Alasdair Macleod: The Credit Cycle is on the Turn

Alasdair Macleod has a background as a stockbroker, banker and economist gives his input on interest rates, inflation, gold prices and where we are in the credit cycle.

- Source, Jay Taylor Media

Steve Quayle: The 2018 Midterms are the Most Important Elections of Your Life

Radio host, filmmaker and published book author Steve Quayle thinks the 2018 midterm elections are the most important election ever. 

Quayle says, “As a Bible believing Christian I think this is the most important election in your life, in your children’s lives and your grandchildren’s lives. You cannot allow Hellywood and the New York Times and Clinton News Network and the mainstream media that’s been posting wild stories shape this election. 

Did you ever think you would see a New York Times article about different people fantasizing about killing Trump by his own Secret Service?

This is the most important election in you history or your children’s future.”

- Source, USA Watchdog

The Flight to Safety Accelerates, Hungary Increases Gold Holdings Ten Fold

We've talked at length about how the geopolitical climate around the globe has ratcheted up in temperature over the past few years. The times are growing more and more uncertain as trade wars erupt and as the old global powers are seemingly losing control with each passing day.

This has led to countries such as Russia, and China, both of which are unarguably out of the "old" power structure and desperately want to increase their ground in the international game of finance and control. 

Undoubtedly they are doing this and asserting themselves in any possible way that they can, suffering blow-backs and setbacks from the old power structure for each stride that they make.

One such tactic that they are using, and one that I have often highlighted, is their continued move away from US dollars as their reserve currency of choice. In its place, they are buying precious metals, most notably gold, at a feverish pace, exponentially increasingly their holdings as rapidly as they can.

Despite this fact, gold has suffered under intense artificial suppression, as a fat finger is kept on its price. The "canary in the coal mine", as gold is often called, has been kept quiet, but for how much longer?

Increasingly, as the times become ever more precarious, with global leaders on edge, we are seeing more countries join the ranks of Russia and China, taking what they believe to be prudent steps and moving some of their reserves into precious metals.

Two such countries that have just recently increased their holdings of gold bullion, are Poland and Hungary, the former of which has been steadily doing so over the summer months and the later of which has just done so, in a massive way.

Publicly disclosing their purchases, Hungary has stated that they have increased their gold holdings to a significant 31.5 tonnes.

As previously stated, this comes on the heels of the central bank of Poland taking a similar action, as they too have delved deep into the precious metals markets over the past few months, rapidly increasingly their reserves of the yellow metal.

This latest announcement by Hungary has resulted in a ten fold increase in their gold holdings, showcasing just how serious they are about this move, and you can rest assured, that they won't stop here.

Governor Gyorgy Matolcsy confirms my suspicions in regards to why they have made such move into gold, stating that they believe it to be way to increase their nations wealth and security, while at the same time highlighting their rich history of being one of the world's largest producers of precious metals throughout the Middle Ages.

Meanwhile, Russia, who has made no secret of their desire to add an increasingly higher amount of gold to their holdings, continues to add an average of 20 tonnes per month to their reserves, with no signs of slowing down in sight.

Mark my worlds, this story is going to become increasingly more common as we move forward, and as countries wake up to the reality that we live in precarious and dangerous times, just waiting for a spark to set this world ablaze.

The questions, when, how and why, matter little. The end result will be the same and when that scenario inevitably unfolds, the ones holding the gold will find themselves in a unique and powerful position, just as they always have and just as they always will. The accumulate will continue.

- Source, As first seen on the Sprott Money Blog

Gregory Mannarino: We Are Going Back to a Two Tier Society

Trader/analyst Gregory Mannarino says, “People are being lulled into a false sense of security.” Mannarino goes on to say, “We are told how everything is great, and we are in a global recovery. 

There is no global recovery. We reflated a debt bubble around the world. You can’t borrow your way into prosperity anywhere. 

This is what the illusion is and that is everything is okay, but it’s not. Everything is being propped up on the back of the debt bubble, which is a financial Frankenstein. 

What is going to happen is nothing new, although the magnitude of this one is going to be worse than we have ever seen before. We are going to have a correction to fair value. They are going to be caught on the wrong side of this, and there is no way out of this for them.

If you took every single bubble that we’ve had in the past and put them all on top of each other, we are still not reaching the magnitude of this one. 

This is going to be it, and we are going to watch a systematic destruction of the middle class. We are going back to a two-tier society.” To protect yourself, Mannarino says, “You have to be your own central bank. You need to do the opposite of debt.” 

That means own real assets such as gold, silver, farmland, art, a house and even a car title. Simply own your stuff and get out of paper.

- Source, US Watchdog

World Peace? The Deep State is Losing Control Of the Narrative

Former FBI says Rosenstein was not kidding when he wanted to record Trump. FBI admits using multiple spies in the Trump administration. Jude orders Mueller to prove that the companies were involved in election meddling. 

