-as-fed-liftoff-looms

POLITICAL BRASS KNUCKLES

Twenty-sixteen is a presidential election year. So it shouldn't surprise that the political brass knuckles are coming out.

The dangerous, iron hand of left wing intolerance recently rolled out it's political brass knuckles in a threat to stifle liberty and free speech when current presidential candidate Hillary Clinton went after some Hollywood comics who poked fun at her in a video.

We say Hilary went after them even though it was reportedly a high ranking Hillary campaign official because we don't think she'd get away with another Bengazi-I-Didn't-Have-Any-Knowledge-Of-It defense.

Here is the full story from.zerohedge.com.

The one upside of Hillary Clinton becoming President, is that her endless stream of stupidity will result in more content for this writer than I could ever imagine.

Hot off her recent debate performance in which she claimed that the reason she is owned by Wall Street is because of 9/11, her aides are now demanding a Hollywood comedy club take down a video of comedians mocking her.

Just in case you have any doubt about what a Hillary presidency would look like, we learn from Judicial Watch:

In what appears to be a first for a serious presidential contender, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is going after five comedians who made fun of the former Secretary of State in standup skits at a popular Hollywood comedy club.

A video of the short performance, which is less than three minutes, is posted on the website of the renowned club, Laugh Factory, and the Clinton campaign has tried to censor it. Besides demanding that the video be taken down, the Clinton campaign has demanded the personal contact information of the performers that appear in the recording. This is no laughing matter for club owner Jamie Masada, a comedy guru who opened Laugh Factory more than three decades ago and has been instrumental in launching the careers of many famous comics. “They threatened me,” Masada told Judicial Watch. “I have received complains before but never a call like this, threatening to put me out of business if I don’t cut the video.”

Masada told Judicial Watch that, as soon as the video got posted on the Laugh Factory website, he received a phone call from a “prominent” person inside Clinton’s campaign. “He said the video was disgusting and asked who put me up to this,” Masada said. The Clinton staffer, who Masada did not want to identify, also demanded to know the names and phone numbers of the comedians that appear in the video. Masada refused and hung up. He insists that the comedy stage is a sanctuary for freedom of speech no matter who is offended. “Just last night we had (Emmy-award winner) Dana Carvey doing Donald Trump and it was hilarious,” Masada said.

The last time we checked, the video was still up and running. Profiles in Courage was a Pulitzer Prize winning book attributed to the late President John F. Kennedy, though in truth much of it was ghost written by one his close high ranking colleagues. It was a book mostly about historical brave political people and their role in the founding and development of this nation.

It's refreshing to know there are other courageous profiles of ordinary Americans out there today who refuse to concede their liberty or freedom of speech, others who refuse to be intimidated.

Someone out there knows the name of that high ranking campaign person. Do yourself, your country and the American people a service. Publish it.

Maybe there's some more decent material there for those Hollywood comics?

zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-19/hillary-clintons-aides-demand-comedy-club-remove-video-making-fun-her

UPDATE ON PFIZER INVERSION

More from the weekend about the Pfizer inversion deal.

Under the terms of the proposed transaction, the businesses of Pfizer and Allergan will be combined under Allergan plc, which will be renamed “Pfizer plc.” The companies expect that shares of the combined company will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trade under the “PFE” ticker. Upon the closing of the transaction, the combined company is expected to maintain Allergan’s Irish legal domicile. Pfizer plc will have its global operational headquarters in New York and its principal executive offices in Ireland. For more:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-23/its-official-allergan-pfizer-combine-biggest-ever-tax-inversion-defy-jack-lew

OVERNIGHT

Australian shares neared their highest level in months. Conservative wins in Argentina.

Conservative opposition candidate Mauricio Macri won Argentina's presidential election on Sunday after promising business-friendly reforms to spur investment in the struggling economy. Macri's supporters swarmed to the Obelisk in the heart of Buenos Aires' theater district for a giant street party as subdued ruling party candidate Daniel Scioli conceded defeat.

Argentina's election body said Macri had 52.1 percent of votes and Scioli had 47.9 percent with returns in from 91.5 percent of polling stations."The is the beginning of a new era that has to carry us toward the opportunities we need to grow and progress," Macri told supporters at his headquarters, which pulsed with Latin music and was festooned with white and sky-blue balloons, the colors of the Argentine flag.

www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/23/us-argentina-election

Aussie Stocks Soar.

