Many studies have addressed the question of whether mental disorder is associated with creativity, but high-quality epidemiological evidence has been lacking. According to a study of people in Sweden, artistic education and may really increase the odds of experiencing mental health conditions.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
EMP Commission Warns Of Year-Long Blackout And A Massive Death Toll
A federal EMP commission report warns that even the smallest EMP attack on our grid system would down it for about a year, if not longer. A year-long blackout would certainly be coupled with a massive death toll that would devastate entire populations.
The so-called EMP Commission report said that this threat is very real, jeopardizes “modern civilization,” and would set back living conditions to those last seen in the 1800s. As a result of the chaos, millions would likely die, according to the report titled “Assessing the Threat from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP),” from the recently re-established Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack.
“The United States — and modern civilization more generally — faces a present and continuing existential threat from naturally occurring and man-made electromagnetic pulse assault and related attacks on military and critical national infrastructures. A nationwide blackout of the electric power grid and grid-dependent critical infrastructures — communications, transportation, sanitation, food and water supply — could plausibly last a year or longer. Many of the systems designed to provide renewable, stand-alone power in case of an emergency, such as generators, uninterruptible power supplies, and renewable energy grid components, are also vulnerable to EMP attack,” said the 27-page report.
“A long-term outage owing to EMP could disable most critical supply chains, leaving the U.S. population living in conditions similar to centuries past, prior to the advent of electric power,” said the July 2017 report provided Secrets.
“In the 1800s, the U.S. population was less than 60 million, and those people had many skills and assets necessary for survival without today’s infrastructure. An extended blackout today could result in the death of a large fraction of the American people through the effects of societal collapse, disease, and starvation,” added the executive summary.
Three reports on the issue of an EMP attack have been declassified by the Pentagon and seven more are awaiting clearance. Among those declassified documents, was a report from Peter Vincent Pry, who served on a prior EMP Commission and is executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, spelling out the human toll of an EMP attack on the electric grid. He also advises the current commission.
In “Life Without Electricity,” he said the results would be horrific for most, as the vast majority of Americans have virtually no survival skills. He believes the whole year would look something like this:
- Social Disorder: Looting requires a dusk to dawn curfew for those not wanting to risk their lives. People become refugees as they flee powerless homes. The workforce becomes differently employed at scavenging for the basics, including water, food, and shelter.
- Communications: No TV, radio, or phone service.
- Transportation: Gas pumps will be inoperable. Failure of signal lights and street lights would impede traffic and all traffic would cease after dark, but not many would even have a functioning vehicle anyway. No mass transit metro service and all airlines will be stopped.
- Water and Food: There will be no running water. Stoves and refrigerators will be inoperable. People will have to melt snow, boil water, and cook over open fires. Local food supplies will be exhausted. Most stores will close due to the blackout.
- Energy: Oil and natural gas flows will stop.
- Emergency Medical: Hospitals will have to operate in the dark. Patients on dialysis and other life support will be threatened. Medications administered and babies will be born by flashlight.
- Death and Injury: Casualties from exposure, carbon dioxide poisoning, and house fires increase.
All of these should be kept in mind when prepping for the worst.
Since it’s hard to take that first step and prepare, especially for a year-long power grid failure, a handy guide we’ve often suggested is called The Prepper’s Blueprint. Written by Tess Pennigton, it’ll walk the reader through a prepping regimen with a guide and easy to follow instructions. It’ll give beginning preppers a foundation to build on.
Read the entire EMP Commission report by following the link below:
https://www.scribd.com/document/378714199/EMP-Report
[VIDEO] Bizarre Leftist Claims Parents Need Consent From Babies Before Changing Diapers
Leftists just continue to get stranger in their ideology and quest towards a completely totalitarian/government-controlled society. But now, one bizarre woman claims that parents need consent from their babies before a diaper can be changed.
A fiction novel could never do justice to the ridiculousness of the modern liberal. This is evidenced in an interview conducted by ABC with a terrifyingly serious woman who claims parents should have to get consent from their babies before removing fecal matter from their behinds. The woman who made the ridiculous claim is now under fire.
Deanne Carson, who describes herself as a “sexuality educator, speaker, and author” on Twitter says asking the babies permission would set up an atmosphere of “consent” from birth.
Don’t believe us? Have a look at the video:
Not kidding – look:
She even admits the baby can’t actually respond with consent, but it’s the thought that counts. “Of course the baby is not going to respond, ‘Yes mum, that’s awesome. I’d love to have my nappy changed.’ But if you leave a space, and wait for body language and wait to make eye contact, then you’re letting that child know that their response matters,” Carson says.
What kind of body language are we waiting for here? A different response than a baby screaming because the feces stuck to their sensitive skin is irritating? This woman is a lunatic and we aren’t the only ones who thought so.
LAD Bible reported that many people who saw the segment were completely in amazement at the level of irrationality displayed. People were left feeling pretty confused, shocked and annoyed by her comments, with one writing on Twitter: “If parents are getting advice from this woman about raising a baby then the baby should be removed from parents care.”
Another wrote: “What in the hell is WRONG with these people?”
Someone else said: “Must admit I was watching the whole interview open-mouthed and shaking my head when it was broadcast, and couldn’t believe the interviewer wasn’t remotely questioning some of the nonsense this lady was coming out with.
Sky News commentator Rowan Dean heard about Carson’s comments and was not happy, accurately slamming the segment as “lefty lunacy” on air. “Here we go, Ross,” Dean said to his co-presenter. But he seemed pretty lost for words by the segment, adding: “A consent for changing nappies – I think that might get a bit, uh… Anyway, I won’t go there.”
City Slaps Burn Victim with Violation for Not Mowing Lawn While He Was in the Hospital
After a homeowner was sent to the hospital with severe burns when a natural gas explosion damaged his home, the city threatened him with fines for not mowing his lawn.
