Tag: news

Having disproven the “yield curve is not inverted so there cannot be a recession anytime soon” meme, we thought the following chart of a much more macro-economic-data-related indicator that appears to be a useful timing tool for suggesting recessionary conditions exist would provide some more useful context than an articially-manipulated ‘market’ interest rate.

As Evergreen Gavekal notes, the ratio of coincident-to-lagging conference board indices has an admirable record as a recession forecaster… and is at its lowest level since Sept 2009.

h/t @EvergreenGK

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1u57QKB Tyler Durden

About five blocks from my house is the residence of Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo who is famous for being employee #7 at Google, very smart, very vain, and (mildly) good-looking. At the midpoint between our two houses is a funeral home which, oddly, she decided to buy a couple of years ago………

 I’ve long wondered what on earth she planned to do with the place, which is right across the street from Addison Elementary School. Well, it turns out she thought it would be a cool place to host a party now and then (I guess if you have a nine-figure net worth, buying an $11 million funeral home just to lost the occasional party is an option). Here’s a posting on the Palo Alto Online web site…………

Of course, people in the neighborhood were not that thrilled with all the revelry, and some folks, understandably, thought that converting a funeral home (which had been the site for thousands of people to bid their final farewell to their dearly departed) into a party shack was not in the best of taste………

I tell you, the Silicon Valley is just getting weirder and weirder. I’m seeing things I’ve never seen before in the thirty years that I’ve lived here, including this utterly bizarre stunt. Signs of the times, people. Signs of the times.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1DYTg8u Tim Knight from Slope of Hope

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

How does it feel to live under a government that is getting even more paranoid with each passing day?  Yes, we live in a world that is becoming increasingly unstable, but that is no excuse for how ultra-paranoid the federal government has become.  Today, every single one of us is viewed as a “potential threat” by the government.  As a result, the government feels the need to intercept our emails, record our phone calls and track our expenditures.  But they aren’t just spying on individuals.  The government keeps tabs on thousands of organizations all over the planet, it spies on our enemies and our allies, and it even spies on itself.  The American people are told that the emerging Big Brother police state is for our safety, but the truth is that it isn’t there to protect us.  It is there to protect them.  Our government has become kind of like a crazy rich uncle that is constantly spying on everyone else in the family because he believes that they are “out to get him”.  The following are 15 signs that we live during a time of rampant government paranoia…

#1 Former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson says that the federal government was so concerned about her reporting on Benghazi, Fast and Furious and other Obama scandals that they hacked her computer, monitored every keystroke and even planted classified material in an apparent attempt to potentially frame her.

#2 The United States has become the nation of the “permanent emergency”.  In fact, there has been at least one “state of emergency” in effect in this country since 1979.

#3 In America today, almost everyone is considered to be a criminal.  At this point, nearly one out of every three Americans has a file in the FBI’s master criminal database.

#4 Most people don’t realize this, but the FBI also systematically records talk radio programs.  The FBI says that it is looking for “potential evidence”.

#5 In Wisconsin, 24 armed police officers are an armored military vehicle were recently sent to collect a civil judgment from a 75-year-old retiree.  It is being reported that officials feared that he might be “argumentative“.

#6 According to guidelines that were recently made public, purchasing Amtrak train tickets with cash is considered to be “suspicious activity” and needs to be reported to the authorities.

#7 The IRS can now seize your bank accounts on suspicion alone.  If you are successful fighting the IRS in court, you might get your money back years later.

#8 Thousands of Americans have their mail spied on by the U.S. Postal Service.  If you are on “the list”, all of your mail and packages are shown to a supervisor before they are delivered to you.

#9 Most people don’t realize that the U.S. border is now considered to be a “Constitution-free zone” where officials can freely grab your computer and copy your hard drive.

#10 The feds have apparently become extremely concerned about what all of us are saying on the Internet.  In fact, they have even been caught manipulating discussions on Reddit and editing Wikipedia.

#11 The U.S. government has become so paranoid that it even spies on our European allies.  Needless to say, our allies over in Europe are quite upset about this but we continue to do it.

