Europe

Late last month, we reported that Austria may cut social benefits for asylum seekers who fail to attend “special integration training courses” and more specifically, for refugees who don’t make an honest effort to learn German.

“Those who are not willing to learn German, who do not want to be part of the labor market, who are not ready to attend an integration course, will face social benefits cuts,” Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said in Davos.

Submitted by Shane Obata & Richardson GMP

The Golden Age

Some people say that gold is dead. They point to deflationary pressures and a bear market that started back in September of 2011. The bulls have been wrong for years; however, that may be about to change…

At present, there a multiple reasons to consider gold:

The decision by the US Department of Defense to increase its NATO-related spending on confronting Russia in Europe is harming US-Russia relations and providing zero military benefit to America, according to former US Chief of Naval Operations Theodore Postol.  Postol says that the U.S.

Submitted by Ingrid Carlqvist via The Gatestone Institute,

• The atmosphere on Swedish social media is now almost revolutionary. People post videos of themselves accusing the government of murder, of filling Sweden with violent people.

• When Alexandra Mezher was murdered, she was alone in the residence with ten asylum seekers. She was stabbed by one of the "children" she cared for.

The Fed may "seriously consider" negative rates after moving rates back to zero, reintroducing forward guidance and making "stronger pleas" to Congress for fiscal policy action as there are complications for money markets, according to BofAML strategist Mark Cabana.

This would not be a total surprise as Mises Institute's Joseph Salerno warns recent Fed commentary suggests they want to test-drive negative interest rates...