Central Perk

miercuri, 18 noiembrie 2015

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Australia Considers Paperless Passports Based on Fingerprints, Face Recognition, Eye Scans; We Know Who You Are!
Tracking Manufacturing's Perpetual Overoptimism
Housing Starts Plunge 11% to 7-Month Low: Single-Family Down 2.4%, Multi-Family Down 25%; Hidden Strength?

Australia Considers Paperless Passports Based on Fingerprints, Face Recognition, Eye Scans; We Know Who You Are!

Posted: 18 Nov 2015 03:18 PM PST

Australia, New Zealand Consider Paperless Passports

In the wake of fake passports and people smuggling in the EU refugee crisis, here's a potential solution from Australia: The Cloud Could Soon Let Aussies Travel Without a Passport.

Australians could soon leave their old paper passports at home if a new proposal endorsed by Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop goes ahead.

The digital passport would include identity and biometrics data, according to the outlet, meaning Australians could easily be recognised at the border without showing any documents.

"We're in discussions with New Zealand and if we're able to put in place the appropriate requirements, including security, then it's something we'd like to trial and implement," Bishop told the media on Thursday.

She also advised new technologies could assist in making passports even more secure. "Australia prides itself on having one of the most secure passports in the world, but by embracing and harnessing new technologies, we might be able to do better," she said.

Australians currently have access to ePassports, which have been issued since 2005. An ePassport contains a chip storing information about the passport holder such as their photo, name, sex and passport number. Combined with Australia's SmartGate technology in many local airports, it allows people to enter the county without speaking to a customs officer after a machine compares a live image of the traveller with the one stored on the passport.

It's unclear at this point how the government would address concerns about hacking and privacy breaches that are an unfortunate byproduct of any type of cloud storage. Whether the photos or biometrics of Australian citizens could be stored by foreign customs agencies, or even passed onto foreign law enforcement, is also an issue that would have to be addressed.

The use of images culled from passports and drivers licenses for purposes beyond their original intention is already a matter of debate in Australia. In September, the government announced it would be spending A$18.5 million (US$13.1 million) on the National Facial Biometric Matching Capability. This program allows agencies and law enforcement around the country to examine millions of photographs of Australians held in existing databases to put "a name to the face" of criminal suspects.

We Know Who You Are!

Link if video does not play: Scene from Goodfellas.

Cloud Passports Coming

Lost passports would become a thing of the past under a cloud system. But do you trust the government or the cloud as a safe-keeper of your personal data?

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop admitted security standards would have to be met to store personal information in the cloud, but hopes the idea could go global.

Absolute Security?

Australians are assured of "Absolute Security" reports SBS News.

The risk of impersonation via copy of facial features, fingerprints, and eye data seems remote, but a hacker who modified stored data could cause a traveler to be locked out of returning home.

Total Tracking

Most importantly, the government will know who you are, where you have been, when you were there, and how much you spent, etc., no matter where you are, once all tracking mechanisms are fully in place.

Like it or not, it's pretty clear such systems are coming.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Tracking Manufacturing's Perpetual Overoptimism

Posted: 18 Nov 2015 11:17 AM PST

On Monday, the Fed regional reports kicked off with the Empire State report, a survey of manufacturing conditions in the general New York region.

The survey asks manufacturers about activity, new orders, hiring, workweek hours, prices paid, prices received, inventory levels, and overall conditions.

For details please see Empire State Manufacturing Negative Fourth Month, Work Week Lowest Since Mid-2011.

The survey also asks manufacturers what they think general conditions will look like in six months. Here is the chart presented in the Empire State Survey.

Current Business Conditions vs. Expected Conditions Six Month From Now

To see if there is any merit in tracking future projections, I downloaded the data, and shifted the projections ahead by six months to plot current conditions vs. what the manufacturers expected to happen.

Current Business Conditions vs. Expected Business Conditions (For Now - Made Six Month Ago)

Perpetual Overoptimism

The perpetual overoptimism is impossible to miss. Here are the readings for 2015.

