Big Lie

How long can this rally last?

"Is today’s rally in stocks something you can count on and invest in with profitable results? Or is it likely to end soon — most likely, just as you put YOUR money on the table? Among the thousands of investors flocking to Las Vegas for the Money Show this week — in workshops, during cocktails and around the hotel’s gambling tables — this is the big question being asked over and over again. It’s the same question debated on Yahoo! Finance, CNBC, and in the halls of big Wall Street firms. Everyone wants to know. Many venture to guess. But we do know that most stocks are going up for all the wrong reasons." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow long can this rally last?

Japan rejecting Osaka mayor’s view that ‘Comfort Women’ were ‘necessary’

"A large majority of Japanese people disagree with a high-profile politician who said women forced to provide sex during World War II were a military necessity, polls issued on Monday said. Up to 200,000 'comfort women' from Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere were forcibly drafted into brothels catering to the Japanese military during WWII, according to mainstream historians. Outspoken Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto said last week these women served a 'necessary' role keeping soldiers in line, sparking outrage in China and South Korea and inviting US criticism." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJapan rejecting Osaka mayor’s view that ‘Comfort Women’ were ‘necessary’

An open letter to marijuana prohibitionists and so-called third-way-ers

"I keep hearing from your side that you have noble motives for your opposition to marijuana legalization. I hear that all you care about is using scientific inquiry to determine what is best for the people. However, I’m not sure if you’re aware of it, but you keep talking about things in ways that aren’t scientific, or that are meaningless without the proper context. That kind of thing may have worked once, but in general, people are a little more sophisticated about scientific knowledge — they no longer uncritically accept 'Here be dragons' for cartography or 'If she floats, she’s a witch' as a judicial system." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAn open letter to marijuana prohibitionists and so-called third-way-ers

The Truth: Chained CPI Is Worse Than You Thought

"The proposal to change the measure of inflation used for federal programs to chained CPI, which rises more slowly than conventional inflation measures, is usually framed as a Social Security cut. And it is. The CBO estimates that it will save $133 billion in Social Security costs over 10 years. But it’s also a tax increase. Currently, the cutoffs for different tax brackets rise with CPI-U, a non-chained measure of inflation. Chained CPI would cause the cutoffs to rise more slowly, pushing more and more people into higher tax brackets. That raises $99 billion over 10 years. So about 43 percent of the deficit reduction from chained CPI comes from increased taxes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Truth: Chained CPI Is Worse Than You Thought

Bill Bonner: This is not a normal economy at all

"'Normal' is what you get when you don't experiment. So, how can you get to 'normal' from a 'Great Experiment?' We will leave that for the philosophers of tomorrow. Today, we'll merely suggest that maybe this economy isn't so normal. What's normal about an economy where the major financial institutions can borrow money at zero real cost? What's normal about an economy in which people who have run their businesses so recklessly that they had to be bailed out by the government are still running their businesses...and can now borrow at lower rates than good businesses?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: This is not a normal economy at all

Benghazi: Who Cares?

"In Libya, the media has gotten side tracked on a potentially sensational Obama administration cover up—no matter how minor—instead of asking the more important questions: 'Would U.S. diplomats have been killed if the United States had not overthrown Muammar Gaddafi and destabilized Libya?' or 'Did the U.S. military intervention destabilize the entire region by unleashing Gaddafi’s huge weapon stocks and fighters into places like Mali?' Bloodthirsty Republicans, such as John McCain and Lindsay Graham, don’t want to ask these questions, because it would undermine the rationale for their zealous advocacy of an ill-advised American intervention in Libya." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBenghazi: Who Cares?

Merkel Admits She Was “Responsible for Brainwashing in the Favour of Marxism”

"A new book is out that claims current German Chancellor Angela Merkel, while living in the 1980's in then East Germany, was a physicist and also member of the communist youth organisation 'Freie Deutsche Jugend' at the Academy of Sciences in Eastern Berlin and was in charge of 'agitation and propaganda', the journalists Ralf Georg Reuth and Günther Lachmann claim in their book. 'I never concealed anything', she said at a Berlin cinema on Sunday night. Ms Merkel admitted that she was not only a member of the FDJ but also of the workers’ union and the German-Soviet friendship society, both organisations with strong ties to the ruling Communist party." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMerkel Admits She Was “Responsible for Brainwashing in the Favour of Marxism”

How to Spot a Market Top

"The wide array of optimistic extremes in sentiment measures includes several readings that exceed the extremes of 2007, when the Dow made its previous high. With a finishing structure that Elliott Wave Principle describes as occurring at 'the termination points of larger patterns,' the market is ripe for a decline of historic magnitude. The sudden, loud chorus of market bulls, which has grown to a full-blown crescendo, fits perfectly with the terminal stages of a major advance. This chart shows the stunning breadth of optimism extending to every class of investor." Continue reading →

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CEO of World’s Biggest Bond Fund: Government Has Rigged the Game Against Investors

"Investors are being haircutted by at least 200 basis points judged by historical standards, which in the past offered no QE and priced Fed Funds close to the level of inflation. Large holders of U.S. government bonds, including China and Japan, will be repaid, but in the interim they will be implicitly defaulted on or haircutted via negative real interest rates. . . . Future haircuts might even include a wealth tax. Are gold and/or AA+ sovereign bonds good as money? Usually, but capital controls can clip you if you’re not careful." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCEO of World’s Biggest Bond Fund: Government Has Rigged the Game Against Investors

Editorial-Page Fiction at the New York Times

"They want us to believe that 'slashed' budgets and inadequate spending have caused 'worse health outcomes' in nations such as Greece, Italy, and Spain, particularly when compared to Germany, Iceland, and Spain. But if government spending is the key to good health, how do they explain away this OECD data, which shows that government is actually bigger in the three supposed 'austerity' nations than it is in the three so-called 'stimulus' countries." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEditorial-Page Fiction at the New York Times