Khashogi a deep state operation to split the world and start a major event. Turkey ready to reveal all the evidence on Tuesday. Saudi's give Trump room to avoid take action against Saudi Arabia. 

France and Germany are going to meet Russia to talk about peace in Syria. The deep state narrative is falling apart, world peace is starting to creep in and the deep state will do whatever it takes to stop it.

- Source, X22 Report

Deep State is Violently Lashing Out Because it is Losing Control

Radio host Dr. Janda says, “I would say we are winning. The reason I say that is all these judicial appointments.

 I believe we have a five to four rule of law majority in the Supreme Court. I believe (DOJ prosecutor) Huber has been working on these indictments behind the scenes, and they will be unsealed as soon as the declassification occurs. 

I believe military tribunals have been set up and will become more overt in their operation, but that doesn’t mean we have already won. We are winning, and we are in the process of winning. We have not won. 

That’s why I believe these midterm elections are so important. This is why we are seeing the hysteria out of the Deep State players that are the mid-level puppets. 

This is why we see the Bookers, the Clintons, the Obamas and Bidens all lashing out. 

They know if people vote for rule of law candidates across the board and don’t buy into this agenda that the globalists are putting forward such as no border security, sanctuary cities, raising taxes, and if you don’t vote for us, we are going to beat the hell out of you, if they don’t buy into that agenda, the Deep State players know the rule of law will be implemented like it’s not been implemented for decades in America. 

The Deep State globalists are in the crosshairs of a true justice system as opposed to a justice system that is just smoke and mirrors.”

- Source, USA Watchdog

Rush Limbaugh Warns Against the Radical Left

'Hannity' goes one-on-one with the radio host. Rush Limbaugh: We don't want people winning elections based on mobs and violence.

They could bring the whole system to its knees. They need to be stopped.

- Source, Fox News

Will the Federal Reserve be Used to Take Down President Trump?

Last week we witnessed the single largest one day drop for the DOW, ever in history. This spooked many market participants, especially those who witnessed the 2008 bloodbath firsthand, the memory still fresh in their minds even after ten years.

This sharp reaction lower was largely in response to many market participants coming to the realization that the Fed is not going to back down and they are in fact going to continue to raise interest rates, slowly choking the banking sector in the process.

As I have repeatedly said over the years, and as I believe will still come to fruition if the Fed continues on, any sizable increase in interest rates is going to undue all of the "hard" work the Fed has done since the beginning of the 2008 crisis, sending the whole system crashing down in the process.

Still, as we witnessed on September 26th, when the Fed raised interest rates from 2.00% to 2.25%, causing a historic correction, they seemingly could care less.

Not only this, but the Fed has stated that they will continue to raise rates, keeping with their forecast of "four hikes in 2018", which will mean bad news for the markets if they stay true to their word.

Not surprisingly, President Trump, who has hitched his wagon to the "booming economy" is not impressed with this newly adopted hawkish approach that the Fed is now taking, lashing out at FED Chairman Powell;

"I think the Fed is making a mistake. They are so tight. I think the Fed has gone crazy."
Continuing, he went on to say more;

"Actually, it's a correction that we've been waiting for for a long time, but I really disagree with what the Fed is doing."

President Trump, by making these statements, is attempting to lay blame on the Fed for the inevitable market crash that he, and many others sees coming, and he will be correct.

Fed Chairman Powell recently made the following stunning admission, when asked what would stop the Fed from continuing to raise interest rates, in a Q&A session after the Fed's last meeting;

"I think either a significant—significant—correction and lasting correction in financial markets or a slowing down in the economy that’s inconsistent with our forecast—those are the kinds of things we’d react to…"

When asked for further explanation on what Fed Chairman Powell meant by significant, he stated something that would affect "consumer spending".

This is a radical and dramatic shift away from the dovish approach Bernanke and Yellen, Powell's predecessors took, and one that has charted the markets for an unavoidable crash lower.

But why? Why now, when in the past the Fed has never attempted to interject, or take away the "punch bowel"?

The true answer is unknown, but conspiracy theories are running rampant, and as we have seen time and time again, these have a nasty habit of being proven true when given enough time.

One of these theories, is one that I have pointed out many times in the past, which is, that the best way to remove President Trump from office, is by crashing the economy before the 2020 elections, potentially harpooning President Trump in the process and significantly lowering his chances of re-election.

This may not be the Fed's plan, but Powell himself has stated that they will continue to raise rates until a significant correction is seen, one that affects consuming spending. 

We know, that this means a crash and a meaningful one at that, as consumers do not simply react to a mild correction in the markets, but will panic during a crash, halting spending as they "bunker down" and prepare for the "bad times".

Anything is possible in this crazy, messed up world, where a significant portion of the United States population would openly rejoice an economic crash if it meant removing Trump from office.

Trump knows this, which is exactly why he is pointing out the Fed's actions now, attempting to get ahead of the curve before it is too late.

