Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Alpha Lipid Bee Venom Rahsia Kulit Cantik Dan Kelihatan Muda

Bee Venom Malaysia


Anda mempunyai masalah kulit yang serius seperti kedutan, garis-garis halus, kulit kusam, kering, pucat, jerawat dan sebagainya.
Saya ingin kenalkan kepada anda satu produk kecantikan/anti penuaan yang sangat berkesan. Saya sendiri menggunakan dan ianya memberi kesan yang sangat positif pada kulit muka saya.
Anda pernah dengar Alpha Lipid? Sejenis jenama produk supplement kecantikkan dan kesihatan keluaran New Image yang telah lama stabil dan mendapat kepercayaan dari pengguna.
Terbaru, mereka telah keluarkan satu lagi produk kecantikkan New Zealand yang berkesan, laris dan mendapat sambutan besar bukan sahaja di Malaysia tetapi diseluruh Asia.

New Image Alpha Lipid Bee Venom

Produk Alpha Lipid Bee Venom telah lama terkenal diluar negara dan dijual dengan harga yang mahal. Ramai artis-artis antarabangsa menggunakan Alpha Lipid Bee Venom ini.
Bee Venom baru sahaja masuk ke pasaran Malaysia dan mendapat permintaan yang tinggi kerana ramai yang sudah tahu tentang keberkesanan produk kecantikkan dan krim anti penuaan ini. Memiliki Sijil Halal dan selamat digunakan.
New Zealand Pure Bee Venom memberi tenaga dan menapis tekstur kulit. Menjadikan kulit lebih tegang dan lembut. Menampilkan kulit yang licin, muda dan berseri.
Plus Alpha Lipid Colostrum menyediakan TGF (Faktor Pertumbuhan Tranforming) A dan B iaitu menggalakkan percambahan sel, pembaiki tisu, penyelenggaraan dan penyembuhan pada kulit.
EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor) dan memperbaharui sel pembaikan kulit. Paten Alpha Lipid Micro-Nutrient Sistem mempercepatkan penembusan berharga Bee Venom molecules dan nutrien ke dalam sel-sel kulit.
Mengaktifkan lapisan dalam kulit dan dapat bekerja dengan lebih cekap. Perubahan yang ketara, terbaik dan berkualiti. Membuat kulit anda kelihatan lebih muda dan mencapai keputusan yang paling wajar.
Alpha Lipid Bee Venom Rahsia Kulit Cantik Dan Kelihatan Muda

Kelebihan Alpha Lipid Bee Venom

Alpha Lipid Bee Venom adalah satu-satunya produk penjagaan kulit yang mengandungi New Zealand Alpha Lipid Colostrum yang menggalakkan pembaikan dan pembaharuan pada sel kulit seperti melakukan botox.
Cuma bezanya anda tidak perlu menyuntik botox pada kulit muka hanya perlu sapu krim Bee Venom sahaja. Ia adalah krim kecantikan yang mempunyai pelbagai fungsi yang merangsang pengeluaran Kolagen dan Elastin dari badan.
Berfungsi secara harmoni dengan sistem badan kita dan tidak invasif atau menyakitkan seperti melakukan pembedahan, pertukaran kulit atau suntikan seperti botox.
Faktor utama adalah untuk memulihkan kulit supaya lebih kelihatan muda dan sihat dengan mengurangkan garis-garis halus dan kedutan di muka.

Bahan-bahan Aktif Utama:

Bee Venom, Natural Exotic Oils seperti Jojoba, Badam, Biji Macadamia, Madu Manuka, Evening Primrose dan Shea Butter.

Kulit Cantik Dan Muda Dengan Bee Venom

Antara punca utama masalah kulit adalah faktor umur, pemakanan dan persekitaran.
Semakin umur meningkat, kulit akan menghadapi masalah kedutan terutama pada wajah. Semua wanita menitikberatkan kecantikkan dalaman dan luaran.
Jika kita tidak ambil peduli akan menjadi serius dan pastinya mula hilang keyakinan diri kerana malu dengan kulit yang bermasalah teruk.
Produk Alpha Lipid Bee Venom adalah revolusi terkini keluaran New Image yang pertama menggunakan madu manuka sebagai bahan utama. Satu krim kecantikan yang selamat untuk merawat tanda-tanda awal penuaan kulit tanpa perlu melakukan suntikan botox yang pastinya menyakitkan.
Tidakbalas positif Bee Venom paling berkesan adalah…
  • Kulit menjadi lembab
  • Jeragat semakin pudar
  • Jerawat cepat mengecut
  • Kedutan semakin hilang
  • Menghilangkan pigmentasi
  • Kulit lebih halus, anjal, gebu dan tegang
  • Kulit semakin cerah dan segar
  • Tona kulit semakin sekata dan glowing

Cara Penggunaan Bee Venom

Produk ini sesuai digunakan pada semua jenis kulit muka baik lelaki atau wanita. Kecuali yang alah kepada sengatan lebah. Kulit setiap orang adalah unik dan berbeza. Ada yang sesuai, ada yang tidak.
Sebaiknya habiskan sebotol Bee Venom untuk melihat tidakbalas dan keberkesanannya. Anda mungkin mengalami rasa pedih sedikit jika permukaan kulit anda bermasalah. Itu adalah biasa.
Bee Venom berfungsi sebagai krim siang dan krim malam. Untuk hasil yang terbaik sapukan ke kulit muka dua kali sehari iaitu pada waktu pagi dan sebelum tidur.
  • Krim siang (Day Cream) – Setiap pagi sapukan ke muka sebagai krim siang sebelum anda memakai alat solek.
  • Krim Malam (Night Cream) – Perlahan-lahan sapukan ke lapisan kulit muka dan leher dan biarkan semalaman.
Untuk dapatkan Alpha Lipid Bee Venom Intensive Anti Aging Moisturising Cream, anda boleh hubungi saya:

IS THE TULIP ABOUT TO BECOME THE US' NATIONAL FLOWER?

