MH370 was shot down, author of book about missing Malaysian plane believes

© Photo: "Vesti.Ru"

The first book about the missing Malaysian airliner, "Flight MH370 - the Mystery" will go on sale on Monday, 71 days after the passenger plane dissapeared on March, 8. 

After studying various theories about what might have happened, the author came to the conclusion that the plane had been shot down.

Flight MH370 - the Mystery, by Anglo-American author, Nigel Cawthorne, cites anonymous sources to suggest that misinformation was released to direct the search to concentrate on the wrong locations, The Sun-Herald newspaper reported.

The author of more than 150 books, Cawthorne provides no answers but instead presents "theories" as to what might have had happened to flight MH370 on March 8.

Read also: A guide to MH370 conspiracy theories: 10 most curious versions

Published by NewSouth Books in Sydney, the book cites a claim by New Zealander Mike McKay that he saw a burning plane from the oil rig he was working on in the Gulf of Thailand on March 8, the day the plane went missing. This, said the SMH in its online edition, led the author to believe that the aircraft may have been shot down accidentally during a joint Thai-American military exercise in the South China Sea, adding that rescuers were then, "possibly led in the wrong direction to cover up the mistake".

Cawthorne claims that the countries involved may have then sent searchers in the wrong direction to cover their tracks.

"After all, no wreckage has been found in the South Indian Ocean, which, in itself, is suspicious."

He said with the amount of disinformation regarding MH370, it is best to be skeptical, reports the Daily Mail.

The Malaysian Insider quotes Cawthorne, "The drill was to involve mock warfare on land, in water and in the air, and would include live-fire exercises". 

"Say a participant accidentally shot down flight MH370. Such things do happen. No one wants another Lockerbie (the downing of Pan Am flight 103 by terrorists in 1988), so those involved would have every reason to keep quiet about it."

He even suggests that if the plane's "black box" flight recorder is ever found it could be a fake planted by those involved in the coverup. But, he added, "I'm not saying that's what happened".

Read also:

Malaysia Airlines sustains worst loss in over 2 years after MH370 disappearance

Hunt for missing Malaysian flight MH370 on hold after trouble with mini-sub

Credible story about MH370 flight is crucial for China-Malaysia relations - journalist
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_18/MH370-was-shot-down-author-of-book-about-missing-Malaysian-plane-believes-1369/

Investing in Ourselves

by Charles Hugh Smith 

The power to shape what we repeatedly do is key to becoming a better investor.I am generally skeptical of the value of behavioral economics, as the primary insight (that humans are irrational and rationalize their mistakes/failures) doesn’t differentiate between economic systems that function productively for most participants (i.e. low rates of corruption and manipulation by elites, high levels of liberty and transparency) and those which fail most participants. Since all participants in both systems are prone to irrationality, how do beneficial systems arise?Behavioral economics is silent on systems, and that severely limits its utility in my view. I also find little practical value in the insight that we overvalue ourselves when we succeed and discount our failures (we didn’t have enough resources, etc.): yes, markets reflect the herd instinct that creates bubbles and manias, but other than avoiding the herd, how does this make me a more profitable investor?The one insight of behavioral economics that is practical is the awareness that our will- power/self-discipline is a limited resource which we must invest wisely. In this sense it is a form of scarce capital–let’s call it willpower capital. I liken it to a pool fed by a spring: when we exert our will or self-discipline, we drain the supply of willpower. Given time, the pool will replenish itself. But once we’ve drained our available self-discipline, tasks that require self-discipline become much more taxing.This suggests several dynamics to me:1. It requires a daily application of self-discipline to form a new habit or replace a destructive habit with a more positive one.2. If we “spend” our available willpower on an array of projects rather than on developing one new habit, we are unlikely to be able to persevere long enough to cement that new habit to the point where it is part of our routine.3. The earlier in the day we apply our self-discipline to forming a new habit, the more success we will have simply because our reserves of willpower are most abundant early in the day.4. Setting goals is easy. What’s difficult is developing a process to reach the goal, and making that process into a habit that becomes part of our routine.5. Once a process becomes habit, we don’t need to invest as much willpower capital in maintaining it.As Aristotle is said to have observed, “We are what we repeatedly do” (or “We are what we do every day”). This explains the importance of habits, which are habits precisely because we do them every day or week, repeating the process again and again.The power to shape what we repeatedly do is key to becoming a better investor, improving our productivity, becoming a more compassionate person–whatever we set as goals.It’s not surprising that many of the most productive people (artists, writers, scientists, etc.) often rise early and put in a solid morning of work without distraction. Given the nature of willpower and habit, that schedule makes good sense.Want to give an enduringly practical graduation gift? Then give my new book Get a Job, Build a Real Career and Defy a Bewildering Economy, a mere $9.95 for the Kindle ebook edition and $17.76 for the print edition.

ead more at h

John Williams - Fed Will Prop Up the System Until it Falls Apart

John Williams: Dollar on the Brink of Disaster, Fed Will Prop Up the System Until it Falls Apart.

http://usawatchdog.com/dollar-on-the-… John Williams of Shadowstats.com predicts an explosion of U.S. debt. He says, “All the projections on the budget deficit are based on positive economic growth going forward. With the ongoing contraction, you’ll see a much worse budget deficit. It’s going to do bad things to the banking system. The Fed is going to be easing, and they’ll say they are easing to stimulate the economy; but in reality, they’ll be doing this to prop up the banking system. The rest of the world sees this and they don’t want to hold the dollar, and they will sell off the dollar. The Fed is going to have to come in and prop up the system until it falls apart.”Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with economist John Williams, founder of Shadowstats.com.

Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/john-williams-dollar-on-the-brink-of-disaster-fed-will-prop-up-the-system-until-it-falls-apart/#ZSWMrmtkIGPW3A5J.99

Rick Santelli: What Would We Do Without The Government - They Are Not Here To Help, But They Are Here To Make Everything More Expensive...

1 in 7 Americans receive support from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

CME Attempts to Install Price Limits on Gold & Silver Reflects Frantic Desperation

Perhaps the most unsettling recent event was the announcement by the CME that it was looking at putting daily price limit curbs on gold and silver futures.   Why now?  The daily volatility of gold is at a 4-yr low.  Why were limits not in place a year ago when the bullion banks took the price of gold down $200 in a 24 hour trading period?
The only reason to put price limit curbs in is to prevent true price discovery.
Something is seriously wrong behind the scenes and I have a bad feeling – as do many of my colleagues – that we might find out exactly what it is before the end of the summer…

By PM Fund Manager Dave Kranzler, Investment Research Dynamics:
The overt and blatant manipulation of the gold and silver markets on the Comex reflects frantic desperation – but why?

Anyone with a pulse knows that the last year’s manipulated trouncing of the metals using Comex futures triggered an avalanche of physical gold and silver buying globally.    And based on the fact that over 1000 tonnes of gold was removed – and disappeared from sight – from all of the physical gold investment trust globally combined, including over 500 tonnes from GLD, the massive and determined price take-down last year was anything but true price discovery.
But there are other, equally as disturbing smoke signals:
1)  Silver was hammered early this morning, after the a.m. London “price fix” and leading up to and during the opening of Comex futures floor trading.   All of the European/eastern REALphysical markets were closed today – Switzerland, China, Viet Nam, Turkey.  London was not closed but I think we’re fooling ourselves if we consider London a true physical market.  Today was nothing but a pure paper jam job to try to force potential holders of Comex contracts to sell and not stand for delivery.  Note:  no other correlated markets, like the U.S. dollar index or currency futures flinched during the raid on the metals.

2)  Since the beginning of March, 452 tonnes of silver were removed from the Shanghai Futures Exchange + the Comex AND the U.S. exported a record amount of gold to Hong Kong in January.
3)  Deustche Bank resigns from the LBMA  gold and silver fix committee and can’t sell its seat.  Why?  Because why would any prospective buyer pay for the right to fix the price of gold and silver if they won’t be allowed to manipulate it and make money from it.  This is a more significant event than has been attributed to it by anyone.  Those LBMA price fix committee seats have zero value if they can’t be used to manipulate the markets.
4)  What was the emergency and secretive Fed meeting about two days ago?  It certainly had no bearing on the policy announcement from the FOMC yesterday because the FOMC policy was basically unchanged, with the standard fraudulent comments about an improving economy and labor market.
5)  China and Russia shifted into overdrive mode to work toward eliminating the U.S. dollar from their trade activities.  Ironically this was triggered by the U.S. intervention in Ukraine.
6)  Unexplainedly, Belgium in the last 5 months has become one of the largest holders/buyers of U.S. Treasury bonds, amassing a quantity that is roughly 3/4′s the size of the country’s GDP.  Belgium has been running a current account deficit and a trade deficit.  Where are the funds coming from to buy this amount of Treasury paper?  Ironically, Belgium’s holdings jumped up significantly right around the time over $100 billion in Treasuries were removed from the Fed’s foreign custodial account (rumored to have been Russia’s bonds).
Please note:  Brussels is the headquarter city for both the EU and NATO.
Something is seriously wrong behind the scenes and I have a bad feeling – as do many of my colleagues – that we might find out exactly what it is before the end of the summer…

Dollar Value WHAT?

IT is AMAZING to me that the USA DOLLAR VALUE today is at .80 cents… higher than 10 years ago.

How can that be when we are $ 17 Trillion in Debt.

These numbers make no sense.
USA Dollar Value

March 2010 .734
March 2011 .7141
March 2012 .7567
March 2013 .7701
March 2014 .7232
Today .8001

HOW can the USA Dollar VALUE GROW with $17+ Trillion Debt.

FUNNY NUMBERS?????????????

Yet if you look at this CHART… it tell a REAL TRUE Picture of the USA Dollar.

