United States

Overnight the media propaganda wars escalated after the late Friday release of an article by the Washington Post (which last week admitted to using unverified, or fake, news in an attempt to smear other so-called "fake news" sites) according to which a secret CIA assessment found that Russia sought to tip last month’s U.S. presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor, a conclusion presented without any actual evidence, and which drew an extraordinary, and angry rebuke from the president-elect’s camp.

The United States is sending 200 additional military personnel to Syria to help rebel groups drive ISIS from Raqqa, the US Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced on Saturday. Speaking in Bahrain during talks on Middle East security, Ash Carter said Barack Obama had approved deployment of the extra troops, who would include special forces trainers, advisers and bomb disposal experts, last week.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill on Friday that will effectively outlaw all forms of independent media from being accessed in the United States. The “Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act” not only allows the U.S. government to ban outlets deemed to be “Russian propaganda,” but gives them the ability to legally spread disinformation online via social networks and mainstream media outlets. Senate.gov reports: U.S.

Submitted by Steven Horowtiz via The Foundation for Economic Education,

About a month ago we warned that declining used car prices could spell disaster for subprime auto securitizations (see "Slumping Used Car Prices Spell Disaster For Subprime Auto Securitizations").  While it's always difficult to predict the exact timing of when bubbles will burst, a combination of record-high lease returns in 2017 and 2018, combined with rising interest rates could imply that the auto bubble is on the precipice.