Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

TYT | MSNBC Town Hall: The Young Turks Summary (03/30/16) [10:13]

Donald Trump Made Up Stuff 71 Times In An Hour
HP | Dana Liebelson | 03/30/16

Critics of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign often complain about the way the media has reported on his candidacy. It is not just the incessant coverage that riles them. It’s the perceived lack of fact-checking.

Trump is known for making outlandish and dubious claims with little connection to the truth. The press corps, these critics argue, allows him to float along in a perpetual state of unreality.

The truth is, Trump is routinely fact-checked. It’s just that he makes so many statements in such a rapid and continuous fashion that it becomes virtually impossible to keep up.

On Wednesday, The Huffington Post assigned five and a half reporters to look into a roughly 12,000-word transcript of Trump’s town hall event on CNN the night before. It took us hours, but in all, we found 71 separate instances in which Trump made a claim that was either inaccurate, misleading or deeply questionable. That’s basically one falsehood every 169 words (counting the words uttered by moderator Anderson Cooper), or 1.16 falsehoods every minute (the town hall lasted an hour, including commercial breaks). ... Read more

The Battle To Keep The Establishment In Power
ZeroHedge | author | 03/31/16

It looks as if it will be much more difficult for Trump to nail down enough delegates to beat the Republicans at their own corrupt rules. We are likely heading toward a rigged convention and this is playing into the hands of the precise thing the Republicans better not do. They are sacrificing the nation for personal perks. It is not that Trump is the savior, hardly, but at least he would be a check against these people. ... Read more

Impatient Banks: A Real Red Flag For The Oil Patch
ZeroHedge | author | 03/31/16

Lenders to the oil and gas industry have been extraordinarily lenient amid the worst downturn in decades, allowing indebted companies to survive a little while longer in hopes of a rebound in oil prices. But the screws are set to tighten just a bit more as the periodic credit redetermination period finishes up.

Banks reassess their credit lines to oil and gas firms twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. While the lending arrangements vary from bank to bank and from borrower to borrower, lenders largely punted on both redetermination periods last year, providing a grace period for drillers to wait out the bust in prices. But oil prices have not rebounded much since the original crash in late 2014. ... Read more

*Aljazeera | People & Power: The Fix is in: What's Happening to American Democracy? (03/31/16) [25:00]

Aljazeera | Inside Story - Can Iraq make headway against corruption? (03/31/16) [25:15]

CNN Republican Presidential Town Hall - Cruz, Trump, Kasich - Milwaukee, WI (03/29/16) [3:16:29]

*TYT | CNN Republican Town Hall: The Young Turks Summary (03/30/16) [11:16]

TYT | Reporter Accidentally Reveals What’s Wrong With Media (03/30/16) [8:23]

*There’s A Huge New Corporate Corruption Scandal. Here’s Why Everyone Should Care.
HP | Nick Baumann | 03/30/16

Most people remember that the Arab Spring started with a guy who lit himself on fire. What they don’t remember is that he did it as a protest against corruption: Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian fruit vendor, decided he’d been shaken down by police officers one too many times.

Bouazizi’s death set in motion the biggest political upheaval of the 21st century. The Arab Spring was “mostly about corruption,” said FBI Special Agent George McEachern, one of the leading investigators of global graft. “Corruption leads to failed states, which leads to terrorism.

That’s what makes the corruption revealed in a new trove of confidential emails from a mysterious Monaco-based company called Unaoil so significant. On Wednesday, The Huffington Post and its Australian partner, Fairfax Media -- led by reporters Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie -- published the results of a months-long investigation of Unaoil, an obscure firm that helps big multinational corporations win contracts in areas of the world where corruption is common.

Hundreds of major international corporations -- including Halliburton, its former subsidiary KBR, Rolls-Royce and Samsung -- counted on Unaoil to secure lucrative contracts in Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, and other countries in Africa, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union, tens of thousands of internal emails and documents reveal. ... Read more

How the West Bought Iraq

Former Fed President: "Living In Constant Fear Of Market Reaction Is Not How You Manage Central Bank Policy"
ZeroHedge | author | 03/30/16

Back in January Fisher said (what even Liesman has now suggested) that "We Frontloaded A Tremendous Market Rally" and there is "No Ammo Left", followed by a second appearance earlier this month when he said that the Fed "Injected Cocaine And Heroin Into The System To Create A Wealth Effect." This morning Fisher was again on CNBC to discuss Yellen's dovish speech at the Economic Club of NY, and said that the Fed is "living in a constant fear of a market reaction. This is not how the way you manage central bank policy." ... Read more

Gross To Central Banks: "Get Global Growth Moving Now, Or Else"
ZeroHedge | author | 03/30/16

"The reality is this. Central bank polices consisting of QE’s and negative/artificially low interest rates must successfully reflate global economies or else. They are running out of time. Or else what? Or else markets and the capitalistic business models based upon them and priced for them will begin to go south. Capital gains and the expectations for future gains will become Giant Pandas – very rare and sort of inefficient at reproduction." ... Read more

Trump, Sanders, & The Deep State Darling
ZeroHedge | author | 03/29/16

Everyone who isn't willfully blind knows that the Corporate (mainstream) Media doesn't give the same coverage to Bernie Sanders as it does to his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Bernie's rallies go unmentioned, his victories are given short shrift and his personal narrative--practically ideal for media glorification--is mentioned in passing, if at all.

A media professional clued me into why the Corporate Media hates Bernie and will move Heaven and Earth to defeat him: Sanders is the only candidate who is seriously promoting campaign finance reform.

When a Super-PAC raises $100 million for Hillary, Jeb, et al., where does 90% of that money go? To the Corporate Media. Corporate Media gorges on political media buys every two years, and increasingly depends on this feasting on Super-PAC money for its outsized profits. ... Read more

Top German Journalist Admits Mainstream Media Is Completely Fake: "We All Lie For The CIA"
ZeroHedge | author | 03/29/16

"I've been a journalist for about 25 years, and I was educated to lie, to betray, and not to tell the truth to the public." Ever since Operation Mockingbird, a CIA-based initiative to control mainstream media, more and more people are expressing their concern that what we see in the media is nothing short of brainwashing. Leading German journalist and editor Udo Ulfkotte went on public television stating that he was forced to publish the works of intelligence agents under his own name, also adding that noncompliance with these orders would result in him losing his job. ... Read more

Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice by Les Leopold

Runaway inequality is now America's most critical economic fact of life. In 1970, the ratio of pay between the top 100 CEOs and the average worker was 45 to 1. Today it is a shocking 829 to one! During that time a new economic philosophy set in that cut taxes, deregulated finance, and trimmed social spending. Those policies set in motion a process that greatly expanded the power of financial interests to accelerate inequality. But how exactly does that happen?

