- BofA Research Analyst Paul Ciana Stopped Out on Oil Short Call (Video)
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- Belgian Police Warn Citizens Not To Use Facebook's Reaction Buttons
Submitted by Michaela Whitton via TheAntiMedia.org,
Belgian police are warning users not to use the Facebook Reactions feature to respond to posts if they want to protect their privacy. In February, the series of six emoticons, allowing users to express a range of emotions from anger to love, were added to the original thumbs-up option. They came in response to calls for a ‘Dislike’ button.
However, the new expressions are another big ‘like’ for Facebook and a ‘dislike’ for its users — according to Belgian police who claim the site is using them as a way to collect information on people to target advertising toward them. In a statement released on their official website on Wednesday, the Belgian force warned people to avoid using the series of emoticons if they want to preserve their privacy.
The statement on the police website reads, “The icons help not only express your feelings, they also help Facebook assess the effectiveness of the ads on your profile.” It adds, “One more reason not to click if you want to protect your privacy.”
The statement warns that users are simply a ‘product’ to Facebook, claiming their reactions to posts are helping the social networking giant build up a profile of them. As a result of the profiling, the site will target ads it thinks users will be more receptive to based on how they are reacting to specific posts at the time.
“By limiting the number of icons to six, Facebook is counting on you to express your thoughts more easily so that the algorithms that run in the background are more effective,” the police said. “By mouse clicks you can let them know what makes you happy.”
In short, the moment Facebook gauges that the user is in a good mood, it will cash in on that by showing them an ad.
It’s no secret Facebook’s growth is fuelled by advertising. In 2015, the company received 96.5% of its revenue from ads, which generated a staggering $17.08 billion in revenue. Just days after former Facebook employees accused the platform of censoring stories while pushing others, few will be surprised to learn the marketing champion has seized another opportunity to do what it does best — collect more information on its users.
* * *
Full Statement (via Belgium Police) Google Translated: Facebook Reactions, a new intrusion into your privacy
Facebook never misses an opportunity to improve the collection of information about us and they proved it again last February. This innovation has generated a lot of questions if we are to believe your mails. The "like" button – thumbs up, you know. But many users complained of being unable to express their disappointment or not being able to say they disliked content.
Facebook decided to meet their demand. After an investigation followed by a test phase carried out in Ireland and Spain, you saw appear in late February, six new small icons. If we had to describe them, we could say that we now have a symbol to say "I love", another to express his joy, a third say to his surprise, and others to share his amusement, his sadness or even anger.
The question that some of you have asked me was why Facebook limited them to six.
In fact, as you know, for Facebook, we are also a product. The reactions that we express it possible to know us better and so, as stated in the social network, to offer us the best possible experience in terms of our profile that is more accurate.
But Facebook is also a marketing champion. It now has a medium which allows it to measure our reactions to the publications of our friends or pages that we follow. And now, in addition to allowing you to express your feelings, those little icons will also help verify the effectiveness of advertisements that are present on your profile.
Limiting them to six, Facebook account the fact that you express your thoughts more easily allowing the algorithms running in the background to target you. With your clicks, it will be possible to determine those contents that put you in a good mood. So that will help Facebook find the perfect location, on your profile, allowing it to display content that will arouse your curiosity but also to choose the time you present it. If it appears that you are in a good mood phase, so it can deduce that you are more receptive and able to sell spaces explaining advertisers that they will have more chance to see you react.
In conclusion, it will be one more reason not to click too fast if you want to preserve your privacy.
- "Russia Did More 'Good' In 30 Days Than The US Did In A Year" – The Only Accredited Western Journalist In Damascus Speaks Up
On behalf of Prensa Latina news agency, Miguel Fernandez was the only journalist from the Western world accredited to work in the Syrian capital of Damascus for nearly a year. After returning home to Havana, Fernandez gave Sputnik News an exclusive interview in which he reflects back on what he experienced in the war torn country.
Fernandez first gets into the single biggest lesson he learned, which is that the people of Syria don't give in, they don't stop pursuing the dream of having a prosperous country.
"Seeing how these people don't give in, that they dream about a prosperous country, is the biggest lesson that Syria gave me"
Miguel then reflects back on when a colleague of his first arrived in the city, and as the journalist took him around the city, everything was seemingly so normal that his friend asked "where is the war?"
