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Submitted by Brittany Hunter via The Mises Institute,

The holiday season is officially upon us, which means Americans will soon be feeling extra charitable. However, while random acts of kindness and helping those in need are as intertwined with the holiday season as colorful lights and gift giving, the government has chimed in to remind us that charitable efforts must be first be approved by the state.

The American Royal’s World Series of Barbecue is a longstanding tradition for community members of Kansas City, Missouri. Since 1899, the event has attracted the most talented barbecue chefs from all corners of the state, who gather annually to show off their skills. With so many BBQ experts in one place, there tends to be a fair amount of leftover food once the festivities come to a close.

Hating to waste such a vast amount of quality barbecue, some of the event’s BBQ gurus got together and founded the charitable group, Kookers Kare. Partnering with the Harvesters Community Food Network, Kookers Kare has made a tradition of donating the leftover food to local homeless shelters at the end of each annual event.

This year, the two groups collected over 3,000 pounds of meat and 1,200 pounds of sides, all bound for a local nonprofit organization called Hope City, where it was to be served to over 3,000 homeless citizens in need.

However, the Kansas City Health Department put the kibosh on Kookers Kare’s attempts to feed the homeless before anyone was even able to enjoy the food.

Claiming they had no fore knowledge of this charitable tradition, the health department forbid the food from being served to the needy. Suspiciously, the inspectors just happened to be doing a random inspection of Hope City the day the BBQ arrived.

“All of that food was uninspected, so that makes it from an unapproved source, it cannot be served to the public,” Kansas City Health Department Operations Manager Joe Williamson said in response to the department’s decision to stop the food from being consumed.

The health department did not stop at simply forbidding the food from being served, they demanded that it be destroyed immediately. Those who had worked diligently to collect the food were forced to douse over 3,000 pounds of award-winning barbecue food with bleach, in order to ensure its destruction and appease the local health department. Meanwhile, 3,000 homeless individuals went without a meal that day.

After receiving negative feedback when this story surfaced in the news, the health department doubled down on its decision by saying, “3,000 people a year die of foodborne illness, so this is nothing to play with, it’s very serious.”

Harvesters Community Food Network Director of Communications, Sarah Biles lamented the health department’s decision and commented, “We’ve had a great partnership and we’ve been able to collect that food over the years. However, in recent year’s food safety regulations have gotten tighter and more strict and continue to change.”

For charitable individuals, giving back to their communities should not be an act that is tightly regulated by government entities. Instead, these volunteers should be met with open arms and positivity from state entities, rather than being demonized unless they have first sought the government’s seal of approval.

As disappointed as these volunteers may be, we can only imagine the disappointment among the 3,000 people who were denied a hot meal.

via http://ift.tt/2gigNw0 Tyler Durden

Today Credit Suisse released its latest annual global wealth report, which traditionally lays out what is perhaps the biggest reason for the recent “anti-establishment” revulsion: an unprecedented concentration of wealth among a handful of people, as shown in its infamous global wealth pyramid, an arrangement which as observed by the “shocking” political backlash of the past few months suggests that the lower ‘levels’ of the pyramid are increasingly unhappy about.

As Credit Suisse tantalizingly shows year after year, the number of people who control just shy of a majority of global net worth, or 45.6% of the roughly $255 trillion in household wealth, is declining progressively relative to the total population of the world, and in 2016 the number of people who are worth more than $1 million was just 33 million, roughly 0.7% of the world’s population of adults. On the other end of the pyramid, some 3.5 billion adults had a net worth of less than $10,000, accounting for just about $6 trillion in household wealth. And inbetween is the so-called global middle class – those 1 billion people who rising anger at the status quo made Brexit and Trump possible.

Incidentally, we tracked down the first Credit Suisse report we found in this series from 2010, where the total wealth of the top “layer” in the pyramid was a paltry $69.2 trillion for the world’s millionaires. It has nearly doubled since then. Meanwhile, the world’s poortest have gotten, you got it, poorer, as those adults who were worth less than $10,000 in 2010 had a combined net worth of $8.2 trillion, a number which has since declined to $6.1 trillion in 2016.

