AHEAD OF POTENTIAL NEW TERROR METHODS. TOM COSTELLO HAS
DETAILS. >> Reporter: THE NEW SECURITY STEPS BEING
PHASED IN THIS SUMMER WILL AFFECT 2,000 FLIGHTS EVERY DAY
COMING FROM 105 COUNTRIES. EVERY FLIGHT TO THE
U.S. FROM ABROAD. THE NEW PROCEDURES COULD INCLUDE MORE
THOROUGH CARRY-ON BAG CHECKS, MORE BOMB-SNIFFING DOGS,
MORE SWABBING FOR EXPLOSIVES AND EVENTUALLY NEXT
GENERATION BAG SCREENING TECHNOLOGY. >> UNLESS WE ALL RAISE
OUR SECURITY STANDARDS, TERRORISTS WHO SEE COMMERCIAL
AVIATION AS THE GREATEST TAKEDOWN, WILL FIND AND ATTACK
THE WEAKEST LINK. >> Reporter: THE NEW MEASURES COME AFTER
U.S. INTELLIGENCE DETERMINED ISIS HAS FOUND A WAY TO SMUGGLE
EXPLOSIVES INTO LAPTOP COMPUTERS. SINCE MARCH,
PASSENGERS COMING FROM TEN MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICAN AIRPORTS HAVE
BEEN REQUIRED TO BAG CHECK ANY ELECTRONIC DEVICE LARGER THAN A
CELL PHONE. THE U.S. SUGGESTED IT WOULD EXPAND THE BAN
TO ALL FLIGHTS GLOBALLY, BUT AIRLINES, FOREIGN
GOVERNMENTS AND FREQUENT FLYERS ALL COMPLAINED.
>> OFFICIALS ALWAYS HAVE TO BALANCE THE SECURITY BASED ON THE
INTELLIGENCE ISSUES THEY SEE WITH THE INCONVENIENCE THAT
THIS WILL CAUSE AIRLINES AND TRAVELERS.
>> Reporter: NOW, IF ANY AIRLINE DOESN'T MEET THE NEW
REQUIREMENTS, HOMELAND SECURITY COULD BAN ITS FLIGHTS OR BAN ALL
PERSONAL ELECTRONICS LARGER THAN A CELL PHONE.
FOR SMALLER AIRLINES AND COUNTRIES, A POTENTIALLY EXPENSIVE
CHALLENGE. >> IT WILL CAUSE A BURDEN ON THESE
AIRPORTS. THE BEST I COULD SAY IS THAT HOPEFULLY THE
TSA AND DHS ARE OUT THERE TALKING TO THESE GOVERNMENTS TRYING TO
COME UP WITH A STRATEGY TO MITIGATE THIS.
>> Reporter: IN PHOENIX, AMERICAN AIRLINES AND THE TSA
ARE ALREADY TESTING ADVANCED 3-D SCANNERS TO MORE THOROUGHLY
SCREEN CARRY-ON BAGS. THE KIND OF TECHNOLOGY THAT COULD BE
EVENTUALLY INTRODUCED OVERSEAS. 325,000 PEOPLE COME
INTO THE U.S. EVERY DAY. NOW, JUST IN, LATE
WORD FROM THE AIRLINES. THEY SAY THERE WASN'T
ENOUGH COLLABORATION WITH THEM ON THIS ISSUE.
THEY SAY THEY PREFER MAINTAINING A
For more infomation >> U.S. Announces Changes To Security Screening For Flights To The U.S. | NBC Nightly News - Duration: 2:15.-------------------------------------------
South Korean President Moon kicks off U.S. visit by emphasizing blood alliance - Duration: 3:42.
Our starting point is the South Korean president's first trip to the U.S.
His first foreign visit as the nation's leader in fact.
Shortly after landing he placed strong emphasis on the two side's alliance.. forged during
the Korean War.
Let's begin with our Moon Connyoung in DC.
It's the South Korean president's first overseas trip since sweeping to power in May.
As soon as Air Force One touched down at Joint Base Andrews nearby Washington D.C., President
Moon Jae-in began his "official working visit" on an emotional note.
He headed to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico... to lay a wreath at a
memorial of a 1950 Korean War battle... in honor of the U.S. Marines who helped evacuate
to safety 90-thousan Korean civilians.
The president's own parents were among them.
"As such, South Korea, U.S. alliance was forged by shedding blood in times of war.
It is not a promise made by a few signatures on paper.///As it is to my own life, the South
Korea, U.S. alliance is strongly bound to the lives of every person in both countries.
This is why I do not doubt the future of the alliance.///South Korea, U.S. alliance will
grow to become even greater and stronger."
Based on that ironclad, blood alliance, the South Korean leader together with President
Donald Trump hopes to seek various ways to deal with North Korea's nuclear issue.
That message was loud and clear as he spoke to the presidential press corps on Air Force
One on his way to the U.S. capital.
"Regardless, there is a need for us to start dialogue with North Korea.
The question is what are the preconditions for dialogue.
These are issues that South Korea and the U.S. must closely discuss from here on forth.
I believe a diverse range of ideas will emerge during these disussions.
The two sides must be able to openly share these ideas with each other."
A senior White House official echoed the view... saying Mr. Trump was interested in hearing
Mr. Moon's ideas for potential engagement... quelling concerns that the two leaders will
tangle when they meet for a bilateral summit on Thursday, local time.
What's also caught President Trump's eye is what he perceives as "trade imbalance" between
the two countries on which he said he will have a "friendly and frank" discussion with
President Moon.
On this as well, President Moon is sure he can talk it out with his U.S. counterpart...
as trade volume between the two countries saw an increase while global trade took a
plunge.
"South Korea, U.S. FTA benefits both countries in trade volume.
But, if we find that there is room for improvement and development, we can and should discuss
this as well."
FTA .)
"A plethora of pressing problems loom over the two presidents' first face-to-face at
the White House, Thursday evening... but President Moon and his team say... this trip isn't about
drawing immediate results.
Rather, they will focus on building trust and rapport between the two leaders who appear
to be on opposite ends of the spectrum in style and character.
Will Presidents Moon and Trump get along?
Will they hit it off?
That, we'll find out in the next few days here in the American capital.
Moon Connyoung, Arirang news, Washington."
-------------------------------------------
Former Oakland goalie helps Cincinnati to upset win in U.S. Open Cup - Duration: 0:24.
TODAY IN A 4-YEAR CRACK OVER
$4 MILLION A SEASON -- CONTRACT
OVER $4 MILLION A SEASO
>>> HILDEBRAND PUTTING ON A
SHOW TONIGHT.
PENALTY KICKS, ONE
SAVE TO WIN IT, GETS IT!
>> WHOA!
-------------------------------------------
U.S :Unveils enhanced airline security plan to avoid laptop ban - Duration: 5:04.
For more infomation >> U.S :Unveils enhanced airline security plan to avoid laptop ban - Duration: 5:04. -------------------------------------------
South Korean President Moon kicks off U.S. visit by emphasizing blood alliance - Duration: 3:42.
We begin with the South Korean president's maiden trip to the U.S.
His first foreign visit as the nation's leader in fact.
Shortly after landing he placed strong emphasis on the two side's alliance.. forged during
the Korean War.
Moon Connyoung in DC starts us off.
It's the South Korean president's first overseas trip since sweeping to power in May.
As soon as Air Force One touched down at Joint Base Andrews nearby Washington D.C., President
Moon Jae-in began his "official working visit" on an emotional note.
He headed to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico... to lay a wreath at a
memorial of a 1950 Korean War battle... in honor of the U.S. Marines who helped evacuate
to safety 90-thousan Korean civilians.
The president's own parents were among them.
"As such, South Korea, U.S. alliance was forged by shedding blood in times of war.
It is not a promise made by a few signatures on paper.///As it is to my own life, the South
Korea, U.S. alliance is strongly bound to the lives of every person in both countries.
This is why I do not doubt the future of the alliance.///South Korea, U.S. alliance will
grow to become even greater and stronger."
Based on that ironclad, blood alliance, the South Korean leader together with President
Donald Trump hopes to seek various ways to deal with North Korea's nuclear issue.
