investmentwatchblog--2020-10-21--China “Pwns” Us: How the Chinese Are Buying Up America

The People ’ s Republic of China isn ’ t exactly a favorite of the American public .
Since the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak of early 2020 , Americans are questioning whether or not all of that cheap plastic junk from Wal-Mart doesn ’ t come with a hidden cost .
It ’ s not just about the virus : There is also the spectre of deindustrialization , which has been a social disaster for the United States , particularly the rust belt .
What ’ s more , Tucker Carlson and others reported during the early days of the Wuhan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dependent on China for basic medical supplies , such as penicillin .
Carlson ’ s comments are incredibly important , especially when we begin drilling down further into just how reliant the United States is on China : 97 percent of all antibiotics and 80 percent of all active ingredients in American pharmaceuticals come from China .
In 2017 alone , the United States imported a whopping $ 4.6 billion in foodstuffs from the People ’ s Republic of China .
The corporate press has largely been silent on this matter , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a long history of sympathy for the People ’ s Republic of China and virtually all enemies of America and liberty .
But there is also a deep presence by the People ’ s Republic of China in the United States , both in our media and in our economy , specifically in the real estate market .
If it sounds insane to you that United States laws allow a hostile foreign power to own both media and land in this country , well , you ’ re not alone .
And while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ making a mountain out of a molehill , if you read the following article you will probably be amazed at just how deep the rabbithole of Chinese influence in the American media and economy goes .
This is nothing less than the defining national security issue of our age .
China Buying U.S. Land : How Much Land Does China Own in the U.S. ?
American prosperity has largely been built on a dual foundation : cheap land , expensive labor .
Until Ted Kennedy ’ s Immigration Act of 1965 , Ronald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NAFTA opened up the floodgates of Third World immigration ( both legal and illegal ) this formula basically held firm .
When there was not enough labor , employers had to pay more rather than simply importing massive amounts of cheap labor from countries with little in the way of worker protections .
The same laws allowing for a massive influx of cheap labor have also destabilized the American real estate market : More buyers means more demand means higher prices for those looking to buy a home .
There are a myriad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among them that family formation is more expensive and thus less attainable for the average young American worker in the 21st Century than it was in years past .
But beyond this , there is the problem of allowing foreign nationals to own real estate in the United States , a practice that is outlawed in a number of countries .
Where foreign nationals are allowed to own real estate , there are often restrictions on where they can buy and how much they can own .
The reasons for this hardly need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anyway : First , the citizens of a nation have first claim on the land there .
Second , it is potentially dangerous to allow too much of a nation ’ s land to fall into the hands of foreigners .
Currently 30 million acres of American farmland is owned by foreign investors or fully 2.2 percent of all American farmland .
For context , that ’ s an area roughly the size of Mississippi or Pennsylvania These are effectively absentee landlords who own some of the best real estate in the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ owned 191,000 acres worth $ 1.9 billion as of 2019 .
This might not sound like a lot , but Chinese ownership of American farmland has exploded dramatically over the last decade .
Indeed , there has been a tenfold expansion of Chinese ownership of farmland in the United States in less than a decade .
Six states — Hawaii , Iowa , Minnesota , Mississippi , North Dakota and Oklahoma — currently ban foreign ownership of farmland .
Massive Chinese investment in American farmland is troubling for one very obvious reason : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nation in the hands of a hostile foreign power .
But there is also the social cost of allowing foreign buyers who have effectively unlimited resources to compete on the real estate market with smaller domestic buyers .
It is understandable if no one reading this has any tears to shed for Big Aggie , but the real victims of this are smaller landholders .
For those concerned about environmental issues , ask yourself who is more likely to practice good stewardship of the land — American farmers or Chinese bureaucrats thousands of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the U.S .
In addition to their farmland holdings , China owns more residential real estate than any other foreign country , which has a significant impact on the real estate market on the West Coast .
Sound far-fetched ?
According to Market Watch , “ Chinese buyers accounted for roughly 25 percent of total foreign investment in U.S. residential real estate.
” Canada was far behind at a relatively scant 9 percent .
The article specifically mentions Chinese investment in California real estate as a driving force behind high housing prices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s worth noting that many of these properties are owned as rental properties by absentee landlords .
Again , who is going to care more about the quality of tenant life ?
An American down the street or a Chinese bureaucrat thousands of miles away ?
Precious little is written in the major media in the United States about this epidemic of Chinese ownership of American land and real estate .
Even less is written about the influence and leverage that the People ’ s Republic of China has within the corporate media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the corporate directors of media firms having close financial ties to China that are little known to the American public .
This creates a financial incentive to white wash the actions of the People ’ s Republic of China , both domestically and abroad .
Recall the way that the media bristled at calling COVID-19 “ the China Virus ” or “ Wuhan Coronavirus.
” There is a reason for this beyond simple political correctness .
Many in the upper echelons of the corporate media have a vested interest in protecting the reputation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China .
Take Carlos Slim , the largest shareholder of The New York Times , who controls about a third of the board .
His other ventures have very close ties to Chinese firms that are directly tied to the Chinese government .
His Giant Motors is engaged in joint operations with China ’ s JAC Motors to penetrate the Latin American market .
This was an attempt to work around the Trump Administration ’ s aggressive trade policies against China .
America Movil , his mobile phone company , has partnered with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Colombia .
Huawei is a proven threat to American security and wants to end federal restrictions on their access to 5G technology .
Jeff Bezos , Amazon CEO and owner of the Washington Post .
Many of Amazon ’ s biggest-selling products , such as the Echo and the Kindle , are manufactured in China by low-wage , low-skill labor .
Bezos ’ cheerleading for the People ’ s Republic of China is much more explicit than that of Slim : The Washington Post includes a supplement called “ China Watch ” which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s official media arm .
The fact that this is a paid advertising supplement shouldn ’ t calm any worries about the PRC ’ s influence over at the Post — it effectively means that Bezos is accepting money from the Chinese government to run official Chinese propaganda in an American newspaper .
CNN is a property of WarnerMedia , which is very closely tied to the People ’ s Republic of China .
They have a $ 50 million investment deal with the PRC .
Specifically , this is an investment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company ( in as much as such things exist in the PRC ) subject to the censorship of the Chinese government .
It is worth remembering how CNN fawned over the Chinese reaction to the Wuhan Coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic .
Both MSNBC and NBC are owned by NBC Universal who have a partnership with China ’ s state-run media , Xinhua , to cooperate on international news .
The United States State Department has identified Xinhua as “ foreign missions , ” effectively Chinese propaganda outfits with no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s more , CMC Partners , an investment group with direct technological and financial oversight from Beijing , now has full ownership of Oriental Dreamworks , formerly owned by NBC Universal .
ABC arguably has the strongest ties with the Chinese economy .
The Chinese government and state-owned enterprises provided significant support for the $ 3.6 trillion cost of building a Disney World in Shanghai .
ESPN , another ABC property , told staff to not disparage the Communist regime and , where possible , to avoid the topic entirely .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coach ’ s criticism of the Chinese regime , American media properties effectively siding with China over America .
Bloomberg is heavily invested in China , which is perhaps why Michael Bloomberg refuses to even refer to the People ’ s Republic of China as a dictatorship .
For Bloomberg , it is a far more insidious relationship than other American media companies : They have sent $ 150 billion into Chinese bond markets to 364 countries .
Out of the 364 , 159 were directly controlled by the Chinese government .
Bloomberg @ @ @ @ @ @ @ willing servant of the Chinese Communist Party .
In 2014 , they squashed a story about the wealth of the Chinese elites .
They leveraged a non-disclosure agreement to silence both a reporter based in Beijing and his wife , neither of whom ever worked for Bloomberg .
Lest one think that this is simply an example of companies seeking to do good business in a large and emerging market , it is worth noting that conservative media outlets are far less likely to be invested in China and when they are , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than their mainstream , liberal counterparts .
News Corp , for example , the parent company of Fox News , has effectively abandoned trying to penetrate China in any significant way .
Finally , there is the question of communication infrastructure in the United States .
In February 2020 , Attorney General William Barr warned Americans that we were losing the war to roll out 5G networks both domestically and abroad .
The economic concern here is not insignificant : There ’ s tons of money in 5G infrastructure and it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pockets of Americans than to the People ’ s Republic of China .
However , especially in the wake of the Huawei security scandal , it is worth asking whether or not any American data is safe in a world where the Chinese control the dominant mobile telecommunications infrastructure .
There ’ s no “ smoking gun ” per se , but there is a heck of a lot of smoke when it comes to Chinese influence in the American media ecosystem .
One step beyond this is the literal ownership of Chinese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China Radio International is effectively the Chinese equivalent of Radio Free Europe .
It broadcasts PRC propaganda all around the world , including in the United States .
They own ten radio stations in the United States , which might not sound like a lot until you consider that they ’ re in most of the major American media markets including Atlanta , Houston , Boston , Las Vegas and two in the Washington , D.C. metro area .
It can also be accessed basically anywhere in the world via Internet or shortwave @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China ’ s penetration in the American media is not limited to a few AM radio stations , either .
Beginning in 2012 , the People ’ s Republic of China began looking for ways to penetrate the American film market .
Specifically , China has sought to create inroads into owning American film distribution .
This effectively allows them a veto over films that might run contrary to the PRC ’ s goals for its image abroad .
This could be something as simple as squashing a movie revolving around protests .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that are a sort of soft propaganda for the Chinese regime , such as the Disney nature documentary Born In China .
Dalian Wanda is a Chinese firm that stands as an exemplar of how Chinese penetration of the American media market will work .
It is , since 2012 , the owner of the AMC theater chain , which it then used to purchase Carmike Cinemas .
When taken together , these two companies form the largest chain of theaters in the United States , giving a Chinese firm a massive amount @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The parent company , Dalian Wanda , has been very candid about its intention to use ownership of these chains to promote Chinese interests in the United States .
The bottom line is , don ’ t expect to see any films about Tibet or the Hong Kong protests in AMC theaters anytime soon .
Dalian Wanda and other Chinese firms are also looking to acquire significant stakes in American film production companies , controlling the content that Americans — and , of course , the world market — can see from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Legendary Entertainment in 2016 .
This is the studio responsible for such international hits as : Godzilla : King of the Monsters , The Dark Knight , Jurassic Park : Fallen Kingdom and many others .
Paramount Pictures wanted to sell 49 percent of its shares to Dalian Wanda , however the deal fell through .
Instead , they formed a partnership with Chinese media companies Shanghai Film Group and Huahua Media .
In addition to pro-Chinese propaganda , China can and has used their leverage in the American film market to begin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s article “ China : Economic Power , Political Enigma ” in Washington Quarterly , he details how film companies controlled by the Chinese Communist Party have glorified the 9/11 attacks .
Coming soon to a movie theater near you .
The PRC has likewise made inroads into the lucrative and popular gaming market .
For many young people , the preferred form of media is not movies or even television , but gaming .
Chinese companies are now in control of Riot Games , Epic Games , and Cryptic Studios .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ controlling media consumed by children and young adults , able to insert various forms of subtle propaganda into their favorite games .
But the real concern might not even be a hostile foreign power propagandizing to your children through the medium of video games .
It might be the technological and military capabilities that China has access to when they purchase video game companies .
The United States military has worked in the past with large research universities to come up with realistic training simulations leveraging emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , there was also TikTok , the Chinese social media platform popular with “ Zoomers ” that was little more than Chinese spyware .
The Trump Administration moved to either ban it or force China to sell it to an American firm .
This represents the first significant pushback against Chinese infiltration of the American media and economy , but we sincerely hope that it will not be the last .
The Fight Against Communist Chinese Influence in America In February 2020 , the Trump Administration announced that five state-run Chinese “ media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Global Television Network , China Radio International , Hai Tian Development USA Inc. and Xinhua News Agency ) would no longer be recognized as such , but would instead be called by their proper names — they will now be treated as foreign embassies .
In June of that same year , the Trump Administration added an additional four state-run media entities to that list : China Central Television , China News Service , the Global Times and the People ’ s Daily .
This was in part thanks to increased use of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States .
China retaliated in March by revoking the press credentials of three reporters from the New York Times , Washington Post and Wall Street Journal before expelling them from the country .
PRC officials were very candid that this was in direct response to American actions to curb and monitor the activity of Chinese propaganda outlets in the United States .
The tangible effect of this is that the companies now have to disclose to the government who works for them , as well as share all hiring and firing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ likewise will now have to register with the State Department all properties rented and owned within the United States .
Before they can purchase or lease new property , they will have to obtain approval from the State Department .
It is worth noting that Western media outlets operate under far more strict rules in China than their Chinese counterparts do in the United States .
It is unsurprising that the People ’ s Republic of China would do anything within its power to expand its global reach and to influence public opinion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more and more Westerners are becoming skeptical of the relationship between the PRC and the West .
However , what is surprising is how little the United States and other Western governments have done to prevent Chinese penetration of their economy and culture .
It may or may not be troubling when foreign nationals own real estate and media within the United States .
There are solid arguments in either direction .
However , one would be hard pressed to make the case that allowing the People ’ s Republic of China — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the chief rival of the United States internationally and an enemy of liberty around the world — any influence in the American real estate market and media is a mistake of potentially world-changing proportions .