The post City Slaps Burn Victim with Violation for Not Mowing Lawn While He Was in the Hospital appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
Activists Uncover Pre-Crime Police Program Operated by the LAPD
One of the most controversial aspects of “policing in the 21st century” is the notion that if police can sweep all information into centralized databases and let artificial intelligence do the investigative work of making connections, then crimes can be prevented before they happen: pre-crime.
One would imagine that if police felt that the public would wholeheartedly embrace this technique, they would be quick to publicly disclose its use and effectiveness. Troublingly, this has not been the case. It has taken the intrepid work of investigative reporters, as well as activists dedicated to stopping warrantless police surveillance, to uncover the details that have been mired in secrecy at several high-profile police departments around the country.
Perhaps the most disturbing of the programs came to light in February by Ali Winston who wrote an investigative report for The Verge exposing a contract between the New Orleans PD and Palantir Technologies. The program was so secretive that not even the city’s elected representatives were made aware of it until the article was published. Subsequently, New Orleans did cancel the contract with Palantir. However, as I reported at the time, Palantir is one of the foremost leaders in the field of predictive algorithms for intelligence work internationally and is directly connected to the CIA. One would naturally have to posit that other police departments must be pursuing similar relationships with Palantir.
A new public records request was filed by activists for the Stop LA Spying Coalition that did, in fact, uncover Palantir’s presence at the LAPD. The results were provided to In Justice Today. The picture that the documents paint looks similar to that which has been detailed in New Orleans and offers additional insight about what is already being utilized, apparently without citizen input and without proper oversight. The result is a “probable offender” list compiled by computer algorithm that has put a target on the backs of anyone swept up in the data stream.
These surveillance reports identify “probable offenders” in select neighborhoods, based on an LAPD point-based predictive policing formula. Analysts find information for their reports using Palantir software, which culls data from police records, including field interview cards and arrest reports, according to an updated LAPD checklist formula, which uses broader criteria than the past risk formula the department was known to have used. These reports, known as Chronic Offender Bulletins, predate Palantir’s involvement with the LAPD, but since the LAPD began using the company’s data-mining software in September 2011, the department claims that bulletins that would have taken an hour to compile now take “about five minutes.”
Los Angeles police argue that targeting “chronic offenders” in this manner helps lower crime rates while being minimally invasive. But the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, a community-based alliance that has advocated against increased LAPD surveillance efforts since 2012, paints a different picture of the Chronic Offender Bulletin program. The group calls it a “racist feedback loop” in which police surveil a set number of people based on data that’s generated by their own racially biased policing, creating more monitoring and thereby more arrests.
Field interview cards, for example, which provide information for the predictive checklist, often result from on-the-street racial profiling, argues Jamie Garcia, the lead organizer on the Predictive Policing campaign with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition. “When we look at LAPD stops, the black population is completely overrepresented,” said Garcia in a phone call. The directives, she says, direct officers “to find these people and to basically harass them…. If you’re constantly being surveilled, constantly being harassed, the chance of something going wrong … The next thing you know, you’re a chalk outline.”
Legal scholars have noted that the institutionalization of risk formulas like the LAPD’s Chronic Offender program checklist can exacerbate existing patterns of discrimination by oversampling those already discriminated against, generating even more biased data that justifies further discrimination.
The LAPD declined IJT’s request for interview, and did not provide answers to written queries about the program. In an email to IJT, Palantir spokesperson Lisa Gordon confirmed that Palantir is used in the creation of Chronic Offender Bulletins, but stressed that the software does not automatically generate the reports and that the selection and vetting of people on these lists are part of “a human-driven process.”
How Pre-Crime Investigations Begin
The target identification process starts with a LAPD analyst looking for “probable offenders” by surveying police records. According to the LAPD documents, analysts deploy Palantir’s file-organizing software to conduct “work-ups” of these individuals, looking for records that add points to their predictive risk scores, which are based on factors, such as whether they are on parole and their number of police contacts in the last two years. Below is an image of one of these “work-ups,” generated a few months before the department adopted Palantir, which IJT found online, completely unredacted, in a May 2013 LAPD presentation.
Once again, we see that not only have the details been kept secret until a forced reveal, but any ensuing questions from the public subjected to the surveillance are treated with disdain. This does nothing to alleviate concerns that these programs have a nefarious purpose. Moreover, the debate is still out as to whether this technology is accurate enough to be used in law enforcement. Even experts in the field have serious concerns (Please see: “Predictive Algorithms Are No Better At Telling The Future Than A Crystal Ball”).
Every police department should be open to requests from the public to explain their conduct. The fact that they continue to shirk their responsibility only highlights why this issue is so important for freedom. Let’s hope that the continuing efforts to keep police accountable will have the same result in Los Angeles as those efforts had in New Orleans.
H/T: Gizmodo
Nicholas West writes for ActivistPost.com. He also writes for Counter Markets agorist newsletter. Follow us at Twitter and Steemit.
Image credit: Phys.org
Cryptos Suddenly Crack As FundStrat Sees Bitcoin $36k By YE2019
Shortly after FundStrat"s Tom Lee presented his thesis for why mining will take Bitcoin to $36,000 by the end of 2019, the crypto space suddenly kneejerked lower on notable volume...
No obvious catalyst for the move for now...
This drop comes as CoinTelegraph reports of new research from Fundstrat Global Advisors places Bitcoin prices at $36,000 by the end of 2019, co-founder Tom Lee revealed Thursday, May 10.
Analysis of the relationship between Bitcoin mining costs and price by Fundstrat’s Quantamental Strategist Sam Doctor has led the market research firm to predict the cryptocurrency’s range will fall between $20,000 and $64,000 by 2019 year end.
image courtesy of CoinTelegraph
The calculations focused on Bitcoin Price to Mining Breakeven Cost Metric, known as P/BE, which Doctor says has “proven a reliable long-term support level.”
