Category: zerohedge

It seems only apropos the current exuberance that, having been put on hold due to the economic crisis, an ambitious project to build the world's biggest ship and create "a community that offers unique lifestyle opportunities" is back on track and seeking investors. With calls for wealth taxes increasing and "the 1%" becoming increasingly separate from the rest of the world, what better way that the ironically named "Freedom Ship," which as IBTimes reports, will be a vast floating city that will be more than a mile long and 25 storeys high. It will cost $10bn to build and will constantly circumnavigates the globe; and while US residents may still need to pay taxes, residents of other countries "may realise tax savings by residing in or running businesses in the Freedom Ship Community."

 

Via IBTimes,

Aimed at creating the world's first mobile community, Freedom Ship will be the largest ship ever built at over a mile long and 25 storeys high.

Freedom Ship: The $10 Billion Floating City for the Super Rich has been redesigned ahead of an expected launch.

Having been put on hold due to the economic crisis, an ambitious project to build the world's biggest ship and create "a community that offers unique lifestyle opportunities" is back on track and seeking investors.

Freedom Ship will be a vast floating city that will be more than a mile long and 25 storeys high. It will cost $10bn (£6.1bn, €7.4bn) to build and will constantly circumnavigates the globe.

The ship will accommodate 30,000 daily visitors, 10,000 nightly hotel guests, and 20,000 full time crew.

"This will be a very heavily capitalised project and the global economy in the last few years hasn't been too inviting for unproven progressive projects like ours," Roger Gooch, director and vice-president of Freedom Ship International, told the Telegraph.

"In the last six months we've been getting more interest in the project and we are hopeful we will raise the $1bn to begin construction," Gooch added.

Small airport

The 2.7-million tonne ship will be four times the length of the Queen Mary II and will be so large it will not be able to enter any existing port. There is no dockyard in the world big enough to build it.

As well as homes, Freedom Ship would contain hospitals, schools, shops, parks and a small airport.

Despite reports, the company said that the airport would not be able to accommodate aircraft the size of a Boeing 747.

"The largest aircraft this flight deck can accept are turboprop aircraft in the 38 to 40-passenger range," the company said.

Voyage

The ship will spend 70% of its times moored at locations around the world.

A circumnavigation of the world would take two years. The planned route runs from the east coast of the US to Europe, around the north of Scotland to Scandinavia, back down past France and Portugal into the Mediterranean, returning via the Strait of Gibraltar to pass the length of west Africa, then along the bottom of the Indian Ocean to Australia, southeast Asia, Japan and across to the West Coast of the US.

Freedom Ship: The route that the $10 Billion floating city will take every two years.

Is Freedom Ship a tax dodge?

On the project's website, the company seeks to clarify a number of misconceptions including the belief that it is a grand design to facilitate tax evasion.

"The Freedom Ship community has not been conceived as a tax haven. While the community itself will levy no taxes, citizens of countries such as the US would not realise any income tax savings by residing in or running businesses in the community, at least at the federal level, since American citizens are taxed on their worldwide income."

However the company does concede that residents of other countries "may realise tax savings by residing in or running businesses in the Freedom Ship Community".
 

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/-QV3bOMMG1E/story01.htm Tyler Durden

A mere two months after the last widespread blackout to hit Venezuela,major parts of the nation is once again dark tonight as a power outage hit during President Maduro's evening address laying out his new economic philosophy (the inverse of Bernanke's):

• *MADURO SAYS VENEZUELANS MUST SAVE MORE, CONSUME LESS

The blackouts, often due to power rationing or utility failures, have affected some of the nation's oil refineries (even though they are often powered by separate generator plants); but Maduro himself said this evening's blackout cause was "strange," jinting at "sabotage" and not caused by excess demand. Perhaps it is time to spend what little discretionary reserves the nation has left on infrastructure instead of Samsung trinkets and military bonuses to keep the people at bay.

