I doubt sabotage but it’s possible. An accident is most likely … although China does have a jihadi problem in the North. For some other country to be involved I don’t think so.

This “currency war” that’s going on will be plenty dangerous.

Is The Currency War Over? China Revalues Yuan 0.05% Stronger

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/13/2015 – 21:22

Heading into the China session, offshore Yuan signaled a 1% devaluation was on the cards. Of course, all media eyes were focused on the disaster in Tianjin but after 3 days of what was supposed to a ‘one-off’ adjustment, The PBOC has in fact surprised with a modestly stronger fix at 6.3975 from yesterday’s 6.4010 Fix. That leaves the CNY Fix devaluation to a 4.60% loss in 4 day. Of course, its a bit hypocritical of Americans or Europeans to regard the Chinese as mean and nasty and currency warriors because they’re letting their currency adjust against a constantly-devaluing dollar and euro. The US has been devaluing the dollar for years, but that’s a-ok for Western commentators, apparently. It appears – judging by the opening devaluation and closing intervention – that China is as set on crushing the herd of one-way carry traders as any export-enhancing currency debasement.

Could be military related , though –  possibly rocket fuel . A friend worked at Thiokol several decades ago , and fortunately was off duty when there was an accidental explosion of rocket fuel components in a concrete bunker . All that was found was a portion of a worker’s spine , close to a mile away . The quantity of highly volatile material was estimated as being only about one barrel .

I find it interesting that there is no description of the material by the official Chinese news outlets , other than ‘dangerous’ .

I would not rule out sabotage … a warning shot across the bow ? The invisible rich and powerful are capable of just about anything to retain power and control globally .

QE to Infinity, followed by Gold balancing the balance sheets of the sovereign balance sheet disasters. Just as there is no tool other than QE to feign financial solvency, there is no tool to balance the balance sheet of the offending entities other than Gold. It is just that simple. –Jim Sinclair

My Dear Extended Family,

The question of our title is very important, “Did the FINAL WAR just start?”. If you polled Americans on this question, 99.9% would answer “no” if you took out the Middle East. Last week I wrote “The Rumblings of War” regarding the IMF rebuffing China’s entry into the SDR. This was followed up by “The shot heard ’round the world” on Tuesday commenting on China’s surprise devaluation. The purpose of this writing is to show you YES, we are in fact at war! Rather than “tell” you we are at war, I feel it is better to point out a few dots, connect some of them and then ask a few questions which might help you understand the war that is in fact being waged. If you can answer some of the questions then connecting dots and forming your own conclusions will be easier.

As our backdrop, we are “told” the world is in recovery from the very bad experience of 2008. Since then, various central banks have monetized debt on a massive scale, led by the Federal Reserve of the U.S.. Undoubtedly, the greatest “export” from the U.S. has been dollars themselves and financial products known as derivatives. For the most part, the world spun merrily until last fall when Saudi Arabia decided to increase production and lower prices. This was presumably done at the request of the U.S. and meant as a tool to injure Russia’s energy sector, economy and financial system. Can the petrodollar which became accustomed to $100 oil be supported with sub $50 oil? There are two sides to this coin, yes the consumer of oil saves but doesn’t lower oil price mean less liquidity in the system? Doesn’t it mean lower velocity and less demand for dollars?

Moving along, did anyone really wonder “why” or what (or better yet, WHO) was behind China being put off for acceptance as a component of the SDR? Then just two trading days later, China devalued their currency in a surprise move…followed by two more devaluations! Remember, the U.S. has been prodding China to strengthen their currency and has gone so far as to call them a “currency manipulator”! Now we see China doing the exact opposite of U.S. requests (demands?). World markets have been shaken, and at a time when liquidity is quite tight.

A stronger dollar since last fall has acted as a constant and nagging “margin call” to the world which has contributed to the lack of liquidity. Have the Chinese finally said “fine, you want to issue a margin call to the world, we will help you issue it. Let’s see what happens to your financial system when the margin call fails to be met?”. Do you see what I am getting at here? The Chinese are now forcing the dollar higher by devaluing their own currency. They understand the dollar is nothing more than a debt instrument, are they attacking and intending to destroy the dollar with its own strength?

