Saturday, February 14, 2015

The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.

1. George Friedman about his new book "Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe" -  The sense that Europe is shifting was visible in the European Central Bank's decision to ease austerity by increasing liquidity in the system. In my view, this is too little too late; although quantitative easing might work for a recession, Southern Europe is in a depression. This is not merely a word. It means that the infrastructure of businesses that are able to utilize the money has been smashed, and therefore, quantitative easing's impact on unemployment will be limited. It takes a generation to recover from a depression. COMMENT: Its interesting to note that Greece was NOT included in the European QE plan....signs of the future.

2. On Feb. 13, Argentine Federal Prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita requested that a federal judge allow him to continue an investigation into President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's alleged role in a cover-up of Iran's role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires. Pollicita is broadly linked through professional connections to potential conservative presidential candidate Mauricio Macri. COMMENT: This might be political, but six gets you one that this story is going to become Hollywood material.

3. Ephraim Halevy (former Israeli intelligence chief): If Netanyahu were to win the upcoming elections and continue with his current policies toward the Palestinians, a third intifada is unavoidable, Halevy indicated. In a scathing interview, he also criticized the prime minister for propagating fear instead of hope, deploring Netanyahu’s constant mentions of the Holocaust and decrying his reported comparison of today’s Jews of France with pre-Inquisition Spanish Jewry.
COMMENT: The half-full cup for Bibi is empty. Is he wrong? ISIS, Hizbollah and Hamas clearly are filling their cups.
Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-mossad-boss-fear-mongering-netanyahu-is-antithesis-of-churchill/#ixzz3Qsq7XMdo

4. Former Mossad chief: I don't trust Netanyahu, his actions will cost us.
Meir Dagan says PM's speech won't change Obama's mind on Iran, adds Sharon had arguments with US but kept it quiet while Netanyahu insists on making fights public. COMMENT: Iran is the Shiite version of ISIS. Obama is their type of a "useful idiot". Bibi has made his point and should now stay at home, unless he intends to join the Republican party.  read more: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4620516,00.html

5. Stratfor: It is not hard to imagine the disaster that would ensue if the United States were to export 50 percent of its GDP, and half of it went to Canada and Mexico. A free-trade zone in which the giant pivot is not a net importer can't work. And that is exactly the situation in Europe. Its pivot is Germany, but rather than serving as the engine of growth by being an importer, it became the world's fourth-largest national economy by exporting half its GDP. That can't possibly be sustainable. COMMENT: Unfortunately, history has a way of repeating itself. Especially in Europe.

6. Gatestone: Sweden is now number two on the global list of rape countries. According to a survey from 2010, Sweden, with 53.2 rapes per 100,000 inhabitants, is surpassed only by tiny Lesotho in Southern Africa, with 91.6 rapes per 100,000 inhabitants. COMMENT: Do I need to comment? read more: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5195/sweden-rape

7.Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais states in southeastern Brazil are experiencing the worst drought in a century. The nearly 30 million people living in the extended municipal complex of Sao Paulo have been dealing with extremely low reservoir levels for more than a year. In fact, the water reserves have fallen so low that they are now below the dead level, the point at which water must be pumped up to reach the pipes connecting the reservoir to the greater distribution system. COMMENT: India has enough water for the population, but not the infrastructure to reach all. Looks like water is becoming more and more vital than oil.

“Evil always wins through the strength of its splendid dupes; and there has in all ages been a disastrous alliance between abnormal innocence and abnormal sin.” 

― G.K. Chesterton.

Fill your mouth with marbles and make a speech. Every day reduce the number of marbles in your mouth and make a speech. You will soon become an accredited public speaker -- as soon as you have lost all your marbles - Brooks Hays.

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