Thursday 19 June 2014

Headlines

## Global Ponzi meltdown/House of Cards ##
Major Chinese consumer electronics maker Haier Group plans to cut 10,000 jobs, or about 14% of its 70,000-strong workforce, by the end of this year, it was learned on Monday.
Cut, baby, cut! -- RF
We're definitely going to get a "new world economic order." It's just not the one everybody is hoping for. -- RF
Argentina's president is refusing to go along with a U.S. judge's ruling requiring a $1.5 billion repayment of defaulted bonds, even though the U.S. Supreme Court rejected her government's appeals and left the order in place.

## Airline Death Spiral ##

## Fault lines/flashpoints/powder kegs/military/war drums ##
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), now threatening Baghdad, was funded for years by wealthy donors in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, three U.S. allies that have dual agendas in the war on terror.
Islamic militants Tuesday attacked areas in central Baqouba, a city just 30 miles northeast of Iraq's capital Baghdad, but were pushed back by security forces and tribal fighters.
Despite the Obama Administration considering direct security talks with Iran on the worsening situation in Iraq, the Pentagon insists that there will be no coordinated military action with Iran.
Report says China held 250 warheads, India between 90 and 110, Pakistan between 100 and 120 and Israel 80 at the beginning of 2014

## Energy/resources ##
What we'll run out of is affordable oil. -- RF
BP will sign a deal worth around $20 billion on Tuesday to supply China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) with liquefied natural gas (LNG), Chief Executive Bob Dudley said at a conference in Moscow.

## Got food? ##

## Environment/health ##
Four years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, marine researchers are finding that the waters and shores of the Gulf of Mexico have not recovered as well as many may have thought. Oil in the form of “sand patties” continues to wash up along the coast, and an abundant breed of one fish exposed to the oil is showing signs of swimming impairment.

## Intelligence/propaganda/security/internet/cyberwar ##
A growing number of companies are under pressure to protect sensitive data — and not just from hackers lurking outside the digital walls. They're also looking to protect it from insiders — employees who may want to swipe information such as customer bank account numbers or electronic medical records.
AT&T confirmed attackers have compromised the security of a number of its Mobility wireless unit members. Outside attackers, allegedly employees of one of AT&T's service providers, stole personal information including Social Security numbers and call records.

## Systemic breakdown/collapse/unsustainability ##

## Japan ##
Japan’s government is considering changing the law so public pension payments fall every year relative to consumer prices, regardless of whether prices go up or down — possibly the boldest measure yet to get mounting pension spending under control.

## China ##
The Chinese corporate bond market has overtaken the United States as the world's biggest and is set to soak up a third of global company debt needs over the next five years, according to rating agency Standard & Poor's, underscoring the growing risk China's debt market is imposing on the global financial system.

## UK ##

## US ##
A Detroit agency replaces 100 broken street lights each day using borrowed money in a plan to brighten neighborhoods where darkness breeds crime and fear.

And finally...

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