Amount it took to equal $1 in 1913

1913 $1.00
1920 2.02
1925 1.77
1930 1.69
1935 1.38
1940 1.41
1945 $1.82
1950 2.43
1955 2.71
1960 2.99
1965 3.18
1970 3.92
1975 $5.43
1980 8.32
1985 10.87
1990 13.20
1995 15.39
2000 17.39
2001 $17.89
2002 18.17
2003 18.59
2004 19.08
2005 19.73
2006 20.18
2007 20.94
2008 21.57
2012 23.27


Read more: The Shrinking Value of the Dollar | Infoplease.com

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001519.html#ixzz31syE54IB

http://www.kitco.com/market/

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Apartment nation: Multi-unit housing starts up 416 percent from 2010 low. Builders preparing for a nation with high rental demand.

There is a simple bet to take if you believe housing is going to lead this nation into a next wave of prosperity. Take a bet on home builders. The argument is that the U.S. population continues to grow so therefore, prices on homes will simply continue to go up. But what if the growth is coming to households with lower wages? The iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF is down over 6 percent for the year while the S&P 500 is up 1 percent. What gives? Isn’t the housing market recovering? Prices are up because of constrained inventory (now slowly picking up), investor demand (starting to wane), and artificially low interest rates. You’ll notice that few of the major reasons for higher home prices have to do with household balance sheets improving. If you truly believe housing has healthy demographics ahead you would bet on home building. This index is moving in the opposite direction of prices. The place where we do see home building is with multi-family building permits. Builders are gearing up for a nation of renters. In fact, multi-family housing starts are up a massive 416 percent since their low in 2010. Apparently builders are realizing that with incomes so low and weak household formation that when these households begin to form, the first step will be in a rental. Many in the Millennial cohort live at home while house horny parents try their best to out-bid investors.

Multi-family housing starts up 400+ percent
There is a simple bet to take if you really think the housing market is going to take the lead in a new recovery. Bet on U.S. Home Construction. Simple enough. You can purchase the ETF tracking the sector. As I mentioned before, this ETF is down over 6 percent for the year. Why? Because when it comes to supply and demand, you actually need the right supply and the right demand. You don’t see Ferrari setting up shops on every corner in Detroit. I’m sure people would love a Ferrari but simply put, they don’t have the income for this. Similar to housing in places like California, current residents do not have the income to buy even with artificially low interest rates and paltry down payment requirements. This trend has actually caused an out migration of domestic Californians out of the state for over a decade.
One sure bet however is the need for rental housing. Builders are ahead of the game on this one:

Housing starts for multi-unit buildings are up 416 percent from 2010. As the nation becomes one of more renters, this is a good bet to make. At some point, many younger American adults will set out to form their own households. Given their weak balance sheets, the first step is likely to be in a rental. In the past, this was the traditional route. First you move out into a rental, save for a down payment, then bought a home. That part of the market has been stunted in this recovery because first-time buyers make a pathetic amount of all current home sales.
A nation of renters
The trend is very favorable to multi-family building:

Since 2005 we have added 7 million rental households (no coincidence that we have witnessed 7 million foreclosures as well). During this same time, owner occupied housing has actually fallen. This is a trend that is fully in place. In more expensive markets, the rental share of the market is growing at a quicker pace. For example, in California you have 2.3 million adults living at home. Why? They either have no job, a job with low wages, or are financially struggling. These are the main culprits. This group is struggling to enter into a rental let alone buy a home. That is why in some areas investors make up the bulk of all home sales.
And the political winds are shifting. For example, the untouchable Prop 13 looks to be on the table for changes:

“(LA Times) I think that the withdrawal of our opposition, at least for now, suggests that we don’t see this as a direct threat to Prop. 13,” said Jon Coupal, president of the Jarvis group, whose crusade for the law sparked a nationwide tax revolt.”

This is to close a loophole on commercial properties. This loophole has been around for ages. Why be open to this change now especially from such a staunch opponent? Because California is building a bigger renting majority. Now just think when more and more of the population is renting and has little at stake in the property market. This is the trend.
Slow household formation
One of the more startling trends is in light of population growth, household formation has hit a wall:

This trend has been in place for over a generation and suddenly has stopped. What we will see however is more demand for rentals. As we have previously noted, we have added 7 million rental households in the last 10 years. With more rental housing on the market at some point you will see young adults moving out and getting their own place to live. In most areas of the country, housing is still affordable. Yet in many large metro areas this is simply not the case.
There are simple bets to make if you feel housing will continue to go up. Put your money on the line and buy. No one will stop you. Be an investor and purchase a home to rent out or flip. Prices only go up right? It is amazing how some people think that once you buy, you suddenly “own” the place when in fact, you have a 30 year locked in commitment. Similar to renting, you have to pay someone for a very long-time regardless of your path. In California house horny buyers would plunk down money they don’t even have to squeeze into a house to be an owner but at least we are still checking incomes for loans. We already have stats showing that usage of ARMs is at multi-year highs highlighting that people need every gimmick to squeeze the monthly payment down to as low as possible just so they can compete with investors. However, inventory is rising and in non-prime areas, the fever of house lusting lemmings is slowly cooling off. As it turns out when we look at the bigger picture, we truly are becoming a nation largely made up of renters.

