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Authored by Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

In case you wonder how our politics fell into such a slough of despond, the answer is pretty simple. Neither main political party, or their trains of experts, specialists, and mouthpieces, can construct a coherent story about what is happening in this country — and the result is a roaring wave of recursive objurgation and wrath that loops purposelessly towards gathering darkness.

What’s happening is a slow-motion collapse of the economy. Neither Democrats or Republicans know why it is so remorselessly underway. A tiny number of well-positioned scavengers thrive on the debris cast off by the process of disintegration, but they don’t really understand the process either — the lobbyists, lawyers, bankers, contractors, feeders at the troughs of government could not be more cynical or clueless.

The nation suffers desperately from an absence of leadership and perhaps even more from the loss of faith that leadership is even possible after years without it. Perhaps that’s why so much hostility is aimed at Mr. Putin of Russia, a person who appears to know where his country stands in history, and who enjoys ample support among his countrymen. How that must gall the empty vessels like Lindsey Graham, Rubio, Schumer, Feinstein, Ryan, et. al.

So along came the dazzling, zany Trump, who was able to communicate a vague sense-memory of what had been lost in our time of American life, whose sheer bluster resembled something like conviction as projected via the cartoonizing medium of television, and who entered a paralysis of intention the moment he stepped into the oval office, where he proved to be even less authentic than the Wizard of Oz. Turned out he didn’t really understand the economic collapse underway either; he just remembered an America of 1962 and though somehow the national clock might be turned back.

The industrial triumph of America in the 19^th and 20^th century was really something to behold. But like all stories, it had a beginning, a middle, and an end, and we’re closer to the end of that story than the middle. It doesn’t mean the end of civilization but it means we have to start a new story that provides some outline of a life worth living on a planet worth caring about.

For the moment the fragmentary stories of redemption revolve around technological rescue remedies, chiefly the idea that electric cars will save the nation. This dumb narrative alone ought to inform you just how lost we are, because the story assumes that our prime objective is to remain car-dependent at all costs — when one of the main features in the story of our future is the absolute end of car dependency and all its furnishings and accessories. We can’t imagine going there. (How would you, without a car?)

The economy is collapsing because it was based on cheap oil, which is no longer cheap to pull out of the ground — despite what you might pay for it at the pump these days. The public is understandably confounded by this. But their mystification does nothing to allay the disappearance of jobs, incomes, prospects, or purpose. They retreat from the pain of loss into a fog of manufactured melodrama featuring superheros and supervillains and supernatural doings.

Donald Trump could never be a Franklin Roosevelt or a Lincoln. These were figures who, if nothing else, could articulate the terms that reality had laid on America’s table in their particular moments of history. Mr. Trump can barely speak English and his notions about history amount to a kind of funny papers of the mind. A sinister host of adversaries who ought to understand what is happening in this country, but don’t, or can’t, or won’t, are coming after him, and they are going to get rid of him one way or another. They have to. They must. And they will.

And then what?

via http://ift.tt/2qcTasg Tyler Durden

With Trump traveling half-way around the globe, on Monday an amusing “event of nature” took place at the president’s favorite “ground zero”, when a sinkhole opened up in front of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort where he has previously hosted world leaders including China’s Xi Jinping and Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe, prompting an advisory from the Town of Palm Beach.

Sinkhole in front of Mar-a-Lago: A 4′ x 4′ sinkhole has formed on Southern Boulevard directly in front of… https://t.co/5xOpmJ8Y2v

— Town of Palm Beach (@townpalmbeach) May 22, 2017

The 4-foot-by-4-foot sinkhole, first reported by the local municipality, formed on Southern Boulevard directly in front of Mar-a-Lago, in the vicinity of a newly installed water main. The town says utility crews will likely do exploratory excavation on Monday to determine the cause of the sinkhole.

A 4′ x 4′ sinkhole has formed on Southern Boulevard directly in front of Mar-a-Lago. It appears to be in the vicinity of the newly installed water main. West Palm Beach Utilities distribution crews have secured the area and will most likely need to do some exploratory excavation today. One lane is closed but the road remains open. Please pay attention to signs.

While there were no further details about the geological aberration, and certainly no comment from the White House or Trump, who is currently having dinner with Netanyahu, users on Twitter decided to have some fun with news first noted by the WaPo, and shortly after the sinkhole opened up the jokes started pouring in.

@townpalmbeach @Fahrenthold Has anyone ever rooted for a sinkhole before?