What about the very top? Things here are even more nuanced, with 28.9 million people whose net worth is between $1 and $5 million gradually tapering off  to just 140,900 Ultra High Net Worth individuals who control more than $50 million in assets each.  Of these, 50,800 are worth at least USD 100 million, and 5,200 have assets above USD 500 million. The total number of UHNW adults is about 3% higher than a year ago (4,100 individuals), and the increase has been relatively uniform across regions, except for the higher than average rise in Asia- Pacific countries (10%)

 

Here is the commentary from Credit Suisse:

Wealth differences within and between countries

Wealth differences between individuals occur for many reasons. Variation in average wealth across countries accounts for much of the observed inequality in global wealth, but there is also considerable disparity within countries. Those with low wealth are disproportionately found among the younger age groups, who have had little chance to accumulate assets. Others may have suffered business losses or personal misfortune, or live in regions where prospects for wealth creation are more limited. Opportunities are also sometimes constrained for women or minorities. In contrast, many individuals can be found at the other end of the spectrum who have acquired large fortunes through a combination of talent, hard work and good luck.

The wealth pyramid in Figure 1 captures these differences. The large base of low wealth-holders underpins higher tiers occupied by progressively fewer adults. We estimate that 3.5 billion individuals – 73% of all adults in the world – have wealth below USD 10,000 in 2016. A further 900 million adults (19% of the global population) fall in the USD 10,000–100,000 range. While average wealth is modest at the base and in the middle tiers of the pyramid, total wealth there amounts to USD 35 trillion, underlining the economic importance of this often overlooked segment.

The base of the pyramid

The layers of the wealth pyramid are quite distinctive. The base tier has the most even distribution across regions and countries (Figure 2), but also the most uneven range of personal circumstances.

In developed countries, only about 20% of adults fall within this category, and for the majority of these individuals, membership is either transient – due to business losses or unemployment, for example – or a lifecycle phase associated with youth or old age. In contrast, more than 90% of the adult population in India and Africa falls within this range. For many residents of low-income countries, life membership of the base tier is the norm rather than the exception.

Mid-range wealth

In terms of global wealth, USD 10,000 –100,000 is the mid-range band. It covers around 900 million adults who represent a high proportion of the middle class in many countries. The average wealth of this group is quite close to the overall global mean wealth, and its combined net worth of USD 29 trillion provides it with considerable economic clout. India and Africa are under-represented in this segment, whereas China’s share is disproportionately high. China and India provide an interesting contrast. India accounts for just 3.1% of those with mid-range wealth, and that share has changed very little during the past decade. In contrast, China accounts for 33% of those with wealth between USD 10,000 and USD 100,000, ten times the number of Indians, and double the proportion of Chinese in 2000.

The high wealth bands

The top tiers of the wealth pyramid – covering individuals with net worth above USD 100,000 – comprised 5.9% of all adults at the turn of the century. The proportion rose rapidly until the financial crisis, but has remained quite stable since that time. It currently comprises 8.2% of the global total, nearly the same as in mid-2015. Regional composition differs markedly from the strata below. Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region (omitting China and India) together account for 89% of the group, with Europe alone providing 144 million members (36% of the total). This compares with just 5 million adult members (1.2% of the global total) in India and Africa combined.

The pattern of membership changes once again for the US dollar millionaires at the top of the pyramid. The number of millionaires in any given country is determined by three factors: the size of the adult population, average wealth, and wealth inequality. The United States scores high on all three criteria, and has by far the greatest number of millionaires at 13.6 million, or 41% of the worldwide total (Figure  3). For many years, Japan held second place in the millionaire rankings by a comfortable margin – with 13% of the global total in 2011, for example, which was double the number of the third placed country.
However, the number of Japanese millionaires has fallen, alongside a rise in other countries. As a consequence, Japan lost its second place to the United Kingdom in 2014, but bounced back again this year because of exchange rate appreciation.

After a drop this year, the United Kingdom falls to third place with 7% of millionaires worldwide, followed by Germany, France, and China with 5% each, and Italy, Canada, and Australia with 3% each. Switzerland, Korea, Spain, and Taiwan are the four other countries with more than 350,000 millionaires, which is the minimum requirement for a one percent share of the global total.

