Tag: finance

Robo-Verifier Lona Hunt Admits, Twice, to Not Reading Foreclosure Complaint Before Signing Under Penalty of Perjury

The entire reasoning behind the Florida Supreme court taking unprecedented, historic action to amend rule 1.100(b) back in 2011 was because of the financial industry’s well documented illegal behavior. It was enacted around the time that the “robo signing” scandal had broken wide open. We now know that “robo-signing” is used to describe the process of having a person sign a document without authority to do so and/or knowledge as to that which she/he is signing, despite swearing otherwise. The “robo-signing” scandal set off a nation-wide foreclosure moratorium and ultimately led to settlements with 49 states, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency consent orders, and numerous class action and shareholder lawsuits. Mortgage foreclosure related settlements with Ocwen, LPS, Chase and others continue to roll in. Yet, no matter the amount and severity of lawsuits, settlements, and bad publicity, it appears, at least in this case, that the act of signing without proper authority or knowledge as to that which one is signing, continues. Ms. Hunt freely admitted, twice, to not reading the foreclosure complaint before signing it. Further, with her limited knowledge, it was impossible for her to truthfully and accurately verify all the facts alleged in the complaint.

Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.110(b) states in relevant part:

When filing an action for foreclosure of a mortgage on residential real property the complaint shall be verified. When verification of a document is required, the document shall include an oath, affirmation, or the following statement: “Under penalty of perjury, I declare that I have read the foregoing, and the facts alleged therein are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.”

The complaint in this case contained the above quoted language and was signed by Lona Hunt, Foreclosure Specialist for Seterus, Inc., the alleged servicer and foreclosure arm for Plaintiff, Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae).

The deposition of Lona Hunt took place on October 17, 2014, during which time Ms. Hunt was questioned about her knowledge of the truth and accuracy of the facts in the foreclosure complaint, which she allegedly verified. During the deposition, Ms. Hunt admitted twice that she did not read the complaint, even though she swore in the complaint, under penalty of perjury, that she had.

Mr. Rosen: Q. Let’s take a look at the complaint. First of all, before you signed, did you read the complaint?

Lona Hunt: A. No

(Hunt Depo, P. 43 Ln. 10-13).

Later, when questioned by Plaintiff’s counsel, Ms. Hunt again admitted to not reading the complaint.

P’s Counsel: Q. Okay. Now, when you received that complaint, the draft to review for execution, did you read it first?

Lona Hunt: A. No.

(Hunt Depo, P. 55 Ln. 18-21).

It is clear that the witness understood the question posed and answered truthfully; she did not read the complaint before signing the verification. At the beginning of the deposition, Defendants’ counsel advised Ms. Hunt to verbalize when she didn’t understand a question and Ms. Hunt agreed. (Hunt Depo, P. 13 Ln. 19-25). At least twenty-three times during the relatively short deposition, Ms. Hunt stated that she either did not understand certain questions or asked counsel to repeat. (Hunt Depo, P. 8 Ln. 10, P. 9 Ln. 21, P. 11 Ln. 4, P. 19 Ln. 15, P. 20 Ln. 11, P. 20 Ln. 17, P. 22 Ln. 6, P. 22 Ln. 18, P. 25 Ln. 23, P. 26 Ln. 23, P. 31 Ln. 18, P. 38 Ln. 1, P. 42 Ln. 12, P. 42 Ln. 24, P. 44 Ln. 5, P. 44 Ln. 9, P. 45 Ln. 11, P. 48 Ln. 24, P. 52 Ln. 2, P. 53 Ln. 10, P. 53, Ln. 16, P. 57 Ln. 9, P. 59 Ln. 3). However, when asked if she read the complaint, once by Defense counsel and once by Plaintiff’s counsel, Ms. Hunt did not need clarification and did not hesitate to answer. The answer and the truth came right out.

Plaintiff’s counsel then lead Ms. Hunt to agree that she had read it as she was going through to “verify the various facts.”

P’s Counsel: Q. Did you read it as you were going through to verify the various facts that are set forth in the complaint?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. Yes.

(Hunt Depo. P. 55 Ln. 22 – Pg. 56 Ln. 3)

Ms. Hunt’s agreement that she read it as she was going through to “verify the various facts” related only to the fact that Ms. Hunt scanned the complaint to verify Defendant’s name, the county, the UPB, and the date of default.

Mr. Rosen: Q. What is it that you were looking for to compare between the verified complaint and what was on the computer?