by Alex Horsman via Libertas Bella
The People’s Republic of China isn’t exactly a favorite of the American public. Since the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak of early 2020, Americans are questioning whether or not all of that cheap plastic junk from Wal-Mart doesn’t come with a hidden cost.
It’s not just about the virus: There is also the spectre of deindustrialization, which has been a social disaster for the United States, particularly the rust belt. What’s more, Tucker Carlson and others reported during the early days of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak that the United States was dependent on China for basic medical supplies, such as penicillin.
Carlson’s comments are incredibly important, especially when we begin drilling down further into just how reliant the United States is on China: 97 percent of all antibiotics and 80 percent of all active ingredients in American pharmaceuticals come from China. In 2017 alone, the United States imported a whopping $4.6 billion in foodstuffs from the People’s Republic of China.
The corporate press has largely been silent on this matter, which isn’t surprising: They have a long history of sympathy for the People’s Republic of China and virtually all enemies of America and liberty. But there is also a deep presence by the People’s Republic of China in the United States, both in our media and in our economy, specifically in the real estate market.
If it sounds insane to you that United States laws allow a hostile foreign power to own both media and land in this country, well, you’re not alone. And while it might sound like we’re making a mountain out of a molehill, if you read the following article you will probably be amazed at just how deep the rabbithole of Chinese influence in the American media and economy goes.
This is nothing less than the defining national security issue of our age.
China Buying U.S. Land: How Much Land Does China Own in the U.S.?
American prosperity has largely been built on a dual foundation: cheap land, expensive labor. Until Ted Kennedy’s Immigration Act of 1965, Ronald Reagan’s Amnesty of 1986 and NAFTA opened up the floodgates of Third World immigration (both legal and illegal) this formula basically held firm.
When there was not enough labor, employers had to pay more rather than simply importing massive amounts of cheap labor from countries with little in the way of worker protections.
The same laws allowing for a massive influx of cheap labor have also destabilized the American real estate market: More buyers means more demand means higher prices for those looking to buy a home.
There are a myriad of social consequences from this, chief among them that family formation is more expensive and thus less attainable for the average young American worker in the 21st Century than it was in years past.
But beyond this, there is the problem of allowing foreign nationals to own real estate in the United States, a practice that is outlawed in a number of countries. Where foreign nationals are allowed to own real estate, there are often restrictions on where they can buy and how much they can own.
The reasons for this hardly need explaining, but we will do so anyway: First, the citizens of a nation have first claim on the land there. Second, it is potentially dangerous to allow too much of a nation’s land to fall into the hands of foreigners.
Currently 30 million acres of American farmland is owned by foreign investors or fully 2.2 percent of all American farmland. For context, that’s an area roughly the size of Mississippi or Pennsylvania These are effectively absentee landlords who own some of the best real estate in the United States.
For its part, China owned 191,000 acres worth $1.9 billion as of 2019. This might not sound like a lot, but Chinese ownership of American farmland has exploded dramatically over the last decade. Indeed, there has been a tenfold expansion of Chinese ownership of farmland in the United States in less than a decade.
Six states — Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Dakota and Oklahoma — currently ban foreign ownership of farmland.
Massive Chinese investment in American farmland is troubling for one very obvious reason: It puts the food security of the nation in the hands of a hostile foreign power. But there is also the social cost of allowing foreign buyers who have effectively unlimited resources to compete on the real estate market with smaller domestic buyers.
It is understandable if no one reading this has any tears to shed for Big Aggie, but the real victims of this are smaller landholders. For those concerned about environmental issues, ask yourself who is more likely to practice good stewardship of the land — American farmers or Chinese bureaucrats thousands of miles away.
Chinese Real Estate Investors in the U.S.
In addition to their farmland holdings, China owns more residential real estate than any other foreign country, which has a significant impact on the real estate market on the West Coast. Sound far-fetched?
According to Market Watch, “Chinese buyers accounted for roughly 25 percent of total foreign investment in U.S. residential real estate.” Canada was far behind at a relatively scant 9 percent.
The article specifically mentions Chinese investment in California real estate as a driving force behind high housing prices in the Golden State. It’s worth noting that many of these properties are owned as rental properties by absentee landlords. Again, who is going to care more about the quality of tenant life?
An American down the street or a Chinese bureaucrat thousands of miles away?
Modern Chinese Propaganda and the Corporate Media
Precious little is written in the major media in the United States about this epidemic of Chinese ownership of American land and real estate. Even less is written about the influence and leverage that the People’s Republic of China has within the corporate media.
This often takes the form of the corporate directors of media firms having close financial ties to China that are little known to the American public. This creates a financial incentive to white wash the actions of the People’s Republic of China, both domestically and abroad.
Recall the way that the media bristled at calling COVID-19 “the China Virus” or “Wuhan Coronavirus.” There is a reason for this beyond simple political correctness. Many in the upper echelons of the corporate media have a vested interest in protecting the reputation of the People’s Republic of China.
The New York Times (NYT)
Take Carlos Slim, the largest shareholder of The New York Times, who controls about a third of the board. His other ventures have very close ties to Chinese firms that are directly tied to the Chinese government. His Giant Motors is engaged in joint operations with China’s JAC Motors to penetrate the Latin American market.
This was an attempt to work around the Trump Administration’s aggressive trade policies against China. America Movil, his mobile phone company, has partnered with Huawei Technologies to sell 5G technology in Colombia. Huawei is a proven threat to American security and wants to end federal restrictions on their access to 5G technology.
Washington Post (WaPo)
Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO and owner of the Washington Post. Many of Amazon’s biggest-selling products, such as the Echo and the Kindle, are manufactured in China by low-wage, low-skill labor.
Bezos’ cheerleading for the People’s Republic of China is much more explicit than that of Slim: The Washington Post includes a supplement called “China Watch” which is written directly by the Chinese government’s official media arm.
The fact that this is a paid advertising supplement shouldn’t calm any worries about the PRC’s influence over at the Post — it effectively means that Bezos is accepting money from the Chinese government to run official Chinese propaganda in an American newspaper.
Cable News Network (CNN)
CNN is a property of WarnerMedia, which is very closely tied to the People’s Republic of China. They have a $50 million investment deal with the PRC. Specifically, this is an investment in China Media Capital, a private company (in as much as such things exist in the PRC) subject to the censorship of the Chinese government.
It is worth remembering how CNN fawned over the Chinese reaction to the Wuhan Coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic.
National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Both MSNBC and NBC are owned by NBC Universal who have a partnership with China’s state-run media, Xinhua, to cooperate on international news. The United States State Department has identified Xinhua as “foreign missions,” effectively Chinese propaganda outfits with no independence from the Chinese government.
What’s more, CMC Partners, an investment group with direct technological and financial oversight from Beijing, now has full ownership of Oriental Dreamworks, formerly owned by NBC Universal.
American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
ABC arguably has the strongest ties with the Chinese economy. The Chinese government and state-owned enterprises provided significant support for the $3.6 trillion cost of building a Disney World in Shanghai.
ESPN, another ABC property, told staff to not disparage the Communist regime and, where possible, to avoid the topic entirely. This was during the fracas over an NBA coach’s criticism of the Chinese regime, American media properties effectively siding with China over America.
Bloomberg
Bloomberg is heavily invested in China, which is perhaps why Michael Bloomberg refuses to even refer to the People’s Republic of China as a dictatorship.
For Bloomberg, it is a far more insidious relationship than other American media companies: They have sent $150 billion into Chinese bond markets to 364 countries. Out of the 364, 159 were directly controlled by the Chinese government.
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Bloomberg’s media arm has been a willing servant of the Chinese Communist Party. In 2014, they squashed a story about the wealth of the Chinese elites. They leveraged a non-disclosure agreement to silence both a reporter based in Beijing and his wife, neither of whom ever worked for Bloomberg.
Lest one think that this is simply an example of companies seeking to do good business in a large and emerging market, it is worth noting that conservative media outlets are far less likely to be invested in China and when they are, they tend to be significantly less invested than their mainstream, liberal counterparts.
News Corp, for example, the parent company of Fox News, has effectively abandoned trying to penetrate China in any significant way.
Finally, there is the question of communication infrastructure in the United States. In February 2020, Attorney General William Barr warned Americans that we were losing the war to roll out 5G networks both domestically and abroad.
The economic concern here is not insignificant: There’s tons of money in 5G infrastructure and it’s much better that this go in the pockets of Americans than to the People’s Republic of China.
However, especially in the wake of the Huawei security scandal, it is worth asking whether or not any American data is safe in a world where the Chinese control the dominant mobile telecommunications infrastructure.
There’s no “smoking gun” per se, but there is a heck of a lot of smoke when it comes to Chinese influence in the American media ecosystem. One step beyond this is the literal ownership of Chinese propaganda media in the United States.
Meet China Radio International: China’s Equivalent to Radio Free Europe
China Radio International is effectively the Chinese equivalent of Radio Free Europe. It broadcasts PRC propaganda all around the world, including in the United States.
They own ten radio stations in the United States, which might not sound like a lot until you consider that they’re in most of the major American media markets including Atlanta, Houston, Boston, Las Vegas and two in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
It can also be accessed basically anywhere in the world via Internet or shortwave.
China Buys Hollywood: Chinese Penetration in the Film Market
The People’s Republic of China’s penetration in the American media is not limited to a few AM radio stations, either.
Beginning in 2012, the People’s Republic of China began looking for ways to penetrate the American film market. Specifically, China has sought to create inroads into owning American film distribution. This effectively allows them a veto over films that might run contrary to the PRC’s goals for its image abroad.
This could be something as simple as squashing a movie revolving around protests. They can also help to promote films that are a sort of soft propaganda for the Chinese regime, such as the Disney nature documentary Born In China.
Dalian Wanda is a Chinese firm that stands as an exemplar of how Chinese penetration of the American media market will work. It is, since 2012, the owner of the AMC theater chain, which it then used to purchase Carmike Cinemas.
When taken together, these two companies form the largest chain of theaters in the United States, giving a Chinese firm a massive amount of leverage over the American movie marketplace. The parent company, Dalian Wanda, has been very candid about its intention to use ownership of these chains to promote Chinese interests in the United States.
The bottom line is, don’t expect to see any films about Tibet or the Hong Kong protests in AMC theaters anytime soon.
Dalian Wanda and other Chinese firms are also looking to acquire significant stakes in American film production companies, controlling the content that Americans — and, of course, the world market — can see from the very source.
Dalian Wanda purchased Legendary Entertainment in 2016. This is the studio responsible for such international hits as: Godzilla: King of the Monsters, The Dark Knight, Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom and many others.
Paramount Pictures wanted to sell 49 percent of its shares to Dalian Wanda, however the deal fell through. Instead, they formed a partnership with Chinese media companies Shanghai Film Group and Huahua Media.
In addition to pro-Chinese propaganda, China can and has used their leverage in the American film market to begin pushing anti-American propaganda.
In Joshua Kurlantzick’s article “China: Economic Power, Political Enigma” in Washington Quarterly, he details how film companies controlled by the Chinese Communist Party have glorified the 9/11 attacks.
Coming soon to a movie theater near you.
TikTok Controversy: China Controls the Algorithm
The PRC has likewise made inroads into the lucrative and popular gaming market. For many young people, the preferred form of media is not movies or even television, but gaming. Chinese companies are now in control of Riot Games, Epic Games, and Cryptic Studios.
This means that China will now be controlling media consumed by children and young adults, able to insert various forms of subtle propaganda into their favorite games.
But the real concern might not even be a hostile foreign power propagandizing to your children through the medium of video games. It might be the technological and military capabilities that China has access to when they purchase video game companies.
The United States military has worked in the past with large research universities to come up with realistic training simulations leveraging emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
And, of course, there was also TikTok, the Chinese social media platform popular with “Zoomers” that was little more than Chinese spyware. The Trump Administration moved to either ban it or force China to sell it to an American firm.
This represents the first significant pushback against Chinese infiltration of the American media and economy, but we sincerely hope that it will not be the last.
The Fight Against Communist Chinese Influence in America
In February 2020, the Trump Administration announced that five state-run Chinese “media” companies (China Daily Distribution CorpChina Global Television Network, China Radio International, Hai Tian Development USA Inc. and Xinhua News Agency) would no longer be recognized as such, but would instead be called by their proper names — they will now be treated as foreign embassies.
In June of that same year, the Trump Administration added an additional four state-run media entities to that list: China Central Television, China News Service, the Global Times and the People’s Daily. This was in part thanks to increased use of these media arms as propaganda outlets in the United States.
China retaliated in March by revoking the press credentials of three reporters from the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal before expelling them from the country.
PRC officials were very candid that this was in direct response to American actions to curb and monitor the activity of Chinese propaganda outlets in the United States.
The tangible effect of this is that the companies now have to disclose to the government who works for them, as well as share all hiring and firing decisions with the State Department. They likewise will now have to register with the State Department all properties rented and owned within the United States.
Before they can purchase or lease new property, they will have to obtain approval from the State Department. It is worth noting that Western media outlets operate under far more strict rules in China than their Chinese counterparts do in the United States.
It is unsurprising that the People’s Republic of China would do anything within its power to expand its global reach and to influence public opinion abroad, especially at a time when more and more Westerners are becoming skeptical of the relationship between the PRC and the West.
However, what is surprising is how little the United States and other Western governments have done to prevent Chinese penetration of their economy and culture.
It may or may not be troubling when foreign nationals own real estate and media within the United States. There are solid arguments in either direction.
However, one would be hard pressed to make the case that allowing the People’s Republic of China — a rogue state by virtually any definition, the chief rival of the United States internationally and an enemy of liberty around the world — any influence in the American real estate market and media is a mistake of potentially world-changing proportions.