That message was loud and clear as he spoke to the presidential press corps on Air Force
One on his way to the U.S. capital.
"Regardless, there is a need for us to start dialogue with North Korea.
The question is what are the preconditions for dialogue.
These are issues that South Korea and the U.S. must closely discuss from here on forth.
I believe a diverse range of ideas will emerge during these disussions.
The two sides must be able to openly share these ideas with each other."
A senior White House official echoed the view... saying Mr. Trump was interested in hearing
Mr. Moon's ideas for potential engagement... quelling concerns that the two leaders will
tangle when they meet for a bilateral summit on Thursday, local time.
What's also caught President Trump's eye is what he perceives as "trade imbalance" between
the two countries on which he said he will have a "friendly and frank" discussion with
President Moon.
On this as well, President Moon is sure he can talk it out with his U.S. counterpart...
as trade volume between the two countries saw an increase while global trade took a
plunge.
"South Korea, U.S. FTA benefits both countries in trade volume.
But, if we find that there is room for improvement and development, we can and should discuss
this as well."
FTA .)
"A plethora of pressing problems loom over the two presidents' first face-to-face at
the White House, Thursday evening... but President Moon and his team say... this trip isn't about
drawing immediate results.
Rather, they will focus on building trust and rapport between the two leaders who appear
to be on opposite ends of the spectrum in style and character.
Will Presidents Moon and Trump get along?
Will they hit it off?
That, we'll find out in the next few days here in the American capital.
Moon Connyoung, Arirang news, Washington."
-------------------------------------------
Join us! - Duration: 0:41.
From now on,
you have a real choice.
If you wish Quebec to flourish within Canada.
If you have enough of being stuck with the Liberal Party that is worn out.
If you are tired of being taken for granted.
You now have another option.
Join us!
-------------------------------------------
ALERT, ALERT! Central Banks Buying Stocks Have Rigged US Stock Market Beyond Recovery - Duration: 34:33.
Central banks buying stocks are effectively nationalizing US corporations just to maintain
the illusion that their "recovery" plan is working because they have become the banks
that are too big to fail.
At first, their novel entry into the stock market was only intended to rescue imperiled
corporations, such as General Motors during the first plunge into the Great Recession,
but recently their efforts have shifted to propping up the entire stock market via major
purchases of the most healthy companies on the market.
Brian Rich, writing for Forbes, describes the economic illusion created by central banks
buying stocks during a time of presidential prosecution:
The chaos and dysfunction message is loud, but markets aren't hearing it.
The real story is very different.
Stocks continue to surge; stock market volatility continues to sit at ten–year (pre–crisis)
lows.
The interest rate market is much higher than it was before the election, but now quiet
and stable.
Gold, the fear–of–the–unknown trade, is relatively quiet.
This all looks very much like a world that believes a real economic expansion is underway,
and that a long–term sustainable global economic recovery has supplanted the shaky
post-crisis (central bank–driven) recovery that was teetering back toward recession.
In other words, political chaos in the regime is not denting the stock market, because central
banks buying stocks are eliminating volatility.
Indeed, if you were to gauge the economy at this point by the US stock market, everything
must be grand because the Trump Rally has been one of our most exuberant stock rallies.
According to Rich, all of that is a central-bank-created slight of hand intended to distract you from
what is happening in politics and throughout the macro economy:
Remember, the financial media and Wall Street are easily distractible.
Not only do they have short attention spans, but they've been trained throughout their
careers to find new stories to obsess about….
We have major central banks around the world that continue to print money.
These central banks buy assets with that freshly printed money.
That means, stocks, bonds and commodities go higher.
Distract you from what?
Distract you via the roaring success of stocks from the fact that the central banks' recovery
is failing everywhere.
As Rich says, the fate of the world now rests on the successful outcome of these new policies
because the banks that are now too big to fail are the central banks, themselves.
The Fed and its central proxies are creating a grand distraction from a story that would
chill America to the bone … if the truth were told.
Proofs of central banks buying stocks to rig the market
The Federal Reserve already confessed it rigged the stock market last January in hopes of
creating a "wealth effect" throughout the US economy.
Its plan, confessed by ex-Fed governor Richard Fisher was to front-run the stock market with
its forward messaging about bond purchases though which it created massive liquidity
that would be invested in stocks.
It worked like this: By promising overnight profits on bonds to its member banks, the
Fed knew they would soak up tons of bonds.
From there, the Fed hoped the member banks would take the money they made off of buying
US bonds and selling them immediately to the Fed for a profit and invest that money in
stocks, which they did.
(Whether the Fed was just hoping or was secretly directing its member banks to do so could
be speculated about endlessly; but they expressed it as "hoping to create a wealth effect.")
Until now I have been speculating about central banks buying stocks, claiming that was all
that was supporting the stock market; but I was also just speculating for years that
the Federal Reserve was intentionally front-running the stock market throughout its "recovery."
Now those interventions in the stock market, which fueled the Fed's recovery throughout
the market's long climb, are a well-known fact, admitted to by the Federal Reserve.
My speculation that the long bull market was driven almost entirely by banks was much doubted
years ago when I and other writers gathered at Zero Hedge, were claiming that was exactly
what the Fed was doing.
I couldn't prove it back then, but everything clearly pointed in that direction, even as
many experts denied it.
Last year, I upped my claims to saying that I believed the only thing that terminated
the stock crash in January was a move toward even more direct Fed rigging of stock prices
via having proxies buy oil (one significant cause of the January crash) and stocks directly.
All year long, I speculated that the Fed was merely holding the illusion of recovery together
by directly buying select commodities and stocks to drive the markets back up because
it was an election year in which they would "pull out all the stops," In this case
that expression doesn't mean organ stops, but all the market stops, but particularly
the biggest stop of all that said central banks should not buy stocks because their
capacity to rig the markets is infinite, and they have no investment risk.
They can buy and hold forever, and they can create new money to replace any they lose.
As if to confirm my suspicions, the Fed began talking early last year about the possibility
of buying stocks directly.
However, they implied that would only happen, if at all, in some distant future should the
economy crash again.
I stated that this thing they would like to be able to do overtly and with everyone's
blessing was something they were already doing covertly.
They were merely running the flag up the pole to see if they could move from working through
proxies to being able to work openly — testing the nation's response by putting the idea
out there.
Recently Bank of America, the Wall Street Journal and others have begun to state that
central banks are buying stocks in huge quantities.
The only questions remaining is whether they are doing so at the Fed's bidding and whether
they are doing it primarily to prop up an otherwise failing stock market.
By definition, cornering enough of the market to push it where they want it to go is called
"rigging."
What is the scale of central banks buying stocks?
The Forbes article from May continues,
Among the reports on portfolio holdings yesterday, we heard from the Swiss National Bank….
Switzerland's central bank has more freshly printed money to put to work every quarter,
and has been increasing their allocation to equities dramatically–$80 billion of which
is now (as of the end of the first quarter) in U.S. stocks!
That's a 29% bigger stake than they had at the end of 2016.
The SNB is the world's eighth biggest public investor.
In one quarter, they upped their stake in US stocks by almost a third, and they are
only the eighth-largest public investor!
What are the other big guys doing?
Back in April, Bank of America noted that central banks had purchased $1 trillion in
assets this year alone.
Now, that includes bonds more than it does stocks; but globally it tells us that quantitative
easing continues at a massive scale, even as the Fed is unwinding its stimulus (or says
it is).
Now, you have to know that a lot of that trillion dollars in less than a year is flowing across
the ocean to the United States because the US remains the best looking horse in the glue
factory.
In fact, Marketwatch summed up BofA's analysis of the situation by saying, "that might
be all you need to know about stock and bond market performance in 2017."
Indeed, that one fact by itself may sum up everything there is to say about why stocks
are still rising and why the Trump Rally was as steep as it was and why it is trying for
a third time to push a hole through the ceiling.
Market watch notes that central banks have gobbled up a "record amount of financial
assets" this year.
At the time the research was conducted, this would translate into well over $3 trillion
annualized, making this the strongest period of central-bank stimulus since 2007!
No small claim, since that earlier period was the most extraordinary stimulus burst
history had ever seen.