The end result:

Some color on his new vision for the country which was being presented on national TV just before the blackout struk. Via Bloomberg:

Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, speaking in national address on television and radio, says decree will be ready “within 24 hours.”

 

* Individuals will be able to open FX accounts in euros or dollars in state banks to import cars: Maduro
* Law decree will lower prices for used, new cars: Maduro
* Govt will set prices for new cars: Maduro
* Manufacturers must inform of weekly car production: Maduro
* Prices for used cars can’t exceed prices for new cars: Maduro
* Venezuelans must save more, consume less: Maduro
* Venezuela economy needs fair prices, reasonable profit margins: Maduro

 

 

 

 

Govt officials in Venezuela say power to come back online within the hour. Calling the blackout 'strange' and hints of 'sabotoge' they say

— Gabriel Elizondo (@elizondogabriel) December 3, 2013

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/uERkx49XvmU/story01.htm Tyler Durden

“Surely this can’t go on forever“, asks a pensive Lou Rukeyser on New Year’s Ever 1999, to which a youthful Liz-Ann Sonders replies ever-exuberantly, “this is a magical environment for the stock market, for the year 2000, things look terrific.” The other guests in this wonderfully brief moment of deja vu from the peak of the previous bubble are just as cock-a-hoop, “the danger signs are still a ways off,” and none other than Laszlo Birinyi concludes, “the individual is flush with cash, and continues to be positive,” confirming once again that the money-on-the-sidelines fallacy is just that.

 

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/IZpXBES0PHY/story01.htm Tyler Durden

“Surely this can’t go on forever“, asks a pensive Lou Rukeyser on New Year’s Ever 1999, to which a youthful Liz-Ann Sonders replies ever-exuberantly, “this is a magical environment for the stock market, for the year 2000, things look terrific.” The other guests in this wonderfully brief moment of deja vu from the peak of the previous bubble are just as cock-a-hoop, “the danger signs are still a ways off,” and none other than Laszlo Birinyi concludes, “the individual is flush with cash, and continues to be positive,” confirming once again that the money-on-the-sidelines fallacy is just that.

 

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/IZpXBES0PHY/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

As might be expected as political and economic policy failures pile up and citizens become increasingly mad, the status quo is becoming increasingly authoritarian (recall blogger “Mish” was just fined 8,000 euros for a blog post).

In the latest disturbing news from a desperate power structure, the conservative government in Spain has passed an Orwellian bill titled the Citizens’ Security Law, which allows for fines of up to 600,000 euros ($816,000) for “unauthorized” street protests, and a 30,000 fine for merely having signs with “offensive” slogans against Spain or for wearing a mask.

This law is a perfect example of the increasing neo-feudalism being implemented across the globe by a corrupt, decadent and depraved status quo. Such laws must be immediately resisted or they will only get worse, much worse. It is quite obvious what the power structure in Spain in trying to do. It is putting into place an egregious punishment framework that could bankrupt a person by merely protesting. Such a threat is intended to make people not even consider their rights as human beings to express grievances to a crony government.

Instead of eye for an eye, it is like 25 eyes and a limb for an eye. If this does’t tell the Spanish people all they need to know about their government I don’t know what will. Below are some excerpts from a Reuters story covering the law:

(Reuters) – Spain’s conservative government agreed on Friday to toughen penalties for unauthorized street protests up to a possible 600,000 euro ($816,000) fine, a crackdown that belies the peaceful record of the anti-austerity protests of recent years.

 

Street protests and strikes have became increasingly frequent in recent years following huge cuts to education and health spending aimed at shrinking Spain’s public deficit to adhere to European Union demands.

 

But in contrast to Greece and elsewhere, where many similar protests have turned violent, Spain’s have remained largely peaceful, despite unemployment of 26 percent, rising poverty, and changes in labor laws that make firing easier.

 

Among other measures, protesters who cover their faces at demonstrations could be fined up to 30,000 euros while “offensive” slogans against Spain or its regions could reap a similar sanction.