Changing membership of the millionaire group

Year-on-year variations in the number of millionaires can often be traced to real wealth growth and exchange rate movements. Last year, we reported that widespread depreciation against the US dollar had resulted in a significant reduction in the number of millionaires between mid-2014 and mid-2015. This year, the changes in both directions have been relatively modest: a net increase of 596,000 or 2%. Japan reversed the trend of recent years, adding more than a third to its total (up 738,000 to 2.8 million). Millionaire numbers rose again in the United States, but only by 283,000, which is less than the typical rise in the period since the financial crisis. The downside was experienced by the United Kingdom, which lost around 15% of its millionaires (406,000 adults), and to a lesser extent by Switzerland (down 58,000), and China (down 43,000).

High net worth individuals

The usual source of information on wealth data – official household surveys – tends to become less reliable at higher wealth levels. To estimate the pattern of wealth holdings above USD 1 million, we therefore supplement the survey data with figures from “rich lists” such as the Forbes annual tally of global billionaires. These rich list data are pooled for all the years since 2000, and well-known statistical regularities are then used to estimate intermediate numbers in the top tail which are consistent with the Forbes data. This produces plausible estimates of the global pattern of asset holdings in the high net worth (HNW) category from USD 1 million to USD 50 million, and in the ultra-high net worth (UHNW) range from USD 50 million upwards.

While the base of the wealth pyramid is occupied by people from all countries at various stages of their lifecycles, HNW and UHNW individuals are heavily concentrated in particular regions and countries, and tend to share more similar lifestyles, for instance participating in the same global markets for luxury goods, even when they reside in different continents. The wealth portfolios of these individuals are also likely to be more similar, with a focus on financial assets and, in particular, equities, bonds and other securities traded in international markets.

For mid-2016, we estimate that there are 33.0 million HNW adults with wealth between USD 1 million and USD 50 million, of whom the vast majority (28.9 million) fall in the USD 1– 5 million range (Figure 4).

There are 2.5 million adults worth between USD 5 million and 10 million, and 1.5 million more have assets in the USD 10– 50 million range. In terms of HNW membership, Europe briefly overtook North America in 2007, but North America regained the lead in 2010, and now accounts for a much greater number, namely 14.7 million (45% of the total), compared to 9.8 million (30%) in Europe. Asia-Pacific countries, excluding China and India, have 6.0 million members (18%), and another 1.6 million are found in China (5% of the global total). The remaining 816,000 HNW individuals (2% of the total) reside in India, Africa or Latin America. 

Ultra-high net worth individuals

Our calculations suggest that 140,900 adults worldwide can be classed as UHNW individuals, with net worth above USD 50 million. Of these, 50,800 are worth at least USD 100 million, and 5,200 have assets above USD 500 million. The total number of UHNW adults is about 3% higher than a year ago (4,100 individuals), and the increase has been relatively uniform across regions, except for the higher than average rise in Asia- Pacific countries (10%).

North America dominates the regional rankings, with 73,400 UHNW residents (52%), while Europe has 29,800 (21%), and 18,800 (13%) live in Asia-Pacific countries, excluding China and India. Among individual countries, the United States leads by a huge margin with 70,400 UHNW adults, equivalent to 50% of the group total (Figure 5).  This is a small increase of 500 compared to mid- 2015. China occupies second place with 11,000 UHNW individuals (up 640 on the year), followed by Germany (6,100, up 500). The United Kingdom lost by far the greatest number of UHNW individuals (down 700 to 4,700), but still heads France (4,100, up 600). In contrast, Japan gained the most (3,600, up 1,000), and now occupies sixth place. Italy (3,300, up 400), Canada (2,900, up 100), Korea (2,500, up 200), and India (2,300, up 100) are the other countries with the highest numbers of UHNW individuals.

The wealth spectrum

The wealth pyramid captures the contrasting circumstances between those with net wealth of a million US dollars or more in the top echelon, and those lower down in the wealth hierarchy. Discussions of wealth holdings often focus exclusively on the top tail. We provide a more complete and balanced picture, believing that the base and middle sections are interesting in their own right. One reason is the sheer size of numbers and their political power. However, their combined wealth of USD 35 trillion also yields considerable economic opportunities, which are often overlooked. Addressing the needs of these asset owners can drive new trends in both the consumer and financial industries. China, Korea and Indonesia are examples of countries where individuals have been rising rapidly through this part of the wealth pyramid. India has not shown similar progress to date, but has the potential to grow rapidly in the future from its low starting point.