“We expect the mining economy to grow over the next several years, and project a BTC price of ~$36,000 by year end 2019 based on the historical average 1.8x P/BE multiple,” an executive summary of the findings uploaded to Twitter by cofounder Tom Lee reads.
CRYPTO: Our quant/data scientist @fundstratQuant publishing #bitcoin mining white paper. Crypto mining economics lead/explain $BTC price—suggests $39,000 per bitcoin by YE19. key takeaways below... pic.twitter.com/f5ZQ4py3jS
— Thomas Lee (@fundstrat) May 10, 2018
The price target is broadly in line with Lee’s own recent prediction of $25,000 by the end of 2018.
Remaining bullish on Bitcoin has characterized both Lee and Fundstrat in recent months, a previous survey in April revealing that 82% of institutional investors believed prices had already “bottomed out.”
The survey also contained a prediction question, with the highest number of respondents opting for a range of between $10,000 and $20,000 by the end of this year.
Five "Most Wanted" ISIS Leaders Captured, Trapped Using Smartphone App
Out of the blue, on Thursday morning a euphoric President Trump tweeted on Thursday that five of the "Most Wanted leaders of ISIS" have been captured.
Five Most Wanted leaders of ISIS just captured!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2018
Hours before, a security advisor to Iraq"s government said that Iraqi agents had detained a top aide to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, then used an app on his smartphone to lure four commanders from the terrorist organization into a trap - convincing the four Iraqis and one Syrian to cross the border from Syria to Iraq where they were captured by officials.
The aide, Ismail al-Eithawi (a.k.a. Abu Zaid al-Iraqi) was captured in Turkey by authorities and handed over to Iraqi counterparts, according to an account told to Reuters by Iraqi security advisor Hisham al-Hashimi. What followed was a three-month operation to track a group of senior Islamic State leaders hiding in Syria and Turkey.
Those arrested included Saddam al-Jammel, a Syrian who had been the head of the Islamic State territory around Deir al-Zour, and Abu Abdel al-Haq, an Iraqi who had been the head of internal security for the group. Two other Iraqis were also arrested, the officials said. -New York Times
Iraqi Intelligence announce they have captured 5 high ranking ISIS commanders in a daring mission which lured to across the border. One captured is Saddam Al-Jamal, originally from Al-Bukamal #Syria #ISIS #Iraq pic.twitter.com/T3bUq0Xku0
— Gareth Browne (@BrowneGareth) May 9, 2018
Al-Jamal AKA Abu Udai Al-Jamal was particularly prominent in his hometown. He is reported to have lead a massacre of more than 70 in 2014 near Al-Bukamal. (2)
— Gareth Browne (@BrowneGareth) May 9, 2018
Iraqi agents used the Telegram messaging app on Eithawi"s mobile phone to lure other Islamic State commanders to cross the border from Syria into Iraq, where they were captured. Those held include Saddam Jamal, a Syrian who served as the group"s governor of Syria"s eastern Euphrates region.
Hashimi described Eithawi and Jamal as the two most senior Islamic State figures ever to be captured alive. The capture of all five was announced on Iraqi state TV on Wednesday.
Hashimi said the operation was carried out in cooperation with U.S. forces, part of an American-led coalition fighting against Islamic State on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border. -Daily Mail
Following the capture of Eithawi, US and Iraqi intelligence agents worked to uncover bank accounts used by the terrorist organization, as well as secret communication codes they had been using, Hashimi said.
The other three men captured were ISIL field commanders: Syrian Mohamed al-Qadeer and two Iraqis, Omar al-Karbouli and Essam al-Zawbai, according to Hashimi - who said "The noose is tightening around him," referring to Baghdadi, whose real name is Ibrahim al-Samarrai.
Baghdadi is believed to be in hiding in the Iraqi-Syrian border region after the loss of once-captured cities and towns of his self-proclaimed caliphate.
Iraq, meanwhile, is committed to eradicating Syrian-based militants, according to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
The Iraqi air force has carried out several air strikes since last year against Islamic State positions in Syrian territory.
Abadi declared final victory last December over the ultra-hardline group within Iraq. But the militants still pose a threat along the border with Syria and have continued to carry out ambushes, killings and bombings across Iraq.
Islamic State militants last month restated their loyalty to Baghdadi, in what is believed to be their first public pledge of allegiance to him since his self-proclaimed caliphate collapsed last year in both Syria and Iraq. -Daily Mail
Adding this to the three rescued hostages from North Korea, and it"s clear that the Trump administration is having a very good day.
Wow. I wonder if these are the guys Obama have back in exchange for Bergdahl? The count for the past 12 hours is pretty impressive. 3 captive brought home 5 isis leaders captured. Today is a good day. https://t.co/Xjo900RKGp
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 10, 2018
This is a remarkable story. The level of coordination and cooperation between the U.S., Iraq, and Turkey is also noteworthy. https://t.co/Gr6WHUclDU
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 10, 2018
✅ Set a summit to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula
✅ Secure the release of American hostages in North Korea + welcome them back home
✅ Capture the Top 5 most wanted members of ISIS
Pretty damn good week for the President @realDonaldTrump and his Administration.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 10, 2018
California Mandates Solar Panels For Most New Homes
Most new homes built in California will be required to have rooftop solar panels beginning in 2020, a mandate expected to add around $9,500 to the cost of a new house - but provide around $19,000 in energy savings over a 30-year period.
Regulators agreed on Wednesday to approve the historic plan, making California the first state in the country to mandate solar-energy installations on the majority of single-family homes and multi-family residential buildings up to three stories - including condos and apartment complexes.
"We cannot let Californians be in homes that are essentially the residential equivalent of gas guzzlers," said CA energy commission member David Hochschild, prior to the vote. "This really puts us on a path to a more efficient future."