Lona Hunt: A. Defendant’s name, the county.

. . .

Mr. Rosen: Q. The defendant’s name, the county?

Lona Hunt: A. The UPB and the date.

Mr. Rosen: Q. And that’s the date of?

Lona Hunt: A. The default.

Mr. Rosen: Q. Okay. Anything else that you were looking at between the verified complaint and what was on the computer screen?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. No.

Mr. Rosen: Q. What was on the computer screen?

Lona Hunt: A. Their loan number, their name, their address, their UPB and the default date.

Mr. Rosen: Q. And was that through that PULS system as well?

Lona Hunt: A. Yes

(Hunt Depo, P. 36 Ln. 15 – P. 37 Ln. 16).

Mr. Rosen: Q. Was there anything else you looked at other than the PULS report when also looking at the complaint?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. The note and mortgage.

Mr. Rosen: Q. Anything else?

Lona Hunt: A. No.

(Hunt Depo, P. 38 Ln. 3-10).

Even if Ms. Hunt had read the complaint before signing it, she admitted that she could not verify the truth and accuracy of the alleged facts in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 as well as in the “wherefore” clause of the Complaint. Although Ms. Hunt signed the verification on the Complaint under penalty of perjury and swore that all of the facts alleged in the Complaint were true and correct to the best of her knowledge and belief, she admitted numerous times in her deposition that she did not know the facts she was verifying, did not understand the words used in the complaint, and/or could not accurately describe where the information for those facts came from.

The Complaint and Ms. Hunt’s testimony are as follows, respectively.

Paragraph 1 of Complaint states “. . . All conditions precedent to the filing of this matter have been completed and/or waived.” Ms. Hunt admitted that she did not know what this meant:

Mr. Rosen: Q. And also in paragraph 1 there is the word “condition precedent.” What does condition precedent mean?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. I’m not sure.

. . .

Mr. Rosen: Q. I just want to know if you know what that means?

Lona Hunt: A. I don’t understand, no.

Mr. Rosen: Q. Okay. You understand my question, you just don’t understand what condition precedent means, is that what you’re saying?

Lona Hunt: A. Yes.

Mr. Rosen: Q. How did you know, if at all, whether or not conditions precedent to the filing of this matter had been completed or waived, if you knew?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. I didn’t know. I don’t know.

(Hunt Depo, P. 43 Ln. 20 – P. 45 Ln. 3).

Paragraph 2 of the Complaint states that “[t]he subject-property is owned by Defendant(s), Redacted, who hold(s) possession.” Ms. Hunt’s testimony regarding paragraph 2 reveals that she is not familiar with very the basic principles of Plaintiff’s business, such as ownership of property, as she could not properly identify the document which indicated that Defendant was the record owner of the subject property.

Mr. Rosen: Q. Okay. In paragraph 2 it says subject property owned by defendant Redacted. How do you know that or do you know that?

Lona Hunt: A. The mortgage and the note.

Mr. Rosen: Q. And something in the mortgage and note tells you that they own – that Redacted owns the subject property?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. Yes

(Hunt Depo, P. 45 Ln. 4-15).

Paragraph 3 of the Complaint states that unknown tenants in possession may claim an interest in the subject property by virtue of possession or occupancy; however their claims are subordinate, junior and inferior to the Plaintiff’s interests. Ms. Hunt admitted that she did not know if tenants were in possession and further did not know what it meant to be subordinate, junior or inferior to Plaintiff’s lien. After reading paragraph 3, Ms. Hunt was asked:

Mr. Rosen: Q. Did you know if that was the case that there were any tenants in possession of the property?

Lona Hunt: A. No.

Mr. Rosen: Q. And what does it mean to be subordinate, junior and inferior to the lien of plaintiff’s mortgage?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. I’m not sure.

(Hunt Depo, P. 45 Ln. 25 – P. 46 Ln. 7).

Similarly, Ms. Hunt did not know the truth or accuracy of Paragraph 4 of the Complaint, which states that unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, etc. may have an interest in the subject property which is subordinate, junior and inferior to Plaintiff’s.

Mr. Rosen: Q. And in the next paragraph, paragraph 4, that in addition to all other defendants and it says, “Unknown spouses heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, creditors, trustees, successors in interest or other parties claiming interest in the subject property by, through or against any said defendants, whether natural or corporate, who are not known to be alive or dead, dissolved or existing, are joined as defendants herein.” How did you know about those other specifically – how did you know that that was the case?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. I don’t know.