Follow this through, a stronger dollar will decrease our exports and slow our already slow or negative economy. A too strong dollar can actually undermine itself and even kick off a derivatives chain explosion. Our banks and brokers are very thinly capitalized, can they withstand losses in derivatives caused by a currency crisis? Can they withstand the losses from failed counterparties unable to pay? Do you see? A currency crisis “caused” by China could be a calamity. China has already accused Citadel (Ben Bernanke’s new employer) of creating the crash in their equity markets, is a currency crisis retaliation for their equity crash and public shaming by the IMF? If you understand how the Chinese think and also understand the works of Sun Tzu, Jim and I ask if China’s strategy is … “In order to destroy the dollar permanently make it stronger temporarily.”?

Another area to look at is gold and silver. Supplies have recently gotten very tight, not just for retail in the U.S. but all over the world. Has production slowed or have buyers stepped up their hoarding? Or, have Western central banks reduced their “dis hoarding”? Whatever it is, something in the supply/demand dynamics has definitely changed …and it has not taken much money to do it! Are these separate events or are they tied together somehow?

This is where it gets weird or some might say “coincidental”. Did anyone see the explosion at the Chinese port city of Tianjin yesterday? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_92WaPxeqCs “Yesterday” being one day after China devalued their currency? I am no rocket scientist and cannot say for sure, but does this not look like a nuclear explosion? Can someone out there explain to me in simple terms how a chemical explosion could look like this? As for the word “coincidence”, the CIA says there is no such thing as a coincidence!

Speaking of coincidences and I have permission to pass this along to you. Jim Sinclair wrote just a few days ago for the first time in many a moon, he said “gold has very limited downside from here and could move to $2,000 as an initial stop”. Do you believe it was a coincidence that he speaks now? No, he was called and was “told” by the same people who guided him in 1980 at the market top. Do you believe it was a coincidence following Jim’s writing, the IMF shunned China followed by the shot heard ’round the world of a yuan devaluation …three times?!!! …not to mention an explosion that could be seen from space! My mind is made up, no it is not any coincidence at all.

For months I have been suggesting Mr. Putin would drop a “truth bomb” revealing all sorts of false flag events and fraud perpetrated by the U.S.. I still believe this is to come and now even more likely. Why more likely? Because the financial sparring between East and West may have taken a very serious turn yesterday and I seriously believe a tactical nuke was set off. If this is the case, China will provide proof and they will retaliate. I believe the smoldering stages of what was a financial/technological/trade war have now become hot and the first shot was fired. I truly do ask for comments regarding what happened in Tianjin. Please do not send me opinions, I would like to hear exactly why or why not the explosion was nuclear. I will believe a tactical nuke until someone proves to me it was not. May God help us all with what comes!

Standing Watch,

Bill Holter
Holter-Sinclair collaboration
Comments welcome!
bholter@Hotmail.com

Saudi Arabia may go broke before the US oil industry buckles

It is too late for OPEC to stop the shale revolution. The cartel faces the prospect of surging US output whenever oil prices rise.

Oil revenue is    90     per cent of their budget   !  They don’t produce anything else !   IMPORT everything including LABOR  ..They are good for nothing !

Two years before Bankruptsy  happens.   Everybody is on the DOLE !  And this in a country that can extract oil at cost  3.00 per barrel…..

How can this possibly happen ?   It sounds like an Obama economy  !

(The US RIG count is down 30 % yet higher efficiency drives cost down ,production up as drill bits have computers to search for cracks and easy flow oil..)

Saudi recently went to the BOND MARKET  Banksters to BORROW money to finance their BUDGET deficit & promises ..

How do you go broke selling oil that COST $3.00 per barrel..?    It wasen’t easy !

a few weeks ago ..I wonder if the deal was locked in Financially ? If it was Delta may have taken a hit !

Paid 450 Million for a 3.55 % Stake    ….No matter ..they can just raise baggage fee a little more to cover .

U.S. believes Islamic State likely used mustard agent Iraq attack: WSJ

The United States believes Islamic State militants likely used mustard agent in an attack on Kurdish forces in Iraq earlier this week, the first indication the militant group has obtained a banned chemical weapon, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

“We have credible information that the agent used in the attack was mustard,” a senior U.S. official told the Journal.

Islamic State could have obtained the mustard agent in Syria, whose government admitted to having large quantities of the blistering agent in 2013, when it agreed to give up its chemical weapons arsenal, the newspaper reported.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/13/us-mideast-crisis-chemicalweapons-idUSKCN0QI2GT20150813

And the evidence grows. He is a lunatic.