"Fear is the first thing that war creates, that fear which forces people to be on guard. However, Damascus broke that pattern. When my colleague arrived I took him around the city and he noticed that buses and taxis are traveling around, people are sitting in cafes and going shopping, children are going to school. He asked me, 'where is the war?'"
"I said, I will show you before we leave for Cuba. And after less than a day, when we were traveling in a taxi, a mortar shell fell in front of us, onto a group of people, some of whom died, and there was chaos all around."
"I looked at that and I said – that is war. That resistance of the Syrian people, the unwillingness to accept the hardships of war, has inspired me."
The most harrowing moment for Fernandez was during the fall of Palmyra to the terrorists in May 2011 [later to be taken back from ISIS, and even recently held a concert that was put on by Russia's famous Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra]. Fernandez reflected on a time in which monuments were destroyed, and children under Daesh leadership were made to kill captured Syrian soldiers.
"Palmyra is one of ten UNESCO World Heritage sites in Syria, an oasis in the desert, full of mystical stories. Seeing how the Arch of Triumph and other monuments were destroyed. A terrible scene that I will never forget, was when children under the leadership of Daesh killed 50 captured Syrian soldiers who were on their knees."
"For me, that was the saddest moment, because I felt that the war was not only against Syria, but against the world, our culture, our values, our heritage. When I say ours, I mean civilization. These elements (Daesh) are savages. They can destroy a monument in the same way that they cut a child's head off."
Fernandez also recalled how differently the Syrian people view Russia and the United States, and that the Russian participation did not feel like an intervention at all. Importantly, Miguel discusses the stark differences between the precision and effectiveness of the US vs Russian air strikes as well. Notably that US airstrikes were not coordinated and often hit Syrian infrastructure, as opposed to Russia's strikes, which destroyed more Daesh infrastructure in 30 days than the US had been able to accomplish in a year's time.
"I am fair with blue eyes, so they often confused me with Russians and affectionately greeted me. Syrians believe in Russia because for a long time they were in conflict with the US and some European powers and Russia was the only friendly power."
"I was there when Russia entered the war in September 2015 and Syrians did not perceive it as an intervention, but as support and a sign of solidarity," Fernandez explained.
"For over a year before that the US had led an international coalition that didn't show any results. The Americans carried out bombings but Daesh spread even further, and seized new positions."
"Those airstrikes were not coordinated and often hit Syrian infrastructure, hospitals and schools. The Russian airstrikes didn't, because they entered the war at the request of Damascus and their activities were coordinated in order to be effective and not bring harm to civilians."
"During the first 30 days of bombing the Russians were able to destroy 40 percent of Daesh's infrastructure, which the US and its allies hadn't been able to do for a year."
Fernandez ended the interview with a story of a Syrian soldier who complimented him by breaking bread and sharing it with the journalist, as a tribute to what the soldier said was Cuban bravery.
"One of the soldiers, he was over 50, bearded, dirty, covered in powder and slush, he came to me, broke his bread in two and offered me half."
"I refused, because I had already had breakfast at home and had no idea how many hours he had gone without eating. But my translator told me to take the bread, explaining that he wanted to share the bread with me because I am Cuban and he had always been told that Cuban soldiers are very brave and that if he shares the bread with me, it will bring him luck in the next battle."
"I shed a few tears, because I am not a warrior, and I was very touched that he had such an impression about my nation,"
* * *
With all of the speculation and observations from the pundits on television, who have never stepped foot inside the war torn country of Syria, it is helpful to get a first hand account of what's taking place on the ground. What one may find, is that those that sit around and parrot the "Russia Bad/US Good" narrative all day may not be exactly providing the complete picture.
- Guest Post: The Stunning Parallels Between The United States And Nazi Germany
Submitted by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,
Most Americans may not like to hear this, but the truth is that modern day America very closely resembles Nazi Germany. If you initially recoiled when you read the headline to this article, that is understandable. After all, most of us were raised to deeply love this country. But I would ask you to consider the evidence that I have compiled before you pass judgment on the matter. Most citizens of this nation know that something has gone deeply wrong, and I would suggest that just like the Nazis, all of the pageantry and beauty in our society masks an evil which has grown to a level that is almost unspeakable. And just like the Germans, we don’t do ourselves any favors by turning a blind eye to what is going on. The following are some stunning parallels between the United States and Nazi Germany…
#1 Human Experimentation
The fact that the Nazis conducted scientific experiments on their prisoners has been heavily documented, but many Americans may not realize that we have been conducting similar experiments for decades. The following comes from author John Whitehead…
In Alabama, for example, 600 black men with syphilis were allowed to suffer without proper medical treatment in order to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis. In California, older prisoners had testicles from livestock and from recently executed convicts implanted in them to test their virility. In Connecticut, mental patients were injected with hepatitis.