Using easy-to-understand charts and graphs, Runaway Inequality explains the process by which corporation after corporation falls victim to systematic wealth extraction by banks, private equity firms, and hedge funds. It reveals how financial strip-mining puts enormous downward pressure on jobs, wages, benefits, and working conditions, while boosting the incomes of financial elites.

But Runaway Inequality does more than make sense of our economic plight. It also shows why virtually all the key issues that we face?from climate change to the exploding prison population?are intimately connected to rising economic inequality.

Most importantly, Runaway Inequality calls upon us to build a common movement to tackle the sources of increasing income and wealth inequality. As the author makes clear, the problem will not cure itself. It will take enormous energy and dedication to bring economic justice and fairness back to American society.

The book is divided into four parts:

Part I: What is the fundamental cause of runaway economic inequality? What has made our economy less fair and left most of us less secure?

Part II: How does the United States really compare with other major developed countries? How do we stack up on quality of life, health, and well-being?

Part III: What does economic inequality have to do with so many of the critical issues we face, including taxes, debt, education, criminal justice, racism, climate change, foreign trade, and war?

Part IV: What concrete steps can we take to begin building a fair and just society?

John Kerry: Republican Primary Race Is 'An Embarrassment'
HP | Paige Lavender | 03/28/16

Secretary of State John Kerry said the Republican presidential primary is "an embarrassment." During an appearance on CBS's "Face the Nation," Kerry said foreign leaders are "shocked" by the rhetoric used in the race, particularly anti-Muslim statements.

"They don't know where it's taking the United States of America," Kerry said. "It upsets people's sense of equilibrium about our steadiness, about our reliability, and to some degree I must say to you, some of the questions, the way they're posed to me, it's clear to me that what's happening is an embarrassment to our country." ... Read more
John Kerry: 2016 campaign rhetoric is "an embarrassment to our country" (03/27/16) [2:21]

CBS Face the Nation | Extended interview: Bernie Sanders (older, 03/20/16) [8:21]

Bernie Sanders EXPLOSIVE Rally in Vancouver, WA (full) (3-20-16) [1:09:27]

China Beige Book Reveals Employment Plunges To 4-Year Low, Capex Worst In History
ZeroHedge | author | 03/28/16

Back in December, New York-based China Beige Book International released what they called a "disturbing" set of data that pointed to pronounced weakness in the Chinese economy. Things have not gotten any better since then and according to the CBB's latest quarterly survey, Chinese firms are now "allergic to hiring." ... Read more

Highlighting Western Victims While Ignoring Victims of Western Violence
TheIntercept | Glenn Greenwald | 03/25/16

FOR DAYS NOW, American cable news has broadcast non-stop coverage of the horrific attack in Brussels. Viewers repeatedly heard from witnesses and from the wounded. Video was shown in a loop of the terror and panic when the bombs exploded. Networks dispatched their TV stars to Brussels, where they remain. NPR profiled the lives of several of the airport victims. CNN showed a moving interview with a wounded, bandage-wrapped Mormon American teenager speaking from his Belgium hospital bed.

All of that is how it should be: That's news. And it's important to understand on a visceral level the human cost from this type of violence. But that's also the same reason it's so unjustifiable, and so propagandistic, that this type of coverage is accorded only to Western victims of violence, but almost never to the non-Western victims of the West's own violence. ... Read more

Robert Reich: Why Both Trump's and Cruz's Tax Plans Would Be Huge Windfalls for the Rich
AlterNet | Robert Reich | 03/22/16

5 things you need to know about these reverse Robin Hood proposals.

The tax cuts for the rich proposed by the two leading Republican candidates for the presidency -- Donald Trump and Ted Cruz -- are larger, as a proportion of the government budget and the total economy, than any tax cuts ever before proposed in history.

Trump and Cruz pretend to be opposed to the Republican establishment, but when it comes to taxes they're seeking exactly what that Republican establishment wants. ...

6 Ways to Reform Our Corrupt Financial System
AlterNet | Joseph Stiglitz | 03/24/16

We must tame the growth of wealth among the top 1 percent and establish rules and institutions that ensure security and opportunity for the middle class.

When Does The U.S. Stock Bubble Burst: The Best Hedge Fund Of 2016 Has A Surprising Answer
ZeroHedge | author | 03/25/16

"One of the curious things over the last few years, is that despite the last two bubbles in markets being mainly US centred (dot com bubble and US housing) it has been the Japan based Nikkei that has peaked 3 to 6 months before the S&P 500. The Nikkei peaked in March of 2000, while the S&P 500 rolled lower in August of that year. The Nikkei peaked in June of 2007, while the S&P 500 peaked in October of that year." ...

... If you want to know if the US stock bubble is about to burst, just keep an eye on the hilarious if ricketty debacle that Japan's "stock market" have become, where only the daily interventions of the BOJ keep the whole house of cards from crashing down and wiping out Japan's economy from the face of the earth. Because if the Nikkei is unable to "keep it up" despite a historic amount of debt monetizations, ETF and REIT purchases, and negtive rates by the BOJ, the S&P 500 will follow shortly. Read more

Aljazeera | Digital Dissidents, Part 1 (03/25/16) [47:00]

TYT | Bernie Sanders | The Young Turks Interview (full) (03/23/16) [33:04]

Eye For An Eye Isn't Working, And Never Will
TYT | Eye For An Eye Isn't Working, And Never Will (03/23/16) [9:58]

Why Do We Tolerate Wall Street's Epic Corruption?
TYT | Why Do We Tolerate Wall Street's Epic Corruption? (old but good) [6:11]

Explosive Accusation: Belgium Had "Advance And Precise" Warning About Terrorist Attacks, Did Nothing
ZeroHedge | author | 03/23/16