Ask yourself an honest question if you believe in the Fed's continual recovery narrative:
"Is this what recovery looks like — continued record amounts of stimulus forever?"
Yet, the story only gets richer.
(Well, for some.)
The newly created money invested by the Swiss National Bank didn't attempt to buy important
but dying companies.
It went predominantly to Facebook, Alphabet (Google) and Apple.
Is it any wonder, then, that these stocks, known as the FAANG stocks, are the ones that
drove the NASDAQ to new heights?
The Swiss National Bank has gone from having about 9% of its holdings in stocks back in
2007 to currently having 22% of its much larger balance sheet in stocks.
Last year, when I speculated about all of this, the SNB had already increased its stock
holdings by 41% in a year's time!
By the third quarter of 2016, when I was just speculating the central banks were the major
driver, the SNB owned $1.7 billion of Apple, $1.2 billion of Microsoft and $1.08 billion
of Exxon.
(Remember my speculations on the oil connection?)
Reuters reported last year that …
Switzerland's central bank now owns more publicly-traded shares in Facebook than Mark
Zuckerberg, part of a mushrooming stock portfolio that is likely to grow yet further.
The tech giant's founder and CEO has other ways to control his company: Zuckerberg holds
most of his stake in a different class of stock.
Nevertheless this example illustrates how the Swiss National Bank has become a multi-billion-dollar
equity investor due to its campaign to hold down the Swiss franc.
In 2017, it stepped up its purchases!
Is this situation of central banks buying stocks insignificant to US stock prices?
Not according to Bank of America:
BofA's analysts called this "supernova of liquidity" the "only one flow that
matters" and the "best explanation" for the double-digit gains in stocks that
was happing in the first half of the year.
They called it the "the $1 trillion flow that conquers all."
So, now we have moved from my speculating all of last year that central banks buying
stocks were the sole factor that was pushing up stocks to Bank of America now proclaiming
outright that it is the sole factor that matters in the rise of US stocks — a factor so huge
that it dwarfs all other drivers.
More evidence of central banks buying stocks in the US
Is the Fed in bed with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange?
I owe the following research to Chris Martenson on his Peak Prosperity website in an article
titled "Where There's Smoke … There's central bank manipulation" and to Zero Hedge.
I'll summarize Martenson's findings here, and you can check out the article if you want
more detail:
After Hurricane Sandy, the New York Fed moved part of its markets group to Chicago where
the CME is located.
The Fed reported that the move was being done as a safety precaution so that all US central-banking
operations would not be on a hurricane-prone coast.
The move received very little coverage.
(Only MSM organization reporting it was Reuters.)
Besides selling commodities and derivatives that central banks might naturally want to
trade in (such as gold by which they manipulate the price of gold in order to secure their
proprietary product — money), the CME sells futures on US stocks.
The algorithms used by the bots that now do 80% of the driving in the US stock market
peer into futures like a fortune teller looking into her crystal ball.
So, the CME offers a lot of leverage for moving stock prices by steering the bots.
The largest investors the CME markets its operations to are central banks.
The CME has a program specifically designed to entice central banks and to facilitate
their purchases through discounted fees.
That program doesn't even try to hide its purpose as it is called the "Central Bank
Incentive Program."
Incentive programs are reserved for the CMEs highest volume traders.
This past January, the CME wrote the following marketing summary of its Central Bank Incentive
Program:
The Central Bank Incentive Program ("CBIP") allows Qualified Participants [notice the
caps, indicating the term has a legal definition] to receive discounted fees for their proprietary
trading of CME Group Products.
(CME Group)
They legally define "Qualified Participants" as
A non-US central bank, multilateral development bank, multilateral financial institution … or
an international organization of central banks.
[Said institutions must] execute all trades in the Qualified Participants name.
After all, you wouldn't want a proxy using the name of the ultimate money source if that
were the Fed or if it were acting on behalf of the Fed.
You wouldn't want the Fed's name in any way associated with the trade.
Did the Fed move its markets group to the same place as the CME in order to develop
proxy trading relationships with all of the central banks in the world that use the CME
for trading in oil and stock futures?
Strangely, not a single central bank on earth shows any CME products on its balance sheet;
but surely the CME does not have this dedicated program for the sake of serving no one.
Since CME incentive programs are reserved for the CME's highest-volume traders (basically
offering a bulk discount), central banks must be purchasing CME products and not disclosing
so on their balance sheets.
Why the apparent secrecy on the part of central banks as to their participation?
Not long after the Fed's move to CME Land, Zero Hedge reported finding this little tidbit
in one of the job descriptions at the Fed's new market trading office: "Perform account
services to foreign central banks, international agencies, and U.S. government agencies."
Hmm.
The CME group requires that central banks open accounts in their own name but that those
accounts must be managed by a …
CME Group clearing firm or FCM (Futures Commission Merchant) for their proprietary trades and/or
trades done on their behalf by an asset manager.
I wonder if people working in the Federal Reserves "markets group" engaged in "account
services to foreign central banks" could serve as asset managers for a central bank
with an account at the CME."
Just wondering.
In which case, might they not help manage those central banks' purchases in a manner
that serves the aims of the Federal Reserve?
Just a thought.
Maybe the Fed is just nearby to counsel them or urge them or provide incentives to make
certain stock trades at certain times.
Maybe the Fed's move to the place where central banks of the world trade at a time
when central banks buying stocks in the US has become a new phenomenon is all one big
coincidence.
Regardless, central banks are clearly engaged in massive US stock trades.
You don't get those bulk fee discounts any other way.
According to the Reuters article above,
The satellite office in the Midwest readies the New York Fed for perhaps the most delicate
U.S. interest-rate hike ever.
With rates having been near zero for more than six years, and markets flooded with reserves,
the Fed will rely on an array of new tools to help it tighten policy, likely later this
year.
MAYBE the move had less to do with fear created by Hurricane Sandy than it had to do with
establishing the new tools that would help the New York Fed achieve intervention readiness
for managing its first interest-rate increase without crashing stocks.
I suppose one way to safely avoid a market crash when making your much-feared first interest-rate
increase would be to get other central banks to jump in with rescue stock purchases if
the stock market dared to respond negatively.
Remember how the market leaped upward for a few days after the first increase?
Was that the central banks jumping in before their new machine was fully calibrated or
maybe giving a more-than-necessary boost just to err' on the safe side?
We may never know, but we now certainly do know that central banks trade US stocks and
a lot of it.
We also know the CME's "incentive" program for facilitating central bank stock futures
trades (and other kinds of trade) was created in July of 2013, so it, too, is a recent innovation.
Interestingly, the program lists one of its core principles as "Prevention of Market
Disruption."
("Plunge Protection Team," anyone?)
Another sliver of proof comes from the Bank of Finland, which states that it started buying
stocks in 2014, still a recent innovation and that it plans to ramp that up:
"When yields started to get really low and closer to zero in 2014, we decided to start
equity investments," said Jarno Ilves, head of investments at the Bank of Finland, who
said he plans to increase his allocation to stocks.
(Zero Hedge)
Oh, a couple of other parts of that job description:
Interfaces with market participants to obtain context for asset price movements….
Relates developments in financial markets to issues pertaining to financial stability.…
Plans and executes transactions in foreign exchange or fixed income markets on behalf
of the U.S. monetary authorities, foreign central banks, and other customers.
Would those "market participants" be the central banks that are the "Qualified Participants"
in the CME's incentive program, and would the "asset price movements" be intentionally
targeted asset price movements, and not just observations of natural market movements?
Just asking.
Follow the money to see where central-bank rigging of sticks all ends up
The precarious part of this equation is what it shows of the Law of Diminishing returns
that I keep harping about as an economic fundamental that cannot be averted even by central banks.
The further we have gone into the "recovery," the greater the amount of global stimulus
that has been needed to keep the recovery afloat and the more direct and broad the intervention
has had to become.
There is no global reduction of stimulus so far.
The only thing that has shifted is where the stimulus is coming from.
I have always stated that the recovery program is completely unsustainable and that all signs
of life end as soon as the artificial life support is removed.
The patient has been dead since 2008.
We have gone from the Fed and/or US Treasury buying stocks to save a few key companies
(an innovation at the time that was worrisome to many) to numerous central banks buying
up large swaths of the market.
