Showing posts with label Washington. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Washington. Show all posts

Friday, March 31, 2017

The First Ever ‘Codeword’ Leak

By Porter Stansberry 

Today, an emerging story about the secret civil war being waged right now in Washington D.C. It is about to have a HUGE impact on our country. Two warnings before we begin. First, what I know so far is deeply troubling. We're approaching what will be the most dangerous period in our country's political history since the Great Depression. What could happen next scares me. But I continue to be optimistic that what will unfold will be great for our country.

Also, I'm certain that you simply won't believe much of what you'll read in today's essay. In fact, until I did my own follow-up research to verify what I could from my sources, I disregarded this story as "political nonsense" or just another D.C. conspiracy theory. Besides… it was all too horrible to believe. But then… almost everything my sources told me would happen started happening.…

Let's begin here.…
Did you know the U.S. government has a secrecy designation so restricted that virtually nobody – not even lifetime members of the intelligence community – even knows what it's called? It's not "TOP SECRET." It's way beyond that level. In late 2009, President Obama created this new level of secrecy inside our government with an executive order (No. 13526) – so Congress never approved it. Administered by the CIA, this new level of secrecy has created a covert government within the government that almost nobody knows and absolutely nobody is monitoring.

If you've ever heard the term the "Deep State" – the secret government within the government that actually holds power – then you know why a level of secrecy beyond "top secret" is so important. This new, more restricted level of secrecy was created so that the most powerful leaders of our government could communicate in total isolation. This level of secrecy is such a closely guarded secret that the name of the program itself is classified – and divulging the name is a crime, punishable by at least 10 years in a secret prison. So this level of security clearance is known only as "codeword."

At the highest levels of our D.C. government, only two dozen or so people have codeword clearances.…
I learned about this earlier this month. I was invited to lunch with someone who has held that level of security clearance. He told me about the existence of the codeword-level program. This isn't a rumor. It's a fact. For the last 30-plus years, my source has worked for and around the highest levels of our government. He is currently regarded as the president's most likely choice to become our next Federal Reserve chairman. Today, however, his clients include the world's top hedge fund managers and the leaders of America's biggest corporations. He is, in short, America's corporate representative of the Deep State.

We call him the "Metropolitan Man."

We met about a year ago. He reached out to me through a mutual friend – one of the best, young hedge fund managers in New York. He asked me to join him for dinner at the Metropolitan Club in New York, one of the most elite clubs in the United States. (Legendary banker J.P. Morgan founded the club. It's where billionaire investor Warren Buffett held his 50th birthday party. And it sits at the southeast corner of Central Park, across from The Plaza Hotel, with a great vista of Columbus Circle.) At the time, the Metropolitan Man was forecasting correctly that the world's central bankers and their negative interest rate policy were failing and that they would soon trigger a global run out of paper money and into gold. Over the next several months, gold and gold stocks soared (as you may remember).

A few days ago, the Metropolitan Man asked to see me again.…
He wanted to talk about something he had never seen before in all his years working in the government. For the first time ever, a codeword-level secret was leaked to the press. Nothing this sensitive has ever been leaked before – ever. Among senior leaders in D.C., it is widely believed that the director of the CIA himself was responsible for the codeword leak. And the rumor is that this information was then passed to the press through New York Senator Chuck Schumer's office. What was leaked?

A codeword secret briefing the CIA produced about a meeting in Trump Tower last December between a Russian ambassador and two senior Trump administration officials – Jared Kushner and Michael Flynn.
When Flynn lied about the meeting to the White House staff, he was fired. But the deeper question is: How did the CIA know about the meeting? How did it know how long the meeting lasted? How did it know exactly what was discussed? And how did that information end up in the hands of a New York Times reporter?

This backstory explains how Trump knows the CIA was spying on Trump Tower. And the counternarratives – Trump's claim that Obama was spying on him and the Democrats' claim that Trump is in league with Russia – are the beginning of a serious war. A civil war inside the Deep State itself.

Reading the newspapers won't explain how this war is being fought.…
They will never publish a clear explanation of the battle lines – or even who is fighting or why. But the outcome of these battles is likely to determine the fate of our economy for the next several decades. Let me explain why and tell you what this fight is really about. For the last 40 or so years, the U.S. economy has been built around a model that created vast power in D.C. The model has a few important components.