While the middle and lower levels of the pyramid are important, the top segment will likely continue to be the main driver of private asset flows and investment trends. Our figures for mid-2016 indicate that there are now nearly 33 million HNW individuals, including 1.6 million in China, and more than 6 million in other Asia-Pacific countries. At the apex of the pyramid, 140,900 UHNW adults are each worth more than USD 50 million. This includes 11,000 UHNW individuals in China (8% of the global total), a 100-fold rise since the turn of the century. A further 8,500 UHNW adults (6% of the total) can be found in Hong Kong, India, Korea, and Taiwan.

via http://ift.tt/2gdQNV8 Tyler Durden

Just hours after abruptly cancelling a planned interview with the “failing New York Times,” Trump’s team has confirmed that the meeting is back on.  Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks recently confirmed the meeting to a member of the press pool:

Hicks confirmed that Trump will meet with @nytimes “as planned.”

— Nick Corasaniti (@NYTnickc) November 22, 2016

 

Despite the interview originally being cancelled over a dispute of what would be “on” versus “off” the record, a statement just released by the New York Times indicates that Trump seemingly folded and agreed to have an on the record conversation with the NYT’s journalists and editorial columnists.

A portion of the meeting will be an on-the-record interview, as the newspaper originally wanted.

 

“Mr. Trump’s staff has told us that the President Elect’s meeting with The Times is on again,” Eileen Murphy, head of communications for the Times, said in a statement. “He will meet with our publisher off-the-record and that session will be followed by an on-the-record meeting with our journalists and editorial columnists.”

Update: @nytimes meeting w/@realDonaldTrump is back on. Meeting w/journalists is on the record only. Here’s our statement: http://pic.twitter.com/xcicNcpkpN

— Clifford Levy (@cliffordlevy) November 22, 2016

 

Never a dull moment in the Trump administration.

* * *

Here is what we wrote earlier this morning just after Trump cancelled his meeting with the New York Times:

Just one day after calling a summit of the major mainstream media executives and anchors at Trump Tower in which he referred to everyone as “dishonest, deceitful liars,” Trump this morning has continued his feud with the media by cancelling a planned meeting with the “failing New York Times.”  A tweet sent by Trump this morning indicated that the meeting was cancelled after the New York Times tried to change the “terms and conditions” of the meeting which Trump found to be “not nice.”

I cancelled today’s meeting with the failing @nytimes when the terms and conditions of the meeting were changed at the last moment. Not nice

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016

 

Trump also took shots at the NYT’s for their “nasty tone,” “inaccurate” coverage and record-high complaints.

Perhaps a new meeting will be set up with the @nytimes. In the meantime they continue to cover me inaccurately and with a nasty tone!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016

The failing @nytimes just announced that complaints about them are at a 15 year high. I can fully understand that – but why announce?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016

 

Meanwhile, the New York Times released a statement saying that they never tried to change the rules but refused Trump’s request to squash an on-the-record session.

NYT spox says paper didn’t change ground rules of Trump meeting, though his side pushed yesterday for only off the record component: http://pic.twitter.com/bTkCPucG7t

— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) November 22, 2016

 

While Trump has never had a great relationship with the New York Times, it turned nuclear back in October when they obtained and published a copy of his 1995 tax return along with a baseless headline implying that he hadn’t paid taxes in 20 years.  In reality, the tax return merely revealed Trump’s usage of net operating losses to offset ordinary income which is a fairly common practice employed by many business owners. 

In its leading Sunday story, the New York Times reports that “Trump Tax Records Obtained by The Times Reveal He Could Have Avoided Paying Taxes for Nearly Two Decades.” Specifically, it reports that according to a previously undisclosed 1995 tax filing, Trump reported a $916 million loss on his income tax returns that year which could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income tax for up to 18 years. As it explains, “the 1995 tax records, never before disclosed, reveal the extraordinary tax benefits that Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, derived from the financial wreckage he left behind in the early 1990s through mismanagement of three Atlantic City casinos, his ill-fated foray into the airline business and his ill-timed purchase of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.”