In Maryland, sleeping prisoners had a pandemic flu virus sprayed up their noses. In Georgia, two dozen “volunteering” prison inmates had gonorrhea bacteria pumped directly into their urinary tracts through the penis. In Michigan, male patients at an insane asylum were exposed to the flu after first being injected with an experimental flu vaccine. In Minnesota, 11 public service employee “volunteers” were injected with malaria, then starved for five days.
In New York, dying patients had cancer cells introduced into their systems. In Ohio, over 100 inmates were injected with live cancer cells. Also in New York, prisoners at a reformatory prison were also split into two groups to determine how a deadly stomach virus was spread: the first group was made to swallow an unfiltered stool suspension, while the second group merely breathed in germs sprayed into the air. And in Staten Island, children with mental retardation were given hepatitis orally and by injection to see if they could then be cured.
And while times may have changed, the truth is that we are still being experimented on against our will. Just check out what the New York Daily News says is happening in New York City this month…
Don’t hold your breath, it’s only a test.
The Department of Homeland Security will release “harmless particle materials” in the city’s subway system next week.
The “non-toxic, safe gas material” will be released at subway stations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens in order to understand where hazardous material would travel in the event of a biological terrorist attack.
In addition, let us not forget that we systematically create and perform experiments on unborn baby children…
A shocking new report indicates scientists have found a way for human embryos to live outside the womb for 14 days, which is a record, so they can be experimented on for a longer period of time.
Leading pro-life advocates are outraged that scientists would specifically create unique human beings to purposefully experiment on and later destroy just for research. They are worried scientists will continue creating more unborn human people who will be subjected to research for a longer duration of their embryonic life.
What we are doing is so evil that it is hard to put into words, and yet most Americans have come to accept this kind of sick behavior as perfectly normal.
#2 Socialism
The Nazis were hardcore socialists, and they were very proud of this fact. For example, National Socialist theologian Gregor Strasser once made the following statement…
We National Socialists are enemies, deadly enemies, of the present capitalist system with its exploitation of the economically weak … and we are resolved under all circumstances to destroy this system.
Unfortunately, the United States is rapidly moving in a similar direction. An avowed socialist, Bernie Sanders, is wildly popular with Democrats, and more than half of all U.S. adults under the age of 30 now say that they reject capitalism.
#3 Free Stuff
Just like Bernie Sanders wants to do, the Nazis gave out lots and lots of free stuff. Kitty Werthmann was a child living a peaceful life in Austria when Hitler took over her nation, and I will be quoting her extensively for the rest of this article. She says that once the Nazis took control in Austria, they started handing out lots of freebies…
Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.
#4 Taxes
Free stuff may sound like a good idea, but someone has to pay for it. According to Kitty Werthmann, once the Nazis took control of Austria “our tax rates went up to 80% of our income“, and that absolutely choked the life out of the free market system.
Sadly, things are moving in the exact same direction in the United States. When the federal income tax was first implemented a little over a century ago, most Americans were taxed at a rate of just one percent. But today, we are being taxed into oblivion. I recently wrote an article in which I listed 97 different taxes that Americans pay each year, and when you add all of those taxes together some Americans end up paying out more than 50 percent of their incomes in taxes.
#5 Obamacare
Would it surprise you to learn that the Nazis had their own version of Obamacare? The following is some more eyewitness testimony from Kitty Werthmann…
Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna. After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.
#6 Government Regulation
Just like the Obama administration, the Nazis wanted to tightly regulate virtually everything in the economy. Here is more from Kitty Werthmann…
My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn’t meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business.
If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.
We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.
#7 Gun Control
The Nazis believed in having a very strong military, but they were also obsessed with taking the guns away from the general population. According to Kitty Werthmann, the first step was gun registration, and once the government knew where all the guns were it was very easy to round all of them up…
Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.