First, we have a highly "progressive" income tax. That ensures that anyone who makes high wages will pay for the lion's share of the government's expenses. Without extremely progressive income tax rates – where about half the country pays nothing and the top 10% pay for roughly 80% – the electorate would never continue to vote for more and more government. But it does, mostly because it doesn't have to pay for it.

Second, the government has an incredibly powerful regulatory regime in place. This allows D.C. to essentially control vast segments of our economy. Take Wall Street, for example. Who gets to sell a bond or a stock to the public? Nobody the Securities and Exchange Commission doesn't like (i.e. yours truly). This power results in tremendous amounts of "tribute" – legal fees, fines, and hidden lobbying that flows into D.C. and feeds its economic ecosystem.

And finally there's the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and "free" trade. Our country has the ability to export all of the inflation generated by our central bank. This has led to decades of lower and lower interest rates and the government's ability to borrow essentially endless amounts of money without any serious inflationary consequences. These three components form the foundations of Washington's power.

Attack any of them and you risk a huge fight with the Deep State. What Trump is doing right now via his border adjustment tax, additional tax reform, and regulatory rollback is targeting all three of them at the same time. If he wins, all of the power that has been consolidated in D.C. over the past 40 years will evaporate.

Trump has put a metaphorical gun to the head of the Deep State…
And now, the Deep State is fighting back, tooth and nail, to protect the system it has built. Look at what has happened to the middle class in America over the last 40 years. Did NAFTA prevent price inflation by allowing America's consumer economy the luxury of accessing the world's cheapest labor? Yes, it did. But the flip side was devastating to the entire manufacturing industry in the U.S. And where did the resulting wealth flow? To D.C. and to the top 1% of America's wealthiest people who were able to access foreign markets and shield the resulting income from America's tax system.

Meanwhile, America remains the only industrial country in the world with global income taxation (you have to pay federal income tax, no matter where you live) and without a value-added tax. In short, we've chosen a system that punishes wage earners, while rewarding individuals and corporations who use overseas labor. The result has been a decline in real, after-tax wages over the last 40 years. That's a recipe to destroy the middle class – and that's what has happened.

Trump's plan to effectively lower income taxes to 25% and implement a value added tax to discourage foreign production of U.S. products will turn this entire economic structure on its ear and disenfranchise the Deep State that controls it. The winners will be the middle class, small business owners, wage earners, and America's manufacturing base. The losers? Those who have invested heavily in the current Deep State regime.

Why is this scary?
Well, unlike the health reform issue, the Metropolitan Man assured me that Trump's tax reform agenda would certainly pass. "It's a done deal," he said. He told me that his job lately "has been to help major corporations understand what will be in the new laws and how they will impact various markets." That means the Deep State has been pushed into a corner. What it might do next, no one knows. "That it would leak a codeword secret. Well, I would have told you that couldn't happen. I've never seen it before, not in more than 30 years in D.C. It's scary because if it'll do that, it'll do anything. Stage a terrorist attack? Start a war with China? Nothing is impossible anymore."

That's the downside. The next several months could see our government erupt into open civil war. The FBI accusing the president of treason… The president accusing a director of the CIA of breaking the law and having him arrested. Who knows where this will lead? On the other hand, assuming the government doesn't collapse into a civil war, Trump's new economic model will become a reality before the end of the year. For some industries (and for most Americans) these changes will bring massive prosperity. And for others – especially for companies and individuals who have been living at the government trough, tough times are looming.

Here's the best part.…
I believe these coming changes are so important and could lead to so much wealth creation that I've convinced the Metropolitan Man to come forward.

We will hold a meeting with him, at our offices in Baltimore, on April 5, 2017.
The meeting with start at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. It will last approximately two hours. Security will be very tight, so plan to arrive early. Everyone will be searched. At this meeting, the Metropolitan Man will "take off his mask" and tell you about his role in the Deep State. He'll explain the importance of the codeword-secret leak. And he'll discuss what the new Trump economic model will mean for various industries and parts of our country. He'll also explain how he knows the tax reform/border adjustment laws are certain to pass Congress and what those policies will mean for our country. If you'd like to attend the meeting via a live conference call, you can listen for only $19.95. Yes, that's right. $19.95.

This is easily the most important and valuable meeting I've ever arranged
It has taken more than a decade of work to gain access to information like this… And I want you to benefit from the incredible access we've gained. For successful investors and wealthy business leaders, meeting the Metropolitan Man in person and having the opportunity to ask him questions is invaluable. His normal consulting fee is $250,000. So I believe there's tremendous value at both price points. But no matter how you plan to attend, please do whatever you must to be at this meeting. There isn't a more important event you could attend this year.