The stock intervention has become greater, not smaller, because of the Law of Diminishing
returns.
You have to ask yourself, as I did about Carmageddon, "What is the end game here?"
What happens when central banks need to unwind from these positions and, so, start to flood
the market with these stocks.
I think the answer is they can no more do that than they can bring their recovery to
a successful conclusion (hence the continued massive stimulus a decade after it all began,
even as they talk of unwinding).
It is absurd that anyone thinks the Fed is unwinding successfully when everyone else
has been maintaining or increasing stimulus and when much of that flows to the US.
To see where this all goes, we have only to look at Japan where, again, the Law of Diminishing
Returns erodes endlessly at their goals.
Japan entered the game of rigging its stock market back in the 1990s, and it is still
as desperately stuck in this liquidity trap as ever.
There is no end game.
A recent poll of currency reserve managers at reserve banks showed that 80% of the 18
central banks polled plan to increase their investment in stocks.
That was almost double the number of those interested in buying corporate bonds.
These people are flying by the seats of their pants to go where no man (or one Yellen) has
ever gone before.
They are trying to figure their way out as they go, just like Japan, which finds itself
endlessly pitched back into new and greater rounds of QE every time it tries to taper.
As a result, the Bank of Japan has now become one of the top-five owners in eighty-one companies
on the Japan Nikkei 225 index and is close to being the number-one owner in fifty of
those companies.
(Effectively nationalizing those stocks.)
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) has been purchasing assets including exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
and thus, indirectly, company stocks….
From a policy perspective, efforts to weaken Japan's currency by lowering interest rates
to negative levels has not worked and has attracted criticism, particularly from financial
institutions.
It seems that now the emphasis will be on weakening the yen as well as propping up stock
prices.
In the parlance of the gambling community, the BOJ has become the biggest "whale"
in the market, holding a large share of stocks listed on the Tokyo Stock Market.
Therefore, many investors have become increasingly focused not on company fundamentals but on
the BOJ's daily purchases….
It's estimated that the BOJ now owns about 60% of Japan's domestic ETFs and it's
expected the BOJ could continue purchasing more ETFs through 2017….
Market bulls are happy with the BOJ purchases, but opponents say the central bank is artificially
inflating valuations and ironically discouraging companies from becoming more efficient.
Interestingly, Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average is actually down more than 8% year-to-date
[diminishing returns, anyone?], although one might argue its fate could have been worse
without central-bank buying….
Of course, the BOJ's program is not unique.
The Bank of England has a corporate debt purchase program worth about US$13 billion, and the
European Central Bank has a similar program.
(Franklin Templeton Investments)
The Bank of Japan is already buying ETFs at an annual pace of 300 billion yen ($2.4 billion),
in addition to its existing annual purchase program worth about 3 trillion yen.
The Swiss, Israeli and Hong Kong central banks have also been or are small-scale investors
in stock markets, but more aggressive buying may now be called for….
This could mean ramping up purchases of Japanese stocks to 10 percent of the outstanding total,
or about 50 trillion yen, from around 0.5 percent currently.
Such a move would contribute to "pushing up equity prices….
"If the BOJ expands its ETF purchasing plan in June or July, then that could be the trigger
for the ECB to look more closely at this," said JP Morgan's Panigirtzoglou.
Purchasing stocks would also go some way to supporting bank valuations, which have been
hammered in recent months by the low and negative yields and a dismal first quarter trading
environment.
(Reuters)
The hope of central banks is to create a self-sustaining illusion, wherein people will see a market
that appears healthy and growing and then jump in and take off where the central bank
leaves off.
As we can see from Japan, the results are not that positive, and the illusion certainly
has never become self-sustaining.
It is more of delusion.
No central bank has navigated its way out of this so far.
China, for having done the same thing, is probably worse off than Japan, truth be known
beyond the always-deceptive cover of its double bookkeeping system.
You see, at the end of the day, this is not just stock manipulation; it is CYA time.
The Fed's recovery is a failure because it was never sustainable from its onset.
It was a bankrupt idea.
For the recovery to be called a success, GDP would have to have improved, and it has done
nothing but doggedly follow a downward path for years.
CLEARLY NOT A RECOVERY!
GDP growth well that is now under 2% can hardly be called "recovery."
The end game was supposed to be that a thriving economy would be able to absorb the Fed's
very gradual unwinding, but that vital economy never emerged.
The central banks have painted themselves into a corner.
By their own designs, they get no interest off all the bonds they hold.
They cannot sell them without substantially raising the interest on the national debts
of the nations they are obligated by charter to serve.
(The ECB now owns 40% of Europe's national debts.)
So, they buy stocks to maintain the illusion of recovery and to have someplace to put the
money they keep on their balance sheets.
Then they cannot sell those without crashing their own stock markets.
So, the game continues to spiral upward in terms of the aggregate of CB investments … as
seen in Japan and in China and now the US.
Some call it the liquidity trap.
History of central banks buying stocks
Twenty years ago central banks didn't even think of buying stocks.
It may have happened in odd instances, but it was an anomaly if it did as a way to save
a specific bank or credit union.
During our first plunge into the Great Recession, the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury bought
up large amounts of stock in order to save companies that were either vital to US employment
or to financial markets that were dying from their own mistakes.
Those were efforts to save specific key corporations.
In subsequent years, the Bank of Japan and the Peoples Bank of China soaked up stocks
in massive amounts more or less across the board, not to save specific vital companies
but to save their stock markets.
The Chinese seized total central control of their market, even mandating that certain
speculators stay out of the market, mandating that various proxies buy large volumes of
stocks and locking the stocks that were falling worst out of trading.
As a result, they created a perfectly healthy and real stock market, right?
No, they created a centrally controlled illusion that is not a free market at all; it is merely
a fatalistically predetermined game in which the government has decided "the market,"
a term that now requires air quotes, will do well.
To achieve that end, the government or its central bank does whatever it needs to in
order to keep stocks up.
We all know China's market became completely rigged.
We are just now seeing in the mainstream media that the US stock market is also increasingly
rigged by central banks buying stocks.
What about the official reason banks give for central banks buying stocks?
The main reason presented for central banks buying stocks is that all of their economic
stimulus has resulted in hugely bloated balance sheets, and they need to invest that money
somewhere.
To which, I ask, "Why?
When did making a profit become an operating objective of central banks, which like to
claim they are not about profit making?"
Since central banks are the first to claim they are not about making profits, that is
a completely illegitimate reason for buying stocks; but that's the CYA reason banksters
give: According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, nearly $11 trillion in global assets
yielded negative interest last year.
Thus, central banks are forced to reach for yield in riskier assets like everyone else.
Really?
That was all their doing.
Central banks created that situation intentionally, and the Federal Reserve has been saying it
wants to unwind its balance sheet.
If so, why does it want to make bigger profits on the money it supposedly wants to unwind?
It's a completely self-contradictory argument.
Yet, the experts are readily buying into it.
If you buy their argument, then you have to admit that central-bank policies are hurting
the central banks just like they are hurting retirees and everyone else who needs yield
in order to survive But why does the bank, which has the power to print money at will,
care about earning it the hard way?
No, I think it is really entirely about propping up their own stock markets.
We know that is why Japan and China have been doing it.
Why would the US be any different, even if the Fed hides behind proxies?
In the National Bank of Switzerland's case, a different reason altogether is presented,
which has some truth to it: The Swiss franc is hugely popular when times are bad.
When everyone wants to buy francs, the value of the franc is driven up relative to other
currencies, which makes it hard for Swiss companies to compete for international trade.
To offset this, the Swiss National Bank tries to buy up other currencies.
They have to put the foreign money somewhere, so they are investing it in top US companies.
In proportion to the size of its national economy, the Swiss National Bank's balance
sheet is the most bloated of any major central bank … and still growing with no end in
sight.
A convenient alignment of Fed interests with francish interests.
The risks from central banks investing in stocks
With central banks having the capacity to create money by decree anytime they want to,
investment risk means little to nothing.
Lose your money, it ceases to exist.
In that case, just create more of it.
With their ability to create unlimited amounts at zero cost (just add some ones and zeros
to an account somewhere), their capacity to move markets they choose to invest in is almost
unlimited.