 

The government also plans a new law restricting labor protests.

 

“This law … attempts to criminalize the act of protest,” said United Left lawmaker Gaspar Llamazares, questioning whether it complied with Spain’s constitution. “The government is trying to turn its political opponents into delinquents.”

 

”Compare events in Spain with those of other countries around us,” wrote conservative columnist Jose Antonio Zarzalejos on the website El Confidencial. “This security law … will add the stigma of authoritarianism to the political failure of the PP.”

It’s not just Spain though. This sort of panic attack from desperate members of the status quo is popping up elsewhere. Japan is another example, and over the weekend I read that Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba compared demonstrations to “acts of terrorism.” From the Japan Times:

Citizens demonstrating against the controversial state secrets bill are committing “an act terrorism,” according to Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba.

 

In a blog post Friday, he wrote: “If you want to realize your ideas and principles, you should follow the democratic principles, by gaining as much support as you can. I think the strategy of merely shouting one’s opinions at the top of one’s lungs is not so fundamentally different from an act of terrorism.”

My take is that people worldwide will not stand for such nonsense. Increasingly citizens have very little to lose and if they all say no together, there is not much the state can do. Just look at how Ukrainians responded to a ban on protests. Hundreds of thousands of them filled the streets in defiance. Below is a video of just one of the many incredible street scenes from over the weekend. In this case we see demonstrators using a tractor to break police barricades.

Interesting times indeed.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/9XB_rBskr5Q/story01.htm Tyler Durden

As we showed back in April, the marginal cost of production of gold (90% percentile) in 2013 was estimated at between $1250 and $1300 including capex. Which means that as of a few days ago, gold is now trading well below not only the cash cost, but is rapidly approaching the marginal cash cost of $1125… Of course, should the central banks of the world succeed in driving the price of gold to or below its costs of production (repressing yet another asset class into stocks) then we fear the repercussions will backfire from a combination of bankruptcies, unemployment, and as we have already seen in Africa – severe social unrest (especially notable as China piles FDI into that region).

 

 

Which means that of the following mines (as we showed here) which make up the gold cost curve, one by one, starting on the right and going left, production is going to go dark, even without the recent demand by South African gold miner labor unions to have their wages doubled. Until eventually virtually no gold will be produced.

 

 

It is at that point where one must apply the New Normal supply and demand curve, when one can predict a $0 per ounce price for gold, as physical demand continues unabated, while actual physical, not paper, production has now started going offline.

 

Joking aside, not even Bernanke, Yellen, or all the paper Gold ETFs in the world will be able to do much to suppress gold prices from reaching their fair value when gold production hits a standstill, and when demands, especially by China, is still in the hundreds of tons each year.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/sMWxfD08h8o/story01.htm Tyler Durden

It seems getting an 8 pm “escape” from friends and family this Thanksgiving to rush into the nearby World Wrestling Federation Walmart may have been a welcome reprieve for some. Those some in question being NSA agents, and just in case their friends and family got a little too pesky, boisterous or simply inquisitive, all the employees of the National Security Agency and the Central Security Services received a prepared memo with preauthorized talking points designed to “guide” conversations over the Thanksgiving dinner table. Plastered at the head of the 2-page propaganda is a Douglas Adams-like (or was that Isaac Asimov) in its simplicity bullet point: “(1) NSA’s mission is of great value to the Nation.” How was it that “defenders” of the fatherland during the Third Reich were being brainwashed again? But we digress.

Some of the other brainwashing encouraged talking points: “(2) NSA performs its mission the right way—lawful, compliant and in a way that protects civil liberties and privacy; (3) NSA performs its mission exceptionally well. We strive to be the best that we can be, because that’s what America requires as part of its defense in a dangerous world; (4) The people who work for NSA are loyal Americans with expert skills who make sacrifices to help protect the freedoms we all cherish; (5) NSA is committed to increased transparency, public dialog and faithful implementation of any changes required by our overseers.”