Experts, however, warn that forcing builders to require solar panels will just worsen the state"s already horrendous affordable housing crisis.
The California Energy Commission approved the mandate 5-0 as part of the state"s 2019 update to energy efficiency standards, and an ongoing effort to reduce greenhouse gases. According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the state"s robust building sector is the second largest source of greenhouse gasses when fossil fuel burning power plants are factored in.
"This is an undeniably historic decision for the state and the U.S.," said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade association with about 1,000 member companies. "California has long been our nation"s biggest solar champion, and its mass adoption of solar has generated huge economic and environmental benefits, including bringing tens of billions of dollars of investment into the state." -CNBC
The new mandate caused solar stocks to jump on Wednesday - sending SunPower up 6%, Sunrun 4% and First Solar 3%.
Dave Fanger, CEO Swell Investing - whose Green Tech and Renewable Energy portfolios hold solar investments says that "Overall, we expect with California"s mandate some companies within the solar and broader renewable industry stand to benefit positively, including those who make panels and component parts, as well as those who assist with installation and ensure efficient use of energy."
The new energy efficiency standards also apply to everything from indoor air quality to current ventilation systems, which we"re sure won"t drive costs up in the golden state. Every three years the state updates their efficiency standards, with the ultimate goal of "net-zero" energy homes which have very small carbon footprints.
California in transition
California"s renewable portfolio standard requires power companies to adopt at least 50% of their total energy sources from renewables such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric by 2030. Meanwhile, around 15-20% of single-family houses built in the state have solar panel installations. As CNBC notes, at least seven cities in the state have solar mandates of one type or another, including San Francisco.
"Adoption of these standards represents a quantum leap in statewide building standards," Bob Raymer, the technical director for the CBIA said in remarks to the energy commission prior to the vote in Sacramento. "No other state in the nation will have anything close to this — and you can bet every one of the 49 other states will be watching closely to see what happens."
Raymer also applauded state regulators for working with builders "to significantly reduce overall compliance costs and to provide increased design flexibility." He said that cooperation "was the key to gaining industry support from these first-of-a-kind regulations." -CNBC
The new solar mandate includes compliance credits for the installation of battery storage technology - meaning that homeowners whose rooftop system store energy during the day for use at night when rates are higher.
Falling costs
Rooftop solar systems have fallen in price considerably over the last several years, while the technology has become more efficient and aesthetically pleasing - such as ones which look like traditional roof shingles.
Solar shingles are photovoltaic cells designed to look like and integrate with conventional asphalt roof shingles. First commercially available in 2005, solar shingles were much more costly than traditional “bolt-on” photovoltaic panels, and thus were used mainly by those wanting to go solar but maintain a traditional roofline. But more recently solar shingles have become price-competitive with bolt-on panels, and are getting much more popular accordingly. Eco-conscious home and building owners might find solar shingles especially attractive when they are re-shingling anyway since the solar shingles also double as functional, protective and weatherproof roof shingles in their own right. -Scientific American
The largest name in solar shingles is Dow"s Powerhouse brand, which uses copper indium gallium selenide solar cells (aka "thin-film solar") to generate 12 watts per square foot and are designed for structures already connected to the power grid which can send power back (known as "grid-tied").
Affordable Housing woes
CNBC notes that the new solar initative will strain an already-painful affordable housing crunch throughout California.
"Affordable housing is maybe the number one issue for Californians right now," said Lucas Davis, an associate professor at the Haas School of Business at University of California-Berkeley. Davis thinks CA regulators may be making a huge mistake.
"You don"t need a mandate here — we already have vast amounts of solar in California," said Davis. "Half of U.S. solar is installed in California, so it"s not at all clear to me you needed the mandate. We"re actually paying other states to take our electricity during daylight hours."
Davis thinks that electricity rates will rise as the solar mandate kicks in due to a "cost shift" to non-solar homeowners who will be forced to pay higher electricity costs.
"We already have some of the highest electricity rates in the country, and this will only be exacerbated by this mandate," he said. "As more and more rooftop solar gets installed, that pushes the cost onto all the non-solar customers."
Realtor.com"s chief economist Danielle Hale said that the mandate could "cause builders to hurry to complete projects before the mandate kicks in Jan. 1, 2020," adding that "affordable new construction already lags demand" and could get worse as a result of the solar mandate.
Only one question; what will California regulators mandate in 5-15 years when there are tons and tons of dead lithium ion batteries which need a landfill to call home for the next few millennia?
Unexpectedly Strong Demand For Record Big 30Y Auction
With upsized 3 and 10 Year Treasury auctions pricing earlier this week at stronger internals than the bears had anticipated, moments ago the US Treasury sold a similarly upsized $17BN in 30Y paper - the largest long-bond auction on record - and yet the market had virtually no problem digesting the added supply, which in light of today"s disappointing CPI print is probably not very surprising.
The 30Y stopped at a high yield of 3.130%, stopping through the 3.138% When Issued by 0.8bps; it was the third consecutive 30Y "stopping through" auction in a row, and 7 of the past 8. It was above last month"s 3.044% and was the highest yield since March 2017, when the 30Y priced at 3.17%.
The internals were solid, with the Bid to Cover of 2.38 above the 2.27 average from the past 3 refundings, if modestly below the 6 month average of 2.42, and under last month"s 2.41. Indirects were awarded 62.7%, better than both last month"s 61.0% and the 6 month average 62.5%. Directs took down 8.3%, a steep drop from last month"s 14.6%, and below the recent average of 10.0%. This left Dealers holding 28.9% of the allotment, modestly above 24.4% in April and above the 6MMA of 27.4%.
And so, with $73BN in gross issuance pricing this week ($31BN in 3Y; $25BN in 10Y, and $17BN in 30Y), after $33.9BN in paper matured, there was a net $39.1BN increase in coupon debt; what is surprising is how easily all of this debt was digested, resulting in a solid bid under the entire TSY curve in kneejerk response.