— chuckyou2 (@chuckyoutwo) May 22, 2017

A sinkhole just opened in front of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate https://t.co/vlSlzzwBCP THE ORB DEMANDS SACRIFICE

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) May 22, 2017

The swamp is draining? https://t.co/iWE7BjFs9i

— Peter Stevenson (@PeterWStevenson) May 22, 2017

Actions have consequences, people. http://pic.twitter.com/r0LOrGBldy

— Slade Sohmer (@Slade) May 22, 2017

Sinkhole, or portal?

https://t.co/2Gic8kHCHa

— CrayfishCrawdad (@CrayfishCrawdad) May 22, 2017

via http://ift.tt/2qcWUK7 Tyler Durden

The US Dollar (CURRENCY:USD) has shown strength versus the Euro (CURRENCY:EUR) since 2008, with the “meat” of that strength coming in the last 3 to 4 years. This strength worked as a headwind for precious metals, emerging markets, and at times, the domestic economy.

But that market dynamic is at a crossroads… and may be nearing a turning point.

A currency “shift” here would have short- to intermediate-term consequences for various assets across investors portfolios. So investors need to stay tuned.  This could also usher in some volatility, as traders look to re-align their currency hedges and interests.

As you can see in the chart below, the US Dollar hit dual resistance at the same time that the Euro hit dual support. And currently the Dollar is attempting to break a key rising support trend line. This comes at the same time that the Euro is attempting to breakout over key downtrend price resistance.

Could these reversal patterns mark a turning point in the global markets for traders?

CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE

This post was originally shared on See It Markets. to see more charts on the US Dollar,  Euro and rest of the article, SEE HERE

Website: KIMBLECHARTINGSOLUTIONS.COM

Blog:  http://ift.tt/2nMNRyT

Questions: Email services@kimblechartingsolutions.com or call us toll free 877-721-7217 international 714-941-9381

via http://ift.tt/2rJgEao kimblecharting

While not nearly in the same ballpark as what is taking place right now with bitcoin, and its various alt-coin peers, the ~30% YTD move higher in tech stocks has been just as impressive, and is beginning to result in warnings of “deja vu” among at least among some bank analysts. One such growing skeptic, is BofA’s Michael Hartnett who writes that US growth stocks have just surpassed the 2000 “bubble” highs vs global value stocks and wonders if “the [next] tech bubble has started.”

Asking rhetorically “Alexa, how high can markets fly?” Hartnett writes that 2017 has seen big global stock (10%) and bond gains (4%), as well as the dramatic resumption of a bullish “deflation” trade. Leadership in stock markets has reverted to the “growth” theme, while leadership in bonds has reverted to the “yield” theme. For example:

• Nasdaq Internet index annualizing a 80% total return
• CCC rated junk bonds annualizing an 18% gain, while EM sovereign bonds (EMGB) annualizing a 17% gain.

Pointing out something we showed one month ago, namely that in a world awash with central bank liquidity “nothing matters”…

… Hartnett laments that “the lack of tax reform, lack of strong economic growth, no oil recovery, more geopolitical tension, China credit fears, none of it has mattered thanks to the ongoing central bank “Liquidity Supernova”: central banks have purchased a whopping $1.1tn of asset YTD.”

The provision of maximum liquidity has been validated by weaker-than-expected global core inflation. Given buoyant global PMIs and closing output gaps this is perhaps best explained by the “Amazonification” of Main Street (e.g. since 2010 US retail floor space is down 10%, while US department store sales are down 18%), as well as other structural deflation drivers such as aging demographics. The renewed combo of low growth, inflation & yields have propelled US growth stocks above their 2000 “tech bubble” highs versus global value stocks (Chart 1).

Or, to summarize, “US growth stocks just surpassed 2000 “bubble” highs vs global value stocks; data on valuation (Table 1), flows, and the relationship between equities and bond yields are all good clues that a speculative overshoot has begun; there are nascent signs we are in the very early stages of an overshoot.”

To this the traditional fall back response has been that unlike during the bubbles of 2000 and 2005-6 there has been far less investor euphoria and animal spiris. Well, there is a reason for that.

According to Hartnett, tech disruption is as rampant on Wall Street as it is on Main Street, as the diverging trends in flows to passive and active managers in the past 10 years illustrates.