Sign Up Here

Regards,
Porter Stansberry


The article The First-Ever ‘Codeword’ Leak was originally published at caseyresearch.com




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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

After Keystone Pipeline Failure, Canada Running to China for Crude Oil Deals

After 1949 when the Communists defeated the Nationalists for control of China, the mournful refrain from Washington, D.C. was “Who Lost China?” This arrogant display of superpower Cold War finger pointing ended with a number of careers destroyed and an unfair smear on the U.S. State Department that in some ways has never been entirely eradicated.

In today’s highly charged political climate, it will come as no surprise when some U.S. politicians come down hard on the Obama Administration for what will no doubt be described as driving Canada’s energy sector into the arms of China:

Cnooc Ltd. (883)’s $15.1 billion cash takeover bid for Nexen Inc. (NXY) signals a Canadian shift toward China and away from the U.S. as the nation’s traditional oil and natural gas partner and main export market.

Canada’s oil sands reserves, the third-largest recoverable crude deposits in the world, were developed in part by U.S. money as companies such as California’s Richfield Oil Corp. brought technology to extract bitumen from boreal peat bogs half a century ago. Now, for the first time, a Chinese company will own and operate oil sands crude production as well as Nexen’s shale gas assets in British Columbia, along with leases in other parts of the world.

Chinese oil producers have turned more frequently to Canada after political opposition in the U.S. derailed Cnooc’s $18.5 billion bid for Unocal Corp. in 2005, and after TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL pipeline route south to Texas was blocked by President Barack Obama’s administration last year. 

The Nexen deal is important for two reasons. First, it potentially represents some absolution for CNOOC, which is best known in foreign investment circles as the company which botched the 2005 U.S. UNOCAL takeover, not taking into account American politics and the need for a public relations strategy. As the Nexen deal will require regulatory approval in several jurisdictions, we will see what lessons CNOOC has learned from the failed UNOCAL bid.

Second, as Bloomberg points out, the deal represents a further shift by Canada away from the U.S. towards China. Another deal involving Sinopec and Talisman Energy was announced yesterday as well, and there have been other recent transactions, including CNOOC’s takeover of Nexen partner Opti Canada.

Why is this happening? Read the entire article > "After Keystone, Canada Running to China for Oil Deals"

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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Musings: How to Question Reserve Reports Without Any Knowledge

In what now seems like the distant past, The New York Times wrote a series of articles suggesting that industry practitioners were raising questions about the economic performance of the gas shale wells and thus whether the extent of the resource was over stated. Those articles were written in late June and generated a firestorm of reaction within the natural gas industry, but also among Washington politicians.

What followed was disclosure that a handful of E&P companies, active in the gas shale business, had received subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for their records of well performance and the economics of behind their reserve calculations. The data was sought to compare with the companies' disclosure regulatory filings and investor presentations of the operational risks, production performance and economics of these gas shale wells.

At the time the subpoenas were disclosed, we wrote about it in the Musings (last July), fully anticipating that there would be further disclosures. Since mid-summer, there has been no activity arising from the subpoenas.

What followed was disclosure that a handful of E&P companies, active in the gas shale business, had received subpoenas from the SEC for their records of well performance and the economics of behind their reserve calculations.

Our interest was piqued recently when we received a newsletter from an energy investment group we belong to that contained an employment ad for a petroleum engineer position with the SEC in Washington.....Read the entire Musings From The Oil Patch Article.


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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

OPEC Quietly Raising Output Overshadowed By Chinese Macroeconomic Data

Positive Chinese macroeconomic data gave the crude oil and commodity bulls the advantage in the European session overnight even as traders digest news that OPEC has quietly been increasing production. OPEC seems to keep finding ways to make themselves irrelevant as OPEC's own report revealed that compliance level for the "OPEC 11" dropped to 54.0% in December 2010. Looks like OPEC as quietly been raising production while sending their cheerleaders out to the press to call for higher oil prices for some of their ailing economies as they themselves fight to contain food prices in some of their own countries.

And this may not make the nightly news but I am sure the visit to the White House by Chinese President Hu Jintao will have the leaders focusing on world food prices as China has made a priority out of bringing new energy sources online at all cost. And Washington will be playing catch up again, but there is hope for the new "Clintonized" Obama agenda as the attitude towards business coming from the administration is changing quickly. Does this mean we have some new permits being approved for Nuclear power plants right around the corner? We won't be holding our breaths for that but we can still dream.

