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Less than a month into the new administration, President Trump security team has been plunged into "turmoil" following last night's unexpected resignation announcement by his now former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn. In some additional back story color, Flynn reportedly infuriated VP Pence by misleading him about the call, then not fully apologizing, the NYT reported and also added that Steve Bannon pushed for his resignation since Friday.

European, Asian stocks declined, halting a global rally that sent U.S. stocks surging to new all time highs faltered, weighing on the S&P although the index rebounded modestly after a kneejerk announcement lower overnight after Trump's National Security Advisor announced his unexpected resignation.

Submitted by Thorstein Polleit via The Mises Institute,

The US is by far the biggest economy in the world. Its financial markets — be it equity, bonds or derivatives markets — are the largest and most liquid. The Greenback is the most important transaction currency. Many currencies in the world — be it the euro, the Chinese renminbi, the British pound or the Swiss franc — have actually been built upon the US dollar.

By Chris at www.CapitalistExploits.at

After Pedro and his tortilla munching amigos south of the US border, Trump's favourite punching bag appears to be China:

I questioned the wisdom of this in last week's World Out of Whack.

Contrary to Trump's claims, China is trying to fight a market which is pressuring the yuan down. We know that China isn't actively pressuring their currency down but rather trying to hold back the outflows.

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

If an ossified, self-serving status quo refuses to adapt, collapse is the only way forward.

When everything's going great, nobody questions the nation's core institutions: they must be doing a great job because everything's going great.