Iconic Retailer City Sports Files For Bankruptcy, Plans To Close Or Sell Remaining Stores

(Thomas Dishaw)  Another iconic mom and pop retailer files for bankruptcy. Boston-based City Sports plans to close or sell all remaining stores according to this Boston.com report:

Boston-based sporting goods retailer City Sports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday and plans to shutter eight of its 26 locations before selling or liquidating the rest.

“We have arranged financing for reorganization and intend to emerge from this process a much healthier company, better positioned for long-term success,” Marty Hanaka, the company’s CEO, said in a statement.

City Sports, which opened its first store on Massachusetts Avenue in Boston in 1983, has yet to announce which stores will be eliminated and when those closures will take place. However, a company spokeswoman told The Boston Globethe retailer does not intend to close any of the nine Boston-area stores. The company estimates that the reorganization process will take between one and three months, according to a release.

Since the spring of 2014, the company has struggled financially and tried to save money by cutting store hours, shrinking its workforce, and slowing delivery time, according to The Wall Street Journal . Still, City Sports could not negotiate better rent deals with its landlords, leading it to file for bankruptcy.

The company currently owes Nike USA Inc., Under Armour, Asics, and Patagonia more than $1 million each, the Globereported.

City Sports hopes to sell the remaining stores by October 30, and says several buyers have expressed interest in them. Until then, the company will continue to operate its remaining stores and online business as usual.

“Our stores remain stocked with the same high-quality products, and we will continue to honor gift cards and returns on merchandise purchased prior to the filing,” Hanaka said. “Our team is focused on developing a reorganization plan and running the business during this time of transition.”

Indeed, Lots Of Propping Going On.

http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/a-liquidity-crisis-hit-the-banking…
Something occurred in the banking system in September that required a massive reverse repo operation in order to force the largest ever Treasury collateral injection into the repo market.   Ordinarily the Fed might engage in routine reverse repos as a means of managing the Fed funds rate.   However, as you can see from the graph below, there have been sudden spikes up in the amount of reverse repos that tend to correspond the some kind of crisis – the obvious one being the de facto collapse of the financial system in 2008:

……..

The Real Reason for the Refugee Crisis You Won’t Hear About in the Media

There’s a meme going around that the refugee crisis in Europe (the largest since World War II) is part of a secret plot to subvert the West.
I completely understand why the locals in any country wouldn’t be happy about waves of foreigners pouring in. Especially if they’re poor, unskilled, and not likely to assimilate.
It leads to huge problems. Infrastructure gets strained. More people are sucking at the teat of the welfare system. The unwelcome newcomers compete for bottom-of-the-ladder jobs. Things easily turn nasty and then turn violent.
But the idea that the refugee crisis in Europe is part of a hidden agenda - rather than a predictable outcome - strikes me as strange. And it’s a notion that conveniently deflects blame away from the people and factors that deserve it.

Interventions Destabilize the Middle East

The civil war in Syria has turned the country into a refugee-maker.
Syria’s neighbors have reached their physical limit on their ability to absorb refugees.
That’s one of the reasons so many are heading to the West.
Lebanon has received over 1 million Syrian refugees. That’s an enormous number for a country with a population of only 4 million - a 25% increase. Jordan and Turkey also have millions of Syrian refugees. They’re saturated.
The number of refugees heading to the West, by contrast, is in the hundreds of thousands. So far.
But it’s not just Syria that’s sending refugees. Many more come from Iraq and Afghanistan, two other countries shattered by bungled Western military interventions.
Then there are the refugees from Libya. A country the media and political establishment would rather forget because it represents another disastrous military decision.
Actually, it’s not just Libyan refugees. It’s refugees from all of Africa who are using Libya as a transit point to reach Europe.
Before his overthrow by NATO, Muammar Gaddafi had an agreement with Italy, which is directly to Libya’s north, across the Mediterranean Sea. Gaddafi agreed to prevent refugees heading for Europe from using Libya as a transit point. It was an arrangement that worked. So it’s no shocker that when NATO helped a coalition of ambitious rebels overthrow the Gaddafi government, the refugee floodgates opened.
When there’s war, there are refugees. It’s a predictable outcome.
It’s like kicking a bees’ nest and being surprised that bees fly out. Nobody should be surprised when that happens. And nobody should be surprised that people are fleeing war zones in Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
If Western governments didn’t want a refugee crisis, they shouldn’t have been so eager to topple those governments and destabilize those countries. The refugees should camp out in the backyards of the individuals who run those governments.
I also have to mention the Saudis. They were very much involved in the Libyan war. They’ve also devoted themselves to ousting the Assad government in Syria, for geopolitical and sectarian reasons.
Then there’s the war in Yemen that the Saudis have sponsored. It’s another mess the media doesn’t discuss often. But it will likely produce even more refugees.
The Saudis make no secret about not welcoming refugees, even though the Kingdom is a primary instigator of the wars that are forcing people to flee their homelands. One reason is the Saudis don’t want more people leeching off their welfare system, especially amid budget crunches from lower oil prices.
This brings up another interesting point. For the first time in decades, observers are calling into question the viability of the Saudi currency peg of 3.75 riyals per US dollar.
The Saudi government spends a ton of money on welfare to keep its citizens sedated. But with lower oil prices cutting deep into government revenue, there’s less money to spend on welfare. Then there’s the cost of the wars in Yemen and Syria.
There’s a serious crunch in the Saudi budget. They’ve only been able to stay afloat by draining their foreign exchange reserves. That threatens their currency peg.
The next clue that there’s trouble is Saudi officials telling the media that the currency peg is fine and there’s nothing to worry about. An official government denial is almost always a sign of the opposite. It’s like the old saying…“believe nothing until it has been officially denied.”
If there were a convenient way to short the Saudi riyal, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Don’t Give the Welfare State a Pass

