What Could Possibly Go Wrong

Former Cops Speak Out About Police Militarization

"In the book, I interview lots of older and retired police officers, many of them with SWAT experience. I also cite other police chiefs and sheriffs over the years who have raised concerns about militarization. The divide among police on this issue isn't political. Instead, the divide appears to be more generational. Older and retired cops don't seem to like where policing is headed. Younger cops, who are nudging policing in a more militaristic direction, are naturally fine with it." Continue reading →

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Now We Know Why Googling Pressure Cooker Bombs Gets a Visit from Cops

"Michele Catalano was looking for information online about pressure cookers. Her husband, in the same time frame, was Googling backpacks. Wednesday morning, six men from a joint terrorism task force showed up at their house to see if they were terrorists. Which prompts the question: How'd the government know what they were Googling? Because the Googling happened at work. One hundred times a week, groups of six armed men drive to houses in three black SUVs, conducting consented-if-casual searches of the property perhaps in part because of things people looked up online." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNow We Know Why Googling Pressure Cooker Bombs Gets a Visit from Cops

Population trends cloud Europe’s post-recession outlook

"Slowly but unsurely, Europe is facing up to population trends that will sap long-run economic growth. Some countries are getting an early taste of difficulties that await Europe as the continent's baby boomers retire and, because of flagging fertility rates, the average age of those left in the labour force rises. Spain, Portugal and Ireland all lost about 2 percent of their working-age adults between 2010 and the first quarter of 2013, raising the question of who pays for pensions and age-related health care costs in countries that are educating their youngsters only to see many of them emigrate and pay taxes elsewhere." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPopulation trends cloud Europe’s post-recession outlook

Bankrupt Detroit Receives Less U.S. Aid Than Colombia

"President Barack Obama proposed giving Colombia about $323 million in aid next year, mostly to combat drug trafficking and violence. Detroit, with an 81 percent higher homicide rate, will get $108.2 million. Detroit’s implosion has rekindled debate over how and whether a federal government that managed to provide more than $700 billion in aid to banks and automakers in 2008 and 2009 should help cities with unsustainable retirement debt, hollowed-out tax bases and diminished services that endanger the public. From 1990 to 2010, the percentage of the U.S. population that lives in urban areas grew to 81 percent from 75 percent." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBankrupt Detroit Receives Less U.S. Aid Than Colombia

How Do Ponzi Schemes End?

"Detroit promised police officers, firefighters, teachers and other public employees pension and post-retirement health care benefits, but was unwilling to set aside the money needed to fund those benefits. The city attracted workers with a total compensation package that included current wages and future benefits. Since the future benefits were substantially unfunded, they can be paid only if future taxpayers pay them. But the future taxpayers never agreed to this deal. If they do pay, they will be paying for services delivered in the past. If they don’t pay, they won’t have to sacrifice any current city services. So the future taxpayers have flown the coop." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow Do Ponzi Schemes End?

Chart Of The Day: Foreigners Are Quietly Getting Out Of Dodge

"While the Fed is posturing daily whether it will or it won't monetize an ever greater portion of gross US issuance (and considering the drop in US funding needs, unless the Fed tapers it will soon very soon buy more than 100% of all 10 Year equivalent issuance going forward), foreigners have made their position vis-a-vis US paper loud and clear. What is their position? The following chart from today's TBAC presentation to the Treasury makes it very clear. With an ever declining, and recently the smallest on file, notional amount of Treasurys at auction going to foreigners since 2009 (and certainly much further back), they are not sticking around to see what happens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChart Of The Day: Foreigners Are Quietly Getting Out Of Dodge

Obama set to sign bill to lower student loan interest rates

"The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would reverse a recent hike in federal student loan interest rates, lowering them to 3.86 percent for undergraduates in the new school year. The bill pegs interest rates on student loans to the 10-year Treasury note plus 2.05 percentage points for undergraduates, and plus 3.6 percentage points for graduate loans. The bill, a result of extensive negotiations in mid-July among a coalition of U.S. senators composed of Democrats, Republicans and an independent, now waits to be signed into law by President Barack Obama." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama set to sign bill to lower student loan interest rates

Swedish warning

"The hard data is in. Sweden's GDP fell by 0.1pc in the second quarter, astonishing everybody who relies on soft PMI confidence surveys. Year-on-year growth has been just 0.6pc, half the level expected, and Sweden is supposed to be a star performer in Europe. There are fundamental economic and mathematical reasons why Europe remains in dire trouble. Nominal GDP is contracting in a string of countries, causing debt dynamics to explode. As for Sweden, it had a housing boom and household debt bubble like the rest of us. The reality is that the Scandinavian pillar is not as strong as people think. There are no strong pillars in Europe." Continue reading →

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You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows

"There appears to be a tendency for market observers to follow the same news stories. The result of this phenomenon is that entire sectors are ignored or understudied for long periods of time. When the attention shifts, large swings can occur as the mob draws similar conclusions and takes action. Here are two phrases to wrap up the point: The first is: 'Liquidity only matters when it’s the only thing that matters.' This is a comment from the 2007-08 crisis, when otherwise functioning firms disappeared overnight because funding became impossible to find. Think Bear Stearns or Lehman Bros. The second is: 'Borrowing is cheap until it isn’t.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYou Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows

‘Hacker heroin frame plot’ foiled by security blogger

"A respected US-based internet security expert says he has foiled an attempt to frame him as a heroin dealer. Brian Krebs says the administrator of a Russian cybercrime forum hatched a plan to order heroin to his home, then tipped off the police, making it look as if the call had come from a neighbour's house. In March he was visited by a heavily armed police unit tricked into responding to a 911 call that had been made to look as if it originated from his home. Mr Krebs says he opened the front door to find a squad of policemen pointing a battery of guns at him. After being hand-cuffed and questioned, he managed to persuade the police they had been hoaxed." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Hacker heroin frame plot’ foiled by security blogger