Oil futures are up this morning as far out as February 2012 but well below the the critical 92.58 level. Is it all aboard the bull bus this morning? Here's your pivot, resistance and support numbers for Wednesdays trading.......

Crude oil was higher overnight and remains poised to extend last week's rally. Stochastics and the RSI remain neutral to bullish signaling that sideways to higher prices are possible near term. If February extends last week's rally, this year's high crossing at 92.58 is the next upside target. Closes below the reaction low crossing at 87.25 would confirm that a short term top has been posted. First resistance is this year's high crossing at 92.58. Second resistance is weekly resistance crossing at 93.87. First support is the reaction low crossing at 87.25. Second support is the reaction low crossing at 84.09. Crude oil pivot point for Wednesday morning is 92.21.

Natural gas was slightly higher overnight as it consolidates above the 20 day moving average crossing at 4.385. Stochastics and the RSI are bearish signaling that sideways to lower prices are possible near term. Closes below the 20 day moving average crossing at 4.385 are needed to confirm that a short term top has been posted. If February renews the rally off December's low, the 50% retracement level of the June-October decline crossing at 4.876 is the next upside target. First resistance is this month's high crossing at 4.707. Second resistance is the 50% retracement level of the June-October decline crossing at 4.876. First support is the 20 day moving average crossing at 4.385. Second support is December's low crossing at 3.985. Natural gas pivot point for Wednesday morning is 4.450

Gold was higher due to short covering overnight as it consolidates some of last week's rally. Stochastics and the RSI are bearish signaling that sideways to lower prices are possible. If February extends last week's decline, the reaction low crossing at 1331.10 is the next downside target. Closes above the 20 day moving average crossing at 1386.70 are needed to confirm that a short term low has been posted. First resistance is the 20 day moving average crossing at 1386.70. Second resistance is this month's high crossing at 1424.40. First support is the reaction low crossing at 1352.70. Second support is the reaction low crossing at 1331.10. Gold pivot point for Wednesday morning is 1367.00.


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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Washington's Goal For Crude Oil Prices.......Everybody Sing "Can You Take Me Higher"

Preparing for our post this morning and another great day of trading I again was struck by the stark contrast in energy policies coming out of Washington and the policies....or should I say PROFITS coming out of CNPC. PetroChina's parent company.

Bloomberg News reported this morning....China National Petroleum Corp., the parent of the country’s biggest oil and gas producer, increased its profit by 30 percent last year as oil prices rose. The majority shareholder in Hong Kong listed PetroChina Co. earned 167.6 billion yuan ($25.4 billion), President Jiang Jiemin said in a statement on CNPC’s website today, without specifying whether the income was before or after tax. Profit reached 128.6 billion yuan in 2009, its annual report shows.

CNPC benefited from the 15 percent jump in oil prices last year and higher output from fields outside China. The Beijing based company, which holds assets and interests in 30 countries, said overall crude output may rise by an average of 2 million metric tons annually during the next five years, and CNPC is targeting a “rapid” increase in gas production.

“The estimated increases make sense,” Yin Xiaodong, chief oil analyst at Beijing based Citic Securities Co., said by telephone. “Gas production growth will definitely outpace increases in oil, and overseas acquisitions will give CNPC a strong boost in the long term.” CNPC’s oil and gas production in countries including Kazakhstan rose 14 percent last year. PetroChina said this week its venture with BP Plc met their 2010 output target for the Rumaila oilfield in southern Iraq.

All of this while oil prices soared after the release of the final scathing report by the White House oil spill commission. Co-Chairman William Reilly alluded to in a press conference that if you thought that the panel investigating the Deep Water Horizon disaster would fade away, well you have another think coming. Mr. Reilly says that he plans to make a “lot of noise”! This of course will send major oil companies scurrying to find oil in far away places that China has been doing business with for years now.

The energy policy coming out of Washington is simple. Make oil as expensive as possible making current food supply issues worldwide and for Americans an even larger burden. And keep the U.S. as reliant as possible on foreign oil and energy. And China just keeps expanding it's oil exploration at alarming rates, and good for them. I found this great website that we all might find very useful. Learn to Speak Chinese, if we are going to need to beg for food we better be using the right language. And yes, our fund has taken larger positions in both etf's MOO and DBA. Our favorite way to play food.

Let's try to make some money today so maybe we can afford that food and here is the numbers we are using........

