Macy's Closing Two Fulfillment Centers, Laying Off 1,000 Workers

Macy’s will close its two fulfillment centers in Cheshire later this year, a move that will affect nearly 1,000 employees, according to a company notice released Tuesday and reported by WFSB. 

The facilities on Knotter Drive and West Johnson Avenue will shut down. A small group of maintenance workers will remain through spring 2027 to assist with the closure, but most employees are expected to lose their jobs this year.

Cheshire’s town manager said the community was notified and is working with state and regional agencies to help displaced workers. In a statement, the town said:

“The Town of Cheshire is deeply saddened by Macy’s decision to close its Logistics Fulfillment Center, resulting in the elimination of nearly 1,000 jobs. Macy’s has been a valued member of our community since 1986 and has consistently been one of Cheshire’s top ten employers, making this a significant loss for our town.

Our thoughts are with the employees and families impacted by this decision. The Town has been in contact with Macy’s management, the Northwest Regional Workforce Board, and the Connecticut Department of Labor to coordinate assistance for affected workers, including plans for a job fair and access to employment and transition resources.

Cheshire remains committed to supporting impacted employees and will continue working with our regional and state partners during this transition.”

The announcement follows the October decision to close Macy’s South Windsor distribution center in early 2026. Layoffs there include warehouse workers, equipment operators and supervisors, with job eliminations occurring between December 28, 2025, and January 10, 2026.

Macy’s said the changes are part of a broader effort to streamline operations. “Macy’s, Inc. is continuing to simplify and modernize our supply chain to better serve customers and operate more efficiently. As part of this work, we are concluding Backstage operations at our South Windsor, CT facility and centralizing them at our dedicated off-price facility in Columbus, OH. Other operations at South Windsor will continue. We’re committed to supporting our colleagues through this transition,” the company said.

Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 08:45

The Nascent 'Islamic NATO' Might Soon Set Its Sights On Somaliland

Authored by Andrew Korybko,

The Somali Defense Minister’s request for Saudi Arabia to replicate its South Yemeni campaign in Somaliland coupled with reports about those two’s and Egypt’s impending alliance that would thus de facto include their Eritrean ally strongly suggest that something big might soon be afoot.

Reports have recently circulated about three separate but complementary military pacts in which Saudi Arabia might soon participate, which could form the core of an “Islamic NATO”. 

Bloomberg got the ball rolling by reporting that Turkiye wants to join September’s “Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement” between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, who’s still influential, then proposed including Egypt and presumably his own country too.

Bloomberg reported right after that Saudi Arabia is finalizing a military pact with Turkish-allied Somalia and Egypt for curtailing the UAE’s influence in Africa, the concept of which was analyzed here regarding how those three, Pakistan, and Turkiye could jointly advance this goal. On that note, it’s relevant to add that Pakistan clinched its own security pact with Somalia over the summer and then its top military official visited Egypt to discuss regional security, thus signaling Pakistan’s growing role in Africa.

The members of this emerging Saudi-centric coalition all oppose Somaliland’s 1991 redeclaration of independence, which was recently recognized by Israel. Somaliland also has close ties with the UAE and Ethiopia, and all three of its top partners are close with one another too. Ethiopia’s MoU with Somaliland on 1 January 2024 for recognizing its redeclaration of independence in exchange for access to the sea was exploited by its historic Egyptian rival to assemble a containment coalition with Somalia and Eritrea.

Although this nascent “Islamic NATO” might first aim to defeat the allegedly UAE-backed “Rapid Support Forces” in Sudan, they’re much more heavily armed and battle-hardened than the Somaliland Armed Forces, the latter of which might be perceived as so-called “low-hanging fruit”.

Moreover, South Yemen’s “Southern Transitional Council” was just steamrolled by Saudi air support and local Yemeni forces, which might have emboldened Riyadh and its partners to consider replicating that campaign in Somaliland.

It would take time to position Saudi (and possibly Egyptian, Pakistani, and/or Turkish) warplanes in the region (likely based in reoccupied South Yemen if this comes to pass) and for its emerging coalition to train the Somali National Army so this probably won’t happen anytime soon.

Additionally, UAE-aligned Puntland between Somaliland and rump Somalia must first return to the federal fold for enabling an invasion of Somaliland, unless Djibouti joins the coalition and allows its territory to be used for this.