In the early 1600s, as the global economy moved from "production for consumption" into "production for profit", Dutch trading and business had become so efficient that merchants were finding themselves contracting for products that did not yet exist. The Dutch called it "Trading on the wind", a reference to the Dutch trading ships that sailed the Atlantic.
In 1636, increasing demand for newly created varieties of tulips set off a speculative cycle of ever higher prices. Tulip bulbs were bought and sold unseen. Huge fortunes (on paper) were created seemingly overnight.
Then, in 1637, the market crashed. People were ruined. The entire Dutch credit system was almost destroyed and the effects of the crash were felt across Europe.
Since that time, there have been buying sprees of all kinds, including the infamous Bunker Hunt attempt to corner the Silver market, the price of gold, and assorted stock market crashes. "Tulip mania" has become synonymous with reckless speculative behavior that seeks quick profits without regard for long term consequences.
The United States is caught in the middle of its own mania, a housing "boom" which is more and more obviously a bubble. Whereas the Tulip craze was triggered by newly created varieties of tulips, the US housing bubble was triggered by lending institutions worried about a slowdown in borrowing. A simple rule of banking is that money sitting in the vault is worthless, but money out in performing loans is profit. Consumer borrowing had slowed, mostly because the equity on their homes has been cashed out to sustain their lifestyles as high paying jobs fled the nation for tax-friendlier shores. So the banks hit on a plan. They lowered interest rates to almost nothing, which triggered a round of home buying. This was encouraged by realtors, who profit from the commissions, and as the surge in buying started to drive prices upward, suddenly there was newly created equity on which even more could be borrowed.
This started a speculative buying cycle. Prices were moving upwards. This was touted as a good sign of a recovering economy, but was it really? After all, the houses were still the same. A two bedroom 1 bathroom house is still a two bedroom 1 bathroom house whether it sells for $400,000 or $2,000,000. While many Americans took the opportunity to move to a nicer home, a large part of the buying and selling spree was done by individuals who would never live in the properties they bought, but would hold them for a few months in the expectation of selling at a huge profit. Tulips on a grand scale! And even those people who prudently decided to stay with what they safely had are feeling the effects as higher appraised values mean higher property taxes.
But already the mania is cooling. Rising prices have triggered a construction boom, and we are headed to a market which will have more houses than buyers, which cannot help but force prices into a downward trend. And the lending institutions that triggered the mania with low interest rates are now looking forward to reaping huge profits as interest rates start to climb. Even the normally optimistic Allen Greenspan is warning that the housing bubble is about to pop, and the consequences will be as dire as the techno-bubble pop of five years ago.
As interest rates increase and housing values go into decline, homeowners will find themselves in a situation of "negative equity", which means they will owe more money on their homes than the sale of the home can produce. And with the new bankruptcy laws due to go into effect in October, they will be stuck.
While all this is well and good (short term) for the banks and the realtors, there are some long term considerations. People struggling with huge mortgages don;t have money for other things. They don't buy new cars. They don't buy flowers for their wives. They don't take vacations. They defer minor medical care. They wear last year's clothes. They don't buy new furniture. As business slows, they will have to let people go, or even close their doors. Already orders for durable goods are declining as the available cash in our economy is sunk into inflated land values. It will be another crappy Christmas for the retailers this year.
In the long run, the banks will find themselves back in the same situation that started this whole mess. They will have lots of cash in their vaults, and nobody able or wanting to borrow it. They will also have a lot of deeds to foreclosed homes, which they will either have to hold onto or sell at the prevailing market rate. Too many of those foreclosure sales will depress the housing market even further.
History repeats itself. The sad thing is that people who get caught up in buying manias don't seem to learn from the history of people who made that mistake before, or they get into wishful thinking that they are somehow smarter and that what happened to all those others won't happen to them, or they will make sure the disaster falls on someone else's head.
But history is about to repeat itself. And it is time to wake up and smell the tulips.

“Government lie; bankers lie; even auditors sometimes lie; gold tells the truth.” – Lord Rees Mogg

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“Government lie; bankers lie; even auditors sometimes lie; gold tells the truth.” - Lord Rees Mogg

The Curse Of Keynesian Dogma: Japan’s Lemmings March Toward The Cliff Chanting “Abenomics”

by David Stockman
According to Takahiro Mitani, trashing your currency, destroying your bond market and gutting the real wages of domestic citizens is a sure fire ticket to economic success. Yes, that’s what the man says,
“I have no doubt that the economy is in a recovery trend if you look at the long run….”
After two years of hoopla and running the BOJ’s printing presses red hot, however, there is not a shred of evidence that Abenomics will lead to any such thing. In fact, after the recent markdown of Q3 GDP even deeper into negative territory, Japan’s real GDP is no higher now than it was the day Abenomics was launched in early 2013; and, in fact, is no higherthan it was on the eve of the global financial crisis way back in 2007.
Historical Data Chart
In the meanwhile, the Yen has lost 40% of its value and teeters on the brink of an uncontrolled free fall. Currency depreciation, of course, is supposedly the heart of the primitive Keynesian cure on which Abenomics is predicated, but there is no evidence or honest economic logic to support the proposition that—–over any reasonable period of time—–a nation can become richer by making its people poorer.
Historical Data Chart
That’s especially true in the case at hand, which is to say, a Pacific archipelago of barren rocks. Japan imports virtually 100% of every BTU and every ton of metals and other raw materials consumed by its advanced $5 trillion industrial economy.
Yet thanks to the mad money printer who Prime Minister Abe seconded to the BOJ, Hiroki Kuroda, import prices are up by a staggering 30% since 2012. Even with oil prices now collapsing, the yen price of crude oil imports is still higher than it was two years back. Not surprisingly, input costs for Japan’s legions of small businesses have soared, and the cost of living faced by its legendary salary men has risen far faster than wages.
Historical Data Chart
Accordingly, domestic businesses that supply the home market—and that is the overwhelming share of Japan’s output—are being driven to the wall, bankruptcies are at record highs and the real incomes of Japan’s households have now shrunk for 16 consecutive months and are down by 6% compared to 2 years ago. And the purpose of all this punishment?
Well, its something right out of the Keynesian “Sesame Street”. We are talking here about our friend the letter “J” that was scribbled on a napkin in Cambridge MA more than a half-century ago. That is to say, when you trash your currency your trade balance is supposed to get worse for a while, and then it gets all better. Hence, the “J-curve”.
Needless to say, its not working for Japan. The fact is, Japan is an old age colony that is in debt up to the eyeballs of what will soon be  a retirement population larger than its work force. So it desperately needs to run a trade balance—and better still, a surplus—-with the rest of the world in order to accumulate acorns for its long time future as an economic rest home.
As shown below, however, Abenomics has had the very opposite effect. Japan’s normal moderate surplus since its 1990 crisis has plunged into deep red ink since the onset of Abenomics. Stated differently, Seasame Street economics has been an unmitigated disaster for Japan.
Historical Data Chart
The idea of the J-Curve and getting richer by getting poorer is nonsense anyway. But when you apply this misbegotten Keynesian dogma to a unique economy that is essentially a one-of-a-kind materials conversion machine, which transforms raw resources from the rest of the planet into advanced industrial, consumer and technology goods, you are essentially committing economic hari kari.
Even before taking into account the potential for trade and currency retaliation owing to this blatant beggar-the-neighbor policy, Japan will never get off the bottom of its J-Curve because is inherently a big importer. And unlike Germany, for example, where exports amount  to 40% of GDP, Japan’s exports now average less than 12%.
So in terms of the Keynesian preoccupation with “flow” (that is, current period income and outgo), here is what you have on the trade front. Exports have risen barely 18% in yen terms and not at all in physical quantity. By contrast, imports are up 35% in yen terms—-not because Japan Inc is thriving, but because the BOJ has flooded the world with yen that nobody wants.
Historical Data Chart
Historical Data Chart
But the “nobody wants” part is the heart of the matter. Keynesian economic models have no balance sheet concept, and therefore its high priests roam the world preaching the same one-size-saves-all dogma to governmental congregations, whether they are flush with cash or are buried in debt. But that is just plain stupid when it comes to today’s monumental debtors.
The latter desperately need to reduce their consumption and increase their savings—–especially if they are rapidly getting old demographically and need to build their individual and collective nest eggs. Needless to say, the BOJ’s vicious assault on savers makes the Fed look like a model of decorum.
Forget the overnight rate, which is ZIRP on most of the planet. In Japan, 10-year money on the supposed risk-free JGB is now exactly 0.398%.Consequently, there is not a single sentient buyer for Japan’s monumental government debt left anywhere in the known universe. Germans and Martians, who count their wealth in something other than yen, are most certainly not going to buy bonds denominated in a vanishing exchange rate.
The same story holds domestically. The long suffering Japanese banks are getting out of government bonds, and not just because the MOF and BOJ are telling them to. Indeed, along with the life insurance companies, other institutional investors and even the proverbial Mrs. Watanabe of the household sector, they are getting out of JGBs because Kuroda and Abe are making them a proposition they can’t refuse. Namely, these madmen through the open market desk at the BOJ are “bid” any and all bonds on offer; and at nose-bleed prices (that is, the inverse of the 0.398% yield) that vastly exceed the true economic value of debt that one day the Japanese government must and will default on.
In other words, blindly following the Keynesian dogma that has been impressed upon them by the IMF economists, the G-7 and G-20 apparatchiks, and the parade of itinerant snake oil salesman like Krugman, Bernanke, and Larry Summers, the BOJ has become some kind of infernal vacuum cleaner that intends to suck-up every last bond the bankrupt Japanese government can issue. And as a reminder, that is  already a financial Mt. Fuji and then some.
Historical Data Chart
Needless to say, bidding the entire world out of its JGBs creates two gargantuan problems. In the case of domestic investors, what do they do with the cash? Well, in the paradigm of Keynesian central bankers the world over—they, perforce, put it in “risk assets”.
And that brings us back to Mr.Takahiro Mitani——the man with utmost confidence that Japan’s economic future is bright and the nominal head of Japan’s giant $1.4 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF). But let’s state that more plainly. Mitani is the utterly naïve and clueless long-time BOJ-GPIF financial bureaucrat who has been ordered by Abe to flush the GPIF of upwards of $400 billion of government bonds which it has held for years, and upon which it has earned virtually nothing, in favor of buying the Japanese stock market and a global equity basket, too.
Stated differently, these Keynesian preachers like Summers and Krugman, who have the government of Japan in their thrall, are downright cruel and malevolent. One of the few things that can keep Japan’s projected 35 million retirees from resort to cat food someday is their $1.4 trillion GPIF nest egg.
But under the influence of these financial terrorists—–and there is no other way to describe them—– the government of Japan has ordered that a huge chunk of that nest egg be put four-square in harm’s way. That is, be invested at the tippy top of the greatest stock market bubble the world has every seen.
Upwards of 40% of the fund is to go into equities and other alternative assets and two-thirds of that is earmarked for Japanese equities. So it is no wonder Mr. Mitani is whistling a happy tune about Abenomics. He has no choice. After all, he has been “invited” to put hundreds of billions into the Japanese stock market after it has doubled in response to an economic program that amounts to a suicide mission.
Japan Stock Market (NIKKEI 225)
This is where Keynesian dogma has taken Japan—–it has turned its vaunted elite bureaucracy and historic governing class into a pathetic band of financial lemmings. In particular, the GPIF desperately needs to earn a robust return now before the real demographic tsunami hits.  That is, before its current 80 million strong work force shrinks to just 40 million over the next 50 years, while its army of retirees swells from 25% to more than 40% of its population over the period.
But its central bank is now all-in for Keynesian money printing ,and has thereby vaporized any yield at all in the fixed income market; and has also knowingly or not, invited all the fast money punters of Wall Street, London and the rest of the world to front-run an insane Tokyo stock market bubble—–confident that at the first sign of trouble they can drop their inflated shares on the retirement population of Japan.
Calling that scenario a reverse Pearl Harbor would be only a mild resort to metaphor. Yet “Pearl Harbor” is the right metaphor because it is forever connected with the brutal war which raged across the length and breadth of East Asia thereafter.
This time it will be a currency war, but no less devastating for all parties involved. The yen FX rate is currently in a temporary holding pattern around 120, but just wait for the up-coming snap election and the likelihood that the Japanese people will follow its lemming leaders toward the terrible cliff of Abenomics.
But upon news of Prime Minister Abe’s electoral “mandate” to plow full stream ahead, the Yen will plunge through 120 in an instant, and be well on its way to 140 and not so far down the road to 200. But as George H.W Bush said in another context—- and not the one which brought him to the feet of Prime Minister Miyazawa in 1992—–the upcoming cliff dive of the Japanese yen “cannot stand”. It will amount to thundering frontal assault on the export mercantilism on which the entire bloated edifice of China and the rest of East Asia is built.
One thing is certain about the ensuing “race to the bottom”. Japan’s retirement colony will end up with the hindmost.
And they will surely burn professors Krugman and Summers in effigy—-even if driftwood is the only fuel they have left.











