The British prime minister has been urged to clarify the role the UK Government played in voting Saudi Arabia on to the UN Human Rights Council. The leaders of the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats are calling on David Cameron to come clean on the issue. The calls follow the kingdom’s execution of 47 people in a single day which sparked outrage across the Middle East.

Dispppointing drops in China and US Manufacturing PMIs, combined with a record glut, appears to have trumped Mid-East tensions and sent WTI plunging back into the red. This has triggered another round of selling in US equities, sending The Dow down 450 points and back to a "16" handle...

"Un-Growth" trumps "War Premium"

and sends The Dow crashing...

There is a saying that as January goes, so goes the full year market. But what about just the first day of January?

Courtesy of Reuters' Jamie McGeever, here is a quick snapshot of the worst opening days for the US stock market in the past century.

As of this moment, the S&P is down just about 2.4%. If the market closes here, that would make it a worse first day of trading than in such "dramatic" years as 2008 and 1933.

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

A lot of people were expecting some really big things to happen in 2015, and most of them did not happen.  But what did happen?

by Ron Paul

Those who advocate ending, instead of reforming, the welfare-warfare state are often accused of being “impractical.” Some of the harshest criticisms come from libertarians who claim that advocates of “purism” forgo opportunities to make real progress toward restoring liberty. These critics fail to grasp the numerous reasons why it is crucial for libertarians to consistently and vigorously advance the purist position.