investmentwatchblog--2020-10-21--Global Health Bureaucrats Want Even More Power To Impose Their Plans Across National Borders

In an article last week for the Financial Times , Richard Milne examined the issue of Sweden ’ s “ dissent ” when it came to policy responses to the spread of covid-19 .
The article is essentially a hit piece on Sweden , containing all the usual strategies of portraying the Scandinavian nation as an irresponsible outlier .
Sweden , of course , famously refrained from imposing lockdowns on its population , while relying on targeted isolation for vulnerable populations .
The fact Sweden refused to go along with other states , which , as Milne put it , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ restrictions on their populations rarely seen outside wartime ” apparently dismayed the global media and politicians from other countries who demanded global lockdowns .
The result was a nearly endless stream of media stories about how Sweden ’ s response to covid-19 was disastrous .
These comparisons , of course , conveniently omitted the fact that Sweden experienced better outcomes than numerous countries that imposed draconian lockdowns , including Belgium , the UK , Spain , and Italy .
Moreover , as cases and hospitalizations are growing again in these prolockdown nations , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as of October 2020 .
Even more frustrating for the global pushers of lockdowns is the fact that the Swedish policy is “ enjoying strong support ” and “ most of the criticism still comes from outside the country.
” It is quite likely that the leaders of large states and international organizations aren ’ t terribly fond of this sort of independence still enjoyed by nation-states in these matters .
The relentless drive to discredit the Swedish response is one indicator , and another is the growing chorus of calls for stronger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infectious disease .
Politicians , think tanks , and left-wing publications are all pushing for strong international institutions to “ coordinate ” responses to pandemics .
But this then raises a question : Just how much coordination should there be , and how much of the sovereignty of individual states must be destroyed in the process ?
These questions ought to highlight the dangers of global political centralization , and this has been illustrated by the global media ’ s focus on attacking Sweden for its “ noncompliance ” in the global drive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s refusal to go along with the global “ expert ” will arouse this sort of vicious counterattack , it stands to reason that any reasonably powerful global institution with powers to impose health policy would happily crush any state that sought to go its own way .
After all , just consider how much easier it would be for global health bureaucrats to manufacture a narrative favorable to their own version of events if Sweden hadn ’ t done what it did .
Without the example of Sweden , it would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the death toll in the absence of coerced lockdowns would be double , triple , or even ten times larger than the death tolls experienced in countries with harsh lockdowns .
“ Yes , Spain has experienced a terrible death toll in spite of our strict lockdowns , ” the pundits might say .
“ But things would have been five times worse without the lockdowns !
” Without Sweden , there would have been no national-level counterexample to point to .
Any situation that contradicted the asserted “ you get either @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” story would be largely hypothetical .
But things didn ’ t turn out that way .
Because of this , we must expect the calls for ever-greater global “ coordination ” and “ governance ” to increase .
While few of these efforts will ever explicitly call for actual “ global government , ” the ultimate destination will be—as has been the case with the EU—a global bureaucracy that can demand compliance and implementation of mandates handed down by the governing bodies of these new and strengthened global organizations .
From the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this year , there have been calls for greater international “ coordination.
” In May , former British prime minister Tony Blair called for member countries to give the World Health Organization “ much greater heft and weight.
” In June , current British prime minister Boris Johnson called for the creation of a NATO-like organization that could produce “ a radical scaling up ” of global responses to disease .
Ex-prime minister Gordon Brown has also expressed similar views .
Many global NGOs , of course , have expressed similar sentiments .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) , for example , concluded in April : While this all sounds very voluntary and collaborative on every level , the far-left Jacobin has noted that these plans all remain rather toothless unless these organizations are given coercive powers .
In a July article explicitly pushing for a global democratic government , Leigh Phillips writes : Pandemics , of course , provide the perfect rationale for demanding an end to sovereignty at the level of nation-states .
If the refrain is “ the virus knows no border , ” then it naturally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ correct ” antipandemic policies must be forced to comply .
After all , any independence in this matter could be construed as one nation endangering all its neighbors .
Thus , in the new schema , an “ uncooperative ” country like Sweden would essentially forfeit its sovereignty by not adopting “ recommendations ” handed down by global health experts .
The fact that Sweden ’ s policy has been pushed by a democratically elected government to a generally approving electorate would be immaterial .
All that would matter would be the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bureaucracy .
Naturally , an international organization with powers like these would also eliminate subnational independence within the nation-states themselves .
In the United States , for example , seven states never locked down at all : Utah , Wyoming , North Dakota , South Dakota , Nebraska , Iowa , and Arkansas .
All of these states have experienced covid-19 deaths per million at rates well below those of states that enacted harsh lockdowns—especially New York and New Jersey .
Deaths also remain far lower by this measure in many states that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including Texas , Georgia , and Florida .
Moreover , like Sweden , these jurisdictions continue to provide counterexamples to the “ lockdown or die ” claims coming from states that did impose draconian lockdowns .
For example , when Georgia was among the first states to end its lockdown—long before most states in the northeastern United States— the The Atlantic declared it an “ experiment in human sacrifice.
” Clearly , several months later , this prediction continues to be wildly incorrect .
In Georgia , covid-19 deaths per million are still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in New York .
And hospitalizations continue to decline .
But even if total deaths do double and the rate is eventually similar to that in New York , we ’ re still left with the question : Why bother locking down at all if the outcome is the same ?
Naturally , this outcome would be embarrassing for advocates of lockdowns , so this sort of local sovereignty and independence would need to be eliminated by the global protectors of “ public health.
” Were there a global , uniform lockdown policy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politicians would have to worry about being contradicted by “ renegade ” jurisdictions .
Lockdowns would only be allowed to end in ways that suited the agendas of policymakers at the WHO , or whatever far-off governments were making policy for every state , town , region , and nation worldwide .
The usual narrative having failed in the case of Sweden , prolockdown critics have attempted other explanations .
One is that population density is lower in Sweden , so therefore , it will have lower deaths per million .
But new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ best , inconclusive on that matter .
While density is likely a factor of some kind , there ’ s no evidence it is a factor to the extent that would be necessary to explain why Sweden has performed better than the UK and Spain , for instance .
Another theory is that the Swedes have voluntarily practiced social distancing so studiously that this explains away the apparent failure of the “ forced lockdown or die ” narrative .
But , again , the data doesn ’ t show this .
In fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggests that Sweden socially distanced less than many European countries that imposed harsh lockdowns , yet had more deaths per capita than Sweden .
In other words , the usual explanations proffered by lockdown enthusiasts fail to explain the reality .
Surely , this all strikes the prolockdown policymakers as rather exhausting .
It would be far easier if it were unnecessary to address the fact that jurisdictions like Sweden and Georgia have failed to produce the bloodbaths that were promised .
This could all be solved by imposing a single , uniform @ @ @ @ @ @ @ directed by global technocrats .
This “ solution ” is apparently already in the works.Author : Ryan McMaken ( @ ryanmcmaken ) is a senior editor at the Mises Institute .
Ryan has degrees in economics and political science from the University of Colorado and was a housing economist for the State of Colorado .
He is the author of Commie Cowboys : The Bourgeoisie and the Nation-State in the Western Genre .

by Ryan McMaken of Mises Institute
In an article last week for the Financial Times, Richard Milne examined the issue of Sweden’s “dissent” when it came to policy responses to the spread of covid-19. The article is essentially a hit piece on Sweden, containing all the usual strategies of portraying the Scandinavian nation as an irresponsible outlier.
