Voices

Not that one's voice is going to get heard. But at least you expressed it.

We've already expressed some concerns about Trump appointees, not necessarily the ones globalists hate. And make no mistake, they hate.

Bringing Mitt Romney in for any position in this administration is absurd. It's a token gesture to the Wall Street Journal nerds. Peace pipes are not what's needed here. A new, really new direction is. And firmness. All the peace pipe talk is purse BS. And all the talk about experience and knowing how the globe and Washington works is also BS. That's what got us here, experience. So-called expertise. It's way over rated.

If you're going to go down--and there are many who will want you to and many others working diligently this moment to make that happen--do so with our own people and some new blood, not those same old boring, bureaucratic, lip syncing insiders. You've been bold this far and you've had some bold believers  help you. It was that boldness and thousands bold enough to believe in you and get behind you that got you elected.

You might not owe them much, but you own them that much. This is about peoples' lives and their liberty, sir, not neocons and status quo insiders. The swamp as you correctly called it not only needs to be drained; it needs to be fill-in and paved over. Lobbyists and insiders are huge fauna infecting that swamp. So are elitists like Romney.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Vigilance And Information

One of my favorite stories about the Cold War concerns a group of Russian journalists who were touring the United States. On the final day of their visit, they were asked by the host for their impressions. “I have to tell you,” said the spokesman, “that we were astonished to find after reading all the newspapers and watching TV day after day that all the opinions on all the vital issues are the same. To get that result in our country we send journalists to the gulag. We even tear out their fingernails. Here you don’t have to do any of that. What is the secret?”

Anyone who has been around journalism or with any recall of the Cold War days will be familiar with this story. It recently was posted again at blacklistednews.com/Who%E2%80%99s_the_Biggest_Peddler_of_Fake_News. 

It's relevant for many reasons. With all the recent chatter about fake news, one could make a strong case back in those Cold War days when the three major networks controlled just about any and all news, it was the zenith of fake news. More so then than even now with all the grumbling about alternative fake news sites. You had fatherly figures like the celebrated Walter Cronkite in the your living room nightly pretending to be an objective purveyor of the news. Underneath the facade Cronkite was a huge bleeding heart liberal, a NIMBY who in later years didn't want any windmills constructed off his Cape Cod digs to help clean up the polluted air. Do you think he didn't have high friends in high places?

Back then you had an unquestioning, all-too-willing-to believe audience. That's why it was the zenith of fake news. It was so, most believed, pretty straight forward, the white hats and the black hats. Westerns were popular television fair of the era. Check any of those out. Propaganda the masses were told was something the other guy perpetuated. Today, propaganda is much more subtle. Some of it finds a path to Broadway like the musical Hamilton.

What many don't want to understand or can't understand is the gulag and fingernail pulling was coming after Hillary and her expected mandate.There is a Democrat Senator, John Whitehouse, from Rhode Island who has openly pushed for indicting and even prosecuting any--scientist or lay person--who dares to question the current climate change nonsense. Man is the cause and man needs to be corrected. Corrected like the word run has numerous meanings. First comes persuasion. Short of that, indictment, prosecution and then the gulag. From the gulag we all know killing is only a tiny step away. And it can happen inside or out. And what is even more frightening for some most likely has.

Nor is Mr.Trump your savior if you love your freedom and were raised to live by the creed to live and let live irrespective of race, creed or BMI. So far so good, kind of. Trump essentially won because people were fed up with the status quo. Bringing in old time neocons and Goldman Sachs henchmen is a form of papering over. Some will try to play it as reaching out and healing. There are no olive branches in the lexicon of the globalist crowd. Learn that now or hopefully when your day comes you'll get selected to go to one of the gulags in the warmer climates.

It's about vigilance and information. You are not expected to or wanted to have any.

