Month: June 2018

While China won’t be participating in next Tuesday’s nuclear summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US officials say they are preparing to counter a wide variety of spying techniques employed by Beijing at the Capella Hotel on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore, reports NBC News.

“China remains a particularly aggressive espionage actor and is using increasingly sophisticated technological platforms to carry out its objectives,” said Dean Boyd, spokesman for the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, a new counterintelligence agency established under the DNI.

China has employed aggressive espionage techniques in recent years – bugging everything from hotel keys to jewelry, which likely include the “friendship pins” given to White House officials during a visit to Beijing last November.

During the visit, the officials say the Chinese gave the U.S. delegation pins that the Americans called their friendship pins. But members of the delegation were not allowed to wear the pins into a secure area because security officials warned they likely had embedded listening devices.

The officials said their belongings were rifled through while they were not in their hotel rooms, as happened to U.S. officials during previous presidential trips to China. Some senior members of Trump’s delegation packed carry-on bags with anything they didn’t want the Chinese to see and took the bags wherever they went, including out to dinner in restaurants, according to officials. –NBC News

Of particular concern ahead of the summit via NBC News: 

• U.S. officials are concerned China has recruited informants among the waiters and other staff in Singapore’s restaurants and bars, who are paid to eavesdrop on American customers and report back to their Chinese handlers.

• Officials also expect electronic surveillance of the summit meeting sites. Americans will sweep for bugs in rooms at the Capella Hotel that could be used for side discussions, and could erect tents inside hotel meeting rooms to block any concealed cameras from viewing classified documents.

• Chinese intelligence agencies have shown the ability to penetrate mobile phones even when they are off, and U.S. officials are now told to take their batteries out when they are concerned about eavesdropping, according to a U.S. intelligence official.

“Chinese intelligence collection could be amped up around the summit,” said Jeremy Bash, former Chief of Staff to CIA Director Leon Panetta. “They have prioritized surveillance in recent years and their technical prowess has really advanced.”

According to three U.S. officials, in one recent case a top U.S. official working in China repeatedly had trouble with his hotel key card. He had to replace it several times at the front desk because it wouldn’t open his door.

He brought one of the key cards back to the U.S., where security officials found a microphone embedded inside, according to the U.S. officials.

The Chinese have placed listening and tracking devices in chips embedded in credit cards, key chains, jewelry, and even event credentials, the officials said, often with the intent of capturing secret conversations among American officials. –NBC News

Cell phones are particularly vulnerable. Following President Obama’s 2009 trip to China, one of his national security advisors was forced to throw away a Blackberry device because the Chinese were able to crack into it, according to a former administration official. Meanwhile President Trump uses two unsecured iPhones; one for talking and one for tweeting.

The president, who relies on cellphones to reach his friends and millions of Twitter followers, has rebuffed staff efforts to strengthen security around his phone use, according to the administration officials.

The president uses at least two iPhones, according to one of the officials. The phones — one capable only of making calls, the other equipped only with the Twitter app and preloaded with a handful of news sites — are issued by White House Information Technology and the White House Communications Agency, an office staffed by military personnel that oversees White House telecommunications. –Politico

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported this week that the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that a a device used to eavesdrop on cell phones and other electronic devices was detected near the White House, prompting concerns that it may have been used to spy on key government officials

Last Saturday, a former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer, Ron Rockwell Hanson, 58, was arrested Saturday afternoon on 15 federal charges, including the attempted transmission of national defense information to the People’s Republic of China, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Hanson, a resident of Syracuse, Utah, was taken into custody while he was on his way to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle before boarding a connecting flight to China.  Hanson’s arrest comes on the heels of a January incident in which ex-CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, was arrested at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport and indicted in May on charges of spying for China.

US government employees in China are instructed to presume that their residenced are all wired for sound and video, and that the Chinese are recording everything they do, according to NBC. Officials are also briefed on hotel room security. In 2008, the State Department issued a fact sheet for Americans traveling to the summer Olympics in Beijing, stating that there would be no reasonable expectation of privacy in public or private locations. 