Central Banks: The Great Experiment Has Failed
Authored by Nomi Prins via The Daily Reckoning,
My latest book, Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World, is about the leading central banks and their incestuous relationships.
The book dives into how central banks rigged the cost of money and the state of the markets, and ultimately created more inequality and instability as a result. They did all of this in order to subsidize private banks at the expense of people everywhere.
The book reveals the people in charge of these strategies, their elite gatherings and public and private communications. It uncovers how their policies rerouted economies, geopolitics, trade wars and elections.
Central banks have several functions from an official standpoint.
The first is to regulate the smooth and orderly operation of private banks or public banks within a particular country or region (the ECB is responsible for many countries in Europe).
The other function they are tasked with is setting interest rates (the cost of borrowing money) so that there’s adequate economic balance between full employment and a select inflation rate.
The idea is that if the cost of money is cheap enough, private banks will lend to the general population and businesses. The ultimate goal is that the money can be used to expand enterprise, hire people and develop a stronger economy.
In an environment where the cost of money is too cheap, it could cause inflation. When inflation rises, central banks are expected to lower the cost of money in order to keep it under wraps.
While those basic functions should be relatively simple, what has unfolded is anything but.
Since the financial crisis, the Fed has been unleashed. The U.S. central bank has quite literally fabricated nearly $4.5 trillion in funds to buy bonds (assets) from the major private banks. It should be noted that those private banking institutions are members of the Fed system.
The Fed then provides that money to the banks and the institution can then hold the funds in reserve, or choose to sell their Treasury or mortgage bonds back to the Fed.
The reality is, central banks have provided money as cheaply as possible to banks in order to keep the private banking system operating.
When looking at the world since the financial crisis, it was clear that there was a “pivot” between regions. Different countries, and their respective central banks, were either forced to participate in, or caught up in, in the collusion started by the Fed.
The Fed’s playbook was then deployed across the world by other central banks.
In particular, the G7 collectively fabricated $21 trillion worth of money. They took the liberty then to buy government bonds, corporate bonds, mortgage bonds and, in the case of Japan, ETFs (exchange-traded funds). Other banks, like Switzerland, went so far as to create money and directly purchase stocks.
What this meant was that an external supply of money was injected into the world’s markets, in a nearly limitless amount. These actions pushed markets higher, and the bond markets were inflated with this excess money, causing a new round of debt bubbles.
These “conjured money” efforts did nothing to alter the fundamental values of companies. Companies could borrow money and buy their own stocks on the cheap, increasing the size of corporate debt and the level of the stock market to record highs.
Because money was so cheap and interest rates so low, no other investment opportunities could offer the same high returns, so speculators piled into the stock markets, further elevating their levels.
We have built up corporate debt and the markets to such great highs that the potential for a fall would be at an unprecedented level. To further complicate the matter, we have seen record buybacks occurring in the markets, but such landmark moves are not connected to organic growth and are detached from the foundation of any economy.
To visualize this, imagine pulling the rug out from under a table full of dishes. The higher you stack the dishes, the greater the crash when they fall.
Today’s global debt to GDP ratio stands at a record of 224%, according to the IMF’s latest calculations, amidst record debt of $164 trillion. Much of that debt was created because the central banks offered up money at such cheap levels to borrow.
To add to the complexity, certain central banks are starting to realize that reversing their course could present its own problems. If those cheap money rates do rise, and currencies like the dollar appreciate in value, developing countries that took on debts over the past decade will be cornered into a difficult position to repay it.
That debt trap itself could be a catalyst for economic shock and job losses. Such moves would likely begin in lesser-developed economies, and eventually grow outward.
There is also considerable reason to believe that any major banking collapse could have similar characteristics. Banks will either lock down the money they lent, or restrict the funds available for withdrawal to depositors, depending on the severity level of collapse.
Historically, governments have tried to respond to such conditions with government-led bailouts (augmented by corresponding central bank bailouts), but they are not usually enough to forestall stock markets crashing, pensions tanking and life-insurance funds being gutted.
Perhaps most alarming, we have seen virtually no real steps to reform the financial system.
Despite some cosmetic regulations to curtail certain risky behaviors, since the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, there is still no division between depositors’ funds and those used by banks for speculation.
The big banks continue to make massive trading bets, and corporations are still focused on buying back stock for short-term shareholder gains rather than reinvestment in their businesses.
Since the financial crisis, not a single bank CEO has been seriously punished, despite the frauds and felonies committed by the biggest U.S. banks. If a person steals a car, he gets charged with a felony and likely goes to prison. If a big bank, like Wells Fargo recently, scams millions of dollars of phony fees from its customers, its CEO gets a raise.
Meanwhile, the government regulator in charge gets a promotion to a top spot in the Federal Reserve system.
By bringing back legislation like the Glass-Steagall Act that divides those two elements of banking, separating them into different institutions, we could keep banks from having greater influence on government. It would also help protect everyday citizens’ money.
Meanwhile, we could limit the amount of money central banks can fabricate to artificially elevate these banks and the markets — markets in which the majority of people have no stake. In fact, just 10% of the population owns 84% of the stock market.
At the very least, we could have an independent audit of these central banks to allow voters and leaders to better understand where their money goes and what is used for.
We should also call out and alter the austerity measures enacted throughout the world that are punitive to people, while in the backdrop so much money has been conjured to help the banks and financial system.
By doing so we could potentially shift central banks’ roles as well as private banks’ incentives to building long-term infrastructure and to financing small and local businesses. In this way, we could assist the less wealthy and enable upward mobility for all.
Globally, the $21 trillion conjured by these central banks that still remains, if diverted into the foundational — or real — economy could provide regular citizens of the world (to whom I dedicate my new book) a fighting chance.