In what, if true, is the most incendiary allegation of the day, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reports that Belgian security services and other Western intelligence agencies had "advance and precise intelligence warnings" regarding Tuesday's bombings. According to the paper, "the security services knew, with a high degree of certainty, that attacks were planned in the very near future for the airport and, apparently, for the underground railway as well." ... Read more

China Sends Fed A Warning: Devalues Yuan By Most In 2 Months
ZeroHedge | author | 03/24/16

With the USD Index stretching to its longest winning streak of the year, jawboned by numerous Fed speakers explaining how April is 'live' (and everyone misunderstood the dovishness of Yellen), it appears that The PBOC wanted to send a message to The Fed - Raise rates and we will unleash turmoil on your 'wealth creation' plan. Large unexpected Yuan drops have rippled through markets in recent months spoiling the party for many and tonight, by devaluing the Yuan fix by the most since January 7th, China made it clear that it really does not want The Fed to hike rates and cause a liquidity suck-out again. ... Read more

ABC | Bernie Sanders' foreign policy speech in Salt Lake City, Utah (3/21/16) [23:20]

TYT | Arizona, Idaho & Utah Democratic Primary Election: TYT Summary (03/22/16) [3:01]

Bernie Sanders Spoke Up for Suffering Palestinians, but Few in Broadcast Media Covered It
theintercept.com | author | 03/22/16

Sanders's address stood out in contrast to the remarks from the other four major party candidates left in the race.

Yet a query using the TV Eyes broadcast media search engine found that the text of the speech was mentioned only in a handful of outlets. Unlike the addresses by Clinton and Trump, no major broadcast outlet carried it live. CNN International read a section of Sanders's prepared remarks in a segment with writer Peter Beinart, a frequent critic of Israeli settlements; Al Jazeera America read a portion of Sanders's remarks in commentary on the speeches at AIPAC. BBC World played a portion of Sanders' speech dealing with the need to be friends to both Israel and the Palestinians. Although MSNBC did not cover the speech or its content, Hardball with Chris Matthews featured former U.S. ambassador Marc Ginsberg to explain Sanders's absence at AIPAC by saying, "Mr. Sanders ... has never really extolled his jewishness, much less any support for Israel." ... Read more

The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth by Mark Mazzetti

The most momentous change in American warfare over the past decade has taken place in the corners of the world where large armies can't go. The CIA, originally created as a Cold War espionage service, is now more than ever a paramilitary agency ordered by the White House to kill off America's enemies. In The Way of the Knife, Pulitzer Prize--winning New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti recounts the untold story of America's shadow war, one that blurred the lines between soldiers and spies and lowered the bar for waging war across the globe. This new approach--carried out by CIA operatives and special operations troops--has been embraced by Washington as a lower-risk and cost effective alternative to the messy wars of occupation, but as Mazzetti demonstrates in this revealing book, the way of the knife has created enemies just as it has killed them.

Credit Suisse Blames "Worst January Ever" On Rogue Traders; Fires 2,000
ZeroHedge | author | 03/23/16

When last we checked in on Credit Suisse, the bank had just reported its first annual loss since the financial crisis and the stock had plunged to its lowest level in a quarter century. Things have not gotten better since then. On Wednesday, CEO Tidjane Thiam announced his second restructuring plan in five months. "I will not be a hostage to fortune," Thiam told Bloomberg. ... Read more

Aljazeera | People and Power - What's Happening to American Democracy? (03/23/16) [25:02]

Aljazeera | UpFront - Noam Chomsky on the war against ISIL (01/23/16) [25:12]

Bernie Sanders Flagstaff Arizona Rally (3-21-16) [1:15:12]

TYT | CNN Town Hall: The Young Turks Summary (03/21/16) [6:30]

Brussels Under Attack
HP | author | date

Explosions at Airport, Metro Station... 34 Dead... Dozens INjured...

Deadly explosions rocked a Brussels airport and train station Tuesday morning, just days after the suspected mastermind of last year's Paris terror attacks was captured.

Belgian media reported that at least 14 people were killed in a bombing and an apparent suicide attack at the Zaventem airport, where gunfire was also reported. An additional 20 were killed in blasts at the Maelbeek metro station, Flemish public broadcaster VRT said, citing transit officials. ... Read more

World-Renowned Climate Scientist Makes Dire Warning About Sea Level Rise, Storms
HP | Jacqueline Howard | 03/22/16

If global temperatures on our planet continue to go up, ferocious super-storms could become more frequent and sea levels could rise several meters over the next century, drowning coastal cities along the way.

That's the ominous warning put forth in a new, peer-reviewed paper penned by former top NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen and 18 co-authors, which was published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics on Tuesday. Read more
World-Renowned Climate Scientist Makes Dire Warning About Sea Level Rise, Storms (03/22/16) [14:59]

How the Paranoid Style of Trump, Cruz and Palin Took Over the GOP and Infected America
AlterNet | Lou Dubose / The Washington Spectator | 03/20/16

... Indigenous and deeply rooted in American history, the paranoid politics Hofstadter described began with a panic among Federalists, echoed in New England's pulpits in 1789, when preachers warned of the Bavarian Illuminati plots to undermine the new republic.

In the 1820s and 1830s the nation was seized with a fear of Masons, who were perceived to be a threat to republican government because Masonry was a secret society with its own system of loyalty and its own jurisdictions. Public hysteria about Masonic plots was followed by an anti-Catholic movement focused on the Society of Jesus, better known as Jesuits. "Anti-Catholicism has always been the pornography of the Puritans," Hofstadter wrote.

All of this is understandable in a young nation defining itself and defending itself from external and internal threats. It's when Hofstadter takes what he describes as the long jump to the contemporary right wing that the paranoid style of politics he describes speaks to our current political moment. ... Read more

Here comes the opposition book: Clinton and her allies prepare for Trump
WashingtonPost | Anne Gearan | 03/20/16

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and her allies have begun preparing a playbook to defeat Donald Trump in a general-election matchup that will attempt to do what his Republican opponents couldn't: show that his business dealings and impolitic statements make him unfit to be commander in chief.

... They are now focused intently on researching the billionaire real estate mogul's business record, dissecting his economic policies and compiling a long history of controversial pronouncements that have captivated and repelled the nation in this tumultuous election season. ... Read more

Bernie Sanders Raised More Money Than Hillary Clinton In February
Reuters | author | 03/20/16

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders outraised rival Hillary Clinton in February but spent at a faster pace, leaving him with less money.