There are numerous sub-bullet point to each of these humorous propaganda headers, however the gist is clear. Firedoglake has done some further analysis even if the commentary is largely trivial:

A Misleading Statistic on Disrupting Terrorism the NSA Won’t Stop Promoting

“NSA programs protect Americans and our Allies,” the document reads. “As an example, they have helped to understand and disrupt 54 terrorist events since 9/11: 25 in Europe, 11 in Asia and 5 in Africa. Thirteen of those had a homeland nexus.”

Deputy Director John Inglis admitted in August during a Senate hearing, when pressed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, that US bulk records phone spying had been “critical” in stopping just one terrorist plot. He clarified that the spying on phone records had only “made a contribution” to discovering the 13 plots.

Sens. Ron Wyden, Mark Udall & Martin Heinrich, who filed a brief in support of an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit challenging the collection of phone records of all Americans, explained the Executive Branch has defended the program by conflating it with “other foreign intelligence authorities.” The senators highlighted the fact that the collection under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act had played “little or no role in most of these disruptions.”

“Indeed of the original fifty-four that the government pointed to, officials have only been able to describe two that involved materially useful information obtained through the bulk call-records program,” the senators added. “Even the two supposed success stories involved information that [the senators] believe—after repeated requests to the government for evidence to the contrary—could readily have been obtained without a database of all Americans’ call records.”

At this point, any intelligence agency leader, member of Congress or government official who highlights 54 “thwarted” plots is advancing propaganda to save the NSA from being forced into giving up this power to collect the phone records of all Americans.

FISA Court Opinions Show the NSA Has Not Performed Its Mission in Lawful and Compliant Manner

The claim that NSA “performs its mission” in a manner that is “lawful, compliant, and in a way that protects civil liberties and privacy” is demonstrably false.

A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) judge ruled, when reviewing a program that was collecting records of Internet communications” that the agency had committed “longstanding and pervasive violations” of prior orders by the court. It found that government officials knew or had reason to know that “portions” of collection constituted “unauthorized electronic surveillance.” This unauthorized and illegal surveillance “included information concerning the identity of the parties and the existence of communications to or from persons in the United States.”

FISC Judge John Bates stated that the government had a “history of material misstatements”—otherwise known by Director for National Intelligence James Clapper as “least untruthful” answers and known among non-members of the national security state as lies. The government had a “poor track record” of exceeding the implementation constraints or going beyond purported privacy safeguards represented to the court.

Another ruling by the FISA Court in 2009 found, the NSA “frequently and systematically violated” the agency’s “minimization procedures,” intended to protect Americans’ privacy, “that it can fairly be said that this critical element of the overall [business records] regime has never functioned effectively.”

As Julian Sanchez of the CATO Institute recently recounted, “For the first three years of the call records program’s current incarnation, the FISC was misinformed about how it really worked. As a result, software tools routinely accessed the data without the required approvals: Of the 17,835 phone numbers searched by one automated alert list from 2006 to 2009, only 1,935 had been vetted for “reasonable suspicion.” Query results were also improperly shared with the CIA and FBI.”

In fact, journalist Marcy Wheeler, who has written in extensive detail on all the released NSA documents so far, has demonstrated through multiple posts that the NSA has continued an illegal wiretapping program that has grown in size since it was first exposed under President George W. Bush.

Targeting a US Person’s Porn Viewing Without Probable Cause

The agency claims the “NSA does not target US citizens or permanent resident aliens unless that targeting is premised on a finding of probable cause to believe that the person is a foreign power or the agent of a foreign power.” But journalists Glenn Greenwald, Ryan Gallagher and Ryan Grim recently published parts of a document for a story at Huffington Post that showed NSA director Gen. Keith Alexander had sought to discredit radical Muslims by spying on their porn-viewing habits. One of the six targets discussed in the document was a US person.

