America

Published originally on The Great Recession Blog

by David Haggith

I have pointed out in previous articles how most of the growth in stocks over the past few years has been due to stock share buybacks. Without this hideous (and at one time illegal) practice, there would have been no bull market over the last few years.

That’s right. Research from no other place than Wall Street, itself, indicates that almost all of the returns since 2009 have been due to stock share buybacks!

While the common narrative is now that Donald Trump is dividing the United States along racial lines, it would appear that 200 years of widespread immigration (some more integrative and some less) - as the following stunning animated graphic shows - the proverbial melting pot, after 8 years of an African-American president, during which black inequality has worsened dramatically, is boiling over by its own volition.

Here is everyone who has emigrated to the United States since 1820 (1 dot = 10,000 people)

It appears, once again, Donald Trump is correct...

Crooked Hillary Clintons foreign interventions unleashed ISIS in Syria, Iraq and Libya. She is reckless and dangerous!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2016

A little over a month ago, conventional wisdom (and overrated pundits) said that Trump has no chance of being the republican nominee. They were all wrong, but so was the market which continued to ignore the possibility of a Trump presidency until well after the fact. And, as always happens, now is when if not the market, then certainly Goldman's clients are finally trying to catch up. As Goldman strategist David Kostin (who just one week ago warned that there is now a substantial risk of a market drop ahead of the year end), writes "Politics is now a topic in every client discussion."

China is developing a robotic security officer that can sniff out bombs, grab suspects with a mechanical clamp and deliver a jolt of electricity to neutralise threats.

 Xiao Xiangjiang, who leads the development team at the defence university, told the People’s Liberation Army mouthpiece PLA Daily that AnBot had undergone test runs at a military camp, airport and museum in Changsha with “very positive” user feedback.