Courtesy of John Rubino.
Central banks likened to pornographers. Greece, believe or not, is still getting bailed out, and China is apparently next. US corporate share buybacks are starting to peter out. Japan lobbies for bigger deficits around the wold. Sprott’s Rick Rule how and why the gold bull market is for real, while precious metals continue correcting. Look for next week’s COT report to be a lot more positive. Pensions are back in the news, and the numbers are as usual very bad. Doug Noland on why the Fed probably can’t raise rates in June — or ever.
Best Of The Web
Gold: Intelligentsia – you’re fired! – 321Gold
The business of central banks is like pornography – Finanz und Wirtschaft
Stock share buybacks now bought out – The Great Recession
Rick Rule on gold’s bull market – King World News
We’re in the eye of a global financial hurricane – OfTwoMinds.com
The coming Fed-induced pension bust – Hussman Funds
“We are becoming convinced that the system won’t stabilize” – Zero Hedge
Trump victory odds soar as the Hillary Clinton ‘death cross’ strikes – Zero Hedge
What we have now isn’t capitalism – Wall St. For Main St.
Weekly commentary: unambiguous signals disregarded – Credit Bubble Bulletin
Doggie (life) style – AheadOfTheHerd.com
Observations from the heart of Silicon Valley – Peak Prosperity
Hikes data dependent says NY Fed – Mish
Central banks are powerless “they should go away” – Mish
The Economy
5/25 Stocks rally for day two as crude oil jumps – The Street
5/25 Oil up but backs off $50 target; profit-taking after U.S. drawdown – Reuters
5/25 Deutsche Bank trading woes exposed in slide down currency league – Bloomberg
5/25 The fact of the matter is, Greece is insolvent – Economy And Markets
5/25 Citi fined $425MM for manipulating interest rates – Zero Hedge
5/25 Emerging markets turmoil signal pain ahead for US stocks – Zero Hedge
5/25 Services sector firing warning shot at the economy – Business Indsider
5/25 Luxury retailer Tiffany Q1 disappoints, shares fall – Benzinga
5/25 Strong Treasury auction could be signaling something darker on horizon – CNBC
5/25 Atlas Energy pays CEO $73 million cash, becomes penny stock – Bloomberg
5/25 US households’ mortgage debt rises to four-year high – Bloomberg
5/25 Bigger than all the world’s QE combined – Alhambra Partners
5/25 Greek debt relief 2.0 is coming – Bloomberg
5/25 Japan’s Abe seeks foreign support for more government stimulus – Morning Star
5/25 ‘Massive bailout’ needed in China – Bloomberg
5/25 Millions of “subprime consumers” getting credit cards – Schiff Gold
5/25 Germany calls IMF’s bluff and wins: Greece screwed again – Mish
5/25 Delinquency rates surge in 2016, poised to head higher – Financial Sense
Precious Metals
5/25 Venezuela fights crisis with biggest sovereign gold sale since 2007 – GATA
5/25 Gold and silver “bottom is in” – GoldCore
5/25 Gold perspectives – Armstrong Economics
5/25 Q1 2016 Canadian silver maple sales surge – SRSrocco Report
5/25 How much gold should I buy? – APMEX
5/25 The gold mine Barrick might regret selling – GATA
5/25 Hugo Salinas Price: Mechanical ‘economics’ – GATA
5/24 “Perfect time and place” for gold – GoldCore
5/24 Why the Fed might not be able to put a stop to gold’s run – CNBC
5/24 Sibanye targeting gold acquisition by end of 2016 – Bloomberg
5/24 Former IMF economist asserts gold is money as good as government bonds – GATA
5/24 Two overlooked streaming stocks with huge upside potential – 24hGold
5/24 Gold’s gentle price correction – 321Gold
5/24 Should I be worried about gold confiscation? – Schiff Gold
5/24 Gold is having an unusual rising correction, Turk tells KWN – GATA
5/23 Famous hedge fund manager reveals top gold pick – Future Money Trends
5/23 Gold’s slide begins a new week – MarketWatch
Inflation, Deflation, Currency War, Cryptocurrencies
5/25 The monetary system has devalued 47% in 10 years – GATA
5/25 Dollar nears 10-week high on Fed views; stocks rally – Yahoo!
5/25 Draghi in QE quandary after draining bond market by $800 billion – Bloomberg
5/25 Chian weakens yuan fixing to lowest since 2011 as dollar climbs – Bloomberg
5/25 China wants to set prices for the world’s commodities – Bloomberg
5/25 Ethereum, explained: why Bitcoin’s stranger cousin is now worth $1b – Vox
5/25 Dollar reality – end of petro dollars – Armstrong Economics
5/25 Dollar rally on capital flight from Europe – Armstrong Economics
5/25 Pensioners, Tory voters and men are deserting the Brexit campaign – Telegraph
5/25 Embry sees dollar vulnerable, expects change in market sentiment – GATA
5/25 Forget a dollar collapse, this is a much bigger threat to your wealth – Casey Research
5/24 What would happen if we shut down the Federal Reserve? – MarketWatch
Real Estate Bubble
5/24 New home sales roar back, crushing forecasts – MarketWatch
5/24 Low supply plagues spring housing: Here’s where it is worst – CNBC
5/24 Real estate bubble part II – 24hGold
5/22 Existing home sales solid, not spectacular – Mish
DollarCollapse Podcasts
5/23 Hard times for obsolete entities
5/14 Chaos spreads to US retailers and Italian banks
5/04 Easy money has failed; what’s next?
