Business

China’s crackdown on capital outflows has been a boon for organized crime in the region, with Chinese triad gangs and even Japanese Yakuza organizations partaking in the smuggling bonanza. Over the summer, we reported on a case of Yakuza gangsters teaming up with wealthy Chinese to smuggle thousands of tons of gold out of the country, using Japanese regional airlines as unwitting mules while taking advantage of a loophole that allows them to circumvent customs.

Via The Daily Bell

If you hate the government so much, why don’t you move to Somalia?

That might soon be a great option. The truth is Somalia is not without government. It actually has multiple governments.

In the south, you see corruption, crime, and gang-like government oppression. This is what the United Nations and most of the international community call the official government of Somalia.

Authored by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

We have previously noted the massive market cap inflation and then stupendous collapse of the Delirious Dozen of 2000.

The latter included Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Intel, GE, Yahoo, AIG and Juniper Networks - plus four others which didn't survive (Lucent, WorldCom, Global Crossing and Nortel).

The recent (bear) flattening of the US yield curve to levels not seen since before the GFC, a move which has only accelerated in recent weeks as the stock market hit all time highs, has prompted some to question the strength of the US economic cycle, and others to ask outright how long before the curve inverts, signaling an imminent recession. Here, as Citi's Jeremy Hale notes, just as "Dr.

The trading paradigms that dominate today’s investing landscape have undoubtedly served some of us well. For those who play by the rules, buying options or futures contracts is no strenuous exercise, and there is a huge market open at all hours of the day to serve willing participants. However, no matter how streamlined these practices are, or how fast online platforms become, the commodities trade will remain fragmented from bottom to top unless something changes.