In today’s podcast we continue to discuss the Derek Chauvin trial, the conviction, and the political fallout. We then continue with various articles pertaining to geopolitical risks. The focus of these news stories are centered around US and Turkish relations, rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and tensions among Israel, Syria, and Iran. To put it simply, the world is in chaos. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #DerekChauvinTrial #Geopolitics #War #Peace #USA #Israel #Russia #Ukraine #Turkey #China #Iran #Syria #Liberty #Leadership #Justice
The weeks that lie ahead are ones of historic importance for the United States. The impeachment trial of President Donald J Trump is set to commence on Tuesday, 21 January 2020. Many of the rules that are to guide the process in the US Senate are still yet to be determined. It is imperative that the Senate places the US Constitution above partisan politics. It is their duty. It is their solemn obligation to uphold and defend the Constitution. Let the truth be know and may justice be served. This is what the American people deserve and it is what the Constitution requires. This then means that the process must be open, transparent, and fair. And that relevant fact witnesses and documents need to testify and be entered into the record. If not, then the US Senate has failed and with it – the health of the Republic remains in the balance.
On a global front, worldwide protests continue with violence escalating in Lebanon. So many people around the world are at the “end of their ropes,” and have nothing left to lose – so they’re protesting. We’ve been saying two things for quite awhile regarding these protesters – they are the only leaders in the world and these protests are not transitory, but rather history in the making. This is a global sea change and the people of the world are tired of the abuse, fraud, nepotism, and corruption that has for too long reigned in their respective governments. This will get much worse before it gets better. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Impeachment #Truth #Justice #Peace #Economy #Politics #Recession #EndTheFed
Phase 1 signing ceremony. Articles of Impeachment sent from the House to the Senate. And an exclusive TV interview from Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani, who has been charged by the US Attorney from the Southern District of New York. What a day! On the US-China trade front – this is a terrible deal and one that basically takes us back to where we were two years ago before this whole thing started. Most of the goods and services that may be purchased by the Chinese are to take place in 2021 not 2020. Most of the goods that China may purchase are goods that they need anyway – pork, soybeans, and energy. The Chinese can remove their tariffs on US goods at their leisure – not on an agreed upon timetable. Some US tariffs will remain in place on Chinese goods and services. Thus keeping prices artificially high and continues the trend of uncertainty. There is an escape clause that basically states that if one party believes that the other is acting in bad faith, that the agreement can be severed. China also stated that they will make their determination to purchase goods and services based on market forces – i.e. prices, not because of a trade deal. In short, this is a pathetic deal – if we can even call it a deal. And don’t forget the numerous amount of farmers who have filed for bankruptcy during this process. And don’t forget the tens of billions of US dollars, from the taxpayers that went to bail-out farmers, especially large corporate farms.
An historic day for the United States of America as the Articles of Impeachment have been formally sent from the House to the Senate. The trial is expected to start next week and will likely last for at least a couple of weeks. We imagine, if it is an open, fair, and transparent trial that it will last longer. Time will tell. All we want is the truth to be known and for justice to be served. Regardless of who is implicated and charged. Put the politics aside.
Lastly, Lev Parnas gave an exclusive interview to Rachel Maddow of MSNBC, part 1 aired this evening and part 2 is scheduled for tomorrow evening. Much of what was stated raises more questions than it does provides answers. However, some of the answers appeared credible and can be corroborated with documentation. Some answers can be reasonably presumed to be correct, however, further evidence is needed. Further, some answers were speculative in nature and they also require further investigation and corroboration – either documentation and/or personal testimony of other individuals. One of the key themes as outlined by Parnas is contradicting the President and stating that Donald Trump was fully aware as to what Parnas, Giuliani, and others were doing in Ukraine. Recall that Parnas has also submitted documents to the House and those documents will now be a part of the official record with respect to the impeachment inquiry. Also, do consider the motive of Parnas when it comes to his statements – remain skeptical and ask tough questions and demand the truth and further investigations. This is far from over and there are many questions that need to be asked and answered. And many of them need to be asked of and answered by the President’s Men. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Truth #Justice #Impeachment #Economy #Politics #Peace #USA #China #Trade #War
