Month: April 2014

The American people are now overwhelmingly opposed to more war in Ukraine, Syria, Iran and elsewhere.

Those who get rich from war (the military-industrial complexers and big banks) and their lackeys are desperate to reverse this trend.

As such, they are resorting to more and more outlandish justifications for war.

For example, Ian Morris has written an entire book arguing that war is the best thing ever, the only thing which has lifted us out of poverty and barbarianism. And – yes – he even says that war brings peace.

David Swanson provides a must-read dismantling of Morris’ book.

Morris writes this week in the Washington Post:

War has not only made us safer, but richer, too.

In reality, security experts – conservative hawks and liberal doves alike – agree that waging war in the Middle East weakens national security and increases terrorism. See this, this, this, this, this, this and this. So it doesn’t make us safer.

And there is now overwhelming evidence that war is horrible for the economy, and makes us poorer.

Morris continues:

Thinkers have long grappled with the relationships among peace, war and strength. Thomas Hobbes wrote his case for strong government, “Leviathan,” as the English Civil War raged around him in the 1640s.

In reality, Hobbes was an authoritarian who argued – just like (1) the leading Nazi legal scholar and philosopher who created the justification for “total war” to destroy those labeled an “enemy” of the Nazi state (Carl Schmitt), (2) Machiavelli, and (3) the father of the Neoconservatives (Leo Strauss) – that the public should be intentionally whipped into a frenzy of fear so that they would be willing to give up their rights and cede their freedoms to the sovereign.

Indeed, Morris accidentally reveals that he is cut from the exact same cloth when he states:

People almost never give up their freedoms — including, at times, the right to kill and impoverish one another — unless forced to do so.

In other words, freedom bad … authoritarian leader good.

Morris writes:

Since 1914, we have endured world wars, genocides and government-sponsored famines, not to mention civil strife, riots and murders. Altogether, we have killed a staggering 100 million to 200 million of our own kind. But over the century, about 10 billion lives were lived — which means that just 1 to 2 percent of the world’s population died violently. Those lucky enough to be born in the 20th century were on average 10 times less likely to come to a grisly end than those born in the Stone Age.

In other words,  War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, and Ignorance Is Strength.   I’ve seen this movie before.

Morris cheerfully notes:

And since 2000, the United Nations tells us, the risk of violent death has fallen even further, to 0.7 percent.

Unless, of course, you live in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria or one of the other countries targeted for regime change … in which case your risk of violent death is very high.

Morris argues:

Washington [must] embrace [] its role as the only possible globocop in an increasingly unstable world — a world with far deadlier weapons than Britain could have imagined a century ago.

In other words, Morris is an unrepentant apologist for American empire.

Amusingly, the vast majority of comments to Morris’ Washington post essay attack him for being a desperate shill and a fool.

But  endless war is a feature – not a bug – of U.S. policy, and the American media (including the big “alternative” sites) are always pro-war.

So expect to hear crazier and crazier “justifications” for war.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/S5WMf8 George Washington

Three months ago, we discussed the increasingly close eye that regulators were keeping on Deutsche Bank (and in fact many other precious metal fix providers) as manipulation concerns shifted from conspiracy theory to conspiracy fact. At the time, Deutsche – among other banks – had suggested it would relinquish its role on the London Fixing committee and was actively marketing its seat to other LBMA members; the WSJ now confirms…

• DEUTSCHE BANK RESIGNS SEAT ON GOLD, SILVER FIX, GIVES TWO WEEKS NOTICE – SOURCE

This is hardly surprising given previous comments that possible manipulation of precious metals "is worse than the Libor-rigging scandal." but it does leave us wondering who is left to do the manipulating? It seems no one wants to be part of the fixing process (critical for so many derivatives contracts) unless they are allowed to manipulate it to their own needs.

As a reminder, Deutsche is one of five banks involved in the twice-daily gold fix for global price setting.

As Bloomberg reports,

“Deutsche Bank is resigning its position on the gold and silver benchmark setting process,” it says in e-mailed statement today.

 

Says remains fully committed to precious metals business

So if everyone exits the London fixing market, what happens then?

"It wouldn't surprise me if the other banks were looking at pulling out as well. Why would they want the aggravation?" said the source, who declined to be named.

 

"The more worrying point is that, if you don't have the fixing, what do you have? There's a lot of contractual business done on the gold fix, and if you've got no basis for where the price is, someone is going to lose out."

Well considering that the fixing process over the years was manipulation pure and simple, those who will lose out are the… manipulators? it would seem rather logical. And speaking of manipulation, if indeed Germany is so keen on breaking the manipulators' back, perhaps it can demand that the pace of its gold returns from the NY Fed and Paris accelerates. It may be surprised at what it finds.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1kaPZab Tyler Durden

One wouldn’t know it judging by the latest panic buying in US stocks which are once again en route to hit all time highs within a few days, but one company that is not participating in the latest bout of buying euphoria is Chinese pork giant WH Group, the recent buyer of Smithfield foods.

