Business

Last April, China had an idea about how to boost the country’s dying credit impulse.

As we’ve been at pains to explain for more than a year, China is attempting to do the impossible. They need to deleverage and re-leverage all at the same time. Efforts to rein in the mammoth shadow banking system after years of expansion put pressure on an economy that was already decelerating and by the end of 2014, Beijing was struggling to figure out how to keep credit flowing without embedding more risk into the system.

Make no mistake, there are any number of landmines that threaten to send global markets into a veritable tailspin. There’s the risk of further weakness (and volatility) in crude, there’s the risk that China suddenly decides on a one-off RMB deval, there’s the risk that someone makes a “mistake” in Syria and triggers a global conflict, etc.

You know the drill.

Earlier this week, we were amused but not at all surprised to learn that Japanese citizens are buying safes like they’re going out of style.

Submitted by John Browne via Euro Pacific Capital,

Submitted by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

Earnings Worse Than You Think

Just like the hit series “House Of Cards,” Wall Street earnings season has become rife with manipulation, deceit and obfuscation that could rival the dark corners of Washington, D.C.