America

Via Ben Hunt of Salient Partners' Epsilon Theory blog,

If the plunge in gas prices was "unequivocally good" for Americans' pocketbooks, then we wonder what the PhDs will make of the fact that California gas prices just broke above $3 for the first time since 2015 - soaring at 28% YoY (the fastest since Q1 2011, which sparked a plunge in economic growth).

California gasoline prices at 20 month highs...

There's just one problem with the "unequivocal" arguments - the last time gas prices soared at this pace, GDP growth in America plunged...

While it has been superficially covered by much of the press - and one can make the argument that what Julian Assange has revealed is more relevant to the US population, than constant and so far unconfirmed speculation that Trump is a puppet of Putin - the fallout from the Wikileaks' "Vault 7" release this morning of thousands of documents demonstrating the extent to which the CIA uses backdoors to hack smartphones, computer operating systems, messenger applications and internet-connected televisions, will be profound.

Dear Friends: This is your site. It needs your support. It is becoming more difficult to speak the truth. If you do not support the voices of truth, you will not have them.

Washington’s Benevolent Mask Is Disintegrating

Paul Craig Roberts

Via Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

Unless the Federal Reserve intends to buy up every dead and dying mall in America, this is one crisis that the Fed can't bail out with a few digital keystrokes.

Just as generals prepare to fight the last war, central banks prepare to battle the last financial crisis--which in the present context means a big-bank liquidity meltdown like the one that nearly toppled thr global financial system in 2008-09.