He believes that this structural shift is “suppressing the typical euphoria normally tangible at great market tops.” And yet, since active managers are unhappy because they need the market to go down to show they can outperform passive strategies; and private clients are unhappy as they want the market to go down so they can participate more aggressively in the bull market…so the “pain trade” in risk assets (equities & credit) remains up.

Here, Hartnett goes back to his long-running investment thesis, but admits that “our bullish Icarus melt-up view is working, but more because of a reversion to the max liquidity, minimal growth, minimal volatility backdrop of yesteryear, rather than the successful implementation of inflationary economic policies.” Furthermore, one can make a case for a global asset bubble:

Either way, the BofAML Bull & Bear index is creeping up toward a “sell signal” of 8 (it is currently 7.3 – see page 8). But the summer risk is an equity overshoot. Note that at 2630 on the S&P500 index (or 510 on ACWI) the ratio of global market cap to global GDP will exceed all-time highs set in 1999 & 2007. These are plausible targets: the longer it takes central banks to tighten, the greater the risk of tech & “growth” stocks entering a speculative frenzy.

Which brings us to BofA’s question which few if any other market participants have dared to ask, at least officially: “Alexa, will the tech bubble happen again?”

Here is Hartnett’s answer:

Data on valuation, flows, and the relationship between equities and bond yields are all good clues that a speculative overshoot has begun. There are nascent signs we are in the very early stages of an overshoot.

 

Excess valuation

• The market cap of many of new tech giants is already greater than the GDP of large US cities: Google is bigger than Chicago, Amazon is bigger than Washington DC (see table front page)
• Another breathtaking valuation stat: at $1,450bn the combined market cap of Google & Apple is larger than the combined market cap of Eurozone & Japanese financials ($1,310bn)
• The following table shows that the “belly of the beast” of the current equity bull market, the Nasdaq Internet index, is approaching PE levels (61X) that are as spicy as they were in prior “big tops” in stock markets, and at a time where policy is turning less favorable

• That said, the PE on the global MSCI tech sector is currently 18X, far below the level reached in March 2000 (peak PE was 50X)
• And in 2017 tech EPS numbers are strengthening, currently forecast to grow 16% (Chart 3), thus undermining the case for excess valuation.

 

Irrational Exuberance

• Inflows to tech funds are rising at their fastest annualized rate (25% of AUM) in 15 years, a sign of renewed exuberance (Chart 4)

• That said, in the 1999-2000 tech “bubble” irrational exuberance was much more visible than today: FMS cash “irrationally” declined sharply in 1999 despite widespread views of excessive valuations (Chart 5); in contrast the recent May FMS shows investors’ view of “excess valuation” in stocks is the highest since Jan’2000 but cash levels are not (yet) collapsing

Finally, to cool off speculation that we are approaching the top of the second tech bubble, Hartnett points out that the classic sign of a speculative overshoot in equities is a period of rising stock prices that elicits a rise in bond yields, as fixed income markets start to anticipate central bank action to “cool” the fever on Wall Street. He goes on to say that “this occurred in Japan in 1989, in the US in 1999, and at the short-end in the Eurozone in 2007-2008. It is not yet happening.” This is true, but it begs the question: with the fixed income market just as corrupted by central planning – after all central banks own over $13 trillion in mostly fixed income assets – one wonders if this is even a relevant metric any more…

via http://ift.tt/2qI19Rr Tyler Durden

Via The Daily Bell

ISIS wants to poison our water supply, but the joke’s on them! The U.S. government already beat them to the punch.

The extremist group has reportedly poisoned prisoners by spiking their food and water with compounds used in pesticides that are easy to obtain

Security forces now fear the terror network may hatch a twisted plot to contaminate Western food supplies with formulas that quickly dissolve in liquid.

Oh, you mean like by spraying Roundup and other herbicides on thousands upon thousands of acres of agricultural land? Or maybe by intentionally adding fluoride to the water supply even though drinking it has proven ineffective in promoting dental health, but quite effective in causing tons of health issues and making people more moldable to authority?

Sorry ISIS the United States government is way ahead of you in poisoning the citizens. True, ISIS is experimenting with immediate killers like thallium sulfate, but that’s nothing a reverse osmosis filter can’t handle.

In fact, ISIS may have just inadvertently saved millions of people by spurring them to purchase state of the art water filtration systems. In attempting to protect themselves from terrorism, Americans may inadvertently protect themselves from the U.S. government.