Israel’s recent recognition of Somaliland’s 1991 redeclaration of independence and the possibility of it basing troops there as well as entering into their own mutual defense pact might deter them, however, as could Ethiopia doing the same (whether in coordination with Israel or independently thereof). On that note, it should be pointed out that Israeli, Emirati, and Ethiopian interests converge in Somaliland, which is where the nascent “Islamic NATO’s” do too but for the opposite reasons. This spikes the risk of conflict.

The Somali Defense Minister’s request for Saudi Arabia to replicate its South Yemeni campaign in Somaliland coupled with reports about those two’s and Egypt’s impending alliance that would thus de facto include their Eritrean ally strongly suggest that something big might soon be afoot. Time is therefore of the essence, and if Somaliland’s top partners don’t soon act in meaningful ways to deter the emerging Saudi-centric coalition, then it might not be able to defend itself from this existential threat.

Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 08:10

The Nascent 'Islamic NATO' Might Soon Set Its Sights On Somaliland

Authored by Andrew Korybko,

The Somali Defense Minister’s request for Saudi Arabia to replicate its South Yemeni campaign in Somaliland coupled with reports about those two’s and Egypt’s impending alliance that would thus de facto include their Eritrean ally strongly suggest that something big might soon be afoot.

Reports have recently circulated about three separate but complementary military pacts in which Saudi Arabia might soon participate, which could form the core of an “Islamic NATO”. 

Bloomberg got the ball rolling by reporting that Turkiye wants to join September’s “Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement” between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, who’s still influential, then proposed including Egypt and presumably his own country too.

Bloomberg reported right after that Saudi Arabia is finalizing a military pact with Turkish-allied Somalia and Egypt for curtailing the UAE’s influence in Africa, the concept of which was analyzed here regarding how those three, Pakistan, and Turkiye could jointly advance this goal. On that note, it’s relevant to add that Pakistan clinched its own security pact with Somalia over the summer and then its top military official visited Egypt to discuss regional security, thus signaling Pakistan’s growing role in Africa.

The members of this emerging Saudi-centric coalition all oppose Somaliland’s 1991 redeclaration of independence, which was recently recognized by Israel. Somaliland also has close ties with the UAE and Ethiopia, and all three of its top partners are close with one another too. Ethiopia’s MoU with Somaliland on 1 January 2024 for recognizing its redeclaration of independence in exchange for access to the sea was exploited by its historic Egyptian rival to assemble a containment coalition with Somalia and Eritrea.

Although this nascent “Islamic NATO” might first aim to defeat the allegedly UAE-backed “Rapid Support Forces” in Sudan, they’re much more heavily armed and battle-hardened than the Somaliland Armed Forces, the latter of which might be perceived as so-called “low-hanging fruit”.

Moreover, South Yemen’s “Southern Transitional Council” was just steamrolled by Saudi air support and local Yemeni forces, which might have emboldened Riyadh and its partners to consider replicating that campaign in Somaliland.

It would take time to position Saudi (and possibly Egyptian, Pakistani, and/or Turkish) warplanes in the region (likely based in reoccupied South Yemen if this comes to pass) and for its emerging coalition to train the Somali National Army so this probably won’t happen anytime soon.

Additionally, UAE-aligned Puntland between Somaliland and rump Somalia must first return to the federal fold for enabling an invasion of Somaliland, unless Djibouti joins the coalition and allows its territory to be used for this.

Israel’s recent recognition of Somaliland’s 1991 redeclaration of independence and the possibility of it basing troops there as well as entering into their own mutual defense pact might deter them, however, as could Ethiopia doing the same (whether in coordination with Israel or independently thereof). On that note, it should be pointed out that Israeli, Emirati, and Ethiopian interests converge in Somaliland, which is where the nascent “Islamic NATO’s” do too but for the opposite reasons. This spikes the risk of conflict.

The Somali Defense Minister’s request for Saudi Arabia to replicate its South Yemeni campaign in Somaliland coupled with reports about those two’s and Egypt’s impending alliance that would thus de facto include their Eritrean ally strongly suggest that something big might soon be afoot. Time is therefore of the essence, and if Somaliland’s top partners don’t soon act in meaningful ways to deter the emerging Saudi-centric coalition, then it might not be able to defend itself from this existential threat.

Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 08:10

Rape Ensues After Dutch Students Forced To Live With 125 Refugees In Woke 'Integration' Experiment

Dutch students forced to live side-by-side with 125 refugees in a woke government plan to aid the refugees' 'integration' were subjected to years of sexual assault and violence, according to an investigation. 

The experiment - held at Stek Oost located in the Watergraafsmeer district of Amsterdam - placed a total of 125 students and 125 refugees together, where they were encouraged to 'buddy up' so that the migrants would quickly assimilate into life in the Netherlands.

