From James Harkin (Webmaster & Editor of LindseyWilliams.net). Here is a summary of articles of interest from around the world for this week. Please LIKE the Lindsey Williams Online Facebook Page to see stories posted daily regarding the current state of the economy around the world.

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Latest News From March 3, 2017 to March 9, 2017:

• Greyerz – Global Panic Is Now Only Days Away
  With continued uncertainty around the globe, today the man who has become legendary for his predictions on QE, historic moves in currencies, told King World News that global panic is now only days away. Global Panic Is Now Only Days Away. Egon von Greyerz:  “In the Roman calendar, the Ides of March was the same as March 15th in today’s calendar. This date was not significant until Julius Caesar was assassinated on 15 March 44BC. Shakespeare then coined the phrase “Beware of the Ides of March” in his Julius Caesar work…
• “It's A Declaration Of War”: South Africa's President Calls For Confiscation Of White Land
  After South Africa's embattled president Jacob Zuma pledged, in a surprising address to parliament one month ago, to break up white ownership of business and land to reduce inequality (in a State of the Nation address which was disrupted by a fistfight), it now appears that Zuma's intentions to convert what was until recently Africa's most prosperous economy into a new Zimbabwe were all too real, and as the Telegraph reports, the South African president officially called on parliament to change South Africa’s constitution to allow the expropriation of white owned land without compensation. Zuma, 74, who made the remarks in a speech on Friday morning, said he wanted to establish a “pre-colonial land audit of land use and occupation patterns” before changing the law.
• Arizona Challenges The Fed's Money Monopoly
  History shows that, if individuals have the freedom to choose what to use as money, they will likely opt for gold or silver. Of course, modern politicians and their Keynesian enablers despise the gold or silver standard. This is because linking a currency to a precious metal limits the ability of central banks to finance the growth of the welfare-warfare state via the inflation tax. This forces politicians to finance big government much more with direct means of taxation. Despite the hostility toward gold from modern politicians, gold played a role in US monetary policy for sixty years after the creation of the Federal Reserve. Then, in 1971, as concerns over the US government’s increasing deficits led many foreign governments to convert their holdings of US dollars to gold, President Nixon closed the gold window, creating America’s first purely fiat currency.
• Germany's Jihad On Freedom Of Speech
  Carnival in Germany is a time for some light-hearted fun, fancy costumes and political satire. This year, many German cities held traditional float parades on Rosenmontag, or Rose Monday, many of which depicted political themes. Images of U.S. President Donald Trump took centre stage in many float processions, in some instances with his decapitated head held up high by the Statue of Liberty, in the style of an ISIS beheading. Other floats went after nationalist European leaders and right-wing parties. In Düsseldorf, President Trump was shown standing next to a blond Hitler, joined by France's Marine Le Pen, and the Netherlands' Geert Wilders. Germany prides in its traditional Narrenfreiheit (“jesters' freedom”) to mock the high and mighty. This year, Germany's state-run Deutsche Welle news agency proudly proclaimed, “German jesters take on kings for 2017 Carnival.”
• France's Death Spiral
  A “no-go zone” in the eastern suburbs of Paris. Police on patrol hear screams. They decide to check. While there, a young man insults them. They decide to arrest him. He hits them. A fight starts. He accuses a policeman of having raped him with a police baton. A police investigation quickly establishes that the young man was not raped. But it is too late; a toxic process has begun. Without waiting for any further evidence, the French Interior Minister says that the police officers have “behaved badly.” He adds that “police misconduct must be condemned”. French President François Hollande goes to the hospital to give his support to the young man. The president says he has conducted himself in a “dignified and responsible manner.” The next day, a demonstration against the police is cobbled together. The demonstration turns into a riot.
• Judicial Watch Sues CIA, DOJ For Intel Leak Records: “President Trump Is On To Something”
  Given that the Obama White House was (self-described as) “the most transparent administration ever,” we hope that Judicial Watch's demands of the Trump administration will be met positively. Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United States Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury regarding records related to the investigation of retired United States Army Lieutenant General Michel Flynn’s communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak (Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency et al. (No.1:17-cv-00397)).  (The National Security Agency refused to confirm or deny the existence of intelligence records about communications between Gen. Flynn and Amb Kislyak.)
• Shock Video Exposes Tent City Crisis In Failing California
  Citizen journalists have captured stunning video and images of homeless encampments that are spiraling out of control in the shadows of Disneyland and Anaheim Stadium in California. The tent city has recently sprung up along the Santa Ana riverbed, near a busy convergence of three major California highways known as the “Orange Crush,” at the border of Anaheim and Santa Ana, the latter a “sanctuary city.” Homeless activists estimate that as many as 1,000 people are camped in the region.
• “The Reality Is, Half Of Americans Can’t Afford To Write A $500 Check”
  The CEO of Assurant appeared on Bloomberg TV to explain why demand for his services is likely to increase: the chief executive of the mobile phone insurer said he expects a surge in demand as carriers charge customers more to replace their devices. “If you think back five years ago, you as a consumer didn’t know how much that phone cost, you thought it was free or close to free,” Assurant's Alan Colberg said Monday. “Now you’re paying $600, that’s a lot. So we’ve actually seen the attachment rate, or the number of people buying the product, going up a little bit in the last couple of years.” He then proceeded to give Bloomberg his traditional sales pitch: Assurant is counting on growth at its business covering phones and appliances to help counter a decline in the segment that insures foreclosed homes for lenders. While improvement in the real estate market has limited the number of vacant homes, Colberg said there are still many cash-strapped consumers.
• How 90% of American Households Lost an Average of $17,000 in Wealth to the Plutocrats in 2016
  America has always been great for the richest 1%, and it's rapidly becoming greater. Confirmation comes from recent work by Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman; and from the 2015-2016 Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databooks (GWD). The Richest 1% Extracted Wealth from Every Other Segment of Society. These multi-millionaires effectively shifted nearly $4 trillion in wealth away from the rest of the nation to themselves in 2016. While there's no need to offer condolences to the rest of the top 10%, who still have an average net worth of $1.3 million, nearly half of the wealth transfer ($1.94 trillion) came from the nation's poorest 90% — the middle and lower classes, according to Piketty and Saez and Zucman. That's over $17,000 in housing and savings per lower-to-middle-class household lost to the super-rich.
• 40% of households in Philadelphia can't pay their water bill
  America is in the midst of an “invisible water crisis” as the post-war water infrastructure reaches the end of its duty-cycle and cash-strapped public utilities struggle to find the money to rebuild it. In cities like Philadelphia, Atlanta, Seattle, and Detroit, families increasingly find themselves in water debt, and in Detroit, 50,000 households have had their running water cut off because of delinquency. The estimated bill for upgrading the end-of-lifed American urban water infrastructure is $1 trillion. Cities that have tried privatization as a means of pushing the bill onto investors have been shocked by the bills: in Atlanta, the private water provider charges $325.52 a month, which only qualifies as “affordable” if your household income tops $87K.
• What’s Different This Time? Stocks – This market (“Dow 30,000”) assures Fed rate hikes
  The two-year US Treasury yield just shot through 1.33%, the highest since June 2009, when it had briefly spiked from 1% to 1.42%. And that had been the highest since November 2008. It eventually hit a low of 0.16% in September 2011. This surge in yield is a sign that the bond market is adjusting to a rate hike in March, to more rate hikes later this year, and to more rate hikes next year. The 10-year yield has returned to the 2.5% neighborhood, on its way to take out the recent high set in mid-December of 2.6%.
• CHINA'S WARNING: Beijing to take measures over US missile system in South Korea
  CHINA has said it will take measures over the US missile system deployed in South Korea, saying the move destroys the security balance in the region. The US started to establish the first parts of its anti-missile defence system in South Korea on Tuesday after North Korea's test of four ballistic missiles. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had personally supervised Monday's missile launches by an army unit that is positioned to strike US bases in Japan, according to the country’s state media. The US is deploying its Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system but China has now reacted saying the move upsets the area’s security balance.
• This is Worse than Before the Last Three Crashes – This chart shows “multiple compression” is coming
  How long can this surge in stocks go on? That’s what everyone wants to know. Projections range from “forever” – these projections have become increasingly common – to “it’s already finished.” That’s a fairly wide range. Everyone has their own reasons for their boundless optimism or their doom-and-gloom outlooks. But there are some factors – boundless optimists should push them aside assiduously – that, from a historical point of view, would trigger tsunami sirens. Because in the end, it’s not different this time. And the cycle of “multiple expansion” and “multiple compression” is one of those factors.
• Is Mexico Facing “Liquidity Problems?” 
  At 49% of GDP, Mexico’s public debt may seem pretty low by today’s inflated standards. It’s a mere fraction of the debt loads amassed by bigger, richer economies such as Japan (229% of GDP), Italy (133%) and the United States (104%). But when it comes to debt, everything is relative, especially if you don’t enjoy the benefits that come from having a reserve-currency-denominated printing press. In Mexico’s case it’s not so much the size of the debt that matters; it’s the rate of its growth. In the year 2000 the country had a perfectly manageable debt load of roughly 20% of GDP. Today, it is two and a half times that size.