Month/Year	Current Conditions	Expected Conditions
1/2015	7.78	46.10
2/2015	6.90	46.08
3/2015	-1.19	42.39
4/2015	3.09	46.84
5/2015	-1.98	39.31
6/2015	3.86	48.35
7/2015	-14.92	25.58
8/2015	-14.67	30.72
9/2015	-11.36	37.06
10/2015	-10.74	29.81

In 167 months, nearly 14 years of data, there were only five months (just under 3% of the time) in which current conditions exceeded projections made six months previous!

Month/Year	Current Conditions	Expected Conditions
2/1/2002	13.80	-11.92
6/1/2009	0.28	-3.65
7/1/2009	12.56	-5.55
8/1/2009	20.93	3.53
9/1/2009	33.68	28.27

Recession History

The above pattern should not be hard to spot. Overoptimism only dies at or near recession troughs.

Useless Survey Projections

It's amazing how much focus is on totally useless "expectations".

Rare pessimism seems to mark bottoms, but the rest of the time the look-ahead projections are only good for those in need of a laugh.

By the way, I expect another "Peak" line at the top of the above table sometime reasonably soon.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Housing Starts Plunge 11% to 7-Month Low: Single-Family Down 2.4%, Multi-Family Down 25%; Hidden Strength?

Posted: 18 Nov 2015 10:33 AM PST

The crowing over last month's rise in multi-family starts is over (or at least it should be over).

Here's a September recap, followed by this month's surprise to the downside.

In September starts jumped 6.5% led by multi-family starts which surged 18.3%.
Single-family starts were up 0.3%.
See Housing Starts Surprise to Upside Led by Multi-Family, Permits Surprise to Downside for more details.

Housing Starts Plunge 11% to 7-Month Low

October wiped away all of September's good news and then some with an extremely weak 1.060 million (SAAR Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate) coupled with aggregate lower revisions to September data.

1.060 million starts was far below Econoday Consensus Estimate of 1.162 million SAAR and also well below the lowest estimate of 1.125 million.

Pulled down by a big drop in multi-family homes, housing starts fell a steep 11.0 percent in October to a 1.060 million annualized rate that is far below Econoday's low estimate. Starts for multi-family homes, which spiked in September following a springtime jump in permits for this component, fell back 25 percent in the month to a 338,000 annualized rate. Single-family starts fell a much less severe 2.4 percent to 722,000.

And there is important good news in this report. Permits are up, rising 4.1 percent to a 1.150 million rate that hits the Econoday consensus. Single-family permits are up 2.4 percent to a 711,000 rate with multi-family up 6.8 percent to 439,000.

Housing completions fell back in October, down 6 percent to a 965,000 rate that reflects lower work in the Northeast and Midwest. Homes under construction rose 0.9 percent to a recovery best 938,000 rate and are up a very strong 16.4 percent year-on-year, pointing, despite the slip in starts, to ongoing strength for construction spending, at least for October.

But the big drop in starts is definitely a negative for the near-term construction outlook, though the rise in permits points to subsequent strength.

Hidden Strength?

Bloomberg points out "important good news". Let's sort out the reality.

Last month permits were down 5% this month they are up only 4.1%.
last month's starts were revised lower from 1.206 million to 1.191 million (a 15,000 -1.24% negative revision)
Last month's permits were revised up whereas permits were revised higher, to 1.105 million from 1.103 million, but that is only a positive revision of 2,000 and it's on activity that is not even taking place.

Temporary Setback

Using similar analysis as Bloomberg, Reuters writer Lucia Mutikani says U.S. Housing Starts Hit Seven-Month Low; Setback Seen as Temporary.

U.S. housing starts in October fell to a seven-month low, weighed down by a steep decline in the construction of multi-family homes, but a surge in building permits suggested the housing market remained on solid ground.

Rapidly rising household formation, mostly driven by young adults leaving their parental homes and a strengthening labor market, is supporting the housing sector.

Economists had forecast housing starts dropping to only a 1.16 million-unit pace last month. Many viewed the weakness in October as being related to land and labor shortages, constraints that have been flagged by home builders.