None of these people targeted were believed by the NSA to be involved in any terrorist plots. The NSA wanted to embarrass them because they had a history of espousing views that the agency considered dangerous to the United States. There was no “probable cause” to suggest the persons targeted with this COINTELPRO-style spying tactic had committed any criminal acts of violence.

Full propaganda below:

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/OAsi0jac3ys/story01.htm Tyler Durden

It seems getting an 8 pm “escape” from friends and family this Thanksgiving to rush into the nearby World Wrestling Federation Walmart may have been a welcome reprieve for some. Those some in question being NSA agents, and just in case their friends and family got a little too pesky, boisterous or simply inquisitive, all the employees of the National Security Agency and the Central Security Services received a prepared memo with preauthorized talking points designed to “guide” conversations over the Thanksgiving dinner table. Plastered at the head of the 2-page propaganda is a Douglas Adams-like (or was that Isaac Asimov) in its simplicity bullet point: “(1) NSA’s mission is of great value to the Nation.” How was it that “defenders” of the fatherland during the Third Reich were being brainwashed again? But we digress.

Some of the other brainwashing encouraged talking points: “(2) NSA performs its mission the right way—lawful, compliant and in a way that protects civil liberties and privacy; (3) NSA performs its mission exceptionally well. We strive to be the best that we can be, because that’s what America requires as part of its defense in a dangerous world; (4) The people who work for NSA are loyal Americans with expert skills who make sacrifices to help protect the freedoms we all cherish; (5) NSA is committed to increased transparency, public dialog and faithful implementation of any changes required by our overseers.”

There are numerous sub-bullet point to each of these humorous propaganda headers, however the gist is clear. Firedoglake has done some further analysis even if the commentary is largely trivial:

A Misleading Statistic on Disrupting Terrorism the NSA Won’t Stop Promoting

“NSA programs protect Americans and our Allies,” the document reads. “As an example, they have helped to understand and disrupt 54 terrorist events since 9/11: 25 in Europe, 11 in Asia and 5 in Africa. Thirteen of those had a homeland nexus.”

Deputy Director John Inglis admitted in August during a Senate hearing, when pressed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, that US bulk records phone spying had been “critical” in stopping just one terrorist plot. He clarified that the spying on phone records had only “made a contribution” to discovering the 13 plots.

Sens. Ron Wyden, Mark Udall & Martin Heinrich, who filed a brief in support of an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit challenging the collection of phone records of all Americans, explained the Executive Branch has defended the program by conflating it with “other foreign intelligence authorities.” The senators highlighted the fact that the collection under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act had played “little or no role in most of these disruptions.”

“Indeed of the original fifty-four that the government pointed to, officials have only been able to describe two that involved materially useful information obtained through the bulk call-records program,” the senators added. “Even the two supposed success stories involved information that [the senators] believe—after repeated requests to the government for evidence to the contrary—could readily have been obtained without a database of all Americans’ call records.”

At this point, any intelligence agency leader, member of Congress or government official who highlights 54 “thwarted” plots is advancing propaganda to save the NSA from being forced into giving up this power to collect the phone records of all Americans.

FISA Court Opinions Show the NSA Has Not Performed Its Mission in Lawful and Compliant Manner

The claim that NSA “performs its mission” in a manner that is “lawful, compliant, and in a way that protects civil liberties and privacy” is demonstrably false.

A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) judge ruled, when reviewing a program that was collecting records of Internet communications” that the agency had committed “longstanding and pervasive violations” of prior orders by the court. It found that government officials knew or had reason to know that “portions” of collection constituted “unauthorized electronic surveillance.” This unauthorized and illegal surveillance “included information concerning the identity of the parties and the existence of communications to or from persons in the United States.”

FISC Judge John Bates stated that the government had a “history of material misstatements”—otherwise known by Director for National Intelligence James Clapper as “least untruthful” answers and known among non-members of the national security state as lies. The government had a “poor track record” of exceeding the implementation constraints or going beyond purported privacy safeguards represented to the court.

