Did you know that there are more than 1.8 trillion dollars worth of junk bonds outstanding in the United States alone? With interest rates at record lows all over the world in recent years, investors that were starving for a decent return poured hundreds of billions of dollars into high yield debt (also known as junk bonds). This created a giant bubble, but at first everything seemed to be going fine. Defaults were very low and most investors were seeing a nice return. But then the price of oil started crashing and the global economy began to slow down significantly. Energy company debt makes up somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of the junk bond market, and the credit rating downgrades for that sector are coming fast and furious. But it isn’t just the energy industry that is seeing a massive wave of defaults, debt restructurings and bankruptcy filings. Just like with subprime mortgages in 2008, investors are starting to wake up and realize that the paper that they are holding is not worth a whole lot. So now investors are rushing for the exits and we are starting to see panic on a level that we have not witnessed since the last financial crisis. (Read More...)
Financial
The Beast System Arises: The Largest Bank In Norway Calls For The Elimination Of Cash
The biggest bank in Norway is calling for the complete and total elimination of cash. Many local bank branches in Norway already don’t deal in cash, but that is not good enough for DNB. They want a blanket ban on the use of cash, and they are selling this as a way to crack down on criminals and money launderers. But in the end, the truth is that they want to be able to force everyone in society to use the banks and it would enable them to collect fees on almost every transaction. It is an agenda that is being driven by greed, but it could also open the door for great tyranny. Unfortunately, we are not just seeing aggressive movement toward a cashless society in Norway. It is also happening in Sweden, in Denmark and in many other nations all around the globe. The Beast system is rising, and yet very few people out there even seem alarmed by this. (Read More...)
A Run On The Banks Begins In Italy As Italian Banking Stocks Collapse
The Italian financial meltdown that we have been waiting for has finally arrived. For quite a long time I have been warning my readers to watch Italy, and now people are starting to understand why. Italian banking stocks continued their collapse for a fifth consecutive day on Wednesday, and nervous Italians are beginning to quietly pull large amounts of money out of the banks. In particular, Monte dei Paschi is a complete and utter basket case at this point. A staggering one-third of their loans are “non-performing”, and the stock price has fallen a staggering 57 percent since 2016 began. Monte dei Paschi is going to need a major bailout, and the same thing could be said about almost all of the largest Italian banks. But where is the money going to come from? (Read More...)
62 Members Of The Elite Have As Much Money As The Poorest 3.6 Billion People On The Entire Planet
Did you know that the top 1% has more wealth than the rest of the planet combined? And just 62 ultra-wealthy members of the elite have as much money as the poorest 3.5 billion people on the entire planet. These brand new numbers come from a shocking report that was just put out by Oxfam, and they show that income inequality continues to grow at a very rapid pace all over the world. As you will see below, the total wealth of the poorest half of the global population has plunged by 41 percent since 2010 while the wealth of the elite has continued to surge upward. The debt-based financial system that now has the entire planet in its grip funnels wealth to the very top, and the global elite are more than happy to hoard as much of it as they possibly can. (Read More...)
It Is Time To Kick Prepping Into Overdrive, Because This Stock Market Crash Is Just The Beginning
If you have not been preparing for what is coming, you need to get off your sofa and you need to start prepping right now. Just remember what happened back in 2008. That crisis took most people totally by surprise. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, and because most of them were living paycheck to paycheck, all of a sudden most of them couldn’t pay the rent or the mortgage either. Large numbers of families that were once living a comfortable middle class lifestyle suddenly found themselves destitute. Well, this coming crisis is going to be even worse by the time it is all said and done, and it is not just going to be economic in nature. Over the past two trading days, the Dow has gone down more than a thousand points. The shaking that so many have warned about has begun. As this shaking plays out, you and your family will need cash, food, supplies and a whole bunch of other things. If you do not already have everything prepared, then you need to kick your prepping into overdrive because we are on a very compressed time frame now. (Read More...)
The Russian Media Is Talking About What Is Coming In September, But The U.S. Media Has Been Strangely Silent
Why does the Russian media seem to be far more on the ball than the mainstream media in the United States much of the time? Could it be possible that Russian reporters have more freedom to talk about important issues than reporters that work for the major corporate conglomerates in the United States do? Of course the Russian media is far from perfect. They put out pro-Russian propaganda just like the U.S. media puts out pro-American propaganda. But I must admit that I often find that Russian news sources are willing to tackle controversial issues that the mainstream media in the United States would not touch with a ten foot pole. This includes the critical events that are coming up this September. (Read More...)
Debt Slaves: 7 Out Of 10 Americans Believe That Debt ‘Is A Necessity In Their Lives’
Could you live without debt? Most Americans say that they cannot. According to a brand new Pew survey, approximately 7 out of every 10 Americans believe that “debt is a necessity in their lives”, and approximately 8 out of every 10 Americans actually have debt right now. Most of us like to think that “someday” we will get out of the hole and quit being debt slaves, but very few of us ever actually accomplish this. That is because the entire system is designed to trap us in debt before we even get out into the “real world” and keep us in debt until we die. Sadly, most Americans don’t even realize what is being done to them. (Read More...)
Government Plan Would Transform Israel Into The World’s First Cashless Society
Will Israel be the first cashless society on the entire planet? A committee chaired by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff has come up with a three phase plan to “all but do away with cash transactions in Israel”. Individuals and businesses would still be permitted to conduct cash transactions in small amounts (at least initially), but the eventual goal is to force Israeli citizens to conduct as much business as possible using electronic forms of payment. In fact, it has been reported that Israeli officials believe that “cash is bad” because it fuels the underground economy and allows people to avoid paying taxes. It is hoped that requiring most transactions to be conducted in cash will reduce crime and help balance the national budget. And once 98 or 99 percent of all transactions are cashless, it will not be difficult for the Israeli government (or any other government) to go the rest of the way and ban cash transactions altogether. But is a cashless society actually desirable? This is a question that people all over the world will have to start asking as governments increasingly restrict the use of cash. (Read More...)