Courtesy of John Rubino.
US stocks, interest rates, dollar at recent and/or record highs. Worries about valuation are spreading. US housing starts jump in November, auto sales turn down, numerous factories scaling back. Italian banks restructuring and raising capital as government begins bail-out. Deutsche Bank agrees to big fine for mortgage fraud. Terrorist attacks in Turkey and Germany.
Best Of The Web
Inequality and skin in the game – Medium.com
The world’s most dangerous systemic risks – Medium.com
The United States might be the next Argentina – WaPo
Breakout of yieldrange will blow-up interest rate derivatives – 321Gold
Exit, hope and change – James Howard Kunstler
IceCap on investing through the eyes of an ostrich – Zero Hedge
Gold and silver prospects in an uncertain global currency market – GoldCore
A broken bond bounce beckons! – MATA SII
2016 year in review – David Collum
Something wicked this way comes – Burning Platform
Dow 20,000 12-9-16 – Real Investment Advice
Are you a deplorable? Take this quiz to find out – Charles Hugh Smith
Money under fire – Peak Prosperity
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Breaking News
The Economy
12/29 China hits a fork in the road – Automatic Earth
12/29 Jim Rickards: The empire strikes back – Daily Reckoning
12/29 Trump’s stimulus plan not happening – Schiff Gold
12/29 Chicago teachers’ pension liability may be larger than expected – Chicago City Wire
12/29 The bond bear that’s staying in the cold – Bloomberg
12/28 US stocks drop most since October – Bloomberg
12/28 China to rein in outward investment as domestic growth stalls – Guardian
12/28 10 themes for 2017: a year of 2 halves – Seeking Alpha
12/28 Toshiba shares fall 20% as nuclear writedown sinks in – Guardian
12/28 Chinese interbank funding freezes as overnight repo hits 33% – Zero Hedge
12/28 No happy New Year in China as currency, liquidity fears loom – Bloomberg
12/28 New normal ‘safety net’: surging disability benefits claims – Zero Hedge
12/28 China banking official urges cut to required reserve ratio – Bloomberg
12/28 Record run for company-bond sales seen coming to a 2017 halt – Bloomberg
Precious Metals
12/29 Top Ten Reasons why fiat currency is superior to gold (or silver) money – GoldMoney
12/29 Shanghai Gold Exchange limits transaction size to curb manipulation – GATA
12/29 Surging US dollar in 2017 a catalyst for gold bottom – Daily Gold
12/29 Hecla Mining Company had a year to remember in 2016 – Motley Fool
12/28 Gold: a significant rally begins? – 321Gold
12/28 Europe proposes confiscating gold in crackdown on “terrorist financing” – Zero Hedge
12/28 Where is gold headed? Focus on these 2 factors says Rick Rule – Kitco
12/28 Financial Times, Barron’s tout death of gold – Mish
12/28 Could someone buy all the available silver? – Smaulgld
12/27 Which miners offer valuation upside in the silver space? – Market Realist
12/27 Important lessons from the Trump-inspired breakdown for gold – Seeking Alpha
12/27 This one factor could cause super spike in gold – Lombardi Letter
12/27 Gold, silver sentiment not bearish enough to establish a bottom – Seeking Alpha
Inflation, Deflation, Currency War, Cryptocurrencies
12/29 Capital controls and withdrawal limits to continue – Mish
12/28 Britons hoard cash as economic uncertainties prompt caution – Bloomberg
12/28 Bitcoin and gold – the trend continues – Seeking Alpha
12/28 EUR to USD: here’s why euro could collapse 20% in 2017 – Lombardi Letter
12/28 EU to boost border checks on cash, gold to tackle ‘terrorism financing’ – GATA
12/27 Yuan turnover soars in sign of December outflow pressures – Bloomberg
12/27 Bitcoin surges 20% in a week, Chinese volumes record high – Zero Hedge
12/27 Brexit talks to rock pound – Telegraph
12/26 Chinese themselves prefer U.S. dollar over yuan – GATA
Real Estate Bubble
12/29 NYC luxury co-op contracts collapse 25% – Zero Hedge
12/28 Pending home sales drop to 10-month low in November – Yahoo!
