THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR
The US dollar is tightening its grip on the global financial system at the expense of the euro, entrenching American hegemony and rendering the US Federal Reserve more powerful than at any time in history.
Newly-released data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) show that the dollar’s share of the $5.1 trillion in foreign exchange trades each day has continued rising to 87.6% of all transactions.
It is the latest evidence confirming the extraordinary resilience of the dollar-based international order, confounding expectations of US financial decline a decade ago.
Roughly 60% of the global economy is either in the dollar zone or closely tied to it through currency pegs or ‘dirty floats’, and the level of debt issued in dollars outside US jurisdiction has soared to $9 trillion.
This has profound implications for monetary policy. The Fed has become the world’s central bank whether it likes it or not, setting borrowing costs for much of the global system.
Join the forum discussion on this postTHE SYRIAN TEN THOUSAND – OBAMA’S CRIME AGAINST AMERICA
America's terrorist shortage may be reaching an end. If Orlando didn't satisfy you and San Bernardino left you wanting more; if you thought, why can't we have more Boston Marathon bombings, Obama has your back. And your front and any other directions that a pressure cooker full of nails can hit you from. The land of Washington, Jefferson, and Mohammed Atta has reached a new milestone by taking in Syrian refugee number 10,000. It’s unknown if the TSA will shower him with balloons and confetti once he passes the gate while clutching a Koran and a copy of the Caliphate Cookbook. Either way we hit the big explosive ten thousand. And the clock is ticking. Media outlets are puffing out sympathetic portrayals of the oppressed Syrians moving into some neighborhood near you, and far from the bosses behind the major media outlets. All these folks fleeing the violence of their own religion want is a safe place to live. And safe inevitably means non-Islamic. There’s an obvious lesson here that neither they nor our expertly chattering classes seem able to grasp.
WHY HASN’T ISIS BLOWN UP ROME?
At lunch the other day, a smart man asked me how come there hadn’t been terrorism in Italy, even though Islamic State keeps promising to attack the Vatican.
You’ve undoubtedly been asking yourself the same question, so I’m going to give you the answers. Answers, plural, because hardly anything happens for a simple reason, especially in a country as tricky and complicated as Italy. So there are several reasons.
First, Italian intelligence, especially domestic intelligence, is a lot better than you might imagine. They are exceptionally good snoopers, since the state knows that the citizens don’t much like the powers-that-be, and so the agents of the state are forever peeking and listening.
Keep in mind that the Italian word for “privacy” is “privacy.” They lifted ours because the concept isn’t in the native language. Wittgenstein, along with Bill Clinton, will tell you if there is no word for it, it doesn’t exist.
Then there are the mafias – especially the big three based in Sicily, Calabria, and Naples.
THE BEST INVESTMENT APPLE COULD MAKE
Apple CEO Tim Cook
Why would the Irish government argue against receiving $14.5 billion (yes that is a billion with a B) in income taxes that the European Union says Apple owes it?
The amount is greater than the entire Irish budget, yet they are saying, “No thank you.” Both the EU and the Apple executives, including CEO Tim Cook, have engaged in tax malpractice – the latter in a very different way than the former. Correcting this would be the best investment Apple could make.
Forty years ago, Ireland was the poorest country in the EU; now it has the highest per capita income in the European Union, next to Luxembourg. The Irish wisely decided that the way to improve their people’s lives was by adopting economic policies that would lead to high growth.
Meanwhile, Congress and tax officials back in the United States engaged in tax malpractice by imposing a 35 percent federal corporate income tax rate — way above the revenue maximizing rate. In addition, many states have corporate income taxes, which makes the total rate even higher.
In order to survive, many companies have moved their headquarters to other countries with lower tax rates — thus depriving the United States of the tax revenue and jobs. Many politicians accuse corporate leaders of being disloyal by moving — when what they are really doing is attempting to survive and protect themselves against destructive U.S. tax and regulatory policies.
HUMPTY HILLARY
HALF-FULL REPORT 09/02/16
Pantelleria, Strait of Sicily, Italian Mediterranean. Welcome to Europe’s hidden ultimate hideaway for the rich and famous. No matter who you are, nobody cares. It’s totally laid back. No big fancy resorts, no tourists, no paparazzi, no autograph hounds, you’re left alone in peace, solitude, and private luxury.
There’s just one little problem, right on the horizon you see in the distance. It provides a useful perspective on the main story of the week in America – Trump vs. Clinton on illegal immigration.
This has been a news week of mind-numbing global intensity. There are events you should know about in 15 countries on five continents. Let’s see how many I can get to – starting obviously with Mexico.
The most surprised guy on the planet late last week was Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. He issued a pro forma invitation to both Trump and Hillary for a meeting/discussion as a diplomatic nicety. He got the reply he expected from her office, thanking him, will do our best to rearrange the busy schedule, our people will be in touch with your people, blah blah.
