After several months of significant reserves liquidations by China (specifically by its Euroclear proxy "Belgium") which tracked the drop in China's reserves practically tick for tick, in October Chinese+Belgian holdings were virtually unchanged according to the latest TIC data, as China moderated its defense of its sliding currency. Of course, putting this in context still shows a China which has sold $600 billion of US paper since 2014, as this website was first to note over half a year ago.

Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

It started on December 8, 1931.

Germany was in a world of pain at the time. They were still financially debilitated from having to make reparation payments after losing World War I, and had just barely recovered from one of the worst bouts of hyperinflation in recorded history.

By the early 1930s, the onset of the Great Depression had taken hold in Germany, driving the government to desperation once again.

Following last week's huge draw, total crude inventories were expected to drop 1 million barrels this week driven by expectations that refinery utilization rose last week. When API reported a hugely surprising 2.3 million barrel build, crude prices, which had drifted off highs after NYMEX close, dropped further as disappointment set in, back under $37.

A majorly unexpected build...

Ansd crude prices slumped back under $27...

Charts: Bloomberg

I post tweets on occasion, at the The Political Junkies tweet site. Since I am not limited to 118 characters after the URL (and I always start with a URL), I have edited them to make them more readable. Also, if anyone can explain to me how any URL is made by Twitter to fit into 22-24 characters, I would be very happy to know that.

Since Ronald Reagan's City On a Hill trumped Jimmy Carter's Malaise, the discussion of alienation has been purged from our national discussion. This coincided with the rise of so-called neoliberal capitalism. Maybe it's time we re-visited the idea of alienation and despair as part of America's growing problem with murder/suicide.