If there is one thing that both his supporters and opponents have learned, he is a man that is hard to pin down, constantly slipping out of the snares being cast upon him.

Powerful forces are in motion on both sides, of which could soon come crashing into one another, bringing the markets lower with them as chaos erupts, know this and be aware of it. Prepare accordingly, before it is too late.

- As first seen on the Sprott Money Blog

The System is Dead, the Great Reset is Coming

Seven interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve since Fall of 2015 and still the 30 year sits at 3.1? 

Meanwhile, President Trump criticizes the Fed for raising rates too quickly and says the Fed is the biggest threat to our economy, and what happens? The markets suddenly crash. 

The fix is in. But you already knew that. 

Lynette Zang joins me to discuss it and she says the system died in 2008, and we are in the final stretch before the reset Rothschild's Economist magazine predicted would come this year.

- Source, SGT Report

Ron Paul: The Real Reason We Should Break With The Saudis

The disappearance of a Saudi journalist in Turkey has led to a global outcry against the Saudi government and particularly against crown prince Muhammad Bin Salman. 

The Senate has sent a letter to President Trump demanding US action. There is a very good reason to break with the Saudis, but it has little to do with a possibly murdered journalist...

- Source, Ron Paul

Ten Years After The Financial Crisis, Is Another Meltdown Around The Corner, Triggered by the Globalist Run FED?

September marked a decade since the bursting of the housing bubble, which was followed by the stock market meltdown and the government bailout of the big banks and Wall Street. Last week’s frantic stock market sell-off indicates the failure to learn the lesson of 2008 makes another meltdown inevitable.

In 2001-2002 the Federal Reserve responded to the economic downturn caused by the bursting of the technology bubble by pumping money into the economy. This new money ended up in the housing market. This was because the so-called conservative Bush administration, like the “liberal” Clinton administration before it, was using the Community Reinvestment Act and government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make mortgages available to anyone who wanted one — regardless of income or credit history.

Banks and other lenders eagerly embraced this “ownership society”’ agenda with a “lend first, ask questions when foreclosing” policy. The result was the growth of subprime mortgages, the rush to invest in housing, and millions of Americans finding themselves in homes they could not afford.

When the housing bubble burst, the government should have let the downturn run its course in order to correct the malinvestments made during the phony, Fed-created boom. This may have caused some short-term pain, but it would have ensured the recovery would be based on a solid foundation rather than a bubble of fiat currency.

Of course Congress did exactly the opposite, bailing out Wall Street and the big banks. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates to historic lows and embarked on a desperate attempt to inflate the economy via QE 1, 2, and 3.

Low interest rates and quantitative easing have left the Fed with a dilemma. In order to avoid a return to 1970s-era inflation — or worse, it must raise interest rates and draw down its balance sheet. However, raising rates too much risks popping what financial writer Graham Summers calls the “everything bubble.”

Today credit card debt is over a trillion dollars, student loan debt is at 1.5 trillion dollars, there is a bubble in auto loans, and there is even a new housing bubble. But the biggest part of the everything bubble is the government bubble. Federal debt is over 21 trillion dollars and expanding by tens of thousands of dollars per second.

The Fed is unlikely to significantly raise interest rates because doing so would cause large increases in federal government debt interest payments. Instead, the Fed will continue making small Increases while moving slowly to unwind its balance sheet, hoping to gradually return to a “normal” monetary policy without bursting the “everything bubble.”

The Fed will be unsuccessful in keeping the everything bubble from exploding. When the bubble bursts, America will experience an economic crisis much greater than the 2008 meltdown or the Great Depression.

This crisis is rooted in the failure to learn the lessons of 2008 and of every other recession since the Fed’s creation: A secretive central bank should not be allowed to manipulate interest rates and distort economic signals regarding market conditions. Such action leads to malinvestment and an explosion of individual, business, and government debt. 

This may cause a temporary boom, but the boom soon will be followed by a bust. The only way this cycle can be broken without a major crisis is for Congress both to restore people’s right to use the currency of their choice and to audit and then end the Fed.

- Source, Ron Paul

Global Markets Rebound As Calm Returns Ahead Of Earnings Deluge, GOP Chances of Winning Midterms Rise

European stocks rose thanks to a rebound in Italian assets, following a green session for Asian markets despite China closing red for the third day, as U.S. equity index futures rose 0.4% after a negative session yesterday and ahead of today's earnings deluge.

U.S. equity futures pointed to a firmer open as Netflix becomes the first large technology company to report results after today’s close, while Goldman and Morgan Stanley wrap up earnings for the big banks.

In Asia, Japan’s equities outperformed, with Hong Kong and Chinese shares retreating again.

"A key concern has been the combined sell-off in equities and bonds, which has weighed on multi-asset portfolios, similar to February," Goldman strategists wrote in a late Monday note. “At one point the initial sell-off in equities and bonds led to one of the worst periods for simple risk parity strategies since the GFC (Great Financial Crisis). Also the shift in momentum that occurred on Wednesday last week was the largest daily shift in U.S. equity momentum since 2011 by some measures.”