• The Deep State is Dying-Clif High
  Internet data mining expert Clif High says the world is witnessing the unmasking of the so-called “Deep State” and revealing it’s long held control over humanity. High explains, “The level of complexity of humans has increased, and that was the factor that the Deep State did not take into account.  They kept their rigid mindset, their rigid rules, their compartmentalization and kept everything so boxed in even they were unaware that humanity has evolved out and around their obstruction.  So, the Deep State is dying simply because the knowledge of it is so prevalent.  It can’t be stopped, and is growing exponentially, and, basically, the knowledge itself is going to crush the Deep State.”
• Of Course Big Brother Was Spying On Trump’s Calls – The Shocking Truth Is That They Spy On All Of Our Calls
  The mainstream media is all in an uproar over Donald Trump’s claim that Barack Obama personally ordered the phones in Trump Tower to be “wiretapped” just before the election. But nobody should really be surprised that the government was listening to Donald Trump’s phone calls. After all, the truth is that they systematically collect the content of all forms of digital communication, and this has been going on for many years. During Obama’s presidency, nobody really got too upset when it was revealed that the Obama administration was spying on friendly foreign leaders (including Angela Merkel), nobody got too upset when it was revealed that the Obama administration was spying on journalists, and nobody got too upset when it was revealed that the NSA was grabbing baby photos and nude selfies off of the Internet. But now that Trump has gotten extremely angry because the government was listening to his calls, maybe something will finally be done about all of this unconstitutional surveillance.
• Government Spooks Can Use The Mic And Camera On Trump’s Phone Even When He Thinks It Is Turned Off
  After reading this article you might not ever view your electronic devices the same way again.  Last year, Hollywood released a biographical political thriller based on the life of Edward Snowden that had one particularly creepy scene.  In that scene, a government spook used a program to remotely activate the microphone and camera on a laptop, and by doing so he was able to watch a woman as she got undressed.  Sadly, as you will see below, this kind of thing is happening constantly.  Any digital device can potentially be accessed and used to spy on you even if it appears to be turned off.  And this is why Donald Trump needs to be so careful right now, because the intelligence community wants to take him down and they can literally use any digital device in his possession to try to gather dirt on him.  We have a “deep state” that is absolutely obsessed with watching, tracking and monitoring the American people, and something desperately needs to be done about this unconstitutional surveillance.  Now that Trump has become greatly upset about how the government was tapping into his phone calls, maybe something will finally get accomplished.
• Pepsi Lays Off 20% Of Its Philadelphia Workers, Blames Soda Tax
  Two weeks ago, we pointed out that when Philadelphia became the first US city to pass a soda tax last summer, city officials were eagerly looking forward to the surplus-tax funded windfall to plug gaping budget deficits (and, since this is Philadelphia, the occasional embezzlement scheme). Then, one month ago, after the tax went into effect on January 1st we showed the tax applied in practice: a receipt for a 10 pack of flavored water carried a 51% beverage tax. And since  PA has a sales tax of 6% and Philly already charges another 2%, the total sales tax was 8%. In other words, a purchase which until last year came to $6.47 had overnight become $9.75.
• John Podesta joins The Washington Post as a contributing columnist
  The Washington Post today announced that John Podesta will join the Opinion section as a contributing columnist. Podesta, former chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign, will provide commentary and analysis on the intersection of politics and policy, the Trump administration and the future of the Democratic Party. “No one knows more about how Washington works, how the White House operates, and how policy ideas are translated into reality than John Podesta,” said Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt. “His long experience in Congress, inside two Democratic White Houses and on the front lines of numerous presidential campaigns, will offer readers vital insight into Washington and politics at the start of a new era.”
• Loretta Lynch: Need more marching, blood, death on streets
  The Obama administration’s former Attorney General Loretta Lynch has made an impassioned video plea for more marching, blood and death on the streets – a video that was later posted on the Facebook page of Senate Democrats as “words of inspiration.” The video is less than a minute long and begins by stating that people are experiencing “great fear and uncertainty,” with the unstated implication it is due to Donald Trump’s takeover of the White House.
• Thousands of ICE detainees claim they were forced into labor, a violation of anti-slavery laws
  Tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were forced to work for $1 day, or for nothing at all — a violation of federal anti-slavery laws — a lawsuit claims. The lawsuit, filed in 2014 against one of the largest private prison companies in the country, reached class-action status this week after a federal judge’s ruling. That means the case could involve as many as 60,000 immigrants who have been detained. It’s the first time a class-action lawsuit accusing a private U.S. prison company of forced labor has been allowed to move forward.
• Deutsche Bank’s turnaround plans are punishing its stock
  Wall Street isn’t thrilled with Deutsche Bank’s turnaround plans. Shares of John Cryan’s bank dropped nearly 4 percent Monday following a weekend announcement that it would raise $8.5 billion through a stock-diluting equity offering. Shares fell 3.8 percent to $18.61 at the end of the trading day, the lowest since Jan. 17.
• Deutsche Bank shares hit by cash call
  Shares in Deutsche Bank closed 3.7% lower on news it plans to bolster its finances through selling new shares. Germany's biggest bank plans to raise about 8bn euros (£6.9bn, $8.5bn) through the sale, due later this month. The sale by the troubled bank is part of a wider shake-up. Deutsche will also partially float its asset management business and retain Postbank – the retail banking business that it had been expected to sell. The company will be reorganised around three divisions: private banking and wealth management; asset management; and corporate and investment banking. The bank is trying to reshape itself after grappling with huge losses and a 15bn euro legal bill imposed by regulators since 2012.
• Soros-Tied Obama Lawyers Form Group to Battle Trump
  Further evidence of Barack Obama’s close association with efforts to oppose President Trump has emerged: a group of former top lawyers for the Obama administration have formed an organization aimed at utilizing legal advocacy methods to oppose Trump’s policies. The organization is calling itself United to Protect Democracy, drawing on the theme of Obama’s farewell speech last month. The group is already partnered with an organization heavily financed by billionaire George Soros and is led by a former Obama lawyer who previously worked at a Soros-financed global activist outfit. Politico first reported on the formation of United to Protect Democracy, which has already raised $1.5 million and hired five staffers.
• House Republicans release long-awaited plan to replace Obamacare
  House Republicans on Monday released long-anticipated legislation to supplant the Affordable Care Act with a more conservative vision for the nation’s health-care system, replacing federal insurance subsidies with a new form of individual tax credits and grants to help states shape their own policies. Under two bills drafted by separate House committees, the government would no longer penalize Americans for failing to have health insurance but would try to encourage people to maintain coverage by allowing insurers to impose a surcharge of 30 percent for those who have a gap between health plans.
• China overtakes eurozone as world’s biggest bank system
  China’s banking system has surpassed that of the eurozone to become the world’s largest by assets, a sign both of the country’s increased influence in world finance and its reliance on debt to drive growth since the global financial crisis. While China’s gross domestic product surpassed the EU’s economic bloc in 2011 at market exchange rates, its banking system did not take over the top spot until the end of 2016, Financial Times analysis shows. The lag reflects Beijing’s increased “financial deepening” — the term for the growth of a country’s financial system relative to gross domestic product. This has been fuelled by an extraordinary increase in bank lending since 2008, when the government unleashed aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus to buffer the impact of the global crisis.
• ‘This is McCarthyism!’ Trump accuses Obama of wire tapping Trump Tower before election win
  US President Donald Trump has accused his predecessor Barack Obama of “wire tapping” Trump Tower just before his election win in November, according to his latest tweet. Trump made the accusation in a tweet decrying the alleged surveillance as “McCarthyism.” Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis denied Trump’s allegation, according to Reuters, saying: “A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice.”
• Snopes caught releasing fake “fact-check” in defence of Democrats
  Snopes, the popular myth-busting website, pushed misleading facts to cover for Democrats Keith Ellison and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who didn’t leave their seats during the second standing ovation for Carryn Owens, widow of the deceased hero Navy SEAL Ryan Owens. During Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday, Carryn Owens received two standing ovations. The second ovation, which lasted two minutes, Keith Ellison and Debbie Wasserman Schultz chose to stay in their seat.
• Juncker Has Meltdown While Debating Future Of EU: “Shit! What Do You Want Us To Do?”
  There should be no doubt about the current status of the European Union. It’s crumbling before our very eyes. Between the sprawling unaccountable bureaucracy in Brussels, the unpayable debts, the unfettered immigration, and the unprecedented emergence of conservative, nationalistic groups, it’s obvious that the EU is not long for this world. No nation can survive those pressures; much less a loosely held, 24 year old political union consisting of a wide variety of languages and cultures. And this fact is beginning to show. Not just because nations like the UK have already voted to leave the EU, and talk of independence referendums is spreading like wildfire across the continent. This fact is beginning to show on the faces and lips of the EU’s leaders.
• The NSA Wiretaps Every Future President
  Trump's on the warpath. He just called out Obama for wiretapping Trump Tower in the months leading up to the election. We are seeing commentaries popping up around the internet claiming that this is a modern-day Watergate scandal. We respectfully disagree. It's far, far more serious. If Trump Tower was wiretapped, it was almost certainly done by the NSA.
