Courtesy of John Rubino.
OPEC agrees to cut output. Oil jumps, stocks rise, gold falls. The political focus shifts to upcoming Italian, French and Austrian elections, all of which could go against the establishment. India’s war on cash may turn into war on gold. Political class still searching for an explanation (see “Best of the Web”). Trump’s cabinet takes shape, with mostly old and a few new faces.
Best Of The Web
Trump, bonds, peripheries, China and Italy – Credit Bubble Bulletin
A new look – NYSE margin debt and the market – Financial Sense
The guys from ‘Government Sachs’ – New York Times
This map shows how much debt the world is in – M2
What a professional disinformation campaign looks like – Zero Hedge
Decade of negative real interest rates: who benefited? – Mish
The view from under the bus – Peak Prosperity
The Washington Post: useful-idiot shills for a failed, frantic status quo – OfTwoMinds.com
First Brexit then Trump. Is Italy next for the west’s populist wave? – Guardian
Weekly commentary: Revisiting the global savings glut thesis – Credit Bubble Bulletin
Gold price skyrockets in India after currency ban – part III – Acting Man
Why the polls got it wrong: deliberate versus accidental survey bias – Financial Sense
Did Trump just accidentally kill the golden goose? – MATA SII
—————————————————————–
Breaking News
The Economy
12/04 China money week: bond yields jump as investors head for exit – Market News
12/04 Investors eye Europe’s ‘fear gauge’ as Italian referendum approaches – CNBC
12/04 China’s ‘extraordinary leverage’ tops BoE’s list of concerns – CNBC
12/04 Billions in pension shortfalls threatening Texas cities’ budgets – Star Telegram
12/04 This week in money – HoweStreet
12/04 Trump market rally – Birch Gold
12/04 Trump’s Carrier speech ‘absolutely chilling’ – CNBC
12/03 If this happens, Italy’s banking system becomes “insolvent” – Casey Research
12/03 Brexit, Trump… and now Italy? – Daily Reckoning
12/03 Rural China banks with $4 trillion assets facing debt test – Bloomberg
12/03 What happens if Italy votes ‘no’ on Sunday – MarketWatch
12/03 Negative-yielding sovereign debt outstanding keeps shrinking – 24/7 Wall St.
12/03 Stanford study reveals CA pensions underfunded by $1 trillion – Zero Hedge
12/03 Life in hock – Eric Peter Autos
Precious Metals
12/04 Fears over the Italian vote drive the smart money into gold – MarketWatch
12/04 Credit cycles and gold – GoldMoney
12/04 Randgold CEO predicts gold prices will go higher – Birch Gold
12/04 It could finally be time for gold to really shine – Seeking Alpha
12/03 India’s cash crisis may benefit silver – Daily Bell
12/03 Investors push Gold Eagle sales to record high – SRSrocco Report
12/03 How to win the “war on gold” – GoldSeek
12/03 Demonetisation policy is ‘unusual’, says Nobel laureate – Financial Express
12/03 The 5 best gold and energy stocks for 2017 – Fortune
12/03 Real money and why you need it now – Daily Reckoning
12/03 Deutsche Bank pays $60 million to settle U.S. gold price-fixing case – GATA
12/03 A century later, could silver beat gold in India? – Quartz
12/03 Sudden scramble for gold in China sends premiums to 3 year high – Zero Hedge
12/02 Gold and silver will protect from coming financial crash – GoldCore
12/02 Credit cycles and gold – GoldMoney
12/02 India: No limit on holding gold if it matches income declaration – GATA
12/02 Better buy: Royal Gold, Inc. vs. Barrick Gold Corp. – Fox Business
12/02 Gold prices log worst monthly loss since June 2013 – MarketWatch
12/02 Osisko Gold Royalties tracks gold – 321Gold
12/02 Indian ‘gold ban’ a portent of major events? – Sprott
Inflation, Deflation, Currency War, Cryptocurrencies
12/04 A long winter for cash? Deutsche Bank says cash is still king – CNBC
12/04 India’s Modi defends clampdown on cash economy – Reuters
12/04 An interesting perspective on the War on Cash – Sovereign Man
12/04 Venezuelans wait in 6 ATM lines for enough to buy rice – Zero Hedge
12/03 Bitcoin price climbs to highest level in nearly 3 years – MarketWatch
12/03 Bitcoin users brace for IRS audits from Coinbase summons – Forbes
12/02 QE infinity eyed in Europe if Renzi loses crucial Italian referendum – CNBC
12/02 Why a strengthening dollar is bad for the world economy – Economist
12/02 Here’s how the war on cash threatens you – Lombardi Letter
12/02 This 1 factor could send euro well below parity – Lombardi Letter
Real Estate Bubble
12/04 Market response to higher interest rates will be negative – Housing Wire
12/04 Higher interest rates crush mortgage application volume, down 9.4% – CNBC
12/04 REITs at their peaks? – Morning Star
12/03 Chinese developers rethink U.S. real estate projects – Zero Hedge
12/02 Will real estate tank in 2017? – Financial Sense
DollarCollapse Podcasts
12/01 All Eyes On Italy
11/04 Instability on the horizon
10/04 European banks in the eye of the storm
9/13 Markets explain facts of life to Fed
8/16 A tough time to manage money
7/27 Random violence and political instability: the new normal