The Phase 1 trade “deal,” the US-Iranian tensions, and the Federal Reserve are front-and-center during today’s podcast. Of all these topics, which one is the most fraudulent? Which one pushes the most misinformation? Disinformation? Propaganda? Outright lies? Whether it’s coming from the President himself, a member of the Administration, any member of either party in Congress, or members and officials of another country – trying to determine the truth is a monumental task. And then one has to ask himself – does it even matter? Are the powers that be just going to do what they want to regardless of the truth? Regardless of the righteous and moral action? Runaway government spending, runaway money printing, and geopolitical tensions that could place us in WWIII. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #USA #China #Iran #Peace # War #Politics #EndTheFed
Fed up with the Federal Reserve yet? What about domestic US politics? What about geopolitics? Well pick your poison, and we imagine that you’re fed up in one way or another. When it comes to our all-knowing Federal Reserve, we now have word that the repo madness is likely going to continue through Q1 of 2020 and take us into April. Recall that it was supposed to be a one-off in Q3 of 2019. Then it got extended, and extended, and extended once more. No surprise to this audience. We informed you back in July that if the Fed was going to keep the gravy-train running that they would have to put the pedal to the metal and that’s exactly what we’re witnessing. This is why we have a melt-up in stocks, fueling an ever-increasing bubble. This is why we have a growing number of zombie corporations roaming the countryside. A day of reckoning will come – it always does. But perhaps, just perhaps, one day people will be so Fed up that they’ll wake up to this fraudulent practice and call for true price discovery and a return to something we call free-market capitalism. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Politics #EndTheFed #Recession #Truth #Justice #Peace #War #USA #China #Iran
Guess it depends on who you ask, but given the recent actions from both the US and Iran, it could be reasonably argued that both sides committed acts of war. Now this morning, President Trump addressed the nation and the world by stating that there appears to be de-escalation. This is a good thing. He then goes on to blame the Obama Administration for sending Iran $150 billion several years ago, calls the former assassinated general, a terrorist, calls out Iranian aggression since 1979, and places additional economic sanctions on the Iranians. Does this qualify as de-escalation? Let’s hope so, but we remain skeptical.
During today’s podcast, we continue our history lesson of US-Iranian relations and it takes us back to the 1950s, not 1979. We want to provide our audience a fuller picture so you are equipped with the information necessary to make a well-informed decision. The military-industrial complex is in full-stride and the swamp has yet to be drained. In fact, on many metrics, it is overflowing. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Peace #War #USA #Iran #Economy #Politics #Truth #Protests #Love
The first casualty of any conflict or any war, is the truth. With that said, in the fog of war it is too easy to get the facts wrong. This evening, Iranian forces retaliated against American interests by attacking with missiles, Iraqi air bases that house US forces. There is mixed reporting as to whether or not there have been any American injuries or deaths, but what we do know is that via twitter, statements have been made by both Iranian and US officials.
On the Iranian front, the Foreign Minister has stated that Iran was justified in attacking these air bases as a matter of self defense in response to the recent American assassination of a top Iranian general. He continues by stating that Iran does not want things to escalate and that Iran does not want war. President Trump also commented via twitter stating that “all is well,” at least for now. That the US will be assessing closely the situation and will take account of the damage at the air bases. The President is expected to make comments tomorrow morning.
There is early speculation and analysis that Iran targeted these sites purposefully with the intent of not doing any physical harm to any American life. This would afford the regime the ability to show their people that they responded with force against the Americans. Yet at the same time, allows for a message to be sent to the Americans that Iran has the capability to attack with precision, but having chosen not to could be a message to Washington, that they are serious in de-escalation. Time will tell. All we can hope for is that this leads to constructive dialogue and not further destruction. Let us pray for peace. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Peace #War #USA #Iran #Iraq #Oil #Economy #Politics #Truth
With so much breaking news taking place on the economic and geopolitical front, a reasonable question to ask is, “what’s the end game?” The Federal Reserve, along with many other global central banks are priming the presses and added billions of dollars of liquidity on a daily basis. The “temporary” repo market intervention appears to be anything but, as we make our way into the 4th month of Fed intervention. Just today, the Fed added nearly $77B into the market – the result? US markets starting out the day in the red and ending in the green. There is no market. There is no price discovery. This is a completely manipulated market. Meanwhile, we continue to see further economic numbers showing a continued stalling and decline. A look at the Services PMI out of Japan is now in contraction as well with a reading of 49.2.