#12 To the government, each citizen is a “potential threat”, and this justifies the militarization of our entire society.  The following is an excerpt from an excellent commentary by John Whitehead…

Just take a stroll through your city’s downtown. Spend an afternoon in your local mall. Get in your car and drive to your parents’ house. Catch the next flight to that business conference. While you’re doing so, pay careful attention to how you and your fellow citizens are treated by government officials—the ones whose salaries you are paying.

 

You might walk past a police officer outfitted in tactical gear, holding an assault rifle, or drive past a police cruiser scanning license plates. There might be a surveillance camera on the street corner tracking your movements. At the airport, you may be put through your paces by government agents who will want to either pat you down or run scans of your body. And each time you make a call or send a text message, your communications will most likely be logged and filed. When you return home, you might find that government agents have been questioning your neighbors about you, as part of a “census” questionnaire. After you retire to sleep, you might find yourself awakened by a SWAT team crashing through your door (you’ll later discover they were at the wrong address), and if you make the mistake of reaching for your eyeglasses, you might find yourself shot by a cop who felt threatened.

 

Is this the behavior of a government that respects you? One that looks upon you as having inviolate rights? One that regards you as its employer, its master, its purpose for being?

 

I don’t think so. While this hyper-militarization of the government is being sold to the public as a means of preventing terrorism and maintaining national security, it is little more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. In fact, as I document in my book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, what we are dealing with is a police state disguised as a benevolent democracy, a run-away government hyped up on its own power and afraid of its citizenry, whose policies are dictated more by paranoia than need.

#13 As our police departments have become militarized, SWAT team deployments have gone through the roof.  As I wrote about recently, there were only about 3,000 SWAT raids in the United States back in 1980.  But today, there are more than 80,000 SWAT raids per year in this country.

#14 The federal government is so paranoid that it is actually spying on itself.  The “Insider Threat Program” encourages federal employees to closely watch one another and to report any hint of suspicious activity…

The federal effort, called the Insider Threat Program, was launched in October 2011, and it certainly hasn’t diminished since Edward Snowden disclosed details of the National Security Agency’s domestic spying. As McClatchy reporters Marisa Taylor and Jonathan S. Landay have described, federal employees and contractors are encouraged to keep an eye on allegedly suspicious indicators in their co-workers’ lives, from financial troubles to divorce. A brochure produced by the Defense Security Service, titled “INSIDER THREATS: Combating the ENEMY within your organization,” sums up the spirit of the program: “It is better to have reported overzealously than never to have reported at all.”

#15 Last, but certainly not least, there is the matter of the NSA constantly spying on all of us.  The NSA is monitoring and recording billions of our phone calls and emails, and most Americans don’t seem to care.  But they should care.  I like how an article in the New York Post described what is happening to our society…

Through a combination of fear, cowardice, political opportunism and bureaucratic metastasis, the erstwhile land of the free has been transformed into a nation of closely watched subjects — a country of 300 million potential criminals, whose daily activities need constant monitoring.

 

Once the most secret of organizations, the NSA has become even more famous than the CIA, the public face of Big Brother himself. At its headquarters on Savage Road in Fort Meade, Md., its omnivorous Black Widow supercomputer hoovers up data both foreign and domestic, while its new $2 billion data center near Bluffdale, Utah — the highly classified Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center — houses, well, just about everything. As James Bamford wrote in Wired magazine two years ago, as the center was being completed:

 

“Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private e-mails, cellphone calls, and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails — parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital ‘pocket litter.’ ”

So what do you think?

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

Despite the mainstream media’s effusive celebration of ApplePay – despite numerous payment systems and NFC devices alreadt existing and failing to achieve any paradigm shift – it appears Tim Cook has pushed his company into an area of competition he was not full prepared for. Seemingly expecting the world’s retailers to embrace the ‘unique’ payment system, first Wal-Mart & Best Buy, then CVS and now Rite-Aid have all blocked ApplePay. While proclaiming the success of signing up over a million credit card users in the first 72 hours, Cook seemed ticked off at the retailers who blocked him, “it’s a skirmish,” he said, as Reuters reports, jabbing “merchants have different objectives sometimes. But in the long arc of time, you only are relevant as a retailer or merchant if your customers love you.”

As Reuters reports,

Apple CEO Tim Cook fired back at CVS and Rite Aid on Monday after the drugstore chains blocked the iPhone maker’s mobile payments service, saying there were plenty of other retailers around the world to sign up.

