presidential election

A problem has emerged for France's anti-immigrant, anti-Euro presidential frontrunner, Marine Le Pen, and it has little to do with being behind in the polls ahead of the 2017 presidential elections, far from it. It has, however, everything to do with something far simpler: money, as the National Front leader is suddenly struggling to raise the €20 million ($21 million) she needs to fund the French presidential and legislative campaigns in 2017 after the party’s Russian lender failed, the party treasurer said.

The U.S. has accused Russia of having “interfered” in the 2016 presidential election without providing any hard evidence. Yet, the US establishment who mainly backed Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump have interfered in presidential elections of other countries. There is well-documented evidence of interference with the elections of numerous foreign nations under the pretext of protecting or furthering US “interests” abroad. The US was found to have interfered in foreign elections at least 81 times between 1946 and 2000 – not counting US-backed military coups or regime change efforts.

Submitted by Michael Jabara Carley via Strategic-Culture.org,

2016 was chock-full of surprises, both in markets and in politics.

As Goldman's Allison Nathan explains, the year began with a perfect storm of worries that had become all too familiar already in 2015. Oil prices plunged and fears of faltering growth and a sharp depreciation of China’s currency escalated, driving disruptive sell-offs in credit and other risk assets. Confidence in global growth faltered, particularly after an anemic US GDP report for Q1.

This article by David Haggith was first published on The Great Recession Blog:

Since Trump’s election, the US stock market has climbed unstoppably along a remarkably steep path to round off at a teetering height. Is this the irrational exuberance that typically marks the last push before a perilous plunge, or is the market reaching escape velocity from the relentless gravity of the Great Recession?