 

Certainly the early posturing seems to indicate that Trump will continue to have a fairly contentious relationship with the media for the next four years….and we suspect his supporters are just fine with that.

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Submitted by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,

• European criticism of Trump goes far beyond a simple displeasure with the man who will be the next president. The condemnation reveals a deep-seated contempt for the United States, and for American voters who democratically elected a candidate committed to restoring American economic and military strength.
• The primary cause of the global disorder is the lack of American leadership at home and abroad. A series of feckless decisions by Obama to reduce American military influence abroad have created geopolitical power vacuums that are being filled by countries and ideologies that are innately hostile to Western interests and values.
• For the past seven decades, the U.S. has spent hundreds of millions of dollars annually to guarantee German security, although Germany steadfastly refuses to honor a NATO pledge to spend 2% of GDP on defense spending. Germans are now offended that Trump is asking them to pay their fair share for their own defense.
• Although President Obama's foreign policy missteps have made Europe much less safe than it was eight years ago, European elites have overlooked Obama's mistakes because he is a "globalist" who seems to favor recreating the U.S. in the European image. Trump, by contrast, is a nationalist who wants to rebuild the U.S. in the American, not the European, image.
• European anti-Americanism is certain to escalate in the years ahead, not because of Trump or his policies, but because "globalists" appear desperate to save the failing European Union, an untransparent, unaccountable, anti-democratic, sovereignty-grabbing alternative to the nation state.

European anti-Americanism — which was on the wane during the presidency of Barack Obama, who steered the United States on a course of globalism rather than nationalism — is back with a vengeance.

Europe's media establishment has greeted Donald Trump's election victory with a vitriol not seen since the George W. Bush presidency, when anti-Americanism in Europe was at fever pitch.

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

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

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

Although European opinion-shapers have focused much of their indignation on the threat Trump allegedly poses to global order, the president-elect will inherit a world that is significantly more chaotic and insecure than it was when Obama became president in January 2009.

The primary cause of the global disorder is the lack of American leadership — leading from behind — at home and abroad.

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

European elites have been mostly silent about Obama's foreign policy failures, but are now lashing out at Trump for pledging to restore order by "making America great again."

As during the Bush administration, anti-Americanism in Europe is once again being driven by Germany, a country that was effectively rebuilt by the United States after the Second World War. The Marshall Plan granted West Germany some $1.5 billion ($15 billion in 2016 dollars) in reconstruction aid between 1948 and 1951.

For the past seven decades, the United States has spent hundreds of millions of dollars annually to guarantee German security, although Germany steadfastly refuses to honor a NATO pledge to spend a minimum of 2% of GDP on defense spending. Germany spent only 1.16% of GDP on its own defense in 2015 and 1.15% in 2016. German officials are now offended that Trump is asking them to pay their fair share for their own defense.

Following is a small sampling of recent European commentary on Donald Trump and the United States:

In Germany, the Hamburg-based newsmagazine Der Spiegel, one of the largest-circulation publications in Europe, published a cover with an image of a giant meteor in the shape of Trump's head hurtling towards the earth. The headline reads: "The End of the World (As We Know It). The issue includes more than 50 pages of related content, including an article by Dirk Kurbjuweit entitled, "One-Hundred Years of Fear: America Has Abdicated Its Leadership of the West." He wrote:

"For 100 years, the United States was the leader of the free world. With the election of Donald Trump, America has now abdicated that role. It is time for Europe, and Angela Merkel, to step into the void….

 

"Trump, who wants nothing to do with globalization; Trump, who preaches American nationalism, isolation, partial withdrawal from world trade and zero responsibility for a global problem like climate change….

 

"We now face emptiness — fear of the void. What will happen to the West, to Europe, to Germany without the United States as its leading power?

In Germany, Der Spiegel, one of the largest-circulation publications in Europe, published a cover, after Donald Trump's election victory, with an image of a giant meteor in the shape of Trump's head hurtling towards the earth. The headline reads: "The End of the World (As We Know It)".

In an article, "Trump's Victory Ushers in Dangerous Instability," Spiegel commentator Roland Nelles wrote:

"It really happened. He did it. Donald Trump proved all experts wrong…. A man who… preaches hate and snubs America's most important partners will run the most powerful country on Earth. It is a political catastrophe.