This is where it gets weird or some might say “coincidental”.  Did anyone see the explosion at the Chinese port city of Tianjin yesterday?  “Yesterday” being one day after China devalued their currency?  I am no rocket scientist and cannot say for sure, but does this not look like a nuclear explosion?  Can someone out there explain to me in simple terms how a chemical explosion could look like this?  As for the word “coincidence”, the CIA says there is no such thing as a coincidence!
Speaking of coincidences and I have permission to pass this along to you.  Jim Sinclair wrote just a few days ago for the first time in many a moon, he said “gold has very limited downside from here and could move to $2,000 as an initial stop”.  Do you believe it was a coincidence that he speaks now?  No, he was called and was “told” by the same people who guided him in 1980 at the market top.  Do you believe it was a coincidence following Jim’s writing, the IMF shunned China followed by the shot heard ’round the world of a yuan devaluation …three times?!!!  …not to mention an explosion that could be seen from space!  My mind is made up, no it is not any coincidence at all.

http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1439491497.php

 

Weekly Article August 12th, 2015

Mike Savage

I have been agonizing about what I should write about this week. There are so many important things happening that it doesn’t seem that this short note could really dig into some of the major issues confronting us today.

I guess a synopsis of what I believe to be important and why is my best bet at this time.

First of all, as I have been saying for weeks I believe China is what Japan was in 1989. If you remember the movies, like Back To the Future, etc. it was assumed that Japan would be running the world in the future. After a shocking fall from grace and a 25 year bear market in Japanese stocks and Real Estate it has been shown that “printing” money only works as a short term fix and at the end of the day you are left with the debt that has been created and not much else. John Mauldin has called Japan a bug in search of a windshield. I agree wholeheartedly!

So what is China doing today? After the appearance that their bubble has burst they have taken to “printing” money, issuing more debt and in acts that make Japan look tame are jailing those that would dare profit from a falling market by shorting stocks and strong-arming brokers and banks to buy, buy buy!

China has the second largest economy on the planet and is the largest consumer of commodities. This is why it is so important to understand, as well as we can, what is actually taking place in China and not what is REPORTED to be happening in China. My guess is that the economy is in recession for many reasons and that the implosion of commodity prices globally is directly related to that reality.

The reason that this is so important, in addition to commodity prices falling, is that as China weakens its currency to spur growth they are actually deporting their domestic deflation globally. This will make it harder for our Federal Reserve to raise rates anytime this year. The problem for the Fed, however, is that a failure to raise rates could signal problems in the economy and could lead to a problem in our markets. If they do raise rates they risk an adverse reaction and problems in our markets. This is the reason that I have said the Fed has painted themselves into a corner.

Greece is NOT fixed. The can may get kicked one more time … or not. The fact that they admitted they have been bankrupt since 2010 has not stopped the powers that be from trying to saddle them with another $85 billion of unpayable debt. Keep an eye on this. The actions taken here will likely be replayed in many areas of the Eurozone, Japan, and indeed even here in the USA. It will likely start with bankrupt municipalities, move to counties and states- all who don’t own a legal “printing press” like most of Europe and then finally, when the reality of our debt situation is realized — the end of our current economic setup and a reset to a new currency regime.

My best guess is that those in power will trade these debts that will not get repaid under current circumstances for real assets like airports, infrastructure- anything real. I believe we should get our share of any “real” stuff we want now while there are still real things available to get.

While this may sound drastic if I asked every taxpayer to pay the $154,000.00 (as of this date) due to pay off the federal debt how fast would I collect? That doesn’t include state, local and school debt. Do you really believe that the $819,630.00 per taxpayer that would currently cover the total of US unfunded liabilities to programs that benefit our seniors (Social Security, Medicare, Prescription Drug Program) will actually get collected? (Info. From USDebtclock.org)

My point is that there has NEVER been a nation that has been able to run up these type of deficits in the history of the world and this is the foundation of our current economic system!

One thing that is of interest right now is that, as China has devalued their currency, you would expect that the dollar would be rallying as it is in many currencies but it is actually declining against the Euro and other major currencies. (For today anyway!) To me, this appears that the Chinese devaluation is actually dragging the US dollar down along with it! This is an interesting development and may actually be suggesting that China is driving the price rather than the USA.