• Valerie Jarrett Has Moved Into Obama’s Anti-Trump Command Center To Aid In The Effort To Sabotage The President
  Never before have we seen a previous president and his team openly attempt to sabotage the next president, but that is precisely what is happening. Traditionally, most ex-presidents have chosen to move far away from Washington, but Barack Obama decided to purchase a home less than two miles from the White House, and many of his former staff members are either working directly with him or are working for his political organization Organizing for Action. And of particular concern is the fact that Valerie Jarrett has actually moved into Obama’s five million dollar home, which many are referring to as Obama’s “anti-Trump command center”. For eight years the Obamas wouldn’t even sneeze without consulting Valerie Jarrett first, and needless to say Jarrett has not moved in to help them pick out wallpaper and drapes. Jarrett is a hardcore political operative, and she has reportedly convinced Obama that he needs to lead the fight against Trump.
• President Oprah? Speculation Rises That The 2020 Election Will Feature An Epic Battle Between Donald Trump And Oprah Winfrey
  When Donald Trump originally announced that he was going to run for president, he said that his ideal choice for a running mate was Oprah Winfrey, but now he may be actually running against her in the 2020 election.  A recent episode of The David Rubenstein Show that featured an interview with Oprah Winfrey is creating a tremendous amount of buzz that Oprah Winfrey may throw her hat into the ring during the next election cycle.  This particular episode was taped back on December 12th, but it didn’t actually get aired on Bloomberg TV until last Tuesday.  You can see the portion of the interview in which Oprah is asked about her presidential aspirations on YouTube right here, and as you can see, she definitely sounds like someone that is very seriously thinking about running…
• 11 Quotes From Trump’s Speech To Congress That Show That The U.S. Economy Is In A State Of Collapse
  After Tuesday night, nobody should have any more doubt that the U.S. economy has been in the process of collapsing.  Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress is being hailed as his best speech ever.  Even CNN’s Van Jones praised Trump, which shocked many observers.  Jones said that when Trump honored the widow of slain Navy Seal Ryan Owens that it “was one of the most extraordinary moments you have ever seen in American politics”, and Jones believes that Trump “became President of the United States in that moment”.  But Trump’s speech is not just being praised for that one moment.  He detailed many of the most important problems that our nation is facing, and he explained his prescription for addressing those problems.
• S&P 500 ETF saw historic inflows in Wednesday’s monster rally
  Wednesday marked the largest one-day rise for the S&P 500 since November, but the biggest exchange-traded fund to track the benchmark index took down an even longer-standing record amid the broad advance. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, -0.19%  saw inflows of more than $8 billion on Wednesday, the biggest single-day move into the fund since December 2014, and one of the top 10 biggest flow days for the ETF in its history. The flow data includes the 34.2 million shares that were created in the fund, according to data provided by State Street Global Advisors, which runs the fund.
• Euro Breakup Contagion Risk Is Exploding
  With existential elections looming, Sentix Euro Break-up Contagion Index – a market measure of the contagion risk from one or more countries leaving the euro area within the next 12 months period – has hit its post-2012 record recently… As Sentix notes, the Eurocrisis is once again in the limelight. And this time the drama consists of three main actors: Greece, Italy and France. How dangerous this tendency for the cohesion of the eurozone could become is a look at the index to the spreading risk, which has almost climbed to the 50% mark – an all-time high!
• Newly-Declassified Documents Show that CIA Worked Closely with Owners and Journalists with Many of the Largest Media Outlets
  Newly-declassified documents show that a senior CIA agent and Deputy Director of the Directorate of Intelligence worked closely with the owners and journalists of many of the largest media outlets. The United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities found in 1975 that the CIA submitted stories to the American press.
• This Chart Signals China's Housing Bubble May Burst Soon
  The probability that a real estate bubble may burst in China is rising. The financial sector heavily depends on real estate, which in turn exposes the entire Chinese economy to systemic risk. This link means that a downturn in real estate could soon spread to other areas of the Chinese economy if banks face liquidity shortfalls. Also, falling housing prices could result in more non-performing loans (NPLs). While NPLs officially account for only 1.75 percent of all Chinese loans, the government is likely understating the figure. BMI Research, a financial consulting firm, estimated in a 2016 report that NPLs could be close to 20 percent of loans.
• China Strikes A Path To Develop Its Own Digital Currency
  The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has reportedly been taking steps to develop a digital currency of its own. In 2014, China assembled a research team to study digital currencies and application scenarios by collaborating with experts from Citigroup Inc. and Deloitte LLP. Although the team did not specify what technology the PBOC would use to issue digital currency, or how it would work in relation to the yuan, a later 2016 research paper did outline ways that a national digital currency could work.
• Trump Seeks “Historic” $54 Billion Increase To Defense Spending
  As observed earlier in the day, as part of the leaked preliminary Trump budget, the president was set to unveil major spending increases for US defense offset by cuts to federal agencies, and other non-defense sectors. And on Monday morning, the first details emerged, including that the boost to defense spending is expected to be about 10%, or some $54 billion, and will be revenue neutral, offset by cuts in non-defense areas, and will not “add a dime to the deficit.” As Trump said, he is seeking a “historic increase” in military spending. “This budget will be a public safety and national security budget,” Trump told state governors at the White House. “It will include an historic increase in defense spending to rebuild the depleted military of the United States of America at a time we most need it,” he said.
• The Greek “Bank Jog” Is Back: Bank Deposits Tumble To Lowest Since 2001
  It didn't take much for the Greek bank run jog to return: with Greece once again stuck between an IMF rock and a Schauble hard case, and whispers that another bailout may be on the horizon, the local population took advantage of whatever capital controls loopholes they could find, and withdrew money from the local banking sector, which to this day remains on ECB life support, almost two years after the 3rd Greek bailout in the summer of 2015. According to Greece central bank data, Greek private sector bank deposits declined in January for the second month in a row, driven by renewed concerns over the country's neverending bailout. Business and household deposits fell by €1.63 billion, or 1.34% month-on-month to €119.75 billion ($126.8 billion), the lowest level since November 2001. The January outflow follows a “jog” of €3.4 billion in December, making the two-month drop the worst since the latest Greek bailout panic in July of 2015.
• China Accounts For Half Of All Global Debt Created Since 2005: Here Are The Implications
  Over three years ago, in November 2013, when the world's attention was still largely focused on what the “Big 4” central banks would do with QE and/or interest rates, we wrote an article showing in one simple chart  “How In Five Short Years, China Humiliated The World's Central Banks”, and noted that in just the brief period since the financial crisis “Chinese bank assets (and by implication liabilities) have grown by an astounding $15 trillion, bringing the total to over $24 trillion. In other words, China has expanded its financial balance sheet by 50% more than the assets of all global central banks combined.”
• The European Debt Bomb Fuse Is Lit! Target2 Imbalances Hit Crisis Levels
  Eurozone Target2 imbalances have touched or exceeded the crisis levels hit in 2012 when Greece was on the verge of leaving the Eurozone. Others have noted the growing imbalances as well. I had a couple of questions for the ECB regarding Target2, which they have answered, I believe disingenuously. First, we will explain Target2, then we will take a look at various charts, viewpoints, and the email exchange with the ECB.
• Trump’s border wall plan already working: Illegal immigration down 27%
  According to number released by Customs and Border Protection on Monday, illegal immigration over the southern border diminished 27% in the first month of 2017 from the previous month of December. In January a total of 31,575 migrants were apprehended for entering the U.S. illegally and an additional 10,899 were inadmissible. Although chatter of Trump’s proposed construction of a wall has likely thwarted migrants, for now, the flow of human traffic into the U.S. is expected to pick back up in the spring months.
• Poll: Majority of Americans fear US will become involved in another major war
  A majority of Americans are concerned that the United States will become involved in another major war over the course of President Trump's term, according to an NBC News/Survey Monkey online poll released Wednesday. Sixty-six percent are worried that the U.S. will become engrossed in another major war, while 33 percent are not worried. The poll also found that 62 percent believe the U.S. should consider its allies’ interests even if doing so means making compromises, while 34 percent of Americans think the country should do what is best for its own national interest.
• Under the Heel of the Rothschilds
  That America is on “life support” has been clear for a long time—in fact, ever since the Swinging Sixties and the end of the Vietnam war. America’s rapidly deteriorating condition of the late seventies is what led to my search for what happened to the promise of “the American dream”. What I cannot comprehend is all this wringing of hands, rending of garments and gnashing of teeth. It’s like that old scorpion story. Didn’t America know what was going on before Trump was elected to ride on its back? Apparently not. Observe: the Rothschilds consolidated their European holdings of wealth and power by the late 1700s. By the turn of that century, they virtually owned, and most certainly controlled Britain, the sole superpower of the day, a global power on whose colonial holdings “the sun never set.”