Essentially, the only limit on how much they can do is inflation, which throughout the
Great Recession has never posed as a limiting factor.
If central banks are allowed keep buying stocks as they have been doing, they have the power
to nationalize companies and take central control of economies.
It also means there is a tail risk that nations that heavily invest in US stocks could for
political reasons order their central banks to dump their hoards and flush the US stock
market down the toilet of history.
They may not be likely to do that, but it certainly opens that possibility.
To those who say, "They would never do that because they would lose so much money,"
central banks don't have to care!
As Zero Hedge wrote at the beginning of this year,
For those few who are still unfamiliar, this is how central banks who create fiat money
out of thin air and for whom "acquisition cost" is a meaningless term, are increasingly
nationalizing the equity capital markets.
As the WSJ puts it "these central banks care relatively little about whether such
investments make profits or losses—though they can matter politically—because they
can always print more of their currency.
So risk is less important, analysts say."
And since risk was no longer part of the equation, leaving only return, central banks started
buying stocks….
So between central banks outbidding each other to buy "risky" assets with "money"
that is constantly created at no cost, very soon all other private investors will be crowded
out but not before every stock is trading at valuations that even CNBC guests won't
be able to justify….
The bad news, is that as more people realize that a free "market" now only exists in
textbooks, and that Soviet-style central planning is the only game in town, confident in price
formation will evaporate, in turn pushing even more market participants out of the quote-unquote
market, until only central banks are left bidding on each other's otherwise worthless
stock certificates.
At the same time, efforts to invest reserve funds more broadly mean that more markets
will be subject to what some critics describe as central-bank distortion, as large and often
price-insensitive buyers run the risk of driving up prices and reducing prospective returns
for other market participants.
For virtually all central banks, however, the grotesque central planning shift of the
past decade means that instead of engaging in monetary policy, the world's central
banks are now activist hedge funds, who are focused first and foremost on "investment
management."
… and at the current rate of expansion, within a few years the world's monetary
authorities who are tasked with "financial stability", will have acquired a majority
of the world's equity tranche, effectively nationalizing it.
Even the Wall Street Journal denies the argument that central banks have to care at all about
making a profit.
As Russia became more of a free-market economy, the United States has started to look more
like the centrally-planned economy of the former Soviet Union.
Markets have been centrally manipulated beyond the repair.
As always, the central planners have the arrogance of the elite that causes them to think they
have the brilliance to guide and control the markets of entire nations and even the entire
world.
How can anyone believe that such hubris will not end in total financial collapse?
Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the WorldThe Alchemists:
Three Central Bankers and a World on FireCentral Banking: Theory and Practice in Sustaining
Monetary and Financial Stability (Wiley Finance)Escape from the Central Bank Trap: How to Escape
From the $20 Trillion Monetary Expansion Unharmed
-------------------------------------------
South Korean President Moon kicks off U.S. visit by emphasizing blood alliance - Duration: 3:42.
President Moon Jae-in is in the U.S. capital for his first overseas trip since taking office.
He kicked off the visit with a strong emphasis on the South Korea-U.S. alliance.
Our Moon Connyoung is in Washington, D.C.... and sends this report.
It's the South Korean president's first overseas trip since sweeping to power in May.
As soon as Air Force One touched down at Joint Base Andrews nearby Washington D.C., President
Moon Jae-in began his "official working visit" on an emotional note.
He headed to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico... to lay a wreath at a
memorial of a 1950 Korean War battle... in honor of the U.S. Marines who helped evacuate
to safety 90-thousan Korean civilians.
The president's own parents were among them.
"As such, South Korea, U.S. alliance was forged by shedding blood in times of war.
It is not a promise made by a few signatures on paper.///As it is to my own life, the South
Korea, U.S. alliance is strongly bound to the lives of every person in both countries.
This is why I do not doubt the future of the alliance.///South Korea, U.S. alliance will
grow to become even greater and stronger."
Based on that ironclad, blood alliance, the South Korean leader together with President
Donald Trump hopes to seek various ways to deal with North Korea's nuclear issue.
That message was loud and clear as he spoke to the presidential press corps on Air Force
One on his way to the U.S. capital.
"Regardless, there is a need for us to start dialogue with North Korea.
The question is what are the preconditions for dialogue.
These are issues that South Korea and the U.S. must closely discuss from here on forth.
I believe a diverse range of ideas will emerge during these disussions.
The two sides must be able to openly share these ideas with each other."
A senior White House official echoed the view... saying Mr. Trump was interested in hearing
Mr. Moon's ideas for potential engagement... quelling concerns that the two leaders will
tangle when they meet for a bilateral summit on Thursday, local time.
What's also caught President Trump's eye is what he perceives as "trade imbalance" between
the two countries on which he said he will have a "friendly and frank" discussion with
President Moon.
On this as well, President Moon is sure he can talk it out with his U.S. counterpart...
as trade volume between the two countries saw an increase while global trade took
a plunge.
"South Korea, U.S. FTA benefits both countries in trade volume.
But, if we find that there is room for improvement and development, we can and should discuss
this as well."
FTA .)
"A plethora of pressing problems loom over the two presidents' first face-to-face at
the White House, Thursday evening... but President Moon and his team say... this trip isn't about
drawing immediate results.
Rather, they will focus on building trust and rapport between the two leaders who appear
to be on opposite ends of the spectrum in style and character.
Will Presidents Moon and Trump get along?
Will they hit it off?
That, we'll find out in the next few days here in the American capital.
Moon Connyoung, Arirang news, Washington."
-------------------------------------------
Samsung Electronics to build $380 million home appliance plant in the U.S. - Duration: 0:47.
Samsung Electronics is investing three-hundred-80 million U.S. dollars to build a home appliance
factory in the United States.
The Korean firm made the announcement on Wednesday and said the new washing machine plant in
South Carolina will create nearly one-thousand local jobs.
The decision comes on the eve of President Moon's summit with President Trump, whose
protectionist trade policies are pressuring global companies to generate more U.S. jobs.
The announcement also comes less than a month after U.S. appliance rival Whirlpool, requested
the government slap tighter restrictions on imported washing machines made by Korean tech
giants Samsung and LG Electronics.
-------------------------------------------
U.S. 95 will shut down between Casino Center, Las Vegas Boulevard - Duration: 0:48.
OF US-95 TONIGHT.
13 ACTION NEWS ANCHOR YASMEEN
HASSAN HAS MORE ON THE
OVERNIGHT CLOSURE..
AND HOW TO AVOID IT,.
THE FREEWAY WILL BE SHUT DOWN N
BOTH DIRECTIONS ALL NIGHT
WEDNESDAY...
BETWEEN CASINO CENTER AND LAS
VEGAS BOULEVARD.
THE CLOSURE BEGINS AT 11 P-M
AND WILL RE-OPEN AT 4 A-M ON
THURSDAY.
IT'S ALL A PART OF PROJECT NEON
TO WIDEN THE 15 FROM THE 95 TO
SAHARA.
STATION -TZ
ONLY ON 13 ACTION NEWS..
SOME DRAMATIC POLICE BODY-CAM
VIDEO OF A BABY'S BIRTH.
-------------------------------------------
South Korean President Moon kicks off U.S. visit by emphasizing blood alliance - Duration: 3:42.
President Moon Jae-in is in the U.S. capital for his first overseas trip as president.
He kicked off the visit by putting strong emphasis on South Korea, U.S. alliance.
Leading us off this afternoon is our Moon Connyoung in Washington, D.C.
It's the South Korean president's first overseas trip since sweeping to power in May.
As soon as Air Force One touched down at Joint Base Andrews nearby Washington D.C., President
Moon Jae-in began his "official working visit" on an emotional note.
He headed to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico... to lay a wreath at a
memorial of a 1950 Korean War battle... in honor of the U.S. Marines who helped evacuate
to safety 90-thousan Korean civilians.
The president's own parents were among them.
"As such, South Korea, U.S. alliance was forged by shedding blood in times of war.
It is not a promise made by a few signatures on paper.///As it is to my own life, the South
Korea, U.S. alliance is strongly bound to the lives of every person in both countries.