“Too Big To JAIL” & Our CASINO ECONOMY | James Corbett (Ep. 2)

This is episode 2, here’s episode 1 ?http://bit.ly/Ep-1
IN THIS INTERVIEW:
- Ukraine $16.8 billion IMF bailout* ?1:18
- What will be the next world reserve currency? ?6:27
- The catalyst for a global currency reset ?10:59
- Take your money out of the “Too Big To Jail” banking system; the derivative market is a “time bomb weighting to happen” ?15:50
- The money for the coming bailouts will come from your savings accounts ?20:33
- Get out of debt, hold gold & silver, and own real assets ?23:51 

SUBSCRIBE (It’s FREE!) to Reluctant Preppers, “Helping You Be Aware and Prepared” ?http://bit.ly/ReluctantPreppers
SUBSCRIBE (also FREE!) to “Finance and Liberty” for more interviews and financial insight ?http://bit.ly/Subscription-LinkJAMES CORBETT has been living and working in Japan since 2004. He started The Corbett Report (http://CorbettReport.com) in 2007 as an outlet for independent critical analysis of politics, society, history, and economics. Since then he has written, recorded and edited over 1000 hours of audio and video media for the website, including a weekly podcast and several regular online video series. He produces video reports for GRTV, the video production arm of the Centre for Research on Globalization, and BoilingFrogsPost.com, the website of noted FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds. He is also an editorial writer for The International Forecaster, the weekly e-newsletter created by the recently deceased economic analyst Bob Chapman. His work has been carried online by a wide variety of websites, his video productions are broadcast on the Next News Network in the US, and his videos have garnered over 15,000,000 views on YouTube alone.

FINANCE AND LIBERTY:
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Google Plus ?http://Gplus.to/FinanceLiberty
Title and video graphics by Josiah Johnson Studios ?http://JosiahJohnsonStudios.com
Our sponsor Reluctant Preppers ?http://ReluctantPreppers.com 

RESOURCES:
- Corbett Report, “The Great Decoupling: How the West is Engineering its Own Downfall” ?http://goo.gl/Aw5kYD
- *?IMF bailout for Ukraine equivalent of 12.2 billion euros or about 16.8 billion U.S. Dollars ?http://goo.gl/aG8HXz 

DISCLAIMER: The financial and political opinions expressed in this interview are those of the guest and not necessarily of “Finance and Liberty” or its staff. Opinions expressed in this video do not constitute personalized investment advice and should not be relied on for making investment decisions.

Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/too-big-to-jail-our-casino-economy-james-corbett-ep-2/#bJjzpieH1dp4DE4p.99

FED’s Launder 141.2 BILLION worth of US Bonds through Belgium.

About Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts’ latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost. 

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/05/14/usawatchdog-interviews-pcr-fed-deception-ukraine/ 

The Fed Is The Great Deceiver — Paul Craig Roberts and Dave Kranzler 

The Great Deceiver — The Federal Reserve

Paul Craig Roberts and Dave Kranzler

Is the Fed “tapering”? Did the Fed really cut its bond purchases during the three month period November 2013 through January 2014? Apparently not if foreign holders of Treasuries are unloading them.

From November 2013 through January 2014 Belgium with a GDP of $480 billion purchased $141.2 billion of US Treasury bonds. Somehow Belgium came up with enough money to allocate during a 3-month period 29 percent of its annual GDP to the purchase of US Treasury bonds.

Certainly Belgium did not have a budget surplus of $141.2 billion. Was Belgium running a trade surplus during a 3-month period equal to 29 percent of Belgium GDP?

No, Belgium’s trade and current accounts are in deficit.

Did Belgium’s central bank print $141.2 billion worth of euros in order to make the purchase?

No, Belgium is a member of the euro system, and its central bank cannot increase the money supply.

So where did the $141.2 billion come from? 

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/05/12/fed-great-deceiver-paul-craig-roberts/ 

That sum comes to 29% of the Belgium GDP. So, they don’t have a surplus in their budget that is 29% of their GDP, and they don’t have trade or current account surplus in that amount. In fact, everything is in the red. Their budget deficit is in the red, and their trade and current accounts are in the red. So, Belgium didn’t have the money, and yet, they managed to pick up $141.2 billion in U.S. Treasuries over a three month period. So, where did they get the money?” Dr. Roberts, who holds a PhD in economics, goes on to say, “We know their central bank couldn’t have printed euros to buy the bonds with because the Belgium central bank can’t print euros. Belgium is part of the euro system and has lost the ability to create its own money. So, the only source for that kind of money would have been the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve thought it needed to hide the fact it was buying $141 billion in bonds over a three month period when it was officially reducing or tapering the quantitative easing down to $65 billion. It didn’t want to have to admit it was really purchasing $112 billion a month, almost double the announced purchases.” 

Dr. Roberts also says, “I think also the Fed did not want it to get out that some large country is unloading Treasuries. Somebody dropped over $100 billion in Treasuries in one week. If that was a large holder and that became known, it could panic smaller holders and you could see a stampede, and the Fed could lose control of interest rates. So, I think the Fed thought the best thing to do is launder its purchase through a different country; and, thereby, disguise what is actually happening.” 

http://usawatchdog.com/fed-laundering-treasury-purchases-in-belgium-to-disguise-whats-happening-paul-craig-roberts/ 

Chugiakian

Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/feds-launder-141-2-billion-worth-of-us-bonds-through-belgium/#h5ZwJAJe6oyrG8hK.99

Mexico divided: Stark unaltered photographs capture middle class affluence side-by-side with extreme urban poverty

These striking photographs show the scale of poverty - and affluence - that live shoulder-to-shoulder in Mexican cities.

