Tag: news

The Chinese military, especially the navy, made great strides last year in improving its combat capabilities, enabling it to better defend the nation against threats to its sovereignty, according to analysts. As China Daily reports, less than a month after being named the head of China’s Central Military Commission, President Xi Jinping asked PLA officers to adopt realistic combat criteria in military training. “It is the top priority for the military to be able to fight and win battles,” he said during an inspection to the Guangzhou military theater of operations in December 2012. While some have suggested the rapidly expanding PLA navy is driving a seismic shift in Asia’s military balance, Chinese experts have refuted such rhetoric, saying military moves by China are only aimed at creating improved self-defense by providing capabilities to match the other parties in the region.

 

 

Via China Daily,

“China should have a military that can match its power status,” said Ma Gang, a professor at the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University. “It is the only big country that has not achieved reunification and faces serious challenges to its sovereignty and several territorial disputes.”

 

…

 

In November, China announced the creation of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, which requires aircraft to report their flight plans and establish identification communications while flying through the zone.

 

…

 

Japan’s illegal purchase triggered strong protests from China and prompted it to start regular patrols around the islands last year. In July, five PLA warships steamed out of the Sea of Japan, through the Soya Strait and completed the Chinese navy’s first circumnavigation of the Japanese archipelago.

 

Cao Weidong, a researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said such activities would not increase tensions and that China’s stance remains defensive, while its naval forces are still dwarfed by traditional maritime powers.

 

“Instead, Washington is shifting 60 percent of its warships to the Pacific and Tokyo is gearing up to build a fully fledged military. China is suffering from the threat of escalating conflict,” he said.

 

James Holmes, a maritime strategist at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and a former US Navy surface warfare officer, said, “Naval commentators suggest the bellicose rhetoric shows that both sides are struggling to adjust to their new rivalry.

 

“And, the Japanese do regional tranquility no service by being alarmed when China’s navy transits international straits in a perfectly lawful manner,” Holmes told Reuters.

 

…

 

A stronger Chinese military will be able to play a bigger role in serving global peace, he said.

 

Of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China is the largest contributor of personnel to UN peacekeeping missions.

 

In the past five years, China has sent 16 fleets composed of 42 warships to the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia, escorting 5,465 vessels and rescuing 42 ships attacked by pirates.

 

“It is normal for the world to have some suspicions about the Chinese military build-up, while mutual understanding can only be improved through communication.“

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/4pPo43-DFVg/story01.htm Tyler Durden

The Chinese military, especially the navy, made great strides last year in improving its combat capabilities, enabling it to better defend the nation against threats to its sovereignty, according to analysts. As China Daily reports, less than a month after being named the head of China’s Central Military Commission, President Xi Jinping asked PLA officers to adopt realistic combat criteria in military training. “It is the top priority for the military to be able to fight and win battles,” he said during an inspection to the Guangzhou military theater of operations in December 2012. While some have suggested the rapidly expanding PLA navy is driving a seismic shift in Asia’s military balance, Chinese experts have refuted such rhetoric, saying military moves by China are only aimed at creating improved self-defense by providing capabilities to match the other parties in the region.

 

 

Via China Daily,

“China should have a military that can match its power status,” said Ma Gang, a professor at the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University. “It is the only big country that has not achieved reunification and faces serious challenges to its sovereignty and several territorial disputes.”

 

…

 

In November, China announced the creation of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, which requires aircraft to report their flight plans and establish identification communications while flying through the zone.

 

…

 

Japan’s illegal purchase triggered strong protests from China and prompted it to start regular patrols around the islands last year. In July, five PLA warships steamed out of the Sea of Japan, through the Soya Strait and completed the Chinese navy’s first circumnavigation of the Japanese archipelago.

 

Cao Weidong, a researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said such activities would not increase tensions and that China’s stance remains defensive, while its naval forces are still dwarfed by traditional maritime powers.

 

“Instead, Washington is shifting 60 percent of its warships to the Pacific and Tokyo is gearing up to build a fully fledged military. China is suffering from the threat of escalating conflict,” he said.

 

James Holmes, a maritime strategist at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and a former US Navy surface warfare officer, said, “Naval commentators suggest the bellicose rhetoric shows that both sides are struggling to adjust to their new rivalry.

 

“And, the Japanese do regional tranquility no service by being alarmed when China’s navy transits international straits in a perfectly lawful manner,” Holmes told Reuters.

 

…

 

A stronger Chinese military will be able to play a bigger role in serving global peace, he said.

 

Of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China is the largest contributor of personnel to UN peacekeeping missions.

 

In the past five years, China has sent 16 fleets composed of 42 warships to the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia, escorting 5,465 vessels and rescuing 42 ships attacked by pirates.

 

“It is normal for the world to have some suspicions about the Chinese military build-up, while mutual understanding can only be improved through communication.“

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/4pPo43-DFVg/story01.htm Tyler Durden

 

… is making sure you get paid.

 

When you buy shares in a company, you want to make money.

 

However, there is no guarantee that the shares will rise in price. Indeed, if you are investing simply because you believe prices will rise, you are essentially betting that someone else will want to pay more for your shares at a later date.

 

No matter how much research you perform, there is no guarantee this will happen.

 

Dividends, however, DO make sure you make money. Because the company is actually paying you to own shares. And this makes a heck of a difference.

 

If you had invested $1 in stocks in 1950 and held onto your position until 2010, you would have made EIGHT TIMES more money through dividends than share appreciation.