This is why I do not doubt the future of the alliance.///South Korea, U.S. alliance will
grow to become even greater and stronger."
Based on that ironclad, blood alliance, the South Korean leader together with President
Donald Trump hopes to seek various ways to deal with North Korea's nuclear issue.
That message was loud and clear as he spoke to the presidential press corps on Air Force
One on his way to the U.S. capital.
"Regardless, there is a need for us to start dialogue with North Korea.
The question is what are the preconditions for dialogue.
These are issues that South Korea and the U.S. must closely discuss from here on forth.
I believe a diverse range of ideas will emerge during these disussions.
The two sides must be able to openly share these ideas with each other."
A senior White House official echoed the view... saying Mr. Trump was interested in hearing
Mr. Moon's ideas for potential engagement... quelling concerns that the two leaders will
tangle when they meet for a bilateral summit on Thursday, local time.
What's also caught President Trump's eye is what he perceives as "trade imbalance" between
the two countries on which he said he will have a "friendly and frank" discussion with
President Moon.
On this as well, President Moon is sure he can talk it out with his U.S. counterpart...
as trade volume between the two countries saw an increase while global trade took a
plunge.
"South Korea, U.S. FTA benefits both countries in trade volume.
But, if we find that there is room for improvement and development, we can and should discuss
this as well."
FTA .)
"A plethora of pressing problems loom over the two presidents' first face-to-face at
the White House, Thursday evening... but President Moon and his team say... this trip isn't about
drawing immediate results.
Rather, they will focus on building trust and rapport between the two leaders who appear
to be on opposite ends of the spectrum in style and character.
Will Presidents Moon and Trump get along?
Will they hit it off?
That, we'll find out in the next few days here in the American capital.
Moon Connyoung, Arirang news, Washington."
-------------------------------------------
Top diplomats of S. Korea, U.S. agree on need to pressure North Korea to abandon nukes - Duration: 0:40.
The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States have reaffirmed their commitment to
making the upcoming Moon-Trump summit a success.
During their 40 minute sit-down in Washington, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and U.S. Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson discussed their bilateral alliance, ways to denuclearize North Korea
and the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea.
On North Korea, the two allies agreed to narrow down on a strategy to resolve Pyongyang's
nuclear issues.
Tillerson said South Korea and the U.S. know they must strengthen pressure on North Korea
to make that a reality.
-------------------------------------------
14 Ways The Internet Has CHANGED US FOREVER! - Duration: 11:48.
14 Ways The Internet Has Changed Us Forever
14.
Multitasking and the Human Brain The Internet has revolutionized every facet
of modern life.
In addition to the ubiquity of email and online streaming, the rise of social media over the
last fifteen years has drastically changed the way human beings communicate with one
another.
As a result, it is common for the average person to check their devices frequently or
to even have multiple screens running content or information simultaneously.
In many cases, without even noticing, the use of technology connected to the internet
has become addictive, leading many people to find themselves mentally unable to unplug.
It turns out the modern deluge of information flooding everyone's lives has a scientifically-proven
negative impact on the human brain.
According to many scientists, even after we cease multitasking activities involving technology,
a lack of focus on subsequent activities increases our dependency on technology.
Researchers at the National Institute of Drug Abuse have stated conclusively that unlike
physical addiction to alcohol or drugs, dependency on technology is more comparable to overeating
in that many people take a basic necessity and consume it to excess.
13.
The Decline of the Postal Service In 2006, the communication and financial services
company Western Union became the final American entity to cease the delivery of telegrams.
The internet was credited as the primary motivator behind the service's downfall, as email
rendered telegrams an irrelevant form of communication.
Despite its efficiency, the U.S. Postal Service is facing a similar fate.
While faxing and cell phone use have been contributing factors in the decline of postal
services, the prevalence of basic email, online chat networks and social media messaging collectively
render traditional "snail mail" less and less necessary.
Because of these and other factors, many Americans no longer check for mail on a daily basis.
This has created a decrease in the post office's value proposition, leading to the widescale
layoff of public employees and fewer days of mail delivery in some regions.
This all happens while we refresh our web pages in search of information our ancestors
had to wait weeks or even months for as it travelled slowly through the mail.
12.
Medical Consultation From mysterious symptoms to the common cold,
there was once a time when visits to the doctor or the local pharmacy could address almost
any ailment.
But unfortunately for those more prone to hypochondria, the internet has changed the
way we address health and wellness.
The original intent of online services like WebMD was for concerned patients to attain
an early understanding of their symptoms, which they could then follow up on when speaking
to a doctor.
But more frequently, WebMD and similar sites are relied upon for complete diagnosis.
This can lead to widespread confusion, as relatively basic health issues can be overblown
into much more severe conditions.
Even placing a symptom in a search engine like Google can lead a user down a rabbit
hole of misinformation and inadequate medical advice.
When in doubt, it's best to consult an in-person medical professional.
11.
The Rise of "Internet Fame" From makeup tutorials to gaming reviews to
video essays, the internet has made fame easier to achieve than ever before.
Because of popular video platforms like YouTube, relative unknowns are able to achieve superstardom
overnight from a single piece of content.
Others spend years cultivating a brand, building a view count and earning subscribers.
This has led to obscure, everyday folks with free accounts accruing showbiz representation,
record contracts, film and TV production deals, and huge success in fundraising for future
projects.
Sometimes, this type of fame can be accidental, as exemplified by funny videos or personal
appeals going viral.
It's clear that, in the digital age, the constant presence of recording devices can
make a celebrity out of anyone.
10.
Social Media With the rise of online social communities
like MySpace and Facebook in the early-to-mid 2000s, the manner through which we communicate
irreversibly changed.
With the ability to re-establish contact with almost anyone, events like high school reunions
became pointless.
Families and friend groups shared images, videos and stories with speed and efficiency
that had never before been possible.
Dating apps and sites altered the dynamic of romance and courtship among couples.
Blog sites provided platforms for awareness, activism and shared interests that were previously
unimaginable.
In an age of near-constant contact with the outside world in one form or another, human
beings have never been more connected than we are now.
9.
Digitized Archival Memory In addition to the information stored on social
media, the internet created a paradigm shift in data storage and backup.
Through the use of safe-keeping avenues like secure websites and the cloud, information
can be conserved in greater volume and for longer periods of time than if left in its
physical form.
A prime example of this is the storage and maintenance of medical records, which used
to be vulnerable to loss or miscategorization when maintained in old-fashioned filing systems.
But as more and more hospitals, universities and medical facilities began to digitize patient
records, the shift enabled improved care and the avoidance of potentially life-threatening
mistakes.
The benefits also extended to the law enforcement community, with police departments and intelligence
agencies all over the world now able to rapidly share decades-old evidence and case histories
with each other.
These new tools also have unsettling implications, especially when considering the existence
of digital libraries like the Internet Archive, which provides near-universal access to everything
ever posted online, including that embarrassing Facebook post from when you were in eighth
grade.
8.
The Decline of Print Journalism Beginning in 2000, print publications saw
an unprecedented decline in their readership.
The drop was far from an anomaly, as it quickly became clear those subscribers would not return.
In the first 15 years of the New Millennium, printed advertising revenue fell by 40 billion
dollars.
This proved to be a crippling blow to the medium.
The availability of news provided via digital platforms progressively made newspapers and
magazines irrelevant to the modern age.
As online and televised competitors continued to raise the bar by producing minute-to-minute
coverage, requiring consumers to wait for daily or weekly issues simply became unrealistic.
While some outlets have survived by establishing online editions or being overtaken by larger
conglomerates, many have ceased to operate.
7.
The Modern Music Industry After the peer-to-peer MP3 sharing website
Napster launched in 1999, music distribution was never the same.
While it did not survive in its original form, Napster's business model and commercial
appeal was quickly replicated by other cross-platform media distributors.
As more households acquired internet access over the following decade, music consumption
continued to defy the conventional approach of recording companies and labels.
This has led to widespread conflict and litigation.
Over the past few years, music streaming services like Spotify have suffered backlash over compensation
of artists for the use of their music, leading some of those artists to pull their content
from the applications.
Regardless of the ensuing controversies, the popularity of music sharing and streaming
signifies that it is here to stay, consistently forcing the music industry to adapt.
