Monthly Archives: January 2016

Chinese official jumps to his death after garbage landslide kills dozens

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“A former official in charge of regulating a massive waste dump that collapsed in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen has killed himself, local police said Monday.  The former director of the Urban District Administrative Enforcement Bureau in the city’s Guangming district where the landslide disaster took place December 20, jumped off a residential building Sunday night, the Shenzhen Nanshan District public security bureau said on its official Weibo social media account. Police and state media have not said whether Xu had been directly responsible for authorizing the dump.”

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/28/asia/china-landslide-suicide/

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Chinese state begins buying stocks after Monday’s rout

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“China’s stocks rose in volatile trade as state-backed funds were said to intervene after a plunge on Monday wiped out $590 billion of market value. Trading was halted on Monday after the gauge plunged 7 percent, triggering new market circuit breakers that some analysts said exacerbated the sell-off.  State-controlled funds bought equities and the securities regulator signaled a selling ban on major investors will remain beyond this week’s expiration date, according to people familiar with the matter. The China Securities Regulatory Commission also suggested it’s open to tweaking the circuit breakers, while the central bank conducted the biggest reverse-repurchase operations since September.”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-wp-blm-china-stocks-96e94030-b397-11e5-8abc-d09392edc612-20160105-story.html

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Jacob Hornberger: Let Puerto Go

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“Isn’t it amazing how America’s turn toward empire in 1898 is a gift that keeps on giving? Today, Puerto Rico, one of the colonies the United States acquired in the Spanish-American War, is defaulting on part of its massive debt. Having failed so far to convince its overseers in Congress to permit the colony to declare bankruptcy, the Puerto Rican government is at a loss as to how it is going to cope with a massive debt that it simply cannot repay. The fact that Puerto Rico’s debt problems are a matter for the United States to resolve just goes to show how America’s turn toward empire and intervention in 1898 continues to reverberate negatively today.”

http://fff.org/2016/01/04/let-puerto-go/

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Puerto Rico Defaults On Bonds: Return Does Not Come Without Risk

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“Many American investors bought Puerto Rican bonds over the past five years as we all searched desperately for yield in the face of the Federal Reserve pushing interest rates down to historic lows. Normally, investors understand that higher yields come with greater risks. However, during the past six years of extraordinary interventions by the Fed into all sorts of financial markets, many investors may have decided that those higher yield investments weren’t really all that risky.  Puerto Rico’s problems may serve as a much-needed wake up call to investors. As rates rise, capital will move back toward safety and the risk premium demanded of higher risk projects is likely to increase.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2016/01/04/puerto-rico-bond-defaults-early-reminder-to-investors-return-does-not-come-without-risk/

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Bahamas’ new 15% VAT ‘a recipe for recession’: economist [2013]

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“The Government is proposing to implement VAT on July 1, 2014, at a rate of 15 per cent, with the hotel industry to be subject to a lower 10 per cent rate.  Sir William called on the government to clarify whether or not it intended to reduce current taxes to make room in the economy for VAT, adding that whether or not officials could strike a balance between existing taxes and the new structure would ultimately determine the strategy’s success.  ‘The public is not expecting to pay the same level of custom’s duties along with everything. If that is so, there is gonna be hell to pay in this economy.'”

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2013/oct/04/vat-move-recipe-recession/

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The Ghosts of Baha Mar: How a $3.5 Billion Paradise Went Bust

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“Just how the place ended up like this — in a bankruptcy so colossal that it’s jeopardizing the Bahamas’s credit rating — is the biggest business story to hit this Caribbean nation for as long as anyone here can remember. Baha Mar may have been dreamed up in the vacationland of the Bahamas, but the central government in Beijing controls the development bank and construction giant that will determine its fate.  It could be 2018 before Baha Mar makes a meaningful contribution to the economy, according to Standard & Poor’s, which lowered its Bahamas rating to BBB- and warned it could be heading for junk.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-04/the-ghosts-of-baha-mar-how-a-3-5-billion-paradise-went-bust

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China stocks rout on first market day of 2016 trips national trading halt

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“China’s major stock exchanges tanked on the first trading day of the year, triggering a ‘circuit-breaker’ that suspended equities trade nationwide for the first time and putting at risk months of regulatory work to restore market stability. The collapse, which followed the release of weak economic data on Monday, raises fresh doubts about regulators’ capacity to wind back heavy trading restrictions implemented in the wake of a massive summer stock market crash in which major indexes lost as much as 40 percent before top leadership intervened.  Analysts attributed the decline to the imminent end of a 6-month lockup period on share sales by major institutional investors.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-stocks-trading-halt-idUSKBN0UI0CU20160104

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First Crude Oil Shipment Exports From U.S. After 40 Year Ban Lifted

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“The first crude oil shipment exported from the United States, after a 40 year ban, left from Corpus Christi, Texas last Thursday.  NuStar Energy and ConocoPhillips loaded a vessel with light crude oil pumped from the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas at NuStar’s North Beach Terminal at Port Corpus Christi. The crude is to be sold to the international trading company Vitol. As a result of the federal government’s repeal of the 40-year ban on the export of crude oil, via the last government omnibus spending bill, crude oil shipments are free to leave the country now.”

http://dailycaller.com/2016/01/03/first-crude-oil-shipment-exports-from-u-s-after-40-year-ban-lifted/

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The Saudi Town on the Frontline of Yemen’s War

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“Efforts to halt the fighting have made little progress.  The war is also a political test for the kingdom’s coming man, Deputy Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman. As defense minister, he’s in charge of it and stands to lose face if it fails.  Najran was home to one of the peninsula’s Jewish communities, about 200 strong, before the Saudis captured it in 1934 — with the help of a loan from Standard Oil of California, which Saudi leaders used to buy weapons and form a regular army, according to ‘The History of Saudi Arabia’ by Alexei Vassiliev. By 1949, the Jewish population had fled — to Yemen.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-21/in-one-saudi-town-gunfire-all-day-brings-yemen-war-near-home

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Saudi allies Bahrain, Sudan and UAE join action against Iran

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“Saudi Arabia rallied Sunni allies to its side in a growing diplomatic row with Iran on Monday, deepening a sectarian split across the Middle East following the kingdom’s execution of a prominent Shi’ite cleric.  Bahrain and Sudan cut all ties with Iran, following Riyadh’s example the previous day. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters Riyadh would also halt air traffic and commercial relations between the rival powers.  He blamed Iran’s ‘aggressive policies’ for the diplomatic action, alluding to years of tension that spilled over on Saturday night when Iranian protesters stormed the kingdom’s embassy in Tehran.”

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/01/05/saudi-allies-bahrain-sudan-and-uae-join-action-against-iran

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