Despite the positives of cheaper oil, a weaker yen currency, and zero interest rates, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index plunged -3.02% in overnight trading. Over the last 25 years, Japan has become the world’s most indebted nation and its stock market has lost 70.4% of value as the nation is literally beginning to die out in a demographic implosion.
China’s Operation “Fox Hunt” just secured the cooperation of the American government to expropriate hundreds of billions of assets from corrupt former Chinese officials and business executives who moved to the United States thinking they escaped from the reach of the Communist Party.
With American naval dominance facing its first major challenge in almost 70 years as China strives to become the world’s leader in offensive drone technology, the United States has tested and deployed the world’s first operational laser weapon.
One of the drivers for oil falling to $50 a barrel is the fact that the world is entering the Golden Age of Natural Gas. Although oil is the primary energy source for transportation, natural gas is the most efficient low-carbon energy source for electricity, industrial production, and home heating. With the U.S. price of natural gas about 30% of the cost in Asia, huge specialized ships will soon be transporting LNG from the U.S. to displace a large percentage of diesel oil used for electrical generation and transportation in Asia.
Consumer Electronics Show 2015 opened Monday morning in Las Vegas to throngs of the digerati hoping to get a peek at the latest technology trends and styles. Unlike shows in the past that featured connected gadgets and media, this year’s focus seems to be on the automobile as the ultimate connected consumer electronics platform.
By the early response, the best mobile “phablet” phone of CES 2015 is the beautifully updated LG G Flex 2. The LG G Flex last year was big and featured a curved display technology with a somewhat dim screen. However, this year’s update fits in the hand better and uses its curve to dramatically improve screen appeal and phone durability.
Despite all the pain Americans suffered from sub-prime lending, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Community Redevelopment Act (CRA) are once again pushing low-income people with little or financial cushion into dicey mortgage loans.
Although Northern California is at 140% average rainfall so far this year, the state is still in the equivalent of one of its worst droughts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently downgraded its estimated probability of El Niño torrential rains developing this winter to approximately 65%.
AAA estimates U.S. households in 2014 saved an average of $115 on gasoline compared to last year, with the majority of that savings coming during the price collapse that sent the national price down to an annual low of $2.26 on the last day of the year. Gasoline prices have continuously fallen every day for an all-time record of 97 days. The last time America saw such a low average national price was on May 12, 2009.
It has been over 14 years since the NASDAQ index touched an all-time high of 5132.52 on March 10, 2000, signaling the end of the “dot-com” boom. By closing today at 4,726.81, the tech-heavy, over-the-counter stock exchange is only 6.2% from topping the previous record high.
The California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) plan to offer cap and trade offset credits to California rice farmers to change the way they farm is like chumming fish. The government’s upfront offer of cash is a scam to encourage rice farmers to invite bureaucrats into their business. CARB will undoubtedly later change the farming rules by mandating the type of severe regulations that will strangle rural community success.
Despite falling from $286.04 to $222.41 since September, Tesla Motors, Inc. stock is still rated by 13 Wall Street analysts as a buy, and only one doubting Thomas rates the company “underperform.” But facing a collapse in gas prices that is undermining the advantage of electric cars, Tesla is promising big performance improvement to stem any customer defections.
Mayor Eric Garcetti and Council members Mike Bonin, Curren Price, Gil Cedillo and Nury Martinez have relished the political limelight for proposing that City of Los Angeles mandate a minimum wage of $13.25 per hour by 2017 and $15.25 by 2019. But
The Great California Train Robbery is moving into full gear after nine foreign bidders responded with “expressions of interest” in building a fleet of electric trains for a proposed high-speed rail system. Perhaps best for California politicians is that there
In response to an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit and the filing of a Freedom of Information Act request, on Christmas Eve, the National Security Agency (NSA) released 12 years of “compliance error” reports that detail its agency’s failures to comply with U.S. law since the 2001 start of the War on Terror. Although the reports are heavily redacted, the sheer volume of supposed “errors” is stunning
On Dec. 26, Tesla previewed its next generation of Sports Roadster that will feature up to a 50% improvement in charge range. Tesla claims that design refinements and a 31% increase in energy storage will allow the Roadster 3.0 to drive easily from San Francisco to Los Angeles on a single charge. Tesla has not set a release date or pricing at this time.
Sony Pictures Entertainment’s The Interview debuted on Christmas Eve at number 1 on YouTube Movies, Google Play, and Microsoft’s Xbox Video. With horrible reviews, the movie would have been a financial dud if the Sony hack never happened. Sony will recover about half its investment by moving the first release of The Interview directly to Internet distribution. But the Google’s savvy move may revolutionize movie industry distribution and doom the theater chains that refused to screen the movie.
With ISIS continuing to hold the upper hand in Syria and Iraq, it appears that the terrorist network is planning what military strategists call a pincer movement to attack the Israeli homeland from the north and south. Three Syrian rebel groups switched loyalties to gain ISIS support for attacks on the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, according to a report by the Fiscal Times. ISIS is now able to coordinate with Egyptian ISIS-aligned terror group Ansar Bait al-Maqdis in Sinai to simultaneously pressure Israel’s northern and southern borders.