Sanders raised $43.5 million in the month, compared with Clinton, who raised $30.1 million. While Sanders raised more than Clinton, he also spent more than the former secretary of state. At the end of February, Sanders had $17.2 million in cash remaining, the Post said. Clinton had $31 million, according to her campaign. ... Read more

The BEST TOUR of the International Space Station (12/14/14) [28:57]

'The System Is Rigged Against Regular People': Big Money Has Completely Warped American Democracy
AlterNet | Michael Winship / BillMoyers.com |03/19/16

Corporations have a stranglehold on both parties. Here's how it happened--and how we take our government back.

Few are as qualified to tackle the massive topic of money in politics as Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman. Their new book, Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy (read an excerpt), is a comprehensive and important examination of the many ways our lives are affected by the stranglehold corporations have on our government and society. And it's a look at how we can fight back. Read more

Donald Trump Poses As Big A Risk To Global Stability As Terrorism, Report Says
HP | Ryan Grenoble | 03/17/16

Trump and jihadi terrorism both ranked sixth on a recent list of the 10 biggest threats to the world's economy.

The rising threat of jihadi terrorism, a military clash over China's expansionism in the South China Sea, and Donald Trump as president -- one of these things is not like the others, and it's not the one you'd expect.

According to a report published by The Economist Intelligence Unit on Thursday, the prospect of conflict in the South China Sea poses a lesser risk to the world's economic stability than the other two threats.

Yes -- that means the EIU, a research and analysis group associated with The Economist magazine, believes a Trump presidency would be just as risky as the threat of jihadi terrorism. Both threats are tied at sixth place on a list of the world's top 10 biggest risks to the global economy. ... Read more

The Stunning Size Of China's Housing Bubble In One Chart
ZeroHedge | author | 03/18/16

Over the past month we have documented the surreal reemergence of China's latest housing bubble (recall the first one burst in early 2014 which forced Beijing to reflate the stock market bubble, which also burst over a year later), in recent articles such as:

Journeyman | Uncovering China's Empty Ghost Cities (09/30/13) [14:21]

The European Banking Crisis is Here!
ZeroHedge | Reggie Middleton | 03/18/16

The financial crisis and ensuing recessions have resulted in crisis in the global banking sector. Borrowers' inability to make pay back debt or even service debt due to an economic slowdown had hurt the banking system. Contrary to popular rhetoric, the European economy is still far away from recovery and so are the banks that are domiciled there. The sector is grappling with barrage of concerns including negative interest rates, elevated levels of NPL, China's synthetic growth engine facing the real reality of a slowdown, the softening of apparently elevated oil prices and impending regulatory and litigation costs.

The big banks in Europe have witnessed major reshuffles in 2015 with new CEOs taking over at Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered. In the same year, Deutsche Bank lost a record (as in the most, ever) €6.8 billion ($7.6 billion). Europe's banking barometer, the Stoxx Europe 600 Banks Index recorded seven straight weeks of loss in 2016, its longest weekly losing stretch since 2008 - speaking of which... Read more

If you think Donald Trump is scary, get a load of Ted Cruz's foreign policy team
Salon | Gary Legum | 03/18/16

On Wednesday the Donald Trump Fan Club on "Morning Joe" asked the candidate who he is talking to for foreign policy advice. He replied: "I'm speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I've said a lot of things."

Remarkably, this was only the second dumbest foreign policy-related news coming out of the Republican primary this week. Because even though Trump's steroidal jingoism could easily overtake the Bush era for the worst foreign policy of the post-World War II era, Ted Cruz is always there in the background to remind us that it can always be worse.

Matt Taibbi: 'How the New York Times Sandbagged Bernie Sanders
RollingStone | Matt Taibbi | 03/16/16

Matt Taibbi: I came to the same conclusions that Steinhauer did initially: that Sanders was skilled at the amendment process and also had a unique ability to reach across the aisle to make deals.

"Sanders is the amendment king of the current House of Representative. Since the Republicans took over Congress in 1995, no other lawmaker... has passed more roll-call amendments (amendments that actually went to a vote on the floor) than Bernie Sanders. He accomplishes this on the one hand by being relentlessly active, and on the other by using his status as an Independent to form left-right coalitions. ... Read more

Journeyman | Why The US Went To War For Profit () [26:48]

WTF Chart Of The Day: Dow Soars To 2016 Highs As Earnings Crash To 11-Month Lows
ZeroHedge | author | 03/17/16

For the first time in 2016, The Dow Jones Industrials Index is back to unchanged (17,424 vs 17,425 2015 close).

But then again, there is this...WTF!! Read more
Click picture to zoom in
WTF Bank: Corporate Promo Video (2016) [1:12]

TYT | Ana Kasparian Kicks Ass On CNN's Reliable Sources (older) [15:17]

Putin & The Failure Of Washington's Propagandist Predictions
ZeroHedge | author | 03/17/16

The American presstitutes are captives of their own propaganda and are now surprised at the failure of their propagandistic predictions. Having stripped the Islamic State of offensive capability and liberated Syria from the Washington-supported terrorists, Putin has now shifted to diplomacy. If peace fails in Syria, the failure cannot be blamed on Russia. ... Read more

*TRNN | The Sanders Speech the Networks Didn't Show You (03/16/16) [57:33]

TYT | Is There Still Hope For Bernie Sanders? (03/15/16) [8:38]

"Data Dependent" Fed Chickens Out Again - Blames Global Uncertainty For US Rate Hold
ZeroHedge | author | 03/16/16

... Not too dovish (upgrade uncertainty), not too hawkish (lowered rate hikes), a goldilocks statement - just a little more inflation and just a little less unemployment and just another month or two of near-ZIRP rates is what it takes for the world to get it all together. We are breathless in anticipation. ... Read more

"At The Moment, It's Carnage" - The Startling Truth About China's 'Strong Consumer'
ZeroHedge | author | 03/16/16

There is one major problem with the "strong, resilient Chinese consumer" narrative: he is neither strong, nor resilient, and is in fact getting weaker, and more angry by the day. "We are struggling to adapt as sales move online or to small mom-and-pop stores," said a senior sales executive at a major Western consumer goods firm. "At the moment, it's carnage." Meanwhile, inventory levels at some clients had jumped to as much as nine months, from a normal average of around two weeks. ... Read more