6.
Advertisement-Free Entertainment As video streaming sites like Netflix, Hulu
and Amazon Prime became more widely used, many people gave up their cable subscriptions
in favor of binge-viewing content on their own schedules.
This created an unparalleled crisis for traditional advertisers, many of whom had come to rely
on televised events to sell their products.
While major spectacles like sporting occasions and 24-hour news continue to draw viewers
to the established televised format, the partial shift in consumption has rattled corporate
sponsors in numerous ways.
To address the unwelcome loss of target demographics, corporate sponsors have inserted subtle forms
of product placement into TV shows and monetized media like YouTube videos with sporadic commercial-like
ads.
As viewership continues to grow more and more convenient, the commercials and advertisements
that many of us grew up with may eventually become antiquated reminders of an obsolete
sales formula.
5.
The Loss of Languages Conservative estimates indicate that at least
one language created by mankind reaches extinction every two weeks.
Of the over 7,000 languages currently spoken, an overwhelming majority of them are comprehended
by 100,000 people or less.
And many of those have never been properly documented or preserved.
While most experts consider language loss to be an inevitable repercussion of human
progress on Earth, it is widely believed that the Internet has greatly accelerated the process.
With only about 500 languages used in online spaces, reliance on the Internet has caused
many across the globe to leave their native languages behind in search of greater opportunity
and immersion with the international economy.
This trend tends to favor western nations, perhaps most noticeable in the general lack
of web content written in Hindi, despite the fact that it is a language spoken by over
310 million people.
4.
Online Banking and Bill Payment When the Internet surpassed visits to local
branches as the go-to option for banking, customers found themselves relieved of the
threat of dealing with long lines, temperamental tellers or inconvenient business hours.
This change reaches beyond everyday convenience, as complex processes like applying for mortgages
and loans can now be done online.
As a result, the entire financial system has had to adjust to the new technological landscape.
But as sensitive information continually reaches the digital domain, larger numbers of people
have become vulnerable to identity theft and the loss of their savings.
While many different safeguards have been introduced as new threats continue to emerge,
the ability of banks to maintain the trust of their customers is no longer as certain
as it was before the dawn of the Internet.
3.
Online Shopping and Its Effect on Retail As reliance on digital resources has expanded
over the past ten years, the retail industry has suffered deeply.
Unable to keep up with the appeal of online competitors, retailers like JCPenney have
been forced to lay off thousands of their employees.
This occurs as companies like Amazon open up new warehouses that bring jobs of different
skill levels with them in service of an ever-expanding customer base that chooses to pick out items
from the comfort of home.
The tilt from in-person shopping to online shopping is happening at a faster rate than
most economic experts originally expected.
The term widely applied to this shift is known as "creative destruction," the process
by which modern industrial enterprises replace those incapable of maintaining pace with a
changing market.
If the slide in favor of at-home shopping continues at its present rate, as many economists
expect it will, traditional retail venues like shopping malls may soon become shuttered
ghost towns.
As retail companies continue to face a choice between increased productivity or insolvency,
the effects of the Internet on this once-sprawling industry have become devastatingly clear.
2.
The Slow Disappearance of Libraries and Encyclopedias While public and school-based libraries still
exist, their function and use to the communities they serve has changed significantly.
Since most people can buy, rent or check out books online, or even read them entirely on
a digital platform, the traditional need for libraries has been eroded.
Today, many libraries serve the purpose of providing free Internet access to students
or individuals unable to afford web access at home.
This has turned these libraries into venues for use of the very thing that has driven
their slide towards irrelevance - the Internet.
Furthermore, the days of relying on encyclopedias to write research papers are most certainly
over.
Due to the ability of online educational resources to provide up-to-date information regarding
an almost endless range of subjects, bound volume encyclopedias now seem like an outdated
reminder of what the research and fact-finding process used to be.
1.
Self-Medication Through Technology According to a 2009 survey conducted by the
Pew Research Center, an estimated three fourths of Internet users turned to the web to relieve
stress or fear related to the fallout from the 2008 Financial Crisis.
It turns out this occurrence is not isolated to the repercussions of one chain of events.
According to medical experts, the psychological and emotional lift that comes from switching
on or logging in has proven short-term benefits to those experiencing exterior anxieties.
But just like with regular medication, the danger comes when the resource is overused.
Addiction to media is a known ailment that can harm both creativity and a sense of self-worth.
In the same way television, along with theatre and literature before it, provided hope to
those down on their luck, it is also apparent that Internet use can provide us with the
sense of belonging we need in the moments when we feel most isolated.
-------------------------------------------
Beefed Up Airport Security For International Flights Into U.S. - Duration: 1:53.
MEASURES... FOR ALL COMMERCIAL
FLIGHTS COMING INTO THE UNITED
STATES.
THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND
SECURITY UNVEILED THE CHANGES
TODAY.
KPIX FIVE'S KEN BASTIDA IS IN
OUR NEWSROOM... TO TELL US WHAT
THE FEDS ARE DOING... AND WHAT
THEY MAY DO IF AIRLINES DON'T
COMPLY.
ALLEN:
THE NEW RULES WILL COVER ABOUT
2-THOUSAND FLIGHTS A DAY...
AFFECTING MORE THAN 300-
THOUSAND PASSENGERS.
THE MEASURES INCLUDE: MORE
THOROUGH VETTING OF
PASSENGERS...
NEW STEPS AIMED AT PREVENTING
POTENTIAL INSIDER ATTACKS BY
AIRLINE EMPLOYEES.
AND ENHANCED SCREENING OF
ELECTRONIC DEVICES.
LAPTOPS WILL STILL BE ALLOWED IN
CARRY-ON LUGGAGE.
BUT AIRLINES THAT FAIL TO COMPLY
WITH THE OTHER RULES COULD BE
HIT WITH A
LAPTOP BAN LATER ON.
"It is time that we raise the
global baseline of aviation
security. We cannot play
international whac-a-mole with
each new threat. Instead we must
put in place new measures across
the board to keep the traveling
public safe and make it harder
for terrorists to succeed."
ON TOP OF THE THREAT OF A LAPTOP
BAN... AIRLINES THAT DON'T
COOPERATE COULD FACE FINANCIAL
DON'T COOPERATE COULD FACE
FINANCIAL PENALTIES... OR EVEN
A BAN FROM FLYING INTO THE U-S.
AND JUST WITHIN THE PAST 10
MINUTES:
THE UNITED STATES SET NEW VISA
CRITERIA FOR PEOPLE TRAVELING
FROM THESE 6 MAINLY MUSLIM
NATIONS.
THEY WILL NEED CLOSE FAMILY OR
BUSINESS TIES.. TO COME TO THE
U-S. THE SUPREME COURT RULED
EARLIER THIS WEEK THAT THE
PRESIDENT'S REVISED TRAVEL BAN
COULD PARTIALLY TAKE EFFECT.
PRESIDENT TRUMP'S INITIAL EFFORT
TO BAN THOSE TRAVELERS PROVOKED
PROTESTS AT AIRPORTS AROUND THE
COUNTRY.. AND HERE IN THE BAY
AREA.. FOR WEEKS.
YOU CAN EXPECT TO SEE MORE LEGAL
CHALLENGES THIS SUMMER. THE
SUPREME COURT WILL HEAR
ARGUMENTS ON THE FULL TRAVEL BAN
- THIS FALL.
IN THE NEWSROOM - I'M KEN
BASTIDA.
-------------------------------------------
U.S. Congress readies North Korean travel ban - Duration: 1:33.
Media outlets in the United States are reporting that Congress is readying legislation that
would ban Americans from travelling to North Korea.
With more on this and other news around the world we turn to Ro Aram…
Aram….the reported move comes in the wake of the death of Otto Warmbier, who died just
days after returning to the U.S. in a coma after 17 months in North Korean captivity.
How soon could we see this new law being implemented?
Well Jihye… it is still early days… but South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson and California
Democrat Adam Schiff had sponsored the legislation for a travel ban to North Korea weeks before
Warmbier's death.
But after he passed away, there have been growing calls for the law to be quickly passed,
prompting the House Foreign Affairs Committee to draw up the bill with an aim to put it
to a vote as early as next month.