That’s it, the truth is out! ISIS is really the guerilla marketing campaign to sell Americans on protecting themselves from our government. Busted. The old reverse psychology trick.

But in reality, this might not be far from the truth. It’s just that ISIS is really a marketing company designed to sell us fear.

The CIA and U.S. military were caught spending over half a billion dollars in Iraq to make propaganda videos which would then be disseminated through various forms of media. Some of these videos were specifically made to resemble videos by Arab news outlets and surely passed for such on many occasions.

Also widely believed, is that the CIA created the supposed ISIS beheading videos which made their rounds a couple years ago. And seeing as there is plenty of evidence that the CIA created ISIS itself, this is not hard to believe.

Take it With a Grain of Thallium Sulfate

We don’t want to make light of serious issues, but any news about what ISIS is doing raises red flags. We know ISIS is a creation of the CIA (whether you think they created it deliberately or accidentally).

We also know that the main point of various terrorist organizations (including those funded by the U.S. government) is to spread fear. Surely many terrorists would be perfectly happy killing millions of Americans, but that is a very unlikely scenario.

Still, as always we need to be alert to potential real risks in order to thwart them, while not falling into the trap of being so fearful that we change the course of our lives and thus deliver the terrorists in and outside of our government their victory.

The Daily Bell wants to be a place for solutions, not a fear machine, or echo chamber.

Solution: Buy a water filter. Seriously, if you are worried about fluoride and lead in the water, which you definitely should be, you need to get yourself a nice hardcore water filter and sleep easy. This has the added benefit of assuaging any fear of terrorists contaminating your water with poisons.

The most effective filtration systems use a combination of reverse osmosis and carbon filters. Carbon removes chlorine and many biological contaminants, while reverse osmosis removes basically everything else; pesticides, nitrates, fluoride, thallium, sulfates, and arsenic.

The downside to reverse osmosis filter is that they waste a lot of water in the process of filtration, and they also remove trace elements which are good for you, like magnesium and calcium. It also would not work without water pressure, meaning it is not a suitable option for emergency situations where power and water pressure are lost.

You will know better than us what makes the most sense for your situation.

There is no magic bullet, no one easy step to removing yourself from the storm of power and domination. But it is a series of steps that bring a hiker to the mountaintop. Being daunted by the number of steps ahead only stops us from starting the trek.

A dying beast on its last legs will lash out, thump its chest, show its teeth, and growl ferociously in an attempt to gain the upper hand, and escape its fate with the dinosaurs. Remember this when you think the government and power elites look more powerful than ever–it could be their last ditch effort to remain relevant in a changing world leaving them behind.

via http://ift.tt/2qa0dTk TDB

Via The Ron Paul Liberty Report,

Iran has been in neocon crosshairs for a very long time. U.S. Presidential Administrations come and go, Democrat and Republican, but the neocon script has remained the same.

President Trump, voted in as an "outsider," has adopted the insider script.

Today's speech in Saudi Arabia was crafted by Trump's neocon Senior Policy Advisor Stephen Miller.

Miller's "long-time mentor" is David Horowitz. Here are Horowitz's thoughts on Bush's invasion of Iraq:

“Baghdad is liberated,” he wrote for his FrontPage Magazine in April 2003. “In the days to come let us not forget that if it were not for one man, and one man alone—George Bush—the people of Iraq would not be celebrating in the streets and pulling down Saddam’s statues today.

 

… We have entered the era of a new civil war between the forces of freedom and the powers of Islamo-fascist and communist darkness, and once again the left is clearly determined to take its stand on the other side. The good news is that America is back. Our military has performed superlatively. Our leadership has stood tall. We ourselves can celebrate over this and look confidently toward what lies ahead.”

Long story short…Trump may be a different face, but the neocon goal has remained the same.

?Here's the relevant part of today's speech about Iran that neocon Stephen Miller wrote for Trump:

But no discussion of stamping out this threat would be complete without mentioning the government that gives terrorists all three—safe harbor, financial backing, and the social standing needed for recruitment. It is a regime that is responsible for so much instability in the region. I am speaking of course of Iran.

 

From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms, and trains terrorists, militias, and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region. For decades, Iran has fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.

 

It is a government that speaks openly of mass murder, vowing the destruction of Israel, death to America, and ruin for many leaders and nations in this room.