“China poses the most sophisticated counterintelligence threat to the U.S. of any other country right now,” said Bash. “And their intelligence gathering is probably at its highest peak in a long time.”

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Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

Two days ago the respective Boards of Trustees for Medicare and Social Security released their annual reports for 2018.

As usual, the numbers are pretty gruesome… and the reports plainly stated what we’ve been talking about for years: the trust funds for both Social Security and Medicare are going to run out of money.

Soon.

In the case of Medicare, the Trustees project that its largest trust fund will be fully depleted in 2026, just eight years away. In the context of retirement, that’s right around the corner.

For Social Security, the Trustee report stated that the program will spend more money on benefits in 2018 than it will generate in income and tax revenue.

So this year will be the first time Social Security has run a deficit since 1982.

But it gets worse.

Because according to the Trustees’ projections, the program will continue running larger and larger deficits until it too becomes fully depleted in 2034.

After that, recipients can expect at least a 25% cut in the benefits that they were promised and worked their entire lives to receive.

Again, these numbers come directly from the Trustees of Social Security and Medicare (which includes the US Treasury Secretary).

The reports were so dire that mainstream publications picked them up almost immediately.

Curiously, though, a number of newspapers tried to play down the bad news, dismissively telling their readers that Social Security and Medicare are just fine, and that those sobering projections don’t matter.

These are common refrains. They’ll state, for example, that there’s nothing to worry about because the government will step in and bail out the programs.

Is that so? Well, who is going to bail out the government?

According to the Treasury Department’s annual financial report, Uncle Sam is already insolvent to the tune of $20.4 trillion.

And those numbers are only getting worse too. Treasury’s own projections show annual budget deficits in excess of $1 trillion starting in 2020.

Simply put, a short-term fix of Social Security and Medicare would cost trillions of dollars. And that would just be a down payment on the long-term costs of fixing the programs.

The federal government simply doesn’t have that kind of money. Not even close.

So the expectation that some politician is going to come riding in on a white horse with checkbook in hand is ludicrous.

A second commonly held myth is that these Social Security and Medicare projections are irrelevant because they “have a history of being wrong.”

That’s completely untrue.

35 years ago, the Social Security annual report from 1983 projected that the program’s cost would exceed its income and tax revenue in… 2020.

The current report states that this is going to happen in 2018.

That’s only a two year difference from what they projected over three decades ago. So they pretty much nailed it.

More importantly, though, we’re not even talking about long-range projections, which typically look 50-75 years into the future. We’re talking about EIGHT years from now.

But even if you take a longer-term view, the data is still grim.

Social Security and Medicare provide benefits to people based primarily on tax revenue generated by those who are currently in the work force.

Essentially the programs require a certain number of workers paying into the system for every single retiree drawing benefits. They call this the worker-to-retiree ratio.

In order for this delicate balance to work, population growth has to remain fairly stable. Major swings in population growth throw everything out of whack.

The critical problem is that both fertility rates and population growth (which takes into consideration immigration and mortality) have been declining.

The US fertility rate has been on a general downward trend since 1990, and in steep decline since 2007.

And overall population growth rates for the past several years have been the lowest in more than five decades.

This contrasts with the years immediately following World War II, in which there was an explosion in population growth.

Those are the folks who are currently receiving Social Security and Medicare benefits.

But due to the declines in population growth, there are no longer enough workers paying into the system (even with unemployment at multi-decade lows) to support the programs’ current recipients.

The end result is what we’re talking about today: Social Security and Medicare can’t generate enough revenue to support their costs and will thus soon deplete their cash reserves.

The government is trying to put a brave face on this, telling us that the alarming drop in the national fertility rate is only temporary, even though it’s been falling steadily for three decades.

But they insist it will reverse soon.

Frankly, it doesn’t seem sensible to plan one’s retirement based the ability of these bureaucrats to accurately predict how much sex people are going to be having in the coming years.