• Georgia high school punishes student for supporting President Trump
  Paul Joseph Watson reports for InfoWars, Feb. 28, 2017, that Patrick Ragozzine, a student at Cherokee High School in Canton, Georgia (about 45 minutes from Atlanta), received an ISS (in school suspension) for supporting President Trump against students who called Trump a racist. Ragozzine writes: “I overheard some students bashing Donald Trump, making false claims that he’s a racist, sexist, xenophobic person. The teacher defended the other students and began lecturing me on Trump’s ‘hateful’ rhetoric and how the other students have the right to hold those feelings.”
• How We Got Here In One Sentence
  In every annual budget debate since the 1980s, one side figures out that the way to get what it wants – which is higher spending – is to frame the request in a particular, ingenious way: We have to borrow and spend way more now if we want to borrow and spend way less later. History has of course proven this argument to be idiotic, but because it moves the pain of living within our means into the indefinite future, it always manages to attract enough votes to win the day.
• The Largest Debt Bomb In Human History is About to go BOOM!
  The media doesn’t seem to be talking much about national debt these days, perhaps because under the Trump administration it actually reduced by $12B in January? Unfortunately, that’s nothing but a drop in the bucket because our debt levels are at the highest point in human history. And not just national debt but corporate and personal debt levels as well. And the United States is not alone in this… Right Wing News looks at how the American and global economy has largely been propped up by debt-fueled spending. This is what a hundred years of credit expansion will do, and the only question is when, not if, this house of cards will come crumbling down. Will you be prepared when the inevitable occurs?
• Crack-up Boom Here Now-Rob Kirby
  Macroeconomic researcher Rod Kirby thinks the world is well on its way to much higher inflation. Kirby explains, “Some people say there is a dollar shortage in the world. I do not believe there is a dollar shortage. I think we are seeing evidence that there are too many dollars in the world, not too few. Look at real estate prices around the world. In Canada, they are at record levels. In America, they are at record levels. Real estate prices are at record levels in Britain. There are record levels in Australia. They are at record levels in China. This is not what you’d expect in an environment where there are too few dollars. We are seeing the equity markets rally day after day and make new all-time highs. These are not the kinds of things you see when there are too few dollars. In my view, this might be the thin edge of the wedge of a crack-up boom. Money is getting to the street because money is being taken out of dark pools on the dark side of the U.S. Treasury and is being injected into the market place as bonds are being sold off and redeemed. The world is flush with money, extremely flush with money.”
• Giant Fiscal Bloodbath Coming Soon-David Stockman
  Former Reagan Administration White House Budget Director David Stockman says financial pain is a mathematical certainty. Stockman explains, “I think we are likely to have more of a fiscal bloodbath rather than fiscal stimulus.  Unfortunately for Donald Trump, not only did the public vote the establishment out, they left on his doorstep the inheritance of 30 years of debt build-up and a fiscal policy that’s been really reckless in the extreme.  People would like to think he’s the second coming of Ronald Reagan and we are going to have morning in America.  Unfortunately, I don’t think it looks that promising because Trump is inheriting a mess that pales into insignificance what we had to deal with in January of 1981 when I joined the Reagan White House as Budget Director.”
• Trump Has Treason in White House-Robert David Steele
  Former CIA operative and military Intel officer, Robert David Steele, says there is no doubt President Trump is dealing with “treason in his own house.” Steele explains, “Donald Trump’s biggest worry right this minute is they are stripping away every single one of his loyal staff members and planting spies in the White House.  Reince Priebus, in my judgment, is not loyal to Donald Trump.  Reince Priebus’ highest mission in life is to keep Donald Trump from unrigging the system, while helping the neo-conservative and the extreme left two party establishment strip away all of Trump’s options to the point that they drive Trump out of office, and Mike Pence is the go along, get along President that keeps the two-party tyranny in place. . . . If he forces the NSA to provide support to the FBI, and if he scrutinizes every phone call that Reince Priebus has made and received, he will find the treason in his own house.  I guarantee you there are 30 traitors at NSA, 30 traitors at FBI and over 500 traitors across the U.S. government, including the Departments of State and Defense.  Counterintelligence has to be set in motion right now.”
• Why Is NASA Using The Discovery Of 7 New Earth-Sized Planets To Promote The Idea That Alien Life May Exist?
  NASA told us in advance that there would be a huge announcement on Wednesday, and it certainly was not a disappointment.  NASA’s declaration that 7 new Earth-sized planets had been discovered approximately 40 light years away from our sun made headlines all over the globe, and the Internet immediately started buzzing with lots of discussions about the possibility that these newly discovered worlds may have life on them.  This isn’t the kind of thing that I normally write about on The Economic Collapse Blog, but some of the things that were being said by the scientists involved in this discovery seemed quite odd.  It is one thing to say that some new planets have been found, but it is another thing entirely to start speculating about life on those planets.  With each new discovery that is made, why does it always seem like NASA is trying to promote the idea that alien life may exist somewhere out there?  Could it be possible that they are trying to mentally prepare us for something?
• How Angry Will You Be If The Republicans In Congress Do Not Repeal Obamacare?
  Top Republicans are now publicly saying that Obamacare will never be fully repealed. In fact, many Republicans in Congress are already using the term “repair” instead of “repeal” to describe what is going to happen to Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. Without a doubt, the Republicans in Congress are eventually going to do something, but strategists in both parties are now suggesting that most of the key elements of Obamacare are going to remain once everything is all said and done. It will be put into a more “conservative” package, but it will still be Obamacare. On Thursday, former House Speaker John Boehner made headlines all over the country when he said that a complete repeal of Obamacare is “not what’s going to happen”.  Instead, Boehner said that Republicans are going to “fix Obamacare” and that they will “put a more conservative box around it” in order to keep their constituents happy.
• As Wendy's Is Proving, Target Has Shown, Higher Minimum Wages Lead To Job Losses
  We people who know our economics keep insisting that raising the minimum wage will lead to people employing less labour. That's just what people do when the price of something rises, they buy less of it. The other name for people using less labour is that we will lose jobs, there will be unemployment. A number of theories are put forward for why this won't happen but happen it still does. As the twin stories of Target and Wendy's show us.
• Retail Apocalypse Gains Momentum As David Stockman Warns ‘Everything Will Grind To A Halt’ After March 15th
  J.C. Penney and Family Christian Stores are the latest retail giants to announce widespread store closings. As you will see below, J.C. Penney plans to close between 130 and 140 stores, and Family Christian is closing all of their 240 stores. In recent months the stock market has been absolutely soaring, and so most people have simply assumed that the “real economy” must be doing well. But that is not the case at all. In fact, the retail apocalypse that I have been documenting for quite some time appears to be gaining momentum. J.C. Penney is not in as rough shape as Sears is just yet, but it is definitely on a similar trajectory. In the end, they are both headed for bankruptcy. That is why it wasn’t too much of a surprise when J.C. Penney announced that they are getting rid of about 6,000 workers and closing at least 130 stores…
• Ford set to axe 1,160 UK jobs, Unite warns as it gears up for strike action
  Unite has said up to 1,160 jobs will go by 2021 after Ford said it will cut investment in a new engine programme. The union has warned workers at Ford's Bridgend plant in Wales will be “one step closer to strike action” if the company doesn't commit to protecting jobs. At the moment, the headcount is 1,760. Unite general secretary Len McCluskey is visiting the site today with three mass meetings being held. He said: “Unite members are committed to Ford, the Welsh Assembley is committed to Ford, all we need now is for Ford to commit to its workforce. That means investment, new product lines and a clean plan for the plant's future.”
• Is Something Strange Happening Inside The Earth?
  Why are “giant fountains of lava” suddenly pouring out of some of the most dangerous volcanoes on the entire planet, and why are so many long dormant volcanoes suddenly roaring back to life?  The spectacular eruption of Mt. Etna in Italy is making headlines all over the world, but it is far from alone.  According to Volcano Discovery, 35 major volcanoes either are erupting right now or have just recently erupted, and dozens of others are stirring.  So what is causing this upsurge in volcanic activity?  Is something strange happening inside the Earth? According to the USGS, magma is “molten rock underground”, and lava is molten rock “that breaks through the Earth’s surface”.  Right now, something is pushing magma up through the crust of the Earth at a number of key spots around the planet.  On the island of Sicily, the “giant fountains of lava” that are coming out of Mt. Etna can be seen 30 kilometers away…
• Venezuela is down to its last $10 billion
  Caracas is running out of cash. Venezuela only has $10.5 billion in foreign reserves left, according to its most recent central bank data. For rest of the year, Venezuela owes roughly $7.2 billion in outstanding debt payments. In 2011, Venezuela had roughly $30 billion in reserves. In 2015, it had $20 billion. The trend can't persist much longer, but it's hard to know exactly when Venezuela will run completely out of cash.
• If You Admit That You Are A Trump Supporter, It May Cost You Your Job
  Many liberals that are still extremely bitter about the outcome of the election are taking out their frustrations on Trump supporters all over the country. And in some cases, employees are actually being “reassigned”, fired or asked to leave their jobs if they openly admit their support for President Trump. This kind of political discrimination is not supposed to be happening in our workplaces, but it is happening. Many leftists that are in positions of authority around the nation are using that authority to punish people that voted for Donald Trump. So if you voted for Trump and your boss didn’t, you might want to keep your political views to yourself at your workplace if you want to keep your job.