Ah yes, the title. We weren’t kidding. As of this moment, Japan’s misery has not been higher in an entire generation! Its Misery index that is, which combines unemployment (3.6%) and inflation (3.4%), and results in an unprecedented 7.0%: the highest in 33 years!


To be sure, we warned explicitly about Japan’s soaring food prices. And now, here they are

Ah yes, the title. We weren’t kidding. As of this moment, Japan’s misery has not been higher in an entire generation! Its Misery index that is, which combines unemployment (3.6%) and inflation (3.4%), and results in an unprecedented 7.0%: the highest in 33 years!


To be sure, we warned explicitly about Japan’s soaring food prices. And now, here they are
By Eleanor Warnock And Kosaku Narioka at The Wall Street Journal

TOKYO—Japan’s $1.1 trillion government pension fund is betting that a long-term recovery and rising corporate profits will push Tokyo stock prices higher, helping the fund increase returns for the nation’s retirees.
The Government Pension Investment Fund, the world’s largest of its kind, is perhaps the most deep-pocketed investor betting that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ’s administration will end 15 years of deflation and revitalize the country’s economy.
“I have no doubt that the economy is in a recovery trend if you look at the long run,” GPIF President Takahiro Mitani said in an interview Friday.
Expectations that Mr. Abe’s policies will succeed have already helped double Japan’s benchmark stock index since late 2012.
Further gains would no doubt benefit GPIF’s ¥23.9 trillion ($202 billion) domestic stock portfolio.
Mr. Abe has pushed for the fund to become a more aggressive and sophisticated investor. The fund decided in October to shift its portfolio to seek higher returns, slashing its target allocation to domestic bonds almost in half while nearly doubling that of domestic and foreign equities.
Mr. Mitani said the fund is still in the process of carrying out the changes and has a long way to go. Just under 50% of its total portfolio was in domestic bonds at the end of September, compared with its new target of 35%.
He declined to say whether it had already bought more stocks and foreign bonds. “I leave it up to you to imagine that,” he said.
The GPIF will further discuss possible asset sales and purchases when its new investment committee meets in January. Mr. Mitani said he and GPIF’s new chief investment officer, who will join the fund the same month, will both sit on the committee. Meanwhile, the fund is seeking other members, and Mr. Mitani said he would welcome “a full-time member who had some asset management expertise.”
Currently, the GPIF’s only investment committee is one staffed by outside economic experts and academics that meets roughly once a month to advise the president.
Shifting its portfolio will require the GPIF tell some fund managers to sell, while giving others more money to invest. Mr. Mitani said he would consider giving some firms the choice of investing in both domestic and foreign stocks, something the fund hasn’t done.
In the future, GPIF also might consider changing its policy on exposure to foreign currencies to allow hedging against currency risk.
Some lawmakers have argued that the GPIF law should be changed to let the fund invest directly, yet Mr. Mitani said direct investment probably wouldn’t be feasible. He envisioned that the fund would join other institutional investors to invest in private equity or real estate.
The GPIF manages reserves for the nation’s universal pension fund and private companies’ plans. The fund is the rough equivalent of the U.S. Social Security trust funds; the difference is that the GPIF invests in listed securities.
Write to Eleanor Warnock at eleanor.warnock@wsj.com and Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

Fed Will Implement QE4 in Early 2016: Rickards

Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) — On today’s “The Roundup,” James Rickards, author of “Currency Wars,” Bloomberg’s Trish Regan, Lisa Abramowicz and Douglas Lavanture break down some of the day’s top market stories on “Street Smart.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/fed-will-implement-qe4-in-early-2016-rickards/#wickDXt6qb0mkffe.99

Wall Street promises a big boost to US GDP. What have these folks been smoking?

Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter
The plunge in the price of oil that began in July acts like a tax cut, it is said, and will boost spending by consumers and businesses, and thus goose the US economy. Among the voices propagating this view is the UBS macro strategy team. It found that each $10-per-barrel drop in the price of oil would goose US GDP by 0.1%. If the average price in 2015 stays where it is today – down nearly $50 per barrel since June – you can expect a boost to GDP of 0.5%, which would be big for the otherwise crummy US recovery.
I don’t know what these good folks have been smoking, but I want some of it too.
The idea is this: if consumers and businesses spend less on gasoline, heating oil, diesel, jet fuel, and other energy-related products, they would feel like they just got a tax cut and would spend this money thus saved on other things. And somehow this would increase overall spending, and thus GDP.
Alas, the money spent on energy products is already included in GDP either under consumer spending or business spending. Any cut in prices will actually lower GDP by that amount. Now the hope is that consumers and businesses will spend all of this saved money on other things.
In this scenario, people living from paycheck-to-paycheck would spend these savings on food, or blow it on another dress, a pair of shoes, or electronic gadgets. High-income people who earn a lot more than they spend and might not even notice they saved $50 last month, would however increase their spending on other things by that amount. And rich folks, who saved $100,000 on fuel for their corporate jet last month, and who have no idea they saved that much, would also somehow take that money and buy another Hermes necklace for their mistress or something….
The assumption is that all this money saved from lower energy costs gets spent on other things by every economic entity, that no one saves any of this money, or god-forbid uses it to pay down credit cards or student loans – which would actually lower GDP. All this saved money must be spent on something else. That’s the assumption. And even that best-case scenario would just shift spending patterns from energy to other items, rather than increase spending. It would have zero impact on GDP.
Alas, many of the items consumers would buy, such as clothing, shoes, electronic gadgets, or Hermes necklaces, are imported and involve the US economy only via transportation and the sales channels. And these imported items would replace mostly American-made oil-based products.
Turns out, the American shale revolution, the very thing that caused the global oil glut and triggered the rout in oil prices, is pushing US oil imports to the margin. The Energy Information Administration points out in its December “Short-Term Energy Outlook”:
The share of total US liquid fuels consumption met by net imports fell from 60% in 2005 to an average of 33% in 2013. EIA expects the net import share to decline to 21% in 2015, which would be the lowest level since 1969.
So next year, it expects that 79% of US consumption of liquid fuels, such as gasoline, diesel, heating oil, jet fuel, etc., will be met by US production.
These products are American-made, involving American resources, well-paid American workers in the oil patch, American engineers, IT people, and researchers. The American oil and gas industry, for better or worse, and whatever the environmental consequences may be, invented fracking and developed the equipment necessary to do it. The industry is constantly spending money on perfecting methods and equipment. America is on the forefront in these technologies and the only major producing country to use them.
The economic impact from this boom goes far beyond the oil patch. Many items used in this industry, from frack sand to steel pipes to the most sophisticated equipment, are made in the US, often by well-paid workers. Materials and equipment get shipped across the country by US railroads. Pipelines get built. Crude gets transported via pipelines or oil trains to US refineries where it is refined into gasoline, diesel, heating oil, jet fuel, and other products, to be transported once again and sold to consumers and businesses or industrial users around the country. These industries have created an immense number of well-paid jobs. There is hardly any foreign involvement in this. Most of the money spent by the US oil and gas industry and its suppliers flows into US GDP.
Replacing part of this activity with imported clothes or shoes or necklaces or electronic gadgets would boost US economic growth? I mean, come on.
This machinery was built with debt, much of it junk debt. It requires a high price of oil to continue functioning. A $50-per-barrel drop, if maintained on average in 2015, which is entirely possible, would send much of the junk debt into default. It would strangle the flow of new money into the industry, a process that has already begun. If the money stops flowing, drilling projects will be cut. Many outfits would topple because they could no longer service their enormous debts. Much of this debt would blow up. Equity would be transferred from existing stockholders to creditors. Oil bust mayhem would spread in this all-American industry that has played such an outsized role in the otherwise crummy US recovery.
Assuming this price scenario, an implosion of the junk-bond bubble and the fracking boom will damage the US economy overall and devastate some local economies where drilling has become the main economic activity. And despite what the hype mongers on Wall Street are propagating in order to pump up stock valuations to ever crazier levels, markets are already in the process of sorting this out.
Wall Street made a killing on the junk-bond bubble and the fracking and offshore drilling booms. But now the tide has turned. Read…   Oil Bust Contagion Hits Wall Street, Banks Sit on Losses


Citigroup closing 13 of its 21 Phila. region branches

Citigroup, which entered the Philadelphia market with a bang six years ago, said it will be closing 13 of its 21 branches here, with 90 positions being lost. The closings include virtually all of its suburban locations, which is part of a global strategy to focus on an urban physical footprint, spokeswoman Catherine Pulley said during an interview Friday.
The New York-based company operates its retail banking under the Citibank name. It said earlier this month that it plans to close about 44 bank branches nationwide to cut costs. It also plans on scaling back operations or shutting branches overseas.
The local closings include Villanova, Berwyn, Willow Grove, Abington, Doylestown, Springfield (Delaware County), Montgomeryville, Media, East Norriton, Warrington, Southampton and Plymouth Meeting. The bank also will be closing its Chestnut Hill location — the only branch shuttering in the city limits. Pulley said those locations will close by March 15 with deposits transferred to its 1760 Market St. branch. Citi closed its Oxford Valley location earlier this month.
Citigroup will continue to operate seven locations within Philadelphia as well as its Bala Cynwyd and Cherry Hill, N.J., sites.
Pulley said the closures do not mean Citibank is pulling out of the region. She said the bank opened a branch in Germantown Monday, which is attached to its mortgage lending facility that opened there earlier this year.
Pulley said Citibank has roughly 800 employees in the Philadelphia region and about 90 positions will be affected by the branch closings. She said some employees will be offered positions within the company while the rest will be offered a severance package.
Citigroup, which currently employs about 260,000 people around the world, said it expects to take a $1 billion pretax charge in the fourth quarter and a $100 million charge in the first quarter of 2013 as a result of the cutbacks.
In all, the cuts are expected to save the company $1.1 billion annually beginning in 2014. Citigroup said it would save about $900 million next year.
The plan calls for the elimination of 1,900 positions from Citi’s Institutional Clients Group; the elimination of 6,200 from its global consumer banking group; 350 from Citi Holdings; about 2,300 positions from operations and technology, and 300 from “global functions.”
Citibank began opening Philadelphia-area branches in 2006 as part of a plan to broaden its New York-dominated geographic footprint. The plan was to cross-sell retail banking services to its existing credit-card, mortgage, automobile-finance and student-loan customers in the area. The bank wound up opening 22 local retail branches organically within two years. But before opening the Germantown site Monday, it had not opened any since November 2008 as parent Citigroup (NYSE:C) was hit hard by the recession.
Reports surfaced as early as 2009 that Citigroup was not pleased with its retail network in Philadelphia and was looking for a way out. But the bank denied that publicly and kept its locations intact. Citibank has $1.75 billion in deposits in those local branches — or roughly $80 million per branch, which is a solid number — good enough for 12th most locally.
But many feel the bank’s change in leadership in October, when CEO Vikram Pandit was replaced by Michael Corbat, might have led to a change in thinking.
In addition to its retail operations, Citi also has private, commercial and mortgage banking operations in Philadelphia.
Jeff Blumenthal covers banking, insurance and law.

