APR 30 SIT EC y POL
ZERO HEDGE
16
Signs That The Economy Has Stalled Out And The Next Economic Downturn Is Here. by
Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog. Submitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015. The past few years have been a period of relative
stability for the U.S. economy. A lot of people have been lulled into
a false sense of security during that time. These people have become
convinced that our problems have been fixed. But they haven’t been fixed
at all. In fact, our problems are far, far worse than they were just
prior to the last financial crisis. Don’t let this next recession take you
by surprise.
#1 We just
learned that U.S. GDP grew at an anemic 0.2 percent annual rate
during the first quarter of 2015…
#2 If you
strip a very unusual inventory buildup out of the GDP number, U.S. GDP would
have actually fallen at a -2.5 percent annual
rate during the first quarter…
#3 Our trade
deficit with the rest of the planet is absolutely killing our economic
growth. According to the Reality Chek Blog, U.S.
economic growth would have been a total of 8 percent higher since the end of
the last recession if we actually had balanced trade with other nations…
#4 According
to numbers that were just released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in one out of
every five American families nobody has a job. So how in the
world can the “unemployment rate” be sitting at “5.5 percent” when everyone
is unemployed in 20 percent of all families in the United States? It
doesn’t make any sense.
#5 The rate
of homeownership in the United States has just hit a brand new 25 year low. How can
anyone claim that the middle class is “healthy” when the percentage of Americans
that own a home is the lowest that it has been in more than two decades?
#6 Back in
2013, 31 percent of all Americans said that they did not
anticipate buying a home “for the foreseeable future”. Just two years
later, that number has risen to 41 percent.
#7 The
student loan bubble is clearly bursting. According to Bloomberg, only 37 percent of all student
loan borrowers are actually up to date on their payments and reducing their
balances…
#8 Procter
& Gamble has announced that it will be cutting up to 6,000 more jobs from
their payroll. Why would they be doing this if the economy is “getting
better”?
#9 McDonald’s
plans to permanently shut down 700 “poorly performing” restaurants
over the course of 2015. Why would they be doing this if the economy is
“getting better”?
#10 It is
being projected that half of all fracking companies in the United States
will be either “dead or sold” by the end of 2015.
#11 Retail
sales in the U.S. have not dropped this rapidly since the last recession.
#12 Wholesale
sales in the U.S. have not dropped this rapidly since the last recession.
#13 Factory
orders in the U.S. have not dropped this rapidly since the last recession.
#14 Credit
requests are being declined at a rate that we haven’t seen since the last recession.
#15 U.S.
export growth has gone negative for the first time since the last recession.
#16 As the
U.S. economy begins to head into another downturn, most Americans are
completely unprepared for it. In fact, one recent survey discovered that 62 percent of all Americans are
currently living paycheck to paycheck.
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===
Baltimore
As A Microcosm Of America. by
Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog. Submitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015. Baltimore, Maryland is in many ways the perfect
microcosm for these United States of America.
If you still don’t get that, you’ll be in for a
rude awakening in the years ahead.
A gradual erosion of the Constitution and the civil
rights of the citizenry, the abuse of power by people in authority, perverse
financial incentives that lead to horrible outcomes, zero accountability, and a
ubiquitous surveillance state apparatus; Baltimore has it all. Yet all of these
troubling traits have also come to characterize early 21st century America.
The sad part is we aren’t even trying to change the
incentive structure of status quo criminality. This is because the current generation of power players were trained and
molded by the same types before them. This is all they know. Money and power
are their gods. Crime is their religion. We have no choice but to stop them.
* * *
FOR RELATED ARTICLES, SEE:
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One
More Reason Why The Student Debt Bubble Is About To Get A Lot Larger. Submitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015. Although nearly 93% of parents say they expect
their children to attend college, only 57% have either saved money or plan to
save money for tuition. Those two figures don't match up, meaning someone
will have to step in and fill the education funding void. Can you guess who it
will be?
The following
graphic sums up the situation nicely: nearly half of those surveyed have
neither saved any money for their kids’ college tuition nor are planning to in
the future, a figure which doesn’t match up well with the 93% of respondents
who believe their children will attend college. We think it goes without
saying that the gap will be filled by federal loans.