It was only yesterday when Bloomberg reported that “WH Group, the world’s biggest pork supplier, is poised to raise about $1.3 billion in an initial public offering that had been cut by more than half because of slack investor demand, said people with knowledge of the matter. The company plans to sell 1.3 billion new shares at around HK$8 ($1.03) each, the low end of a marketed range, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. WH Group is due to set a final price tomorrow after offering the shares at HK$8 to HK$11.25, according to revised terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg News on April 23.”

Fast forward to today when we find that the IPO, already set to be far weaker than originally expected, has just been pulled. SCMP updates that WH Group has postponed its US$1.9 billion share sale, two sources with direct knowledge of the decision have told the South China Morning Post, effectively axing what was once billed as the biggest initial public offering of stock in Asia so far this year.

The decision came after a decision last week to slash the price and the offer size of the deal from an original US$5 billion, which failed to tempt potential investors who were already signalling their unwillingness to swallow such a large transaction.

The reason:

“In light of deteriorating market conditions and recent excessive market volatility, the company, having consulted the joint sponsors, has decided that the global offering will not proceed at this time,”

The S&P trading just shy of all time highs is now equivalent to “market conditions”? Ok then.

But the biggest loser(s)? The 29 investment banks working on the deal. Although don’t cry for them – we are confident once the rigged, ZIRP-fueled market takes out all time highs on short notice, that the deal will be right back and taking advantage of “Other Widows’ and Oprhans” money around the world, as the insider take advantage of the late stages of the Fed’s equity bubble.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1nZzqBY Tyler Durden

After March’s exuberant surge to the higest level since Jan 2008, serial extrapolators drew their lines and proclaimed that Consumer Confidence would jump further to 83.2 – it didn’t. Confidence dropped from a revised 83.9 to 82.3 as Present Situation dropped its most in 15 months. Hope (expectations) remains at its highest in 8 months but plans to buy a car dropped to 1 year lows and plans to buy a major appliance dropped to 5 month lows.

 

 

 

Charts: Bloomberg

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1ftj04L Tyler Durden

Since the headlines hit this morning of further escalation in Ukraine, no troop withdrawals and more building takeovers, gold and oil prices have surged higher as it is clear that any hope for de-escalation is just that – hope. Treasury yields remain up but notably less than equity markets would imply by their move as safe haven demand is confused with rate-locks for the massive AAPL new issue (and are misread by stocks as being bullish). Equity markets, of course, don’t care, JPY leads the way and there are stops to run and it’s Tuesday…

 

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1hMTM07 Tyler Durden

CNBC must be reeling this morning as probably the highest-rated rivalry among hedge-fund managers has ended. As The WSJ reports, the hatchet was buried on Thursday. Mr. Ackman spoke with Mr. Icahn’s assistant on April 24 saying, “I am calling to forgive Carl,” according to Mr. Ackman. Mr. Icahn, 78 years old, returned the call and told Mr. Ackman, 47, that “it is a blessing to forgive,” Mr. Icahn said, “and I forgive you.” The acrimonious activists thus closed the door on one of the ugliest spats in financial market history as forgiving being called “a crybaby” and forgetting being labelled “a dishonest man” has been trumped by. as Ackman notes, the “much greater possibility that we are on the same side than the opposite.”

 

As WSJ reports, one of Wall Street’s ugliest spats ended last week with a phone call.

The hatchet was buried on Thursday. Mr. Ackman spoke with Mr. Icahn’s assistant on April 24 saying, “I am calling to forgive Carl,” according to Mr. Ackman. Mr. Icahn, 78 years old, returned the call and told Mr. Ackman, 47, that “it is a blessing to forgive,” Mr. Icahn said, “and I forgive you.”

 

The development suggests that the duo, who famously clashed on their views about nutrition company Herbalife, could team up on activist investments, where investors push for broad changes at companies or try to move prices with their arguments. Neither would name a target or timetable.

 

In the future, Mr. Ackman said: “There is a much greater possibility that we are on the same side than the opposite.”

 

…

 

Mr. Icahn made the first overture last week. Appearing on CNBC, he said he didn’t see “anything illegal” about Mr. Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management LP teaming up with a pharmaceutical company to try to buy Botox maker Allergan Inc. “We have our differences, but I never said he’s not a smart guy,” Mr. Icahn said of Mr. Ackman on CNBC. “I think the concept of this is good. I hope it works out better for him than Herbalife did, and, I think, will. …I never thought I’d be here defending Ackman.”

 

Mr. Ackman and Mr. Icahn say they spoke on Thursday for about 30 minutes and agreed that they saw eye to eye on some issues.