#8 Spying
The Nazi secret police, also known as the Gestapo, became world famous for their brutal tactics. The Nazis wanted to know everything about everybody, and anyone that was deemed to be “anti-government” was dealt with mercilessly.
Unfortunately, we are moving in the exact same direction in the United States today. We spy on our enemies, but we also spy on our friends. Control freaks working for the government are systematically watching us, tracking us, recording our phone calls and monitoring our emails. At this point, government snooping has become so pervasive that 64 percent of all reporters believe that the government is spying on them.
#9 Pushing The Christian Faith Out Of Public Life
In this day and age, it has become “American” to remove every trace of the Christian faith from public life. We don’t want God in our government, in our schools, in our parks or in our businesses. Many people may not realize this, but the Nazis were the exact same way. The following information originally comes from Bruce Walker, the author of “The Swastika Against the Cross: The Nazi War on Christianity“…
The Nazi tract Gott und Volk was distributed in 1941, and it describes the life cycle of German youth in the future, who would: “With parties and gifts the youth will be led painlessly from one faith to the other and will grow up without ever having heard of the Sermon on the Mount or the Golden Rule, to say nothing of the Ten Commandments… The education of the youth is to be confined primarily by the teacher, the officer, and the leaders of the party. The priests will die out. They have estranged the youth from the Volk. Into their places will step the leaders. Not deputies of God. But anyway the best Germans. And how shall we train our children? Thus, as though they had never heard of Christianity!”
And just like Nazi Germany, our end will be exceedingly terrible.
You see, the truth is that all evil regimes eventually fall, and America is headed for a day of reckoning.
Even now, our enemies are preparing weapons which could potentially destroy us in a single day. For example, just check out what Russia is building…
The “Satan 2″ missile is rumoured to be the most powerful ever designed and is equipped with stealth technology to help it dodge enemy radar systems .
This terrifying doomsday weapon is likely to strike fear into the hearts of Western military chiefs, as current missile defence technology is totally incapable of stopping it.
It is being reported that the warheads from a single Satan 2 missile could destroy a state the size of Texas or a country the size of France.
Whether it is nuclear oblivion or something else, if we continue to behave like the Nazis it is just a matter of time before America is destroyed.
Let us hope and pray that this country wakes up while there is still time to do so.
- Judge Jeanine Goes Nuclear On Hillary: "The American People Have To Stop Her"
Having previously warned "an insurrection is coming," and that the establishment's "scorn for the will of the American people is mind-boggling," FOX News Judge Jeanine – the only media peronality who correctly predcted trump's ascent due to his position as a colective middle finger to the status quo – unleashed another tirade of reality checks for the establishment – this time aimed at Democrats…
“Hillary Clinton cannot be President of the United States, and if the establishment, including law enforcement, does not stop her – you have to,” Judge Jeanine Pirro said in her opening statement on Justice.
This is not about politics, she urged. “It’s about preventing people who have no regard for the law, or you, for that matter, from running this country.”
Despite this election season’s anti-establishment sentiment, “Clinton is still in line to be coronated the Democratic nominee,” Judge Jeanine said.
But what is it that makes Clinton above the law? she questioned.
“The majority of Americans believe, and are right, that Hillary Clinton is untrustworthy, dishonest and a liar,” said Pirro.
"And don't give me that woman thing where it's time for a female president. Yeah, it is – but not her.”
Of all the Washington politicians who “walk into those hallowed chambers and proceed to line their pockets and their pensions and their campaign reelection coffers and walk out multi-millionaires, the Clintons are among the worst,” Judge Jeanine added.
“If the establishment is not willing to admit that no one is above the law and is not willing to garner justice, then ordinary Americans need to make sure the scales of justice are level for all of us.”
Full opening statement…
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
Full Transcript…
Hello, and welcome to Justice. I'm Judge Jeanine Pirro. Thanks for being with us tonight.
Hillary Clinton cannot be President of the United States, and if the establishment including law enforcement does not stop her – you have to.
This is not about politics. It's about you, your family, and this great nation. It’s about preventing people who have no regard for the law, or you, for that matter, from running this country.