Mr. Rosen: Q. Okay. It then says, “The claims of said parties are subject, subordinate and inferior to the interest of the plaintiff.” How did you know that that was correct?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. I didn’t know.

(Hunt Depo, P. 46 Ln. 9 – P. 47 Ln. 3).

Paragraph 5 of Plaintiff’s Complaint states that Defendants, Mr. and Mrs. Redacted, “executed and delivered a mortgage securing payment of the note to JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.” Ms. Hunt did not know what that meant.

Mr. Rosen: Q. What does it mean securing payment of the note to JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., what does that mean?

Lona Hunt: A. That’s who had it. I’m not for sure.

(Hunt Depo, P. 48 Ln. 3-6).

Paragraph 5 further alleged that the mortgage mortgaged the property “then owned and in possession of the mortgagor(s).”

Mr. Rosen: Q. And how did you know that the property described in the mortgage was owned and in possession –or who owned it and who was in possession of it?

Lona Hunt: A. Fannie Mae.

Mr. Rosen: Q. How did you know that?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. The Note.

Mr. Rosen: Q. So, just to clarify, I’m asking you how did you know who owned and was in possession of the property at the time of – at the time of origination?

Lona Hunt: A. Please repeat.

Mr. Rosen: Q. Sure. I’m asking how did you know who owned the property and who possessed the property at the time of origination?

Lona Hunt: A. By the note. I can’t look at the page.

Mr. Rosen: Q. Let’s take a look at the note. It’s attached to the complaint, Exhibit B. Can you show me where in the note it says who owned and possesses the property?

. .

Lona Hunt: A. Federal National Mortgage Association, the back page.

Mr. Rosen: Q. The back page it’s telling you who owns the property?

Lona Hunt: A. It says pay to the order of Federal National Mortgage Association.

(Hunt Depo, P. 48 Ln. 11 – P. 49 Ln. 15).

Here, Ms. Hunt further demonstrated her lack of competency to verify the Complaint as she was clearly confused with the concept of ownership of the property versus ownership of the note, despite the fact that Defendants’ counsel asked Ms. Hunt multiple times specifically about the property. Further, Ms. Hunt could not have verified paragraph 5 as she admitted that she did not even understand the term “mortgagor.”

Mr. Rosen: Q. Okay. What does it mean to be the mortgagor?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. I’m not sure.

(Hunt Depo, P. 49 Ln. 16-23).

Paragraph 6 of Plaintiff’s Complaint states that “Plaintiff is the owner and holder of the note.” Although Ms. Hunt correctly identified the endorsement on the note as payable to Fannie Mae, she admitted that she had no idea what that meant.

Mr. Rosen: Q. How did you know that Fannie Mae is the owner and holder of the note?

Lona Hunt: A. The note where it’s stamped at the back saying that Fannie Mae – pay to the order of Fannie Mae in our system.

Mr. Rosen: Q. Okay. What does it mean to be an owner and holder of a note?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. I’m not – I’m not quite sure. Don’t know.

(Hunt Depo, P. 49 Ln. 25 – P. 50 Ln. 9).

Paragraph 8 of Plaintiff’s Complaint states that “Plaintiff declares the full amount payable under the note and mortgage to be due.” Ms. Hunt did not know what that meant.

Mr. Rosen: Q. Okay. What does it mean in number 8 that the plaintiff declares the fill amount payable on the note and mortgage to be due?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. I’m not sure.

(Hunt Depo, P. 51 Ln. 7-13).

Paragraph 9 of Plaintiff’s Complaint states in part that “[s]aid indebtedness has been accelerated pursuant to the terms of the subject note and mortgage.” Ms. Hunt also did not know what that meant.

Mr. Rosen: Q. What does indebtedness has been accelerated, what does that mean? It’s in paragraph 9, second sentence there.

. .

Lona Hunt: A. I’m not sure.

(Hunt Depo, P. 51 Ln. 18-22).

She later admits twice that she did not know whether a notice of default/acceleration letter had been sent.

(Hunt Depo, P. 58 Ln. 22 – P.59 Ln.12).

Paragraph 10 of Plaintiff’s Complaint alleges that Plaintiff is obligated to pay its attorneys a reasonable fee for their services and that Plaintiff is entitled to recover attorney’s fees to statute and the promissory note. Again, Ms. Hunt did not know that to be true.

Mr. Rosen: Q. How did you know the plaintiff is obligated to pay its attorneys a reasonable fee for their services?

Lona Hunt: A. I don’t know. Can you repeat what you mean?