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Russia Pivots to Eurasia for Trade and Military Alliances

The United States’ renewed cold war policy to isolate Russia is dividing Europe and changing the orbit for China and Asia.

Jim Rickards – Currency Wars shows I warned the Pentagon in 2009 about Russia’s objectives in gold. Look at what’s happened since:

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shows I warned the Pentagon in 2009 about 's objectives in . Look at what's happened since:
 
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A nice graphic from @caseyresearch. Looking at March & Sept., I'd say knows all about buying the dips.
  
 
 

Oil plunge, Russia crisis challenge US Federal Reserve

Washington (AFP) - The relentless fall in oil prices and Russia's plunging currency pose big challenges as the US Federal Reserve opens a two-day meeting Tuesday.The Fed's last meeting of 2014 was expected to confirm its path toward monetary policy normalization after holding its base interest rate at the zero level for six years to bring the country out of the Great Recession.But stagnating economies in Europe and Japan and slowing growth in China, coupled with the threats to markets and the financial system from the oil price and Russian crises, could force the US central bank to weigh a pause.While the world's most powerful central bank is unlikely to make any immediate changes to its interest rate and liquidity stance, it could signal via comments and economic forecasts a readiness to stick to that stance for longer than expected to help the global economy through a rough period.The main focus of the Fed, the US economy, has been growing strongly enough for the central bank to begin pulling away from the extraordinary easy-money policies in place since 2008.Unemployment has come down to 5.8 percent; job generation in November was unexpectedly strong; and year-end retail sales show consumers comfortable with spending and confident about the year ahead.The one question that has dogged the members of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's policy arm, has been inflation: it has been too weak to confirm that the economy is motoring under its own power.And sinking prices of oil and other key commodities and many general imports have in the past two months slowed inflation even more.For weeks analysts have guessed that the main outcome of the FOMC meeting would be a change in the language it uses to steer market expectations on interest rate policy.Over the past year, the panel has repeatedly said that a Fed funds rate increase would only come a "considerable time" after the end of the quantitative easing program, which was wound up in October.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-plunge-russia-crisis-challenge-us-federal-1600...
- See more at: http://xrepublic.tv/node/11559#sthash.0JnibP6O.dpuf

Keiser Report: Oil can combust & blow it all


In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the blood-bathing in the oil related markets – from the Dubai stock exchange to the West Australian fracking company gone bust to some of the highest paid jobs in America being laid off. In the second half Max interviews former banker turned independent media star, Brian Rose of London Real TV and Silicon Real. They discuss whether or not London can ever be a new Silicon Valley.

PLEASE WORK HARDER: Millions On Welfare Are Counting On You!

13,500,000 Millennials Live in Poverty…
(CNSNews.com) – One in five young adults – ages 18 to 34 years old – live in poverty, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
“More millennials are living in poverty today, and they have lower rates of employment, compared with their counterparts in 1980,” the Census states. “One in five young adults lives in poverty (13.5 million people), up from one in seven (8.4 million people) in 1980.”
The data comes from a new Census release called “Young Adults: Then and Now,” which “illustrates characteristics of the young adult population (age 18-34) across the decades using data from the 1980, 1990 and 2000 Censuses and the 2009-2013 American Community Survey.”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/1-5-millennials-live-poverty-census-bureau-says

46,000,000 Americans on Food Stamps…

(CNSNews.com) – The number of beneficiaries who receive compensation from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as food stamps, has topped 46,000,000 for 37 straight months, according to datareleased by the Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In September 2014, which is the latest data from the USDA, there were 46,459,998 Americans who received assistance from the SNAP program. The number of beneficiaries has exceeded 46 million since September 2011, a total of 37 months, or more than three years.
In September, the number of beneficiaries was down from the 46,476,410 beneficiaries there were in August, a decline of 16,412. During that same time frame, the number of families receiving SNAP benefits increased from 22,724,624 in August to 22,750,019 in September, an increase of 25,395.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/food-stamp-beneficiaries-exceed-46000000-37-straight-months

65% of Children Live in Households on Federal Aid Programs…
The Census Bureau reported in a study released this week that 65 percent of American children lived in households taking aid from one or more federal program as of the fall of 2011.
“Almost two-thirds (65 percent) of children,” said the Census Bureau, “lived in households that participated in at least one or more of the following government aid programs: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Medicaid, and the National School Lunch Program.”
How to be dependent on government is now one of the earliest life lessons America is teaching nearly a supermajority of children.
http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/terence-p-jeffrey/65-percent-children-live-households-federal-aid-programs
Extreme poverty takes a devastating toll in California: 20% of kids in the US who are #homeless live there.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/12/15/bay-areas-number-of-homeless-children-reaches-all-time-high/
Poverty-stricken neighborhoods almost triple in US
http://rt.com/usa/213347-poor-neighborhoods-triple-usa/



 

U.S. Consumers To Be Big Gold Buyers, Mining Stocks May Turnaround – Frank Holmes


In a special edition Gold Game film, Kitco News talks to Frank Holmes about his expectations for 2015. He said that he is expecting physical gold demand to remain strong heading into 2015 as consumers save money on cheaper gasoline prices. “This year you are going to see the U.S. being a big buyer of gold, particularly of jewelry,” he said. Along with the U.S. Holmes said he expects to see strong demand in China heading into the Lunar New Year, which is in February. Holmes adds that he also sees central bank remain gold buyers in 2015. Holmes added that higher gold and commodity prices are needed for mining stocks to turn around in 2015. Tune in now to hear Holmes threat to gold in 2015. Kitco News, December 15, 2014.

America Is In the Early Days of An Economic Collapse

by Dave Hodges

America’s first 9/11 served to turn American into a police state under dictatorial control. In the name of protecting the people from experiencing a another 9/11, it became “necessary” to protect Americans from their Constitutional liberties in the name of fighting the “evil doers”.  After 9/11 we saw the creation of the American Stasi  and SS organizations in the name of the creation of the Fusion centers, the inception of the Department of Homeland Security, the growing menace of the sexual assault artists from the TSA, the creation of unconstitutional no fly lists, the creation of a government enemies list (i.e. MIAC Report), the implementation of  permanent detention under the NDAA, the implementation of an embedded police state surveillance grid under the NSA where no secret is safe and even our pastors became agents of the rogue government under the creation of the Clergy Response Teams.
When X-Files characters of  Mulder and Scully used to say “trust nobody”, they must have been talking about the time we are living in.
AMERICA’S SECOND 9/11 IS ALMOST UPON US!