"Structural issues including a shortfall in immigrant labor are inhibiting construction. The supply shortage in the single-family market is not likely to be alleviated any time soon," said David Nice, an economist at Mesirow Financial in Chicago.

Labor Shortage?

If there is a shortfall in labor, how come it did not affect last month? I suppose one could say last month's surge caused this month's labor shortage, so let's investigate that idea in pictures.

Pay particular attention to the third chart below that shows single-family construction below the average in the 1960s!

Permits, Thousands of Units

Permits, Percent Change From Year Ago

Single Family Starts, Thousands of Units

Single Family Starts, Percent Change From Year Ago

Questions

Am I alone in failure to see the "important good news" as well as the alleged "rapidly rising household formation, mostly driven by young adults leaving their parental homes."?

Is Mutikani reading Bloomberg on permits, scripting the NAR on housing shortages and household formations, or did she arrive at those conclusions on her own?

Women Not Leaving the Nest

For another perspective on nesters not leaving the nest, please see Women Not Leaving the Nest in Record Numbers; Marriage and Kids, Who Can Afford Them?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Is your e-commerce site ready for Black Friday?

Posted: 17 Nov 2015 06:00 AM PST

Black Friday is nearing, but is your website ready for the influx in traffic? Before I get started on how to ensure your site is ready for Black Friday, I wanted to set the scene and tell you what happened last year and what is predicted to happen this year.

What happened last year?

What's predicted to happen this year?

It's not only the shoppers that are fighting for the products; retailers are fighting for sales.

Luckily for you I have put together a list of tips that can act as a handy check list to make sure your site is ready for the cyber rush that is Black Friday.

Create a dedicated Black Friday landing page

Based on last years' findings, the top 20 keywords last year (excluding retailers) were targeted towards phrases including the term 'Black Friday'. Needless to say this emphasises the importance of having a dedicated landing page to feature your Black Friday deals.

This is because customers tend to carry out research on big sales events like this prior to the event to see what deals retailers are offering so they know exactly what to buy on the big day.

What to include on your black Friday landing page:

Date the sale starts
Countdown clock & timer
Invitation to register for email alerts
Collection and delivery methods
Returns policy
Price promises

If your Black Friday page isn't live yet, get it live ASAP and added to your XML sitemap so Google has time to crawl and index the site and get your page ranking in Google.

Get your homepage ready

Your homepage is the hub for displaying all your offers, and guide visitors around your site to the pages they need. The homepage should feature the key offers and departments so visitors can quickly navigate to the products.

You will also need to rethink your navigation and include a temporary link to your Black Friday page so shoppers can easily find your Black Friday page.

Prepare your site

Page Speed

Optimising your page speed time is now more important than ever. Thousands of shoppers will visit websites on one day which is great but can your site handle the sudden influx of traffic? Speed is of the essence; visitors not only want to grab a bargain, they want to shop with a retailer that provides a good experience, meaning they don't want to be waiting for pages to load.

There are a number of tools you can use, like Load Impact to check your server capacity, and Google’s PageSpeed tool to check your page load times. Focus on the pages that receive the highest levels of traffic and your key conversion pages as these are the ones likely to be visited.

Queuing system

Like you would in a shop, it's gracious to notify shoppers if there will be delays, and apologise for the inconvenience. Last year, a number of e-commerce sites displayed notifications to inform shoppers that there was a huge demand and they were going to be placed in a queue. This is a good way to reduce overload, and improve user experience.

Optimise for mobile

In 2014, 60% of traffic on Black Friday came from mobile devices and this is expected to continue to increase this year. Due to the nature of the sale, visitors need to act quick, therefore your site needs to work seamlessly. Make sure your website can be viewed easily on a mobile device and people can check out quickly on a mobile device.

There are a few simple checks you can take to ensure your site is optimised for mobile devices:

Optimise your page speed
Don't block CSS, Javascript or images
Don't use flash; instead use HTML5
Avoid using pop-ups during this busy time
Increase the size of your buttons

Rectify broken URLs

No one wants to land on a broken page at the best of times, more so when they are in a hurry and want to grab a bargain. Broken pages not only provide a bad user experience, they are also a profit eater.