Mr. Rosen: Q. Sure. I’m just asking paragraph 10, how do you know that plaintiff is obligated to pay its attorneys a reasonable fee for their services?

Lona Hunt: A. I don’t know.

Mr. Rosen: Q. And how do you know the plaintiff is entitled to recover its attorneys’ fees pursuant to Florida statute and the promissory note?

Lona Hunt: A. I’m not sure.

(Hunt Depo, P. 51 Ln. 24 – P. 52 Ln. 10).

Additionally, Ms. Hunt did not understand the term “deficiency judgment” found in Plaintiff’s pray for relief, the wherefore clause.

Mr. Rosen: Q. What is a deficiency judgment? In the wherefore clause it says deficiency judgment. What is that?

. . .

Lona Hunt: A. Not sure.

Some may argue that the terms which Ms. Hunt was unfamiliar with are “legal conclusions” and that she does not have to be familiar with those terms. However, this argument is preposterous! The document Ms. Hunt was verifying is a legal document, with legal terms to describe the factual allegations to which Ms. Hunt swore were true and correct. If Ms. Hunt does not understand the very basic terms of her employers business, she cannot possibly truthfully and accurately verify the allegations of the complaint and must not sign, under penalty of perjury, otherwise.

As a very astute judge once said to me, until someone goes to jail, nothing will change. It’s infuriating that banks continue to break the law. However, in this instance, no words can describe how outrageous this conduct is. Here Fannie Mae and Seterus, through their robo verifier, are breaking the very law with the same conduct that necessitated this particular law in the first place. It’s like a ponzi schemer, raising money to pay investors by ripping off new ones, or a drug dealer posting bond by raising money selling more drugs. Quite simply, if swearing under penalty of perjury, that you read something while later freely admitting, twice, that you did not, is not a crime, I don’t know anymore what is. If I did this, I’d expect to be charged with a crime but for the banks, I suspect this will just be treated as another “mistake” or “paperwork irregularity.” It is neither of those things. THIS IS A CRIME AND IT SHOULD BE PROSECUTED LIKE ONE, FROM THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF FANNIE MAE AND SETERUS, WHO ARE PUTTING ROBO-SIGNERS IN A POSITION TO COMMIT THEM. Here it is Pam Bondi and others, crystal clear proof that a crime has been committed. QUESTION IS – ARE YOU GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT?

http://ift.tt/ZwvWP5

 

Full Deposition of Lona Hunt

 

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1EzfKLP 4closureFraud

Russell 2000 rolls over red…

 

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1oRe1Q9 Tyler Durden

Jeff Nielson for Sprott Money

 

For centuries, humanity has utilized “colloidal silver” to treat disease and infection, and to prevent disease and infection. Colloidal silver is (primarily) an internal medical treatment, created by immersing particles of silver in a colloidal solution.

 

Before the invention of antibacterial soap, colloidal silver was used as a disinfectant. It is still commonly used to kill bacteria…In ancient times silver was used in wound dressings and it was frequently used for the same purposes in America following the Civil War. It is also why churches use silver chalices in Communion to stop disease spreading through the congregation…

 

Even thousands of years ago, Ancient Greeks realized that the rich families who ate, drank, and stored food in silverware were much less likely to be ill than the commoners who ate from ceramics and used iron utensils. The rich people developed a slight blue tinge to their skin from years of silver ingestion, hence the term Blue Bloods was born…

 

With its popularity once again rising in our own societies (along with other herbal and natural tonics and remedies), not surprisingly we see “push-back” from the non-natural, chemical-pushing, pharmaceutical industry. While anti-microbial silver coatings and silver fabrics are spreading through our societies in a multitude of commercial applications – because of silver’s proven, superior anti-microbial properties – this is what we hear from the charlatans of mainstream medicine, in this case the Mayo Clinic:

 

Colloidal silver isn’t considered safe or effective for any of the health claims manufacturers make. Silver has no known purpose in the body.  [emphasis mine]

 

Note the devious nature of this smear. The Mayo Clinic itself undoubtedly uses silver-coated/silver-laced materials and/or equipment in its own facilities to utilize silver’s known properties to externally fight infection in general, and the “super-bugs” which are becoming an increasing health-care menace (in particular).

 

…at the 40th annual Association of Professionals for Infection Control conference in Florida earlier this month. NMI Health exhibited its suite of SilverCare Plus performance fabrics including scrub and lab coat material, patient gowns, linens, blankets, and cubicle curtains. Collectively these products account for over 90 percent of soft surfaces found in the patient environment.