Almost as if they don’t exist there is no mention of the 20% + unemployment (over 50% for youths) across the Eurozone, the 23% unemployment in the USA (John Williams at Shadowstats adding those that left the labor force back in) and declining productivity in most developed economies.

Virtually nothing has been mentioned other than a blurb here or there about the bankruptcy of Puerto Rico, the looming bankruptcy of Chicago and MANY other major cities across the USA. Much like Detroit, you can see the problems and the only question is when they will be recognized in the mainstream.

My answer of course would be that these issues will be brought to our attention after it is too late and the can has broken the foot of the authorities still trying to kick it further down the road.

In Chicago they want to issue bonds that are illegal in many states, including California, because of excess risk. In Pennsylvania our governor issued $3 billion in bonds to make a pension contribution. Chicago started that a few years ago. It appears we are following in their footsteps to pension hell and ultimately to their fiscal condition which is dire.

Any of these issues should have people more aware of the vulnerabilities in our markets. Putting these issues together there should be a lot more caution than that being shown in our markets today.

I have only brought up a few of the economic headwinds that we are confronting today. In addition, there are wars raging across the globe. There is social unrest across the globe. Many of these uprisings can be traced to economic inequality which is also growing exponentially across the globe.

This is certainly no time to be complacent. It IS a time to Be Prepared- for anything!

Mike Savage, ChFC Financial Advisor
2642 Route 940 Pocono Summit, Pa 18346
(570) 730-4880
Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC

checking the Shanghai SM…short term very oversold, so lots of potential complacency…but watch out once the o/s is resolved and if it starts crashing again soon….the Hamptons could become a wasteland fast !!!!!!

Pretty ridiculous. If we’ve somehow found a bottom I suspect we’re in for a lot of days like this on the way back up.

USD weakened into the close. Oil down is a tough one for us to overcome.

I reckon they are “painting” the tape in most Commodities….I know farmers who are really stuggling because of lousy prices…all so 21 yr old Banksters can drive Ferrari’s…

Scum work

gdx – 5.9 %
GG – 4.9 %
Nem – 3.5 %
Abx – 4.5 %

Why is Gdx dn so much…other than Scum/Arb shorting.

Pretty outsized hit on the shares. You’re right about the idiocy of the Wall Street wonks thinking falling commods are good for the consumer, they seem to be saying the globe is in for some hard times economically.

you will have a house full of fun in a few weeks

puptent

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3196469/Gold-Montana-saved-immediate-closure-armed-militia-Oath-Keepers-step-peace.html

no late night surprises, the puppy count is still five

the squirmy family, black and tan female, chocolate male, light dapple female, dark dapple male, intermediate dapple female.

all are smooth coat shorthair.  the little ones spend most of their time at momma’s dairy bar, and the rest napping.  all seem healthy and happy, except momma spot who was not at all happy about the safety of this photo shoot.  morgan dollar (circ) for scale.

Au dn 0.8 %
Hui dn 5.6 %

Oil dn 2.6 %
Xoi dn 1.3 %

Scum never miss a trick to ruin PM shares, plus their Arb mates wadeing into shorting Hui and buying Au.

Norcini doesn’t have the foggiest clue as to whether Gold is going up or down. You can’t track his trades because he won’t give them…even to subscribers. He is all about Yada, Yada, Yada. All talk, no action.

I’m watching Oil, as that is screaming for a Tech bounce…loads of divergence and mny indicators cnfm, but they just won’t let it get off the floor.

The mad idea that crashing Commodities will cause a consumer recovery, is front and centre of Fed/Scum policy here. That it will kill producers has obviously not been considered.

I see nothing in the action anywhere that says the Scum have backed off…..but China falling apart could well be too much for them to control…it’s early days for that crisis…..

The Chinese have been buying whole multi story apartment Blocks in the UK, off plan, same in Australia….if they start/have to dump then the UK houseing mkt could collapse.

http://moneyweek.com/the-train-crash-waiting-to-happen-in-new-build-property/

http://www.gold-eagle.com/article/gold-crossroads-0

All the mega-bullish reasons to own gold are the same as yesterday…and as they were a week ago–or in 2008….the rally in gold the last few days looks great, technically…and volume confirms–NUGT, imo, is worth a stab right here….but…and it’s a big BUTT….one has to factor in the rig…

Annie to TreeFrog

She says ” Yippee !  New Friends ….. for ME ??? ”