At a time when just about everybody is fed up with establishment politicians, when two outsiders are winning epic contests against preordained presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton is still in line to be coronated the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.
How can the woman – who is under criminal investigation – who knows she's under criminal investigation, but lies to your face saying that she's not – continue on her path to the White House?
The majority of Americans believe, and are right, that Hillary Clinton is untrustworthy, dishonest and a liar. Hillary has danced with federal prosecutors for most of her career. She knows how to conceal, delete and destroy evidence – remember those pesky missing Rose Law Firm files? Not to mention 30,000 deleted emails… She lies so much she doesn't know the difference between the truth and a lie, and, like most liars, can’t even keep her stories straight.
Example: this week – in response to Hillary's claim that the FBI was doing a security inquiry on her private homebrewed server, one by the way conducted reportedly by over 100 FBI agents, FBI director Jim Comey says: security inquiry? I don't know that term. We investigate crimes. This is a law enforcement proceeding.
Now I told you that three months ago: now the cynics among you might say it's all political. But Jim Comey is appointed by Barack Obama. And is one of the most clearheaded, logical and honorable people in Washington – a trait somewhat foreign to that town.
And don't give me that woman thing where it's time for a female president. Yeah it is – but not her.
What makes you think electing this woman who's spent most of her career riding her husband’s coat tails is necessarily a good thing? Doesn't it depend on the individual man or woman? For those of you who think a woman will help other women – consider this: the Clinton Foundation – an organization over which the Clintons have control – pays female employees 38 cents less per dollar than males. So much for that old pay inequality thing.
Supporting women? Hillary made her bones creating the attack team on all the women who said Bill engaged in sexual activity, ranging from harassment to affairs to worse. If these women are all liars, why was Paula Jones awarded $850,000 from the Clintons? And Monica Lewinsky's dress – if only that blue dress could talk.
Which brings me to the Clinton Foundation, an alleged 501c3 not-for profit that I see as nothing more than a piggy bank for the Clintons, their friends and her presidential campaign.
Just this week – it was reported that this wonderful charitable organization gave $2 million to Bill's blonde divorcee friend, designated the energizer by the Secret Service when she visited him at home in Chappaqua when Hillary was on the road.
The report in The Wall Street Journal says money from the charity was actually given to a for-profit company partly owned by Ms. "Energizer". According to government watchdog groups, this may very well violate federal law. And consistent with past Clinton behavior, the destruction and/or removal of evidence begins.
Shortly after the grant, Ms. Energizer's company was reportedly removed from the Clinton Global Initiative's website. I'm sure it was an oversight, like the moneys from countries to the foundation when Hillary was Secretary of State, over whom her department made decisions that benefited them.
The Clintons have always been about the Clintons. Evidence: Benghazi. She lied about the video when she knew it was Al-Qaeda to benefit her politically. But even that doesn't matter as much as knowing there are men waiting for help on a rooftop for eight hours when that assault on the consulate took place. Remember that 2008 3 am phone call she wants you to believe shows that she is ready to protect us? That's baloney. She had a chance to prove it and she proved just the opposite. That her political future was more important than American lives.
And the woman has no shame claiming that the parents of Tyrone Woods and Shawn Smith are lying, not her, about what she said to them as their children’s bodies were brought into Andrews. The woman has never been able to keep her stories straight. From one Blackberry for convenience and then there were three, and then there were 30,000 emails destroyed – she engages in the destruction of evidence to protect herself, like those pesky lost Rose Law Firm emails.
And they are in it together. Bill just last week saying that email thing is kind of like a speeding ticket. No, Bill, it's got nothing to do with speeding tickets. It's got to do with espionage, conspiracy, destruction of evidence, concealment and risking the secrets of this great nation for the world to see. Russia has admitted it's got 20,000 of her emails. Guccifer says that hacking her emails was one of the easiest things he'd ever done.
So why do they get away with it? Why do they do things that if any of us – even a four-star general – does, would put us in jail? What is it about them that puts them above the law? I submit it is the people that are indebted to them, the people for whom the Clintons have done favors, the classic inside game.
For years, Americans working two and three jobs to support their families have watched as Washington politicians elected to represent us walk into those hallowed chambers and proceed to line their pockets and their pensions and their campaign reelection coffers and walk out multi-millionaires. The Clintons are among the worst.