Instead, let’s look at the big picture: Social Security and Medicare are both perennially mismanaged with a history of gridlock and inaction.

And the people who are responsible for overseeing these trust funds have clearly stated that the programs will run out of money and be unable to pay the benefits that have been promised.

What sane person would possibly put all of his/her retirement eggs in that basket?

There are clearly better ways.

One approach is to establish more robust retirement plans (like a solo 401(k) or self-directed IRA) and start maximizing your contributions.

These types of structures allow you to direct your capital to potentially more lucrative investments that go beyond mainstream stocks and bonds. Plus, in many respects, they can be cheaper to maintain.

This is important, because if you can squeeze out an extra 1% per year between cost savings and better investment returns, it can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional retirement savings when compounded over several decades.

Regardless of what happens (or doesn’t happen) with Social Security in the future, it’s hard to imagine you’ll be worse off for doing this.

And to continue learning how to ensure you thrive no matter what happens next in the world, I encourage you to download our free Perfect Plan B Guide.

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Amid a seeming non-stop barrage of headlines about flybys, test-flights, and aviation drills among America’s nuclear-capable bombing fleet, Military.com reports that the Air Force has grounded its entire fleet of B-1B Lancer bombers due to safety concerns.

Military.com reported that the stand-down is a direct result of a May 1 incident when a B-1 crew in Texas tried to manually eject from the plane, but the seat didn’t blow (and at speeds of over 900 miles per hour, that could be a problem), forcing them to make an emergency landing instead. No one was hurt during the incident.

In a statement Friday, the Air Force said:

“During the safety investigation process following an emergency landing of a B-1B in Midland, Texas, an issue with ejection seat components was discovered that necessitated the stand-down. As issues are resolved aircraft will return to flight,” Air Force Global Strike Command said in a statement.

“The Safety Investigation Board is ongoing,” the Air Force continued.

“The SIB’s purpose is to prevent future mishaps or losses and is comprised of experts who investigate the incident and recommend corrective actions. The safety of airmen is the command’s top priority. The Air Force takes safety incidents seriously and works diligently to identify and correct potential causes.”

The B-1B in April returned back to the Middle East for the first time in nearly two-and-a-half years to take over strike missions from B-52 Stratofortress bombers.

And in case you were wondering who will be on the hook for this mass grounding – simple  – Boeing, which manufactures the bombers at a cost of $317 million each.

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Submitted by CoinTelegraph

Cybersecurity company Carbon Black announced that roughly $1.1 bln worth of digital currency has been stolen in the first half of 2018, CNBC reported June 7.

The security company said that criminals take advantage of the dark web to facilitate large-scale cryptocurrency theft. Estimates reportedly show that there are 12,000 marketplaces and 34,000 offerings associated with cryptotheft hackers can take advantage of. The dark web can be only accessed with the application of special software and allows users to stay anonymous and mostly untraceable.

Carbon Black Security strategist Rick McElroy, who was interviewed by CNBC, said that basic malware costs an average of $224 and can be priced as low as $1.04. McElroy added that it even sometimes comes with a form of customer support. According to the report, the malware marketplace is worth $6.7 mln.

The report notes that thefts can be carried out by organized crime cartels or criminal gangs, but often it’s a highly-trained engineer who works alone and is looking for a means of supplementary income. As explained by McElroy, cyber-theft is “pretty easy to do” and anyone could be capable, not only notorious hacker groups. He added:

“You have nations that are teaching coding, but there’s no jobs. It could just be two people in Romania needing to pay rent.”

Unlike banking and conventional financial operations, cryptocurrency holders do not have institutional support to protect their savings or cover their losses in case of a fraud or hacker attacks. McElroy said:

“Usually we rely on banks, the tools are out there but investors need to know how to do this. A lot of people are unaware in this new gold rush, people are using cloud wallets and not securing their money.”

Per the study, exchanges were the most popular target for cybercriminals this year, making up 27 percent of attacks.

Yesterday Cointelegraph reported that GuardiCore security team discovered a malicious traffic manipulation and cryptocurrency mining campaign. The campaign called Operation Prowli infected over 40,000 machines across various industries, including finance, education, and government.

