“Something startling is happening to middle-aged white Americans. Unlike every other age group, unlike every other racial and ethnic group … death rates in this group have been rising, not falling.”
The big new killers of middle-aged white folks? Alcoholic liver disease, overdoses of heroin and opioids, and suicides. So wrote Gina Kolata in the New York Times of a stunning study by the husband-wife team of Nobel laureate Angus Deaton and Anne Case.
Authored by Pepe Escobar, Op-Ed via RT.com,
So foreign ministers from the 28 NATO member-nations met in Brussels for a two-day summit, while mighty military power Montenegro was inducted as a new member.
Global Robocop NATO predictably discussed Afghanistan (a war NATO ignominiously lost); Iraq (a war the Pentagon ignominiously lost); Libya (a nation NATO turned into a failed state devastated by militia hell); Syria (a nation NATO, via Turkey, would love to invade, and is already a militia hell).
For many weeks in a row now we have been asking, mostly jokingly, how with everyone else (both retail and "smart money") selling, and with stock buybacks sharply lower in recent months, is the market higher. Specifically, who is buying?
This question is no longer a joke. After this week's 17th consecutive outflow by "smart money" funds (mostly on the back of surging hedge fund redemption), moments ago we got the latest Lipper fund flow data. It was, as BofA put it, "unambiguous risk-off weekly flows."
Submitted by Stephen Bergstrom via The Saker blog,
On the surface, American exceptionalism appears to represent a boldly-stated concept but when contrasted to the subtleties of personal experience, the lessons and flow of history and individual geographically-rooted place, horribly small-minded and delusional, conceivable only as a statement by a crazed, power-hungry overlord to an underling.
Cable has strengthened notably in the last week or so as Cameron and Osborne unleashed phase 2 of "project fear" and 'some' Brexit polls suggested market fears of a 'leave' decision were overblown. However, the broad polls still show the decision is too close to call, which is why the news from Ladbrokes - Britain's largest bookmaker - that they have seen a sudden surge in Brexit bets in the last few days. Interestingly, sterling has started to leak lower today...