Now is a good time to crawl your website using tools like Screaming Frog to identify any broken pages that might contain a product that is on offer. These could be caused by changing a URL but not setting up a redirect, but they are still referenced either on the site or on an external domain.

I am not suggesting you fix them all at once, prioritise the pages based on the visits the page receives and if they are a top performing landing page.

Once you've identified these you can redirect the page to the suitable replacement and mark them as fixed in Search Console so Google knows they are fixed.

A/B test your site

Tweaking the language used or changing images or graphics and testing the effect both designs have is a great way to see how your customers respond.

Doing this each year will help you understand your audience better and the way they behave on Black Friday.

It is important to remember that shoppers browsing and decision making habits will be affected by the fact that there is added pressure on to find the product and check out as quickly as possible before someone else snatches the deal.

Know Your Keywords

Now is a great tme to reach out to those customers looking for special buys on Christmas gifts and Christmas related merchandise like furniture and appliances to make their holiday season special.

It's useful to do some keyword research for some of your main landing pages to drive seasonal traffic. Shoppers might be searching for seasonal and discount related terms like Christmas gifts, black Friday deals, special discounts, sale – those kind of terms.

Making small tweaks to the wording and keywords you are targeting on your best selling product pages can have a good impact on your rankings and help to increase click through rate.

Once you have confirmed the keywords you should be targeting it's time to review the current meta data and optimise your meta titles and descriptions so they are geared towards the seasonal and special offer terms.

Speed Up Your Checkout Process

Time is of the essence; visitors need to add items to their basket and check out quickly before these items go.

The registration process needs to be drawn back for this day so shoppers can purchase quickly. If you haven't already done so, consider offering the option to check out as a guest to help speed up the checkout process and reduce cart abandonment rates.

Keep Features Simple and Call to Actions Clear

Use simple and short language that will catch the attention of those customers that scan the page for words that appeal to them. Phrases like ‘grab a bargain now’, and ‘hurry – limited stock’, are great to catch the eyes of shoppers and entice them into making a quick decision.

People will be in a hurry, so it is great opportunity to take advantage of this and guide an undecided visitor into making a purchase.

Another great way to do this is to display the stock levels on the product pages so visitors know how many products are left. If they don't buy the item now they might miss the opportunity.

Create Interactive Graphics

Create eye catching images that get your offers noticed. You don't need to be a designer to creative simple but effective banners. These graphics can be created for free on tools like Canva, which allows you to quickly create a template, or use one provided.

You can use these graphics to build anticipation before Black Friday to get customers excited and tease them with what's to come. There are four key touch points that you can create graphics for; I have listed these below:

Prior to Black Friday to give them a peek at what will be on offer
The day to announce that the sale has started
During Black Friday to promote your products that are on offer
After the event to update people on returns policies and delivery dates

Raise Awareness and Spread the Word

There are various journalists and bloggers that will want to know about the deals you have to offer so they can share them with their audience. Have key information to hand with high quality imagery.

Optimise Images

Optimising your images is just as important as your landing pages. Some users may look for products through Google Images so you are missing out on traffic if your alt tags aren't optimised to reflect Black Friday related terms.

Create Abandoned Cart Emails

Shopping on Black Friday tends to be a little crazy and as a result visitors tend to be frantic in their purchase behaviour.

A study last year revealed that the average cart abandonment rate in 2014 on Black Friday was a whopping 65%. To help reduce the rate you can send abandoned cart emails that gently remind the visitor that they have left items in their basket that are waiting for them when they are ready to purchase.

Combining great copy with images of the product will help to rekindle the positive emotions that the shopper felt when they first looked at the product.

Ramp Up Your PPC Campaigns

PPC is a great way to draw attention to your offers and create a sense of urgency. Preparation is key when it comes to getting your ads ready. There are a number of steps and tweaks you can make to get ready.