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As it turns out, ensuring that your cabinet has an equal number of men and women for the first time in Canadian history doesn’t grant you immunity from your very own #MeToo moment.

That’s right: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has won widespread praise from the world’s liberals for his commitment to supporting intersectional feminism and multiculturalism, has been accused of a woman.

In an editorial published in the Creston Valley Advance back in 2000, a small paper in British Columbia, a woman recounts her experience of being groped by Trudeau, followed by an audacious apology where he admits that he wouldn’t have groped her if he knew she would report on the incident.

Images of the editorial started circulating online earlier this week:

“I’m sorry. If I had known you were reporting for a national paper, I never would have been so forward.” Those were the words that were spoken to an Advance reporter by Justin Trudeau, son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, on Aug. 4. Trudeau, who was in Creston to celebrate the Kokanee Summit festival put on by the Columbia Brewery, apologized – a day late – for inappropriately “handling” the reporter while she was on assignment…

Here is a slightly better quality image of an editorial in the August 14, 2000 Creston Valley Advance, a local B.C. paper, which claims Justin Trudeau apologized for “inappropriately handling” (or “groping” in the paper’s words) a female reporter. pic.twitter.com/fZ748QqWYX

— Sean Craig (@sdbcraig) June 7, 2018

As Breitbart describes it, the editorial is “largely dismissive” of Trudeau’s apology, the tone of which is a shocking departure from Trudeau’s essay, published last year, urging parents to raise their boys as feminists.

“All of us benefit when women and girls have the same opportunities as men and boys – and it’s on all of us to make that a reality,” he wrote in an essay for Marie Claire magazine. “Our sons have the power and the responsibility to change our culture of sexism.”

Feminism, noted Trudeau, was not just the belief that men and women are equal. “It’s the knowledge that when we are all equal, all of us are more free.”

Most recently, Trudeau unveiled a “gender equity” budget back in February hoping to eliminate the pay gap.

Of course, the “pay gap” narrative, as progressives tell it, leaves out important details, like the fact that the “gap” stems from preferences like women choosing more flexibility over responsibility, in part to enable them to act as caregivers for those who have children. Maybe if Trudeau would look at the data, he’d also consider taking action to eliminate the “reverse pay gap” where female CEOs make more than their male peers?

Fortunately for Trudeau, the tense trade negotiations leading up to the G-7 summit have buried this story – or was that an intentional coverage decision by mainstream media outlets?

For what it’s worth, Trudeau has denied groping the woman, according to the Daily Beast.

In a statement issued Thursday, a spokesperson for Trudeau said: “He remembers being in Creston for the Avalanche Foundation, but doesn’t think he had any negative interactions there.”

 

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Authored by Mick Shedlock via MishTalk,

The average size of a loan for a new car in the U.S. set a record in the first quarter as did the average payment.

Database firm Experian notes U.S. Monthly Auto Payments Reach Record High in First Quarter.

• New vehicle loans averaged $31,455

• The average monthly payment for a new vehicle hit at record $523/month

• Consumers are lengthening loan terms, with six years being the most common, to adjust to the higher costs and rising interest rates.

• Outstanding loan balances reached a record high of $1.108 trillion

• Loans for used vehicles reached $19,536, also a record

Auto Math

$523 * 12 * 6 = $37,656

That total does not factor in the down payment.

Interest = $37,656 – $31,455 = $6,201.

That’s $1033.50 in interest annually.

Lovely.

At the end of six years, perhaps the car will fetch $5,000 in a trade-in, but everything depends on miles, damage, and of course advancements in self-driving.

Anyone trading the car in after three or four years will be hugely underwater.

“The dream of owning a new vehicle is becoming more elusive,” said Melinda Zabritski, senior director of automotive financial solutions at Experian.

Elusive Dream?

​

Ah, the dream of spending $30,000 to $50,000 on a depreciating asset.

Elusive has not yet arrived, but it will.

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