The timid bounce we experienced yesterday which faded all gains into the close has failed to convince traders that markets are ready to break out of the 2750-2800 "gamma gravitation" for the S&P. Volumes were low with the market needing more conviction and traction to take out important resistance levels. Additionally, credit markets have shown little signs of reassurance so far, with Europe's Itraxx Europe still trading near the highs of the past three days.

The yen declined, while the dollar edged up from close to a two-week low ahead of a U.S. Treasury currency-manipulation report expected this week.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rallied, and pulled away from Monday’s 22-month lows led by Italian shares which rallied after the government reached an agreement on a budget accord, even though EU President Jean-Claude Juncker said the Eurozone would revolt if the EU gives an OK to Italy's budget. Gains in Italy’s bond and stock markets after Italian Economy Minister Giovanni Tria defended the country’s expansionary budget helped lift sentiment. The euro also firmed. Stock market sentiment in Europe also got a boost from expectations that earnings season will deliver double-digit earnings growth for the third quarter.

“If you look at what’s happening here and now, it is an improvement from what was happening a week ago,” Alexandrovich said. “How long the stability lasts is anyone’s guess.”

Overall sentiment in Europe remains downbeat, however, with 42% of the Stoxx Europe 600 members in oversold territory, while more than a third have been oversold for three days, which Bloomberg notes should have triggered a stronger bounce...

- Source, Zero Hedge, read more here

RECORD BREAKING: Trump Tops $100 Million in Fundraising for his Own Reelection Two Years in

President Donald Trump has topped $100 million in fundraising for his 2020 reelection bid - an enormous haul for a president barely two years into his first term, according to new figures reported by his 2020 campaign.

Trump pulled in more than $18 million last quarter through his campaign committee and two joint fundraising committees with the Republican National Committee, for a total of at least $106 million since January 2017, according to his campaign and federal filings. His reelection committee entered October with a stockpile of more than $35 million, the campaign said.

The figures are expected to be reported in new Federal Election Commission records due to be filed Monday night.

No other president dating back to at least Ronald Reagan had raised as much money as Trump at this point in his first term, according to the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan research group.

Unlike his predecessors, Trump began fundraising for his reelection shortly after his 2016 win.

Trump continues to be buoyed by an avid small donor base. According to his campaign, 98 percent of the total raised last quarter came from donations of $200 or less.

Despite his haul, Trump was not the biggest fundraiser last quarter. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic challenger to GOP incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, reportedly raised more than twice as much, pulling in $38.1 million - a new quarterly fundraising record for a Senate campaign.

Lara Trump, senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said in a statement that the campaign hopes to see its grass-roots supporters "and millions more like them to get out and vote in the midterms so President Trump can continue to build on his agenda with even greater success for the forgotten men and women of this great country."

- Source, Greenwich Time

The Fed Could Be Gone in the Upcoming Financial Overhaul...

John Williams has long said that this money printing orgy by the Fed will end in a hyperinflationary event. 

Williams says, “Unfortunately, it is unavoidable. It is only a matter of when. It can only be avoided if the U.S. can get its long term financial house in order.” 

We all know that is not going to happen. Williams says, “As they keep going here, there is going to be hyperinflation. 

The dollar will weaken. Gold and silver will rally, and that will be part of a self-feeding cycle, which will get you into very high inflation.

If the Fed can’t get this banking crisis worked out, I would not be surprised to see a complete overhaul of the system.”

- Source, USA Watchdog

The "Tolerant" Left is Tearing Itself Apart, The Fracturing of the Democratic Party is Upon Us

The political climate has been getting worse, a lot worse, and anyone who denies this, is simply sticking their heads in the sand, hoping that it will all just blow over and go away.

I understand if you are taking this approach, choosing to turn off the Television, or as many people are now doing, disconnecting your cable entirely. 

Mainstream media news coverage, whether it be CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News, has become unwatchable, unless you are simply viewing it for comic relief, or are a hardcore partisan.

Rational people are taking notice and there is no turning back, now that the MSM has decided to go down this path of click bait coverage. The genie is out of the bottle, and this is now the only way that they know how to compete with online, alt media news sources, who can run on razor thin budgets, outflank them and frankly, are just better at the job.

However, even though rational people are turning away from traditional media in droves, it still does hold some power, at least in the short term.

As I have covered here many times, the radical left, and the far right have been affected deeply by this non stop media propaganda, propaganda that has turned brother against brother and child against parent, fracturing many families with differing opinions in the process.

Yet, it is one side, that is being affected much more than the other. The Democratic party.

This should come as no shock, as the media is still most effective when targeting those who identify themselves as "far left". The numbers support this, with the bulk of the media being incredible biased against President Trump.

In fact, a recent study has found that 92% of the media coverage is "negative Trump". This comes despite the fact that the economy is chugging along at a feverish pace and despite the fact that he has recently landed a number of very successful trade deals, all of which have been expressed as "positive" by all parties involved.