12/28 Manhattan luxury co-ops fall out of favor – Bloomberg
12/28 When assets (such as real estate) become liabilities – Charles Hugh Smith
12/27 Home affordability drops to 8-year lows as mortgage rates surge – Talk Markets
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
12/29 Good news in battle against public union greed and corruption – Mish
12/29 Trump stocking his administration with mega donors at ‘unparalleled’ rate – Daily Kos
12/29 French rightwing mayor creates ‘rue de Brexit’ – Guardian
12/27 Outrage over the economy doesn’t explain surging global populism – Bloomberg
12/27 Why Nigel Farage thinks Marine Le Pen is left wing – LBC
12/27 Liberalism has failed to keep the West safe – Miami Herald
12/27 Fear of Trump triggers deep union spending cuts – Bloomberg
12/27 Trump offered another Goldman Sachs veteran an administrative spot – MIN
12/27 Latino leaders who dumped Trump now hopeful he’s their guy – Huffington Post
12/27 Donald Trump and the triumph of climate-change denial – Atlantic
12/27 Rise of anti-establishment parties reshapes Western politics – Indrastra
12/26 Finally Rand Paul unloads – Daily Bell
Offshore Investing
12/23 The best countries for your escape plan – International Man
12/21 Do you have an offshore backup plan? – Sovereign Investor
12/17 If Europe goes down, we go with it – Nestmann
12/16 The real winner of the US elections – Mountain Vision
Clean Tech
12/27 2016 the year solar panels became cheaper than fossil fuels; 2017? – Quartz
12/27 Solar power became the world’s cheapest energy – Interesting Engineering
12/27 Cheap solar power & wind power crushes coal, nuclear, gas – Clean Technica
12/25 Solar power: are the promises coming true? – Blue And Green Tomorrow
12/25 Solar power cheapest form of energy in almost 60 countries – Science Alert
12/24 The top 5 solar policy trends of 2016 – Utility Drive
12/24 Oil company’s new bet on wind power – Business Insider
Art of the Collapse
12/12 A dozen dead oceans – Automatic Earth
12/11 Chicago working around clock to clear 18″ of bullet casings from streets – Onion
War, Civil Unrest, Privacy, Creeping Fascism, Police State
12/29 Japan’s record-high defense budget military ambition it cannot afford – The Asian
12/28 Turkey and Russia agree on proposal toward Syrian ceasefire – Reuters
12/28 ‘US not serious about fighting ISIS’ – RT
12/28 Two-state solution not a ‘valid solution right now’ – Aljazeera
12/28 Economic sanctions and “covert cyber ops” against Russia for “election hacking” – ZH
12/28 Erdogan says he has “confirmed evidence” the US supports ISIS – Zero Hedge
12/27 German lawmakers urge tougher security measures after market attack – Reuters
12/27 Obama signs ‘countering disinformation and propaganda act’ – Ron Paul Institute
Self-sufficiency, Food Security, Survival
12/24 How physical inactivity increases risk for chronic diseases – Mercola
12/23 Healing tonic that helped climbing expedition conquer Everest – Alternative Daily
12/23 10 good reasons to change jobs every 3 to 5 years – Forbes
12/20 Alternative uses for honey – Survival Sullivan
12/17 Is your olive oil fake? – Mercola
12/17 “You may sleep better at night by taking vitamin B12 during the day…” – Mercola
12/12 Happiness depends on health and friends, not money, says new study – Guardian
12/11 10 corporations have a monopoly on almost all supermarket goods – Natural News
12/11 Fish traps to catch your limit – Survival Sullivan
CyberWar, CyberTerrorism, CyberCrime
12/28 Russian hacking warrants sanctions, cybersecurity CEO says – CNBC
12/28 New Hampshire health department hack exposes addresses, SSNs – CNBC
12/27 Britney Spears isn’t dead: Twitter account compromised – Bloomberg
12/27 Suddenly hot smart home devices are ripe for hacking – CNBC
12/22 Link between DNC hacks and aggression against Ukrain – Wall St Journal
Off-Topic But Brilliant/Challenging/Infuriating
12/29 Is 100% of “US warming” due to NOAA data tampering? – Zero Hedge
12/29 The death of the dinner date – MarketWatch
12/28 Antibiotic resistance: The story that won’t go away – CNBC
12/28 State of the Arctic: longer melting seasons, thinning sea ice – Earth Institute
12/27 Cheetahs heading towards extinction as population crashes – BBC
12/26 AI, self-driving cars and cyberwar – tech trends in 2017 – Guardian
12/25 It may not feel like anything to be an alien – Kurzweil
12/25 New ebola vaccine gives 100 percent protection – NY Times
12/22 Bitcoin-fed plant robot hires artists to make its babies – Singularity Hub
12/21 Smog refugees flee Chinese cities as ‘airpocalypse’ blights half a billion – Guardian
12/21 American lifespan declines as obesity and opioid epidemic takes its toll – Mercola