It’s no coincidence that the refugees are flowing to the countries with the most generous welfare benefits, especially Germany and the Scandinavian nations.
If there weren’t so many freebies in these countries, there wouldn’t be so many refugees showing up to collect them.
The whole refugee crisis was easily predictable. It was the foreseeable consequence of shortsighted interventions in the Middle East and the welfare-state policies of nearby Europe.
Instead of facing facts, blaming it all on a scheme to subvert the West conveniently deflects any responsibility from the authors of the mess.
If the individuals who run Western governments really wanted to solve the refugee problem, they would throttle way back on welfare-state policies and then stay out of the Middle East free-for-all. It’s really as simple as that.
But don’t count on the mainstream media to figure this out. They effectively operate as an organ of the State. I bet they’ll keep prescribing more of the same bad medicine that caused this crisis to begin with.
This will help to cover the tracks of the real perpetrators, and it will obscure other real problems. I expect the media to ramp up the “blame the foreigner” sentiment, as it helps the US and EU governments distract the anger of their citizens from the sputtering economy and the shrinking of their civil liberties. From the politicians’ perspective, it’s a win-win. But it’s a lose-lose for citizens hoping for accountable government.
And this brings up another uncomfortable truth for Americans and Europeans. The way the political and economic winds are blowing, things could get much worse.
Central banks around the globe have created the biggest financial bubble in world history.
The social and political implications of this bubble bursting are even more dangerous than the financial consequences.
An economic depression and currency inflation (perhaps hyperinflation) are very much in the cards. These things rarely lead to anything but bigger government, less freedom, and shrinking prosperity. Sometimes they lead to much worse.
One day the shoe could be on the other foot. We could see American and European refugees fleeing to South America or other havens to escape the problems in their home countries. It would be an ironic twist.
Now, this outcome isn’t inevitable. But the chance it will happen isn’t zero, either, and the risk seems to grow each day.
Because of these enormous risks in the financial system, we’ve published a groundbreaking, step-by-step manual that sets out the three essential measures all Americans should take right now to protect themselves and their families.
These measures are easy and straightforward to implement. You just need to understand what they are and how they keep you safe. New York Times best-selling author Doug Casey and his team describe how you can do it all from home. And there’s still time to get it done without extraordinary cost or effort.
Normally, this get-it-done manual retails for $99. But I believe it’s so important for you to act now to protect yourself and your family that I’ve arranged for anyone who is a resident of the U.S. to get a free copy. Click here to secure your free copy now.

Once the Biggest Buyer, China Starts Dumping U.S. Government Debt

Shift in Treasury holdings is latest symptom of emerging-market slowdown hitting global economy

By

Min Zeng and

Lingling Wei

Oct. 7, 2015 1:34 a.m. ET

Central banks around the world are selling U.S. government bonds at the fastest pace on record, the most dramatic shift in the $12.8 trillion Treasury market since the financial crisis.
Sales by China, Russia, Brazil and Taiwan are the latest sign of an emerging-markets slowdown that is threatening to spill over into the U.S. economy. Previously, all four were large purchasers of U.S. debt.
While central banks have been...