In addition to this, he is the first President in modern history who has been able to make any serious headway in regards to the constant thorn in the West's side, known as North Korea. Effectively getting them to completely and utterly end their nuclear arms program, a program which has been a real and serious threat to the West.

Ironically, despite all of this news being good for not only the United States, but the West as a whole, the media has scrambled to constantly and consistently find a way to spin the news as anti Trump, riling up the radical left as they do so.

This has gotten us to the point in which we find ourselves today.

The radical left, unlike the far right (the latter of which has been largely ignored by the Republican party), has essentially seized control of their party, to the point in which the Democrats are now calling for violence against the right. 

What is this madness?

I'll tell you what it is. It is the beginning of the end for the Democratic party, and what will ultimately lead to the fracturing of their party, as it attempts to find its footing in this "post Trump" political climate.

The radical left are going to continue to commit acts of violence against peaceful, law abiding citizens, such as what was seen recently in Portland Oregon, a shameful and disgusting display of villainy, while the center left grows further and further apart ideologically from their "old" party.

This is going to lead to a great fracturing, and we are going to see a new political party rise up within the United States, resulting in two parties, where once there was one. 

One of these parties will be led by the radical left, driven by thugs such as ANTIFA and other unsavory characters, and another of which will be run by rational classical liberals.

Mark my words, change is coming, and the left needs to be careful what they wish for and even more careful about how they attempt to enact this wishful thinking, lest they wish to destroy not their enemies, but themselves in the process.

Until sanity is restored, expect the far left to suffer a series of defeats, as they drive more and more rational, sane individuals out of their party and onto the sidelines, handing President Trump and thus the right another victory in the upcoming 2020 elections. 

Don't believe me? Wait and see.


- Source, as first seen on the Sprott Money Blog

Scott Adams: Trump’s Moral Code, the Two Movies, Angry Democrats, and the Wall

Cartoonist, turned political pundit superstar, Scott Adams discusses the temper tantrum that Democrats have been throwing since losing their recent battle over Judge Kavanaugh getting elected to the supreme court.

They are increasingly calling for violence, despite the ramifications of those actions, most notably for them.

Trump appears to once again be playing 3D chess against the left, and is setting them up to look like fools. Surprised?


- Video Source

The "Rational" Left: New York Man Planned to Blow Himself Up In DC on Election Day

According to several reports, a New York man was building a bomb with which he planned to blow himself up on election day in Washington, D.C.

“Court documents say Paul Rosenfeld, 56, of Tappan, wanted to draw attention to his belief in ‘sortition,’ the ancient practice of randomly selecting legislators out of a pool of eligible voters,” one report said.

Authorities pulled Rosenfeld over on Tuesday after they were tipped off to his activities by a reporter whom he had contacted to share his plan. According to that reporter, Rosenfeld said that he was angry over the country’s direction. Rosenfeld confessed to the plot during the traffic stop, and authorities later raided his home.

“Investigators scoured his home and discovered a bomb that weighed 200 pounds but included only eight pounds of explosive black powder, court papers say. The extra weight was due to plywood crating and other components used to transport the device,” the report said.

Rosenfeld had no criminal record, and according to Lexis Nexis, had no registered political affiliation. He was charged in federal court with unlawful manufacture of a destruction device and interstate transportation and receipt of an explosive.

“Had he been successful, Rosenfeld’s alleged plot could have claimed the lives of innocent bystanders and caused untold destruction,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney.

Authorities say there is no further danger to the public.

- Source, Big League Politics

Sane Liberals Are Fleeing the Democratic Party in Droves, as Far Left Extremist Destroy the Party

Sane, rational Liberals are a dying breed and are rapidly disappearing from the lime lite, as far left, radical extremist take over the Democratic party.

These "center left" Liberals are joining the "new" Republican party in droves, as they have no other choice and see it as the only sane, rational vestige remaining.

Mark my words, this is the death nail for the far left, as they continue to descend into literal madness.

- Video Source

BIG TECH DYING: Google Plus To Be Eliminated Entirely

As predicted, big tech is NOT too big to fail. Is this the beginning of the end for them and their elitist hubris?

- Source, Styxhexxenhammer

Greece, Extending and Pretending for Eight Years Strong

Time flies when your having fun printing copious amounts of fiat paper money out of thin air.

It seems like just yesterday, in which the World was nervously biting their nails, as they watched the Greece credit crisis unfold, with one disaster after the other following in rapid succession. 

Riots raged in the streets and Greece was on the verge of anarchy.

It was during this time period, eight years ago, in which I wrote a series of articles, chronicling the madness that was afflicting Greece, showcasing how the European Union was desperately strong arming the government of Greece, in an attempt to get them "back in line" and to keep them in the European Union at all cost.

