China, Russia eye closer friendship amid tensions with West

Putin and Xi shake hands at the end of a joint press briefing in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on June 25, 2016.PHOTO: EPA

 

BEIJING (AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin promised ever-closer cooperation and oversaw a series of deals on Saturday, as the two countries deepen ties in the face of growing tensions with the West.

In what was Putin’s fourth trip to China since Xi became president in 2013, the two men stressed their shared outlook which mirrors the countries’ converging trade, investment and geopolitical interests.

“Russia and China stick to points of view which are very close to each other or are almost the same in the international arena,” Putin said.

There Will Be No 25-Year Depression

What we have here is not a failure of Capitalism, but a failure of experimenting with Socialism that is now resulting in the breakdown of society.

As geopolitical analyst and expert, JR Nyquist, once put it, America has fallen victim to Crony Capitalism, which is different than Capitalism itself.

 

How it all works in crony heaven – until it doesn’t anymore – via bastiatinstitute.org

 

 

Good and Bad News

Today, we have bad news and good news. The good news is that there will be no 25-year recession. Nor will there be a depression that will last the rest of our lifetimes.

The bad news: It will be much worse than that. On Monday, the Dow rose another 43 points. Gold seems to be working its way back to the $1,200 level, where it feels most comfortable.

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Old People Are Dead Wood

First, people are getting older. Especially in Europe and Japan, but also in China, Russia and the US. As we’ve described many times, as people get older, they change. They stop producing and begin consuming.

China pledges to double trade with Latin America within 10 years

China has pledged to nearly double annual trade with Latin America to US$500 billion within 10 years as it hosts a forum with nations from the region, attempting to increase its influence in an area considered the backyard of the United States.

President Xi Jinping also pledged at the opening of the two-day meeting to boost China’s direct investment in the region to U$250 billion within a decade.

“The relationship between China and Latin America is on an upward trend. Mutual political trust between the two has also been boosted,” Xi said.

Russian ‘plans for war on Sweden’ cause concern

Russia has intensified its espionage efforts in Sweden to include war preparations, Swedish security service Säpo warned on Monday.

“The most serious threat we see right now is war preparations,” Säpo chief counter-intelligence analyst Wilhelm Unge said at a press conference on Monday.

While stressing that such preparations did not necessarily mean anything dramatic, he said: “It’s no secret that Russia is engaged in this. It’s a little bit worrying.”

Marc Faber: 100% Chance of Global Recession

Faber’s bearish market calls have been followed closely since 1987 when he warned his clients to cash out before Black Monday.

And in a live interview on CNBC’s Fast Money Halftime Report, Faber again warned that economies of the world may be on the brink of a serious slowdown.

Faber indicated that while investors remain focused on Greece and Europe – other issues, bigger issues are looming. And they’re more threatening.

“As an observer of markets – whenever everyone focuses on one thing – like Greece and Europe – maybe they miss issues that are far more important – such as a meaningful slowdown in India and China.”

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“I think we could have a global recession either in Q4 or early 2013.” When asked what were the odds, Faber replied, “100%.”However, in the near term Faber also sees potential for a market rally.

Faber said the bullish catalyst would be Greece exiting the EU.

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It’s worth noting that Faber is talking hypothetically; he does not think Greece exits the EU in the near future.

“What I think will happen is that Germany will show more flexibility and issue more euro bonds.”

Full article: Marc Faber: 100% Chance of Global Recession (CNBC)

Camouflage and Deception

There’s war on the European continent once again, and at the moment it’s political/economic. The source? Germany. In this tangled web of European politics at the moment, there are also two parties involved: The blind caught in the snares and the complicit.

BERLIN/PARIS (Own report) – Using a deceptive strategy, Berlin seeks to ward off the French President-elect François Hollande’s demand to put an end to the German austerity dictate. Other heads of EU member nations have begun to demand alongside Hollande that the EU return to credit financed stimulus programs, to prevent the complete collapse of several national economies, such as Greece is now confronting. Since the demise of the coalition government in the Netherlands, Berlin has found itself rather isolated and, alongside declarations of not allowing the EU zone to budge from its current austerity course, is resorting to methods to create confusion within the rebelling populations. The government is keeping “a placebo for the Euro partners” on hand, explains the press. The chancellor will most likely adopt some of the terminology used by François Hollande, but with her own interpretations. For example, she will speak of “promotion of growth,” while meaning the imposition of “structural reforms,” as envisaged by the austerity dictates. No new expenditures are planned. This is how the French growth offensive will be verbally ensnared, without having ceded an inch on the essence.

Full article: Camouflage and Deception (German Foreign Policy)

Bank of Japan opens fire in currency wars

While the Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke is holding off on additional quantitative easing measures, across the Pacific the Bank of Japan has initiated a new round of asset buying.

According to the Financial Times , the Bank of Japan has announced that more quantitative easing is being implemented in the island nation due to “slowing growth and persistent deflationary forces in the world’s largest economy.”

In the new round, the Bank of Japan will buy $61 billion of assets to inject greater liquidity into the economy as the “lost decade” lingers years longer than its name implies. In addition to the asset buying, the Bank of Japan is maintaining interest rates between zero and 0.1% .

With the recent move by China to relax controls on the yuan, currency devaluations continue to be implemented as a Keynesian response to recession by governments and central banks around the world.

Full article: Bank of Japan opens fire in currency wars (NASDAQ)

‘Eurozone austerity measures to spark uncontrollable protests’

An economic commentator says the harsh austerity measures implemented in the Eurozone are likely to provoke massive protests in the bloc, which could be beyond the control of the ruling elite

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So as long as the governments in Europe continue to beat the drum of austerity measures, it will reflect in high unemployment because effectively what you see is that when there is austerity measures, the government is not spending money, the unemployment register increases, when people are unemployed they are unable to pay their taxes, they do not have enough money to buy products in the economy so it becomes a very circular situation and we the demonstrations in most of the European countries on the Labor Day, strikes in France, in Spain, in Italy, in UK and most of the other countries.

So the recession is really here to stay, I think, and all these measures which are being taken, the fiscal measures, the fiscal difficulties that are being faced by Eurozone countries will not go away by austerity measures.

This is not just [what] I as an individual economic commentator [am] talking about; most of the analysts, most of the fair-minded commentators are really talking about this particular issue, that the more we want to implement austerity, the more difficulties the Eurozone economies will face. There is no doubt at all in my mind about this.

Full article: ‘Eurozone austerity measures to spark uncontrollable protests’ (Press TV)