America Is In the Early Days of An Economic Collapse


The absolute and complete destruction of the financial collapse headed our way, is going to manifest in three areas: (1) the theft of retirement accounts, (2) the theft of bank accounts, and (3) false flag(s)  distractions to cover the theft of bank accounts and retirement accounts.
The events listed above will arrive simultaneously and will be visited upon the American people like a thief in the night. There will no real warning, only a declared bank holiday that will be declared on a Friday late in the afternoon in order to minimize the publics volatility by planning the roll out of the event going into a weekend. There will be no announcement that your retirement accounts have been looted by the bankers, retirees will simply not receive their retirement checks. Your ATM cards will not work and grocery stores will begin to feel the strain through the weekend as some people will begin to see these events for what they are and begin panic buying and shortages will appear almost overnight. This is why America embarked on the 1033 plan to militarize the police because the military and the foreign troops training on our soil cannot be everywhere. This is also why we are seeing such an increased rate of police brutality across the country, because the police are being trained that the American people are the enemy and in this scenario, they are correct.
Military assets will have been positioned weeks prior to the collapse to contain the rioting that will ensue inside of cities experiencing the most civil unrest. There will be no 9/11 to call, you will be on your own. The rioting will begin in earnest by Tuesday or Wednesday following the closure of the banks. Why? Because most Americans have not prepared for what is coming and they are only nine meals away from life-threatening starvation. Within 72 hours of the commencement of civil unrest, many personnel connected to essential services will walk off the job in order to protect their families on a 24/7 basis. How do we know this is true, just look at what happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
When the banks initially close, cyber-terrorism will be the excuse. This will provide the excuse to deploy DHS, military and foreign military assets to the streets of America. Terrorist event will transpire within the same time frame.  The majority of Americans, who are asleep, will be propagandized that Al-qaeda and ISIS will be blamed.
This is all part of a the Continuity of Government drills that have been carried out in this country. This is why DHS purchased 2700 armored personnel carriers in the past two years as they are going to be deployed to protect the assets of organizations such as the Federal Reserve branches and corporate entities such as Goldman Sachs.
There are three significant moves which have led to the realization that economic collapse is imminent and the above scenario will be acted upon and these include the fact that the banksters have moved to protect their first level minions with survival gear, perceived “uncooperative” banksters have been murdered to keep them quiet which helps to explain the 36 mysterious banksters deaths and the G20 nations have announced they are preparing to steal all privately held bank accounts.

Moving to Protect the Banksters

Survival kits are to be deliver to  every major bank in the United States including Bank of America, American Express Bank, BMO Financial Corp., Capitol One Financial Corporation, Citigroup, Inc., JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
bank collapseBANKSTERS ASurvival supplies will also be delivered to OCC offices across the country to its 3800 employees. The primary mission of the OCC is to “ensure that national banks and federal savings associations operate in a safe and sound manner, provide fair access to financial services, treat customers fairly, and comply with applicable laws and regulations.” The OCC employees include bank examiners whose job it is to “Analyze loan and investment portfolios, funds management, capital, earnings, liquidity, sensitivity to market risk for all national banks and federal thrifts, and compliance with consumer banking laws for national banks and thrifts with less than $10 billion in assets.”

banksters 5Why is it necessary to provide bank examiners with this level of protection? Simple, bank examiners are not stupid. They know what is coming. When they are out in the field performing their job and a sudden bank holiday is declared they could be far away from home and have nothing but their car for protection. This is clearly a move to placate these critical pieces of the banking establishment.

The federal government is spending $200,000 on the kits, according to the solicitation released on Dec. 4. 2014.



THIS IS THE CHEST PAIN BEFORE THE HEART ATTACK THAT WILL KNOWN AS AMERICA’S SECOND 9/11



The Rehearsal of the Theft of Your Bank Account

All nations belonging to the G20 will immediately submit and pass legislation that will fulfill anew investment program. This new program creates a whole new paradigm and set of rules whereby banks will no longer recognize your deposits as money.
bank-holiday2The theft of the people’s money has already been rehearsed by the powers that be in the banking industry. Regulators from the United States and the United Kingdom got together in a war room to see how they will cope when the next big bank fails.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, on November 10, 2014, ran a joint exercise simulating how they would prop up a large bank (e.g. Bank of America) with operations in both countries that has landed itself in trouble. Also taking part in the “bank failure drill” was Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, and the heads of a large number of other regulators, in a meeting hosted by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. 

Bank Accounts Have No Protection

fdic protection
The globalists have been moving their fiat currency holdings to gold since the Spring of 2013. The price of gold was artificially manipulated by Goldman Sachs to drive down the price of gold in order to make it cheaper for the powers-that-be to purchase gold cheaply. You see, they know that very soon, there will no money left in the banks. You want proof? The best proof that the globalists are manipulating the price of gold comes from “Goldman Sachs (who), in the Spring of 2013, told their  that they recommend initiating a short COMEX gold position.”

The FDIC has only about $25 billion in its deposit insurance fund, which is mandated by law to keep a balance equivalent to only 1.15% of insured deposits.

If a banking collapse were to be on the near horizon, the banksters are not going to notify you because they would not want to incite a bank run. With only 1.15% of all deposits being insured by the FDIC, your money would be left vulnerable and only the elite would be warned as they quietly transfer their money to a safer haven, such as gold.
THE FDIC CANNOT PROTECT ACCOUNT HOLDERS. FOR THE 1% INTEREST YOU ARE RECEIVING ON YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IT IS SITTING IN THE BANK WITH NO PROTECTION! AN ECONOMIC COLLAPSE IS HERE AND THIS IS WHY THE FDIC HELPED TO SPONSOR THE NOVEMBER 10, 2014 BANK COLLAPSE DRILL IN LONDON!
Hank Paulson, the architect of the Bailouts, said "there will be tanks in the streets. In 2008, this pathological liar was correct on this point

tanks 1tanks 2Your bank account has been collateralized against the derivatives debt. Hence, you had, in 2008, former CEO of Goldman Sachs and the Secretary of Treasury, Hank Paulson, telling a closed session of Congress that if they did not authorize the bailouts, there would be tanks in the street an ultimately, REVOLUTION! This was necessitated by the credit swap derivatives Ponzi scheme and the debacle that followed.


Further, the bankruptcy reform laws stemming from the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005, the credit swap derivatives counter-parties are given preference over all other creditors and customers of the bankrupt financial institution, including FDIC insured depositors.  This is why the G20 effectively stole your money last month by declaring your bank account to NOT be money!

When Will America’s Second 9/11 Occur?

It is a fool’s errand to predict dates because the banksters plan by objective. However, it is safe to say that it could happen at any time. It could happen this week or in a year. The only sure thing we can say is that the critical elements are being put into place and this will be the topic of a future article. IN THE MEANTIME, GET YOUR MONEY OUT OF THE BANK!

Surprise! Guess which currency has stronger fundamentals— the dollar or… ruble?