Increase budgets and bids
Tailor campaigns for mobile users
Re-write ads so they contain 'Black Friday' phrases
Schedule campaigns at your busiest times
Dedicated PPC landing pages
Update your ad extensions
Create a remarking campaign

For more information on how to get your PPC account ready for Bl ack Friday check out my colleague Lizzie's blog post for all the top tips.

The post Is your e-commerce site ready for Black Friday? appeared first on White.net.

Seth's Blog : Saying vs. doing

Saying vs. doing

Does this group have a loyalty oath?

Brittle organizations are focused on which end of the egg you open. Are you wearing the team jersey the right way, saying the incantations each time, saluting properly...

Resilient organizations are more focused on what you produce, and why.

Petty dictators care a lot about words, about appearances, about whether everyone is genuflecting in precisely the same way.

The problem with words is that they easily lose their meaning. Say something often enough and it becomes a tic, not an expression of how you actually feel. Not only that, but words rarely change things. Actions do.

It turns out that it's a lot easier to sign up for a tribe that doesn't ask you to think, or take responsibility for your actions. But, in the long run, those are the very things that lead to the changes we seek.

"Use your best judgment, care about your impact, do work that matters..." are significantly more powerful instructions than, "Do it this way. Say it this way. Behave the way I told you to."

• Email to a friend •

marți, 17 noiembrie 2015

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Nouriel Roubini: "Positive Impacts of Paris Attacks Modest Unless More Attacks Follow"
Putin Our Ally in Syria: Pat Buchanan Gets It Right, Clueless Candidates Get It Wrong; Jeb vs. Hillary
Terrorist Arrests in Germany, Belgium; Nine Warning Signs Ignored; Could Attacks Have Been Prevented?
Industrial Production Unexpectedly Declines Again: Don't Worry, It's the Weather and Mining
Putin: Hottest Ticket in Town at G20; Road to Peace Runs Through Moscow
One Terrorist's Fingerprints Match Refugee Who Entered Greece in October

Nouriel Roubini: "Positive Impacts of Paris Attacks Modest Unless More Attacks Follow"

Posted: 17 Nov 2015 11:07 PM PST

Economic stupidity permeates from every mainstream media corner in a myriad of ways.

I typically expect economic stupidly, and stupidity certainly has provided endless things for me to write about.

Nonetheless, I am somewhat surprised that renown economist Noutiel Rounbini would actually say Paris Attacks Could Boost the Eurozone Economy.

Economist Nouriel Roubini said Tuesday the Paris attacks could end up boosting the eurozone economy if the European Central Bank decides to increase its program of monetary stimulus by a larger margin than it would have otherwise. In an interview with CNBC, the founder of Roubini Global Economics said the [positive] impact of the attacks would otherwise be 'modest', unless more follow.

Thoroughly Discredited Idea

In context, the word "positive" is implied.

The notion disasters cause positive economic activity was thoroughly discredited over two centuries ago.

Ironically, the best debunking ever came from France. French political economist, Frederic Bastiat's 1850 essay, "That Which is Seen, and That Which is Unseen" provides the debunking.

Bastiat tells the story of a shopkeeper who has to hire a glazier to repair a broken window, providing work and income for the glazier in the process. That's what is seen.

What is unseen is what the shopkeeper would have done if he didn't have to pay the glazier. He might have bought shoes for his children, providing income for the shoemaker, who in turn could buy leather to produce more shoes.

Economic Reality

There is never any benefit to the destruction of productive assets. Money used on repairs could otherwise have been put to much more productive use.

If Roubini truly believes there is any economic benefit to disasters he is a Nobel-prize winning Keynesian-economist fool.

If he believes the government response could artificially add to French GDP now, while subtracting even more from future GDP, then I sympathize somewhat. But that is not how MarketWatch quoted him.

Moreover, his analysis that benefits would be "modest" unless "more" attacks follow fails to take into account the inevitable decline in business and consumer spending that would undoubtedly occur in the wake of more attacks.

In short, Roubini blew it from multiple angles.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Putin Our Ally in Syria: Pat Buchanan Gets It Right, Clueless Candidates Get It Wrong; Jeb vs. Hillary

Posted: 17 Nov 2015 04:59 PM PST

Three Questions

Of what real threat to US security was Saddam Hussein? The answer is none. Ever.
Of what real threat to the US is Syrian president Bashar Assad? The answer is none.
Is ISIS a threat? Obviously yes, but not to the degree imagined.