Sweden, of course, famously refrained from imposing lockdowns on its population, while relying on targeted isolation for vulnerable populations.
The fact Sweden refused to go along with other states, which, as Milne put it, “as country after country imposed lockdown restrictions on their populations rarely seen outside wartime” apparently dismayed the global media and politicians from other countries who demanded global lockdowns.
The result was a nearly endless stream of media stories about how Sweden’s response to covid-19 was disastrous. These comparisons, of course, conveniently omitted the fact that Sweden experienced better outcomes than numerous countries that imposed draconian lockdowns, including Belgium, the UK, Spain, and Italy. Moreover, as cases and hospitalizations are growing again in these prolockdown nations, Sweden has yet to show any resurgence as of October 2020.
Even more frustrating for the global pushers of lockdowns is the fact that the Swedish policy is “enjoying strong support” and “most of the criticism still comes from outside the country.”
It is quite likely that the leaders of large states and international organizations aren’t terribly fond of this sort of independence still enjoyed by nation-states in these matters.
The relentless drive to discredit the Swedish response is one indicator, and another is the growing chorus of calls for stronger “global governance” in matters of infectious disease.
Politicians, think tanks, and left-wing publications are all pushing for strong international institutions to “coordinate” responses to pandemics. But this then raises a question: Just how much coordination should there be, and how much of the sovereignty of individual states must be destroyed in the process?
These questions ought to highlight the dangers of global political centralization, and this has been illustrated by the global media’s focus on attacking Sweden for its “noncompliance” in the global drive for lockdowns. If one medium-sized country’s refusal to go along with the global “expert” will arouse this sort of vicious counterattack, it stands to reason that any reasonably powerful global institution with powers to impose health policy would happily crush any state that sought to go its own way.
After all, just consider how much easier it would be for global health bureaucrats to manufacture a narrative favorable to their own version of events if Sweden hadn’t done what it did. Without the example of Sweden, it would be far easier for politicians to claim that the death toll in the absence of coerced lockdowns would be double, triple, or even ten times larger than the death tolls experienced in countries with harsh lockdowns.
“Yes, Spain has experienced a terrible death toll in spite of our strict lockdowns,” the pundits might say. “But things would have been five times worse without the lockdowns!” Without Sweden, there would have been no national-level counterexample to point to.
Any situation that contradicted the asserted “you get either a harsh lockdown or an incalculable bloodbath” story would be largely hypothetical. But things didn’t turn out that way. Because of this, we must expect the calls for ever-greater global “coordination” and “governance” to increase. While few of these efforts will ever explicitly call for actual “global government,” the ultimate destination will be—as has been the case with the EU—a global bureaucracy that can demand compliance and implementation of mandates handed down by the governing bodies of these new and strengthened global organizations.
Calls for More Global Governance
From the very beginning of the announced pandemic earlier this year, there have been calls for greater international “coordination.” In May, former British prime minister Tony Blair called for member countries to give the World Health Organization “much greater heft and weight.” In June, current British prime minister Boris Johnson called for the creation of a NATO-like organization that could produce “a radical scaling up” of global responses to disease. Ex-prime minister Gordon Brown has also expressed similar views.
Many global NGOs, of course, have expressed similar sentiments. The Center for Global Development (CGD), for example, concluded in April:
we need strong multilateral institutions and stronger global governance. As the President of Ethiopia put it in his letter to the G20: “These challenges cannot be adequately addressed (…) by one country; they require a globally coordinated response. Just as the virus knows no border, our responses also should not know borders.” (emphasis in original)
While this all sounds very voluntary and collaborative on every level, the far-left Jacobin has noted that these plans all remain rather toothless unless these organizations are given coercive powers. In a July article explicitly pushing for a global democratic government, Leigh Phillips writes:
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Some of this agenda could be achieved straightforwardly enough through interstate treaties rather than a new global executive. However, much of it would require real governmental authority for the new body, not least the ability to compel national governments to obey its directives, even if Blair — always the savvier public relations operator of the Brown-Blair duo — makes no explicit mention of the term “world government.”… The world is already “governed” by some 1,000 treaties and agencies that involve varying levels of finance and enforcement. For these centrists, moving toward a world government would not be a revolution so much as the next logical step, accelerated by the pandemic and the accompanying economic downturn.
Eliminating Local Control
Pandemics, of course, provide the perfect rationale for demanding an end to sovereignty at the level of nation-states. If the refrain is “the virus knows no border,” then it naturally follows that countries unwilling to adopt the “correct” antipandemic policies must be forced to comply. After all, any independence in this matter could be construed as one nation endangering all its neighbors.
Thus, in the new schema, an “uncooperative” country like Sweden would essentially forfeit its sovereignty by not adopting “recommendations” handed down by global health experts. The fact that Sweden’s policy has been pushed by a democratically elected government to a generally approving electorate would be immaterial. All that would matter would be the mandates handed down by a distant global bureaucracy.
Naturally, an international organization with powers like these would also eliminate subnational independence within the nation-states themselves.
In the United States, for example, seven states never locked down at all: Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Arkansas. All of these states have experienced covid-19 deaths per million at rates well below those of states that enacted harsh lockdowns—especially New York and New Jersey. Deaths also remain far lower by this measure in many states that enacted either short or weak lockdowns, including Texas, Georgia, and Florida.
Moreover, like Sweden, these jurisdictions continue to provide counterexamples to the “lockdown or die” claims coming from states that did impose draconian lockdowns. For example, when Georgia was among the first states to end its lockdown—long before most states in the northeastern United States— the The Atlantic declared it an “ experiment in human sacrifice.” Clearly, several months later, this prediction continues to be wildly incorrect. In Georgia, covid-19 deaths per million are still less than half of what they are in New York. And hospitalizations continue to decline. But even if total deaths do double and the rate is eventually similar to that in New York, we’re still left with the question: Why bother locking down at all if the outcome is the same?
Naturally, this outcome would be embarrassing for advocates of lockdowns, so this sort of local sovereignty and independence would need to be eliminated by the global protectors of “public health.”
Were there a global, uniform lockdown policy, of course, prolockdown reporters and politicians would have to worry about being contradicted by “renegade” jurisdictions. Lockdowns would only be allowed to end in ways that suited the agendas of policymakers at the WHO, or whatever far-off governments were making policy for every state, town, region, and nation worldwide.
Inventing New Explanations
The usual narrative having failed in the case of Sweden, prolockdown critics have attempted other explanations. One is that population density is lower in Sweden, so therefore, it will have lower deaths per million. But new research suggests the data is, at best, inconclusive on that matter. While density is likely a factor of some kind, there’s no evidence it is a factor to the extent that would be necessary to explain why Sweden has performed better than the UK and Spain, for instance.
Another theory is that the Swedes have voluntarily practiced social distancing so studiously that this explains away the apparent failure of the “forced lockdown or die” narrative.
But, again, the data doesn’t show this.
In fact, the Google Community Mobility Trends data suggests that Sweden socially distanced less than many European countries that imposed harsh lockdowns, yet had more deaths per capita than Sweden. In other words, the usual explanations proffered by lockdown enthusiasts fail to explain the reality.
Surely, this all strikes the prolockdown policymakers as rather exhausting. It would be far easier if it were unnecessary to address the fact that jurisdictions like Sweden and Georgia have failed to produce the bloodbaths that were promised.
This could all be solved by imposing a single, uniform global policy an every regime, as directed by global technocrats. This “solution” is apparently already in the works.Author:
Contact Ryan McMaken
Ryan McMaken (@ryanmcmaken) is a senior editor at the Mises Institute. Ryan has degrees in economics and political science from the University of Colorado and was a housing economist for the State of Colorado. He is the author of Commie Cowboys: The Bourgeoisie and the Nation-State in the Western Genre.