 

…

 

Such services, through which a user pays by holding a smartphone close to a specially designed terminal, have failed to catch on in the United States despite the backing of Google and other influential players.

 

News emerged over the weekend that the two retailers had opted out of Apple Pay in favor of a rival system that roughly 50 chains, including Wal-Mart and Best Buy, are developing for in-house use. “We’ve got a lot more merchants to sign up, we’ve got a lot of banks to sign up and we’ve got the rest of the world,” Cook told the Wall Street Journal Digital Live conference, in the company’s most extensive comments on the blockade so far.

 

…

 

CVS and Rite Aid have not explained their surprise move.

 

But the driving force behind developing a retailer-owned mobile payment solution is to avoid paying credit card transaction fees to card companies like Visa and Mastercard, analysts said. Fees range between 2 percent and 3 percent of costs per transaction.

 

…

 

Cook argued on Monday that Apple Pay offered better security and privacy than competing services, and that retailers risked alienating customers by limiting choices at checkout.

 

“It’s a skirmish,” Cook said in response to a question about the retailers’ moves.

 

“Merchants have different objectives sometimes. But in the long arc of time, you only are relevant as a retailer or merchant if your customers love you.”

*  *  *

Finally – despite little coverage in the mainstream media – it should be noted that more store chains have sided with CurrentC – aq competing payments system – than have signed up for ApplePay.

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

Submitted by Marin Katusa via Casey Research,

The conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Total SA’s chief executive, Christophe de Margerie, started the second the news broke of his death. Under mysterious circumstances in Moscow, his private jet collided with a snowplow just after midnight. De Margerie was the CEO of Total, France’s largest oil company.

He’d just attended a private meeting with Russian Prime Minister Medvedev, at a time when the West’s relationship with Russia is fraught, to say the least.

One has better odds of being struck by lightning at an airport then a snow plow, or any other ground support vehicles hitting a plane and killing all inside the plane, in my opinion. And I say that as someone who’s familiar with airports, having worked at Vancouver International Airport when I was in university; I was the one who would bring the plane into its parking bay.

If it weren’t for those short odds, a snowplow on the runway with an allegedly drunk driver would be the perfect crime. But who would benefit from his death?

De Margerie was one of the few business leaders who spoke out against the isolation of Russia. On this last trip to Moscow, he railed against sanctions and the obstacles to Russian companies obtaining credit.

He was also an outspoken supporter of Russia’s position in natural gas pricing and transportation disputes with Ukraine, telling Reuters in an interview in July that Europe should not cut its dependence on Russian gas but rather focus on making the supplies more secure.

But what could have made de Margerie a total liability is Total’s involvement in plans to build a plant to liquefy natural gas on the Yamal Peninsula of Russia in partnership with Novatek. Its most ambitious project in Russia to date, it would facilitate the shipping of 800 million barrels of oil equivalent of LNG to China via the Arctic.

Compounding this sin, Total had just announced that it’s seeking financing for a gas project in Russia in spite of the current sanctions against Russia. It planned to finance its share in the $27-billion Yamal project using euros, yuan, Russian rubles, and any other currency but US dollars.

Did this direct threat to the petrodollar make this “true friend of Russia”—as Putin called de Margerie—some very powerful and dangerous enemies amongst the power that be, whether in the French government, the EU, or the US?

In my book The Colder War, one chapter deals with “mysterious deaths” and how they are linked to being on the wrong side of the political equation. Whether it’s going against Putin or against the petrodollar, there are many who have fallen on both sides.

If Total doesn’t close the $27 billion financing it needs to move forward with the Yamal LNG project then we’ll know someone stepped in to prevent an attack on the petrodollar.  The CEO of Total, before his death and his CFO were both strong supporters of Total raising the $27 billion in non US dollars and moving the project forward with the Russians.  But, this could all change if the financing does not complete.

How many other Western executives who dare to help Russia bypass sanctions—and turn it into an energy powerhouse—will die under suspicious circumstances?

Marin Katusa, is author of The Colder War, manager of multiple global energy-exploration hedge funds, and co-founder of Copper Mountain Mining Corporation. Click here to get a copy of his must-read new book, The Colder War. Inside, you’ll discover exactly how Putin is taking over the energy sector, how far ahead he is, and how alarming it is that no one in the US or Europe has even entered the race.