Overnight

Thursday might be turkey day in the U.S. but in Asia they're still trading stocks and such
Reuters reported: Most Asian stock markets fell on Thursday as upbeat economic data strengthened the prospect for higher U.S. interest rates, while the dollar's bull run continued as U.S. bond yields hovered near multi-year highs.

Japanese stocks swam against the tide and rose to a near 11-month high as the yen weakened and after Wall Street shares closed at record highs overnight.The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS pulled back from a 12-day high scaled the previous day to lose 0.5 percent, facing the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates diverting money from emerging markets. It has lost 3.5 percent this month.

It's now no secret that Trumpism--at least so far--has been good for financial stocks and Japanese banks have been no exception as banks make money on the spread in interest rates and the spreading feeling among investors that business will pick up under the new administration. The dollar index moved higher again its basket of six currencies, strengthening 0.2% to 101.84. Rising U.S. bonds yields helped the dollar along the way. The Korean won fell 0.2% against the dollar Thursday, the Indonesian rupiah was off 0.4%, the Japanese yen slipped 0.1% and the Malaysian ringgit was 0.4% lower. As investor became aware of the latest Fed minutes from November the prospect of higher interest rates added some fuel to the dollar's rise against Asian currencies. The yen weakened further against the dollar to trade at 112.67, compared with levels near 111.04 in the previous session and at levels below 110 in the previous week.

U.S. crude futures traded at $47.97 a barrel after rising 0.4 percent on Wednesday, while global benchmark Brent was at $48.93 a a barre, following an overnight gain of 0.3 percent. Gold fell near $1,180 as traders moved away from safe harbor assets and jumped into more risky ones leaving gold to languish from it previous level of $1,220 just last week.

Free Trade Kills

Here's a chart we dedicate to Martin Wolf, the Financial Times in-resident Keynesian apologist and pro-free trade grump. It's from the Washington Post, for God's sake. Who would've thunk it? If Wolf in his nonsensical rantings against a president-elect who has not even taken office yet spent more time minding his own business, he might be a happier fellow.

It's worth noting that the authors note their PC position on free trade (That is, if they wanted get the WP to print their story!) but call for more sharing of the economic spoils. If free trade with China is causing white people to commit suicide or die early, it's not much different from black lives matter.

We have heard about Chinese imports of dog foods that have killed numerous American pets, but this brings up what the hell else is going into all that Wal Mart junk younger people clutter up their garages with--that is, if they can afford one--only to have to get rid of when the get old and maybe get to retire, if they can ever afford to.

Most likely one reason all those heart attacks occur when they realize how much money they wasted over the years following Keynesian precepts and see how much junk they have to got to get rid of. But don't tell Paul Krugman. He's still running around saying: "What happened?"

The nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research published the findings in a working paper on Monday, during an uncertain moment for global commerce. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to renegotiate trade deals and has threatened punitive tariffs on Chinese goods.
Like most experts on trade, Schott argues against new tariffs or other restrictions. Instead, he calls on policymakers to do more to ensure that everyone shares in the gains from globalization.

washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/23/trade-with-china-literally-kills-americans-economists-say

Keep Your Eye On Spreads

Like it or otherwise it's mostly a north-south world.

In California, the most populated state in the United States, the north has most of the water. The same holds for those sub-Saharan regions; they have little water compared to those in the northern hemisphere. It's the same in the European Union, the poorer countries are in the south.

So a decent question is why would it be any difference in the bond market? It isn't. Other factors accounted for, take a look at bond yields and their spread, say, between 10-year Italian and 10-year German bonds. Market gurus like to break it down a bit differently calling things risk on and risk off investing.We witnessed  a lot of that, particularly in Asia, leading up to the U.S. election and also post-Brexit.

Your seeing the same thing in the exchange markets now with the euro and the UK pound. It was  even worse when all those EU joiners had their own currencies competing against the Deutschmark and such.One of the European Union promises was to put an end to all that. Well, it hasn't happened and the bond market it saying so right now.