Formation of ISIS

US policy on Syria is centered on the removal of Assad in Syria even though Assad is no threat, but ISIS is.

And it was the bungled removal of Hussein that destabilized Iraq and directly led to the creation of ISIS.

In October, I noted former UK prime minister Tony Blair (who joined president Bush on the inane takeout of Saddam Hussein), Issued an Apology for Creation of ISIS.

Our allies ought to be those who want to fight ISIS, not alleged "moderate" Al Qaeda forces seeking to destabilize Syria, creating a refugee mess in the process.

Is Putin Our Ally in Syria?

Pat Buchanan asks (and correctly answers) the question Is Putin Our Ally in Syria?

The President's strategy is to contain, degrade and defeat ISIS. While no one has provided the troops to defeat ISIS, the U.S. is using Kurdish and Yazidi forces, backed by U.S. air power, to degrade it.

The Kurds have run ISIS out of Kobani, captured much of the Turkish-Syrian border, and moved to within 30 miles of Raqqa, the ISIS capital. Yazidis and Kurds last week recaptured Sinjar in Iraq and cut the highway between Mosul and Raqqa.

The terrorist attacks in Paris, the downing of the Russian airliner in Sinai, the ISIS bomb that exploded in the Shiite sector of Beirut, are ISIS's payback. But they could also be signs that the ISIS caliphate, imperiled in its base, is growing desperate and lashing out.

Yet consider the Republican strategies being advanced.

In Sunday's Washington Post, Mitt Romney writes:

"We must wage the war to defeat the enemy. … [Obama] must call in the best military minds from the United States and NATO … and finally construct a comprehensive strategy that integrates our effort with the Kurds, Turks, Saudis, Egyptians and Jordanians."

The Kurds excepted, Gov. Romney ignored all the forces that are actually fighting ISIS: Russians, Hezbollah, Iran, Bashar Assad, the Syrian army.

Mitt urges instead an alliance of countries that have done next to nothing to defeat ISIS.

Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham want U.S. ground troops sent into Syria and Iraq. But as Turkey has an army of 500,000 next door and Assad's army would happily help wipe out ISIS, why not let Arab and Turkish boys do the fighting this time?

"America must lead," is Jeb Bush's mantra, and he wants U.S. boots on the ground and a no-fly zone over Syria.

"We should declare war," says Bush.

Why then does Bush not call up Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and dictate the war resolution he wants passed?

And whom does Jeb propose to fight? Why declare a no-fly zone when ISIS has no air force? Does Bush plan to shoot down Syrian planes flying over Syria and Russian planes flying in support of Assad?

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is ready to rumble.

"Well, the first thing you do is you set up a no-fly zone in Syria, and you call Putin, and you say to him, 'Listen, we're enforcing a no-fly zone, and that means we're enforcing it against everyone, and that includes you. So, don't test me.'"

And if Russia violated his no-fly zone? "Then you take him down," said Christie, meaning we shoot down Russian jets.

But what vital interest of ours has ever been so engaged in Syria as to justify a major war in the Middle East and a military clash with a Russia with a nuclear arsenal as large as our own?

In any war it is usually wise to enlarge the roster of one's allies and reduce the roster of enemies. If ISIS is the implacable enemy and must be annihilated, we should welcome all volunteers.

If Putin wants to enlist in the war against ISIS, sign him up.