Crude oil was lower due to profit taking overnight as it consolidates some of this week's rally. Stochastics and the RSI remain bullish signaling that sideways to higher prices are possible near term. If February extends this week's rally, this year's high crossing at 92.58 is the next upside target. Closes below last Friday's low crossing at 87.25 would confirm that a short term top has been posted. First resistance is this year's high crossing at 92.58. Second resistance is weekly resistance crossing at 93.87. First support is last Friday's low crossing at 87.25. Second support is the reaction low crossing at 84.09. Crude oil pivot point for Thursday morning is 91.68.

Natural gas was lower overnight hinting that the two day correction off Monday's low might be ending. Stochastics and the RSI are neutral to bullish signaling that sideways to higher prices are possible near term. If February renews the rally off December's low, the 50% retracement level of the June-October decline crossing at 4.876 is the next upside target. Closes below the 20 day moving average crossing at 4.343 are needed to confirm that a short term top has been posted. First resistance is last Tuesday's high crossing at 4.707. Second resistance is the 50% retracement level of the June-October decline crossing at 4.876. First support is the 20 day moving average crossing at 4.343. Second support is December's low crossing at 3.985. Natural gas pivot point for Thursday morning is 4.510.

Gold was lower overnight as it consolidates some of this week's rally. However, stochastics and the RSI have turned bullish hinting that a short term low might be in or is near. Closes above the 20 day moving average crossing at 1388.10 are needed to confirm that a short term low has been posted. If February renews last week's decline, the reaction low crossing at 1331.10 is the next downside target. First resistance is the 20 day moving average crossing at 1388.10. Second resistance is last Monday's high crossing at 1424.40. First support is last Friday's low crossing at 1356.50. Second support is the reaction low crossing at 1331.10. Gold pivot point for Thursday morning is 1383.70.

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Oil Surges to One Year High on U.S. Gasoline Supply Decline


Crude oil rose above $81 a barrel in New York for the first time in a year and gasoline surged after a U.S. Energy Department report showed a greater than forecast drop in supplies of the motor fuel. Gasoline stockpiles fell 2.21 million barrels, more than twice the median of analyst forecasts, to 206.9 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 16, according to the department’s report. Oil also advanced as U.S. equities increased and the dollar slipped against the euro, bolstering the appeal of commodities.

“The gasoline number has clearly changed the landscape,” said John Kilduff, senior vice president of energy at MF Global in New York. “The industry is seen constraining fuel supply, which is underpinning the market.” Crude oil for December delivery climbed $2.52, or 3.2 percent, to $81.64 a barrel at 12:59 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched $81.73, the highest since Oct. 14, 2008. Prices are up 82 percent this year.

Oil traded at $78.76 a barrel before the release of the report at 10:30 a.m. in Washington. Gasoline for November delivery climbed 5.78 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $2.0455 a gallon in New York. Futures touched $2.0534, the highest since Aug. 31. Prices are up for an eighth day.....Read the entire article.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Interior Boss Says No to Drilling on 8 Utah Parcels


Eight of the 77 oil and gas lease parcels sold during a December auction that a saboteur wrecked and a federal judge later halted will be off limits to drilling, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has decided. Allowing development on the 7,670 public acres near Canyonlands and Arches national parks, Desolation Canyon and Nine Mile canyon could harm critical sage grouse habitat with little obvious benefit to oil and gas development, concluded a 39 page analysis released Thursday.

During a Washington news conference, Salazar said 52 parcels would be held back pending further study and 17 would be allowed back at upcoming auctions. Drawing from the report compiled by an 11 member team from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and Forest Service who examined more than 103,000 acres from the ground up Salazar scolded the Bush administration for allowing the Dec. 19 auction in Salt Lake City to go forward.....read the entire article.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Is There Something Wrong with the Crude Oil Market?


With the official end to summer, the Labor Day weekend, behind us and the nation's largest energy company investor conference underway, the oil market received several shot in the arm positives last week. Wall Street talking heads had a difficult time understanding what was going on with the price of gold and crude oil futures soaring on the first trading day following last Monday's holiday. Gold futures traded over $1,000 an ounce and crude oil prices jumped by $3 a barrel. The inability of the talking heads to explain the phenomenon left us wondering if we were seeing a global investor reaction to Washington politicians returning to work. Those of us living in Texas have a reaction when our legislature goes into session in Austin. We hold onto our wallets during those few months of the legislative session every two years since that is our peak exposure to politicians inflicting serious financial damage on our wellbeing.....Read the entire article
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