Goldman And Apple To Launch Joint Credit Card
One week after we reported that in its latest push to take the retail banking world by storm, Goldman has sunk so low that about 20% of the clients on its consumer loan "Marcus" platform are considered subprime and that in its push to attract even more home-improvement loan clients, the bank recruited former "bachelorette", JoJo Fletcher, to, well, sell subprime loans...
... it now appears that Goldman has another cunning plan of taking the retail banking world by storm: launching a joint credit card with Apple, a move which according to the WSJ "would deepen the technology giant’s push into its customers’ wallets and mark the Wall Street firm’s first foray into plastic."
The planned "Appleman Sachs" card would carry the Apple Pay brand and could launch as soon as early 2019; as part of the transition to Goldman, Apple would replace its longstanding rewards-card partnership with Barclays.
But why would Wall Street"s (formerly) best connected FDIC-backed hedge fund need to bother with such a low-margin product as a credit card? The same question goes for aApple?
Well, according to the WSJ, the joint card could help the companies combat weaknesses in their core businesses:
As new iPhone sales growth slows, Apple is focusing on services such as mobile payments, streaming-music subscriptions, and App Store sales. Apple Pay, which generates revenue on each transaction, is a key contributor, but adoption has been slower than executives hoped.
Goldman, meanwhile, is pushing into consumer banking to compensate for a slump in securities-trading, where revenue has fallen by two-thirds since the financial crisis. It launched a retail banking business called Marcus in 2016 for online savings accounts and personal loans, and executives have been exploring adding credit cards and wealth-management tools.
Of course, what matters to Goldman is scale which the bank can not achieve at the revolving credit level, so the partnership will extend into other services including Goldman offering in-store loans to Apple customers buying iPhones and other gadgets.
Translated: the next time you want to buy an iPhone, a cheerful, minimum-wage Goldman employee will offer you a generous $100,000 loan, which just happens to reset into a generous 14.95% APR 6 months after funding...
Congress Releases All 3,500 "Russian" Facebook Ads
Public Health Warning: Reading these ads can cause you to become a "Russian operative" and has been known to bend your mind to vote against "the most qualified candidate ever."
* * *
It has been more than a month since Republicans on the House Intel Committee officially ended the probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, and roughly a week since they released an unredacted version of their investigative report that revealed more lies told by top FBI officials.
So it"s understandable that Democrats on the Intel committee are chomping at the bit to revive the anti-Russia hysteria. And in their latest attempt, Democrats have finally released all of the more than 3,500 Russian-bought Facebook ads that purportedly swayed the 2016 vote in Trump"s favor. Of course, anti-Russia sentiment, which seemed ubiquitous just six short months ago, has more recently faded from view as the public has realized that there"s "no "there" there," as FBI special agent Peter Strzok said in a tweet to his mistress.
But after seeing the ads, which are sorted by the time during which they ran, it"s impossible to believe the Russians didn"t have something to do with it. After all, instead of running ads that blatantly supported President Trump, most of the ads we found supported progressive causes like Black Lives Matter and gay rights - causes which President Trump unambiguously supports, right?
Here"s an ad expressing support for Russian President Vladimir Putin"s favorite athlete, Colin Kaepernick...
...and here"s another supporting a pair of YouTubers who had their Facebook account banned for reportedly being Russian propagandists. In one video, they told black viewers not to go out and vote, arguing that there was "no point."
Meanwhile, another ad expressed support for gay rights.
After careful viewing, it should be obvious to all that these ads - many of which ran before or after the election, and only a small fraction of which expressed support for conservative causes - had a larger impact on the outcome of the election than the entire mainstream media, which pumped out anti-Trump coverage 24 hours a day for more than six months leading up to the vote.
Lol, so Kremlin ads were more effective at targeting and convincing American voters than the entire domestic mainstream media supporting Hillary Clinton https://t.co/PckLHpWfuV
— GreekFire23 (@GreekFire23) May 10, 2018
It"s a relief to finally get some confirmation that electing the most anti-establishment candidate in the history of American politics wasn"t the American people"s fault.
Find the rest of the ads here.
Third Point"s Loeb Joins Dalio On "The Short Side": "Companies Are Going Down"
"This is not a time to be rewarded for long market exposure..."
Those are the warning words from yet another billionaire hedge fund manager as expectations of further market disruptions loom.
A day after the largest hedge fund in the world shifts to a net short equities position, as Ray Dalio"s Bridgewater no longer "feels pretty stupid" about being out of US stocks; Dan Loeb"s Third Point puts his money where his mouth is and dramatically increases his short bets.
Billionaire Loeb wrote in his letter to investors last week :
Market shifts are inherently difficult to anticipate and when they happen, they do not ring a bell but they do blow a dog whistle, as we have said in the past. Our job is to listen carefully and to take decisive action when we suspect change is afoot. We believe that the increase in our short book and our reduced net and gross reflect what we are hearing.
And this morning, on an earnings conference call for Third Point Re., where he oversees investments, Loeb told investors:
"It"s a good time to have more balance on the short side,"
...adding that he sees more opportunities to find companies that will "go down or materially underperform the rest of the portfolio."
As Bloomberg reports, the hedge fund manager said investors have become increasingly concerned about stock multiples, since after years of low interest rates, there’s finally an alternative to equities in the form of “relatively riskless” two-year treasuries.
And while hedgies have been waiting for a return of volatility to exploit price movements after several years of crazy-calm markets, Loeb’s response has been to add to his hedge fund’s equity short portfolio, he said on the call.
"We intend to further increase short exposure to fundamental single names and quantitative derived baskets in 2018 and rely less on market hedges to dampen volatility and reduce net exposure," he said.
So, like Dalio, Loeb is notably derisking his gross book overall and pushing his positioning to the short side (for stocks). Wonder what Warren Buffett thinks of that?