A modern, luxury apartment block towers with confidence over its surroundings. Residents enjoy the view from their rooftop gardens but - tellingly - have set up large screens to block out the view in one direction.

If they were to peer round the barricades, however, they would be confronted with a slum-like maze of cramped, tumbledown concrete constructions just inches from their plush existences.

The photographs were produced by ad firm Publicis, based in Mexico City. In a nod to the sheer disparity on display, creators of the anti-poverty ad campaign, called Erase the Differences, felt compelled to put a disclaimer on each picture reading: 'This image has not been modified. It's time to change that'.

+4

Haves and have-nots: This lavish block of apartments can be seen right next to a sea of tumbledown flats - though residents have blocked off the view

+4

Striking: The bright whites and colourful roofs of the wealthier homes are a graphic contrast with the dull concrete just over the wall

+4

Tumbeldown: The smart roofs and garages of the homes in the foreground are a far cry from the corrugated roofs and makeshift washing lines of the poorer homes

+4

Wrong side of the tracks: Manicured lawns, smart driveways and a concealing screen of greenery separate the affluent homes from their less wealthy equivalents

The Mises View: “The Consequences of Cheap Money” | Mark Thornton

Mark Thornton discusses Martin Wolf’s recent claim that “cautious savers no longer serve a useful economic purpose”. Thornton is a Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute. For more information, visit the Mises Institute online at Mises.org.

Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/the-mises-view-the-consequences-of-cheap-money-mark-thornton/#QuaEUBAiSQvaktBh.99

Government's power over ranchers and their land is frightening

Something Very, Very Bad Will Happen Very, Very Soon

On his weekly podcast, Andy Hoffman discusses market manipulation, gold and silver, national debt, food prices increasing, QE, Japan, Obamacare and unemployment.

Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/something-very-very-bad-will-happen-very-very-soon/#TU6C0y62vJuv3g38.99

The Cost for 4 Failed Healthcare Exchanges Will Blow Your Mind

85 Comments

The bad news about ObamaCare just seems to get worse…
Four states that embraced the Affordable Care Act – Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Maryland – have spent $474 million for state health care exchanges and each of these websites and programs have been abysmal failures. And the final price tag to fix or transition from these exchanges to the federal one could go much higher.
The federal government now has the difficult decision of spending more money to fix the existing exchanges, or to transition them over to the federal exchange at HealthCare.gov.
So what have these four states done to try to fix the problems with their exchanges?
After an investigation by Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and the resignation of five Cover Oregon board members, the board decided to abandon the state exchange and use HealthCare.gov.
Nevada is undecided about whether to fix the existing exchange or switch to the federal one, but will decide in the next few weeks. An outside report concluded that trying to fix the flaws in the Nevada Health Link exchange would be a daunting task.
Lynn Etkins, vice chair of the Health Link board said last week, “The report seems overwhelming to me. And I really am not hearing anything that all of these issues are going to be resolved well before open enrollment so testing can be done.”
Maryland is trying to transition its flawed exchange to the same technology used by the state of Connecticut. If this fix doesn’t meet federal approval, Maryland would default to Healthcare.gov. Massachusetts wants to do both: Build a new health care portal from scratch and plan a move to the federal exchange as a backup.
The Bay State has already spent $170 million on its exchange. It would cost an additional $120 million to fix it. That’s double the cost estimate to switch over to HealthCare.gov. However, state officials believe the Obama Administration would provide federal funds to make the Massachusetts exchange work because it [RomneyCare] was the predecessor to ObamaCare.
Currently 36 states use the federal system at the Healthcare.gov portal, far more than was originally estimated. If these in-state exchange fixes don’t work, the number of states using the federal system (and the federal dollars spent on ObamaCare) will go even higher.

Walmart Is Falling Apart Before Our Eyes

For most of the past five decades, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT  ) has been the retailer competitors feared most and as a result it made for a phenomenal investment for its shareholders. But Wal-Mart has begun to lose its cache with consumers and major holes are starting to form in its business.
Interestingly, Wal-Mart has hidden its financial problems from the headlines because challenges are different around the world, masking themselves in the overall picture. But when you dig between the headlines you can see a company in serious trouble and could be the latest in a long line of leading retailers to go from boom to bust in the blink of an eye.

Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. aren't nearly as popular as they used to be. Source: Wal-Mart. 

U.S. shoppers are abandoning Wal-Mart
The most alarming statistic at home in the U.S. comes from falling same-store sales. This measures how sales are growing location by location and any healthy retailer is looking to grow same-store sales at or faster than consumer spending grows because that shows increased market share locally. Overall sales can be increased by increasing store count, but if same-store sales are falling then the return on each store will drop, something well see in a minute.
Below, I've built a table that shows year-over-year changes in same-store sales at U.S. Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores compared to the growth in consumer spending on goods. You can see that Wal-Mart is growing far slower than what consumers spend on goods and has been consistently negative over the past year.

