Banks Are Great, ISIS Is Contained, and New York Is Living the High Life

Largest US Banks to Raise $120B Needed Capital

Seven years after the crisis and billions in bonuses later, large US banks are being asked to raise $120 billion in capital. Regulators were forced into it. The $120 billion is the result after banks pushed back a higher number, and I believe this number will be pushed back even more in future, since banks are fighting tooth and nail. ZIRP is a massive gift at the expense of taxpayers and savers. So will the Fed raise rates? We’ll see. If banks have their way, and so far they always do, NIRP will be next.

Nearly Seventy Were Arrested in the USA Over ISIS Plots, Including Some “Refugees.” Many More to Come.

This is just the beginning. I don’t think that bombing, killing innocents, and destroying the property of innocents will solve anything. Hitting hard targets will. But that takes on-the-ground intelligence: background checks, a large team with various language skills and cultural savvy to investigate. The USA lacks the resources. That’s why the “refugee” policy is so reckless, and the Middle East “strategy” is so muddled.

Unveiled Threat: A Personal Experience of Fundamentalist Islam and the Roots of Terrorism was just released as an audio book on Audible, iTunes, and Amazon. Read a free excerpt.

The “High” Life

In the 60s, a typical business lunch included steak, and a couple of scotches followed by chocolate ice cream. How quaint. Today, hiring hookers who bring drugs, hormones and/or steroids is considered chic. What does the news that Charlie Sheen has HIV mean for Wall Street? Well, he used the same prostitution networks as some boldface Wall Street names.

Here’s a brief risk assessment (besides from the activity that first springs to mind): repackaged blood-contaminated syringes (the help has to make a profit!) to prepare drugs or other injections, “reusing water, reusing bottle caps, spoons, or other containers (‘cookers’) to dissolve drugs into water and to heat drugs solutions, reusing small pieces of cotton or cigarette filters (‘cottons’) to filter out particles that could block the needle.”

How chic does that look now?

Decisions: Life and Death on Wall Street is now available as an audio book on Audible, iTunes, and Amazon. Read a free excerpt.

What do these things have in common?

Daily media spin and PR paint a thin veneer of glitz over the rot we are being fed by regulators, banks, government, “stars” and “role models.” False narratives abound, and a steady gaze reveals the truth.

Now for Something Completely Different

The main stream media isn’t supposed to gaslight you, but it often does. That’s why I sometimes switch off and appreciate entertainment that doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is: junk food for the brain. Do you watch The Walking Dead? Are you curious about Glenn’s fate? I may have unearthed a clue that no one else has reported. Read my “spoiler.”