If the establishment is not willing to admit that no one is above the law and is not willing to garner justice, then ordinary Americans need to make sure the scales of justice are level for all of us.
And that's my open.
* * *
h/t @Raven_PA_
- "Markets Have No Purpose Any More" Mark Spitznagel Warns "Biggest Collapse In History" Is Inevitable
After making over $1 billion in one day last August, and warning that "the markets are overvalued to the tune of 50%," Mark Spitznagel knows a thing or two about managing tail risk.
The outspoken practitioner of Austrian economic philosophy tells The FT, "Markets don't have a purpose any more – they just reflect whatever central planners want them to," confirming his fund-management partner, Nassim Taleb's perspective that "being protected from fragility in the financial system is a necessity rather than an option."
"This is the greatest monetary experiment in history. Why wouldn’t it lead to the biggest collapse? My strategy doesn’t require that I’m right about the likelihood of that scenario. Logic dictates to me that it’s inevitable."
While some money managers are critical of a strategy that “sells fear,” The FT reports there are others who share Mr Spitznagel’s views that another reckoning is imminent.
Among those who share his worldview is former US presidential candidate, Senator Rand Paul, and his father Ron Paul.
The elder Paul wrote the introduction to Mr Spitznagel’s 2013 book, The Dao of Capital. “As one of the leading voices in the country on economic policy, Mark has been a key friend and ally, and I’m thankful for his always-ready advice,” Senator Paul told the FT. But most investors will be praying he is wrong.
Universa started in January 2007 after its success during the financial crisis, when it reportedly gained about 100 per cent. The firm now protects about $6bn of investor money, backed by about $200m-$300m of capital (the firm declined to say exactly how much because of regulatory issues). Fees are paid on the nominal amount insured against calamity, rather than the capital invested.
One of Universa’s claims to fame is its relationship with Nassim Taleb. This is Mr Taleb and Mr Spitznagel’s second endeavour together.
“Mark and I have been studying extreme events and protecting portfolios from them together since the 90s,” Mr Taleb told the FT.
“People are finally discovering that being protected from fragility in the financial system is a necessity rather than an option.”
The libertarian hedge fund manager sees a close similarity between what he is trying to achieve at Idyll Farms — which he built in 2010 with winnings from the financial crisis — and his investment strategy and deeply-held Austrian economic philosophy.
“It’s all about sustainable use of resources. Modern farming has completely broken down the traditional system of agriculture. It’s become a machine. We’ve manipulated away its natural productivity and robustness, just like what we’ve done with markets,” he says.
“Markets don’t have a purpose any more — they just reflect whatever central planners want them to.”
- "They Are Scared To Death" – CEO Explains The Single Biggest Reason Why People Are Buying Precious Metals
Submitted by Mac Slavo via SHTFPlan.com,
We can talk about technical charts, supply and demand fundamentals, and price manipulation, all of which point to significant increases in the value of gold and silver for the foreseeable future.
But according to Golden Arrow Resources CEO Joseph Grosso, who is credited with the discovery of the largest silver deposit in history, the single biggest reason that retail investors, institutional players and governments around the world are gobbling up physical precious metals, resource stocks and ETF’s at unprecedented levels is that they are scared to death of the state of the global economy and where it will go next.
Like an expecting father waiting for five years to see a baby being born, we are at the inception of a mining economy… There is a pause, a slight pause towards the U.S. dollar and that pause is allowing the oldest currency in the world, gold and silver [to rise] and that is now in favor.
…Because there is fear. When there is fear, that’s when gold does best.
… Right now, this is a scary time… People want to hop out [of traditional assets] and find safety in precious metals.
In the following interview with SGT Report the level-headed Grosso explains that there is still hope for America and the U.S. economy, but there will be a lot of pain before it gets better, the consequence of which is an environment that has historically boded well for precious metals as safe haven assets.
SGT Report: There is a web bot project out there that mines the internet for data… and the data mined by the web bot project suggests that some time in the future, because of worldwide monetary chaos, we will eventually see silver return to a 10-to-1 or 8-to-1 ratio… Right now the silver-to-gold ratio is hovering somewhere around 70-to-1… And you know as well as anyone, because you mine the stuff, silver is found in the earth’s crust much closer to a 10-to-1 ratio…
Joe Grosso: What you’re saying is really what dreams are made of… I remember a time when silver was somewhere around 40-to-1 and then it gravitated to 80-to-1.