	2013	Q1 2014	Q2 2014	Q3 2014	Q4 2014
Wal-Mart	1.8%	-1.4%	-0.3%	-0.3%	-0.4%
Sam's Club	2.2%	-1.2%	0.1%	-0.2%	-0.4%
Consumer Spending-Goods	3.1%	3.7%	3.1%	4.5%	2.9%

Source: Wal-Mart and Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The problem for Wal-Mart goes far further than just cyclical swings in retail or a weak economy. Wal-Mart has long been able to lure customers with one-stop shopping and low prices, but consumer trends are now working against that core strategy. For cost conscious shoppers, lower prices can often be found online and more affluent consumers are choosing style and quality products over one-stop shopping. This can be seen clearly by the growth in online retailers like Amazon.com as well as specialty retailers like Williams-Sonoma , Lululemon, and Michael  Kors, among others.
Foreign failures don't help the problem
Here's where Wal-Mart's story gets really interesting. Sales in the U.S. are beginning to struggle, but overseas the company's profitability is in downright freefall. I highlighted this in an article a couple of weeks ago and the table below shows just how fast margins are falling internationally.

High margins in the U.S. have masked profit struggles overseas and store growth in some international locations is masking U.S. struggles from the revenue side. So, when you look at Wal-Mart's overall profitability it's hard to see any problems emerging.
But there's only so far you can push margins in the U.S. before you either start losing sales to lower cost competitors or you have to lower prices. So, eventually profits could decline in the U.S. and that's when the warts will truly show.
Wal-Mart's high returns are falling like a rock
The most startling evidence of Wal-Mart's decline comes from Wal-Mart itself. Each year, the company provides a return on investment calculation for investors, which measures the profit Wal-Mart makes from the money it invests in stores, inventory, and other infrastructure.
You can see below that Wal-Mart's ROI is dropping rapidly since 2010, despite the broader economy recovering over that time.

If ROI continues to decline, Wal-Mart could become unprofitable very rapidly. Falling same-store sales and plummeting returns are how Sears, Kmart, or Montgomery Ward, became former retail icons that were eventually overtaken by competitors. These two trends can only last so long before something has to be done.
Is Wal-Mart in serious trouble?
Wal-Mart's traditional supercenter business model is clearly showing major signs of weakness both in the U.S. and overseas. If the retail giant can't adapt to new competition like online, specialty, and local retailers there's a real chance the company is in danger of heading down a downward spiral we've seen so many retailers go down before.

Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market is an effort to move away from the big box to local retail. Source: Wal-Mart.

There are efforts to introduce smaller footprint stores closer to consumers but that's a stretch for a business that's operated one way for decades. Many major retailers have problems adapting to shifts in the way consumers buy products, which is one reason you don't shop at the same stores your grandparents did 50 years ago.
From an investment perspective, I think Wal-Mart is going to be a loser long-term, because of the challenges I've outlined above. Returns are falling, Wal-Mart is struggling overseas, U.S. consumers are shopping elsewhere, and the success of new formats is uncertain.
Time will tell if Wal-Mart can turn around but I'd stay out of the stock and would even consider shorting shares if operations continue to struggle.

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PM Fund Manager: Smoking Gun on The Fed’s Money Laundering T-Bond Purchases

Precious Metals Fund Manager Dave Kranzler joins the show this week to discuss:

1. Cartel capping gold at $1300 and silver at $20
2. London silver fix to end in August after 117 years- is the end of the silver manipulation at hand?
3. Kranzler discusses the Smoking Gun on The Fed’s money laundering US Treasury purchases through Belgium
4. We break down Ted Butler’s claims that JPM is buying all the Silver Eagles- is Jamie Dimon suddenly attempting to corner the ASE market, or is the American public finally waking up?

Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/pm-fund-manager-smoking-gun-on-the-feds-money-laundering-t-bond-purchases/#Pfh8hKll8dBko20F.99