Of course, it isn’t the first peace pipe Mr. Icahn has smoked with rivals recently.

On April 10, Mr. Icahn agreed to drop his push for eBay Inc. to spin off PayPal and in the process settled with the company on a new independent director.

 

And after a nasty proxy battle with Forest Laboratories Inc. in June 2013, Mr. Icahn has made nice with the company’s chief executive, Howard Solomon, who now says he has become “quite friendly” with Mr. Icahn.

One can’t help but wonder whether Icahn wants in on the next major non-insider-trading non-front-running Pharma deal Ackman does… or whether Icahn is about to fold on HLF after last night’s revelation of the massive hollowing out of the company – which has removed it from a potential LBO due to the public leverage. Either way, we suspect “being the bigger man” is not the reason for these two managers to kiss and make up.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1iC4qHM Tyler Durden

What a difference Seasonally adjusted and Unadjusted data makes: for the best example look no further than the just released latest Case Shiller index, where the Seasonally Adjusted 20 City Composite Index grew by a less than expected 0.76% (Exp. 0.80%), down from the 0.80% last month, and the Year over Year price also missed expectations of a 13.00% increase, printing slightly less at 12.86%. However, while the well-delayed February data was a modest miss across the board, more importantly it represented that there has been price increases for 24 consecutive months. One gets a very different story if one looks at the NSA data, where Y/Y prices increased the same, or 12.86%, however on a sequential basis, prices have now declined for 4 months in a row – the longest negative stretch in actual home prices since March 2012.

What’s worse, even Case Shiller itself appears to have given up on housing as the driver of the wealth effect: “Five years into the recovery from the recession, the economy will need to look to gains in consumer  spending and business investment more than housing. Long overdue activity in residential  construction would be welcome, but is certainly not assured.”

Here is the quite attractive Seasonally Adjusted data:

And the not quite so attractive Unadjusted data:

And some color from the February Case Shiller report itself:

“Prices remained steady from January to February for the two Composite indices,” says David M.  Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The annual rates cooled the  most we’ve seen in some time. The three California cities and Las Vegas have the strongest increases  over the last 12 months as the West continues to lead. Denver and Dallas remain the only cities which  have reached new post-crisis price peaks. The Northeast with New York, Washington and Boston are  seeing some of the slowest year-over-year gains. However, even there prices are above their levels of  early 2013. On a month-to-month basis, there is clear weakness. Seasonally adjusted data show prices  rose in 19 cities, but a majority at a slower pace than in January.

 

“Despite continued price gains, most other housing statistics are weak. Sales of both new and existing  homes are flat to down. The recovery in housing starts, now less than one million units at annual rates,  is faltering. Moreover, home prices nationally have not made it back to 2005. Mortgage interest rates,  which jumped in May last year and are steady since then, are blamed by some analysts for the  weakness. Others cite difficulties in qualifying for loans and concerns about consumer confidence.  The result is less demand and fewer homes being built.

 

“Five years into the recovery from the recession, the economy will need to look to gains in consumer  spending and business investment more than housing. Long overdue activity in residential  construction would be welcome, but is certainly not assured.”

Finally, the data breakdown by city, where 13 of 20 cities saw their prices decline:

Only five cities saw their annual rates improve in February. After posting annual gains of over 20%  for their twelfth consecutive month, Las Vegas and San Francisco both showed deceleration in their annual rates. San Diego narrowed the gap with a return of 19.9%. Washington D.C. recorded its eight consecutive improvement with an annual rate of 9.1%, its highest since May 2006.
 
Thirteen cities declined for the month of February. Cleveland and Tampa showed their largest  declines of 1.6% and 0.7% since January 2012. Seattle improved from a decline of 0.8% in January to  an increase of 0.6% in February. Denver posted a small decline and is less than one percent away  from its peak set in September 2013. Dallas increased 0.2% and continues to reach new index highs.  Detroit remains the only city below its January 2000 level.

Source: Case-Shiller

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/QUHoRT Tyler Durden

Police are looking for a man suspected of shooting six people at the FedEx facility in Kennesaw. As NBC11 reports, the shooting occurred at 545am as the male suspect arrved at the facility and started shooting:

• FBI and ATF now on scene assisting local PD after 6 people have been shot at a FedEx center in Atlanta.
• Shooter with shotgun wearing black tank top, black skulley, black cargo pants & shells across shoulder.

The facility is on lockdown with workers already at work being held in a warehouse and new arrivals turned away.

FedEx spokesman Scott Fiedler released a statement at around 7:20 a.m., saying, “FedEx is aware of the situation. Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of our team members, first responders and others affected. FedEx is cooperating with authorities.”

 

 

 

 

 

NBC11 Live Feed:

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1hMznbH Tyler Durden