So I do feel that there is a catch up for silver to come into a more humane ratio between the two, but it is of course the biggest dream that we will have a ratio of 10-to-1… this would make the silver price worth about $130 per ounce [at current gold price].
We’d like to see a return in the next three to five years where a lot of mines had to shut down and they can re-open again. Unfortunately for some, they have been liquidating assets… and out of the spoils we are now looking at acquiring or merging ourselves.
…
Silver… we’re glad to be in silver because it has two uses. One, as a precious metal. And second, almost 50% of the silver produced in the world is used for industrial use.
As Joe Grosso notes, mining companies have been pummeled over the last five years, leaving many to be either completely liquidated, or pausing operations until such time that prices eventually rise as a result of either core supply and demand fundamentals, or outright panic buying during economic crisis.
But unlike most proponents of a rising silver price, Grosso brings a unique perspective to the conversation, because he doesn’t necessarily see Venezuela-style meltdown, hyperinflation and chaos coming to the United States:
I am firmly of the belief that Venezuela will not happen in America… I think the American people have been tried [historically]… It’s happened before and America came out of it… It will happen again and America will come out of it… It’s a tough time… The administration will be under a lot of pressure…
But you do have what it takes. You have a fully developed economy which has been going for years… The comparison is pale in my estimation… The United States is in a much better position to recover.
I think that America will come out of it.
America is America.
… I really feel that we need to be grown up enough to know that in order to cure any illness, you need a bitter medicine. The more powerful the medicine, the quicker we will return to normality.
And America, I feel, will know that. You have the intelligence to know that. Not everything is only up and up and up and up.
It needs to be dealt with, with stronger resolve. And I am sure your country will understand that the tough things that are to come is the medicine that is going to resolve the problem.
But if you don’t take it, you don’t resolve it.
The American people do, indeed, understand that the system is broken as evidenced by the rise of extremely popular anti-establishment political candidates on both sides of the aisle.
It appears that, at least on some level, the people are willing to take the medicine.
But whether the governing bodies dispense it is a whole nother matter.
Failure to do so, says Grasso, means that things will only get worse.
If and when things get worse, panicked and concerned citizens the world over will continue to shift capital into assets like gold and silver, which will be the only currencies left standing when it really hits the fan.
- "If The Whole Country Looked Like Alabama, Donald Trump Would Be Fine"
After the 2012 election, in which Barack Obama won 71 percent of the Hispanic vote, the Republican National Committee found it necessary to conduct an in depth study of the loss, dubbing it the "most comprehensive post-election review" ever undertaken."
The result of the study concluded that… wait for it…the GOP needed to do much more to reach Hispanics if it hoped to win the White House someday.
As fate would have it, "someday" is now here, and as The Hill reports, Donald Trump will have to overcome the most diverse electorate in history, lead by a drop in white voters, and increases in Hispanic, black, and Asian voters.
As recently as the 2000 election, won by Republican George W. Bush, 81 percent of voters were white, 10 percent black and just seven percent Hispanic.
By 2012, when President Obama won his second term, the white vote-share was down 9 points, to 72 percent. Blacks cast 13 percent of the total ballots and Hispanics 10 percent.
Some experts believe the white vote-share could drop below 70 percent in November.“The America electorate as a whole is increasingly diverse, and I think you will see increases not only in the numbers of Hispanic and black voters, but among Asian voters as well. And you’ll see the lowest share of the white Anglo vote,” said Fernand Amandi of Bendixen & Amandi, a consulting firm that specializes in work with the Hispanic community.
Indeed a GOP candidate who has built his candidacy based on building a giant wall between the US and Mexico will have a bit of an issue to overcome as 2016 shapes up to present the candidates with the challenge of having to win over the most diverse electorate ever. "If the whole country looked like Alabama, Donald Trump would be fine. But that is not the case" Said Republican Strategist Dan Judy.
Pew Research notes that since 2012 about 12 times as many adult white citizens as adult Hispanic citizens have died, despite the overall white adult population only being six times as big as the Hispanic population. Pew also counts a net increase of about 7.5 million eligible voters whio are members of ethnic minorities since 2012, and among whites that number is just 3.2 million.