EU Barroso appointed Papademos as Greece’s PM in 2011

Source: Keep Talking Greece

Absolutely ridiculous! European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso allegedly appointed Lukas Papademos as Prime Minister of Greece right after the embarrassing meeting during the G20 summit in Cannes, when the EU partners decided to oust George Papandreou and his plan to hold a referendum without their consent.
According to a Financial Times report revealing the behind the scenes EU-intrigues in Cannes, Barroso had a hand in the creation of a three-party interim government led by ex-central banker Lucas Papademos in late 2011.
“It was a shift in body language that caught the attention of Mr Barroso, who had sat quietly through most of the fireworks. The European Commission president would later tell associates that the scene playing out in front of him was making him increasingly alarmed. On top of the loose talk of a Greek euro exit, which commission officials long believed would trigger uncontrollable market panic throughout southern Europe, the prospect of a month-long referendum campaign would have sown weeks of uncertainty – exactly what they were trying to avoid as Italian bond yields were rising to dangerous levels.
Unbeknown to Mr Sarkozy or Ms Merkel, Mr Barroso had called Mr Samaras, the Greek opposition leader, from his hotel before the meeting. He knew Mr Samaras was desperate to avoid the referendum.
Mr Samaras told Mr Barroso he was now willing to sign on to a national unity government between his New Democracy party and Pasok – something he had assiduously avoided for months in the hopes he could secure the premiership on his own.
‘We have to kill this referendum’
- José Manuel Barroso
Mr Barroso summoned his cabinet and other commission staff to his suite at the art deco Hotel Majestic Barrière to plot strategy. He decided he would not tell Mr Sarkozy or Ms Merkel of the conversation but according to people in the room, they began discussing names of possible technocrats to take over from Mr Papandreou in a national unity government. The first person to come to Mr Barroso’s lips was Lucas Papademos, the Greek economist who had left his post as vice-president of the ECB a year earlier. Within a week, Mr Papademos would have the job.
Watching Mr Venizelos assert himself hours later inside the Palais, Mr Barroso saw his opportunity. Mr Sarkozy brought the meeting to a close, rereading his six-point plan and telling Mr Papandreou to go back to Athens to “take a decision”, and Mr Barroso pulled Mr Venizelos aside.
“We have to kill this referendum,” Mr Barroso said. The finance minister agreed almost immediately. Killing the referendum idea would also be the end of Mr Papandreou.
After brief remarks to the press in which he said the referendum would be “a question of whether we want to remain in the eurozone”, Mr Papandreou headed back to Nice airport. In the car, he turned to Mr Venizelos and said that things had not gone as badly as he had feared. Mr Venizelos was incredulous. As Mr Papandreou slept on the flight home, Mr Venizelos, emboldened by Mr Barroso’s admonition, ordered an aide to write up a statement to be released when they landed, at 4.45am on Thursday. “Greece’s position within the euro area is a historic conquest of the country that cannot be put in doubt,” the statement read. “This acquis by the Greek people cannot depend on a referendum.”
Mr Papandreou’s referendum was dead. As was his premiership.” (Financial Times via here full article ).
At the same time, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble wanted Greece outside the euro zone while Chancellor Angela Merkel almost suffered a breakdown as she was torn apart.

Samaras’ coalition partner Evangelos Venizelos, a foreign minister in 2011, dismissed the FT report.

“Mr Barroso did not have the main role in the discussion and the process,” said the PASOK chief. “Whoever says this does not have an understanding of the international balance of power and of the roles that EU figures have.”
Venizelos also said that Papademos had not been first choice to become interim prime minister. Before he was sworn in on November 11, Parliament Speaker Filippos Petsalnikos and PASOK veteran Apostolos Kaklamanis had been suggested for the role, Venizelos claimed.
However, Venizelos defended the decision not to proceed with a referendum, which eurozone leaders insisted should only be on whether Greece should remain in the euro. The PASOK leader suggested that proceeding with the vote would have led to a flight of deposits. “Did anyone want the banks to collapse the next day and the country to default?” he said.
The issue is unlikely to be settled soon, though. PASOK MEP and former Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas wrote to Barroso on Tuesday to ask for his comments on the Financial Times article. He said a “very serious institutional and moral issue” had been raised by the report, which indicated that Barroso had intervened “in the domestic political affairs of a member state in order to overturn the democratically elected government of a European country.” (ekathimerini)

Fact is Papademos was PM November 2011-May 2011, Samaras and Venizelos formed the following government in June 2012 and the question remains: why should we hold elections if our partners and lenders decide who will govern the country?

Barroso contemplates about the next Greek PM
Of course, a biggest question is: how will Greece’s lenders deal with Alexis Tsipras should SYRIZA win the next parliamentary elections?

John Kerry’s friend joins the Board of Ukrainian gas producer, same company as Joe Biden’s son

Vice President Joe Biden‘s son and a close friend of Secretary of State John Kerry’s stepson have joined the board of a Ukrainian gas producer controlled by a former top security and energy official for deposed President Viktor Yanukovych.
The move has attracted attention given Messrs. Biden’s and Kerry’s public roles in diplomacy toward Ukraine, where the U.S. expressed support for pro-Western demonstrators who toppled Mr. Yanukovych’s Kremlin-backed government in February. The uprising provoked a pro-Russia backlash that has plunged the post-Soviet republic into conflict and brought it to the brink of civil war.
Hunter Biden, a lawyer by training and the younger of the vice president’s two sons, joined the board of directors of Ukrainian gas firm Burisma Holdings Ltd. this month and took on responsibility for the company’s legal unit, according to a statement issued by the closely held gas producer.
His appointment came a few weeks after Devon Archer —college roommate of the secretary of state’s stepson, H.J. Heinz Co. ketchup heir Christopher Heinz—joined the board to help the gas firm attract U.S. investors, improve its corporate governance and expand its operations. A State Department spokesman declined to comment.
“The fact that I joined the board of directors is largely based on the company’s will to grow,” Mr. Archer said in an interview with Ukrainian media published on Burisma’s website. “Last year alone witnessed a lot of transformations.” He vowed to make the company more transparent.

New member on the board of Ukrainian natural gas producer Burisma and John Kerry’s friend, Devon Archer.