Instead, the refugees started raping. 

Students told the Dutch investigative documentary program Zembla that they faced frequent sexual assault, harassment, violence, stalking, and gang rape.

One woman said she regularly saw "fights in the hallway and then again in the shared living room," while a man told the investigators that a refugee threatened him with an eight-inch kitchen knife. 

In another case fro 2019, a female student said she was raped by a Syrian refugee after he invited her to his room to watch a film, and then refused to let her leave. 

"He wanted to learn Dutch, to get an education. I wanted to help him," said the woman, who identified only as Amanda. She described how he asked her several times to come to his room. After she eventually agreed, she became extremely uncomfortable being alone with him and asked to leave, only for him to trap her in his room and rape her.

The students - including Amanda - said that authorities ignored multiple reports. 

Six months after Amanda reported her rape, which authorities dropped for lack of evidence, another woman living in Stek Oost reported the same Syrian, telling the housing association that runs the complex that she was concerned for her safety and the safety of other women living there. 

According to the Zembla documentary, the local authority claimed it was impossible to evict the man. 

In March, 2022 he was formally arrested after having left the housing complex and was later convicted of raping Amanda and another resident, for which he received just three years in prison in 2024. 

"You see unacceptable behaviour, and people get scared," said Carolien de Heer, district chair of the East district of Amsterdam. "But legally, that's often not enough to remove someone from their home or impose mandatory care. You keep running into the same obstacles."

The firm that runs the complex, Stadgenoot, suspected that a 2023 gang rape took place. 

Since opening in 2018, Stek Oost has faced multiple similar allegations. In 2022, Dutch TV station AT5 reported that a refugee had been accused of six sex attacks between 2018 and 2021.

He was involved in a protracted legal battle with local authorities, who fought to force him to leave Stek Oost.

For its part, Stadgenoot wanted to shut the complex down as early as 2023, but the local authority refused.

It will, however, be shut down by 2028 after the contract to run the site expires. -Daily Mail

The staff at Stek Oost, meanwhile, are reportedly exhausted from their experience living and working there. 

"We were completely overwhelmed. We no longer wanted to be responsible for the safety of the complex," said Mariëlle Foppen, who works for Stadgenoot. "It was just too intense. As the manager of these colleagues, I would say: "If I can't guarantee their safety, I'm going to have a really bad night's sleep."

When will liberals stop feeding their daughters to monsters?

Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 07:35

Rape Ensues After Dutch Students Forced To Live With 125 Refugees In Woke 'Integration' Experiment

Dutch students forced to live side-by-side with 125 refugees in a woke government plan to aid the refugees' 'integration' were subjected to years of sexual assault and violence, according to an investigation. 

The experiment - held at Stek Oost located in the Watergraafsmeer district of Amsterdam - placed a total of 125 students and 125 refugees together, where they were encouraged to 'buddy up' so that the migrants would quickly assimilate into life in the Netherlands.

Instead, the refugees started raping. 

Students told the Dutch investigative documentary program Zembla that they faced frequent sexual assault, harassment, violence, stalking, and gang rape.

One woman said she regularly saw "fights in the hallway and then again in the shared living room," while a man told the investigators that a refugee threatened him with an eight-inch kitchen knife. 

In another case fro 2019, a female student said she was raped by a Syrian refugee after he invited her to his room to watch a film, and then refused to let her leave. 

"He wanted to learn Dutch, to get an education. I wanted to help him," said the woman, who identified only as Amanda. She described how he asked her several times to come to his room. After she eventually agreed, she became extremely uncomfortable being alone with him and asked to leave, only for him to trap her in his room and rape her.

The students - including Amanda - said that authorities ignored multiple reports. 

Six months after Amanda reported her rape, which authorities dropped for lack of evidence, another woman living in Stek Oost reported the same Syrian, telling the housing association that runs the complex that she was concerned for her safety and the safety of other women living there. 

According to the Zembla documentary, the local authority claimed it was impossible to evict the man. 

In March, 2022 he was formally arrested after having left the housing complex and was later convicted of raping Amanda and another resident, for which he received just three years in prison in 2024. 

"You see unacceptable behaviour, and people get scared," said Carolien de Heer, district chair of the East district of Amsterdam. "But legally, that's often not enough to remove someone from their home or impose mandatory care. You keep running into the same obstacles."

The firm that runs the complex, Stadgenoot, suspected that a 2023 gang rape took place. 