4/27 Okay, I’ll say it: run for the hills
4/21 Corporate earnings (among other things) go from bad to horrendous
4/13 A potentially brutal earnings season kicks off
4/06 The end of privacy = risk off and soaring gold
3/30 The inevitable is now imminent
3/22 Huge government deficits coming
3/17 Same mistakes, bigger scale
Politics
5/25 Sanders scores a big victory in his battle with Clinton – Fiscal Times
5/25 Lower away! – 24H Gold
5/25 Who paid Hillary Clinton from 2013-2015 – Zero Hedge
5/25 Internet reformation: undeterred by current elections – Daily Bell
5/25 Trump escalates, calls Vince Foster suicide “very fishy” – Zero Hedge
5/25 What it takes to be president of the US police state –Zero Hedge
5/24 Grim election map for Trump? Fox analyst vs. RCP vs. Mish – Mish
5/24 Critical hit to Clinton campaign as media dives into corporate ties – Daily Bell
5/24 Erdogan furious after EU suspends plans for Visa-free travel – Zero Hedge
5/24 Washington’s betrayal of America – Sovereign Investor
5/24 How Trump is killing the Republican party – Rolling Stone
5/23 Independent beats far-right candidate for Austrian presidency – BBC
5/23 How Trump captured Senate Republicans with supreme court list – HuffPo
5/23 NRA endorses Donald Trump for president – ABC News
Offshore Investing
5/20 EU to compile common blacklist of tax havens, sanction them – Reuters
5/17 Panama Papers: dozens of Americans tied in – Panama Papers
5/17 Panama Papers hub in Miami: Citigroup’s private bank – Wall St on Parade
5/12 Crooks, terrorists, tax evaders: Can new shell company rule stop them? – Reuters
Clean Tech
5/25 Largest US power grid supply costs drop 39% in auction – Bloomberg
5/25 Tesla compared to Enron, Ponzi scheme in scathing new research report – ZH
5/25 Q2 On special assignment: Wind power blowing across Montana – KTVQ
5/24 Tesla confirms details of Powerwall improvements – GTM
5/24 Google’s project sunroof expands to 42 states and millions more rooftops – GTM
5/24 SolarCity Corp surges on news of solar power system Implementation –Value Walk
5/24 World Bank approves $750 Million for Indian solar power projects – Clean Technica
5/24 $4 billion wind farm for Scotland as it leads push for wind energy –CNBC
5/23 Top hedge fund sees solar power viability –Value Walk
5/23 Interest in solar power soaring while utility seeks rate cut – Independent Record
5/23 World’s biggest wealth fund faces wider ban on coal investments – Bloomberg
5/22 Solar power is already saving lives in the US. Here’s how. – Vox
Art of the Collapse
5/08 ‘Dilbert’ creator’s 6 reasons why Trump will win – Zero Hedge
5/06 The book that will save banking from itself – Bloomberg
5/04 America’s best and brightest – 321 Gold
4/25 Hillary Clinton’s full speech to Goldman Sachs – Liberty Blitzkrieg
War, Civil Unrest, Privacy, Creeping Fascism, Police State
5/25 Saudi culture exports extremism, former 9/11 commissioner says –Bloomberg
5/25 Shootings in Chicago are up astonishing 50% year-over-year – Zero Hedge
5/24 Obama’s fatal fatalism in the Middle East – Washington Post
5/24 How the Pentagon punished NSA whistleblowers – Guardian
5/23 Afghan peace still far away after US kills Taliban leader –Bloomberg
5/23 ‘Niger Delta Avengers’: Who they are, and what they want – CNBC
5/23 These Americans are preparing for war with their own gov’t – Zero Hedge
5/21 China demands US “cease immediately” spy plane missions near its borders –ZH
Self-sufficiency, Food Security, Survival
5/24 Magnesium deficiency: How to know to avoid chronic disease –Natural Health
5/24 Can cancer really be prevented? – Dr Sircus
5/24 The five ‘hidden killers’ that could send you to an early grave – Daily Mail
5/24 Can you bug in if you live in the city? – Survival Sullivan
5/23 Tiny is so very big– Market Watch
CyberWar, CyberTerrorism, CyberCrime
5/22 Cyberwar: The smart person’s guide – Tech Republic
5/21 Yet another major cyberheist in ‘secure’ global payments system – Zero Hedge
5/20 Cyber-war gets real – Baseline Mag
5/20 Cyber war vs. Islamic State ‘work in progress’ – VOA News
5/20 Cyberspace’s invisible armies – ECNS
Off-Topic But Brilliant/Challenging/Infuriating
5/25 Nasdaq rejects cannabis company’s listing application – MarketWatch
5/25 NFL tried to fund govt concussion research to influence it – MarketWatch
5/25 Gene helps prevent heart attack, stroke, aging – Kurzweil
5/25 Will this augmented reality machine really replace your PC? – Bloomberg
5/23 Dirty driving: Ride-hailing services worst culprits for germs, study says – CNBC
5/23 Across Africa, the worst food crisis since 1985 looms for 50 million – Guardian
5/23 New evidence about the dangers of Monsanto’s roundup – Intercept
5/23 In case you forgot, Canada’s massive fire is still burning – Wired