One Hundred years ago the Christmas Truce of 1914 was a spontaneous cease fire and day of Christian Brotherhood for both sides of the No Man’s Land along the Western Front. The event was kept secret by senior military officers and government censors as an embarrassing breakdown in military discipline.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is expected to release its first drone use regulation for commercial drones weighing less than 55 pounds by December 31. The U.S. pioneered drones to the world as disposable machines of war. Unmanned aircraft now film movies, inspect remote portions of the electrical grid, and herd cattle.
According to Vegas and online odds-makers, Los Angeles is heavily favored to be selected by the U.S. Olympic Organizing Committee to represent the U.S. bid for the for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The bottom line is that L.A. has the facilities, Hollywood, and weather that make for the secret sauce of profitability for international events.
Apple Inc. has triumphed with a decidedly left wing political agenda. CEO Tim Cook’s 2012 election support got him a seat next to Michelle Obama for President Obama’s 2013 State of the Union address. After Apple dethroned Coca Cola to
Barack Obama tried to sound presidential in his remarks regarding the United States normalizing relations with Cuba. But the real impact to most Americans will be a whole new wave of outsourcing of U.S. jobs to another communist “worker’s paradise.”
The wild ride for American Apparel founder and CEO and 27% shareholder, Dov Charney, came to an end with his termination by the public company’s Board of Directors for “cause.” Charney was suspended on June 18 due to alleged work-related
With the Federal Reserve beginning a two-day meeting to consider raising interest rates and strengthening the U.S. dollar, all hell broke out in financial markets as emerging-market stocks plummeted to a ten-month lows, the Russian ruble gyrated by 36% before
New Yorker Magazine declares “The Winner of the Spending-Bill Vote: Jamie Dimon” after last week’s personal lobbying of Congress by the JPMorgan Chase CEO helped push through a $1.1 trillion spending bill that also eliminated restrictions on banks using taxpayer
Reports that eBay may lay off three thousand employees in preparation for its spin-off of PayPal should come as no surprise. For the last two years, the hot tech stock market eBay’s has gone went sideways. Despite its PayPal subsidiary
Tesla was riding high in March when it raised $1.6 billion in a convertible bond sale to help fund its $5 billion Gigafactory designed to produce batteries for 500,000 electric cars per year. But with oil prices cut in half this
Fridays’ 300 point plunge (-1.62%) for the Dow Jones stock index capped off a -3.52% weekly slump for U.S. stocks; the worst decline since May 2012. The week before, traders were celebrating a “Santa Clause Rally“ that took U.S Standard
Conservative think tank Americans for Prosperity (AFP), co-founded by principals of Koch Industries, sued in federal court to prevent ultra-liberal California Attorney General Kamala Harris from using her office to disclose the names and addresses of their 90,000 donors. Harris
Reverend Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow PUSH road show flew into Silicon Valley this week to chastise top tech corporations for being overly white and Asian males. Jackson, who was hosted by Intel Corporation at their Santa Clara campus, lectured
Politicians share many of the same skills as magicians. They both use psychological misdirection by making big gestures to distract and fixate spectators, while quietly performing their tricks. A good example of this is the House and Senate agreeing to
After losing a 21-to-26 squeaker to the Green Bay Packers, Coach Bill Belichick demanded his New England Patriots make the ultimate sacrifice and fly directly from Wisconsin to California for a week of practice in preparation for Sunday night’s game
After it was learned the U.S. Federal Reserve has dumped 6% of its humongous bond portfolio in the last 90 days and The Wall Street Journal reported the Fed for the first time since December 2008 may stop assuring investors
Despite a plethora of naysayers who doubt the U.S. economy is really gaining steam, the Federal Reserve is positioning its own investments for higher inflation and rising interest rates. As I predicted in August, once the Fed’s balance sheet peaked at just
The inmates at San Quentin are often highly intelligent–and usually sociopathic. Due to its racial and gang related violence, the residents refer to California’s oldest prison as “The Arena.” But aided by 4,000 volunteers, many prisoners try to improve themselves
December 6, 2014 marks the twenty-year anniversary of Orange County filing for bankruptcy. For 18 years, Orange County Treasurer Robert “Bob” Citron had been a municipal government legend for producing investment returns rates that were consistently double bank CD rates.
There was a flurry of negative stories that online sales momentum is falling after IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark reported Cyber Monday evening that sales only rose 8.5%, compared to 20% the prior year. But IBM, as a 9-to-5 corporation that
This week, State Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) formally requested that Governor Jerry Brown impose a moratorium on oil trains after a Union Pacific freight train carrying grain derailed along the Feather River in Northern California last week. Yet with California the
Nineteenth century military genius Carl von Clausewitz coined the phrase: “War is a mere continuation of politics by other means.” In his day, the number of wars was limited by the time and expense to organize large armies and then march