Drone Footage Shows Devastation Of Syrian City (older) [1:44]

*BraveNewFilms | Making A Killing: Guns, Greed & the NRA (trailer) () [2:39]

*BraveNewFilms | Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers () [1:15:22]

*BraveNewFilms | Koch Brothers EXPOSED: (2014) [55:54]

TYT | MSNBC Democratic Town Hall | The Young Turks Summary (03/14/16) [9:39]

For The First Time, National Support For Trump Rises Above 50%
ZeroHedge | author | 03/15/16

With Trump preparing to steamroll the competition in today's all important primaries, where a victory in Florida is now all but assured and only a Kasich challenge in Ohio can potentially spoil the day for the Donald - if Trump wins Florida and Ohio, it's over - earlier today he got some more good news to propell him even further: for the first time Trump has the support of a majority of Republican primary voters nationwide, scoring an all time high of 53% in support at the national level. ... Read more

*Aljazeera | UpFront - Naomi Klein: 'I don't trust' Hillary Clinton on climate (03/15/16) [2:18]

Aljazeera | Inside Story - Is federalism the answer in Syria? (03/13/16) [24:57]

Aljazeera | Inside Story - A breakthrough in Yemen? (03/12/16) [24:50]

TYT | CNN Ohio Democratic Town Hall: The Young Turks Summary (03/14/16) [6:04]

Robert Greenwald on His Free Anti-NRA Film: 'It Should Be as Widely Spread as Possible'
AlterNet | Jeffrey Fleishman | 03/12/16

... "Making a Killing" does not dwell on the constitutional amendment on the right to bear arms, in effect brushing aside the ideological debate to focus on the wealth of gun manufacturers and the deadly consequences of firearms. The NRA spent more than $27 million on congressional races in 2014, according to opensecrets.org, which monitors political lobbying. In recent years the guns and ammunition industry had estimated revenues of more than $11 billion annually. ... Read more

*Robert Greenwald's | Making a Killing: Guns, Greed and the NRA (current) [2:36]

"We're One Hawkish Fed Statement Away" From A "Sharp Re-Pricing," Deutsche Bank Warns
ZeroHedge | author | 03/14/16

Be careful, Deutsche Bank warns, in a reiteration of Goldman's call from Sunday: if the Fed leans hawkish causing the USD to jump and commodities to fall anew, equities won't like what they see and we could be headed back to the turmoil that kicked off the year - Draghi or no Draghi. ... Read more

Central Bank Rally Fizzles: Equity Futures Lower As Attention Turns To "Hawkish Fed" Risk
ZeroHedge | author | 03/14/16

While Asia was up on China's bad data, and Europe was higher again this morning to catch up for the Friday afternoon US surge, US equity futures may have finally topped off and are now looking at this week's critical data, namely the BOJ's decision tomorrow (where Kuroda is expected to do nothing), and the Fed's decision on Wednesday where a far more "hawkish announcement" than currently priced in by the market, as Goldman warned last night, is likely, in what would put an end to the momentum and "weak balance sheet" rally. ... Read more

*CNN Miami Republican Debate | Miami Florida (full) (03/10/16) [1:55:02]

*TYT | CNN Miami Republican Debate | Summary (03/10/16) [10:00]

9 Stunning Moments From the Republican Debate in Florida
AlterNet | Janet Allon | 03/10/16

Anyone tuning into the Republican debate in Florida on Thursday night expecting the kind of exciting fireworks of the last debate might have been disappointed. Not a peep about anyone's penis or hand size, short stature, tendency to sweat, or dishonest business practices, and no Ted Cruz telling Donald to stop interrupting and breathe. The four Republican candidates still standing seemed to have made a collective decision to be civil to one another, act more serious and debate actual issues. And yet still, they managed to spout a fair amount of alarming nonsense. ... Read the article for the nine points

CorlbetReport | Trump, Pile Of Meat 2016 (03/10/16) [4:40]

The Good, The Bad, And The Petulant Child: Three "Morning After" Reactions To The ECB's All-In Gamble
ZeroHedge | author | 03/11/16

As can be seen by the violently volatile markets themselves, over the past 24 hours there has been substantial confusion about the implications of the ECB's "all in" gamble, with the initial kneejerk euphoria leading to a rapid selloff and surge in the USD, followed by an overnight levitation in all risk assets as virtually the entire ECB move has now been faded on both sides. Still, much confusion remains as can be seen by the following three reactions by financial pundits... two of whom even work for the same company. ... Read more

The Brazilian 'Earthquake' & The Empire Of Chaos
ZeroHedge | author | 03/11/16

It's no coincidence that three major BRICS nations are simultaneously under attack - on myriad levels: Russia, China and Brazil. The concerted strategy by the Masters of the Universe who dictate the rules in the Wall Street/Beltway axis is to undermine by all means the BRICS's collective effort to produce a viable alternative to the global economic/financial system, which for the moment is subjected to casino capitalism. It's unlikely Lula, by himself, will be able to stop them. ... Read more

Florida Democratic Debate presented by Univision & The Washington Post (03/09/16) [2:04:04]

TYT | Univision Democratic Debate | The Young Turks Summary (03/09/16) [4:43]

*Shocker: The Real Gordon Gekko Just Endorsed Bernie Sanders
AlterNet | Kali Holloway | 03/10/16

The ultimate Wall Street symbol of greed and corporate evil says Sanders would get the economy moving best.