One big assumption of course is that the minorities show up to vote on election day, but if that is the case then it could very well be an incredibly long day for Trump. In a Latino decisions poll released late last month, Trump was viewed unfavorably by 87 percent of Hispanics and favorably by just 9 percent.
Acknowledging that Trump is in for a rough time if the minorities do show up to the polls, chairman of the Texas Federation of Hispanic Republicans Artemio Muniz says "He has got to show that he is a leader. He can't demagogue the issue."
A study last summer from David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report looked at the likely make-up of the electorate in 2016 compared to 2012, and if Wasserman used a model assuming the same levels of support as President Obama and GOP nominee Romney received from five groups: college-educated whites, non-college educated whites, blacks, Hispanics, and "Asians/Others", the result would be stunning. Democrats would increase their vote in all 15 of the potential battleground states where Wasserman focused.
The suggestion from that model, as The Hill points out, is that The Donald really needs to increase the white voter turnout to win.
While we certainly don't downplay the demographic challenges that Trump faces, the lesson learned from the Trump campaign thus far is that Trump has always seemed to manage and surprise critics and "experts" almost always to the upside. Trump has a staying power that has been downplayed throughout the entire campaign, and without a doubt it will be downplayed once again as The Donald takes on Hillary in the fall – assuming Clinton isn't charged with any crimes prior to the election of course.
In the meantime, Trump will no doubt continue to charm voters, and piss off all the pundits.
- Analyst Warns Deutsche Bank's Problems May Now Be "Insurmountable"
Call it some no holds barred German bank on German bank action.
After a tumultous start to a year that Germany’s largest, and judging by the tens of billions in legal settlements and charges also its most criminal bank, Deutsche Bank, would love to forget, things got worse over the weekend when a note issued by another German bank said that either Deutsche will have to massively dilute its shareholders as a result of “insurmountable” debt, or a fate far worse could await the Frankfurt-based lender.
Berenberg analyst James Chappell pulled no punches and spoke in uncharacteristically frank terms, traditionally reserves for the fringe media, when he said that “facing an illiquid credit market limiting Deutsche Bank’s (DBK) ability to delever and with core profitability impaired, it is hard to see how DBK can escape this vicious circle without raising more capital. The CEO has eschewed this route for now, in the hope that self-help can break this loop, but with risk being re-priced again it is hard to see DBK succeeding.” Chappell then broke the cardinal rule of sellside analysts: never issue a Sell rating on a fellow bank. “We downgrade to Sell and cut our price target to EUR9.00.“
According to Chappell, the biggest problem, of which DB has many, is that it simply has too much leverage, some 40x to be precise, something we have warned about since 2013. To wit:
Too many problems still: The biggest problem is that DBK has too much leverage. On our measures, we believe DBK is still over 40x levered. DBK can either reduce assets or increase capital to rectify this. On the first path, the markets do not exist in the size nor pricing to enable it to follow this route. Going down the second path also seems impossible at the moment, as the profitability of the core business is under pressure. Seeking outside capital is also likely to be difficult as management would likely find it hard to offer any type of return on new capital invested.
In other words, DB may be frash out of options. But wait, there’s more bad news because as Berenberg adds, the entire “industry is in structural decline”
The difficulty in analysing investment banks from the outside is that it is hard to establish core profitability. In an industry in structural decline, investment bank management teams are also likely to face similar challenges. Each weak quarter is seemingly greeted with an excuse that it could have been better if not for the wrong type of volatility, client uncertainty or central bank intervention. Q1 2016 saw the absence of one-off profitable events that have protected revenues in the past. We have perhaps had the first glimpse of what core profitability in the investment banking industry really is (ROEs in the midsingle digits at best) and it could be even worse if the traditional seasonality occurs.
Which brings us to his price target and Sell rating:
Price target cut to EUR9.00: We look at DBK’s valuation in two ways. One is a sum-of-the-parts analysis on the basis of normal conditions returning. This would imply a price target of EUR15.00. The second is a leverage adjusted P/E using the sector average multiple of 10x. This implies a price target of EUR9.00, using tangible book value. Considering “normal” conditions are unlikely to return and risk is re-pricing, we use the latter.
We applaud Chappell and only wish more of his peers had the guts to tell the truth and call it like it is.
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