 

However, if the Mayo Clinic charlatans (and the rest of the mainstream medicine frauds) truly wish to insist that colloidal silver “isn’t considered safe” and “has no known purpose in the body”; then why are catheters (a piece of medical equipment inserted into the body) now being coated with silver?

 

Furthermore, medical science fully understands exactly how and why silver is so effective in killing a wide range of microbial organisms, thus combating disease and infection:

 

Scientific studies have shown that pure silver quickly kills bacteria. It even kills the super-bacteria that evolve after conventional disinfecting agents kill the weak strains of bacteria. Silver acts as a catalyst and disables an enzyme that facilitates actions inside cells. It is not consumed in this process so it is available to keep working again and again. The enzyme silver destroys is required by anaerobic bacteria, viruses yeast, and molds. (Unfriendly bacteria tend to be anaerobic and friendly bacteria aerobic.) This is the action that destroys pathogens. It stops them from using the body’s own cells as vehicles for replication. Colloidal silver creates an environment that makes it impossible for pathogens to survive and multiply.

 

Since it is not designed to combat a specific pathogen but rather works against the very nature of their life cycles, it is an effective preventative agent against all illnesses caused by all pathogens including future mutations. There is no known disease-causing organism that can live in the presence of even minute traces of colloidal silver.  [emphasis mine]

 

Here we see the essence of the pharmaceutical industry’s hatred of silver-based medical applications, in general, and colloidal silver in particular. The antibiotics with which the pharmaceutical industry has saturated our societies are only effective against certain types of bacteria.

 

Worse, because they cause resistance to develop within these bacteria, it is commonly known that antibiotics are the creators of the new/dreaded “super-bugs” – requiring yet more new drugs to battle them. Meanwhile, not only is it impossible for silver to produce any “resistance” to its own properties in bacteria or other micro-organisms (and thus create more deadly mutations), it kills the Super Bugs against which the pharmaceutical industry is increasingly ineffective.

 

These ultra-greedy, drug-pushers want to design (and sell) a different chemical for each/every pathogen in existence – and preferably several. But silver is effective against all of them, permanently. Furthermore, because it is a relatively natural/organic treatment, these drug-manufacturers can be bypassed completely.

 

They can’t make any money from colloidal silver themselves. Worse still, it eats into their ill-gotten gains by replacing the use of their own (often toxic) chemicals. And so, yet again, Big Pharma condemns what it cannot (mis)appropriate for itself.

 

It is with this context in mind that we can consider the recent news (hushed-up by the mainstream media) that “nano silver” (i.e. colloidal silver) is now the officially recognized treatment for the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone, one of the African nations hit hardest by this killer-disease. This is despite efforts by the WHO to prevent Sierra Leone’s victims from getting access to colloidal silver.

The Hon. Alpha Kanu, Minister of Information, Republic of Sierra Leone (October 11th, 2014), in touting the impressive results of colloidal silver against Ebola:

“There is no illness that doesn’t have a cure. If you say that this illness does not get better then that’s a lie because 500 people have gotten better.”

 

Much has been written (in the Alternative Media) speculating on whether the African “Ebola epidemic” is truly as bad as depicted, or whether this has been exaggerated (by the mainstream media) in order to spread fear in our own populations. This skepticism has been further reinforced by the suspicious manner (to the point of absurdity) in which Ebola has ‘leaked’ (been allowed to leak?) into the United States.

However, irrespective of whether the “Ebola epidemic” is (even partially) a hoax, or whether this outbreak is every bit as serious and menacing as it has been depicted by the mainstream media; if colloidal silver is now proven/demonstrated as the cure/treatment for the Ebola virus, its use and popularity will spread – like the virus itself.

 

Beyond the present; if colloidal silver becomes known (by the people) as a safe/reliable means to combat the most-dreaded killer-disease in the world today, it will automatically become the first remedy people reach for in any future epidemic (or hoax).

 

As we become increasingly aware of the perils of the pharmaceutical industry’s “vaccines” – medical treatments which our laws do not require the pharmaceutical industry to thoroughly/properly test – the expression of “the cure being worse than the disease” is evolving from a mere colloquialism to a real, medical danger. For those amongst the world’s population of 7+ billion who refuse to be “lab rats” for the pharmaceutical industry’s semi-tested vaccines; colloidal silver represents nothing short of a potential “medical revolution”.

