The Peanut Gallery

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

1.Israel’s foreign exchange reserves stood at a record $94.775 billion at the end of March 2016, up $4.156 billion from their level at the end of the previous month, which was itself a new record, the Bank of Israel reports. The foreign currency reserves at the end of 2015 stood at $88.9 billion. Comment: In the early eighties the balance stood at $6 billion. When the bank shares collapsed in 1983 the balance dropped to zero and Israel was forced to take loans to pay its creditors. Comment: GO ISRAEL!

2. Bernie Sanders announced that he believes in a two state solution for Israel and arab Palestinians. Now after claiming the IDF murdered 10,000 innocent Palestinians in Gaza he has corrected that to "more than two thousand innocents according to the UN"...another mistaken figure. Official UN figures put the number at 1,423. Other estimates are much lower. This type of rhetoric place Sanders directly in the Obama-Kerry camp. COMMENT: The instant one hears the word "innocent" in this context, its easy to understand who and what he is. The agenda is to continue the Obama trend of creating a division between US Jewry and Israel. 

3. Stratasys Ltd (Nasdaq:SSYS), the 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions company, today introduced another industry first with its market-disruptive 3D printer, the J750. The new solution breaks restrictive technology barriers, enabling customers for the first time to mix-and-match full color gradients alongside an unprecedented range of materials to achieve one-stop realism without post-processing. Read more about this Israeli company:  http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160403005061/en/ COMMENT: Compare this to the "productivity" produced by the "Religion of Peace".

4. And still on the subject of 3D printing the IAF has turned this technology into a major refurbishing tool. Start-Up Israel: "3D printers make 30-year-old Air Force planes ‘better than new'. The conversion of old and damaged equipment into first-class defense systems takes place at a base in central Israel. This is fascinating. Please read http://www.timesofisrael.com/3d-printers-make-30-year-old-air-force-planes-better-than-new/?utm_source=Start-Up+Daily&utm_campaign=4109a46c96-2016_04_12_SUI4_12_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fb879fad58-4109a46c96-54596809

5.More and more figures in the Arab world are calling on the Arab states to recognize Israel. United With Israel: In a true sign of change in the Arab world, Kuwaiti media personality Yousuf ‘Abd Al-Karim Al-Zinkawi called on all Arab and Muslim states to recognize Israel, openly and without delay, and stop calling it “the Zionist Entity” or “the Israeli occupation,” terms which undermine Israel’s legitimacy. Al-Zinkawi writes that the vast majority of the world effectively supports Israel’s existence, and the Arab states have begun to move in that direction and should complete the process. COMMENT: As Islam implodes economically, there appear to be symptoms of distress on the horizon.

6.U.S. troops and military equipment would be sent on regular rotations in the Philippines, and said the two countries had started joint patrols in disputed waters of the South China Sea, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said April 14 during a visit to Manila, Reuters reported. The first U.S.-Philippines joint patrol occurred in March, and took place earlier this month, according to the Pentagon. Comment: The prime priority (and the one that governs all US foreign and military policy) for the US is to keep all trade routes open and at the same time prevent a potential military foe from reaching US shores. Antagonizing America's allies and threatening trade wars is counter productive...to say the least. 

7. The USD index (a basket of currencies reflecting USD strength or weakness) strengthened from 73 to 100 in 2014 almost causing the collapse of a global debt bubble created in 2008 to "save" the world from recession - most international debt is denominated in USD.  Since then the index continues to hover between 93 and 100. The 0.25% interest rate rise in Dec last year and the expectation of further rate rises was close to one of the worst mistakes by the Fed in its history, almost throwing the planet into depression mode. It also exposed a mistaken mindset in the US that they could go it alone and ignore the global economy. Since then The Fed has walked back the expectations of further rises. We can expect the "managed global economy" to move sideways in the hopes that the boat rights itself. COMMENT: The US population's backlash against trade agreements once again shows the American mindset that they can do and say whatever they like with impunity. That would be a huge mistake.

“Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size.” 

― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

“He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.” ― George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara

“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."― Edmund Burke,