Background:

• White House Panel Slams NSA, Says Mass Spying Is Unnecessary
• “These Programs Were Never About Terrorism: They’re About Economic Spying, Social Control, and Diplomatic Manipulation. They’re About Power”
• Former Top NSA Official: “We Are Now In A Police State”

Hidden in the report which the White House panel on NSA released today is a stunning implication:  that the U.S. government has been using its massive offensive cyber capabilities to change the amounts held in financial accounts and otherwise manipulating financial systems.

Specifically, the panel’s report states (page 221):

(1) Governments should not use surveillance to steal industry secrets to advantage their domestic industry;

 

(2) Governments should not use their offensive cyber capabilities to change the amounts held in financial accounts or otherwise manipulate the financial systems ….

The government certainly massively manipulates the economy and financial system.

There are already numerous examples of offensive cyber actions by the NSA:

• A high-level intelligence source said, “we hack everyone everywhere”

• The largest German newspaper – Süddeutsche Zeitung – alleges that the U.S. government helped Monsanto attack the computers of activists opposed to genetically modified food

• Edward Snowden says that NSA spying is used for “diplomatic manipulation”

• And we’ve long noted that the U.S. government manipulates social media and news through cyber manipulation

As spying expert Trevor Timm from the Electronic Frontier Foundation Tweeted  (and Glenn Greenwald – who has seen the Snowden documents – re-tweeted):

Does this NSA report recommendation imply that NSA is conducting offensive cyber attacks against financial systems?

Remember, the NSA is tapping into and spying on the biggest financial payments systems such as VISA and Swift.

Top financial experts say that the NSA and other intelligence agencies are using information gained from spying to profit from this inside information. And the NSA wants to ramp up its spying on Wall Street … to “protect” it.

Whose money, exactly, is the NSA “protecting” … and how are they protecting it?

What about the money of people that the U.S. government considers undesirables?

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/pBdnY1fHuVU/story01.htm George Washington

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Here’s an article by Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at Tufts University and a contributing editor to Foreign Policy. He recently spent a day at the NSA’s headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. As you might expect, some interesting tidbits came from the mouths of some of these control-freak statists. One truly unenlightened official seemed to hold the press in particular disregard and stated: “I have some reforms for the First Amendment.”  I’m quite certain he has some reforms in mind for the 4th Amendment as well…

Once again I ask, if they hold the U.S. Constitution and civil rights in such disdain; what exactly are they protecting us from?

From Foreign Policy:

For an organization that is so efficient at amassing data intended to be kept secret, the National Security Agency seemed surprisingly clumsy in accepting data that was volunteered to them. I’d emailed the bits and pieces of my personal data necessary to be cleared for access to the agency’s headquarters in Fort Meade a week before the scheduled visit, with zero response. As it turns out, an NSA server has crashed, they told me, creating havoc with some email accounts. This sort of hiccup humanizes the agency, though it also raises questions about their vulnerability.

 

The NSA’s biggest strategic communications problem, however, is that they’ve been so walled off from the American body politic that they have no idea when they’re saying things that sound tone-deaf. Like expats returning from a long overseas tour, NSA staffers don’t quite comprehend how much perceptions of the agency have changed. The NSA stresses in its mission statement and corporate culture that it “protects privacy rights.” Indeed, there were faded banners proclaiming that goal in our briefing room. Of course, NSAers see this as protecting Americans from foreign cyber-intrusions. In a post-Snowden era, however, it’s impossible to read that statement without suppressing a laugh.

 

The NSA’s attitude toward the press is, well, disturbing. There were repeated complaints about the ways in which recent reportage of the NSA was warped or lacking context. To be fair, this kind of griping is a staple of officials across the entire federal government. Some of the NSA folks went further, however. One official accused some media outlets of “intentionally misleading the American people,” which is a pretty serious accusation. This official also hoped that the Obama administration would crack down on these reporters, saying, “I have some reforms for the First Amendment.” I honestly do not know whether that last statement was a joke or not. Either way, it’s not funny.

If that’s what they are willing to say when a professor is around, just imagine what they say behind closed doors…

Full article here.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/TNmtkxeppcs/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Here’s an article by Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at Tufts University and a contributing editor to Foreign Policy. He recently spent a day at the NSA’s headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. As you might expect, some interesting tidbits came from the mouths of some of these control-freak statists. One truly unenlightened official seemed to hold the press in particular disregard and stated: “I have some reforms for the First Amendment.”  I’m quite certain he has some reforms in mind for the 4th Amendment as well…

Once again I ask, if they hold the U.S. Constitution and civil rights in such disdain; what exactly are they protecting us from?