investmentwatchblog--2020-10-21--Seasonality Strikes! Mortgage Purchase Applications Fall By -1.96% WoW, Refi Apps Rise By 0.23% (Pur

Seasonality Strikes! Mortgage Purchase Applications Fall By -1.96% WoW, Refi Apps Rise By 0.23% (Purchase Apps Up By 26% Versus Same Week Last Year)

Covid through the mortgage market for a loop .
Normally mortgage purchase applications peak in late April or early May @ @ @ @ @ purchases applications peaked in mid-June thanks to Covid-19 .
Here is a chart showing the @ @ @ @ @ .
And how mortgage purchase application are 26 percent higher than the same week one @ @ @ @ @ ?
Essentially flat with an increase of only

by confoundedinterest17
Covid through the mortgage market for a loop. Normally mortgage purchase applications peak in late April or early May, but in 2020 unadjusted purchases applications peaked in mid-June thanks to Covid-19.
We are primarily funded by readers. Please subscribe and donate to support us!
Here is a chart showing the seasonality of mortgage purchase applications. And how mortgage purchase application are 26 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
Refi applications? Essentially flat with an increase of only


investmentwatchblog--2020-10-21--Identity politics ruins everything — by design.

JEFF JACOBY : Outrage over Gal Gadot portraying Cleopatra gets the history wrong — and flies in the face of what acting is meant to accomplish .
Though the identity of Cleopatra ’ s mother has never been definitively established , there is no doubt that Cleopatra was regarded as Greek .
Egypt today is the most populous Arab country , but there was nothing Arab about it in Cleopatra ’ s day : The Arab conquest of North Africa occurred six centuries after her death .
The indigenous people of Egypt are the Copts , who still exist as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the extent that any of Cleopatra ’ s lineage was native , it was probably Coptic .
Her image on contemporaneous coins shows a woman of Mediterranean appearance .
“ The best evidence is that she was three-quarters Macedonian Greek and one-quarter Egyptian , ” writes historian and archaeologist Duane Roller of Ohio State University .
Applying today ’ s labels , Cleopatra would be considered Middle Eastern .
Just like Gadot , whose father is a sixth-generation Israeli .
But leave all that aside .
Assume for the sake of argument @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wholly different racial/ethnic categories .
Why should that matter ?
The notion that dramatic roles must go only to actors who check the same demographic box as the people they portray may line up with progressive identity politics , but it flies in the face of what acting is .
Actors pretend .
They embody characters and bring them to life .
Great acting doesn ’ t depend on whether the race , sexual orientation , gender identity , ethnicity , religion , color , or physical condition of actors matches that of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ depends on whether the actors can surmount such considerations — whether they can make their portrayals so believable , so compelling , that audiences see not the actor , but the character .

JEFF JACOBY: Outrage over Gal Gadot portraying Cleopatra gets the history wrong — and flies in the face of what acting is meant to accomplish.
Though the identity of Cleopatra’s mother has never been definitively established, there is no doubt that Cleopatra was regarded as Greek. Egypt today is the most populous Arab country, but there was nothing Arab about it in Cleopatra’s day: The Arab conquest of North Africa occurred six centuries after her death.
The indigenous people of Egypt are the Copts, who still exist as a persecuted minority in their homeland; to the extent that any of Cleopatra’s lineage was native, it was probably Coptic. Her image on contemporaneous coins shows a woman of Mediterranean appearance. “The best evidence is that she was three-quarters Macedonian Greek and one-quarter Egyptian,” writes historian and archaeologist Duane Roller of Ohio State University. Applying today’s labels, Cleopatra would be considered Middle Eastern. Just like Gadot, whose father is a sixth-generation Israeli.
But leave all that aside. Assume for the sake of argument that Cleopatra and Gadot are from two wholly different racial/ethnic categories. Why should that matter?
The notion that dramatic roles must go only to actors who check the same demographic box as the people they portray may line up with progressive identity politics, but it flies in the face of what acting is. Actors pretend. They embody characters and bring them to life.
Great acting doesn’t depend on whether the race, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, color, or physical condition of actors matches that of the character they are depicting. It depends on whether the actors can surmount such considerations — whether they can make their portrayals so believable, so compelling, that audiences see not the actor, but the character.


investmentwatchblog--2020-10-21--Europe and Canada Economies Slow Down Their Recovery

The 2020 crisis is not over .
Economic incentives no longer have such an effect , as a result , @ @ @ @ @ the recovery of economies .
Scarcely a week after the World Economic Outlook survey of @ @ @ @ @ to a steady strengthening of the global economy in 2021 , the roots of its @ @ @ @ @ extremely unstable .
How weakly hoped that Europe will rebound from the pandemic ’ s @ @ @ @ @ as the deadly virus has quickly spread across most of the continent .
In turn @ @ @ @ @ to slow down in recovery , showing not the best results .
It Won ’ @ @ @ @ @ that “ best ” coped with the consequences of the crisis caused by the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ The price for this was the uncontrolled printing of new bills and the purchase of @ @ @ @ @ However , this is not a long-term solution .
We can say that the United @ @ @ @ @ only delayed the inevitable problems .

by Peter Smith
The 2020 crisis is not over. Economic incentives no longer have such an effect, as a result, there is a slowdown in the recovery of economies.
The Crisis Continues
Scarcely a week after the World Economic Outlook survey of the International Monetary Fund pointed to a steady strengthening of the global economy in 2021, the roots of its prediction are beginning to look extremely unstable. We are primarily funded by readers. Please subscribe and donate to support us!
How weakly hoped that Europe will rebound from the pandemic’s economic disaster has vanished, as the deadly virus has quickly spread across most of the continent. In turn, the Canadian economy began to slow down in recovery, showing not the best results.
It Won’t Be Better
The country that “best” coped with the consequences of the crisis caused by the pandemic was the United States. The price for this was the uncontrolled printing of new bills and the purchase of securities from the market.
However, this is not a long-term solution. We can say that the United States using the printing press only delayed the inevitable problems.


investmentwatchblog--2020-10-21--22% of All Treasury Securities Are Owned by the FED

The Federal Reserve has taken over one-fifth of the securities on the market since launching its Treasury securities buyback program .
Since March , the Fed has raised the market to sustain money flows and ensure stability through a national recovery and the coronavirus pandemic .
Even with unexpected spending in relief spending , sales in approximately 80 billion Treasuries a month have kept rates down and contributed to a flow of new debt on the market .
However , analysts are concerned about what might happen if the central bank slows down its purchasing rate .
The Fed ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a full Treasury sector crash with the government expected to sustain high emissions for years .
The CARES Act of $ 2.2 trillion and additional stimulus initiatives against the pandemic recession were launched during the entire year as public debt grew .
Today it is over 26 billion dollars , up from 23 trillion dollars previous to the US shooting by COVID-19 .
This has resulted in the fed now owning 22 % of all market-traded Treasury securities , a new record .
This is also 20 % higher than in 2014 .