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2015 Economic Freedom Report: The freedom of all the world’s countries, ranked! (Hint: America’s not #1)

“Individuals have economic freedom when property they acquire without the use of force, fraud, or theft is protected from physical invasions by others and they are free to use, exchange, or give their property as long as their actions do not violate the identical rights of others. An index of economic freedom should measure the extent to which rightly acquired property is protected and individuals are engaged in voluntary transactions.”
http://www.freetheworld.com/
This is the most extensive study of freedom worldwide, conducted every year. We can all have sentimental beliefs about what country is free, but here’s the numbers.
http://www.freetheworld.com/release.html
Here’s the top-10 most economically free countries on Earth (2013 – most recent year numbers are available for):
1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. New Zealand
4. Switzerland
5. UAE
6. Mauritius
7. Jordan
8. Ireland
9. Canada
10. UK
I’m sure you’re surprised not to see the US there. I’m sure you’re surprised to see Canada and Britain ahead of America! America is at 16. You might resist that, but (a) the numbers speak for themselves – you can all read the data they use – and (b) economists have known America isn’t the most economically free country for years. In fact, America has been slipping in the rankings for years.
Now, attentive readers might wonder “What was the ranking under Bush?” The 2009 report gives the numbers for 2007. America was ranked 6th globally in economic freedom.
http://www.freetheworld.com/2009/reports/world/EFW2009_BOOK.pdf
So, in short, under Obama America has fallen from the 6th most free country on Earth to the 16th as of 2013. Given the trend since 2007, we can expect that the report next year and the year after will show America slipping even farther.

Tom

Rough sleeping ban will ‘criminalize most vulnerable’ in Newport

Human rights group Liberty has called on Newport City Council to scrap its plans to ‘criminalize’ begging and rough sleeping in the city center.

On Sunday, a consultation into the Welsh local authority’s proposed Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) closed.
The Order, if implemented, would make free leaflet distribution, rough sleeping and begging illegal in Newport city center.
The proposals were announced soon after the council revealed measures aimed at “improving the area.”
In a consultation paper, the council said it expresses “a view to introducing a new and updated PSPO in time for the opening of the Friars Walk retail development in November 2015.”
However, Liberty has condemned these plans, claiming they would “criminalize the most vulnerable in the city.”
“These proposals make a mockery of Newport’s Chartist legacy. For the sake of a new shopping center, the Council is pouring its energies into criminalizing the most vulnerable in the city, and silencing means of dissent,” Liberty’s legal officer Rosie Brighthouse said in a statement.
“This PSPO won’t house people, move them on, or help resolve their homelessness in any other way – it will simply fine them for their extreme poverty. We urge the council in the strongest terms to reconsider these utterly shameful plans,” she said.
In a letter to Newport City Council’s Labour leader Bob Bright, Liberty said a ban on rough sleeping would “constitute an interference with Articles 8 and 10 of the Human Rights Act.”
“It will do nothing to address the underlying causes of homelessness and extreme poverty, or have any effect other than drawing impoverished people, many suffering mental health conditions into the criminal justice system,” the letter read.
Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, Labour councilor Bob Poole said Newport Council is trying to make the city center look more appealing.

The council has always, and will continue to help the homeless in Newport, together with 3rd sector partners http://t.co/jwmsbUhUZE (1/3)

— Newport City Council (@NewportCouncil) October 6, 2015

“It is perhaps timely, against this background of positive change, that this new piece of legislation offers the city and its residents the chance to build on that momentum by ensuring that the experience of people visiting the city center is a positive one,” he said.
Minister and retail development manager Paul Halliday said Newport Council needs to support homeless people.
“What they need is help and support; what we don’t do is demonize them and treat them like criminals,” he told the South Wales Argus.
Commenting on the controversy, Newport City Council said the PSPO would not ban homeless people from the city center or prevent them from accessing night shelters.

A scrutiny committee of Newport City Council will consider the many consultation responses on 15th October (3/3)

— Newport City Council (@NewportCouncil) October 6, 2015

“In relation to rough sleeping, the council remains committed to working with other local service board partners in Newport to address the underlying needs of those affected in this way.
“Any prohibition within the PSPO relating to this activity would (if approved) simply make it unlawful to sleep rough in the city center; it would not ban homeless people from the city center or prevent them from gaining access to night shelters within this area.
“The night time safety of both the homeless and local residents is paramount.”
The proposals will be discussed by the council’s scrutiny committee on October 15.

Via RT. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license.