Dollar-Ruble-US-Russia
December 16, 2014
Castries, Saint Lucia
Last night, the Russian central bank announced a shock decision to hike up its key interest rate from 10.5% to 17%, effective immediately. Incredible.
On Monday alone the ruble declined more than 9% against the dollar, and almost 50% in 2014. It looks like a massacre.
If you listen to conventional financial news, they’ll all tell you that you’d have to be insane to own anything in Russia right now—stocks, bonds, currency, etc.
They’ll tell you that the ruble is in freefall, and that the dollar is the place to be.
But if you have been a reader of this column for any length of time, you know that I am a very data-driven person.
So… just for kicks, I decided to dive into the numbers and make an objective comparison between the US dollar and the Russian ruble.
The results might surprise you.
First of all, I start off with the premise that ALL paper currencies are fundamentally flawed.
Our global monetary system is absurd—the idea of letting unelected central bankers conjure as much money as they want to out of thin air is simply insane.
But it is true that some fiat currencies have better fundamentals than others. And if you want to understand the health of a currency, it’s imperative to look at the ISSUER of that currency, i.e. the central bank.
As with any bank, one of the most important metrics in determining a central bank’s financial health is its level of solvency.
Specifically we look at the bank’s capital (i.e. net assets) as a percentage of its total balance sheet.
The US Federal Reserve only has a basic capital ratio of 1.26%. Talk about razor thin. (This is down from 4.5% just a few years ago)
That means if the value of the Fed’s assets declines by only 1.26%, the issuer of the world’s dominant reserve currency becomes insolvent.
Now, what happens to the liabilities of an insolvent entity? They decrease in value. Just like how Greek bonds (the liabilities of the Greek government) collapsed a few years ago.
What are the Fed’s liabilities? Open your wallet. Those green pieces of paper aren’t ‘dollars’. Just look. They have “Federal Reserve Note” (i.e. debt) printed on them.
So the Fed’s pitiful financial condition directly affects the value of the dollar over the long-term.
On the other hand, the Russian central bank’s ratio is 12.5%—literally almost TEN TIMES GREATER than the Fed.
Capital cushion is crucial because when the unsuspected happens, this is what can help keep you afloat.
Think about it: you might be able to keep going without savings, perhaps even accumulating debt, but only until something happens out of the blue.
Until your car breaks down, or you need to go to the hospital, for example. Then all of a sudden, your lack of capital can become a serious issue.
Another important metric is gold. As I mentioned, since all fiat currencies are fundamentally flawed, it’s important to see the amount of REAL ASSETS that a central bank holds in reserve.
To make an apples-to-apples comparison, we look at a central bank’s GOLD reserves as a percentage of the money supply, i.e. how much gold backs the money supply.
In Russia, it’s 6.2%. And rising. Last year it was 5.5%, and the central bank is continuing to heavily stockpile more.
How much gold backs the dollar?
Precisely zero point zero percent. Zilch. Nada.
The Fed doesn’t own gold. It loudly proclaims this on its own website: “The Federal Reserve does not own gold.”
It holds ‘certificates’ which are redeemable for US dollars. But there’s not a single ounce of gold backing the US dollar.
So… with no gold and pitifully razor thin solvency levels, it really wouldn’t take much of a shock to topple the dollar.
By comparison, the ruble is much better capitalized and actually has something backing it.
Now, I’m not necessarily advocating to buy the ruble, but hard, publicly available numbers clearly demonstrate the discrepancy between “sentiment” and objective data.
And at a time when the ruble and the whole Russian economy have been beaten down so much that Apple alone is now worth more than the whole Russian stock market, Russian assets certainly make for an interesting speculation.
The bottom line, however, is—if you wouldn’t own the ruble, then what are you doing holding 100% of your assets in the dollar?
Our goal is simple: To help you achieve personal liberty and financial prosperity no matter what happens.
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Oil producers to lose $1tn if price below $60 – Goldman Sachs

The global oil industry will face a loss of $1 trillion as producers will be forced to cancel a number of key projects if oil prices stay below $60, says Goldman Sachs.
With Brent crude losing 45 percent of its price and trading at $59.9 at 12PM MSK Tuesday, a number of once ambitious projects could become unprofitable. Thus, plans on deep exploration in such challenging regions as the Gulf of Mexico or Arctic may be put at risk, says the Financial Times.
The research based on a $70 oil price was carried out looking at 400 oil and gas fields around the world, many of which are still waiting for a final investment decisions. The analysis, which excludes US shale, shows the fields with the equivalent of 2.3 million barrels a day output by 2020 have now become uneconomic. That figure rises to 7.5 million barrels a day by 2025.
READ MORE: OPEC ‘effectively dissolved’; oil will slide to $50 - Bank of America
If a drop in oil prices leads to projects being scrapped, oil output will decrease by 7.5 million barrels per day over the next decade, which is about 8 percent of today’s global demand. The bank suggests this will lead to a correction in oversupply.
Goldman Sachs says oil companies will need to cut expenses by up to 30 percent to make their projects economically viable at a price of $70. The total amount of investments at risk is $930 billion.
The heads of US and European oil and gas groups are revising their budgets, saying there might be billions of dollars of spending cuts in 2015 alone. It says some firms are considering reviewing capital expenditure budgets which could lead to huge assets sales and delays in high-cost projects such as oil sands exploration in Canada or projects in areas of less economic interest such as the North Sea.
“This environment of project deferral and cost deflation will be extremely challenging for oil service providers, especially capital-intensive companies such as drillers, subsea construction and seismic survey groups,” said Michele della Vigna, head of European energy research at Goldman Sachs.
Figures given by energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie also point to a sharp decline in spending which could result in a $250 billion cut in annual capital expenditure by 2018.
“They are all going to have to reduce their budgets because projects that worked at $80 to $90 planning prices are hard to justify at current levels,” said Simon Flowers, head of the company’s corporate research.

US, European markets tumble following ruble, oil

US stock futures fell along with shares in European companies exposed to Russia, as the ruble and crude oil slid to new record lows on Tuesday.
The Russian ruble lost over 20 percent against hard currencies on Tuesday. At its worst the ruble plummeted to 75 against the US dollar, and traded at almost 100 to the euro on the Moscow Exchange.
Brent crude fell below $59 a barrel for the first time since May 2009, losing 4 percent as it hit a low of $58.50. US WTI crude was down 3 percent at $54.21 after plunging to $53.80.
READ MORE: Ruble plummets losing more than 20% in a day, hitting new dollar and euro lows
The US stock index futures tumbled following the fall in oil prices. At 12:21 GMT (7:21 a.m. EST) in New York the Standard & Poor’s 500 e-minis were down 14.5 points, or 0.73 percent, with 183,494 contracts changing hands. At the same time E-mini NASDAQ-100 futures were down by 0.85 percent hitting 35.25 points in volume of 15,802 contracts. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts joined the fall sliding 100 points, or 0.58 percent with 15,791 contracts.
“Extreme volatility hits today,” Daniel Weston, chief investment officer at Aimed Capital GmbH in Munich told Bloomberg Businessweek on Tuesday.
Contagion from the turmoil in oil markets will affect all liquid markets, especially the ones that have made investors money year-to-date.”
Shares of European companies linked to Russia also fell sharply following the ruble. Raiffeisen Bank International hit a record low, brewer Carlsberg slumped 5 percent to a 30-month low and retailer Metro fell 3.5 percent.
The eurozone Euro STOXX 50 index joined the drop falling one percent at 2,953.70 points at 12:15 GMT. At the same time the STOXX Europe 600 tumbled down 0.7 percent at 321.07 points.
"All markets will be governed by this (the ruble's slide)," Justin Haque, a broker at Hobart Capital Markets told Reuters comparing the situation to Russia’s 1998 financial crisis, which resulted in a default.
The drop in shares came despite Russia’s aggressive hike of key interest rate to 17 percent late on Monday night.

Americans are 40% poorer than before the recession

The Great Recession is officially over, but Americans are still 40% poorer today than they were in 2007, the year before the global financial crisis.

The net worth of American families — the difference between the values of their assets, including homes and investments, and liabilities — fell to $81,400 in 2013, down slightly from $82,300 in 2010, but a long way off the $135,700 in 2007, according to a new report released on Friday by the nonprofit think-tank Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C.
“The Great Recession, fueled by the crises in the housing and financial markets, was universally hard on the net worth of American families,” the report found.

There is also a dramatic disparity in net worth between races. The median net worth of white households was $141,900 in 2013, down 26% since 2007. It declined by 42% to $13,700 over the same period for Hispanic households and fell by 43% to $11,000 for African-American households. One theory for the wealth gap: White households are more likely than other ethnicities to own stocks directly or indirectly through retirement accounts, the Pew report said.


























The wealth of most Americans has stood still. In November 2014, the average weekly wage was $853 versus $833 for November 2013, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But things are improving somewhat when it comes to housing. Nationwide, only 8% of borrowers have homes that are underwater as of October 2014, down from a peak of 35%, or 18 million homes, in February 2011, according to Black Knight Financial Services in Jacksonville, Fla., which tracks mortgage performance. But 8% still impacts 4 million homes.