 

While Big Pharma trots-out new vaccines on a nearly monthly basis, each time insisting that this isn’t a treatment which we should use, but a treatment which we must use; now people will realize they do have a choice.

 

We can continue to be pin-cushions for the pharmaceutical industry, allowing them to inject us with vaccine after vaccine – until one of their semi-tested “cures” kills us. Or, we can rely upon a single (relatively inexpensive) remedy/treatment which (unlike their vaccines) has been used by humanity for centuries.

 

Even before the current Ebola outbreak; previous commentaries have strongly suggested that silver-based anti-microbial products would continue to sweep through our societies (and consumer shelves). Now, as humanity is warned of a potential “new plague” which menaces us; the motivation for this silver-based Medical Revolution just got much, much greater.

 

Jeff Nielson for Sprott Money

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A year ago, in the latest attempt to distract from his company’s inability to generate profit, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos revealed his latest breathless vision for the latest marketing gimmick future in the form of Amazon Prime Air: a fleet of unmanned delivery drones bringing customers the goods they ordered or, as the case may be, didn’t order. Immediately in the aftermath of this announcement, a just as breathless ad hoc group of drone hunters was conceived, and patiently waited for the announcement from Bezos where said Prime Air Drones would be tested so they too could test their sharpshooting skills. As of today they are in luck, because as the FT reports, Amazon has picked one of the intellectual capitals of the Old World, UK’s university town Cambridge, as the place where it will test its fleet of unmanned delivery drones.

From FT:

Amazon is advertising a series of jobs at Evi Technologies, a Cambridge-based start-up acquired by Amazon two years ago, related to its Prime Air project, which suggests the US tech conglomerate is ploughing ahead with the concept.

 

The company is looking for engineers and experts to conduct flight tests of the autonomous drones, seeking candidates with at least five years of “aviation experience, either civilian or military, with either manned or unmanned aviation”.

 

Amazon may be hoping to tap into the experience of Britain’s major defence contractors, such as BAE Systems, which have built drones for military purposes.

 

The group is also looking to expand the team Evi Technologies, which started life as an artificial intelligence company that specialises in “natural language” technologies, with voice recognition becoming a standard feature of many Amazon devices. Earlier this month it launched Echo, a speaker that can be operated using spoken controls.

Meanwhile, Amazon is on a hiring spree:

In September the company said it was opening new offices in east London, among the so-called Silicon Roundabout cluster of tech start-ups. The office in Principal Place, a 15-storey tower, will provide capacity for more than 5,000 employees once it is completed in 2016.

 

In October, it also said it would create 1,000 new permanent jobs at its “fulfilment centres”, enormous warehouses where it stores goods and fills orders, across eight locations in the UK. Amazon says it has spent £1bn on its UK operations to date

Indeed, this is not surprising: as we showed a few weeks ago when Amazon reported abysmal earnings, while the company’s global revenue growth is tumbling, at least its eagerness to hire every part-time worker in the world is proceeding as planned.

Hopefully some of these part-time workers know how to insulate the Prime Drone with a bulletproof vest: it will surely need it.

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It appears the rumors are true. Islamic State is set to become the only ‘state’ to back its currency with gold (silver and copper) as it unveils the new coins that will be used in an attempt to solidify its makeshift caliphate. ISIS says the new currency will take the group  out of “the oppressors’ money system.”

 

 

As Zaid Benjamin notes, ISIS releases details of its new currancy with golden 1 & 5 dinar, silver 1, 5, 10 dirham and copper 10 & 20 fils

#Iraq | #ISIS says the new currency will take the group out of “the oppressors money system” http://ift.tt/1xwc783

— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) November 13, 2014

*  *  *

It seems Alan Greenspan may have been on to something after all…

“Remember
what we’re looking at. Gold is a currency. It is still, by all
evidence, a premier currency. No fiat currency, including the dollar,
can match it.”

*  *  *

Of course this will mean more physical demand – along with Russia and China – and so more price suppression by the West.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1xwbcV4 Tyler Durden

WTI Crude oil prices tumbled to a $75 handle this morning as Saudi oil minister al-Naimi dismissed claims of a price-war as having “no basis in reality” noting that “Saudi oil policy has remained constant for the past few decades and it has not change today,” suggesting expectations of a supply cut at the looming OPEC meetings are overdone. This comment comes after Qatar said it “may” cut output by 500k barrels/day.

 

 

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister dismissed talk of a price war as having “no basis in reality” in his first public comments since crude plunged into a bear market last month.