• In Letter Sent Home To All Parents, Chicago Public Schools Promise To Obstruct ‘The Enforcement Of Federal Civil Immigration Law’
  The Chicago public school system has decided to openly defy the president of the United States. More than 392,000 students attend public schools in Chicago, and on Tuesday a letter was sent home with each of those students telling their parents that Chicago schools will not “assist in the enforcement of federal civil immigration law”. In fact, the letter actually says that federal officials will not even be allowed “to access CPS facilities”. In essence, every Chicago public school has now officially been declared to be a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants. This is just another example of how deeply divided we are as a nation. The entire public school system of one of our largest cities is now in open rebellion against the president, and that is a very dangerous sign.
• Radical Leftists Are Warning That The Trump Years Will Be ‘Apocalyptic’ – And They Just Might Be Right
  Is the United States about to plunge into an apocalyptic nightmare from which it may never recover? During the Obama era conservatives often warned of such scenarios, but now things have completely shifted. At the moment, conservatives are generally more optimistic than they have been in many years, but quite a few liberals are warning that the Trump years could have absolutely disastrous consequences for this country. They are concerned that Trump’s policies could burst the giant debt bubble that we have been living in and trigger economic collapse, they are concerned that widespread civil unrest could soon erupt in our cities, they are concerned that our rapidly deteriorating environment and major natural disasters could soon kill millions, and they are also concerned that faltering relationships with other nations could lead us into World War III.
• Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – March 2, 2017
  Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his regular short weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams' weekly newsletter.

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From James Harkin (Webmaster & Editor of LindseyWilliams.net). Here is a summary of articles of interest from around the world for this week. Please LIKE the Lindsey Williams Online Facebook Page to see stories posted daily regarding the current state of the economy around the world.

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Latest News From February 24, 2017 to March 2, 2017:

• March 2017: The End Of A 100 Year Global Debt Super Cycle Is Way Overdue
  For more than 100 years global debt levels have been rising, and now we are potentially facing the greatest debt crisis in all of human history.  Never before have we seen such a level of debt saturation all over the planet, and pretty much everyone understands that this is going to end very, very badly at some point.  The only real question is when it will happen.  Many believe that the current global debt super cycle began when the Federal Reserve was established in 1913.  Central banks are designed to create debt, and since 1913 the U.S. national debt has gotten more than 6800 times larger.  But of course it is not just the United States that is in this sort of predicament.  At this point more than 99 percent of the population of the entire planet lives in a nation that has a debt-creating central bank, and as a result the whole world is drowning in debt.
• What This Woman Was Shown About The Future Of The United States Will Shake You To Your Core
  Judgment is coming to America very soon. Recently, Julie Whedbee was shown what life will be like for believers in the United States during the Tribulation. She has been having dreams and visions for over 20 years, and she is someone that I have come to hold in high regard. What was revealed to her about the future of the United States is quite chilling to say the least. She was shown a time when Christians have to live in hiding in a post-apocalyptic America where millions of people have already been killed.
• Virtually Everyone Agrees That Current Stock Market Valuations Are Not Sustainable And That A Great Crash Is Coming
  Current stock market valuations are not sustainable.  If there is one thing that I want you to remember from this article, it is that cold, hard fact.  In 1929, 2000 and 2008, stock prices soared to absolutely absurd levels just before horrible stock market crashes.  What goes up must eventually come down, and the stock market bubble of today will be no exception.  In fact, virtually everyone in the financial community acknowledges that stock prices are irrationally high right now.  Some are suggesting that there is still time to jump in and make money before the crash comes, while others are recommending a much more cautious approach.  But what almost everyone agrees on is the fact that stocks cannot go up like this forever.
• Video: Nancy Pelosi Refuses to Applaud American Job Creation
  As President Donald Trump hailed the creation of private sector jobs by American companies since he was elected, many in Congress cheered tonight. Except Nancy Pelosi. During his Address to Congress, Trump ran down a list of companies that have announced investments and job additions in the last several weeks. “Since my election, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Generall Motors, Spring, Sofbank, Lockheed, Intel, Walmart and many others have announced that they will invest billions and billions of dollars in the United States and create tens of thousands of new American jobs,” Trump said. As many stood to applaud, Pelosi remained seated with a sour look on her face.
• California Governor Spends $25 Billion Per Year On Illegals, Officials Warned Dam Failing 12 Years Ago
  According to a report from the Washington Times, California Governor Jerry Brown has been spending $25 billion a year supporting illegal immigrants while neglecting the failing Oroville dam. Despite California’s utter hatred for President Trump they sure do expect a lot from him. When President Trump said $1 trillion needed to be spent on the nation’s infrastructure Governor Brown responded by submitting a $100 billion wishlist for projects in California. In the $100 billion request submitted by Governor Brown there was not a single mention of the Oroville dam. Governor Brown had absolutely no plans to fix it despite warnings that the dam was in serious need of repair for nearly 12 years according to Mercury News.
• Obamas To Make Over $60 Million From Book Deal
  What took the Clintons years of confidential speeches before major investment banks and middle eastern clients of the Treasury Department, the Obama's plan to achieve with just two books.  According to the FT, several publishers are participating in a blockbuster auction for the global rights to two books by Barack and Michelle Obama where the bid has reached more than $60 million. The Obamas, who are writing separate books but selling the rights jointly, stand to make a record amount for their presidential memoirs.
• Russia and China veto UN vote on Syria
  Russia and China veto UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Syria, as in a blow to the Western powers a raft of non-aligned countries decide to vote against or abstain. As promised Russia voted against the latest attempt by the Western powers to use the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Syria, this time in connection with Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons. This is the seventh occasion that Russia has wielded its veto on Syria’s behalf. China also voted against the resolution, the sixth time China has voted against a Western sponsored resolution concerning Syria.
• What's So Bad About Globalism? (Spoiler Alert: Everything)
  As far as I can tell, globalism is a scheme concocted by the rich to destroy the working and middle classes through worldwide financial imperialism. I have a strong hunch that globalism is also a plot hatched to obliterate indigenous cultures and real human differences under the deceptive ruses of “multiculturalism” and “diversity.” This is why I’m confused whenever I hear someone say they hate “the rich,” oppose “imperialism,” and support “the working class” while being an unquestioning cheerleader for open borders and global government.
• Millionaire Migrants: Countries That Rich People Are Flocking To
  Money may not buy happiness, but it does buy the ultimate flexibility for making financial and lifestyle decisions. For many of the world’s millionaires, money provides a highly effective means to escape their home country when times get tough. They can pack their bags, and move their family and capital to a location that will provide superior opportunities for prosperity. According to a new report by New World Wealth, this couldn’t have been truer for 2016, as the amount of millionaire migrants increased by 28% from the previous year.
• The FTSE 100 broke its record closing high for a 13th time in 2017
  Britain's FTSE 100 reached an all-time closing high on Wednesday buoyed by a weakening pound and a rise in sentiment following Donald Trump's more conciliatory than expected speech to Congress on Tuesday evening. Trump's speech, along with hints from members of the the US Federal Reserve's FOMC that the central bank could hike interest rates helped push the dollar higher and the pound lower, driving a more than 1.6% rally in the UK's benchmark share index. The FTSE closed at 7,384.6 points on the day, a gain of 1.67%, surpassing the previous record of 7,337 points, a milestone reached in January of this year.
• NY Teamsters Pension Becomes First To Run Out Of Money As Expert Warns “Pension Tsunami” Is Coming
  The New York Teamsters Road Carriers Local 707 Pension Fund has won the unfortunate award for “First Pension to Officially Run Out of Money.”  According to the New York Daily News, and a host of angry former truck drivers who've had their pension benefits slashed, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) has officially been forced to step in and take over payments to retirees of the Local 707, albeit at a much lower rate. Of course, the Teamsters 707 and other Teamster pension boards attempted to submit plans that would have cut benefits in order to prolong payments to retirees but those plans were universally rejected by the Obama administration… better that the pensions just run out of cash completely.
• FULL: President Trump Speech to Congress – 2/28/2017
  President Donald J. Trump addresses Congress for the first time.
• Trump declares it's ‘time to join forces' to fix US problems
  Heralding a “new chapter of American greatness,” President Donald Trump stood before Congress for the first time Tuesday night and issued a broad call for overhauling the nation's health care system, significantly boosting military spending and plunging $1 trillion into upgrading crumbling infrastructure. Striking an optimistic tone, Trump declared: “The time for small thinking is over.” Trump's address came at a pivotal moment for a new president elected on pledges to swiftly shake up Washington and follow through on the failed promises of career politicians. His opening weeks in office have been consumed by distractions and self-inflicted wounds, including the bungled rollout of a sweeping immigration and refugee executive order that was blocked by the courts.