by Eseandre Mordi
The Federal Reserve has taken over one-fifth of the securities on the market since launching its Treasury securities buyback program.
FED’s Market Support
Since March, the Fed has raised the market to sustain money flows and ensure stability through a national recovery and the coronavirus pandemic. Even with unexpected spending in relief spending, sales in approximately 80 billion Treasuries a month have kept rates down and contributed to a flow of new debt on the market. We are primarily funded by readers. Please subscribe and donate to support us!
However, analysts are concerned about what might happen if the central bank slows down its purchasing rate. The Fed’s funding could be necessary to prevent a full Treasury sector crash with the government expected to sustain high emissions for years.
FED’s Holdings Record
The CARES Act of $2.2 trillion and additional stimulus initiatives against the pandemic recession were launched during the entire year as public debt grew. Today it is over 26 billion dollars, up from 23 trillion dollars previous to the US shooting by COVID-19.
This has resulted in the fed now owning 22% of all market-traded Treasury securities, a new record. This is also 20% higher than in 2014.
Fed now owns 22% of all marketable Treasury securities, a new record & up from peak of 20% in 2014 … in September 2019, share was just 13%, smallest since 2011Liz Ann Sonders @LizAnnSonders


investmentwatchblog--2020-10-21--They’re altering the votes at stations on a camera

They ’ re altering the votes at stations on a camera 🤬 t.co/ey3kRfSzYq

They’re altering the votes at stations on a camera 🤬 t.co/ey3kRfSzYq
— Jody 🇨🇦🐸 (@Jojo197040) October 21, 2020


investmentwatchblog--2020-10-21--Joe Biden Meets His Son, Hunter, and Ups the Ante

The following is a satirical meeting between Joe Biden and his son Hunter that took place last week after the New York Post ’ s bombshell article concerning an incriminating laptop Hunter Biden abandoned at a computer repair shop .
The owner of the shop copied the contents of the laptop ’ s hard drive before he turned the machine over to the FBI .
He kept a copy of the hard drive for himself and shared it with Trump associate , Rudy Guiliani , who , in turn , provided the damning information to the New York Post .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ used his father ’ s position as U.S. Vice President to make millions from Ukrainian , Chinese and other foreign sources .
When Joe Biden found out about the scandalous article , just weeks before the general election , he was beside himself .
He immediately called Hunter and asked him to come to his home , where he met with Hunter in his basement bunker .
The following is an imaginary conversation between the two Bidens : : Why did you take your laptop to a repair shop operated by a Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could use the salacious contents to ruin me just before I was about to get elected president .
What the hell were you thinking ?
: Listen , Pop , I have beat myself up over this mistake every single day since the news broke .
The fuckin ’ machine was broke .
All I could see was a blue screen of death .
So I did what most people on the planet would do .
I went to a computer geek to get it fixed .
The guy told me it would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So , I signed the receipt he handed me and left the joint .
Like most people , I didn ’ t bother reading the fine print .
I didn ’ t know at the time that the laptop would become the shop owner ’ s property , if I didn ’ t pick it up within 90 days .
I had other things on my mind and completely forgot about it .
: C ’ mon man , are you some kind of idiot or were you spaced out on crack again @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had all the correspondence showing details of our arrangements with foreign marks plus you also recorded yourself and some bimbo playing hide the salami .
Why didn ’ t you destroy the hard drive when it froze up on you and go buy another one ?
I assume you know enough to back-up the files on a thumb drive every so often so you would still have copies of your personal files in case your computer crashes .
: Backing the fuckin ’ thing up is a pain in the ass .
Besides @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I know less about computers than I knew about running an energy company when I was on the Board of Directors at Burisma .
It was easier to get the laptop fixed .
I thought I had plenty of time to pick it up from the repair shop .
Unfortunately , I was wrong .
Shit happens .
: You ’ re right .
Shit happens when you have shit for brains .
: Apparently , the nuts didn ’ t fall too far from the tree in my case .
: Don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ ll slap you silly .
For chrissake , son , I need this like a hole in the head .
I ’ m having enough trouble , as it is , trying to put two sentences together without my brain freezing up just like your laptop did .
People say I ’ m cognitively impaired .
But , at least , I have an excuse .
I ’ m old .
What ’ s your excuse ?
: Listen , I ’ m under a lot of pressure .
I wish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ TV when you were Veep about getting that Ukrainian prosecutor fired .
That put a big spotlight on me and that spotlight is brighter now that you ’ re running for president .
The whole world thinks I ’ m a crooked junkie who cashed in on his ol ’ man ’ s position .
I can ’ t go ten feet down the street without some paparazzi asshole sticking a mic in my face .
: I admit it was stupid for me to say that on camera about the guy who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I couldn ’ t resist spiking the ball in the end zone .
At the time , it was no big deal since me and Barack had the mainstream media and social media giants in our hip pocket .
Thank God , they ’ re still in the tank and are covering my butt on this story .
The polls show me way ahead .
Other than the embarrassment , no real harm was done to the bottom line .
You bagged several million off that gig in the Ukraine .
Didn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but so did you .
: That brings up something else I want to discuss with you .
: My cut was only 10 percent , which is chump change .
Without me , there ’ s no play .
In the future , after I ’ m elected , my take is gon na be 25 % .
And , from now on , stay away from computers .
If that repair shop owner didn ’ t spill the beans , it would have been some hacker doing it instead .
: @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for me .
And , sure , your cut will be 25 % from now on .
No problem .
: O.K.
, son , I believe you .
And one other thing , lay off the pipe and the sleazy women for a while , will ya ?
You ’ ll be staying in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House .
So , I need you to clean up your act .
You ’ re gon na be the First Son .
: Thanks , Dad .
I ’ m so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ here ’ s something to chew on .
I have plans for making some serious dough before my first term is up .
Remember the Clinton Foundation and the hundreds of millions they raked in off their bullshit charity .
The Biden Foundation is next .
Only , we will build the Biden Foundation bigger and better .
And to make that happen , you need to get it together and stay that way because we ’ re talking serious money .
We need to be very careful with this one .
There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ No more fuckups .
Understand ?
: Yes , I totally get it .
: Son , make sure you follow the security personnel out the back door , where a limo is waiting to take you back to your hotel .
I instructed them to make sure no one sees you here today .
Keep your head down over the next three weeks .
I ’ ll see you at my victory celebration after I kick Trump ’ s sorry ass .
: O.K.
, Pop .
Good luck and I ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you ’ re president-elect .

By LV
The following is a satirical meeting between Joe Biden and his son Hunter that took place last week after the New York Post’s bombshell article concerning an incriminating laptop Hunter Biden abandoned at a computer repair shop. The owner of the shop copied the contents of the laptop’s hard drive before he turned the machine over to the FBI. He kept a copy of the hard drive for himself and shared it with Trump associate, Rudy Guiliani, who, in turn, provided the damning information to the New York Post. Hunter’s emails discuss how he used his father’s position as U.S. Vice President to make millions from Ukrainian, Chinese and other foreign sources.
When Joe Biden found out about the scandalous article, just weeks before the general election, he was beside himself. He immediately called Hunter and asked him to come to his home, where he met with Hunter in his basement bunker.
The following is an imaginary conversation between the two Bidens:
Joe : Why did you take your laptop to a repair shop operated by a Trump supporter and leave it there so he could use the salacious contents to ruin me just before I was about to get elected president. What the hell were you thinking?
Hunter : Listen, Pop, I have beat myself up over this mistake every single day since the news broke. The fuckin’ machine was broke. All I could see was a blue screen of death. So I did what most people on the planet would do. I went to a computer geek to get it fixed. The guy told me it would be ready in a few days. So, I signed the receipt he handed me and left the joint. Like most people, I didn’t bother reading the fine print. I didn’t know at the time that the laptop would become the shop owner’s property, if I didn’t pick it up within 90 days. I had other things on my mind and completely forgot about it.
Joe : C’mon man, are you some kind of idiot or were you spaced out on crack again? You had to know the computer had all the correspondence showing details of our arrangements with foreign marks plus you also recorded yourself and some bimbo playing hide the salami. Why didn’t you destroy the hard drive when it froze up on you and go buy another one? I assume you know enough to back-up the files on a thumb drive every so often so you would still have copies of your personal files in case your computer crashes.
Hunter : Backing the fuckin’ thing up is a pain in the ass. Besides, it’s too complicated. I know less about computers than I knew about running an energy company when I was on the Board of Directors at Burisma. It was easier to get the laptop fixed. I thought I had plenty of time to pick it up from the repair shop. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Shit happens.
Joe : You’re right. Shit happens when you have shit for brains.
Hunter : Apparently, the nuts didn’t fall too far from the tree in my case.
Joe : Don’t get fresh with me or I’ll slap you silly. For chrissake, son, I need this like a hole in the head. I’m having enough trouble, as it is, trying to put two sentences together without my brain freezing up just like your laptop did. People say I’m cognitively impaired. But, at least, I have an excuse. I’m old. What’s your excuse?
Hunter : Listen, I’m under a lot of pressure. I wish you didn’t brag on national TV when you were Veep about getting that Ukrainian prosecutor fired. That put a big spotlight on me and that spotlight is brighter now that you’re running for president. The whole world thinks I’m a crooked junkie who cashed in on his ol’ man’s position. I can’t go ten feet down the street without some paparazzi asshole sticking a mic in my face.
Joe : I admit it was stupid for me to say that on camera about the guy who was investigating you and Burisma, but I couldn’t resist spiking the ball in the end zone. At the time, it was no big deal since me and Barack had the mainstream media and social media giants in our hip pocket. Thank God, they’re still in the tank and are covering my butt on this story. The polls show me way ahead. Other than the embarrassment, no real harm was done to the bottom line. You bagged several million off that gig in the Ukraine. Didn’t you?
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Hunter : I did, but so did you.
Joe : That brings up something else I want to discuss with you.
Hunter : Like what?
Joe : My cut was only 10 percent, which is chump change. Without me, there’s no play. In the future, after I’m elected, my take is gonna be 25%. And, from now on, stay away from computers. If that repair shop owner didn’t spill the beans, it would have been some hacker doing it instead.
Hunter : I agree. No more digital devices for me.
(Hunter reaches into his pocket, pulls out his iPhone, throws it on the floor, and stomps on it with the heel of his shoe, breaking it into bits.)
And, sure, your cut will be 25% from now on. No problem.
Joe : O.K., son, I believe you. And one other thing, lay off the pipe and the sleazy women for a while, will ya? You’ll be staying in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House. So, I need you to clean up your act. You’re gonna be the First Son.
Hunter : Thanks, Dad. I’m so proud of you.
Joe : Now, here’s something to chew on. I have plans for making some serious dough before my first term is up. Remember the Clinton Foundation and the hundreds of millions they raked in off their bullshit charity. The Biden Foundation is next. Only, we will build the Biden Foundation bigger and better. And to make that happen, you need to get it together and stay that way because we’re talking serious money. We need to be very careful with this one. There’s a lot at stake. No more fuckups. Understand?
Hunter : Yes, I totally get it.
Joe : Son, make sure you follow the security personnel out the back door, where a limo is waiting to take you back to your hotel. I instructed them to make sure no one sees you here today. Keep your head down over the next three weeks. I’ll see you at my victory celebration after I kick Trump’s sorry ass.
Hunter : O.K., Pop. Good luck and I’ll see you at the party when you’re president-elect.