 

Let me restate that: by receiving and reinvesting dividends you’d make 800% more money than without them between 1950 and 2010.

 

The difference is even more incredible if you go back further.

 

Historically dividends have accounted for 70% of all stock market gains.

 

According to a study performed by the London Business School, when you remove dividends, stocks have returned a mere 1.7% in average annual gains over the last 109 years. To put this into perspective, this is less than you’d make from owning long-term US Treasury bonds (2.1%) over the same time period.

 

Indeed, if you’d invested $1 in stocks in 1900 and reinvested your dividends, by 2009, you’d have made $582 (adjusted for inflation). Take out dividends and you’d have only seen $6 from price appreciation. Yes, $6 from 109 years’ worth of capital gains.

 

Put another way, by focusing solely on capital gains when it comes to stock investing you’re only doubling your money about every 18 years (remember, this analysis simply focuses on the returns generated by the market… which outperforms most professional and individual investors).

 

So unless you’re buying stocks with dividends, you’re likely not making diddly in the long-term.

 

Again, if you’re going to buy stocks… make sure you get PAID. And there’s no better way to do this than with dividends.

 

For a FREE Special Report outlining how to protect your portfolio from this, swing by: http://ift.tt/170oFLH

 

Best Regards

Phoenix Capital Research 

 

 

 

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1iQVDzE Phoenix Capital Research

It is a well-known fact that when it comes to ownership of rental properties in the US, Wall Street, and particularly Blackstone, has become the single largest landlord in the country. But what about undeveloped land? As summarized by Vizual-statistix, according to The Land Report published by Fay Ranches, the top 100 owners of US land collectively have 33 million acres in their private holdings.  This equates to about 1.5% of all USA land – that may seem like a small percentage, but it’s actually a massive area.  The chart below lays out the top 10 largest private landowners with the areas of Puerto Rico, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C. included for scale. As can be seen, all of the top 10 own a piece of the USA that is bigger than Rhode Island, and five have a piece that is at least as big as Delaware. John Malone, who is the largest land owner in the country with 2.2 million acres, owns private property the size of Puerto Rico.

Some additional perspective from The Land Report:

  Investing in rural, undeveloped land continues to be a popular strategy among the affluent, according to the 2013 Land Report 100, the latest annual survey and ranking of the largest private landowners in the United States just published by The Land Report and presented by Fay Ranches. Increasingly seen as a “safe deposit box with a view,” acreages continue to be purchased by leading landowners at solid rates. In 2012, the country’s top 100 landowners cumulatively increased their private holdings by 700,000 acres to a total of 33 million acres, nearly 2 percent of U.S. land mass.

 

Liberty Media Chairman John Malone and his 2.2 million acres under ownership topped the Land Report 100 list, which focuses exclusively on deeded acreage owned by individuals, families, family-owned companies and family-controlled foundations and excludes leased and public lands. Malone edged out Ted Turner, who currently possesses more than 2 million land acres. Rounding out the top five in order were: the Emmerson family, Brad Kelley and the Irving family. The 2013 edition of the Land Report 100 presented by Fay Ranches can be downloaded at http://ift.tt/1cl6OuU.

 

“It’s refreshing to continue seeing large landowners find value in aggregating their land for conservation and agriculture purposes versus parceling it out and developing it,” said land broker Greg Fay, founder of Fay Ranches, which is sponsoring the Land Report 100 for the third straight year and is a longtime supporter of the magazine. “Everyone at Fay Ranches congratulates leading landowners for their commitments to the land, to conserving our wild places and preserving our agricultural heritage.”

 

This year saw a shake-up in the top ten as Stan Kroenke elevated his position from No. 10 to No. 8 after his recent purchase of the historic Broken O Ranch, described nationally as “one of the largest agricultural operations in the Rocky Mountain West.” Kroenke also owns the 540,000-acre Q Creek Ranch, the largest contiguous ranch in the Rocky Mountains.

 

There are several landowners new to this year’s 100 list, including No. 28, Dan and Farris Wilks, billionaire brothers who recently purchased more than 400 square miles of land, mostly in the eastern half of Montana. Oil field services entrepreneurs, the Wilks brothers own the prized N Bar Ranch in Montana, which is known for its wildlife and fishery resources. Another new addition to the Land Report 100 presented by Fay Ranches is No. 96, Arthur Nicholas. The co-founder of Nicholas Investment Properties owns Wyoming’s historic Wagonhound Land and Livestock, an AQHA Ranching Heritage Breeder.

 

“America’s largest landowners continue to recognize land as a compelling asset, one whose numerous attributes go well beyond ROI,” said Eric O’Keefe, editor-in-chief of The Land Report. “It’s a story you’ll see again and again in the Land Report 100, one that features familiar faces and some new ones I’m sure readers will instantly identify. ”

So here is how Bernanke’s trickle down supposedly works: US millionaires – rich in assets – become billionaires, increasingly buying up US land, i.e., more assets, while everyone else, read the not so wealthy, buy Made in China trinkets, purchased mostly on credit so loading up on liabilities, i.e., debt.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1m2a8n0 Tyler Durden

With Islamic extremists raising their ominous-looking flags over Falluja and Ramadi again, it’s not looking too good in Iraq (or the rest of the Middle East). Sure, Mark Firoe notes, Iraqi government forces may take back some territory they lost, but it’s never a good sign when you have to shell your own country to maintain order. Confused at the proxy-wars, terrorists, statists, and just who the US is friends with? Have no fear, the following brief clip will explain it all…

 

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