Gordon "Greed is good" Gekko remains an enduring symbol of Wall Street greed, corporate lawlessness and 1980s excess. That's why it's pretty surprising that the guy on whom the Wall Street character was based--former corporate raider Asher Edelman--says Bernie Sanders is the strongest presidential candidate. Appearing on CNBC's "Fast Money" this morning, Edelman responded immediately when asked who he thought the best candidate for the economy would be. .... Read more
CNBC | Asher Edleman AKA "Gordon Gekko from Wall Street the Movie" Says Bernie Sanders' Policies Will Boost US Economy! (03/10/16) [0:57]

China Proposes Unprecedented Nationalization Of Insolvent Companies: Banks Will Equitize Non-Performing Loans
ZeroHedge | author | 03/10/16

In what may be the biggest news of the day, and certainly with far greater implications than whatever Mario Draghi will announce in a few hours when we will again witness the ECB doing not "whatever it takes" but "whatever it can do", moments ago Reuters reported that China is preparing for an unprecedented overhaul in how it treats it trillions in non-performing loans... Remember Ghost Cities

The "neutron bomb" in the heart of China's impaired financial system is the trillions - officially at $614 billion but realistically anywhere between 8% and 20% of China's total $35 trillion in bank assets - in non-performing loans. It is the unknown treatment of these NPLs that has been the greatest threat to China's just as vast deposit base amounting to well over $20 trillion, which has been the fundamental catalyst behind China's record capital flight as depositors have been eager to move their savings as far from China's domestic banks as possible. ... Read more

Now Even Tofurky (Substitute Meat) Has a Lobbyist
MotherJones | Tom Philpott | 03/09/16

When the giant companies that dominate US meat, dairy, and egg production want something in Washington, they lean on armies of lobbyists, which are financed by flush trade groups like the North American Meat Institute, the National Pork Producers Coalition, the National Chicken Council, and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. But who speaks up for seitan chops on the Hill?

Until recently, essentially no one, says longtime food industry critic and researcher Michele Simon. And so she has launched the Plant Based Foods Association, which exists to "ensure a fair and competitive marketplace for businesses selling plant-based foods intended to replace animal products such as meats, dairy, and eggs." The brand-new trade group already has a part-time lobbyist, the longtime vegan- and organic-food advocate Elizabeth Kucinich, wife of former US Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). ... Read more

*Sanders Triumphs In Michigan Democratic Primary
HP | Kate Sheppard | 03/08/16

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pulled off an upset victory in the Michigan primary Tuesday, picking up the majority of delegates in a state seen as a must-win for him to maintain a place in the Democratic race.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came into the Michigan primary with a strong lead in the polls, particularly among minority voters who make up a quarter of the electorate in the state. Clinton has dominated with non-white voters in this primary season, so a Sanders win in diverse Michigan stands out among his previous primary victories. ... Read more
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TYT | Michigan's Muslim Vote Delivers Sanders Big Primary Win (03/08/16) [1:37]

GOP Leaders, Tech Execs Plot Against Trump At Secret NeoCon Island Meeting (Pictures)
ZeroHedge | author | 03/08/16

... "If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished," Romney said, in an apparent effort to play party elder. "If Donald Trump's plans were ever implemented, the country would sink into prolonged recession," Romney continues, hitting Trump on the economy. "A few examples. His proposed 35 percent tariff-like penalties would instigate a trade war and that would raise prices for consumers, kill our export jobs and lead entrepreneurs and businesses of all stripes to flee America."

More important than what Romney said (after all, it's not as though he's the first person to essentially call Trump a demagogic lunatic who has no business being President) was what his speech represented: all-out panic on the part of the GOP establishment. .... Read more

The Financial System Is A Larger Threat Than Terrorism
ZeroHedge | author | 03/08/16

What this picture shows is that government, economists, and presstitutes are allied against citizens achieving any financial independence from personal saving. Policymakers have a crackpot economic policy and those with control over your life value their scheme more than they value your welfare. This is the fate of people in the so-called democracies. But the greed, fraud, and self-serving behavior of Western financial systems, aided and abeted by governments, could be leading to such a breakdown of economic life that the idea of a private financial system will become as abhorent in the future as Nazism is today. ... Read more

Aljazeera | Inside Story - Have sanctions against North Korea worked? (03/08/16) [26:21]

Fox News Democratic presidential town hall: Bernie Sanders (03/07/16) [26:47]

Fox News Democratic presidential town hall: Hillary Clinton (03/07/16) [26:51]

TYT | Fox News Democratic Town Hall | Summary (03/07/16) [4:49]

GOP Leaders, Tech Execs Plot Against Trump At Secret NeoCon Island Meeting
ZeroHedge | author | 03/08/16

"If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished," Romney said, in an apparent effort to play party elder. "If Donald Trump's plans were ever implemented, the country would sink into prolonged recession," Romney continues, hitting Trump on the economy. "A few examples. His proposed 35 percent tariff-like penalties would instigate a trade war and that would raise prices for consumers, kill our export jobs and lead entrepreneurs and businesses of all stripes to flee America." ... Read more

Two Billion People Eat Insects and You Can Too
AlterNet | Alexina Cather / Food Tank | 03/08/16

Edible insects have long been a part of the human diet and are commonly consumed as a food source in many regions of the world, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It is estimated that two billion people currently consume insects as part of their diets. Insects may be an increasingly important source of protein because of the rising cost of animal protein, food insecurity, environmental pressures, climate change and population growth.

Edible insects often contain high-quality protein, vitamins, minerals and amino acids for humans. According to the FAO, insects have a high food conversion rate -- crickets need 12 times less feed than cattle, four times less than sheep, and half as much feed as pigs and broiler chickens to produce the same amount of protein. ... Read more

Long list of suppliers

Aljazeera | Inside Story -What's in store for China's slowing economy? (03/05/16) [24:30]

Aljazeera | Inside Story - Can Turkey succeed where the EU has failed? (03/07/16) [25:34]

*CNN Flint Democratic Debate (03/06/16) [1:53:59]

*TYT | CNN Flint Democratic Debate | Summary (03/06/16) [12:22]

Clinton And Sanders Show Republicans What A Real Debate Looks Like
HP | Jonathan Cohn | 03/06/16

But for two hours on Sunday night, Clinton and Sanders debated as if the outcome was very much in doubt -- sparring over everything from trade and corporate welfare to health care and guns.

The debate, held in Flint, Michigan, was feisty and even cantankerous. Clinton and Sanders had several exchanges where they tried to talk over one another; Sanders, as always, brought his full array of facial expressions.

But the debate was also deeply substantive -- an argument between two seasoned politicians who have obviously given a lot of thought to the problems facing America, and what they would do about them. ... Read more

If Voting Mattered, They Wouldn't Let You Do It
ZeroHedge | author | 03/04/16

... And even if the favored candidate doesn't help them, then at least he'll keep others from getting too much. Politics is the institutionalization of envy, a vice which proclaims "You've got something I want, and if I can't get one, I'll take yours. And if I can't have yours, I'll destroy it so you can't have it either." Participating in politics is an act of ethical bankruptcy. ... Read more

Some supporters of Rubio say bad strategy, poorly run campaign killing his chances
WashingtonPost | Ed O'Keefe | 03/06/16

Sensing an opportunity for an upset victory, Marco Rubio spent most of Friday in Kansas, where he picked up a series of high-profile endorsements that he hoped could help thrust him into contention.