Both 10-year Italian and 10-year German bonds supposedly represent sovereign debt. But your sovereign debt as your dirty laundry is not necessarily mine. That's just one of the reasons the EU will ultimately fail. The big boys up north have gerrymanders things when they need to but are unwilling to grant those underlings in the south any slack for the most part. Some would call it crumb tossing slack. Now the south is not especially rank innocents either.

Most of us dislike spring cleaning. Politicians hate it the most. In the currencies' market when you're talking safe harbors of late, it's the Swiss franc, the yen and the dollar. Of late in the bond markets it's been Germany and the U.S. Bonds are sensitive to interest rate changes or so-called perceived changes. Rates in the U.S.were perceived to be going up even before the Donald pulled off the upset  of the 21st Century so far. Not so in the EU. Magic Mario is still tossing soft pitches for the most part.

Part of the problem is political uncertainty. wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/11/21/italys-looming-referendum-risk-splits-southern-europes-bond-markets

In the latest bond market selloff, a new trend is becoming ever more clear — a divergence between southern Europe’s two biggest economies, Italy and Spain.

Italian 10-year government bond yields are currently at their highest since early 2012, around half a percentage point above their Spanish counterparts with two weeks to go until the country’s constitutional referendum. In the selloff since the U.S. election, Spanish yields also ticked up, but at a slower pace than Italy’s.

The country goes to the polls Dec. 4 to approve or reject reforms to the country’s upper house of parliament. A “yes” vote would weaken the country’s senate, reducing its control over some policy areas and meaning it can no longer oust governments. In times of economic stress, yields on the European periphery — the more economically troubled countries that suffered most during the euro sovereign debt crisis — tend to rise relative to countries in Europe’s core, particularly Germany.

“The significant underperformance of [Italian government bonds] in the last two months is by and large a reflection of the higher political premium in the run up to the Italian referendum,” said a note from Morgan Stanley’s interest rate strategists late last week.
A loss — currently projected by most polls — would weaken Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s economic reform efforts. Earlier in the year, Mr. Renzi suggested he would resign in the event of a “no” vote.

Italy’s brand new 50-year bond is another illustration of the challenge for investors. The debt security has dropped in price by more than 12% in the last month.

 

But it isn’t just a relative absence of political crisis that’s helping Spain — the country’s economy has also shown more strength than Italy’s. HSBC’s analysts believe that in time Spanish bond yields could converge towards French levels.

Spain was considered one of the most damaged European economies during the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, but has rapidly repaired its reputation among investors.
Though the economy took an enormous hit during the euro crisis, the country’s GDP per capita is still 14.2% higher than when the euro was launched in 1999, whereas Italy’s is 3.8% below those levels.
“With the political situation in Spain having turned less uncertain lately, the looming December vote has driven Italy’s policy uncertainty higher,” said Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts in a recent note.

“We are no longer in the peace and quiet’ of 2015,” the note added. “From now to the referendum, we think Italy will be walking on thin ice.”
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So keep you eye on the spreads. 

Confidence Levels

Here's a chart many on the left will disdain, but it's important to note it's from Bloomberg. With all the talk about fake news of late, we doubt if Bloomberg, a clearly leftist news organization, has turned over a new leaves. What we do know is the question is not who are all these snowflake protesters. The question is who's backing and paying for them?


zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-23/trump-victory-sends-black-american-consumer-confidence-surging-22-month-highs

Well that's unexpected...
Bloomberg's consumer comfort survey shows Black Americans are at their most confident since Jan 2015 following the Trump election win, now more confident than white Americans.

We also note that Hispanic Americans are more confident now than before the election also. So it makes us wonder just who all these snowflake protesters are?

Overnight

Hitting 18,162.94, the Nikkei 225 registered its highest close sine early January after edging up 0.35 overnight. It didn't hurt the Asian marmosets with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its highest close ever, continuing a streak of milestones for U.S. stock indexes.