 

"Crude populism has triumphed over reason. Trump's success is a shock for all those who had counted on the political wisdom of American voters….

 

"The world, and America, is now threatened by a dangerous phase of instability: Donald Trump wants to make America 'great' again. If one believes his pronouncements, he will proceed ruthlessly: He wants to throw 11 million migrants out of the country, renegotiate all major trade agreements and make important allies such as Germany pay for US military protection. That will trigger significant conflict, incite new rivalries and spur new crises."

In an opinion article, "An Absurd and Dangerous President," Spiegel commentator Klaus Brinkbäumer wrote:

"The United States has voted for a dangerously inexperienced and racist man — one who was swept into the White House by an army of disenfranchised white working- and middle-class Americans. It is a movement that now threatens democracy around the world….

 

"In other words, 60 million Americans acted stupidly. They cast their votes for xenophobia, racism and nationalism, the end of equal rights and social conscience, for the end of climate treaties and health insurance. Sixty million people followed a demagogue who will do little for them.

 

"Those who have lived in New York or experienced dinner conversations in Georgetown and debates at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, know how brilliantly intelligent and worldly Americans can be…. Once you get outside such circles, such cosmopolitan thinking isn't nearly as widespread."

The Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung, in an article, "Trump's Foreign Policy: What This Election Means for the World," stated:

"The man who politicians around the world called 'scary,' 'ignorant' or 'irrational' will move into the White House. The uncertainty around the world is great. If cartoonists are to be believed, Donald Trump's idea of ??the world is very simplistic. Africa is the birthplace of Barack Obama. Russia is a country that was made great again. Great Britain is a no-go area."

The Hamburg-based Die Zeit, in an article, "Trump and How He Sees the World," wrote:

"Wow. The West crumbles before our eyes. What is going on here can be explained by two data points: On November 9, 1989, the wall fell in Berlin…. On November 9, 2016, exactly 27 years later, a man has been elected to the White House whose central election pledge was the construction of a wall.

 

"The ideas of the new president are neither contradictory nor confused. His demands can be easily summarized on the cap of a beer bottle: integrate Putin, keep Mexicans out and treat American allies as the customers of a security service. There is only protection if one pays cash, even in NATO.

In a commentary, "The End of the Enlightenment," Zeit essayist Adrian Daub wrote:

"Donald Trump is a remnant of a dying America…. He has turned the country from a multicultural lighthouse into an isolated island of white people who are afraid of their own shadow.

 

"The idea of American exceptionalism, the lighthouse, was already present at the foundation of the nation…. The idea of ??American radiance is one with the ideas of the Enlightenment that came from Europe to the colonies. Ideas like universal values ??or the human striving for truth.

 

"Trump's election means the end of this project. The United States is no longer a lighthouse, but a flaming fire of tired shadows armed to the teeth. No trace remains of its prototypical character, its imitability. It is defiant, closed to the world. The nationalism of isolationism… the tumultuous tribalism… are shaking the foundations of the Enlightenment.

 

"The US upheld the values ??of the Enlightenment — humanism, an optimistic image of man, human dignity and civil rights — when Europe deviated from them in the thirties. It used humanism as a weapon in the struggle against fascism, its universality as a counterpart to nationalism, and with its re-importation after the Second World War has contributed to the reestablishment of the European project. Today, these values ??are once more in trouble in Europe, but the view across the Atlantic will not be reassuring as of January."

Other German headlines include: "Trump has the Charisma of a Drunken Elephant," "Donald Trump: A Horror Clown as a Security Risk," "Trump: How Could this Happen?," "Plans of the New US President: How Trump Wants to Poison the Air," "Donald Trump: A Blow to Open Society," "America Chooses the Great Divider," "Donald Trump: A King Without a Plan," "Donald is not Ronald," "Donald is not Churchill," "Can Trump also Happen in Germany?," "How to Prevent a German Trump," "Who Can Stop Trump Now?," and "Will Berlin Have to Pay More for Defense?"

In Britain, the Guardian published an editorial, "The Guardian View on Trump's Foreign Policy: A Threat to Peace," which stated:

"The victory of Donald Trump shatters the notion that the US can be counted on by its allies not just for defense guarantees and economic cooperation, but even as a defender of liberal democracy, rather than a threat to it. It calls into question the traditional US role as a protector of a UN-based global architecture of multilateralism….

