Japan

While this all started with a currency "war," it seems - according to a stunningly candid transcript of Japan's finance minister's conversation with none other than Paul Krugman - that the real endgame here is actual war. Aso remarked that "a similar [deflationary mindset] had occurred in the US in the 1930s. What solved the question? War! Because World War II had occurred during the 1940s and that became the solution for the United States. [We] have to switch [the Japanese] mindset... we are looking for the trigger."

A group of Anonymous hackers who call themselves ‘KarmaSec’ have leaked data from a Japanese zoo in protest against animal abuse and brutality in Japan. In a tweet, the group claim they had hacked into the server of Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture Tourism Promotion Division’s website. AnonHQ reports: The group targeted the Akiyoshidai Safari Land Natural Zoo located in Yamaguchi, and threatened to release even more data if the zoo did not release all of its animals. They appear to have even more incriminating data. Release ALL of the animals! Warning you is too late.

The name of Russell Clark and his Horseman Global hedge fund are well-known to regular readers: Clark is perhaps best known not only for having run a net short book since early 2012...

... but for being consistently profitable and successful during this period, a time when most of his "pedigree" peers have been underperforming the market and losing money hand over fist.

In fact, based on its size, one can probably argue that Horseman Global is the most successful hedge fund of 2016, if not of the entire decade.

Hold your real assets outside of the banking system in one of many private international facilities  -->  http://www.321gold.com/info/053015_sprott.html 

Copying Japan: the Big Banks Confess

Written by Jeff Nielson (CLICK FOR ORIGINAL)

It's all starting to fall apart for Japan, whose "lost decade" now appears as though it may turn into a "lost forever" and that's if QQE doesn't dead end in "failed state" status in 2018. 

A rebound in inflation is nowhere in sight (even when Japan attempts to game the numbers by removing components where prices are declining) and as we saw last month, the "devalue our way to prosperity" idea isn't working out so well as trade is collapsing in the face of the global currency wars. Wage growth is of course a complete joke as we've outlined on too many occasions to count.