Instead, he finished a dis­appointing third in the Saturday caucus in Kansas, repeating the same pattern as in some Super Tuesday states earlier last week: a big last-minute push, notable endorsements and a thud of a finish.

Those doing the endorsing, along with many other supporters, bemoaned the results, as well as the campaign that produced them. ... Read more

*Chinese Hackers Break Into NY Fed, Steal $100 Million From Bangladesh Central Bank
ZeroHedge | author | 03/07/16

Reports indicate that some of the stolen funds were traced to the Philippines, but given what we know about the "Cyber Axis of Evil," we can only suspect it was Iranians, Chinese, or the criminal/military mastermind Kim Jong-Un who was behind the scam, but whatever the case, someone, somewhere, hacked into Bangladesh's central bank on February 5. The AFP says that the amount lost was around $100 million. "Some of the money was then illegally transferred online to the Philippines and Sri Lanka, a central bank official told AFP on condition of anonymity."

"The bank reported that the USD 100 million was leaked into the Philippine banking system, sold to a black market foreign exchange broker and then transferred to at least three local casinos," AFP continues, adding that "the amount was later sold back to the money broker and moved out to overseas accounts within days." ... Read more

Fox News GOP Debate, 11th Republican Presidential Debate in Detroit, Michigan (03/03/16) [1:55:14]

TYT | Fox News | Republican Debate Detroit Summary (03/03/16) [4:22]

TYT | Mitt Romney Throws Everything He's Got At Trump (03/03/16) [9:33]

Judge Warns Hillary "Should Be Terrified" After Justice Grants Email-Staffer Immunity
ZeroHedge | author | 03/04/16

"She should be terrified of the fact that he's been granted immunity," adding that "they would not be immunizing him and thereby inducing him to spill his guts unless they wanted to indict someone." ... Read more

The Revolution Begins: German Banks Told To Start Hoarding Cash
ZeroHedge | author | 03/04/16

This is officially an all-out revolution of the financial system where banks are now actively rebelling against the central bank. In a stunningly real rebuttal of Europe's negative interest rate policy, German newspaper Der Spiegel reported yesterday that the Bavarian Banking Association has recommended that its member banks start stockpiling PHYSICAL CASH. ... Read more

"It Hasn't Been This Bad Since The Viking Age": Dry Bulk CEO Warns Of Bankruptcy Tsunami, Counterparty Risk
ZeroHedge | author | 03/04/16

"In the coming months there will be a lot of bankruptcies, counterparty risk will be on everybody's lips. The market has never been this bad before in modern history. We haven't seen a market this bad since the Viking age. This is not sustainable for anybody and will lead to dramatic changes. ... Read more

Carbon Dioxide Levels Reach Highest Point in 15 Million Years
AlterNet | Dahr Jamail | 03/04/16

Recently, a Norwegian Coast Guard icebreaker ship took an interesting trip into the Arctic. The ship found no ice to break, despite the fact that it was the dead of winter and barely 800 miles from the North Pole. ...

... Satellite data now shows we are witnessing a very rapid acceleration in global sea level rise. In the last six years, oceans have risen by five millimeters per year, which is a rate not seen since the ending of the last Ice Age - and it is accelerating. ... Read more

More Bad News for Marco Rubio: He Just Lost the Support of Fox News
NYMag.com | Gabriel Sherman | 03/03/16

In his role as the donor class's darling, Marco Rubio has enjoyed support from the Republicans' media arm, Fox News. Throughout the primary, Fox provided Rubio with friendly interviews and key bookings, including the first prime-time response to Barack Obama's Oval Office address on ISIS. Many of the network's top pundits, including Stephen Hayes and Charles Krauthammer, have been enthusiastic boosters. Bill Sammon, Fox's Washington managing editor, is the father of Rubio's communications director, Brooke Sammon.

But this alliance now seems to be over. According to three Fox sources, Fox chief Roger Ailes has told people he's lost confidence in Rubio's ability to win. "We're finished with Rubio," Ailes recently told a Fox host. "We can't do the Rubio thing anymore." ... Read more

"Donald Trump Is A Phony, A Fraud": Mitt Romney Lashes Out In Desperation Establishment Attack
ZeroHedge | author | 03/03/16

While the GOP establishment already hit peak panic following Trump's Super Tuesday rout, it is about to "rise above" said peak based on an advance transcript of the speech that Mitt Romney will deliver later on Thursday to the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah according, in which he will declare that "Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat." ... Read more

Ted Koppel to Bill O'Reilly - Interviewing Trump is " irrelevant ' now because of you (03/02/16) [3:22]

*MSNBC The Last Word | Republican voted Trump to crash own party (03/02/16) [7:42]

EmpireFiles | 9/11 and the Belligerent Empire (09/12/15) [24:51]

The Human Cost of Saudi Arabia's Air War in Yemen, in PHOTOs
MotherJones | Adam Bailes | 09/28/16

"Yemen after five months looks like Syria after five years."

Mohammed Al-Harazi was eating breakfast with his family one morning in late April when the first rocket struck across the street from his home in Sana'a, Yemen. The 49-year-old ushered his children and wife into the basement, went to fix a window in the children's room, and then he heard the warplanes overhead. When he ran to close the door, the pressure from the next explosion, much larger than the first, sent him flying from the building. ... Read more

TYT | Super Tuesday | Biggest Winner For The Republicans (03/01/16) [6:00]

TYT | Super Tuesday | Bernie Sanders Wins Three Of Four Toss-Up States (03/01/16) [6:16]

TYT | Media Swears Hillary's Unstoppable Because They Know She Isn't (03/01/16) [7:44]

How The U.S. Government And HSBC Teamed Up To Hide The Truth From A Pennsylvania Couple
ZeroHedge | author | 03/02/16

The reason both the Democratic and Republican establishments are in full on panic mode about the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders is a deep seated fear that the plebs have finally woken up.