• Trump Proposes Cutting State Department Budget By 37%
  One month ago, a media frenzy broke out after the WaPo reported of mass voluntary resignations at the State Department, to protest the arrival of Rex Tillerson. Shortly after, it was revealed that not only was it not a “mass resignation” (there were only four high level resignation) but it was all procedural, meant to streamline the transition from one administration to the next. However, the bloodbath at the State Department – for years Hillary Clinton's kingdom, and populated with many pro-Clinton staffers – may have been merely deferred because as AP reports, the Trump administration is proposing deep cuts in spending for diplomacy and foreign aid programs to help pay for increased military spending. Officials familiar with the proposal say it calls for slashing more than a third, or 37%, of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development budgets. Development assistance would take the biggest hit.
• “There Must Not Be A Bail In”: Germany Vows “No Debt Relief For Greece”
  The standoff over the Greek debt crisis was nowhere closer to an amicable resolution on Sunday, when Germany's deputy finance minister Jens Spahn said in an interview with German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that Greece must not be granted a “bail in” that would involve creditors taking a loss on their loans, reiterating the German government's opposition to debt relief for Athens, and confirming that when it comes to Europe's recently adopted “bail-in” protocols, they “work” in theory, but certainly not in practice (see the latest taxpayer funded bailout of Monte Paschi for another recent example). “There must not be a bail-in,” Jens Spahn said quoted by Reuters, adding that “we think it is very, very likely that we will come to an agreement with the International Monetary Fund that does not require a haircut,” he said, referring to losses that Greece's creditors would have to take if debt was written off.
• Barclays Server Crash Leaves Customers Unble To Withdraw Cash, Use Debit Cards
  Having managed to stem its recent earnings rout, reporting a Q4 rebound in income from continuing operations which rose to £380 million after reporting a loss of £2.24 billion a year ago, UK's Barclays is facing a more traditional problem: on Saturday Barclays customers have reported problems using their cards in shops and withdrawing money from some cash machines according to the BBC. Barclays customers tweeted about problems using their cards when out shopping or trying to access online banking on Saturday afternoon. “Wondered why my card was declined when paying for lunch. Barclays servers have crashed. Brilliant,” said one customer, James.
• Poland, Hungary Join Together To Challenge EU Bureaucracy
  The rifts within the EU continue to widen as Poland and Hungary join together in opposition to the EU bureaucracy. Soon after Poland’s ultra-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party came to power in October 2015, the Polish parliament passed a law allowing the government to appoint the judges of its choosing to the highest court and not recognize those chosen by its predecessor, the liberal Civic Platform party. The crisis began in 2015 when Civic Platform, the party then in power, improperly nominated two judges to the constitutional court. When the PiS won October’s elections, it refused to recognize them and also blocked three other judges who had been properly selected by parliament. PiS also wants the court to hear cases in chronological order, rather than setting its own priorities for tackling its caseload. The Polish government believes it is unfair that a constitutional court with a majority of judges appointed under the previous parliament should be able to scupper flagship policies for which PiS secured a mandate in democratic elections in 2015.
• Stockman: “After March 15 Everything Will Grind To A Halt”
  Two weeks after David Stockman warned that “the market is apparently pricing in a huge Trump stimulus. But if you just look at the real world out there, the only thing that's going to happen is a fiscal bloodbath and a White House train wreck like never before in U.S. history” and exclaimed that, when looking at markets, “what's going on today is complete insanity” he is back with another interview, this time with Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog in which he, once again warns, that a giant fiscal bloodbatch is coming soon, and urges listeners to pay especially close attention to the March 15, 2017 debt ceiling deadling, at which point everything could “grind to a halt.” As Greg Hunter writes, former Reagan Administration White House Budget Director David Stockman says financial pain is a mathematical certainty. Stockman explains, “I think we are likely to have more of a fiscal bloodbath rather than fiscal stimulus.  Unfortunately for Donald Trump, not only did the public vote the establishment out, they left on his doorstep the inheritance of 30 years of debt build-up and a fiscal policy that’s been really reckless in the extreme.  People would like to think he’s the second coming of Ronald Reagan and we are going to have morning in America.  Unfortunately, I don’t think it looks that promising because Trump is inheriting a mess that pales into insignificance what we had to deal with in January of 1981 when I joined the Reagan White House as Budget Director.”
• Minimum Wage Massacre: Wendy's Unleashes 1,000 Robots To Counter Higher Labor Costs
  In yet another awkwardly rational response to government intervention in deciding what's “fair”, the blowback from minimum wage demanding fast food workers has struck again. Wendy's plans to install self-ordering kiosks in 1,000 of its stores – 16% of its locations nationwide. Wendy's chief information officer, David Trimm, said the kiosks are intended to appeal to younger customers and reduce labor costs. Kiosks also allow customers of the fast food giant to circumvent long lines during peak dining hours while increasing kitchen production.
• Trump's first budget proposal will call for $54 billion increase in defense spending
  President Donald Trump's first budget will call for a $54 billion (£43bn) increase to defense spending and an equal cut in what his administration deems lower priority programs, an Office of Management and Budget official told reporters Monday. Under Trump's proposal, most federal agencies would face budget reductions, but the official did not say which would see the biggest cuts. Foreign aid spending would also drop. Speaking at a meeting with governors Monday, Trump said, “We're going to do more with less and make the government lean and accountable.”
• Former IMF Chief Sent To Jail As Spain Prosecutes 65 Elite Bankers In Enormous Corruption Scandal
  In many other countries, excluding the United States, corrupt bankers are often brought to task by their respective governments. The most recent example of a corrupt banker being held accountable comes out of Spain, in which the former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Rodrigo Rato was sentenced to four years and six months behind bars. According to the AFP, Spain’s National Court, which deals with corruption and financial crime cases, said he had been found guilty of embezzlement when he headed up Caja Madrid and Bankia, at a time when both groups were having difficulties.
• Arizona House Unanimously Passes Bill Taking on State, Federal Asset Forfeiture
  Today, the Arizona House voted 60-0 to pass a bill reforming the state’s asset forfeiture laws. The bill also takes on federal forfeiture programs by banning prosecutors from circumventing state laws by passing cases off to the feds in most situations. Rep. Eddie Farnsworth (R-Gilbert) introduced House Bill 2477 (HB2477) on Feb. 7. The legislation would require prosecutors to establish a higher evidentiary standard for asset forfeiture. As it stands, the law only requires a preponderance of the evidence. HB2477 would raise that, requiring police and prosecutors to provide “clear and convincing evidence” the property was linked to a crime. While the proposed law would not require a criminal conviction before proceeding with asset forfeiture, it would take a step toward reforming Arizona’s forfeiture laws under that essential standard.
• Former Trump trade adviser: The world's foremost authority on trade could be Trump's next target
  The senior adviser who led President Donald Trump's trade transition team suggested to Business Insider that the next trade agreement that could come under fire from the White House was the US's participation in the World Trade Organization. Dan DiMicco, the former Nucor CEO and board member of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, said “right now” the global organization “does not work for us.” Formed in 1995, the organization consists of more than 160 members. It acts as an international body that, based on a set of agreements negotiated and signed by those members, supports free trade and opposes the sort of protectionist policies that were the hallmark of Trump's campaign promises.
• New Studies Found Something That Really Causes Climate Change (And It Has Nothing To Do With Human Beings)
  A new study produced by a University of Wisconsin-Madison geoscientist and Northwestern astrophysicist presents an explanation of the fluctuations of the earth's temperatures in the past that highlights the complexity of the forces at work on the earth's climate and how much we still have to learn about them. The study maintains that the cycle of changes in the climate over the millennia is largely a result of changes in the amount of solar radiation, in part caused by small changes in the orbits of Earth and Mars. While the notion that the impact on earth's orbital cycle on solar radiation levels is a significant factor determining global temperatures is anything but new, the team of scientists seem to have tied the phenomenon to planetary orbits in a more concrete manner than previous studies.
• Trump cuts US debt by $12bn in his first month in office, accuses media of ‘not reporting’ it
  The US President Donald Trump has tweeted that he managed to decrease the US total public debt by US$ 12 billion during his first month in office while the former President Barack Obama increased it by US$200 billion over the same period. Trump has also accused the media of turning the blind eye to this fact. “The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo,” he said in his Twitter post.
• Dallas Police Pension Board Approves Benefit Cuts; Asks For More Taxpayer Money To Avoid Collapse
  For the past several months we've warned that the taxpayers of the City of Dallas, despite all of the tough talk coming out of their elected city council members, would ultimately be forced to bail out the failing Dallas Police and Fire Pension (DPFP) system.  And just last night the DPFP board voted 9-0 to approve a plan that would do just that. The plan to save the DPFP was proposed by Dan Flynn, chair of the pensions committee in the Texas House of Representatives, and calls for Dallas taxpayers to contribute 34.5% of police and firefighter salaries each year into the failing pension system, up from 27% in 2015, plus an incremental $11 million per year.  In total, the adopted plan will cost Dallas taxpayers an extra $22 million per year.
• Auto Loan Bubble Bursting, And Lenders Know Where Your Car Is At All Times
  The story of the Car Loan subprime lending epidemic is nothing new (one of many, student loans etc). Zerohedge has been writing about it for years, with the financial MSM catching on not too long ago. Even John Oliver had a segment about it on his popular show, Last Week Tonight. The new subprime lending epidemic, in the $1.1 Trillion market, which the experts tell us is contianed and won't have the same effect as in the previous crisis, is where all it takes to buy a car at a dealership is the ability to fog a mirror. Cracks have been rearing their heads over the last few months, but nothing like we are seeing as of late. According to the latest data, auto loan delinquencies are now at levels not seen since the last financial crisis.