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

Several months ago, a Russian rocket, carrying Russia’s most advanced communications satellite, exploded on launch and the west was amused at Russia’s seeming incompetence, while birthing extensive speculation of the NSA’s involvement. Well, moments ago either Karma, or Russian hackers, intervened, and 6 seconds after launch, the NASA unmanned Antares rocket of rocket-maker Orbital Sciences, likewise ended its mission prematurely in a massive flaming fireball.

Live feed from NASA of the remains:

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

The stock of the rocket-maker ORB appears to be likewise in flames after hours, down some 8.5% at last check.

More details on the mission prior to its terminal failure:

An unmanned Antares rocket is scheduled to launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on the Eastern Shore about 6:45 p.m. today, boosting a Cygnus cargo freighter to rendezvous with the International Space Station.

 

The launch of the Antares — a medium-lift rocket — should be visible throughout Hampton Roads and the mid-Atlantic. It’s carrying a Cygnus spacecraft packed with about 5,000 pounds of cargo — the heaviest payload to date for rocket-maker Orbital Sciences Corp.

 

The Cygnus is expected to remain in orbit for several days before berthing with the space station in the early hours of Nov. 2, when station crew are set to use a robotic arm to grapple the spaecraft into port. Station astronauts will unpack provisions, hardware and science experiments, then begin to reload the craft with trash — or disposable cargo — that will eventually burn up in the atmosphere upon rentry.

 

Cargo spacecraft typically remain at the space station for about 30 days before making their return flight.

And from the official NASA press release:

NASA Wallops Preparations on Track for Tonight’s Orbital Sciences Launch to International Space Station

Ahead of the third U.S. commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station by Orbital Sciences Corp., NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia continues to enable successful launches from the Eastern Shore. Orbital’s Antares rocket carrying 5,000 pounds of NASA cargo aboard the company’s Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to liftoff at 6:22 p.m. EDT this evening from Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops.

A Monday launch attempt was scrubbed because a boat was inside the range safety zone southwest of the launch pad.

“Wallops is home to NASA’s only owned and operated launch range, providing safety, area clearance, tracking and telemetry, and logistical support to range users like Orbital Sciences,” said Bill Wrobel, Wallops director. “Public safety is our top priority for launch operations and the teams at Wallops have done a tremendous job getting ready to support these launches. But, we also need the public’s help to ensure the safe and successful beginning of these resupply missions to the International Space Station.”

On Monday evening, a sailboat about 26 feet long entered the hazard zone early in the launch count. The hazard area for the launch of Antares is about 1,400 square miles off the coast of Wallops Island along the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Radar aircraft detected the boat and hailed it several times, but there was no response. A spotter plane made multiple passes around the boat at low altitudes using commonly understood signals such as wing waving to establish contact. However, the operator did not respond.

The boat was traveling very slowly at a speed of about four knots and remained in the hazard area at the time of Orbital’s scheduled launch. The presence of the boat exceeded a mandatory safety requirement for launch, scrubbing the launch to Tuesday.

Well-ahead of launch operations, two public notifications, notices to mariners (NOTMARs) and the notification for the establishment of an Army Corps of Engineers Danger Zone, are released. Boats under way in the ocean also are requested to monitor marine band radio channel 16 for safety messages and communication with marine authorities.

Nine hours before the scheduled lift-off time, Wallops’ area clearance personnel are in active communication on the marine band radio with boaters traveling in and near the established hazard area. This early in the countdown, the area clearance officer is actively working to keep the area cleared by contacting boaters about the upcoming launch operation. More complex surveillance of the area begins four hours prior to liftoff with the Coast Guard, Coast Guard Auxiliary, the Virginia Marine Police and Contract Surveillance Boats, about seven to eight boats actively patrolling the area. Three hours prior to launch, a radar aircraft, spotting aircraft, and helicopter are used to surveil the area.