investmentwatchblog--2020-10-21--SWISS NATIONAL BANK – $1 TRILLION CURRENCY SPECULATION

As global central banks ’ balance sheets are exploding , with disastrous consequences , the Swiss National Bank ( SNB ) stands out as the “ biggest hedge fund ” and speculator in the world .
Its balance sheet is over $ 1 trillion or 136 % of Swiss GDP .
The Fed balance sheet is 35 % of US GDP .
So to compete with the SNB in percentage of GDP , the Fed would need to increase its balance sheet from the current $ 7 trillion to $ 27t .
That seems like a big jump but not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years .
We need to remind ourselves that the Fed ’ s balance sheet is up 90 % since Sep 4th 2019 from $ 3.7t to $ 7.1t .
With money printing likely to accelerate , an exponential increase of another $ 20t does seem very likely .
The growth from 2006 is 8.5x which is just below the SNB ’ s 9x .
THE SWISS PEOPLE ’ S REJECTION OF SOUND MONEY AFTER SNB PROPAGANDA In 2014 I supported actively the Swiss Parliamentarians who introduced the Swiss Gold Initiative .
I wrote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as follows : On 30 November 2014 the Swiss People has the opportunity to determine not just the fate of their own financial system but also to be the catalyst for the return to sound money in the Western World .
On November 30th the Swiss will vote on : • Returning their national gold which is held abroad back to Switzerland • Requiring the Swiss National Bank to hold 20 % of their assets in physical gold To read the rest of the article click on this link .
Since 2006 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bank ( SNB ) had exploded from CHF 100 billion to CHF 550B in November 2014 .
This explosion of the balance sheet was purely due to a ludicrous policy of pegging the Swiss franc to the Euro at 1.20 .
The Swiss franc had always been one of the strongest currencies in the world due to low debts and no deficits .
A strong currency follows a soundly managed economy and also leads to low inflation .
But a policy to suppress the currency by inflating the SNB ’ s balance sheet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to peg the currency was always likely to have dire consequences .
To that effect , I wrote and published , in early December 2014 , after the gold initiative had been voted down , a fictitious memo from the President of the SNB to his board as follows : I have been quite concerned about the outcome of the Gold Initiative referendum .
That is why I have been in the media virtually every day for the last few weeks .
I know that the National Bank should not conduct a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but since it was a matter of national importance I had no other choice .
As you know , until 1999 we had over 40 % gold backing in our balance sheet .
At the time it was thought that this amount of gold was critical for the stability of the National Bank and our national currency .
But fortunately we managed to change the constitution which allowed us to sell more than half of the nation ’ s gold at the bottom of the market .
We have been fortunate that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this decision which cost our nation CHF 30 Billion .
It was clearly unlucky to sell the gold at the lows but market timing has never been our strong point .
I am extremely pleased that 77 % of the voters agreed with my statements that gold plays no role in modern banking .
Gold is a relic of the past .
We can ’ t print gold and that is a major disadvantage when we want to manage our currency and financial markets .
Our principles for managing the National Bank are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and ultimately Goldman Sachs .
Here at the Bank we fully subscribe to the statement of the wise Mayer Amschel Rotschild : “ Give me control of a nation ’ s money and I care not who make its laws.
” So fortunately we don ’ t have to buy any more gold and we should probably consider selling the 1,000 tons we may still own since it serves no purpose and has no yield .
That would also give us ammunition to buy more euros .
The one concern that I would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our currency position .
As you are well aware , we have printed over CHF 400 billion and bought mainly assets in euros but also in other currencies in order to hold the peg above 1.20 .
We are all aware that printed pieces of paper are not really worth anything but since we are a national bank , we can just tell the people that it is real money .
Fortunately they are wise enough to believe us .
The reason I have been so nervous about the referendum is that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ speculative currency position of any major central bank in the world .
Our balance sheet of 522 Billion is over 80 % of GDP which is an extremely dangerous position for our country .
It is virtually impossible to get out of this massive position without a loss of 10s of Billions or even as much as 100 Billion .
Obviously the people would ultimately pay for this loss .
The 1.20 peg is artificial and throughout history no currency peg has ever held in the longer term .
Over time currency rates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ countries .
Since our economy , for a while at least , is likely to continue to be stronger than the weak eurozone , our home currency will naturally outperform the euro .
We are of course extremely grateful that the voters listened to our information during the campaign and rejected the Gold Initiative .
But sadly the Bank ’ s problems are not over .
This peg was critical to save the banks that had lent massive amounts of our national currency to mainly Eastern European banks .
So now we are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some point we should perhaps discuss to make this permanent .
There are of course disadvantages to be tied to a very weak currency .
Everything we buy in the shops is now more expensive .
Also , we could be dragged down by euroland and end up with the same economic disaster they are in .
But fortunately the people don ’ t understand these major drawbacks .
But the biggest problem with taking the euro as our currency is that the Bank would lose its ability to be independent .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lose all our power to print money .
Therefore I recommend to the Board that we stay as we are .
But that still gives us the headache of our CHF 470 billion speculative currency position .
This is a timebomb and we know we will never be able to extract from it without very major losses .
Hopefully the current board will have retired from the National Bank before this happens so a new board can be blamed for it .
Finally I would like to thank the Board for their support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ retains total “ control of the Nation ’ s money ” which is comforting .
P.S .
The above is a fictional account Six weeks later , on January 15 , 2015 after having penned the fictitious memo to the board of the SNB , the peg was abandoned and the Euro initially fell against the Swiss franc by 37 % .
This caused massive losses for the banking system and futures exchanges .
Later on the decline settled at -13 % .
It also led to losses for the SNB of around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
You would have thought that the SNB would have learnt something from this painful experience .
But NO is the answer !
At the end of 2014 their balance sheet was CHF 550 billion .
Today , 6 years later the balance sheet has exploded to CHF 950B as the graph at the beginning of this article shows .
Of that 90 % is in foreign currencies , primarily in euro and dollar forex positions .
The SNB holds over $ 100B in stocks , one third of which is in US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the biggest hedge fund in the world , with a balance sheet of over $ 1 trillion , borrowing/printing almost the same amount of Swiss francs to speculate in foreign currencies .
The Fathers of the Swiss confederation are most certainly turning in their graves against this mind-blowing speculative position which defies everything that Switzerland and the Swiss constitution stands for .
If the Swiss Gold Initiative had been accepted , the SNB would now be obliged to hold 20 % of their balance sheet in gold .
Of a CHF 950b balance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gold or 3,400 tonnes .
Interestingly 3,400 tonnes of gold is equal to one year ’ s gold production .
Since the SNB already holds 1,000 tonnes , they would have needed to acquire another 2,400 tonnes .
It would of course have been impossible for the SNB to acquire all this physical gold since it wouldn ’ t be available .
Also , if they borrowed or printed additional funds to acquire this amount of gold , their balance sheet would have exploded , necessitating further gold purchases .
This was the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to restrain the SNB from irresponsibly expanding its balance sheet for currency speculation purposes .
That is why the SNB campaigned so vehemently against it .
The one positive point for the SNB is that all these printed Swiss francs have not gone directly to the Swiss economy but to buy foreign currencies , primarily dollars and euros .
Thus the positions are easier to unwind than the Fed ’ s or ECB ’ s printing which is virtually impossible to unwind .
Still the unwinding would involve massive losses .
WORLD CENTRAL @ @ @ @ @ @ @ SNB But this is where the world is now going .
As the world ’ s central banks desperately fight for the survival of the world financial system , they will print unlimited amounts , initially in the hundreds of trillions and when the derivative bubble bursts , we are likely to see quadrillions of dollars , euros etc being magically created out of thin air .
Whether this will be current dollars or euros or new digital currencies will make zero difference .
Fiat money will always remain fiat money , whatever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So investors who are not yet prepared for this , still have a small window of opportunity before currencies , led by the dollar , collapse .
Precious metals , especially physical gold and silver will obviously reflect the collapse of the fiat currencies and continue their uptrend , which will soon be exponential .

