America

In the aftermath of recent hawkish jawboning by central bankers around the globe, and especially FOMC members who now appear set to hike even if only to just spite momentum chasing market algos by "shocking" easy liquidity conditions in tightening as Goldman suggested in May, SocGen's Kit Juckes asks a more existential question: channeling the eagles he wonder if we "Are we just prisoners here, of our own QE?" and points out that as a result of the $15 trillion in CB liquidity injections, the US is "sort of" stuck in a 1990s-style Japanese "lost decade" and the impact on the global economy

Buy Gold Near $1,200 “As Insurance” - Swiss Bank 

Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,

The 4th of July is upon us.

We will hear all sorts of patriotic BS about how wonderful we are and how thankful we are to our brave military which defends our liberty.

Not a word will be said about the destruction by the Bush and Obama regimes of the US Constitution, which once protected our liberty far better than any military action.

 

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Individualism, it seems, means not the making of one's own way but the demanding of sacrifices by others to maintain one's own lifestyle.

Two days ago when we reported that the Illinois House had voted 72-45 to pass a 32% income tax hike (and a $36 billion spending plan), in an last ditch scramble to provide the state with its first budget in three years (or else suffer the first ever US downgrade to "Junk"), we said that "ultimately, the fate of Illinois' credit rating is now in the hands of Rauner, and whether and how fast his imminent veto is overriden."