Well, they succeeded. Greece has not left the EU, but Britain is on its way out, much to the shock of EU officials and to just about anyone else, if you were to tell them eight years ago. Most suspected that the weaker economic countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy would be long gone by now, but alas, that is not the case.

Instead, as I wrote eight long years ago, the European Union could not afford to have Greece leave, lest they risk a cascading effect of one country after the other leaving in rapid succession, hoping to break out of the throttling bureaucratic grasp that is the EU.

This is incredibly unfortunate for the people of Greece, because as I also predicted eight years ago, nothing has changed in any meaningful way for the people of Greece. Their economy is still a disaster by any comparable standard, their backing sector is still in shambles and their debt levels are still astronomically high.

This truly is a tragedy, as this could of long ago been resolved if the politicians of Greece were not simple puppets and had the stomach that was needed eight years ago to take their "medicine" and the pain that would of come along with defaulting on their debt, returning to the Drachma and beginning the hard process of recovery, with a clean slate.

Undoubtedly, they would of been in a much better position than they now find themselves today.

Rather, they chose the "easy" route, the path of extend and pretend, kicking the now gigantic can further down the road, to the point in which we are at now, in which their banking sector is on the verge of collapse once again.

Having fallen roughly 40% throughout the course of his year, the government of Greece is scrambling to find a solution to their problems, of which they have return open handed asking the EU for assistance.

Joining the ranks of Italy and Spain, they are hoping to consolidate their "junk" debt and repackage it, before it sinks the rest of the system with it, as it goes under.

Once again the European Union will eventually have to come in and "save" the day, making the people of Greece even further debt slaves to their highly corrupt system, as they make demands that they know will ultimately not be kept.

The hollowing out of Greece will continue on for now, as it has for the last eight years, fixing nothing, solving nothing.

The can will continue to be kicked down the road, until it can no longer be kicked. Eventually, the well will run dry and the people of Greece will tire of being squeezed by the EU and its un-elected officials. 

Until then, expect more QE, more extending, and yes, more pretending. All is not well, the sooner people wake up to this reality, the sooner the problems can be fixed.

- Source, As first seen on the Sprott Money Blog

RED PILLING MILLIONS: Susan Collins EXPLOSIVE Speech on Senate Vote to Confirm Judge Kavanaugh

Senator Susan Collins delivers an Impressive Speech to Announce her FINAL Decision to Vote YES on Confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh Nomination to be Supreme court Justice Association.

- Source

Supreme Court "Red" for Decades: Collins, Manchin Vote YES Ensuring Kavanaugh Confirmation

After months of debate, last minute allegations of sexual assault, an FBI investigation and dozens of hours of tense testimony, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh now has the 50 votes required to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, after both GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced that they would be voting yes. GOP holdout Jeff Flake of Arizona also said that he would vote to confirm Kavanaugh "unless something big changed."

Earlier in the day, the Senate completed a cloture vote to advance Kavanaugh to final confirmation, which Manchin broke ranks and voted in favor of.

Most senators sat at their desk as the dramatic roll call unfolded, with major suspense over where Murkowski, Manchin and Flake would land. Collins was the first swing vote to support Kavanaugh on the procedural roll call, quickly followed by Flake. Murkowski then inaudibly voted no, a jarring defection that left Republicans with no room for error.
After it was clear that Kavanaugh had the 50 votes needed to advance, Manchin became Kavanaugh's only Democratic supporter. Manchin, who left the chamber when the clerk called his name, came back into the chamber and voted in favor of Kavanaugh. His phone could be seen ringing and Manchin stared at it as the vote continued. -Politico
"This is a difficult decision for everybody," Flake said to reporters, who added that he thinks Kavanaugh will be confirmed on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) is set to fly to Montana to attend his daughter's Saturday wedding. If the vote is too close without Daines, he will be forced to fly back to Washington D.C. to cast the deciding vote.

"We'll wait and see how this all unfolds," Daines said. "We have transportation arranged and we'll wait and see what happens." He added that Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) offered him the use of his private plane.
President Trump has taken a largely hands-off approach to Kavanaugh's confirmation - instead communicating in private with his political allies, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), according to Politico, which adds that the White House is "cautiously opimistic" that Kavanaugh will be confirmed.

According to PredictIt, however, Kavanaugh's odds of confirmation now stand at 96%...

- Source, Zero Hedge, read more here

Democrats TURN on Their Darling FBI, State "Shoddy" Work When Interviewing Kavanaugh, Ford Witnesses

In an op-ed Thursday in The Wall Street Journal, Kavanaugh said there were “a few things I should not have said” during the hearing.

“Going forward, you can count on me to be the same kind of judge and person I have been for my entire 28-year legal career: hardworking, even-keeled, open-minded, independent and dedicated to the Constitution and the public good,” he wrote.

Senate leaders set a pivotal preliminary vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination for 10:30 a.m. Friday. If that succeeds, a final roll call was expected Saturday as the long, emotional battle over the conservative jurist drew toward its climax.