As global central banks’ balance sheets are exploding, with disastrous consequences, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) stands out as the “biggest hedge fund” and speculator in the world. Its balance sheet is over $1 trillion or 136% of Swiss GDP. The Fed balance sheet is 35% of US GDP. So to compete with the SNB in percentage of GDP, the Fed would need to increase its balance sheet from the current $7 trillion to $27t. That seems like a big jump but not at all unlikely in the next few years.
We need to remind ourselves that the Fed’s balance sheet is up 90% since Sep 4th 2019 from $3.7t to $7.1t. With money printing likely to accelerate, an exponential increase of another $20t does seem very likely. The growth from 2006 is 8.5x which is just below the SNB’s 9x.
THE SWISS PEOPLE’S REJECTION OF SOUND MONEY AFTER SNB PROPAGANDA
In 2014 I supported actively the Swiss Parliamentarians who introduced the Swiss Gold Initiative. I wrote an article in October 2014 which started as follows:
On 30 November 2014 the Swiss People has the opportunity to determine not just the fate of their own financial system but also to be the catalyst for the return to sound money in the Western World.
The “Gold Initiative” referendum November 30, 2014
On November 30th the Swiss will vote on:
Returning their national gold which is held abroad back to Switzerland Requiring the Swiss National Bank to hold 20% of their assets in physical gold Prohibiting further gold sales
To read the rest of the article click on this link.
Since 2006, the balance sheet of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) had exploded from CHF 100 billion to CHF 550B in November 2014. This explosion of the balance sheet was purely due to a ludicrous policy of pegging the Swiss franc to the Euro at 1.20. The Swiss franc had always been one of the strongest currencies in the world due to low debts and no deficits. A strong currency follows a soundly managed economy and also leads to low inflation. But a policy to suppress the currency by inflating the SNB’s balance sheet could only lead to problems.
Also, to peg the currency was always likely to have dire consequences. To that effect, I wrote and published, in early December 2014, after the gold initiative had been voted down, a fictitious memo from the President of the SNB to his board as follows:
Internal Memo Swiss National Bank
From: Thomas Jordan, President
To: The Board of Directors
Date: December 1, 2014
I have been quite concerned about the outcome of the Gold Initiative referendum. That is why I have been in the media virtually every day for the last few weeks. I know that the National Bank should not conduct a campaign during a referendum of this kind but since it was a matter of national importance I had no other choice.
As you know, until 1999 we had over 40% gold backing in our balance sheet. At the time it was thought that this amount of gold was critical for the stability of the National Bank and our national currency. But fortunately we managed to change the constitution which allowed us to sell more than half of the nation’s gold at the bottom of the market. We have been bloody lucky fortunate that the Bank’s reputation was intact after this decision which cost our nation CHF 30 Billion. It was clearly incompetent unlucky to sell the gold at the lows but market timing has never been our strong point.
I am extremely pleased that 77% of the voters agreed with my propaganda statements that gold plays no role in modern banking. Gold is a relic of the past. We can’t print gold and that is a major disadvantage when we want to manipulate manage our currency and financial markets. Our principles for managing the National Bank are now laid down by the Federal Reserve and ultimately Goldman Sachs. Here at the Bank we fully subscribe to the statement of the wise Mayer Amschel Rotschild: “Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who make its laws.”
So fortunately we don’t have to buy any more gold and we should probably consider selling the 1,000 tons we may still own since it serves no purpose and has no yield. That would also give us ammunition to buy more euros.
The one concern that I would like to share with the board is our currency position. As you are well aware, we have printed over CHF 400 billion and bought mainly assets in euros but also in other currencies in order to hold the peg above 1.20. We are all aware that printed pieces of paper are not really worth anything but since we are a national bank, we can just tell the people that it is real money. Fortunately they are foolish wise enough to believe us.
The reason I have been so nervous about the referendum is that the Bank is now sitting on the biggest speculative currency position of any major central bank in the world. Our balance sheet of 522 Billion is over 80% of GDP which is an extremely dangerous position for our country. It is virtually impossible to get out of this massive position without a loss of 10s of Billions or even as much as 100 Billion. Obviously the people would ultimately pay for this loss.
The 1.20 peg is artificial and throughout history no currency peg has ever held in the longer term. Over time currency rates always reflect economic and monetary differences between countries. Since our economy, for a while at least, is likely to continue to be stronger than the weak eurozone, our home currency will naturally outperform the euro. We are of course extremely grateful that the voters listened to our propaganda information during the campaign and rejected the Gold Initiative. But sadly the Bank’s problems are not over.
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This peg was critical to save the bankers banks that had lent massive amounts of our national currency to mainly Eastern European banks. So now we are totally linked with the eurozone and at some point we should perhaps discuss to make this permanent. There are of course disadvantages to be tied to a very weak currency. Everything we buy in the shops is now more expensive. Also, we could be dragged down by euroland and end up with the same economic disaster they are in. But fortunately the people don’t understand these major drawbacks.
But the biggest problem with taking the euro as our currency is that the Bank would lose its ability to be irresponsible independent. The ECB would take over and we would lose all our power to print money.
Therefore I recommend to the Board that we stay as we are. But that still gives us the headache of our CHF 470 billion speculative currency position. This is a timebomb and we know we will never be able to extract from it without very major losses. Hopefully the current board will have retired from the National Bank before this happens so a new board can be blamed for it.
Finally I would like to thank the Board for their support of my actions. The Bank now retains total “control of the Nation’s money” which is comforting.
Thomas Jordan
President
P.S. The above is a fictional account
SNB ABANDONS EURO PEG
Six weeks later, on January 15, 2015 after having penned the fictitious memo to the board of the SNB, the peg was abandoned and the Euro initially fell against the Swiss franc by 37%. This caused massive losses for the banking system and futures exchanges. Later on the decline settled at -13%. It also led to losses for the SNB of around CHF 40 billion as I had predicted.
You would have thought that the SNB would have learnt something from this painful experience. But NO is the answer! At the end of 2014 their balance sheet was CHF 550 billion. Today, 6 years later the balance sheet has exploded to CHF 950B as the graph at the beginning of this article shows. Of that 90% is in foreign currencies, primarily in euro and dollar forex positions. The SNB holds over $100B in stocks, one third of which is in US tech stocks.
So here we have the biggest hedge fund in the world, with a balance sheet of over $1 trillion, borrowing/printing almost the same amount of Swiss francs to speculate in foreign currencies. The Fathers of the Swiss confederation are most certainly turning in their graves against this mind-blowing speculative position which defies everything that Switzerland and the Swiss constitution stands for.
If the Swiss Gold Initiative had been accepted, the SNB would now be obliged to hold 20% of their balance sheet in gold. Of a CHF 950b balance sheet, that means CHF 190B in gold or 3,400 tonnes.
Interestingly 3,400 tonnes of gold is equal to one year’s gold production. Since the SNB already holds 1,000 tonnes, they would have needed to acquire another 2,400 tonnes. It would of course have been impossible for the SNB to acquire all this physical gold since it wouldn’t be available. Also, if they borrowed or printed additional funds to acquire this amount of gold, their balance sheet would have exploded, necessitating further gold purchases.
This was the whole purpose of the Gold Initiative, to restrain the SNB from irresponsibly expanding its balance sheet for currency speculation purposes. That is why the SNB campaigned so vehemently against it.
The one positive point for the SNB is that all these printed Swiss francs have not gone directly to the Swiss economy but to buy foreign currencies, primarily dollars and euros. Thus the positions are easier to unwind than the Fed’s or ECB’s printing which is virtually impossible to unwind. Still the unwinding would involve massive losses.
WORLD CENTRAL BANKS WILL SOON CATCH UP WITH THE SNB
But this is where the world is now going. As the world’s central banks desperately fight for the survival of the world financial system, they will print unlimited amounts, initially in the hundreds of trillions and when the derivative bubble bursts, we are likely to see quadrillions of dollars, euros etc being magically created out of thin air. Whether this will be current dollars or euros or new digital currencies will make zero difference. Fiat money will always remain fiat money, whatever spin central bankers will put on it.
So investors who are not yet prepared for this, still have a small window of opportunity before currencies, led by the dollar, collapse.
Precious metals, especially physical gold and silver will obviously reflect the collapse of the fiat currencies and continue their uptrend, which will soon be exponential.


investmentwatchblog--2020-10-21--BREAK THEM UP: Chrome won’t clear your Google and YouTube data — even if you tell it to. “Browser re

BREAK THEM UP: Chrome won’t clear your Google and YouTube data — even if you tell it to. “Browser retains site data in defiance of privacy settings.”

If you set Google Chrome to purge all website cookies and site data when you close the browser , it @ @ @ @ @ for two specific websites : YouTube and Google itself .
So says Mac programmer Jeff @ @ @ @ @ naughty behavior in a blog post earlier this month ( as earlier reported by The @ @ @ @ @ Android browsers for your favorite mobile devices • Ariana Grande releasing new single Positions — @ @ @ @ @ Perhaps this is just a Google Chrome bug , not intentional behavior , but the @ @ @ @ @ affects Google sites , not non-Google sites , ” Johnson wrote .
“ I ’ @ @ @ @ @ Google Chrome version 86.0.4240.75 for macOS , but this behavior was also happening in the @ @ @ @ @ I don ’ t know when it started .
”

If you set Google Chrome to purge all website cookies and site data when you close the browser, it nonetheless keeps the site data for two specific websites: YouTube and Google itself.
So says Mac programmer Jeff Johnson, who documented the naughty behavior in a blog post earlier this month (as earlier reported by The Register).
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“Perhaps this is just a Google Chrome bug, not intentional behavior, but the question is why it only affects Google sites, not non-Google sites,” Johnson wrote. “I’ve tested using the latest Google Chrome version 86.0.4240.75 for macOS, but this behavior was also happening in the previous version of Chrome. I don’t know when it started.”
www.tomsguide.com/news/chrome-google-site-data-special-treatment