On the geopolitical front, which still has major implications on the global economy, were the first shots of WWIII fired just last week when the US assassinated an Iranian general and other officials? Many analysts are saying yes. This is not a good day in world history. Yes, the Iranian general was not a good man, but how many other bad men are out there? Did another just take his place? When will this end? Which leads us to our question of this podcast – what is the end game? What kind of retaliation will there be from Iran? Or will this major gamble from President Trump pay-off? Let us pray for peace. But if history is any guide, and it’s usually one of the best, then this escalation is just getting started. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Peace #War #Economy #Politics #Truth #Justice #EndTheFed #USA #Iran #Iaq
They say hindsight is 2020. Well clearly that is not the case in the old US of A in the year 2020. Following the drone strike by US forces that killed a top Iranian general, we heard remarks from President Donald Trump, stating that we are not looking for regime change, and that this action was not taken to start a war, but to end a war. Really? No regime change? This general was expected to perhaps become the Iranian president in the not too distant future. This by definition is regime change. This action is not a declaration of war? Really? What happens if a US general travelling in Canada was killed by an Iranian strike at Toronto International Airport? – we imagine that the US would consider this an act of war. The rhetoric and actions taken by the Administration are eerily reminiscent of the language used to hype the Iraqi War in 2002-2003 (clear intelligence assessments and pre-emptive attacks). Have we learned nothing? It appears not.
There are many in the media claiming that President Trump is using this as a distraction from the impeachment trial. Perhaps. But perhaps this is also an attempt at distracting the American people from an economy that continues to show signs of weakness. Released today was the ISM Manufacturing PMI figure and it declined to 47.2 – a low not seen since June of 2009. Another report was also released showing signs that nine states are headed for contraction – this number has not been this high since 2009 as well. If everything is so great, then why are we comparing numbers to the Great Recession? And perhaps even further, the President is attempting to use geopolitical tensions and even war itself as the reason why the stock market experiences a major pullback. We’re not claiming that such a pullback is imminent or that one will even happen (although the data shows that it could), but that the President will use that as an excuse for any type of “poor” market performance. It’s only the 3rd day of 2020 – buckle up. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Peace #War #Politics #Economy #Truth
This week is going to be filled with quite a bit of economic data being released globally including Q3 GDP figures for the US and the Eurozone. We’ll also see various global PMI prints, inflation figures, jobs reports, and consumer confidence numbers. All of this fundamental economic data, however, mat take a backseat to a couple of other events. Namely earnings reports from some major tech firms such as Apple, Facebook, and Alphabet, the parent company of Google. Recall, despite the fact that Amazon missed and gave poor forward guidance, the markets still made all-time highs last week with respect to the S+P 500 on an intraday basis and the Nasdaq100 as well. These tech giants have been the market leaders over the course of this 10+ year bull market. They are the darlings of Wall Street, so even if we should witness further deterioration on the economic front, these earnings reports could make the markets turn a temporary blind-eye.
Also, the markets will be waiting to hear from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday following the conclusion of the FOMC meeting where the Fed determines interest rates. The Kapital News is expecting that the Fed in the very least will cut rates by another 25bps. The markets are pricing in a 94% chance that the Fed will cut once again, and we are all but certain that the Fed does not want to disappoint the addicts on Wall Street. Also note that the Bank of Japan will be making a monetary decision this week as well and given their recent rhetoric, do not be surprised if they continue with further easing.
Lastly, we discuss the impeachment inquiry and how the investigation into the genesis of the Trump-Russia collusion/conspiracy case was opened. On the inquiry front, former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, is expected to agree to testify before House committees to discuss what he knows of the Ukrainian affair and perhaps other areas of concern surrounding the President of the United States and his administration. Be mindful that John Bolton may be a disgruntled former employee, but that does not give him the right to lie under oath, nor does that protect him from prosecution of perjury should he lie about his time in the White House and what he may have witnessed. His testimony could prove fatal to the President since John Bolton would have been aware of many of these issues in question.
On the Trump-Russia front, this investigation has turned into a criminal investigation. This is likely to imply that members of the Obama administration are likely involved and/or members of the DOJ, FBI, and/or other intelligence agencies who served in those agencies during President Obama’s tenure. Or, this could imply that there were details missed during the Mueller investigation and members of the Trump campaign and/or administration are once again in the crosshairs. Regardless we want the truth and we want justice no matter who is implicated. Also, the mainstream media is already saying the President is simply using his Office and the DOJ as a weapon to investigate his political opponents. This is exactly what we predicted would happen and the fact that there is a phone call and a quasi-transcription, which was released by the White House, whereby the President asks his counterpart in Ukraine to look into former VP Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, does not bode well for Mr. Trump. This week will be very interesting. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Recession #Impeachment #Justice #Truth #Economy #EndTheFed #Politics #Republic #Peace