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Inching
Toward Conflict: US Navy To Escort Cargo Ships In Persian Gulf; Iran Refuses To
Back Down. Submitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015. Moments ago there was yet another step up in the
Persian Gulf naval escalation when CNN reported that the U.S. Navy will escort
U.S.-flagged cargo ships through Strait of Hormuz in wake of Iran seizure this
week, a US official says. Specifically, the Navy will henceforth accompany
ships on concern that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard may seize them, CNN’s Jim
Sciutto says in Twitter post, citing CNN’s Barbara Starr. It is unclear what
happens if either the accompanied cargo ship, or the US Navy warship leaves
international waters, and enters Iran territory, which as the Bab el-Mandeb
Strait is virtually assured: a strait which as the following US Naval update map
has become as busy for US traffic as the 405 Freeway during rush hour.
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The
War On Cash: Transparently Totalitarian. Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/30/2015. "The War
on Cash is the attempt by governments to phase cash out of their economies.
Governments hate cash because they hate the financial privacy cash makes
possible. And they prefer that you keep your money in a bank to help prop up an
unsound fractional reserve banking system." As Ron Paul warned, “The
cashless society is the IRS’s dream: total knowledge of, and control over, the
finances of every single American.”
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Saudis,
Russians No Longer Buying Gold In Dubai As Oil Slump Curbs Precious Metals
Shopping. Submitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015. “The market is dead,” one industry insider
tells Bloomberg, referring to demand for tax-free physical gold in Dubai. As it
turns out, the ill-effects of sliding crude prices aren't confined to Alberta's
housing market, cash-strapped oil boom towns and the market for blue collar
jobs in Texas. The pain is also being felt by gold vendors who are quickly
discovering that when oil revenue begins to run short, fewer Saudis and
Russians go on precious metals shopping sprees.
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The
Pentagon's "Long War" Pitches NATO Against China, Russia, & Iran. Submitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015. Whatever happens with the nuclear negotiations this
summer, and as much as Tehran wants cooperation and not confrontation, Iran
is bound to remain - alongside Russia - a key US geostrategic target. What
the Pentagon - with customary hubris - does not see is Moscow and Tehran
easily identifying the power play; the US government's hidden agenda
of manipulating a "rehabilitated" Iran to sell plenty
of oil and gas to the EU, thus undermining Gazprom.
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First
Blythe Masters, Now Goldman Investing In Bitcoin. Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/30/2015. First it was Blythe
Masters (and the Fed). Now, the most important FDIC-insured hedge fund in the
world, Goldman Sachs, adds its name to a growing list of Wall Street
institutions exploring digital-currency technology’s potential to provide
faster and cheaper financial transactions and payments.
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The
"Scariest Spreadsheet In Fed Possession" Just Revealed A Very Scary
Number For Q2 GDPSubmitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015 - 15:03
Earlier today,
Goldman initiated its Q2 GDP tracking at 3.0%.
A few hours later,
the Atlanta Fed, whose "preposterous" below-consensus forecast we
first flagged in early March, and which nailed the Q1 GDP to within 0.1% of
the final print, came out with its own first Q2 GDP
tracking estimate. The number: a recession-worthy 0.9%.
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Martin
Armstrong Explains Why The Richest 1% Get Richer. Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/30/2015
The 99% need to wake up. It ain’t the 1% – It is those who pretend to be on your
side who deprive you of your real right to economic freedom.
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71%
Of Wall Street Bankers Admit They Are Too Big To Fail (And Underpaid). Submitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015. Wall Streeters are not happy. According to the
latest Bloomberg poll, 48% believe they are paid less (or much less)
than they had hoped for. With the biggest banks cutting costs as new
regulations force derisking and deleveraging (in theory), pay is taking a hit
(although not so much for the CEOs). As one headhunter noted, "they're
still making decent money, but it’s nothing like 2007," but ironically, a
massive 71% of Wall Street bankers admit that their banks are still Too Big
To Fail.
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Dollar
Suffers Worst Month In 4 Years - Ends Record Streak Of Gains. Submitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015. After an unprecedented 9 months in a row of gains,
for a greater-than-27% gain, The US Dollar slumped in April. Down 3.5%, this
is the biggest monthly drop for the greenback since April 2011 (near the
end of QE2). The Great Unwind begins...
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When
Will Apple Stop Screwing The US Economy?. Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/30/2015. Apple is the Ty
Cobb of corporate America. Like Cobb, Apple has set some impressive records.
Nine years, a trillion dollars in sales, and almost no taxes paid. Apple
risks having a legacy of tainted success and isolation.