The Wall Street Jurnal reported: Asian shares traded in positive territory Wednesday, taking a lead from record gains in the U.S. overnight that were driven by postelection exuberance. The S&P/ASX 200 was recently up 1.2% while South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.6%. Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Tuesday closed above 19,000 for the first time. It ended the day 0.4% higher at 19,023.87 points. The S&P 500 was up 0.2%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.3% Wednesday, the Shanghai Composite was 0.2% higher and Taiwan’s Taiex was up 0.5%.

Asian currencies, however, continue to slide, indicating that offshore funds are pulling money from the region. The Philippine peso Wednesday brushed against an eight-year low against the U.S. dollar as rising bond yields in the U.S. prompt traders to take money out of emerging markets.
“The stance of the monetary policy towards higher interest rates in the U.S. is aiding the dollar,” said Jose Vistan, head of research at AB Capital Securities in Manila. Politics is also a factor, he added.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has amped up his rhetoric against the West, raising apprehensions among investors about the inevitability of the once-solid Western ally.The dollar also gained 0.5% against the Malaysian ringgit and the Korean won in early Asian trade Wednesday.

The Trump message of increasing fiscal stimulus for many investors is contradicting those same,investors who apparently at least initially viewed the new president-elect with much more skepticism. the new apparent mood pushed commodity prices higher Wednesday. Copper and zinc were last up 0.1% each. U.S. homebuying activity rose in October for the second straight month to a new high, according to data released overnight by the National Association of Realtors. October sales of previously owned homes rose at the strongest pace since February 2007. The data have increased interest in materials and commodities stocks in Asia.

Not everyone, however, is convinced and some are expecting a pullback in this trend soon. Gold was last trading at 1217.80 up +1.70. Crude oil stayed range bound trading unchanged at $48.46 a barrel as OPEC is meeting in Vienna and questions about any future cutbacks in production linger.

Fake News Bloomberg Style

The subject of fake news has been in the news a lot lately.

Here's an example from Bloomberg, but we've seen numerous examples in places like the Financial Times. Much of it is fake in that it's perpetrators want you to think these institutions are independent and above reproach when in reality they are attached at the hip bone to special interests groups and are often peopled by stumbling, bumbling bureaucrats not really responsible to much of anyone.
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Trump Shouldn’t Bully the Fed … U.S. President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly criticized Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen during his campaign. British Prime Minister Theresa May has questioned the Bank of England’s recent actions, for a while putting Governor Mark Carney’s tenure in doubt. The long-cherished principle of central-bank independence seems to be under attack.  – Bloomberg

The mainstream media is up in arms over “fake news” but the reality is that almost everything the mainstream reports is in a sense fake. Global warming is fake. Vaccines do not work as advertised. Central banking is fake too.

On and on. Truth has been overtaken by propaganda. We call these fake notions “dominant social themes.” They are inevitably intended to reinforce the idea that a very few must have control over the many.

Central banks fix the volume and value of “money” – and price fixing inevitably creates disasters. But you will never find this simple fact stated in almost any mainstream media article about central banking.

This Bloomberg article is no exception. Seldom do we see all the fallacious reasons for a central bank gathered together in one short editorial, but Bloomberg has done us this favor.

In this case, Bloomberg is trying to justify why central banks should be “independent.”

More: The standard case for leaving central banks alone to conduct monetary policy rests on three points.

First, a government that controls the central bank might be tempted to finance unaffordable budget deficits by printing money. (See Zimbabwe.) Second, to provide economic stability, a steady hand on the monetary controls is required, which demands some insulation from day-to-day politics. (Would anybody want to put Congress in charge of interest rates?) Third, monetary policy done right is a technical thing, like running a utility. It’s basically apolitical.

