George W. Bush has cancelled a planned trip to Europe after reports emerged that authorities may have been planning on arresting him.  Bush was due to speak at the United Israel Appeal in Switzerland this week, but the event got cancelled due to several human rights groups calling on Swiss authorities to investigate and arrest the former U.S. president for authorizing torture. Wearechange.org reports: The Swiss group and Bush’s spokesman claim that it was threats of protest, not of legal action, that prompted the cancellation. But facing protests is nothing new for Bush.

Czech President Milos Zeman has called the migrant crisis in Europe “an organised invasion”, saying that young men arriving into Europe from Syria and Iraq should instead fight ISIS.  “I am profoundly convinced that we are facing an organised invasion and not a spontaneous movement of refugees,” Zeman said in a Christmas message on Saturday. Yahoo News reports: He went on to say that compassion was “possible” for refugees who are old or sick and for children, but not for young men who in his view should be back home fighting against jihadists.

We have seen this pattern before. In August, the first thing to tumble was Yuan FX rates, then money market rates exploded, and then the stock market tumbled. While it is a little premature, today's sudden plunge in Chinese stocks (as the afternoon session opens) following last week's spike in money market rates following the previous week's non-stop weakness in the Yuan does have a concerning smell of deja vu all over again.

We’re nearing the end of this year, and that’s when the major banks come out with their Christmas shopping lists. And of course as you could have expected, not a single decent bank is even considering to add gold to the list, and the bearish voices are now stronger than ever before.

Source: birchgold.com

Submitted by David Haggith via The Great Recession blog,

It’s a good question to ask on the days after Christmas, when we have all used our credit cards to buy gifts for others. In spite of this seasonal gift buying, I think there has never been a more selfish generation.

What is so selfish about this generation?