Something’s Up: Panic Buying of Super-Liquid Treasuries Despite The Five-day Rally In Stocks

Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter
Despite the rally in stocks that left the S&P 500 up for the fifth day in a row, the longest such series since December, there was, at the other end of the spectrum, a whiff of panic.
It wasn’t that visible in ten-year Treasuries, though intense buying drove them higher, with the yield dropping to 1.989% Monday morning, the lowest since April, before ending the day at 2.06%. It was in short maturities, the safest and most liquid financial assets in the world: The US Treasury was able to sell $21 billion of six-month bills at a minuscule yield of 0.065%.
It also auctioned off $21 billion in three-month bills. Each dollar of the bills offered got chased by $4.14 in bids – the highest bid-to-cover ratio since June 22 when China was in full-crash mode. With buyers jostling for position to grab whatever they could, these bills sold at a yield of zero for the first time in history.
Even more liquid one-month bills have sold at zero yield in five of the six most recent auctions. And in the secondary market, some bills have traded at slightly negative yields for a while; investors who hold these bills to maturity end up with a guaranteed loss, the price they’re willing to pay to keep their money save and liquid.
But this was the first time for the Treasury to sell three-month bills at zero yield.
OK, there’s a supply issue. The gross national debt has been bouncing into the debt ceiling for months. So the Treasury can only sell new debt to replace maturing debt. The actual borrowing needs of the government are not met by selling more Treasuries but by temporarily siphoning money from other government accounts – “extraordinary measures,” as it’s called. But there is a limit. Beyond it lies the official out-of-money date, which the Treasury now projects to be November 5.
So tight supply meets desperate demand. Even cash in bank would earn more. But for these large investors, such as money-market funds, their cash in bank would be uninsured and could go up in smoke during a crisis.
Which leaves us with a quandary: The stock market rally says folks believe that the bonanza will continue, that risks have disappeared, that the economy is hot, and that the Fed will never take away the punchbowl.
But the Treasury market shows that others are desperate to put their money into highly liquid and safe places, even if it costs them money – a behavior normally visible ahead of a looming crisis. Even then, the Treasury had never before been able to auction off three-month T-bills at a yield of zero.
Why are these people so spooked? Why don’t they get the drift that momentum is back, that everything is under control, that it’s time to plow back into risk?
Fed flip-flopping has something to do with it. By now, no one believes anything the Fed says, one way or the other. It doesn’t matter how many Fed heads come out and proclaim that a rate increase is still on the table for later this year. It doesn’t matter how often they claim that inflation will once again rise. No one believes them anymore.
On Monday, Fed funds futures – where Wall Street rate-hike beliefs turn into money – put the likelihood of a rate hike during the Fed’s October 27-28 meeting at 6% and at 32% for its December 15-16 meeting.
Traders have been searching for confirmation that the Fed would never raise rates. They’re clamoring for ZIRP infinity. Most of our corporate heroes, after using the ZIRP years to load up on cheap debt, won’t be able to roll over this debt at “normalized” rates without skidding into serious trouble. And today’s highly leveraged investment models don’t work when there is suddenly a real cost of capital.
They found what they were looking for: a crummy but not catastrophic jobs report on Friday, a steepening deterioration in corporate revenues and earnings, and a swooning manufacturing sector. They brush off other data such as booming auto sales, a steamy housing market, or rents that are getting closer to the stratosphere in a world where real wages have been stagnating.
So it doesn’t matter that Fed heads are beating the bushes, trying to get markets to believe that a rate hike is still on the table.
“We’ll have to see whether the employment report was a little anomalous or whether it turns out to be more of a broader pattern,” Boston Fed president Eric Rosengren toldMarketWatch. “If this is an anomalous report then, if the data came in sufficiently, I would be comfortable possibly raising rates by the end of the year.”
On September 24, when the Fed decided to keep its benchmark rates at near zero, it added the huge caveat that 13 out of 17 Fed officials – “including myself,” as Fed Chair Janet Yellen emphasized – expected a rate hike this year.
Rosengren pointed out that the jobs report was just “one report,” and that other data would have to confirm this weakness. He wasn’t convinced it was a broader pattern. Much of the weakness was in manufacturing and mining. That’s not a new development.
“I think the real question is whether the domestic economy offsets some of the headwinds we’re seeing from the international sector,” he said. “I don’t think we have enough data yet to know whether that actually is going to occur.”
So, according to him and numerous other Fed heads, rate hikes are still prominently on the table for this year. But after all the flip-flopping, no one believes the Fed anymore. The Fed’s credibility has gone to heck. The Fed is never going to put its foot down, ever again. That’s what the market is increasingly sure of.
And if it does put its foot down – as it has been indicating for months, only to flip-flop at the last moment – it will be a wild “surprise,” the kind that markets don’t like.
So if the stock market shows that investors once again are getting drunk at the Fed’s punchbowl, why is there another group of investors who are spooked, who want to put their money into the safest and most liquid asset even if it costs them money? Is it because they think that the Fed will raise rates despite market expectations to the contrary, and that the ensuing “surprise” will trigger market gyrations of the kind where safe and liquid assets suddenly become priceless?
These spooked folks might see the stock market rally as yet one more element that would make the Fed feel at ease about raising rates, and thus one more reason to seek safe and liquid assets for that period.