Finally, Loeb said his firm is watching to see if a recession, which it doesn’t think is near, might be closer that market believes - as he noted previously:
"as manufacturing indices (PMI’s) cool from elevated levels, there is a real question about just which inning of the late cycle we are in. While we don’t believe a recession is close, there is definitely a concern that it is getting closer.
Merkel: "Europe Can No Longer Rely On The US To Protect It"
With Europe having failed to prevent Donald Trump from withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal despite sending both Macron and Merkel to Washington in an attempt to persuade him, the tension between Europe and the US has escalated, and on Thursday morning, Merkel said that Europe can no longer rely on US "to protect it."
#BREAKING Europe can no longer rely on US "to protect it": Merkel
— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 10, 2018
"It’s no longer the case that the United States will simply just protect us. Rather, Europe needs to take its fate into its own hands, that"s the task of the future," Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday in a speech commending French President Emmanuel Macron at prize ceremony in Aachen, Germany.
Then again, this is Germany, the same nation which only has 4 fully-functioning Eurofighter jets in operation.
Merkel also says that "we will make progress” together with France on banking union and capital markets union, though “these are difficult discussions", and commented that German differences with France "don’t separate us, rather they always bring us back together."
Merkel"s view on the fraying relationship with the US echoes the earlier statement of the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, who said during a Thursday address that Washington "had lost vigor, and because of it, in the long term, influence," suggesting that Europe should take over the US" role as global leader.
Meanwhile, further breaking away with the unilateral action employed by Trump, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini stressed that the bloc reserved the right to act in its security interests, calling on the international community to preserve the JCPOA.
Donald Trump announced on Tuesday, that US was withdrawing from the JCPOA, which is also known as the Iran nuclear deal, causing a major backlash among the European allies of the US. He also promised to re-impose the highest level of economic sanctions against Tehran in response to the development of the nuclear program. So far Europe has stressed it is business as usual when it comes to one of its key oil suppliers, and the deal remains in place, no matter what Trump says or does.
"Unstable" Tesla Battery Reignites Days After Bursting Into Flames As NTSB Probes Latest Deadly Tesla Crash
What has already been a stressful week for Elon Musk - which started with his now legendary conference call meltdown and promptly deteriorated from there - is about to turn even less pleasant, because one day after two teens were killed in a "horrific" Model S crash in Ft. Lauderdale, when the two 18-year-olds died after being trapped in the burning vehicles, the NTSB is launching an investigation into this incident.
The probe which comes two months after Tesla and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board had a fallout over the board’s investigation into a deadly, March 23 crash in Mountain View, involving a Tesla vehicle on Autopilot, will be mainly focused on "the emergency response in relation to the electric vehicle battery fire" as Elektrek reports that batteries from the other crash under investigation reignited days after the accident.
The NTSB issued a statement announcing their investigation into the crash. NTSB Chairman Robert S. Sumwalt, on whom Elon Musk recently hung up, commented:
“NTSB has a long history of investigating emerging transportation technologies, such as lithium ion battery fires in commercial aviation, as well as a fire involving the lithium ion battery in a Chevrolet Volt in collaboration with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In addition, the NTSB is currently investigating a fire involving the transportation of hydrogen gas for fuel cell vehicles. The goal of these investigations is to understand the impact of these emerging transportation technologies when they are part of a transportation accident.”
The NTSB sent 4 investigators to Florida and will “primarily focus on emergency response in relation to the electric vehicle battery fire, including fire department activities and towing operations.”
The second Tesla probe in two months comes shortly after the stunning news that the Mountain View Fire Department shared a report with other fire departments about the aftermath of the fatal Tesla Model X accident in Mountain View that is now also under NTSB investigation.
In the report (via KTVU), the fire department said that they monitored the battery pack and it reignited days after the March 23 accident, with Mountain View Fire Chief Juan Diaz commenting:
“In this particular case, six days later, the temperature inside those cells increased to the point of ignition. That’s why the car reignited. You have stored energy that is frankly unstable.”
Think of a nuclear meltdown in which the plutonium rods spontaneously combust over and over as there is no way to cool them sufficiently. It"s kinda like that.
Amusingly, Tesla recommends using “large amounts of water” to extinguish a battery fire in its vehicles and to use a thermal imaging camera to monitor the battery for at least one hour after it is found to be completely cooled:
“If the high voltage battery catches fire, is exposed to high heat, or is bent, twisted, cracked, or breached in any way, use large amounts of water to cool the battery. DO NOT extinguish with a small amount of water. Always establish or request an additional water supply.”
More appropriately, the company also offers online training for fire departments about how to handle its vehicles after a crash. In other words, if you are driving a Tesla, better pray that if you get in a crash, your fireman has taken his annual Tesla online remedial checkup.
As Elektrek adds, in the case of the March 23 accident, Tesla was able to send engineers to assist the firefighters in removing the vehicle and its battery pack from the scene since it was near its factory and headquarters (pictures via Dean C. Smith on Twitter).
We doubt Elon Musk will be cooperative with the NTSB this time considering the growing feud between the government regulators and the increasingly erratic electric car company CEO.
The Death Of Free Speech: Twitter Ramps Up CENSORSHIP Of ‘Hate Facts’
Twitter is banning conservatives and others who don’t subscribe to the leftist mentality plaguing social media. Using the excuse that people are posting “hate facts,” the social media outlet is just shutting down accounts that post any truth that doesn’t fare well for the liberal agenda.
By now, it should be well understood that the terms “hate facts” and “hate speech” are nothing more than buzzwords used by the left as an excuse to suppress the speech of those with which they disagree. This is becoming more and more apparent as we devolve quickly toward a fully totalitarian system too.