Stagnant wages and rising property prices don’t bode well for first-time buyers without wealthy parents. The homeownership rate for non-Hispanic white households fell to 73.9% in 2013 from 75.3% in 2010, Pew found, and fell to 47.4% in 2013 from 50.6% in 2010 for minorities. It takes an average of 12.5 years to save up a 20% down payment — the usual requirement by banks — with a personal savings rate of 5.6%, according to real-estate firm RealtyTrac.

OPEC won’t cut production even if oil below $40 – UAE energy minister

http://rt.com/business/214427-opec-unchanged-below-40/
The UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei says OPEC will maintain output at 30 million barrels of oil a day, and wants to monitor the price for three months before even considering a meeting about possible changes.
“We are not going to change our minds because the prices went to $60 or to $40,” Mazrouei told Bloomberg on Sunday at a conference in Dubai.
READ MORE: Oil prices plunge below $60 on weak forecast by IEA
“We’re not targeting a price; the market will stabilize itself,” he said commenting on a statement by a Venezuelan official on Friday who said the country may propose convening an extraordinary meeting of the cartel.
Mazrouei said an emergency OPEC meeting under current conditions isn’t justified. “We need to wait for at least a quarter” to consider an urgent session, he said.
READ MORE: OPEC ‘effectively dissolved’; oil will slide to $50 - Bank of America
OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad El-Badri said Sunday he hadn’t heard anything about an emergency meeting. He believes oil prices aren’t yet in line with the market and the cartel hasn’t set a price goal, so an extraordinary meeting would not help to level the price.
“We will not have a real picture about oil prices until the end of the first half of 2015,” El-Badri said. The price will have settled by the second half of next year, and OPEC will have a clear idea by then about “the required measures,” he said.
El-Badri added that the cartel’s decision isn’t aimed at weakening other oil producers or undermining rival economies.
“Some people say this decision was directed at the United States and shale oil. All of this is incorrect. Some also say it was directed at Iran and Russia. This also is incorrect,” he said.
The price of oil has lost 20 percent since OPEC’s last meeting on November 27. On Monday the price of Brent crude has slightly recovered to $62.29 at 11 AM MSK after hitting a five-year low on Friday, at $61.65 per barrel. The next meeting of the cartel is scheduled for June 5.
READ MORE: Energy firms in crisis amid collapsing oil prices, insolvencies treble

Gold Imports ‘Phenomenal’ In India – 571 Percent Surge To 150 Tonnes in November

by GoldCore
India’s gold imports were over a staggering 150 tonnes in November and have seen a “phenomenal” rise in India according to India’s Trade Secretary, Rajeev Kher.
A few weeks ago we said that the death of the Indian gold market was greatly exaggerated. The latest gold import data out of India confirms this.

The import restrictions on gold that were imposed on Indians in August of 2013 were lifted at the end of last month. Despite the fact that the restrictions were still in place gold importation in November surged an incredible 571% relative to the same month last year at over 151.58 tonnes.
This was an increase of 38 percent from 109.55 tonnes a month earlier, trade ministry data showed on Tuesday.
The Indian government had recognised the socially destructive impact of the 80:20 scheme – which obliged importers to export 20% of it’s gold imports before bringing in another shipment – by pushing business into the hands of smugglers and thereby empowering criminality while losing out on the 10% duty currently charged on all gold imports.
It had been assumed that, because demand was being met by these “informal” supplies, the relaxing of the 80:20 policy would not have a dramatic impact on gold imports into India. That remains to be seen. Smuggling networks are now well established and arguably could provide cheaper gold than government-sanctioned channels.
The restrictions were put in place because the appetite of the growing Indian middle classes for gold was causing India to run large trade deficits. It is believed that it was also a misguided attempt at financial repression of gold in order to discourage Indians from buying physical gold. There were concurrent attempts to get Indians to open bank accounts and indeed to own digital and paper gold.
This highlights once again how deeply Indians feel about gold in that demand for this single commodity or form of money – could skew the trade deficit in such a dramatic way.
India officially imported $5.6 billion worth of gold in November. The trade deficit increased to $16.9 billion in the same period despite the cost of oil imports being low. This is putting pressure on the rupee which is currently valued at almost 63 to the dollar.
The central bank appears happy enough at this level as it will help boost exports which have been booming. However, India’s trade secretary – Rajeev Kher – has said that any level below 62 rupees to the dollar would cause him to be a “little more concerned.”
Russia’s drastic rate hike of 6.5% up to 17% is likely to further unnerve the Indian government as it tries to balance insatiable public demand for gold with the need to rein in the deficit. If the rupee falls more India will be forced to raise rates to discourage capital flight.

However, taking the longer term view, it must be said that – as a country that imports between 25% and 33% of the global gold supply – India will be well placed when currency wars deepen and the inevitable world-wide monetary reset occurs.
India’s imports are around the 1,000 metric tonne mark and global gold production is just under 3,000 metric tonnes.
We believe that it will be eastern countries who will determine monetary policy when that time comes. As Russia’s foreign minister Lavrov has pointed out the seven countries led by the BRICS nations now have a larger combined GDP than the western G7.
The old adage that “those who own the gold make the rules” will likely come to pass again. As it did in 1945, when the U.S. was the largest holder of gold in the world which enabled it to dictate the terms of the new Bretton Woods monetary system.
This seems likely given the affinity that the people, governments and central banks of India, China and the East have for gold as a store of value.
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MARKET UPDATE
Today’s AM fix was USD 1,199.25, EUR 960.25 and GBP 763.95 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,210.75, EUR 974.53 and GBP 772.41 per ounce.
Spot gold slid $30.40 or 2.49% to $1,191.70 per ounce yesterday and silver plummeted $0.87 or 5.12% to $16.14 per ounce despite no market moving news or developments.

Gold in USD – 5 Days (Thomson Reuters)
Gold in Singapore was flat overnight in Asia prior to gold bouncing back from yesterday’s biggest drop this year and is over 2% higher today as buyers accumulate after yesterday’s dip. Traders await the policy statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting tomorrow.
Gold fell yesterday as U.S. manufacturing data beat estimates supporting the case for higher borrowing costs next year. Federal Reserve officials meet today and tomorrow to debate the possibility of rising U.S. interest rates, which have been near zero since 2008.
Silver for immediate delivery rose 2.5% to $16.70 an ounce, after plunging by 5.1% yesterday. Platinum was little changed at $1,209.88 an ounce. Palladium added 0.3% to $800.38 an ounce.
Holdings in gold-backed ETPs dropped 3 metric tons to 1,608.2 tons as of yesterday, Bloomberg data showed.

Silver in USD – 5 Days (Thomson Reuters)
The world’s second largest gold consumer surprised analysts and discarded a rule for traders to export 20% of all gold imports.  This change led to gold imports surging to 151.58 tonnes in November, an increase of 38% from 109.55 tonnes a month earlier, noted the trade ministry data yesterday.
Indian gold imports had risen hugely and the government should examine the impact of last month’s revision of the so-called 80:20 rule commented Trade Secretary Rajeev Kher.
The global price of crude oil plummeted through $60 a barrel for the first time in five years with almost no signs producers are ready to tackle a glut. Brent futures slid as much 3.3% to its lowest since May 2009 in London.
Crude oil fell about 45% this year as OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) sought to defend market share amid a U.S. shale boom that’s exacerbating a global glut. The group, responsible for 40% of the world’s supply, will refrain from curbing output, U.A.E. Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said over the weekend.
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