Thursday, December 28, 2017
How to Nurse That Debt Hangover After the Christmas Spending Binge / Personal_Finance / Debt & Loans
Consumers that overspent this Christmas might be facing a financial headache right now. Whilst using an overdraft is a convenient way to tide borrowers over until pay day, the cost to do so can be much more expensive than other forms of borrowing.
According to the latest research by moneyfacts.co.uk, the cost of the convenience of using an overdraft or a credit card can bite in a period of just three months, and with January sales looming, some consumers may be waiting until late February before they get back in the black.
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Thursday, December 28, 2017
Gold, Bitcoin and the Blockchain Replaces the Banks – Realists Guide To The Future / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
– Futurist guide to 2028 shows a world of uncertainty and disruption
– One scenario suggests cybersecurity attacks will result in bitcoin and blockchain’s dominance of financial systems
– Cybersecurity threat will still loom large and wreak havoc. Gold, silver and other real assets will benefit.
– Adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain will send gold price soaring
– Use of cryptocurrencies to take advantage of world systems will see investors turn to safe havens such as gold bullion and coins
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Sheffield Town & Peace Gardens Christmas Lights Magic 2017 / Local / Sheffield
There's still time to enjoy Sheffield's Peace Gardens Christmas Display that features a giant walk in bauble and box present, and here we add bit of our own extra magic with a transparent helium balloon. Enjoy!
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Wednesday, December 27, 2017
How Bitcoin Could Crash The Financial Markets / Currencies / Bitcoin
BY PATRICK WATSON : Bitcoin mania is starting to look like a religion.
I say that because both bitcoin and religion involve faith in the unknowable. Some bitcoin investors believe the cryptocurrency, along with the underlying blockchain technology, will be a vital part of a new, decentralized, post-government society.
I can’t prove that won’t happen—nor can bitcoin evangelists prove it will. Like life after death, they can only say it’s out there beyond the horizon.
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Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Christmas Chocolate Cake Kids Baking Holiday Fun Activity / Personal_Finance / How to Guides
Anika aged 9 demonstrates how to have fun during the Christmas holidays as its literally child's play to bake an amazing, delicious chocolate cake. It's easy so come on kids get your parents involved and lets all get baking fresh chocolate cakes during the x-mas holiday!
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Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Student Debt Slavery Bankrolling Financiers on the Backs of the Young / Politics / Student Finances
The advantages of slavery by debt over “chattel” slavery—ownership of humans as a property right—were set out in an infamous document called the Hazard Circular, reportedly circulated by British banking interests among their American banking counterparts during the American Civil War. It read in part:
Read full article... Read full article...Slavery is likely to be abolished by the war power and chattel slavery destroyed. This, I and my European friends are glad of, for slavery is but the owning of labor and carries with it the care of the laborers, while the European plan, led by England, is that capital shall control labor by controlling wages.
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Gold Miners Are At Another Inflection Point / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2018
For those that follow me regularly, you will know that I have been tracking a set up for the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:GDX), which I analyze as a proxy for the metals market. I believe that the GDX can outperform the general equity market once we confirm a long term break out has begun, and I think we can see it in 2018.
Recent price action
In early December, we identified a specific 20.89-21.26 support region, which, if held, could begin that major 3rd wave break out and rally we have been awaiting. But, since it would mean that this 2nd wave would have completed in an unorthodox manner, I noted that I would need to see confirmation that the market has truly bottomed.
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Wednesday, December 27, 2017
What Is The Difference Between Bitcoin, Amazon, Tesla And The S&P500? / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2017
Bitcoin has certainly gone much higher than most investors have expected, but so have Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and the S&P500. In fact, in 2015, we targeted the 2537-2611 region as our ideal target from the 1800 region. And, the market is now approximately 3% beyond even our upper target region set two years ago for just this wave degree. But, we still expect the SPX to be well over 3000 before this bull market off the 2009 lows completes.
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Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Trump’s Tax Cuts: The Good, The Bad, and the Inflationary / Economics / Inflation
At last, tax reform is happening! Last week, President Donald Trump celebrated the passage of the most important legislation so far of his presidency.
The final bill falls far short of the “file on a postcard” promise of Trump’s campaign. It even falls short of the bill trotted out by Congressional Republicans just a few weeks ago. It is, nevertheless, the most significant tax overhaul in more than a decade.
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Wednesday, December 27, 2017
The Integrated Non US Dollar Chinese Platforms / Currencies / China US Conflict
The many new integrated non-USD platforms devised and constructed by China finally have critical mass. They threaten the King Dollar as global currency reserve. Clearly, the USDollar cannot be displaced in trade and banking without a viable replacement for widespread daily usage. Two years ago, critics could not point to a viable integrated system outside the USD realm. Now they can. The integration of commercial, construction, financial, transaction, investment, and even security systems can finally be described as having critical mass in displacing the USDollar. The King Dollar faces competition of a very real nature. The Jackass has promoted a major theme in the last several months, that of the Dual Universe. At first the USGovt will admit that it cannot fight the non-USD movement globally. To do so with forceful means would involve sanctions against multiple nations, and a war with both Russia & China. Their value together is formidable in halting the financial battles from becoming a global war. The United States prefers to invade and destroy indefensible nations like Libya, Iraq, Ukraine, Syria, and by proxy Yemen.