Democrats rail against big corporations, while Republicans rail against big government. This scheme has been used to successfully divide and conquer the public for decades while big government and big business successfully schemed to divert all wealth and power to an ever smaller minuscule segment of the population -- themselves.

It took awhile, but the people are finally starting getting it and they are royally pissed off. One of the primary mechanisms for this historic elite theft has been the creation of a two-tiered justice system in which the rich, powerful and connected are never prosecuted for their criminality. Instead, the government actively protects them by pretending corporate entities commit crimes as opposed to individuals. Of course, this is impossible, but yet it's how the government handles white collar crime. The Orwellian named "Justice Department" casually utilizes deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs), in which companies pay a little fine and the criminals themselves walk away with not just their freedom, but ill gotten monetary gains as well.

Nowhere is this most apparent than when it comes to the big banks. The individuals who work at these criminal cartels can literally do anything they want with total impunity. One of the most egregious examples of this was the $1.9 billion settlement arranged with HSBC for laundering Mexican drug cartel money and dealing with sanctioned countries. If you or I did this we'd be sitting in a concrete box eating porridge through a straw for the rest of our lives, but when "masters of the world" at big banks do it, the parent company just pays a slap on the wrist fine and life goes on. That's how oligarch justice works. ... Read more

*Confessions of an Economic Hitman (2004) [53:35]

Confession Economic Hitman

The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins

Shocking Bestseller: The original version of this astonishing tell-all book spent 73 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has sold more than 1.25 million copies, and has been translated into 32 languages.

New Revelations: Featuring 15 explosive new chapters, this expanded edition of Perkins's classic bestseller brings the story of economic hit men (EHMs) up to date and, chillingly, home to the US. Over 40 percent of the book is new, including chapters identifying today's EHMs and a detailed chronology extensively documenting EHM activity since the first edition was published in 2004.

Former economic hit man John Perkins shares new details about the ways he and others cheated countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Then he reveals how the deadly EHM cancer he helped create has spread far more widely and deeply than ever in the US and everywhere else--to become the dominant system of business, government, and society today. Finally, he gives an insider view of what we each can do to change it.

Economic hit men are the shock troops of what Perkins calls the corporatocracy, a vast network of corporations, banks, colluding governments, and the rich and powerful people tied to them. If the EHMs can't maintain the corrupt status quo through nonviolent coercion, the jackal assassins swoop in. The heart of this book is a completely new section, over 100 pages long, that exposes the fact that all the EHM and jackal tools -- false economics, false promises, threats, bribes, extortion, debt, deception, coups, assassinations, unbridled military power -- are used around the world today exponentially more than during the era Perkins exposed over a decade ago.

The material in this new section ranges from the Seychelles, Honduras, Ecuador, and Libya to Turkey, Western Europe, Vietnam, China, and, in perhaps the most unexpected and sinister development, the United States, where the new EHMs -- bankers, lobbyists, corporate executives, and others -- "con governments and the public into submitting to policies that make the rich richer and the poor poorer."

But as dark as the story gets, this reformed EHM also provides hope. Perkins offers a detailed list of specific actions each of us can take to transform what he calls a failing Death Economy into a Life Economy that provides sustainable abundance for all.

What You Need To Know About Super Tuesday
HP| Daniel Marans | 03/01/16

Super Tuesday is a Tuesday in the presidential primary election season in which the largest number of states hold their primaries or caucuses.

This year's Super Tuesday takes place on Tuesday, March 1.

The Super Tuesday election day typically features at least a dozen contests, which makes it likely that a candidate who performs well on Super Tuesday will go on to secure the nomination. ... Read more
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"The Others Are Worse Than Hitler" A Middle-American Couple Explain Why They're Voting For Trump
ZeroHedge | author | 03/01/16

With Super Tuesday upon us, it appears no matter what the establishment throws at Donald Trump, nothing seems to stick and reduce his core support's enthusiasm. Many on 'the other side' are unable to comprehend this support and so Indianapolis residents Jon and Elsa Sands wrote to The FT to explain why they are voting for Trump...

Sir, My wife and I are affluent Americans with postgraduate degrees. We are socially liberal and fiscally mildly conservative. We are not the sans-culottes you see as the prototypical Trump voter. We are well aware of his vulgarity and nous deficiency yet we contemplate voting for him. Why? ... Read more

Don't Assume Conservatives Will Rally Behind Trump
fivethirtyeight.com | Nate Silver | 03/01/16

If Donald Trump wins the Republican presidential nomination, he'll have undermined a lot of assumptions we once held about the GOP. He'll have become the nominee despite neither being reliably conservative nor being very electable, supposedly the two things Republicans care most about. He'll have done it with very little support from "party elites" (although with some recent exceptions like Chris Christie). He'll have attacked the Republican Party's three previous candidates -- Mitt Romney, John McCain and George W. Bush -- without many consequences. If a Trump nomination happens, it will imply that the Republican Party has been weakened and is perhaps even on the brink of failure, unable to coordinate on a plan to stop Trump despite the existential threat he poses to it. ... Read more

Journeyman Pictures | Uncovering Saudi Arabia's Suppressed Shia Uprisings (more current) [26:19]

China Faces 15 Trillion Bombshell As Shadow Banking Sector Collapses
ZeroHedge | author | 03/01/16

WMPs (wealth management product) are part and parcel of Beijing's sprawling shadow banking complex which, until 2014 that is, helped pump trillions of yuan into China's economy and shouldered the burden when it came to propping up the most important economy on the planet.

But WMPs are dangerous. In fact, we flagged them as an 8 trillion black swan back in August on the way to asking what would happen if China's shadow banking sector were to collapse altogether.

... This is a very real threat to the Chinese banking sector. The multifarious nature of the space's liabilities makes it virtually impossible for anyone to assess what the embedded risks are. As we first documented last summer, some 40% of credit risk is carried off balance sheet and that figure might well have grown recently, especially considering mid-tier bank's propensity to extend new credit through new cateogries of channel loans that are classified as "investments" and "receivables" ... Read more

The Two-Party Illusion
ZeroHedge | author | 03/01/16

The Great Illusion of the two-party system is that it allows the voter a choice -- usually between a liberal and a conservative government. The reality is that, whichever party wins the election, the government is, in truth, a totalitarian one. The "choice" is a mere distraction from the true objective. ... Read more