Since opening in 2018, Stek Oost has faced multiple similar allegations. In 2022, Dutch TV station AT5 reported that a refugee had been accused of six sex attacks between 2018 and 2021.

He was involved in a protracted legal battle with local authorities, who fought to force him to leave Stek Oost.

For its part, Stadgenoot wanted to shut the complex down as early as 2023, but the local authority refused.

It will, however, be shut down by 2028 after the contract to run the site expires. -Daily Mail

The staff at Stek Oost, meanwhile, are reportedly exhausted from their experience living and working there. 

"We were completely overwhelmed. We no longer wanted to be responsible for the safety of the complex," said Mariëlle Foppen, who works for Stadgenoot. "It was just too intense. As the manager of these colleagues, I would say: "If I can't guarantee their safety, I'm going to have a really bad night's sleep."

When will liberals stop feeding their daughters to monsters?

Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 07:35

UK Mulls Under‑16 Social Media Ban Amid Rising Online ID Push

Authored by Christina Comben via CoinTelegraph.com,

The United Kingdom is considering new restrictions that could bar children under 16 from using mainstream social media platforms.

The discussion builds on the Online Safety Act, which already requires services with minimum age limits to explain how they enforce them and to use “highly effective” age assurance measures where children are at risk of harmful content.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is monitoring how Australia’s under‑16 ban works in practice and is “open” to an Australian‑style approach, despite previously expressing personal reservations about a blanket ban for teenagers.

Conservative Party Member of Parliament David Davis said in a post on X that banning social media for children was “the right move,” and added that “mobile phones don’t belong in schools either.”

Conservative MP argues for banning social media for children. Source: David Davis

X and Online Safety Act enforcement

The debate comes as UK ministers and regulators are already in conflict with Elon Musk’s X platform over compliance with the Online Safety Act (OSA) and takedown obligations for illegal or harmful content. 

Ofcom, the UK’s online safety regulator, is preparing enforcement powers that include large fines and potential access restrictions for services that fail to meet their child safety and illegal content duties.

Critics have warned that aggressive enforcement could have implications for freedom of expression, and Musk’s platform has said the OSA is at risk of “seriously infringing” on free speech.

Aleksandr Litreev, CEO of Sentinel, whose decentralized virtual private network (dVPN) provides censorship-resistant internet access, told Cointelegraph that the UK’s moves on digital freedoms were “concerning,” and echoed the “same failed route as China, Russia and Iran.”

He said that denying youth access to social media and the internet “stifles their ability to learn digital literacy and develop critical thinking,” leaving them “less prepared for adulthood in a connected world.”

Australia and Ireland tighten online ID

Similar moves are underway in other countries. Australia’s eSafety commissioner registered an industry code requiring major search engines to implement age assurance technologies for logged‑in users, with the rules taking effect on Dec. 27, 2025.

Providers such as Google and Microsoft now have to verify users’ ages using methods ranging from government IDs and biometrics to credit card checks, and apply the highest default safety filters to accounts identified as likely under 18.

Ireland, meanwhile, plans to use its upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2026 to push for identity-verified social media accounts across the bloc. 

In the UK, these developments coincided this week with a government decision to abandon plans for a single centralized digital ID system for right‑to‑work checks, which would have become mandatory in 2029. 

Implications for crypto KYC

Crypto exchanges and trading apps remain subject to existing Know Your Customer (KYC) and biometric verification rules, including checks that typically involve government ID uploads and live selfies or facial scans to verify users’ identities.

Policymakers’ focus on age and identity assurance in social media, search, and other consumer services suggests that similar verification technologies are increasingly being explored and deployed outside financial use cases.

Litreev commented, “If a government sells you something ‘for the sake of safety,’ it’s sure as hell not about safety in any way or form.”

Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 07:00

UK Mulls Under‑16 Social Media Ban Amid Rising Online ID Push

Authored by Christina Comben via CoinTelegraph.com,

The United Kingdom is considering new restrictions that could bar children under 16 from using mainstream social media platforms.

The discussion builds on the Online Safety Act, which already requires services with minimum age limits to explain how they enforce them and to use “highly effective” age assurance measures where children are at risk of harmful content.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is monitoring how Australia’s under‑16 ban works in practice and is “open” to an Australian‑style approach, despite previously expressing personal reservations about a blanket ban for teenagers.

Conservative Party Member of Parliament David Davis said in a post on X that banning social media for children was “the right move,” and added that “mobile phones don’t belong in schools either.”