Breitbart reported that the most high-profile individual to be banned on this basis was Islam critic Tommy Robinson, who received a permanent ban from Twitter after he posted statistics showing that Muslims are vastly overrepresented in child grooming gangs in the U.K. Robinson is now taking Twitter to court to prove that “facts are now treated as hate.”
The censorship of British accounts, including those of the Britain First team, is tied to increasing pressure from European governments for social media platforms to censor their users. Robinson claims that 10,000 Twitter accounts have been closed at the request of the U.K. government over alleged “hate.”
Facebook has banned the conservative political group Britain First for breaking its rules that prohibit “hate speech” on the social media platform. Facebook said they had “repeatedly posted content designed to incite animosity and hatred against minority groups.”
Britain First described itself as “a patriotic resistance and ‘frontline’ for our long-suffering people” that will “restore Christianity as the bedrock” of national life and put British workers first. –SHTFPlan
There are now concerns that the accounts of American users are also being shut down at the request of European governments. Nick Monroe, an independent journalist based in America, says he was banned from the platform after he began an investigation of Tell MAMA, an “anti-Islamophobia” organization based in the United Kingdom. Monroe’s account was eventually restored without explanation only after he publicized his story, and Breitbart contacted Twitter for comments.
Even when European politics aren’t involved, Twitter still punishes conservatives for making factual claims. Conservative twitter user Mark Samenfink had his account locked after claiming that black-on-black homicide was more common than other types of homicide and implying that Islamic terror attacks were more common than non-Islamic terror attacks. But these facts fly in the fact of the globalist and liberal agenda of complete government control over everyone, so Twitter is doing it’s part to suppress factual information, just like Google, and Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.
Twitter also refuses to address attempts by left-wingers to scam its reporting system. Pro-Israel account Ozraeli Dave was hit with a temporary suspension over a tweet in which he called out an anti-semitic tweet from another user. Facebook has used this tactic as well, suspending a conservative comedian for posting violent hate messages he’s received from liberals.
Williams stated that despite multiple reports drawing Facebook’s attention to the screenshots and the abuse he keeps receiving, Facebook failed to act. “Facebook said that they reviewed the screenshots and said that none of the threats violated Facebook’s guidelines,” said Williams. –SHTFPlan
In January, Twitter employees were caught on camera boasting about discriminating against pro-Trump, conservative accounts. One employee discussed shadowbanning political accounts, a practice that Twitter has continually denied using, while another claimed that accounts that expressed an interest in “god, guns, and America” were likely to be flagged as “bots.” Another employee, Mo Norai, explained that Twitter moderators regularly discriminated against accounts deemed to be pro-Trump.
“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself.” –Potter Stewart
“The things that are going to be blocked are not going to be fake stories. The things that are going to be blocked and censored, the things they are going to keep from people is going to be stuff they just don’t want you to focus on or know about.” – Melissa Dykes
Iran Claims Israel Attack Was A False Flag
This report was originally published by Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge
In the aftermath of one of the most severe Israeli attacks on Syria “in decades,” Iranian lawmakers said Thursday that Iran had no role in the attack, and that Shia nation doesn’t operate any bases in Syria.
Mohammad Javad Jamali Nobandegani, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, said Israel’s claim that Iran had provoked Israel by firing first was “a lie,” adding that “Israel’s history of carrying out unprovoked attacks in Syria has been well-documented.”
“Iran does not have military base in Syria,” Nobandegani added.
And while Iran maintains that last night’s skirmish between the Israeli Defense Force and Syrian Army forces was a false flag, and that the IDF struck first (continuing its pattern of airstrikes and other military assaults in Syria), the IDF boasted Thursday morning that Tehran “will need a lot of time to recover” from the most extensive Israeli attack in Syria since 1974.
Meanwhile, Israel said Iran paid a “heavy price” for its (nonexistent) aggression following multiple Israeli airstrikes against what Tel Aviv said were targets belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp’s Quds Force.
Unsurprisingly, the alleged Iranian attack resulted in no casualties or damage to Israeli infrastructure, with no rockets hitting Israeli-held territory (the Golan Heights border region is considered Syrian territory occupied by Israel).
“Iran will need a lot of time and resources to rehabilitate its operational, military and intelligence infrastructures we hit tonight,” an IDF spokesman said. The spokesman warned that “any other attempt” to hurt Israel will “pay even more.”
A map of the military targets published by the IDF shows multiple sites near Damascus and also near the Syria-Israel border.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman claims “all the Iranian infrastructure” in the Arab republic was hit.
The IDF has struck dozens of Iranian military targets in Syria in response to the Iranian rocket attack against Israel. Quds force is behind attack and has played the initial price. IDF remains ready for various scenarios but does not seek to escalate the situation. pic.twitter.com/4rC8gHK2LG
— Jonathan Conricus (@LTCJonathan) May 10, 2018
During the attack, Israeli jets and mortars struck intelligence sites and arms depots, among other military targets allegedly operated by the Iranian forces. Syria’s SANA state news channel said earlier that a Syrian radar installation was hit in the attack while “tens” of missiles were intercepted.
Though the IDF says it’s not seeking “further escalation,” the IDF says that “the Syrian regime will be held accountable for everything happening in its territory,” and has warned against any retaliatory attack.
“They must understand that if it rains here, it will pour there,” said Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who spoke at the Herzliya security conference near Tel Aviv several hours after the skirmish began.
Lieberman added that Israeli forces remain on high alert, but said he hopes this “chapter” is finished.
Naturally, most Western media like the New York Times – which has repeatedly demonstrated a fervent pro-Israeli bias – opted to take the IDF at its word, a move that drew consternation from independent Syrian journalists.
Maybe don’t let the Israelis dictate headlines pic.twitter.com/XCMywDP1AH
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) May 9, 2018
Of course, in the aftermath of recent attacks on Syria over “chemical attacks” which were alleged but never actually proven, why even bother to verify Iran’s claims when it’s easier to just quote Israel.
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