He fell out of his chair with Trump’s reply: Muchas gracias, I’m on my way, I’ll see you tomorrow! You can imagine the freakout in the presidential chambers: “QUE??? Hay-soos Crees-toh!!!” And however you say WTF!! in Mexican.
It was the very last thing he expected. But when the shock subsided, here’s what Nieto told his aides:
HILLARY IS GOING TO LOSE
What does she stand for? What are the genuine accomplishments in her life? What new innovative ideas does she have to change the current direction of the country that two-thirds of voters think is wrong?
Then there are questions of ethics and morality. Ereyesterday (8/28), Roger Simon laid out the stakes:
“The truth about the Clinton Foundation is already clear: a medium to leverage Hillary Clinton's position as Secretary of State for personal enrichment and global control by the Clintons and their allies. To my knowledge, nothing like this has ever been done in the history of the United States government.
This means quite simply, that the United States of America has abandoned the rule of law. The election of Hillary Clinton—our own Evita—will make the situation yet more grave. Consider something so basic as how you raise your children in a country where the president is most probably an indictable criminal and most certainly a serial liar of almost inexhaustible proportions. What does this say about our basic morality and how does that affect all aspects of our culture?”
It’s been a long hot political summer, with the Lying Swine Media in a 24/7 feeding frenzy to demonize Trump and coronate Hillary as having already won before the campaign really begins. As always, summer froth abates over Labor Day weekend, with campaigns beginning in earnest the day after – one week from today, Tuesday September 6th.
So with the LSM predicting the race for the White House is over before it begins, I figure I might as well join in. My prediction is: Hillary is going to lose. She is going to lose, as Dick Cheney would say, “big time.”
Of course I’m going to caveat that big time – I’ve been wrong too many times before not to do that. But let’s set the caveats aside for now. Let’s first count the abundance of ways she’s going down for the electoral count.
HIMALAYA HELICOPTER EXPEDITION
“Scoundrel’s View” of Mount Everest – Tibet North Face on left, Nepal Southwest Face on right
Can you imagine what it is like to actually be at Mount Everest? Or any other Himalayan giant – like Kanchenjunga, Annapurna, or Dhaulagiri – the greatest mountains on earth? To be in the presence of any one of them is a life-memorable experience.
To reach any one, you must trek for many days, over extremely rough mountainous terrain at very high altitude. You must be in exceptional physical condition to do so.
Which is why almost no one, even the most ambitious trekker, has ever been to all of them. Last May, I created an alternative: to the base camps of all eight 8,000 meter peaks in the Himalayas by helicopter, piloted by the most experienced mountain rescue pilots in the world.
Here’s our high altitude AS350 B3 coming in to land at the Khumbu Ice Fall on Mount Everest at 17,500 ft.
What we did in May was so astoundingly spectacular I can’t resist doing it again this November. Would you like to come with me?
MORE CRIMINALLY CORRUPT THAN YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW
The Clinton Foundation is “the largest unprosecuted charity fraud ever,” says the investigator who uncovered the financial discrepancies at General Electric before its stock crashed in 2008.
It “wasn’t organized lawfully and it isn’t operating lawfully. There’s never been an audit,” says Charles Ortel, described by the London Sunday Times as “one of the finest financial analysts on the planet.”
Mr. Ortel has examined every public filing by the Clinton Foundation and its donors. He’s found major discrepancies between what the Clinton Foundation reported receiving and what donors say they gave.
For instance, between Sept, 2006 and Dec. 2008, the UNITAID consortium reported giving $100 million more than the Clinton Foundation reported receiving, Mr. Ortel told me in an interview.
“The business model of the Clintons is to stand between misery and the donor community and allow millions – maybe billions – of dollars to get diverted,” Mr. Ortel says. “Where there’s misery, they figure out a way to profit from it.”
THE MEDIA EATS ITS OWN FOR HILLARY
Where does media bias come from? Anyone who really wanted to know had that question answered when much of the media took a break from attacking Trump to attack the Associated Press.
What does the AP have in common with Trump? Both were hurting Hillary Clinton’s chances to score payoffs from dictators, arms dealers and tycoons with terrorist ties for the next four to eight years.
The Associated Press got in trouble with the rest of the media for digging up dirt on the Clinton Foundation. Instead of just repeating the usual Clinton denials, it actually ran the numbers and noted that more than half the “ordinary folks” who got meetings with her had donated to her Foundation.
Instead of reporting on the AP story, the media went to war on its own. It wasn’t just the usual suspects like Vox and Slate who have a reputation for attacking any actual reporters who stray off the reservation and actually do their jobs. This time all the big boys were on the job.