Conservative MP argues for banning social media for children. Source: David Davis

X and Online Safety Act enforcement

The debate comes as UK ministers and regulators are already in conflict with Elon Musk’s X platform over compliance with the Online Safety Act (OSA) and takedown obligations for illegal or harmful content. 

Ofcom, the UK’s online safety regulator, is preparing enforcement powers that include large fines and potential access restrictions for services that fail to meet their child safety and illegal content duties.

Critics have warned that aggressive enforcement could have implications for freedom of expression, and Musk’s platform has said the OSA is at risk of “seriously infringing” on free speech.

Aleksandr Litreev, CEO of Sentinel, whose decentralized virtual private network (dVPN) provides censorship-resistant internet access, told Cointelegraph that the UK’s moves on digital freedoms were “concerning,” and echoed the “same failed route as China, Russia and Iran.”

He said that denying youth access to social media and the internet “stifles their ability to learn digital literacy and develop critical thinking,” leaving them “less prepared for adulthood in a connected world.”

Australia and Ireland tighten online ID

Similar moves are underway in other countries. Australia’s eSafety commissioner registered an industry code requiring major search engines to implement age assurance technologies for logged‑in users, with the rules taking effect on Dec. 27, 2025.

Providers such as Google and Microsoft now have to verify users’ ages using methods ranging from government IDs and biometrics to credit card checks, and apply the highest default safety filters to accounts identified as likely under 18.

Ireland, meanwhile, plans to use its upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2026 to push for identity-verified social media accounts across the bloc. 

In the UK, these developments coincided this week with a government decision to abandon plans for a single centralized digital ID system for right‑to‑work checks, which would have become mandatory in 2029. 

Implications for crypto KYC

Crypto exchanges and trading apps remain subject to existing Know Your Customer (KYC) and biometric verification rules, including checks that typically involve government ID uploads and live selfies or facial scans to verify users’ identities.

Policymakers’ focus on age and identity assurance in social media, search, and other consumer services suggests that similar verification technologies are increasingly being explored and deployed outside financial use cases.

Litreev commented, “If a government sells you something ‘for the sake of safety,’ it’s sure as hell not about safety in any way or form.”

Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 07:00

Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures:

• Is This Billionaire a Financial Genius or a Fraudster? Michael Saylor’s financial alchemy thrust an ordinary software company, Strategy, into the center of the crypto frenzy. It all worked spectacularly, until now. (New York Times)

• Banana Republicanism: A criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will test whether Republican loyalty to the president has any limits. (The Atlantic) see also The Jerome Powell Clusterfuck Is a Clusterfuck of Pam Bondi’s Own Making: More problematic for the adminstration, a number of Republican members of Congress — starting with some of the usual rebels, like Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski (who described in a Tweet that she had spoken with Powell). (emptywheel)

• True Patriots Are Cashing In on the Apocalypse: How two big names in mainstream disaster preparedness helped sell Americans on fear, anxiety, and a new generator. (Wired)

• Grok Is Generating Sexual Content Far More Graphic Than What’s on X: A review of outputs hosted on Grok’s official website shows it’s being used to create violent sexual images and videos, as well as content that includes apparent minors. (Wired) see also These companies advertised on X as Grok produced sexualized images of kids: At least 37 major companies were advertising on the platform this week, a Popular Information investigation reveals. (Popular Information)

• Xi Welcomes Stream of Leaders Shaken by Tariff’s New World Order: President Xi Jinping is welcoming a procession of leaders looking to mend fences with China. The visits come after Donald Trump sealed a tariff truce with China, and leaders are eager to engage with Xi so they aren’t sidelined by US-China maneuvering. Foreign leaders are also visiting Beijing to discuss trade and secure access to critical minerals, such as rare earths, with China being the dominant global supplier. So much stupid… (Bloomberg free)

• ‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid. Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activities on the ground. (404)

• The Purged: The destruction of the civil service is a tragedy not just for the roughly 300,000 workers who have been discarded, but for an entire nation. (The Atlantic)

• Chinese Universities Surge in Global Rankings as U.S. Schools Slip:  Harvard still dominates, though it fell to No. 3 on a list measuring academic output. Other American universities are falling farther behind their global peers. (New York Times)

• *Another* U.S. Attorney Disqualified After Failing The ‘Actually Appointed’ Test You can’t just vibe your way into being a U.S. Attorney… (Dealbreaker) see also ‘Superstar’ Appellate Judges Have Voted 133 to 12 in Trump’s Favor: President Trump promised to fill the appeals courts with “my judges.” They have formed a nearly united phalanx to defend his agenda from legal challenges. Destroying the Rule of Law one incomeptent jurist at a toiem. (New York Times)

• Samoans: Americans by Name, Punished for Believing It: In a small Alaska town, American Samoans face prosecution for voting in the only country they’ve ever known. They live in a limbo, created by colonial expansion, that now confuses even public officials—and has made them a new target for policing voter fraud. (Bolts)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Nobel laureate Richard Thaler and his University of Chicago Booth School colleague Alex Imas on the update and reissue of his classic book The Winner’s Curse.