• Is it Autumn 2007 All Over Again?
  While the financial world continues to delight in Trump Mania, the US economy has rolled over into recession. I realize this sounds completely insane. After all, stocks are at new all time highs and a full 61% of Americans view the economy as “strong.” Unfortunately, this is perception, not reality. When it comes to the economy today, Americans are like the guy who hasn’t realized the party is over, and keeps dancing while others are already starting to leave. Consider Government tax receipts. This is perhaps the single most objective economic metric on the planet. If the economy is growing, business are being started, jobs are being created, and more people and entities area paying taxes.
• How Many Euro Crises Will This Make? It’s Getting Hard To Keep Track
  Every few years, it seems, one or another mismanaged eurozone country falls into one or another kind of crisis. This leads to speculation about the end of the common currency, which in turn spooks the global financial markets. Then the ECB conjures another trillion euros out of thin air, buys up and/or guarantees all the offending country’s bonds, and calm returns for a while. At least, that’s how it’s gone in the past. The latest crisis has more than the usual number of flash-points and could, therefore, be something new and different.
• Reasons Are Mounting To Be Very Cautious About Stocks Right Now
  This year, that outlook could be best described as cautious, which stands in sharp contrast to the bullishness on display in the stock market itself so far in 2017. It’s been said many times that bull markets climb a “wall of worry” but there seems to be a shortage of worry these days among professional investors. The CBOE SPX Volatility Index (VIX), the stock market’s favorite fear-gauge, has collapsed in recent months, hitting a low under 10 at the beginning of February. That’s the lowest level of market volatility recorded in two-and-a-half years … no worry here! And the percentage of Bullish Investment Advisors hit 62.7% last week, a 12-year high! No worry here, either.
• The World Now Faces A Devastating Endgame And How “They All Sold At The Absolute Bottom”
  With continued uncertainty around the globe, today the man who has become legendary for his predictions on QE, historic moves in currencies, spoke with King World News about a devastating endgame the world faces and how they all sold the absolute bottom. “They All Sold At The Absolute Bottom” Egon von Greyerz:  “Western central banks have a real knack for timing the sale of their gold reserves. They are absolute experts when it comes to picking the bottom of the gold market. Central banks in the UK, Switzerland and Norway, to mention a few, timed their sales to perfection. The only problem is that they all sold at the absolute bottom between 1999 and 2004. That was of course the time to buy gold and not to sell. But the finance ministers in charge of Western economies have no understanding of economics. They don’t even understand that the absolute destruction of their paper money is always revealed by the gold price…
• President of US Mint AP: Trump Tariff Could Divorce Physical Silver From Spot Prices!
  Roy Friedman, President of US Mint Authorized Purchaser Manfra, Tordella, & Brookes Joined the Show This Week For A Fascinating Discussion On the Inner Workings of the US Physical Silver Bullion Market. Friedman Discusses The Coming Asset Reallocation, Physical Silver Bullion Shortages, & Trump: Could The Donald Be the Catalyst That Finally Separates the Paper and Physical Silver Markets?
• Man Who Advises Top Sovereign Wealth Funds In The World Says Price Of Silver Will Skyrocket In 2017
  On the heels of a wild start to the 2017 trading year where the Dow has repeatedly hit new all-time highs, today King World News spoke with the man who advises the most prominent sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds, and institutional funds in the world. Eric King:  “Michael, what’s exciting today is you have a new outperform in the precious metals sector.” Michael Belkin:  “Yes, Eric.  We have a new 7 stock basket of silver stocks that our model forecast says will outperform the silver universe.  We’ve just introduced it in this week’s forecast and I’m recommending these stocks for new purchases right now.  I think there is a big opportunity right now in silver stocks.  I have silver stocks moving into an outperformance mode in relative and absolute terms.
• A New Monetary System Is Coming But We Are Being Threatened With A Crushing Blow To Our Way Of Life
  With tensions heating up around the world, a new monetary system is coming but we are being threatened with a crushing blow to our way of life. A New Monetary System And A Threat To Our Way Of Life. Stephen Leeb:  “I’m starting this interview with a depressing admission: today, for the first time in a pretty long life, geopolitical events are starting to really scare me to death. No, it’s not Trump, or any particular president, nor is it Korean missile tests or any other specific event in the news. Instead, I refer to America’s growing inability to see, think, or plan long term. Commodity shortages are coming, a new monetary system is coming, and a divided, short-sighted country has no response. We are threatened with a crushing blow to the U.S. and our way of life…
• The Mother Of All Financial Bubbles
  At PeakProsperity.com, we pride ourselves on providing fact-based context to breaking important events. Within 72 hours of the Japan tsunami in 2011, we had analyzed the situation and concluded with high probability that three core meltdowns had occurred at the Fukushima nuclear plant. While it took years for officials to finally admit to the full extent of the crisis, history has validated our initial analysis. How did we get it right? By using a science-based approach grounded in observation, deduction and a healthy skepticism of what the “experts” in charge claimed. We also went to great lengths to educate our readers about the science in play, explaining in detail how radioactivity and contamination differ, the health risks from such a nuclear accident, and what concerned folks could do to remain as safe as possible.
• Russia Gold Buying Returns In January – Buys One Million Ounces
  Russia gold buying returned in January with the Russian central bank buying a very large 1 million ounces or 37 metric tonnes of gold bullion. The increase in the gold reserves came after Russia did not buy a single ounce in December – a move seen as potentially a signal or an olive branch to the U.S. and the incoming Trump administration. It also came after Russia had accelerated its gold buying in the final months of the Obama Presidency. October 2016 saw an increase of 1.3 million ounces or 48 metric tonnes and this was the largest addition of gold to the Russian monetary reserves since 1998. Indeed, it was the biggest monthly gold purchase in this millennium for the Russian central bank.
• The Billionaire-Owned, Corporate Media is as Worthless as Ever
  Rather than focus its journalistic energy on chronicling the economic insecurity plaguing so many of our fellow Americans, the billionaire-owned corporate media appears entirely obsessed with chattering endlessly about Russia conspiracy theories and domestic coup plots. Instead of looking in the mirror and admitting how its countless errors and propaganda pushing led to multiple humanitarian disasters over the last couple of decades, the oligarch-owned mainstream media insists upon a narrative that Trump the individual is at the root of our problems, as opposed to an entrenched executive branch with excessive power. This is because the mainstream media isn’t actually concerned about our cancerous, systemic metastasizing statism, it merely doesn’t want Trump in charge of it. I, on the other hand, want to dismantle that unconstitutional state entirely and transfer power to the American people where it belongs — self-government. Does anyone actually think for a second the media would be this adversarial if Hillary won?
• Iran Announces 2 Billion Barrel Shale Oil Find
  The western province of Lorestan will be getting new attention from the Iranian oil ministry following the discovery of major shale oil reserves in the region, according to new reports emerging from the area. The resources, found in the Ghali Koh field, totaled two billion barrels, Bahman Soleimani, the National Iranian Oil Company’s Soleimani said on Monday, citing a recent study. “The oil is light,” he described. Other research on the area’s shale gas reserves will be completed by October 2017, the official added.
• Biggest Gasoline Glut In 27 Years Could Crash Oil Markets
  Oil prices are stuck in a holding pattern, waiting for more definitive data on what comes next. OPEC compliance is helping keep prices afloat, but rising U.S. oil production is acting as a counterweight. A new problem that has suddenly emerged is the record levels of gasoline sitting in storage. The market has already had to digest the fact that U.S. crude oil stocks were rising, and investors have done their best to explain away the trend. But now gasoline inventories are climbing to unexpected heights. It would be one thing if crude stocks were rising, perhaps because refiners were going offline for maintenance. But if that were the case, then gasoline stocks would draw down on lower refining runs. But if both crude and refined product inventories are going up at the same time, then there should be some reasons for worry.
• The Stakes for Trump and All of Us — Paul Craig Roberts
  We need to understand, and so does President Trump, that the hoax “war on terror” was used to transform intelligence agencies, such as the NSA and CIA, and criminal investigative agencies, such as the FBI, into Gestapo secret police agencies. Trump is now threatened by these agencies, because he rejects the neoconservative’s agenda of US world hegemony that supports the gigantic military/security annual budget. Our secret police agencies are busy at work planting “intelligence” among the presstitute media that Trump is compromised by “Russian connections” and is a security threat to the United States. The plan is to make a case in the media, as was done against President Nixon, and to force Trump from office. To openly take on a newly elected president is an act of extraordinary audacity that implies enormous confidence, or else desperation, on the part of the police state agencies.
• China pushes for open world economy
  Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a G20 meeting in Bonn, Germany on Thursday that Beijing wants to see an open world economy system and said his country stresses multilateralism and globalization. He called on his German hosts to work with China to promote global rebalancing and safeguard trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. He said such efforts would ensure continued global economic growth. During his meeting with (EU) foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini that China and Europe should work together on global security and trade. He also called on the EU to fast track Article 15 of the protocol on China’s entry into the World Trade Organization.