Six days after Trump reluctantly ordered the FBI to scrutinize the accusations— which Kavanaugh has denied — leading GOP lawmakers briefed on the agency’s confidential document all reached the same conclusion: There was no verification of the women’s past claims and nothing new.

Democrats complained that the investigation was shoddy, omitting interviews with numerous potential witnesses, and accused the White House of limiting the FBI’s leeway.

Those not interviewed in the reopened background investigation included Kavanaugh himself and Christine Blasey Ford, who ignited the furor by alleging he’d molested her in a locked room at a 1982 high school gathering.

- Source, AP News, read more here

Kavanaugh Report is Done, Vote to be Held Saturday, Democrats Pivot

Something big is brewing and the Democrats have taken notice. The GOP has become emboldened and have hinted at the fact that they have something massive to disclose about the Ford testimony against Judge Kavanaugh.

What could it be? Will the Democrats now scramble and fall in line, or will they continue to go down kicking and screaming?

Kavanaugh is not out of the clear yet, but with each passing second, it appears more and more likely that he will be confirmed.

- Video Source

What Did You Expect? Stormy Daniels Fears for Her Life, No More Selfies with "Fans"

Stormy Daniels is living in fear of Donald Trump supporters... so much so, the ex-porn star is banning everyone from taking selfies with her at her book signing.

Stormy is signing copies of her book, "Full Disclosure," Thursday night at the Barnes & Noble at The Grove, and a selfie ban is in full effect.

Stormy's lawyer, Michael Avenatti, tells TMZ... she will have her normal security detail, and the selfie ban was put in place because of safety concerns.

If you're dying for a pic with President Trump's nemesis, Barnes & Noble staffers will snap a photo with your phone... but there will be a table between you and Stormy.

We're guessing Stormy was spooked by the FBI probe into possible police corruption in connection with her arrest at an Ohio strip club. We're told some of the officers were pro-Trump and it appeared to be a personal vendetta.

Remember, Stormy's book details her alleged sexual encounter with Trump and she also claims Ben Roethlisberger tried to kiss her the day after she banged DT.

- Source, TMZ

ODD: Russian Prosecutor With Ties To Veselnitskaya Dies In Mysterious Helicopter Crash

In a development that's sure to fire up the conspiracy theory machine, a Russian official with close ties to Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya - the lawyer who had promised to deliver "dirt" on Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort during a meeting at Trump Tower in 2016 - reportedly died in a helicopter crash this week, according to The Daily Beast.

Russian Deputy Attorney General Saak Albertovich Karapetyan was reportedly flying on an unauthorized helicopter flight on Wednesday when it crashed near the village of Vonyshevo, outside of Moscow.

Karapetyan's work for the Russian government was exposed by a Swiss court this year after it exposed a plot to flip a local official into a double-agent for the Kremlin. Karapetyan, who was 58 when he died, was reportedly familiar with some of the most high-profile clandestine operations carried out under the orders of Vladimir Putin. Not only did he work closely with Veselnitskaya, he was also running some of Moscow’s most high-profile efforts to thwart international investigations into Russia’s alleged crimes.

In one instance, Karapetyan signed a letter from the Russian government telling the US that Moscow wouldn't help with a civil case pursuing more information in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who had reportedly tried to expose a $230 million fraud before being jailed on tax-related charges that political opponents said were political retribution for his targeting of senior Russian officials. Leaked emails reported by the New York Times showed Veselnitskaya helped draft the document sent with that letter.

Karapetyan was also reportedly involved in efforts to foil international investigations for more than a decade. He was reportedly present for a meeting in Moscow where British detectives claim they were poisoned during efforts to track down the killers of Alexander Litvinenko, who died after a dose of radioactive poison in London in 2006. Despite claims that they were trying to help, the general prosecutor’s office did everything it could to block the Scotland Yard investigation.

According to the Daily Beast, the wreckage of a helicopter allegedly carrying Karapetyan was discovered near the village of Vonyshevo. The metal was twisted and mangled beyond repair. Why the experienced pilot crashed isn't known.

- Source, Zero Hedge, read more here

Liberals Begin to Panic: White House Finds No Support in FBI Report for Claims Against Kavanaugh

The White House has found no corroboration of the allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after examining interview reports from the FBI’s latest probe into the judge’s background, according to people familiar with the matter.

It was unclear whether the White House, which for weeks has raised doubts about the allegations, had completed its review of the FBI interview reports.

Still, the White House’s conclusions from the report aren’t definitive at this point in the confirmation process. Senators who will decide Mr. Kavanaugh’s fate are set to review the findings on Thursday, and some of them may draw different conclusions.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), the Senate Judiciary Committee’s chairman, said on Twitter early Thursday that the committee had received the report.

The result could leave senators in much the same position as last week—faced with two witnesses providing mutually exclusive accounts and forced to decide between them. The investigation, which concluded two days before its Friday deadline, has faced mounting criticism in recent days from Democrats who have said the probe wasn’t appropriately comprehensive. Investigators spoke to one of the three women who made accusations of sexual misconduct against Judge Kavanaugh.