 

"For Donald Trump, politics — like business — is about deal making. He thinks man-to-man talk with dictators can instantly dissolve problems, and approaches foreign affairs as zero sum game in which making America great can mean demeaning its traditional friends. His election makes the world a more dangerous place and also a more uncertain place, for it is too early to say precisely how those dangers will materialize — or how the next US president will face up to them."

The Guardian, in an essay, "A Win for Trump was a Win for Bigotry," columnist Owen Jones wrote:

"Hang on a minute: who am I as a Briton to interfere in the internal affairs of a foreign country? The problem is the entire world is now subject to the writ of the leader of the last superpower. We are all, to a degree, under his dominion….

 

"Trumpism is, by nature, an authoritarian movement that regards democratic norms as dispensable if they fail to serve political ends. The aspiration — whether realizable or not — is clear: authoritarian societies such as Putin's Russia, Erdo?an's Turkey and Orbán's Hungary that maintain certain democratic trappings as a convenient front.

"If the American people simply accept the legitimacy of this president, and they normalize this would-be tyrant, it will only embolden him…. Civil disobedience should be employed where necessary. Don't just do it for yourself, America. The fate of the rest of the world will be determined by your choices."

Other British headlines include: "Will Donald Trump Destroy America?," "Why President Donald Trump is an Even Bigger Disaster than You Thought," "Donald Trump's Victory is a Disaster for Liberal Values," "Donald Trump's Victory is a Disaster for Modern Masculinity," "Privacy Experts Fear Donald Trump Running Global Surveillance Network," "Terrifying Trump Will Turn into Tamed Trump? It's an Illusion," "The Magnetic Pull of Trump, King Narcissist," "Will Donald Trump Make School Lunches Unhealthy? Doctors Warn the President-elect's Penchant for Burgers and Fried Chicken Could Hit Meal Trays," "In the Age of Trump, Why Bother Teaching Students to Argue Logically?," and "Donald Trump Believed to be Direct Descendant of Rurik the Viking who Established Russian State."

In Spain, where anti-Americanism has held sway for many decades, the newspaper El País published an essay, "Declaration of War against Stupidity," which showcases the contempt many Europeans have for ordinary Americans. The newspaper's long-time essayist, John Carlin, wrote:

"The victory of Trump represents a rebellion against reason and decency. It is the triumph of racism, or misogyny, or stupidity — or all three things at once. It is the expression of the poor judgment and bad taste of 60 million Americans, the vast majority of them men and women of white skin who own homes, cars, firearms and eat more than citizens of any other country on earth.

 

"This is where you see with perfect clarity the stupidity, frivolity and irresponsibility of those who voted for Trump. For all of Clinton's defects, they are trivial compared to those of Trump, whose ignorance, zero principles and zero experience in governance are joined by all forms of personal vices that every person in their right mind at any latitude of the world considers deplorable.

 

"I know the kind who voted for Trump. I met them when I made reports in Texas, Montana, Arizona, Oklahoma, Alabama and other typically Republican states. They tend to be kind, religious and honest people, decent in their reduced social orbit. But after sitting down to talk with them for a while I always reacted with the same perplexity: how is it possible that we speak the same language? Their words are familiar to me but their brain circuits operate differently. They are people of simple faith, oblivious to the irony; people who choose their truths not based on facts but on their beliefs or prejudices; people who live far from the ocean and the rest of planet Earth, of which they are afraid. I've never experienced a similar sense of disconnection in Europe, Africa or Latin America. Just inside the United States."

In Austria, Kronen Zeitung published a headline entitled, "Nuclear Suitcase: In 72 Days Trump Could Annihilate Civilization." Also in Austria, Kurier published a story entitled, "Trump Victory: Boon for Suicide Hotlines." In France, the newspaper Libération featured a cover with Trump and the words "American Psycho." Another headline read: "United States: The Empire of the Worst." L'Obs asked, "With Trump, the Beginning of De-Globalization?" Le Figaro wrote: "Donald Trump: From Clown to President," and "Europe Paralyzed by the Trump Shock." Le Monde wrote, "Donald Trump's Victory: A Brexit for America." In the Netherlands, Telegraaf declared, "Trump is a Nightmare for Europe."