From Foreign Policy:

For an organization that is so efficient at amassing data intended to be kept secret, the National Security Agency seemed surprisingly clumsy in accepting data that was volunteered to them. I’d emailed the bits and pieces of my personal data necessary to be cleared for access to the agency’s headquarters in Fort Meade a week before the scheduled visit, with zero response. As it turns out, an NSA server has crashed, they told me, creating havoc with some email accounts. This sort of hiccup humanizes the agency, though it also raises questions about their vulnerability.

 

The NSA’s biggest strategic communications problem, however, is that they’ve been so walled off from the American body politic that they have no idea when they’re saying things that sound tone-deaf. Like expats returning from a long overseas tour, NSA staffers don’t quite comprehend how much perceptions of the agency have changed. The NSA stresses in its mission statement and corporate culture that it “protects privacy rights.” Indeed, there were faded banners proclaiming that goal in our briefing room. Of course, NSAers see this as protecting Americans from foreign cyber-intrusions. In a post-Snowden era, however, it’s impossible to read that statement without suppressing a laugh.

 

The NSA’s attitude toward the press is, well, disturbing. There were repeated complaints about the ways in which recent reportage of the NSA was warped or lacking context. To be fair, this kind of griping is a staple of officials across the entire federal government. Some of the NSA folks went further, however. One official accused some media outlets of “intentionally misleading the American people,” which is a pretty serious accusation. This official also hoped that the Obama administration would crack down on these reporters, saying, “I have some reforms for the First Amendment.” I honestly do not know whether that last statement was a joke or not. Either way, it’s not funny.

If that’s what they are willing to say when a professor is around, just imagine what they say behind closed doors…

Full article here.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/TNmtkxeppcs/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Negative divergences are popping up on key price charts. Negative divergences occur when prices move higher but the indicators, which are used to measure that price action, move lower. Our research shows that negative divergence bars tend to signify slowing upside price momentum, and often the highs and lows of the negative divergence price bar will serve as a range for prices going forward. Isolated negative divergences do not necessarily indicate a market top, but negative divergences are often seen at market tops. However, a clustering of negative divergence bars is a sign of an intermediate term market top, and this is a consistent finding across asset classes and through time.

To get more (better and best) analysis, go to Tactical-Beta.  Always 100% FREE!!

Video of the Week

 To view the graphs used in this video see below.

Graphs

Figure 1. NASDAQ Composite/ weekly

Figure 2. $TNX.X/ weekly

Figure 3. TIP/ weekly

 

More Graphs

Figure 4. Russell 2000/ weekly

Figure 5. DJIA/ weekly

Figure 6. NASDAQ100/ weekly

To get more (better and best) analysis, go to Tactical-Beta.  Always 100% FREE!!

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/oVcnmkxy9tc/story01.htm thetechnicaltake

Ben Bernanke is concerned about his legacy.

 

Any why not? After all, he’s all but destroyed capitalism to benefit the largest banks in the financial system.

 

Capitalism means failure if you screw up. But under Bernanke’s watch, “capitalism” meant giving trillions in taxpayer money to those who screwed up.

 

It also meant a massive drop in median incomes, diminishing purchasing power for every American, increasing costs of living, inflation abroad leading to bloody revolutions, and funneling US funds overseas to bankrupt European entities.

 

The man and his policies, in a nutshell, have been a disaster for the world. We would all have been better off if he’d never left Princeton but had simply remained in the classroom where he’d simply corrupt young minds, rather than bet the US Dollar and the republic on his misguided theories.

 

So how did those theories work out?

 

Under Bernanke’s watch…

 

·      The US has never experienced 3% GDP growth.

·      The labor participation rate has fallen to levels not seen since the ‘70s.

·      Inflation-adjusted median incomes have fallen 7%.

·      The US’s debt load has risen from $8.4 trillion to over $16 trillion.

·      The Fed’s balance sheet has increased from $800 billion to over $4 trillion (larger than the economies of Brazil, France and even Germany).

·      Food prices have hit record highs fomenting revolutions in the Middle East and untold suffering around the globe.

·      The Fed has funneled trillions of Dollars into both US banks and European banks.

·      The Fed has allowed fraud, insider trading, and corruption.

 

And so on.