Under the bipartisan bill, Americans would not be allowed to visit North Korea for five
years.
If they do wish to go then they would have to apply for and receive a license from the
Treasury Department.
Assuming the bill receives a favorable vote in the committee, it will get a vote in the
House, and most likely the Senate.
The legislation would need the president's signature to go into effect, if it's not passed
with a two-thirds vote, but both sides of the aisle seem to want the new bill to be
implemented to ensure Americans' safety.
North Korea denies that it mistreated Warmbier while he was detained there, but Washington
is not convinced.
-------------------------------------------
Top diplomats of S. Korea, U.S. agree on need to pressure North Korea to abandon nukes - Duration: 0:37.
The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States have reaffirmed their commitment to
making the upcoming Moon-Trump summit a success.
During their 40 minute sit-down in Washington, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and U.S. Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson discussed their bilateral alliance, ways to denuclearize North Korea
and the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea.
On North Korea, the two allies agreed to narrow down on a strategy to resolve Pyongyang's
nuclear issues.
Tillerson said South Korea and the U.S. know they must strengthen pressure on North Korea
to make that a reality.
-------------------------------------------
U.S. Congress readies North Korean travel ban - Duration: 1:39.
U.S. Congress is reportedly readying legislation that would ban Americans from travelling to
North Korea.
It comes in the wake of the death of an American college student, who died just days after
returning to the U.S. in a coma after nearly a year-and-a-half in North Korean captivity.
Ro Aram has more.
South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson and California Democrat Adam Schiff had sponsored the legislation
for a travel ban to North Korea weeks before Otto Warmbier's death.
But after he passed away, there have been growing calls for the law to be quickly passed,
prompting the House Foreign Affairs Committee to draw up the bill with an aim to put it
to a vote as early as next month.
Under the bipartisan bill, Americans would not be allowed to visit North Korea for five
years.
There are some exceptions, such as those going for humanitarian work, but these people would
have to apply for and receive a license from the Treasury Department.
Assuming the bill receives a favorable vote in the committee, it will get a vote in the
House, and most likely the Senate.
The legislation would need the president's signature to go into effect, if it's not passed
with a two-thirds vote, but both sides of the aisle seem to want the new bill to be
implemented.
Both Republicans and Democrats say the new law is needed to prevent U.S. citizens falling
victim to tourist ads that lure them to visit North Korea, and then end up being used as
bargaining chips.
North Korean officials deny Warmbier was mistreated while he was detained there, but Washington
is not convinced.
Ro Aram, Arirang News.
-------------------------------------------
Questions Arise as US-India F-16 Deal Seeks to Get Airborne - Duration: 3:45.
Welcome to WARN, Todays News is.
Questions Arise as US-India F-16 Deal Seeks to Get Airborne
A lucrative aviation deal between US-India firms to manufacture F-16 fighter jets in
the south Asian nation has attracted criticism that old technology is being "dumped."
US defense contractor Lockheed Martin has taken further steps to secure a deal which
would relocate the manufacture of F-16 fighter jets to India.
News of the multi-billion dollar agreement with Indian industry giant Tata Group came
as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with US President Donald Trump in Washington
on Monday, June 26.
A press release issued by both firms stated that India will be able to "produce, operate
and export the multi fighter F-16 Block 70 aircraft."
The fighter jet will be exclusively built in India, making the south Asian nation the
world's sole F-16 manufacturer, and comes as part of Modi's drive and vision to bolster
Indian business dubbed "Make in India."
While the deal is awaiting official endorsement � and it faces stiff competition from rival
firms including Sweden-based Saab which builds the Gripen fighter � it would phase out
India's 200 Russian-made MiGs which currently form the backbone of India's aviation defenses.
Some defense experts have meanwhile slammed the decision stating that the US is off-loading
out-of-date aviation technology onto India.
Weapons expert Brahma Chellaney on Twitter asked ::
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - India a dumping ground for obsolete weapon
systems?
Lockheed Martin signs F-16 deal with Tata.
Why Tata?
Because they make the noisiest car?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Many have also asked if the technologically more sophisticated US-made F-35 fighter jet,
which can evade air radar, renders the F-16 jet system old technology.
Speaking exclusively to Sputnik, former F-16 Taiwanese fighter pilot Eric Hsu said:
"Your first option should be the F-35� it's invisible to radar and can avoid 'lock down.'
"
Now employed as a civil aviation pilot with Taiwanese flag-carrier China Airlines, Hsu
added:
"Airplanes are just a vehicle to extend your weapon and your attack range.
If your weapons are more advanced it doesn't matter what airplane you fly."
Hsu, formerly based at the Taiwanese Air Force base in Taitung and a keen member of the island's
aircraft community, said that much about technology depended on your opponent's capabilities:
"F-16s are old technology, but who is the enemy?
If they are more advanced then it becomes old," Hsu told Sputnik.
The F-35 is part of a new round of "fifth generation fighter jets" which includes Russia's
PAK-FA as well as China's Chengdu J-20.
Speaking to Reuters news agency in relation to the potential US-India deal MiG General
Director Ilia Tarasenko said that his company had been cooperating with India for more than
50 years, providing planes, service and training centers, and remained upbeat about further
sales.
"We are not afraid of rivalry with the US in this market," he stated.
"On the contrary, we believe that attempts by other players to establish cooperation
with this country help us to better understand their needs and better meet them."
He said MiG's new MiG-35 fighter jet was 20 percent cheaper to operate over its lifespan
and offered countries capabilities that went beyond those of regular "fourth-generation"
planes.
-------------------------------------------
U.S. Congress readies North Korean travel ban - Duration: 1:30.
Media outlets in the United States are reporting that Congress is readying legislation that
would ban Americans from travelling to North Korea.
With more on this and other news around the world we turn to Ro Aram…
Aram….the reported move comes in the wake of the death of Otto Warmbier, who died just
days after returning to the U.S. in a coma after 17 months in North Korean captivity.
How soon could we see this new law being implemented?
Well Jihye… it is still early days… but South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson and California
Democrat Adam Schiff had sponsored the legislation for a travel ban to North Korea weeks before
Warmbier's death.
But after he passed away, there have been growing calls for the law to be quickly passed,
prompting the House Foreign Affairs Committee to draw up the bill with an aim to put it
to a vote as early as next month.
Under the bipartisan bill, Americans would not be allowed to visit North Korea for five
years.
If they do wish to go then they would have to apply for and receive a license from the
Treasury Department.
Assuming the bill receives a favorable vote in the committee, it will get a vote in the
House, and most likely the Senate.
The legislation would need the president's signature to go into effect, if it's not passed
with a two-thirds vote, but both sides of the aisle seem to want the new bill to be
implemented to ensure Americans' safety.
North Korea denies that it mistreated Warmbier while he was detained there, but Washington
is not convinced.
-------------------------------------------
U.S. Congress readies North Korean travel ban - Duration: 1:39.
U.S. Congress is reportedly readying legislation that would ban Americans from travelling to
North Korea.
It comes in the wake of the death of an American college student, who died just days after
returning to the U.S. in a coma after nearly a year-and-a-half in North Korean captivity.
Ro Aram has more.
South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson and California Democrat Adam Schiff had sponsored the legislation
for a travel ban to North Korea weeks before Otto Warmbier's death.
But after he passed away, there have been growing calls for the law to be quickly passed,
prompting the House Foreign Affairs Committee to draw up the bill with an aim to put it
to a vote as early as next month.
Under the bipartisan bill, Americans would not be allowed to visit North Korea for five
years.
There are some exceptions, such as those going for humanitarian work, but these people would
have to apply for and receive a license from the Treasury Department.
Assuming the bill receives a favorable vote in the committee, it will get a vote in the
House, and most likely the Senate.
The legislation would need the president's signature to go into effect, if it's not passed
with a two-thirds vote, but both sides of the aisle seem to want the new bill to be
implemented.
Both Republicans and Democrats say the new law is needed to prevent U.S. citizens falling
victim to tourist ads that lure them to visit North Korea, and then end up being used as
bargaining chips.
North Korean officials deny Warmbier was mistreated while he was detained there, but Washington
is not convinced.
Ro Aram, Arirang News.
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