Now most of what Bloomberg writes here if it were any more sophomoric one could possibly get a sophomore to believe it. If what we've experienced since 2008 from central banks around the globe is Bloomberg's idea of a steady hand,we hope they never go into farming.

thedailybell.com/news-analysis/the-fake-news-about-central-banking

High Tech Arrogance

 If this is Business Insider's idea of perfect, someone might want to refer them to Webster's. Or a copy editor.
 
We don't know either of the participants involved here, but perhaps the highbrow attitude of Business Insiders should inform Mr.Vogels to use his spellcheck, if he knows how, or perhaps enroll in another freshman English class, assuming he ever had one.

Vogel's response to the email pitch was perfect:

Dear John, I know your targeting algorithm was cheap and thus not perfect, but I suggest to ask your money back from however sold it to you! pic.twitter.com/IYkiIqeAhM
— Werner Vogels (@Werner) November 17, 2016

businessinsider.com/amazon-cto-werner-vogels-receives-dumb-cold-email-2016-11?

Line Up And Shut Up

We have all heard the talk about hitting the nail on the head.

Here is a quote that does just that. It's factual, truthful and straight forward, all things the globalists who seek to run and control your life cannot stand and are dedicated to preventing.

European anti-Americanism is certain to escalate in the years ahead, not because of Trump or his policies, but because "globalists" appear desperate to save the failing European Union, an untransparent, unaccountable, anti-democratic, sovereignty-grabbing alternative to the nation state.

Though you yet might not completely recognize it, this is the struggle you and the rest of us are facing. It's a global struggle. All of the outright lying MSM does running interference for corporate government is designed to keep you from knowing. When the storm comes, the real storm, MSM will be one of the first targets. That will hardly be unjustified. Deception like everything else in life has its price. Brexit and the Red Vote not to mention all the tough talk from Brussels about not allowing a soft exit are part of the warnings signs.


Most of us don't want others around us who don't want to be there. We'd usually wish them well with a good riddance or such. Not these people. Everything with these self-righteous asses is personal. Why? It's simple to them; they are superior. And we're too stupid and too blind to see it, the ultimate insult to their their egos. Listen, masses, line your lame asses up and get in lockstep with the program. We've already tossed you lots of crumbs including a phony vote. We have even upgraded your appellations from subjects to citizens. What the hell else do you want? Line up and shut up.

If you've followed at all the opinions in the Financial Times even before the election, it reeks with anti-Trump and anti-Americanism. When their favorite ploy during recessions--fighting them with last century's monetary policy failed, a tactic they were so certain would work--they blamed the lack of fiscal spending, one of their convenient standbys, and then, finally, consumers. It couldn't be them, the ones who enabled the whole mess.
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European anti-Americanism — which was on the wane during the presidency of Barack Obama, who steered the United States on a course of globalism rather than nationalism — is back with a vengeance.
Europe's media establishment has greeted Donald Trump's election victory with a vitriol not seen since the George W. Bush presidency, when anti-Americanism in Europe was at fever pitch.

Since the American election on November 9, European television, radio and print media have produced an avalanche of negative stories, editorials and commentary that seethe with rage over the outcome of the vote.

European criticism of Trump goes far beyond a simple displeasure with the man who will be the next president. The condemnation reveals a deep-seated contempt for the United States, and for American voters who democratically elected a candidate committed to restoring American economic and military strength.

If the past is any indication of the future, European anti-Americanism will be a pervasive feature of transatlantic relations during the Trump presidency.

Although European opinion-shapers have focused much of their indignation on the threat Trump allegedly poses to global order, the president-elect will inherit a world that is significantly more chaotic and insecure than it was when Obama became president in January 2009.
The primary cause of the global disorder is the lack of American leadership — leading from behind — at home and abroad.

A series of feckless decisions by Obama to reduce American military influence abroad have created geopolitical power vacuums that are being filled by countries and ideologies that are innately hostile to Western interests and values. China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and radical Islam — among many others — have all been emboldened to challenge the United States and its allies with impunity.

gatestoneinstitute.org/9372/trump-europe-anti-americanism