Among the science cargo Cygnus will transport to the space station are a study to enable the first space-based observations of meteors entering Earth’s atmosphere, a multitude of student investigations covering topics such as the effects of microgravity on plant growth and the rates of milk spoilage in space and international research including a study to determine how blood flows from the brain to the heart in the absence of gravity. A launch attempt Tuesday evening will result in Cygnus arriving to the space station Sunday, Nov. 2.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1wKt0hs Tyler Durden

Submitted by Julian Adorney via the Ludwig von Mises Institute,

Most defenders of the state assume that government services help the poor. And, sometimes, some poor people do benefit financially from government programs. But there’s a hidden cost: taxation and mandatory programs (Social Security, for instance) that hurt the needy by restricting their choices. Government taxes away income that low-income households could invest in improving their lives. At the same time, state-sponsored benefits create incentives that keep the poor trapped in poverty.

Many assume that government barely taxes the poor, but the reality is otherwise. The poorest fifth of Americans pay 16 percent of their incomes in taxes (including federal, state, and local). One in six dollars they earn goes straight to the government. For a family living at the margin, those taxes can be the difference between food on the table and hungry children.

Admittedly, a big chunk of government expenses is for programs designed to help the poor. But even when this money actually helps — and it rarely does — it’s important to note the pernicious effects of taxation. Consider: every dollar of taxes is one dollar that a worker must give to the government first, regardless of whether that dollar could help him feed his family or improve his livelihood. If a poor man is faced with the choice of paying taxes or starting a business, he had best choose the former, otherwise he’ll go to jail.

This is true for the wealthy as well. But poor people live closer to the margin. More of their money is taken up with fixed bills like rent and food. This leaves them less discretionary income to, for instance, invest in a business. Because their pool of discretionary income is smaller, taxes cut deeper into it.

Mandatory government programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, compound the choice-restricting effects of taxation. Social Security, for instance, forces people to save for retirement regardless of whether or not that money could be better spent in another way.

Saving for retirement is generally a good idea; most people anticipate needing a monetary cushion to see them through their golden years. But it’s not the best approach for everyone. The young woman with terminal cancer, for instance, probably won’t be around to enjoy the fruits of Social Security. She can best maximize her happiness by spending that money now, whether it’s on fun experiences, or on taking care of her children, or on better medical treatment. Similarly, for the destitute man who can afford to either save for retirement or feed his children, it takes a heartless bureaucrat indeed to force him to do the former. Yet that is precisely what Social Security does.

Many poor people eventually want to start a business or learn new skills. Both take start-up capital. Imagine that John, a retail worker barely making ends meet, wants to learn to code so that he can find a better job. Most learn-to-code programs, such as Code School, aren’t free. Investing in such a program could significantly increase Johdn’s value and salary, allowing him to improve his finances both now and later. But faced between paying 7 percent of his paycheck to Social Security, or investing that 7 percent in learning new skills to build a career, John has to choose the former or go to jail.

Each individual has his or her unique circumstances. For some, saving for retirement right now might be smart. For others, that money could be better spent on something else. By mandating retirement savings, government robs individuals of the freedom to make their own decisions.

I’ve focused on Social Security, but other government programs have the same effect. Obamacare requires that people buy insurance or pay a fine, even if insurance isn’t in their best interests. Medicare forces the poor to put aside part of their money today to pay for their health care costs in old age — regardless of whether or not that decision is best for the man or woman in question.

But what about programs that give the poor money, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and unemployment benefits? Even these programs create perverse incentives, trapping men and women who use them in poverty.

Because government assistance has built-in cutoff points, it creates de facto high marginal tax rates for the poor. If Jane makes $10,000 per year at McDonald’s, she might rely on programs like Medicare and welfare to make ends meet. But imagine she has the option to switch industries and take an entry-level job in a new career (for example, marketing) that pays $25,000 per year. If she takes the new job, she could end up bringing in $2,540 less on net. She might get $15,000 more from her employer, but she’ll lose $17,540 through a combination of higher taxes and reduced government benefits.

For Jane, the economically rational decision is to keep flipping burgers and not move to a new position. Government incentives reward her for staying in a dead-end job. By obeying these incentives, she misses out on all the promise inherent in a real career. People in marketing tend to be in demand in almost every company, and have more choice in where they want to work. They can earn promotions and climb the corporate ladder. These options aren’t available for a fast-food worker. Government programs give Jane the financial incentive to stay in her current position, restricting her long-term options.

Government programs, well-meaning or not, serve to trap the already downtrodden. By contrast, the market creates freedom and options and promotes upward mobility.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1tf5AwI Tyler Durden