“Saudi oil policy has remained constant for the past few decades and it has not changed today,” Ali al-Naimi said at a conference in Acapulco, Mexico, yesterday. “We want stable oil markets and steady prices, because this is good for producers, consumers and investors.”

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

While talking heads proclaim – incorrectly – that low oil prices are unequivocally good for the US economy, it is very much not the case for oil producers around the world. Most notably, Venezuela – which 'needs' oil prices above $100 to maintain its socialist utopia – and currently ranks at a lowly 100th on the world's prosperity index, is in grave trouble if this trend continues. Venezuelan bonds plunged to new record lows today as oil prices hit fresh cycle lows, strongly suggesting default or currency devaluation is imminent. However, as is usual (think Mexico) Finance Minister Rodolfo Marco Torres ruled out devaluation even as oil price drop exacerbates country’s finances. As one analyst noted, "there's broad understanding that in the absence of any corrective policy measures that these guys are going to be in serious trouble." It appears they already are.

 

 

As we noted previously, While Saudi Arabia tests the mettle of North American producers, it could be Venezuela that is the most vulnerable.(via Nick Cunningham of OilPrice.com)

As a fellow OPEC member, Venezuela has been the most vocal about the need to cut oil production and has called for an emergency meeting of the 12-member oil cartel. That is because Venezuela is in a much weaker position than many of the other member countries, and the recent drop in prices has raised alarm in Caracas.

Using state-owned oil company PDVSA as a piggy bank has allowed the Venezuelan government to increase social spending over the last decade, a key political objective of the late President Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro. However, using oil revenues for a wide array of spending priorities has also starved PDVSA of money needed for investment in order to boost oil production, let alone keeping output level. Since 2000, Venezuela has seen its oil output drop from 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd) down to 2.5 million bpd.

The bad news for President Maduro is that there was major unrest earlier this year even when oil prices were above $100 per barrel. That is because oil makes up 97 percent of Venezuela’s foreign earnings, and the country needs oil prices of around $120 per barrel for its bloated budget to break even.

Venezuela is in an economic crisis. Annual inflation is estimated to be in excess of 60 percent. The country’s economy actually shrank at a rate of 5 percent in the first six months of 2014. Shortages of food, medicine, shampoo, diapers, and other basics are so common that the government rolled out a plan this past summer to fingerprint people at grocery stores.

Crime is so rampant in the capital that people are afraid to go out at night. For those who can afford it, leaving the country has become the best option.

The government is heavily indebted, and Venezuela’s bonds are now competing with Ukraine’s for the mantle of the world’s riskiest. With bond yields surpassing 16 percent, Venezuela cannot keep up. There is a 50-50 chance of default within the next two years, according to credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s.

The sudden 20 percent decline in oil prices since June is compounding the problem and has the potential to throw the country into crisis. “Venezuela’s oil prices have been high for several years now, and the country is still struggling to pay its debt at those prices,” Russ Dallen of Caracas Capital Markets told The Wall Street Journal. Lower oil prices could bring things to a head.

The Maduro government desperately needs a rise in oil prices, but Saudi Arabia has so far rebuffed calls for an emergency meeting as it pursues a strategy of waiting out higher cost competitors. OPEC does not plan on meeting until Nov. 27. That is still an eternity for a country that is beginning to unravel.

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And it appears other oil producers are suffering too… the Naira hits a new record low…

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

Less than two months ago, Albert Edwards presented “The Most Important Chart For Investors” in which he predicted, correctly, that the real action will come not in the Euro but the Japanese Yen, and at a time when the USDJPY was trading around 108, Edwards forecast a sharp move to 120. A month later, Abe’s just as shocking “all in” bet on boosting QE to a level where it matches the Fed’s peak monthly POMO despite an economy that is a third the size of the US, proved Edwards correct and has since sent the USDJPY some 800 pips higher and just 400 pips shy of Edwards’ 120 forecast. At this rate, the 120 target may be taken out within weeks not months.

