United States

Before John Kerry was America’s top diplomat, he was the Democratic nominee for president. But of course Kerry’s 2004 campaign against incumbent George W. Bush didn’t turn out all too well. Bush received over 50 percent of the popular vote, after successfully painting Kerry as a “flip-flopper.” But if Kerry was the conventional politician changing positions for political expediency, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is the anti-politician who runs around like a chicken with his head cut off.

For all the media excitement about the disclosed names in the "Panama Papers" leak, in this case represented by the extensive list of Mossack Fonseca clients, this is not a story about which super wealthy individuals did everything in their power, both legal and illegal, to avoid taxes, preserve their financial anonymity, and generally preserve their wealth.

The missile that is known as “the world’s longest-range missile”, China’s DF-41, is expected to be complete as early as this year. The DF-41 is capable of striking the United States from anywhere in China. Yahoo News reports: “Given the number of real reported tests, it is reasonable to speculate the DF-41 will be deployed to PLA Strategic Rocket Force bases in 2016,” Richard Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center in Washington told the Financial Times.

What do Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon, James Gorman, John Thain, Jimmy Cayne, and any of the revolving door of AIG CEO’s have in common? Three things come to mind rather quickly: 1) All were financial executives during the 2008 global financial crisis. 2) All of their firms received massive public bailouts. 3) None of them went to jail for their firm’s involvement in said crisis. As a matter of fact, most are still plugged in somewhere on Wall Street, presumably helping to facilitate the next great financial crisis.

From Nicholas Colas at Convergex