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Wednesday, December 27, 2017
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Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Virgin Media Ruins Boxing Day Online Sales - Broadband Down ALL DAY in UK Wide Failure! / ConsumerWatch / Internet
Virgin Media broadband has become progressively less reliable during 2017. With today's outage being the icing on the cake of a year of failures! At the very peak of the years sales frenzy season, Boxing Day that will have seen over 10 million of Brit's surfing online for sales Bargains to grab. Unfortunately not for Virgin media customers, where an early morning outage of a few hours has turned into a day long outage with no end on site of when virgin media broadband will start to work for its customers.
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Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Curry's Leads High Street and Online with Early Sales Big LED 4K TV's Discounts / ConsumerWatch / Shopping
Sales for most of Britain's big retailers started Christmas Eve, however the giant household electrical's retailer Curry's / PC World got off to an early start to the holiday sales season by promoting deep discounts across its range of its household electrical goods such as Big Screen 4k LED TV's. Though many if not most had been cut in price earlier in the year for instance for Black Friday 26th November, following which prices reverted higher to once more be cut on the 23rd of December.
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Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Will the Last Week of December Surprise the Financial Markets? / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2017
Holiday Greetings!
I hope you and those you love are doing well over the holidays. My wife and I were happy to learn that another grandchild is on the way. SPX futures are marginally lower, but continue to find support at the upper trendline of the Broadening formation.
ZeroHedge reports, “For the second day in a row, most Asian markets - at least the ones that are open - were dragged lower by tech stocks and Apple suppliers, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index down 0.2% led by Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in response to the previously noted report that Apple will slash Q1 sales forecasts for iPhone X sales by 40% from 50 million to 30 million. Most Asian equity benchmarks fell except those in China. European stocks were mixed in a quiet session while U.S. equity futures are little changed as markets reopen after the Christmas holiday.”
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Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Gold and Silver Intermediate Cycle Update / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
While we are not out of the woods just yet, evidence it beginning to build, from a Price and Time perspective, that an Intermediate Cycle low has been left behind. Gold’s daily and weekly charts look constructive thus far as are the COT reports but the volume patterns are a bit concerning as volume is declining as we have moved higher and we want to see this pattern reverse as volume should start to increase as we move higher. We have confirmed that Gold has found a short term TCL / DCL, including a failed TCL which is one of the factors we look for when a longer ICL develops.
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Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Chinese Economy in 2018 and Beyond / Economics / China Economy
In the coming years, China shall aim at high-quality development, while seeking to forestall financial and international risks.
The recent Central Economic Work Conference marked a historical point in China’s economic development. After Mao’s struggle for the mainland’s sovereignty, and Deng’s economic reforms and opening-up, President Xi’s team seeks complete much of the transition to post-industrial society by the early 2020s.
What does it all mean for Chinese economy in 2018?
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Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Military/ Intelligence/ Security Industrial Complex Rules / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
When Harry Browne wrote and first published back on January 1, 1973 How to be Free in an Unfree World, few people realized just how much more difficult it would be to apply his rational lessons to a world completely gone mad in a rush to hasten Armageddon. Listening to Harry Browne back in 1980 at a monetary conference, the audience was eager to unlock the keys to attain financial security. Well, in the succeeding decades, most astute observers of the financial conditions have found a way to acquire, at least a modest degree of fiscal accomplishment.
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Monday, December 25, 2017
Towards "Nuclear Winter”? / Politics / Nuclear Weapons
All efforts to resolve the elevated nuclear tensions in the Korean Peninsula should be subject to extreme caution, due to the potential of massive collateral damage of death, destruction, radiation and environmental collapse.Reportedly, Washington is drawing up plans for a “bloody nose” military attack on North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program. According to high-level sources, the White House has “dramatically” stepped up preparation for a military solution in recent months amid fears diplomacy is not working.
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Monday, December 25, 2017
SPX at Key Support Level / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
Current Position of the Market
SPX: Long-term trend – The bull market is continuing with no sign of a major top in sight.
Intermediate trend – Possible short-term high.
Analysis of the short-term trend is done on a daily basis with the help of hourly charts. It is an important adjunct to the analysis of daily and weekly charts which discusses the course of longer market trends.
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Sunday, December 24, 2017
Magical Christmas Lights Helium Balloons at Peace Gardens, Sheffield / Politics / Holidays
Here's a magical optical illusion created by use of these transparent Christmas lights helium balloons as this video from Sheffield's Peace Gardens illustrates where their two giant bauble and box present walk in light displays as if by magic reappear within the helium balloons.
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