So what happens next? Here, straight from the horse’s mouth that got the first part of the rapid Yen devaluation so right, is the answer. As Edwards updates with a note from this morning, “the yen is set to follow the US dollar DXY trade-weighted index by crashing through multi-decade resistance – around ¥120. It seems entirely plausible to me that once we break ¥120, we could see a very quick ¥25 move to ¥145, forcing commensurate devaluations across the whole Asian region and sending a tidal wave of deflation westwards.“

Edwards, never one to beat around the bush, slams strategists who are at best willing to get the direction of a given move, if not the magnitude. So he will be the outlier:

… in the foreign exchange (FX) world, extreme volatility is often readily apparent but seldom ever predicted. We explained recently that investors were overly focusing on the euro/US$ when a further round of Japanese QE would make the yen the dominant currency story. I expect the key ¥120/$ support level to be broken soon and the lows of June 2007 (¥124) and Feb 2002 (¥135) to be rapidly taken out. If you want a target to reflect historic volatility, think about the Y145 low of August 1998 (see chart). That is my Q1 forecast.

In other words, just over 4 months until the USDJPY is devalued by 25%. And pundits lament the move in the Russian ruble…

Continuing Edwards’ technical analysis, in addition to USDJPY 145, his other forecast is for the EURJPY to soar to 170!

With the yen about to fall below the recent low of January this year of ¥145.70/?, the next stop in my view will be the July 08 low of ¥170 – another 20% rise in the euro on top of the 50% rise seen since Japan began devaluing at end-2012. South Korea is in a similar situation- i.e. close to deflation with an anaemic economy and practically no technical support between here and Y750/won- the 2007 low. These will be bone-crushing, deflation-inducing moves.

 

While such a move would be truly historic, Japan is now beyond the point of no return, and once it has engaged the afterburners it has to ride it out until the bitter end. It is here that the BOJ differs so much from the ECB:

The move to crank up the Japanese printing shouldn?’t have been a surprise. These guys at the BoJ, unlike the ECB, WILL do whatever it takes. Peter Tasker wrote in the Nikkei Asian Review that Kuroda?s tactics resemble the famous Ali/Foreman ?rumble in the jungle? exactly 40 years ago. His article, Kuroda Unchained, also explains why there is little domestic Japanese pushback on QE. Peter writes, “First, the claim that quantitative easing benefits only “bankers” and the rich is unlikely to gain much traction. In terms of the distribution of assets, Japan is a highly egalitarian society. According to a recent study by Credit Suisse Research Institute, the proportion of total wealth held by the top 10% was the second lowest in the 46 countries analysed. The 2014 Billionaire Census compiled by Wealth X and UBS indicates that there are more billionaires in Istanbul than there are in the whole of Japan.”

Which leads to the final question: how will everyone else responds? And respond they will: in a world in which global trade is neck deep in quicksand and sinking, the only recourse is beggaring they neighbor faster than they can beggar you. For now Japan is winning, but that will hardly remain the case.

For those who say the US simply won?t allow the yen to fall so rapidly, I would reply that Japan too won?t want to annoy the US too much, especially as they rely on the US military umbrella at a time of increasing friction with China in the South China Sea. Nevertheless I simply think Japan will lose control of the situation given the quantity of QE being spewed into the markets and unless the US, the eurozone, or indeed Korea, is prepared to come remotely close to Japan?s rate of QE, jawboning currency stability will do very little. But I do believe the yen devaluation will drag down other competing currencies in the Asian region, which brings us onto China. After a record 32 successive months of deflation at the producer price level, China has suffered as much PPI deflation over the past three years as it did in the immediate aftermath of the 1997 Asian crisis. Do investors really think China can cope with a devaluation of the yen from here? They simply can?t tolerate this and they won?t. They will devalue.

End result: Japan will unleash “a tidal wave of deflation westwards” at least until the Fed and its western peers respond in kind and return to doing what they all do best: printing money in hope of stimulating their own inflation and offseting the importing of Japan’s deflation, which will also bring everyone back to square one, and will certainly be the end-game in the global currency wars.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1wsdr8Y Tyler Durden

Well that didn’t take long…

 

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The NYSE MKT cash equities market is currently experiencing an issue with one workstation affecting order processing and trade execution in the below symbols.

The NYSE MKT will issue a non-regulatory halt condition in the below symbols and will not be trading these securities for the remainder of the day.

All orders, including all GTCs and MOC/LOC/CO orders, will be cancelled back to customers.

During this process, the NYSE MKT will publish zero-quotes in the affected symbols and customers may experience a momentary interruption in order processing where they will receive “Target System Unavailable” in those symbols.

Customers with questions may contact the Trading Services Desk at 1-866-DOT-DESK (1-866-368-3375).  Customers seeking to file a system-error claim may access the form via the following link: System Error Claim.

Symbols: APT, CFP, DNN, FAX, IBIO, INTT, PVCT, TXMD, URZ

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And here’s what happened to the market…

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