7/21 It’s not the event but the response to the event that matters
7/01 Brexit was just the beginning
6/25 The deeper meaning of Brexit
6/08 Gold Will Soar, Marijuana Will Be Legal
Politics
12/04 Left-leaning Van der Bellen leads Austrian vote – Washington Post
12/04 Austria braces for historic presidential election – ZH
12/04 Hillary Clinton’s “corrupt establishment” is now advising Trump – Intercept
12/04 Pirate party given chance to form government in Iceland – Mish
12/04 A far-right Italian leader wants to take a Trump upset to Italy on Sunday – WaPo
12/04 Why Hillary Clinton lost – Huffington Post
12/04 So we’re still blaming Jill Stein and James Comey, huh? – Slate
12/04 Where Hillary Clinton fell short – Atlantic
12/02 Austrians fearing worse future may decide too-close-to-call vote – Bloomberg
12/02 Trump exults in victory and mocks critics at Cincinnati rally – Bloomberg
12/02 Referendums, elections and banking crisis to test Europe in next year – NZ Herald
12/02 It’s time to face facts: Pandora’s Box is open and Europe is finished – City AM
12/02 François Fillon’s nomination was the worst case scenario for Marine Le Pen – LSE
12/02 Hedge fund manager ‘takes glee’ in how Trump conned his voters – Daily Kos
12/02 A world of trouble for Donald Trump – New York Times
12/02 Time to say goodbye… – Burning Platform
12/02 Newsweek admits they didn’t write or read “Madam President” issue – Zero Hedge
12/01 Pennsylvania judge blocks recount petitions – Zero Hedge
12/01 “Shell-shocked” Democrat donors concerned at rudderless DNC – Zero Hedge
Offshore Investing
11/29 The end of FATCA? – Nestmann
10/28 Social mood is changing – prepare your offshore nest egg – Mountain Vision
10/07 Panama Papers? Try UNITED STATES Papers? – Mountain Vision
9/14 4 totally legal reasons to use an offshore structure – Nestmann
Clean Tech
12/04 TerraForm Power, Global forecast continued losses in 2016 – PV Magazine
12/03 Energy may be ripe for the sharing economy, thanks to bitcoin – AEE
12/03 Nation’s largest solar installer to open Florida facility – Penn Energy
12/02 Sun setting on Japan’s solar energy boom – Indian Express
12/02 India has built the world’s largest solar power plant – Next Web
12/01 China to spend over $100 billion on wind power – Indian Express
11/31 Wind surges to nearly 15 percent of Texas power supply – Greentech Media
Art of the Collapse
12/02 “Strike three” – Zero Hedge
11/22 10 victorious Hillary Clinton illustrations that could have been – GQ
War, Civil Unrest, Privacy, Creeping Fascism, Police State
12/04 Why what you read about the wars in Syria, Iraq could be wrong – Independent
12/04 Why U.S. ‘news’ media shouldn’t be trusted – Strategic Culture
12/04 Politicians exempt themselves from new wide-ranging spying laws – Independent
12/03 House quietly passes bill targeting “Russian propaganda” websites – Zero Hedge
12/03 Police body cameras especially urgent under Trump administration – Forbes
12/03 Internet archive successfully fends off secret FBI order – Intercept
12/01 Culture, economy and war. The pillars of the new world order – Strategic Culture
12/01 Think Trump’s scary now? Obama is leaving him with broad war powers – FFF
11/30 Intelligence experts urge Obama to end Snowden’s ‘untenable exile’ – Guardian
11/30 German intelligence officer “arrested in Islamist plot” – Zero Hedge
Self-sufficiency, Food Security, Survival
12/04 8 steps to securing online privacy – Sovereign Investor
12/04 Ironically, less cushion in your running shoes may mean fewer injuries – Mercola
12/04 Breathe, exhale and repeat: the benefits of controlled breathing – Mercola
12/04 How to raise sheep – Survival Sullivan
12/03 Millennials are gonna pay big – Sovereign Investor
12/02 Blue LEDs light up your brain – Mercola
12/02 How sunlight affects your mental health – Mercola
12/02 How to stay warm without electricity – Survival Sullivan
CyberWar, CyberTerrorism, CyberCrime
12/04 Stratfor looks back at 2016, the breakout year for cybercrime – Fabius Maximus
12/04 MAD concept of deterrence doesn’t apply in world of cyber war – eWeek
12/03 Experian: Why cyberattacks could escalate to ‘cyberwar’ – Gov Info Security
Off-Topic But Brilliant/Challenging/Infuriating
12/04 How big banks are putting rain forests in peril – New York Times
12/03 Are aliens draining solar energy from the sun? – Mirror.co.uk
12/02 This ridiculous drone gun can shoot down UAVs from 2km away – Wired
12/02 This is why Americans are overweight and broke – MarketWatch
12/01 Climate change will stir ‘unimaginable’ refugee crisis – Guardian
11/30 Google’s hand-fed AI now gives answers, not just search results – Wired
11/29 Biggest ever coral die-off on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – Reuters
11/29 West Antarctic ice shelf breaking up from the inside out – AGU
11/28 Google’s instantaneous translation breakthrough – Kurzweil
11/28 Tech searches for fountain of youth – CNBC
11/27 Word of the year 2016 is… – Oxford Dictionaries