Another ruling by the FISA Court in 2009 found, the NSA “frequently and systematically violated” the agency’s “minimization procedures,” intended to protect Americans’ privacy, “that it can fairly be said that this critical element of the overall [business records] regime has never functioned effectively.”

As Julian Sanchez of the CATO Institute recently recounted, “For the first three years of the call records program’s current incarnation, the FISC was misinformed about how it really worked. As a result, software tools routinely accessed the data without the required approvals: Of the 17,835 phone numbers searched by one automated alert list from 2006 to 2009, only 1,935 had been vetted for “reasonable suspicion.” Query results were also improperly shared with the CIA and FBI.”

In fact, journalist Marcy Wheeler, who has written in extensive detail on all the released NSA documents so far, has demonstrated through multiple posts that the NSA has continued an illegal wiretapping program that has grown in size since it was first exposed under President George W. Bush.

Targeting a US Person’s Porn Viewing Without Probable Cause

The agency claims the “NSA does not target US citizens or permanent resident aliens unless that targeting is premised on a finding of probable cause to believe that the person is a foreign power or the agent of a foreign power.” But journalists Glenn Greenwald, Ryan Gallagher and Ryan Grim recently published parts of a document for a story at Huffington Post that showed NSA director Gen. Keith Alexander had sought to discredit radical Muslims by spying on their porn-viewing habits. One of the six targets discussed in the document was a US person.

None of these people targeted were believed by the NSA to be involved in any terrorist plots. The NSA wanted to embarrass them because they had a history of espousing views that the agency considered dangerous to the United States. There was no “probable cause” to suggest the persons targeted with this COINTELPRO-style spying tactic had committed any criminal acts of violence.

Full propaganda below:

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/OAsi0jac3ys/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Until early May of this year, trends in US macro fundamentals and US stock markets were ‘relatively’ well correlated. However, since the first stirrings of Taper concerns, the relationship has seemingly explicitly inverted. Day after day we see markets react to “good” or “bad” news but over time, as the following chart shows, the Fed’s total farce has been exposed. Simply put, if the last 7 months of market-macro relationships hold (which makes sense in a world entirely driven by Fed liquidity), the Bulls should be praying for the economic fundamentals to collapse or things will get painful fast for stocks.

As the following chart shows – each time fundamentals have ‘improved’ relative to expectations (as with this morning’s ISM), stocks have begun to lose altitude. The current wedge between macro reality and liquidity-inspired markets has not been greater in this cycle…

 

and at the same time – Treasuries re-synced…

 

But this time, stocks have already discounted in the Fed’s balance sheet for the next few months…

So, conversely, equity market bears are implicitly supporting a recovering economic fundamentals thesis and thus that idiocy explains why there are none left…

 

Oneonly has to look at the labor force to know things are never going back to the old normal and “blind faith” that fundamentals will recover enough to support the forward valuations that stocks have defies business cycle (and credit cycle) logic from here.

 

Charts: Bloomberg and @Not_Jim_Cramer

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/81TIfZMqMjI/story01.htm Tyler Durden

The two bullet points below from a just released update by Yum Brands explain all you need to know about the “magic” of half-off retail discounts.

• YUM BRANDS- IN CHINA, LIMITED-TIME “HALF PRICED” BUCKET PROMOTION YIELDED AN ABOUT 16% INCREASE IN KFC SAME-STORE SALES FOR FIRST 10 DAYS OF NOVEMBER
• YUM BRANDS – IN CHINA, KFC SAME-STORE SALES WERE DOWN APPROXIMATELY 8% FOR THE REMAINDER OF NOVEMBER

So, sales were up 16% for the 10 days in which margins were crushed, then down 8% for the remaining 20 days. And the net impact on the bottom line is…

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/AA818SLPL1s/story01.htm Tyler Durden