 

Among Iran's most tragic and destabilizing interventions have been in Syria. Bolstered by Iran, Assad has committed unspeakable crimes, and the United States has taken firm action in response to the use of banned chemical weapons by the Assad Regime — launching 59 tomahawk missiles at the Syrian air base from where that murderous attack originated.

 

Responsible nations must work together to end the humanitarian crisis in Syria, eradicate ISIS, and restore stability to the region. The Iranian regime's longest-suffering victims are its own people. Iran has a rich history and culture, but the people of Iran have endured hardship and despair under their leaders' reckless pursuit of conflict and terror.

 

Until the Iranian regime is willing to be a partner for peace, all nations of conscience must work together to isolate Iran, deny it funding for terrorism, and pray for the day when the Iranian people have the just and righteous government they deserve.

Neocons are patient.

They always keep their eyes on the prize.

Democrats….Republicans…."Outsiders"….

Neocons write the script.

Meanwhile, our lives, our safety, and (of course) our wallets are always at their beck and call.

via http://ift.tt/2qPnevT Tyler Durden

The so-called 'smart-money' has been piling into short silver positions in the last few weeks (creating the biggest hedge fund silver short in two years as of last week)… as silver rebounds from a record losing streak.

The last two times hedgies were this short, silver managed notable gains…

It appears that after a record-breaking streak of losing days – amid what may have been forced liquidations from Noble Group…

$16 has brought back the buyers (and perhaps Noble has ceased its commodity liquidations).

via http://ift.tt/2qP59Oj Tyler Durden

Via GEFIRA,

An answer to Constanza Hermanin of Huffington Post and formerly of Open Society

Huffington Post recently posted in its blogging section an article, by Constanza Hermanin, professor at Science Po and the College of Europe and former Open Society’s senior officer, one of George Soros’s NGOs.

The Gefira Foundation was accused in the article of being “Eurosceptic, pro-Russian” and that the activities of NGOs in the Mediterranean as reported by Gefira was ‘’fake news’’.

We are taking the time to address the accusations:

1. Euroscepticism: If Constanza Hermanin, whose curriculum boasts researching skills refined at Columbia University, UC Berkeley, Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, the European Commission among the others, had actually bothered making a quality research, she would have found out that the Gefira Foundation was set up by Franck Biancheri to promote European integration. Franck Biancheri himself, now deceased, was a champion of European integration and collaborator in the creation of the Erasmus Project.

 

Promoting European integration however does not mean supporting the authoritarian and anti-democratic elements of the current European Union, in the form of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the weakness of the European Parliament, nor supporting policies and approaches that we believe, in a basic exercise of democracy, go against the interests and the will of European peoples, like austerity or the TTIP.

 

In conclusion, the accusation of ‘’Euroscepticism’’ is unfounded, fruit of poor research and fake news.

 

2. Pro-Russian: Gefira is pro-Europe, period. We analyze the policies of the European leadership and the choices in foreign policy and whether those bring positive or negative effects for Europe. The support of liberal interventionists, also known as neoconservative “regime changes” by the EU leadership has been disastrous and resulted in a trade war and refugee crisis, none of which benefits Europe in any way. If European integration is to succeed, it cannot be subordinate to the interests of the United States of America. The EU should be friends with the US, not vassals. That also does not make us “pro-Russian”.

 

This accusation is therefore also unsubstantiated.

 

3. Much of our work is re-blogged without our consent. The opinions and views of the sites that quote us do not necessarily overlap with ours, so making accusations by referring to such sites is a typical example of creating guilt by association. We believe in their right to freely discuss our ideas.

 

4. The conclusions of the Defence Commission on the NGO activities at Point 5 says: "The creation of humanitarian corridors by private subjects is not allowed in any way by the internal law or the international one, nor welcome, as it is exclusive competence of states, international or supranational organizations".The author obviously did not bother to address such conclusions.

 

We nonetheless agree with the quoted position and would like to underline that immigration policies of a country should be decided democratically by the citizens of said country, not by foreign oligarchs and their NGOs like Open Society and its affiliates. It is certainly ironic and hypocritical that the author of the accusations against us is actually a former employee of the said NGOs.

 

5. It is also equally ironic that the article where the author is calling for an enquiry into fake news allegedly spread by Gefira is fraught with misinformation. Regardless, we believe in the very basic European principles of free press and free speech and we prefer confronting lies, like the ones Constanza Hermanin wrote, with facts, without requesting the Orwellian “Ministry of Truth” for permission.

via http://ift.tt/2qNvBd8 Tyler Durden