Business

Little more than a day after Equifax disclosed that hackers had infiltrated its cybersecurity systems and “compromised” the personal data of 143 million Americans, the company was hit with its first class-action lawsuit, which alleged that the company could’ve prevented the breach if hadn’t instead opted for negligent cost-cutting.

That suit, seeking $70 billion, was filed by Mary McHill and Brook Reinhard in a Portland, Ore. court.

Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

Public pensions are a financial time bomb... and I see two ways to profit from the explosion.

In the US, unfunded public pension liabilities have surpassed $5 trillion. And that’s during an epic stock and bond market bubble.

Predictably, the government’s go-to “solution” is already making matters worse.

At first, distressed states simply increase taxes.

Authored by Saxo Bank's head of macro analysis Christopher Dembik via TradingFloor.com,

A Venezuelan default is only a matter of time.

While debt servicing has been a government priority, declining external liquidity and a deteriorating domestic situation (three-digit hyperinflation, shortages, and a political crisis between the government and the National Assembly) make it a daunting task.

By 2020, the country must repay 30% of the external debt due to expire in the next 23 years.

Having slammed bitcoin earlier in the day during a Barclays financial conference, calling it a "fraud" which is "worse than tulip bulbs, it won't end well" and that any JPMorgan "trader trading bitcoin" will be "fired for being stupid", the JPM CEO doubled down later in the day during an interview on CNBC's Delivering Alpha conference, saying bitcoin "is just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed."

We've frequently argued that public pension underfundings are perhaps the greatest threat to the long-term economic outlook of the United States, if not the globe.  With aggregate underfunding levels of $5-$8 trillion, depending on what discount rate your local politicians decide to pull out of thin air, the forthcoming pension crisis will be too large for even the very generous American taxpayer to cover.