Raj Shah, spokesman for the White House, said in a statement early Thursday morning: “The White House has received the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s supplemental background investigation into Judge Kavanaugh, and it is being transmitted to the Senate.”

- Source, WSJ

Done and Done: FBI Turns Over Completed Kavanaugh Report To White House

Hours after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed a cloture vote on the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh late Wednesday, a vote that would set Democrats up for an important procedural vote on Friday and a confirmation vote Saturday, the FBI has handed in to the White House its report on SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Reuters reported.

A copy of the report has also been turned over to Capitol Hill. Senators will then have the opportunity to review a single copy of the report, which will be located in a secure room, before the vote, per Bloomberg.

"All senators will be able to review the report over the next couple of days," McConnell’s office said in a statement.

The report will only include summaries of the interviews conducted by the FBI. It won't include any conclusions as to who is or isn't telling the truth. Notably, the probe excluded several of Kavanaugh's accusers, including Christine Blasey Ford, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, and Julie Swetnick, per NBC News.

What will be delivered, according to aides and senators, are the "302" forms of the FBI interviews, which summarize the contents of the interviews. The FBI, which has spent only a few days on the investigation, will not be submitting a conclusion as to who's telling the truth in the case.

According to NBC News, the Senate has established a "pecking order" that will eventually allow all 100 Senators to view the report, but not their staff.

All 100 Senators will have access to the new information, but not their staffs. There also are 10 Judiciary Committee staffers who have access to the secret Kavanaugh file, which is a paper report - there are no PDF's or emails of it. And it will not be made public.

With Republicans clinging to a razor-thin 51-49 majority and five senators — including three Republicans — still waffling on their final votes, the conservative jurist’s prospects of Senate confirmation remain in doubt and could potentially depend on the files' contents.

White House Spokesman Raj Shah pushed for a speedy vote even though senators have yet to review the report.

"Senators have been given ample time to review this seventh background investigation," Shah said in a statement posted to Twitter. "This is the last addition to the most comprehensive review of a Supreme Court nominee in history, which includes extensive hearings, multiple committee interviews, over 1,200 questions for the record and over a half million pages of documents. With this additional information, the White House is fully confident the Senate will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court."

- Source, Zerohedge, read more here

TMZ DEMANDS That Kanye Remove His MAGA Hat, "Makes Them Uncomfortable", The Left Has No Shame

Kanye West slammed the interviewer's request to make people "feel comfortable" with: "Now, I've already told you what this represents for me, this represents... y'all can't bully me!"

Just days after West was laughed at and booed by the audience during Saturday Night Live's 44th season premiere, after the rapper filled in as a last-minute replacement for Ariana Grande, he refused to take off his Make America Great Again hat during a live interview with TMZ.

West sat down with Harvey Levin on "TMZ Live" on Monday, but things were awkward from the start as Levin immediately pressured the outspoken singer and producer to take off his MAGA hat, saying it made people feel "uncomfortable".

Screenshot via TMZ Live

Levin said, "If you would not wear that hat, it would make me and a lot of other people feel better," and then directly requested, "In fact why don't we say please take off the hat Kaney, how's that?"

Kanye responded: "It's not good.." And Levin interrupted, "Then won't do it... because you have a right to do it."

At this point a defiant Kanye shouted: "1st ammendment baby!.. 1st ammendment... 1st ammendment!.." To which a clearly agitated and upset Levin responded: "Then I have a right to express my view on it."

West, remained defiant...

- Source, Zero Hedge

SNOWFLAKE OVERLOAD: UK University Bans Clapping At Performances To Avoid Triggering Students With Anxiety

In an attempt to make public performances more "inclusive" for people with "disabilities" like anxiety and other sensory issues, the University of Manchester students' union has voted to ban applause at student union events, and is asking students to use "jazz hands" instead.

The decision was made to keep the University of Manchester compliant with a 2015 vote in the UK's National Union of StudeBut students also noted that loud noises like "whooping" or "traditional applause" can create problems for students with anxiety.

According to the Guardian, the MSU motion said that "this union notes that since 2015, the National Union of Students (NUS) has been using British sign language (BSL) clapping (or ‘jazz hands’), as loud noises, including whooping and traditional applause, can pose an issue for students with disabilities such as anxiety or sensory issues."

- Source, Zero Hedge, read more here

Ted Butler: JPM has Gone Long Silver at Last

Already hoarding a world-record 750 million ounces of physical silver, JPM has managed to accumulate another 21+million ounces in just the past 6 weeks. 

This amassing of physical was further accompanied by selling off their 200M oz paper short position from June to 100M oz short in Aug and now 0 oz short and even net long paper silver. 

This is the first time JPM has been long both physical and paper silver simultaneously, positioning them to capitalize on a potentially massive upward move in silver price.

- Source, Reluctant Preppers