 

Congress struggled to pass laws – the second fewest enacted in over a century

Source: Bruce Mehlman’s Age of Disruption

 

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~~~

To learn how these reads are assembled each day, please see this.

 

The post 10 Sunday Reads appeared first on The Big Picture.

Peter Schiff: Printing Money Is Not the Cure for Cononavirus



In his most recent podcast, Peter Schiff talked about coronavirus and the impact that it is having on the markets. Earlier this month, Peter said he thought the virus was just an excuse for stock market woes. At the time he believed the market was poised to fall anyway. But as it turns out, coronavirus has actually helped the US stock market because it has led central banks to pump even more liquidity into the world financial system. All this means more liquidity — central banks easing. In fact, that is exactly what has already happened, except the new easing is taking place, for now, outside the United States, particularly in China.” Although the new money is primarily being created in China, it is flowing into dollars — the dollar index is up — and into US stocks. Last week, US stock markets once again made all-time record highs. In fact, I think but for the coronavirus, the US stock market would still be selling off. But because of the central bank stimulus that has been the result of fears over the coronavirus, that actually benefitted not only the US dollar, but the US stock market.” In the midst of all this, Peter raises a really good question. The primary economic concern is that coronavirus will slow down output and ultimately stunt economic growth. Practically speaking, the world would produce less stuff. If the virus continues to spread, there would be fewer goods and services produced in a market that is hunkered down. Why would the Federal Reserve respond, or why would any central bank respond to that by printing money? How does printing more money solve that problem? It doesn’t. In fact, it actually exacerbates it. But you know, everybody looks at central bankers as if they’ve got the solution to every problem. They don’t. They don’t have the magic wand. They just have a printing press. And all that creates is inflation.” Sometimes the illusion inflation creates can look like a magic wand. Printing money can paper over problems. But none of this is going to fundamentally fix the economy. In fact, if central bankers were really going to do the right thing, the appropriate response would be to drain liquidity from the markets, not supply even more.” Peter explained how the Fed was originally intended to create an “elastic” money supply that would expand or contract along with economic output. Today, the money supply only goes in one direction — that’s up. The economy is strong, print money. The economy is weak, print even more money.” Of course, the asset that’s doing the best right now is gold. The yellow metal pushed above $1,600 yesterday. Gold is up 5.5% on the year in dollar terms and has set record highs in other currencies. Because gold is rising even in an environment where the dollar is strengthening against other fiat currencies, that shows you that there is an underlying weakness in the dollar that is right now not being reflected in the Forex markets, but is being reflected in the gold markets. Because after all, why are people buying gold more aggressively than they’re buying dollars or more aggressively than they’re buying US Treasuries? Because they know that things are not as good for the dollar or the US economy as everybody likes to believe. So, more people are seeking out refuge in a better safe-haven and that is gold.” Peter also talked about the debate between Trump and Obama over who gets credit for the booming economy – which of course, is not booming.