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NY
Fed Head Of Banking Supervision, And Person Who Handed Over Billions In AIG
Profits To Goldman, Resigns. Submitted
by Tyler Durden on 04/30/2015. Just three questions
here about Sarah Dahlgren's "resignation":
1. Why is she
resigning now: is there a crackdown on just how corrupt the Goldman Sachs
branch office at Liberty 33 truly is?
2. What will her salary at Goldman Sachs be once she joins the 200 West firm?
3. Which Goldman partner will replace her.
2. What will her salary at Goldman Sachs be once she joins the 200 West firm?
3. Which Goldman partner will replace her.
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We
Are Witnessing A Fundamental Change In The Oil Sector. Submitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015. The world oil market is undergoing a fundamental
structural change in response to expensive oil. Producers are trying to
survive by limiting expenditures. While analysts have been focused on rig
counts, deferred completions have emerged as the initial path to lower U.S. oil
production. This unanticipated outcome suggests that others may follow. While
everyone is waiting for higher oil prices and for things to return to normal,
what we may be witnessing is the end of normal.
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Billionaire
Hypocrisy: George Soros May Owe $7 Billion In Taxes. Submitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015. George Soros may owe some $6.7 billion in taxes Bloomberg
says, noting that despite the billionaire's call to increase taxes on the
wealthy, his fund has employed a loophole that allowed for the deferral of
taxes on management fees the reinvestment of which has generated billions in
returns.
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When The Herd
Turns. Submitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015. The ultimate hubris of central banks was their
supreme belief in their own powers to direct the herd. As long as the
herd was stampeding in one direction, the central banks could imagine that
their shouted orders were directing the herd. But once the herd turns,
the futility of those orders will be revealed.
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Greece
"Scrambles"To Make Full Monthly Pension Payments: "Still Missing
Several Hundred Million Euros". Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/30/2015. Greece was forced to
delay pension payments by 8 hours on Tuesday while Athens scrambled to find
cash. Although the government claims there was a "technical
glitch," officials with knowledge of the matter offered a far more elegant
explanation: there wasn't enough money.
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Submitted by Tyler
Durden on 04/30/2015 - 07:11
- Marchers protest police violence in Baltimore, New York (Reuters)
- Majority of Financial Pros Now Say Greece Is Headed for Euro Exit (BBG)
- Greece signals concessions in crunch talks with lenders (Reuters)
- Greece, Euro-Area Partners Target Deal by Sunday (BBG)
- Iglesias Says EU Risking Right-Wing Backlash With Greek Pressure (BBG)
- Student-Loan Surge Undercuts Millennials’ Place in U.S. Economy (BBG)
- Majors’ Quandary: Why Drill for Oil When They Can Buy Somebody Else’s? (WSJ)
====
WASHINGTON BLOG
The
May 2nd Odessa Massacre: Why Obama’s Coup-Regime Still Runs Ukraine. Posted
on April 30, 2015 by Eric Zuesse.
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Organic
Farming Changes Agriculture from a Huge Carbon Source to a Carbon-DESTROYER.
Posted on April 30, 2015 by WashingtonsBlog . From Source of
35% of All Carbon Worldwide to Carbon Sink
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Finkelstein,
Gandhi: Violence against Disproportionate Aggression is Not Violence. Posted on April 30, 2015 by Robert Barsocchini . In his
latest lecture, Dr. Norman Finkelstein, (PhD
political science., Princeton; son of Nazi death camp survivors and descendant
of Nazi death camp victims) explains that, under international law, people have
a right to use armed force to achieve self-determination.
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High
Levels of Youth Unemployment – and Runaway Inequality – Cause Riots. Posted on April 30, 2015 by WashingtonsBlog . Recipe For
Disaster. We’ve known for 1,900 years that runaway inequality destroys societies.
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GLOBAL RESEARCH
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NEWS IN SPANISH
Pakistán, China, Irán y la
reconstrucción de la seguridad regional. M.K. Bhadrakumar
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Regresión para nada?. Michel Husson
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La estrategia geoeconómica y
geopolítica de Obama. Marcelo Righetti
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Grecia nos pide ayuda. Juan Tortosa
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PRESS
TV
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Sens. force vote to sabotage Iran deal 45min.
Senators Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio
are attempting to force a vote on an amendment requiring Iran to recognize
Israel as an independent state as part of any potential nuclear agreement. Rubio, calls for Iran to recognize Israel as
part of a nuclear deal with the United States.
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