 

So now, Bernanke is trying to begin polishing his legacy by tapering $10 billion a month. Somehow this is supposed to show us that he can make decisions other than leaving a paperweight on the printing press (the Fed has engaged in money printing in over 90% of months since the Crisis hit in 2008).

 

We all know how this will eventually end… with the system Crashing down yet again, thanks to his creating the largest bubble in history: that of the bond market today. But by that point it will be someone else’s mess to clean up and we the taxpayers will be the ones who pick up the tab, whether it’s through more bailouts, bail-ins, or a Dollar collapse.

For actionable market insights on how to play bull runs and bear corrections, swing by:

 

http://phoenixcapitalmarketing.com/special-reports.html

 

Best Regards

 

Phoenix Capital Research

 

 

 

 

 

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/3UOJrrN8gwg/story01.htm Phoenix Capital Research

Ben Bernanke is concerned about his legacy.

 

Any why not? After all, he’s all but destroyed capitalism to benefit the largest banks in the financial system.

 

Capitalism means failure if you screw up. But under Bernanke’s watch, “capitalism” meant giving trillions in taxpayer money to those who screwed up.

 

It also meant a massive drop in median incomes, diminishing purchasing power for every American, increasing costs of living, inflation abroad leading to bloody revolutions, and funneling US funds overseas to bankrupt European entities.

 

The man and his policies, in a nutshell, have been a disaster for the world. We would all have been better off if he’d never left Princeton but had simply remained in the classroom where he’d simply corrupt young minds, rather than bet the US Dollar and the republic on his misguided theories.

 

So how did those theories work out?

 

Under Bernanke’s watch…

 

·      The US has never experienced 3% GDP growth.

·      The labor participation rate has fallen to levels not seen since the ‘70s.

·      Inflation-adjusted median incomes have fallen 7%.

·      The US’s debt load has risen from $8.4 trillion to over $16 trillion.

·      The Fed’s balance sheet has increased from $800 billion to over $4 trillion (larger than the economies of Brazil, France and even Germany).

·      Food prices have hit record highs fomenting revolutions in the Middle East and untold suffering around the globe.

·      The Fed has funneled trillions of Dollars into both US banks and European banks.

·      The Fed has allowed fraud, insider trading, and corruption.

 

And so on.

 

So now, Bernanke is trying to begin polishing his legacy by tapering $10 billion a month. Somehow this is supposed to show us that he can make decisions other than leaving a paperweight on the printing press (the Fed has engaged in money printing in over 90% of months since the Crisis hit in 2008).

 

We all know how this will eventually end… with the system Crashing down yet again, thanks to his creating the largest bubble in history: that of the bond market today. But by that point it will be someone else’s mess to clean up and we the taxpayers will be the ones who pick up the tab, whether it’s through more bailouts, bail-ins, or a Dollar collapse.

For actionable market insights on how to play bull runs and bear corrections, swing by:

 

http://phoenixcapitalmarketing.com/special-reports.html

 

Best Regards

 

Phoenix Capital Research

 

 

 

 

 

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/3UOJrrN8gwg/story01.htm Phoenix Capital Research

Negative divergences are popping up on key price charts. Negative divergences occur when prices move higher but the indicators, which are used to measure that price action, move lower. Our research shows that negative divergence bars tend to signify slowing upside price momentum, and often the highs and lows of the negative divergence price bar will serve as a range for prices going forward. Isolated negative divergences do not necessarily indicate a market top, but negative divergences are often seen at market tops. However, a clustering of negative divergence bars is a sign of an intermediate term market top, and this is a consistent finding across asset classes and through time.

Video of the Week

 To view the graphs used in this video see below.

Graphs

Figure 1. NASDAQ Composite/ weekly

Figure 2. $TNX.X/ weekly

Figure 3. TIP/ weekly

 

Graphs

Figure 4. Russell 2000/ weekly

Figure 5. DJIA/ weekly

Figure 6. NASDAQ100/ weekly

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/4V4aTe5D2HI/story01.htm thetechnicaltake

What did we learn today?