• A new arms race in the Middle East?
  New data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on global weapons sales indicates that there may be an arms race in full swing in the Middle East and Asia. According to a report on trends in international transfers of major weapons published by SIPRI, arms sales have reached their highest since the late 1980s, just before the end of the Cold War. “The flow of arms increased to Asia and Oceania and the Middle East between 2007–11 and 2012–16, while there was a decrease in the flow to Europe, the Americas and Africa,” SIPRI says. SIPRI examines arms imports in five-year increments.
• The Russian Love Affair With Donald Trump Sours As The U.S. And Russia Move Toward War
  In recent months Donald Trump has been severely criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for not being sufficiently “anti-Russia”, but the truth is that the Trump administration has not been working hard enough to repair a relationship that is now souring very rapidly.  When Donald Trump won the election in November, the Russians celebrated tremendously, because they greatly preferred Trump over Hillary Clinton.  But just because Trump was victorious does not mean that our relationship with Russia will automatically improve.  Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin both have huge egos, and it is quite easy to imagine a scenario in which things between them go very, very badly.
• What Exactly is the “Deep State” People Are Talking About???
  Prior to the 2016 presidential election, there were many topics that were deemed “off limits” by academia, the media, the establishment, the “Powers That Be,” or whatever other crafty names a person can think of to describe the invisible hand that guides society. Over the last several decades, by using agents within academia, the media, and Hollywood to assist them, those very same aforementioned powers have “conditioned” the masses (without many even realizing it), on how to respond to people who ask too many questions about complex or controversial topics. The “Deep State” is one of those topics.
• Will We See an “American Spring” 2017? We Better…
  In 2011, a revolutionary wave of both violent and non-violent demonstrations, protests, riots, coups and civil wars arose seemingly independently of one another, and spread across the Arab world. Today, we know U.S. intelligence agencies (aka the “deep state”) were involved many of the uprisings. In some instances entire regimes fell, and in other instances there were far less predictable outcomes. In light of how many career bureaucrats have been very vocal about their unhappiness with President Trump’s surprise victory, is it really all that shocking to see the same intelligence apparatus relentlessly launching assaults against the Trump Administration? In a word: Yes. Why? One of the hallmarks of what makes America such a unique and special country, has always been our peaceful transition of power with each new administration since our country’s inception… but all that was “pre-Obama.”
• Fed Frets about Commercial Real Estate Bubble & its $2 Trillion in Loans Mostly at “Smaller Banks”
  The fear of what Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Tuesday – and other Fed governors earlier – called “waiting too long” before raising interest rates is increasingly inserting itself into Fed pronouncements. One of the aspects – and this is getting articulated with increasing intensity – is commercial real estate (CRE) and its impact on banks whose nearly $2 trillion in CRE loans are backed by collateral whose boom-prices are known to crash periodically in phenomenal busts. Or is it the fear of “having already waited too long?”
• “Seriously Delinquent” Auto Loans Surge – Bank regulators have been warning, now it’s happening.
  The New York Fed, in its Household Debt and Credit Report for the fourth quarter 2016, put it this way today: “Household debt increases substantially, approaching previous peak.” It jumped by $226 billion in the quarter, or 1.8%, to the glorious level of $12.58 trillion, “only $99 billion shy of its 2008 third quarter peak.” Yes! Almost there! Keep at it! There’s nothing like loading up consumers with debt to make central bankers outright giddy. Auto loan balances in 2016 surged at the fastest pace in the 18-year history of the data series, the report said, driven by the highest originations of loans ever. Alas, what the auto industry has been dreading is now happening: Delinquencies have begun to surge.
• S&P 500 Earnings Stuck at 2011 Levels, Stocks up 87% Since
  The S&P 500 stock index edged up to an all-time high of 2,351 on Friday. Total market capitalization of the companies in the index exceeds $20 trillion. That’s 106% of US GDP, for just 500 companies! At the end of 2011, the S&P 500 index was at 1,257. Over the five-plus years since then, it has ballooned by 87%! These are superlative numbers, and you’d expect superlative earnings performance from these companies. Turns out, reality is not that cooperative. Instead, net income of the S&P 500 companies is now back where it first had been at the end of 2011. Hype, financial engineering, and central banks hell-bent on inflating asset prices make a powerful fuel for stock prices.
• Trump Administration Toughens Asylum Rules, Speeds Deportation Process
  Amid judicial blockages, and rogue border agents, it appears the Trump administration is still trying its best to follow through on its campaign promises to crackdown on illegal immigration. As Reuters reports, The Department of Homeland Security has prepared new guidance for immigration agents aimed at speeding up deportations by denying asylum claims earlier in the process. Following last week's apparent crackdown on DREAMers, Reuters reports new guidelines, contained in a draft memo dated February 17 but not yet sent to field offices, directs agents to only pass applicants who have a good chance of ultimately getting asylum, but does not give specific criteria for establishing credible fear of persecution if sent home.
• North Korea's Regime In Jeopardy After China Bans All Coal Imports
  North Korea just lost a very big ally. On Saturday, China said that it was suspending all imports of coal from North Korea as part of its effort to implement United Nations Security Council sanctions aimed at stopping the country’s nuclear weapons and ballistic-missile program. The ban, according to a statement posted on the website of the Chinese Commerce Ministry, takes effect on today and will last until the end of the year. While China will hardly suffer material adverse impacts, Chinese trade – and aid – have long been a vital economic crutch for North Korea, and the decision strips North Korea of one of its most important sources of foreign currency.
• “There's Something Weird Going On”: Jeff Snider On The Global Dollar Shortage
  The first time we explained that one of the biggest risks facing a world in which the dollar is the reserve currency is a global USD shortage, was in mid-2009, when we wrote “How The Federal Reserve Bailed Out The World.” At the time, the IMF calculated that just ahead of the financial crisis, “major European banks’ US dollar funding gap had reached $1.0–1.2 trillion by mid-2007. Until the onset of the crisis, European banks had met this need by tapping the interbank market ($432 billion) and by borrowing from central banks ($386 billion), and used FX swaps ($315 billion) to convert (primarily) domestic currency funding into dollars.” The IMF then extrapolated that “were all liabilities to non-banks treated as short-term funding, the upper-bound estimate would be $6.5 trillion.”
• US Aircraft Carrier Group Begins “Routine” Patrols In Disputed South China Sea
  Threatening to destabilize the tentative improvement in Sino-US relations achieved in recent days following Trump's recent concession over the “One China” policy, was the US deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) to the disputed waters of the South China Sea on Saturday as part of maritime “routine operations”, according to an announcement posted on the Vinson's Facebook page. Sailing with the 97,000-ton Vinson is the guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer, the Navy said in a statement. The Vinson carries a flight group of more than 60 aircraft, including F/A-18 jet fighters.
• New Political Turmoil In Italy After Renzi Quits As Ruling Party Leader, Triggering Re-election Battle
  Two months after an unexpected, landslide loss in the December 4 constitutional referendum which cost him his job as Italy's prime minister, on Sunday Matteo Renzi quit as leader of Italy’s ruling party, in the process triggering a re-election fight against minority dissidents that threatens the stability of the center-left government, Bloomberg reports. Renzi told a national assembly of the ruling PD that he had handed in his resignation acknowledging he was set back by defeat in last year's referendum, one day after critics from leftist factions threaten to abandon the Democratic Party.
• The Unthinkable Just Happened In Spain
  Untouchable. Inviolable. Immunity. Impunity. These are the sort of words and expressions that are often associated with senior central bankers, who are, by law, able to operate more or less above the law of the jurisdictions in which they operate. Rarely heard in association with senior central bankers are words or expressions like “accused”, “charged” or “under investigation.” But in Spain this week a court broke with that tradition, in emphatic style. As part of the epic, multi-year criminal investigation into the doomed IPO of Spain’s frankenbank Bankia – which had been assembled from the festering corpses of seven already defunct saving banks – Spain’s national court called to testify six current and former directors of the Bank of Spain, including its former governor, Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez, and its former deputy governor (and current head of the Bank of International Settlements’ Financial Stability Institute), Fernando Restoy. It also summoned for questioning Julio Segura, the former president of Spain’s financial markets regulator, the CNMV (the Spanish equivalent of the SEC in the US).
• ‘I will not submit!' Marine Le Pen REFUSES to grovel to Merkel and EU in swipe at elite
  MARINE Le Pen delivered a rousing speech last night promising that as French President she will not take instructions from Angela Merkel nor beg for her approval. Marine Le Pen continued her fight for the French Presidency, as she laid her policies to put her country's sovereignty first and foremost. In a rallying cry to a crowd in Clairvaux-Les-Lacs, Ms Le Pen said she will not bow down to Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker. She said that for too long nationals leaders had to ask for permission from the German Chancellor before announcing any action.
• Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen – February 23, 2017
  Pastor Lindsey Williams introduces Pastor David Bowen with his regular short weekly video for readers of Pastor Williams' weekly newsletter.

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