How is one to interpret the resurgence of anti-American sentiment in Europe?

Although President Obama's foreign policy missteps, especially those in the Middle East, have made Europe much less safe than it was eight years ago, European elites have overlooked Obama's mistakes because he is a "globalist" who seems to favor recreating the United States in the European image. Trump, by contrast, is a nationalist who wants to rebuild the United States in the American, not the European, image.

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

Europeans have time and again overestimated their ability to make a fragmented Europe act like a single unified actor. As it turns out, anti-Americanism is a powerful ideology that has wide appeal across Europe — not just among the elites.

In the past, European federalists have tried to make anti-Americanism the basis of a new pan-European identity. This artificial post-modern European "citizenship," which demands allegiance to a faceless bureaucratic superstate based in Brussels, has been presented as a globalist alternative to the nationalism of the United States. In essence, to be "European" means to not be American.

As the European Union comes apart at the seams, Europe's political establishment can be expected to try to exploit anti-Americanism in a desperate attempt to use it as a glue to hold a fractured Europe together.

Whether or not that succeed depends, ironically, on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. If he can demonstrate that he is able to govern the United States and produce tangible results, especially by growing the economy and curbing illegal immigration, Trump is certain to energize support for anti-establishment politicians in Europe, many of whom are already polling well in a number of upcoming general elections.

Commenting on Trump's victory, Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders, wrote: "America has just liberated itself from political correctness. The American people expressed their desire to remain a free and democratic people. Now it is time for Europe. We can and will do the same!"

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October saw exisitng home sales (SAAR) surge to 5.60mm (handily better than the 5.44mm expectation). These are deals essentially done in August and September – weeks before mortgage rates exploded higher – and with median home prices hitting new highs as the cost of funding spikes, it is hard to se how this is sustainable.

What happens next?

The 2013 taper tantrum spike in mortgage rates created a 10% plunge in existing home sales in the following 4 months.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the wave of sales activity the last two months represents a convincing autumn revival for the housing market.

“October’s strong sales gain was widespread throughout the country and can be attributed to the release of the unrealized pent-up demand that held back many would-be buyers over the summer because of tight supply,” he said. “Buyers are having more success lately despite low inventory and prices that continue to swiftly rise above incomes.” 

 

“The good news is that the tightening labor market is beginning to push up wages and the economy has lately shown signs of greater expansion. These two factors and low mortgage rates have kept buyer interest at an elevated level so far this fall.” 

 

“The ramp-up in housing starts in October is a hopeful sign that overall supply can steadily increase enough to provide more choices for buyers and also moderate price growth,” said Yun. “A prolonged continuation of the robust single-family starts pace seen last month (869,000) would go a long way in giving homeowners much-needed assurance that they can list their home for sale and find a new home to buy within a reasonable timeframe.”

Well those “low mortgage rates” just evaporated!!!

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If everything is so awesome, with a growth/inflation miracle just around the corner, then why is the US treasury yield curve collapsing in a dismal-growth-outlook-implying manner?

Followingthe kneejerk spike on the election, 5s30s have crashed to 6 week lows…

 

Nowhere is this decoupling from reality narrative more obvious than in the banks as NIM is a spread not an absolute…

 

And, as we asked last night, if bank stocks are so great and bank business looks so shiny… why is bank credit risk now at its highest in a month?

 

Probably bonds and credit are wrong and stocks have it right, right?

 

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2Y German bond yields are collapsing, hitting record lows at -72bps this morning as Commerzbank reports a collateral squeeze into year-end. Since the election, the spread between 2Y UST and 2Y GER has exploded by over 50bps, spiking Treasuries to their 'cheapest' to Bunds since 2005…

Bloomberg reports that Commerzbank says in note that the demand for German collateral ahead of year-end continues to rise, reflected in repo funding levels reaching new lows; 3- month GC moves below -70bps, with little on the offer side

 

And so as investors dump US Treasuries en masse, they are piling into Bunds…

 

Sending the spread to 2005 highs (in absolute terms)…

 

Notice that the 181bps spread this time is at a drastically lower overall yield than in 2005 making UST even 'cheaper'.

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Mission Accomplished?

 

 

Dow 20k by year-end? Why not!

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