• We learned that the repeated pleadings of the TBAC (starting in May and continuing throughout the year) for a Taper, did not fall on deaf ears, and the Fed finally became aware that it is monetizing US debt at too feverish a pace resulting in an acute lack of liquidity in the bond market.
• We learned that despite the arrival of the taper, Bernanke will end his tenure with the lamentable record of having been the only Fed Chairman never to have started a tightening cycle (remember: according to Bernanke “tapering is not tightening”).
• We learned that even though the Fed has taken its first step toward balance sheet renormalization one year after launching open-ended QE, it will still inject $75 billion in “Flow” into the capital markets, if not the economy, on a monthly basis, an amount which still means the Fed will consume about 0.25% of all outstanding and newly-issued 10 Year equivalents on a weekly basis (and more if the deficit declines further). The side effect of that will be that as Dealers scramble for the last piece of capital appreciation, even more capital will be sequestered into the US capital markets, leading to even more asset inflation, and even more core CPI deflation (which eventually will result in the Untaper).
• We learned that even the Fed does not give much credit to the BLS’ definition of inflation, because while the Fed has now repeatedly observed that the unemployment rate is sliding due to the collapse in the participation rate and hence labor improvements are simply a mathematical mirage, its core lament was the very subpar, and outright disinflationary CPI readings. Readings, however, which if taken seriously, would not have allowed the Fed to taper right here and right now.
• We learned that good news will continue to be bad news, and vice versa, as the faster the economy relapses into a sub-2% growth rate (and Obamacare will promptly help out in that department in the new year), the faster the Fed will take a long, hard look at returning to its baseline $85 billion (or more) per month liquidity injection. Because “data dependent” means that the stronger the data, the faster the Fed’s crutches go away: crutches that have been responsible for 100% of the market upside since March 2009. Or maybe this time the Fed has actually timed the economic recovery flawlessly and indeed a virtuous cycle is emerging. Maybe, maybe not: ask Jean-Claude Trichet who hiked rates at the ECB a few months before the sharpest European crisis flare up forced Bernanke to once again bail out the Old World.
• We learned that over the past year – based on the pace of security monetization – the panic at the Fed regarding the economy has been greater than during QE1 and QE2. The minimal reduction to $75 billion in QE per month, or $900 billion per year, shows that the panic is still as acute and as pressing as ever, even as the cost of balance sheet expansion gets larger, even as the Fed now owns one third of all 10 Year equivalents, and even as the incremental benefits of QE to the economy – if any – decline with every month. The “good” news (if only for corporate insiders and the 1%): in the absence of capex spending, and organic growth, corporate PE multiples will continue to expand in lockstep with the Fed’s balance sheet, pushing the S&P into ever greater, and ever more unsustainable bubble territory.
• Perhaps most importantly, we learned that courtesy of very dovish forward guidance, the thresholds for further flow reduction will be very steep, and the unemployment rate will have to drop to 6% before QE ends let alone unleashes the start of a tightening cycle. Of course with unemployment benefits ending, the US may have an unemployment print of 6.5% as soon as February/March. More importantly, it means that without a firm flow reduction schedule, the current monthly liquidity injection amount will remain unchanged for a long time, as the last thing Janet Yellen will want to do as she carefully settles into her new job will be to accelerate what is already a tightening (because, yes, Flow matters, not Stock, and tapering is tightening) monetary regime.

* * *

• Finally, we learned what the difference between $85 billion and $75 billion is in the grand scheme of things. Or, in case we haven’t, here is a chart showing just how “vast” the impact of today’s announcement will be on the Fed’s balance sheet at December 31, 2014 when instead of printing well over $5 trillion at its old monetization pace, the Fed’s balance sheet will be only $4.9 trillion.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/BuBxuQtstco/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Last time it was trading faster than the speed of light in gold and stocks. This time, 50 seconds before the FOMC statement was officially released to the great unwashed, Nanex notes that the market exploded with activity reaching levels higher than during the actual FOMC news release. As they show in the charts below, approximately $106 Million of SPY and 3,700 eMini Futures contracts traded in 1 second. Gold – while less voluminous – was just as berserko in the minutes and seconds leading up the news release. What is going on here?

 

See also this image of eMini liquidity during this time.

 

For clairfication, here is S&P 500 Futures price and volume… (1-second bars)

 

And Gold…

 

And Nanex shows the incredible surge in activity…

1. Trades per second in NMS Stocks and ETFs (2,200 of approximately 8000 symbols traded).
Note the peak occurred about 50 seconds before the FOMC announcement.

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2. Dollars traded (thousands) per second in NMS Stocks and ETFs.
Note the peak occurred about 50 seconds before the FOMC announcement.

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3. Symbols traded per second in NMS Stocks and ETFs.

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Nanex Research

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/XrNoMzevN4M/story01.htm Tyler Durden