We are living in crazy times. I have a hard time believing that most of the general public is not awake, but in reality, they are. We've never seen anything like this; I mean not even under Obama during the worst part of the Great Recession." Now the Fed is desperately trying to keep interest rates from rising. The problem is that it's a much bigger debt bubble this time around , and the Fed is going to have to blow a lot more air into it to keep it inflated. The difference is this time it's not going to work." It looks like the Fed did another $104.15 billion of Not Q.E. in a single day. The Fed claims it's only temporary. But that is precisely what Bernanke claimed when the Fed started QE1. Milton Freedman once said, "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program." The same applies to Q.E., or whatever the Fed wants to pretend it's doing. Except this is not QE4, according to Powell. Right. Pumping so much money out, and they are accusing China of currency manipulation ? Wow! Seriously! Amazing! Dump the U.S. dollar while you still have a chance. Welcome to The Atlantis Report. And it is even worse than that, In addition to the $104.15 billion of "Not Q.E." this past Thursday; the FED added another $56.65 billion in liquidity to financial markets the next day on Friday. That's $160.8 billion in two days!!!! in just 48 hours. That is more than 2 TIMES the highest amount the FED has ever injected on a monthly basis under a Q.E. program (which was $80 billion per month) Since this isn't QE....it will be really scary on what they are going to call Q.E. Will it twice, three times, four times, five times what this injection per month ! It is going to be explosive since it takes about 60 to 90 days for prices to react to this, January should see significant inflation as prices soak up the excess liquidity. The question is, where will the inflation occur first . The spike in the repo rate might have a technical explanation: a misjudgment was made in the Fed's money market operations. Even so, two conclusions can be drawn: managing the money markets is becoming harder, and from now on, banks will be studying each other's creditworthiness to a greater degree than before. Those people, who struggle with the minutiae of money markets, and that includes most professionals, should focus on the causes and not the symptoms. Financial markets have recovered from each downturn since 1980 because interest rates have been cut to new lows. Post-2008, they were cut to near zero or below zero in all major economies. In response to a new financial crisis, they cannot go any lower. Central banks will look for new ways to replicate or broaden Q.E. (At some point, governments will simply see repression as an easier option). Then there is the problem of 'risk-free' assets becoming risky assets. Financial markets assume that the probability of major governments such as the U.S. or U.K. defaulting is zero. These governments are entering the next downturn with debt roughly twice the levels proportionate to GDP that was seen in 2008. The belief that the policy worked was completely predicated on the fact that it was temporary and that it was reversible, that the Fed was going to be able to normalize interest rates and shrink its balance sheet back down to pre-crisis levels. Well, when the balance sheet is five-trillion, six-trillion, seven-trillion when we're back at zero, when we're back in a recession, nobody is going to believe it is temporary. Nobody is going to believe that the Fed has this under control, that they can reverse this policy. And the dollar is going to crash. And when the dollar crashes, it's going to take the bond market with it, and we're going to have stagflation. We're going to have a deep recession with rising interest rates, and this whole thing is going to come imploding down. everything is temporary with the fed including remaining off the gold standard temporary in the Fed's eyes could mean at least 50 years This liquidity problem is a signal that trading desks are loaded up on inventory and can't get rid of it. Repo is done out of a need for cash. If you own all of your securities (i.e., a long-only, no leverage mutual fund) you have no need to "repo" your securities - you're earning interest every night so why would you want to 'repo' your securities where you are paying interest for that overnight loan (securities lending is another animal). So, it is those that 'lever-up' and need the cash for settlement purposes on securities they've bought with borrowed money that needs to utilize the repo desk. With this in mind, as we continue to see this need to obtain cash (again, needed to settle other securities purchases), it shows these firms don't have the capital to add more inventory to, what appears to be, a bloated inventory. Now comes the fun part: the Treasury is about to auction 3's, 10's, and 30-year bonds. If I am correct (again, I could be wrong), the Fed realizes securities firms don't have the shelf space to take down a good portion of these auctions. If there isn't enough retail/institutional demand, it will lead to not only a crappy sale but major concerns to the street that there is now no backstop, at all, to any sell-off. At which point, everyone will want to be the first one through the door and sell immediately, but to whom? If there isn't enough liquidity in the repo market to finance their positions, the firms would be unable to increase their inventory. We all saw repo shut down on the 2008 crisis. Wall St runs on money. . OVERNIGHT money. They lever up to inventory securities for trading. If they can't get overnight money, they can't purchase securities. And if they can't unload what they have, it means the buy-side isn't taking on more either. Accounts settle overnight. This includes things like payrolls and bill pay settlements. If a bank doesn't have enough cash to payout what its customers need to pay out, it borrows. At least one and probably more than one banks are insolvent. That's what's going on. First, it can't be one or two banks that are short. They'd simply call around until they found someone to lend. But they did that, and even at markedly elevated rates, still, NO ONE would lend them the money. That tells me that it's not a problem of a couple of borrowers, it's a problem of no lenders. And that means that there's no bank in the world left with any real liquidity. They are ALL maxed out. But as bad as that is, and that alone could be catastrophic, what it really signals is even worse. The lending rates are just the flip side of the coin of the value of the