Australian shares neared their highest level in a month as optimism about its economy drove consumer stocks higher and countered pressure from a stronger U.S. dollar and lower commodity prices.  The S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +0.39%  was up 0.4% to 5222.70 Monday, on track for its highest close since late October.Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi SEU, +0.69%  was up 0.7% and but the Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, -0.15%  was down 0.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.39%  slipped 0.3%. Markets in Japan are closed for holiday

TWO OF A KIND

Political asylum has become a political joke. Anyone with a warm pulse qualifies for political asylum these days. One doesn't even have to make up a good tale. It would be instructive to know how many jihadist are enjoying residence in the U.S. now owing to government granted political asylum.

Does anyone know? Does anyone really think the government knows?

Two people we think this question should promptly be put to is California Governor Brown and the current White House occupant. One of the few legitimate roles of government is to protect its citizens. That means the people who are already here.

Allowing 10,000 Syrian refuges into the U.S. is not only opening the door to trouble, it an in-your-face insult to all the innocent men, women and children already in this country. Where will the good governor and the White House occupant be when on some distant day if some of those innocents lay in the streets shrouded in coroner bags?

Will they appear on television giving another meaningless speech sprinkled with their insincere deepest condolences to the bereaved family members? The decisions of these and others like them have the power to affect millions of innocent lives, many of whom most likely will never even have heard of Syria.

Who is going it to be: You or me or your neighbor just because we decide to go to a certain market on a certain day or attend a sporting event on a certain weekend? There is an old saying that physicians bury their mistakes. Less you think otherwise, the same holds true for politicians.

We could cite a legion of historical examples, but we'll spare you the onslaught. If you trust politicians, right, left or otherwise, to keep you and yours absolutely safe, then pay no mind. Voice no opinion. Just gently put your hands in your pockets and quietly amble off into the good evening, maybe down the street to your favorite market or to a sporting event come the weekend.

Two of a kind who essentially are going to force their view point on the American people. You know they're gong to call you names if you come out against accepting Syrian refugees. But here's a quote to consider.

Here's a dose of math reality. The EU let in a million refugees, if just 1/10 of 1% of them are terrorists, that's 1,000 terrorists the EU has to deal with.

Do either of these faces look like those of someone you want to trust with your lives or those of your children?

.http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/11/obama-to-veto-bill-requiring-background.

                     

OUR VIEW

Oh my! Here's our view. We hope you know yours.

Any idea that the Federal Reserve Bank is or ever was, as one apparent conservative website,The Fiscal Times, recently reported, "fiercely independent" is laughable. Fiercely independent central banks are like silent thunder; they don't really go together.

Independent of whom and what? We disdain regulation as much as the next guy, but every time someone questions the Fed's so-called transparency, a term the Fed itself loves to toss around to brag how open-ended it is, these apologists roll out their same old, shopworn, carping rhetoric.

thefiscaltimes.com/2015/11/19/House-GOP-Trying-Cripple-Fed-Policy-Making

We are no friend of the GOP. In fact, both parties are like Mike and Ike--pitiful and pathetic.Take your pick. All one really needs to know about this article is the author spent 25 years at the Washington Post.

The House Republicans’ solution to the problem is a complex bill dubbed the Fed Oversight Reform and Modernization Act (FORM) – a measure likely to pass the House today that Yellen warns would be a “grave mistake” that could seriously harm the economy and once again drive up unemployment.

To begin with, anything Fed Chair Yellen warns "would be a grave mistake," is worth considering implementing. The biggest grave mistake is having a Federal Reserve in the first place. Congress passes complex bills every year. Most of them are so complex, to paraphrase a Pelosi line, nobody reads them before or after they're passed.

That's what we love about Washington--their bipartisan consistency.

“The bill would severely impair the Federal Reserve’s ability to carry out its congressional mandate and would be a grave mistake, detrimental to the economy and the American people,” she said in a letter to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

The only real thing detrimental to the economy and the American people has been the Fed. And it started way back in 1913, the same year the then ensconced privileged set birthed another disaster, the IRS. Talk about complex bills. Rumor has it someone has pledged ten million dollars tax free to any man or woman or illegal alien, jihadists excepted, who can prove he or she or them has read every word.

Among other things, the GOP bill that emerged from the Financial Services Committee last week on a straight party-line vote, would require the Fed to be more “transparent” about the stress tests it requires the nation’s largest banks to pass each year. It would require Fed employees to abide by the same ethical requirements as other federal financial regulators. And it would place new restrictions on the Fed’s ability to make emergency loans during periods of financial crisis.

Now there's a novel twist, hold Fed employees' feet to the same ethical flame as other federal financial regulators. Oh my! And damn those straight-party line votes. If one was only semi-literate, which most of are according to Washington, this author would have readers believe the GOP has cornered the market on them.

They key condescension here is requiring the Fed to let we semi-illiterates in on the secret ingredients of those big bank stress tests. Oh my!