Mr. Biden, 44 years old, and Mr. Archer, 39, work for Rosemont Seneca Partners, a U.S. investment company. It is affiliated with Rosemont Capital, a private-equity firm Mr. Archer co-founded with Mr. Heinz.
Two people familiar with Mr. Heinz’s involvement in the firms said he isn’t involved with the day-to-day operation of Rosemont Seneca, which is 50%-owned by Rosemont Capital. The people also said there was no financial investment by the firms in Burisma, just board memberships for Messrs. Biden and Archer.
Messages were left for Hunter Biden at his offices in Washington and New York and at offices of a law firm where he is of counsel. A person answering the phone at his office in Washington said Messrs. Biden and Archer were unavailable and promised to pass along a message.
The White House press secretary and the vice president’s office described Hunter Biden’s activities as those of a private citizen, bearing no endorsement of the U.S. government.
“Hunter Biden is a private citizen and a lawyer,” said Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for Joe Biden’s office. “The vice president does not endorse any particular company and has no involvement with this company.”
The board appointments come amid a broader push at Burisma to step up standards and investment. Alan Apter, an American investment banker who has worked in the former Soviet Union, joined Burisma as chairman of the board last year and received a mandate to improve the company’s corporate governance and attract foreign capital. He said he met Mr. Archer, a longtime financier and entrepreneur, through mutual friends and invited him and later Mr. Biden to join the board.
“This is totally based on merit,” Mr. Apter said. He said none of the independent directors holds a stake in the company. He said they would receive a salary for independent directorship commensurate with world-class experience but declined to name the sum.

Burisma is one of a handful of privately owned gas companies that together account for a little more than 10% of Ukraine’s domestic production. The rest of the production comes from gas companies fully or partially owned by the Ukrainian state. Burisma’s biggest subsidiary, Esko Pivnich, pumps gas from the Poltava region east of Kiev.
The gas producer is controlled by Nikolai Zlochevsky, a former member of Parliament for Mr. Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, according to a person familiar with the matter. He served as Mr. Yanukovych’s minister of environmental protection from July 2010 and then become minister of ecology and natural resources in December 2010, key positions with influence over the oil and gas industry.
Mr. Zlochevsky was removed from the post in April 2012 and appointed deputy secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, a role he held until Mr. Yanukovych’s government collapsed in late February. During his tenure as a government minister, Burisma and entities associated with the firm received a large number of permits for oil and gas exploration in Ukraine and stepped up their output considerably, according to Ukrainian press reports.
Mr. Zlochevsky couldn’t be reached for comment.
Mr. Yanukovych, who was sanctioned by the U.S. in March, has taken refuge in Russia.
Burisma produced about 450 million cubic meters of gas in 2013 and became the largest independent gas producer in Ukraine by volume in the first quarter of this year, according to a company spokesman. The production figures couldn’t be independently verified.
The Ukrainian company sells its gas domestically. It is poised to benefit from the rising gas prices the country is likely to see in the future, now that Russia has removed a discount on gas deliveries for Ukraine in response to what it sees as the rise of anti-Kremlin authorities in Kiev.
Ukrainian regulatory authorities cap gas prices for domestic industrial customers. The cap averaged about $425 per thousand cubic meters of gas last year. Though Burisma doesn’t reveal financial figures, calculations suggest the company’s production last year would have commanded more than $191 million in revenue on the domestic market at those rates.
Mr. Apter said Burisma’s expansion could help reduce Ukraine’s energy dependence and thereby help ease its political problems.
“The country is quite gas dependent and one would expect, like most countries, there is a desire to be independent of foreign sources, be they in Russia or elsewhere,” Mr. Apter said. “It helps the country.”
Burisma has now added deep U.S. political connections to its arsenal.
In addition to being Mr. Heinz’s college roommate at Yale, Mr. Archer was an adviser to Mr. Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004 and co-chaired his National Finance Committee. According to his biography, he serves as a trustee of the Heinz Family Office, which manages the family business.
Hunter Biden’s business activities have attracted attention before.
His work as a lobbyist when his father was in the U.S. Senate came under scrutiny. Shortly after his father became Barack Obama’s running mate in 2008, he gave up his lobbying career and resigned his partnership at a Washington lobbying firm.

Hunter Biden (right) son of Vice President Joe Biden (center) talking with President Barack Obama (left).

When he had been senator, Mr. Obama sought more than $3.4 million in earmarks for clients of Hunter Biden, and succeeded in getting $192,000 for St. Xavier University near Chicago, according to public disclosure records.
At the time, a spokesman for Mr. Obama said Hunter Biden hadn’t met with the senator himself but rather with office staff. The spokesman also said it wasn’t surprising to see Mr. Obama was fighting for interests and institutions in his home state of Illinois.
In early 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hunter Biden and his uncle had run a fund of funds that was being marketed exclusively by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford’s companies. Mr. Stanford later was sentenced to 110 years in prison for masterminding a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.
At the time of the Journal article, a lawyer for the Bidens said the fund terminated the relationship and offered to return $2.7 million in investment that companies controlled by Mr. Stanford had given the fund. He said the Bidens had never met Mr. Stanford.