assets lent against. If the rates go up, the value goes down. And with rates spiking to 10%, how far does the value fall? Enormously! And if banks had to actually mark down the value of the assets to reflect 10% interest rates, then my god, every bank in the world is insolvent overnight. Everyone's capital ratios are in the toilet, and they'd have to liquidate. We're talking about the simultaneous insolvency of every bank on the planet. Bank runs. No money in ATMs, Branches closed. Safe deposit boxes confiscated. The whole nine yards, It's actually here. The scenario has tended to guide toward for years and years is actually happening RIGHT NOW! And people are still trying to say it's under control. Every bank in the world is currently insolvent. The only thing keeping it going is printing billions of dollars every day. Financial Armageddon isn't some far off future risk. It's here. Prepare accordingly. This fiat system has reached the end of the line, and it's not correct that fiat currencies fail by design. The problem is corruption and manipulation. It is corruption and cheating that erodes trust and faith until the entire system becomes a gigantic fraud. Banks and governments everywhere ARE the problem and simply have to be removed. They have lost all trust and respect, and all they have left is war and mayhem. As long as we continue to have a majority of braindead asleep imbeciles following orders from these psychopaths, nothing will change. Fiat currency is not just thievery. Fiat currency is SLAVERY. Ultimately the most harmful effect of using debt of undefined value as money (i.e., fiat currencies) is the de facto legalization of a caste system based on voluntary slavery. The bankers have a charter, or the legal *right*, to create money out of nothing. You, you don't. Therefore you and the bankers do not have the same standing before the law. The law of the land says that you will go to jail if you do the same thing (creating money out of thin air) that the banker does in full legality. You and the banker are not equal before the law. ALL the countries of the world; Islamic or secular, Jewish or Arab, democracy or dictatorship; all of them place the bankers ABOVE you. And all of you accept that only whining about fiat money going down in exchange value over time (price inflation which is not the same as monetary inflation). Actually, price inflation itself is mainly due to the greed and stupidity of the bankers who could keep fiat money's exchange value reasonably stable, only if they wanted to. Witness the crash of silver and gold prices which the bankers of the world; Russian, American, Chinese, Jewish, Indian, Arab, all of them collaborated to engineer through the suppression and stagnation of precious metals' prices to levels around the metals' production costs, or what it costs to dig gold and silver out of the ground. The bankers of the world could also collaborate to keep nominal prices steady (as they do in the case of the suppression of precious metals prices). After all, the ability to create fiat money and force its usage is a far more excellent source of power and wealth than that which is afforded simply by stealing it through inflation. The bankers' greed and stupidity blind them to this fact. They want it all, and they want it now. In conclusion, The bankers can create money out of nothing and buy your goods and services with this worthless fiat money, effectively for free. You, you can't. You, you have to lead miserable existences for the most of you and WORK in order to obtain that effectively nonexistent, worthless credit money (whose purchasing/exchange value is not even DEFINED thus rendering all contracts based on the null and void!) that the banker effortlessly creates out of thin air with a few strokes of the computer keyboard, and which he doesn't even bother to print on paper anymore, electing to keep it in its pure quantum uncertain form instead, as electrons whizzing about inside computer chips which will become mute and turn silent refusing to tell you how many fiat dollars or euros there are in which account, in the absence of electricity. No electricity, no fiat, nor crypto money. It would appear that trust is deteriorating as it did when Lehman blew up . Something really big happened that set off this chain reaction in the repo markets. Whatever that something is, we aren't be informed. They're trying to cover it up, paper it over with conjured cash injections, play it cool in front of the cameras while sweating profusely under the 5 thousands dollar suits. I'm guessing that the final high-speed plunge into global economic collapse has begun. All we see here is the ripples and whitewater churning the surface, but beneath the surface, there is an enormous beast thrashing desperately in its death throws. Now is probably the time to start tying up loose ends with the long-running prep projects, just saying. In other words, prepare accordingly, and Get your money out of the banks. I don't care if you don't believe me about Bitcoin. Get your money out of the banks. Don't keep any more money in a bank than you need to pay your bills and can afford to lose.











The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more













The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more

The FBI released a summary of its file from the Hillary Clinton email investigation on Friday, showing details of Clinton's explanation of her use of a private email server to handle classified communications. The release comes nearly two months after FBI Director James Comey announced that although Clinton's handling of classified information was "extremely careless," it did not rise to the level of a prosecutable offense. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the next day that she would not pursue charges in the matter. "We are making these materials available to the public in the interest of transparency and in response to numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests," the FBI noted in a statement sent to reporters with links to the documents. The documents include notes from Clinton's July 2 interview with agents, as well as a "factual summary of the FBI's investigation into this matter," according to the FBI release. Throughout her interview with agents, Clinton repeatedly said she relied on the career professionals she worked with to handle classified information correctly. The agents asked about a series of specific emails, and in each case Clinton said she wasn't worried about the particular material being discussed on a nonclassified channel.