Clueless Candidates Get It Wrong

Jeb Bush - Republican Candidate: "Enforce that no-fly zone, and we'll stop the regime's bombing raids that kill helpless citizens.
Ben Carson - Republican Candidate: "I would establish a no-fly zone along the border with Turkey. In no way would I back off."
Chris Christie - Republican Candidate: "My first phone call would be to Vladimir, and I'd say to him, 'Listen, we're enforcing this no-fly zone'"
Hillary Clinton - Democratic Candidate: "I personally would be advocating now for a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors to try to stop the carnage on the ground and from the air."
Carly Fiorina - Republican Candidate: "This is a tricky maneuver, it's a dangerous maneuver, but it's a maneuver that we must undertake."
Lindsey Graham - Republican Candidate: "I don't know if there's anybody left to train, but a no-fly zone would be a great relief to the Syrian people."
John Kasich - Republican Candidate: "Now is the time for the United States to provide the moral leadership that it has so far failed to provide."
Marco Rubio - Republican Candidate: "The United States should work with our allies, both Arab and European, to impose a no-fly zone over parts of Syria."

Unfit for President

Every one of the above is unfit for president, for multiple reasons, but foreign policy is the standout here.

Let me ask again: Who is the threat?

Jeb vs. Hillary

Note the similarity between the positions of Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton.

Bush is concerned about "killing helpless citizens" while Hillary wants "humanitarian corridors to try to stop the carnage on the ground and from the air."

The irony in those statements is Syrian civilians are dying directly as a result of US policy of arming Al Qaeda rebels, US policy that created ISIS, and US policy of weapons handouts that fell into the wrong hands.

Immigration Fact Check

Please consider this amusing Fact Check on Immigration.

Pouncing on controversial comments about Mexican immigrants by Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday that the ideological space between Trump and Jeb Bush on the issue of immigration was small.

Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner for president, said while she would like to see immigrants have a path to citizenship, Bush, "doesn't believe in a path to citizenship."

But the former Florida governor -- seen by many as one of the most pro-immigration reform Republican candidates -- has repudiated Trump's comments. And Tuesday, his campaign rebuffed Clinton, saying Bush supports a path to "earned legal status."

Bush this year has also backed a pathway to citizenship for children eligible under the DREAM Act who were brought to the United States by their parents.

Bush's attempt to navigate the nuanced waters between "earned legal status" and a path to "citizenship" is what makes Clinton technically correct in her assertion to CNN that he does not support a path to "citizenship."

Bush's campaign is also right that Clinton did tell CNN a year ago, in the wake of a flood of unaccompanied children crossing the southern border, that they "should be sent back." It's a comment that her now-Democratic rival, Martin O'Malley, has also seized upon.

Bush-Clinton 2016 Ticket

Both Bush and Clinton are talking out of both sides of their mouths, with one side saying essentially the same thing as their counterpart, the other side blasting their counterpart for inconsistency. There is no real difference between the two on immigration.

They may also argue about health care, but neither will do a damn thing to fix it.

Clinton and Bush hate each other, but perhaps they should be on the same ticket if only they can resolve wide differences on abortion and guns.

Presidential Roundup

With the Bush-Clinton diversion out of the way, let's check out the New York Times article Presidential Candidates on Syrian No-Fly Zone.

Rand Paul says "Setting up a no-fly zone is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for confrontation," while predicting it could lead to World War III by causing a confrontation between the United States and Russia.

Trump says "I want to sit back and I want to see what happens."

Mr. Trump said he likes the idea of a "safe zone" being established in Syria. But he has questioned the idea of supporting rebels who oppose President Assad, and he has welcomed the idea of Russia attacking the Islamic State.

Welcoming help from Russia is certainly the right idea, as is questioning the backing of alleged moderates seeing to overthrow Assad. His statements are also more consistent with those who oppose a no-fly zone.

Trump appears to be mainly correct, while Chris Christie's and Jeb Bush's war ideas are extreme lunacy.

Undoubtedly, Hillary supports war as well, whether or not she says otherwise.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Terrorist Arrests in Germany, Belgium; Nine Warning Signs Ignored; Could Attacks Have Been Prevented?

Posted: 17 Nov 2015 11:56 AM PST

In the wake of the terrorist activity in Paris that killed close to 150 people in eight separate attacks, the Investigation Widens to Germany and Belgium.

Three Key Developments

● Belgium charges two men in connection with the Paris attacks
● Germany arrests five people in a town close to the Belgian border
● France has authorized the distribution of an antidote for nerve gas

The investigation into last week's deadly attacks in Paris widened on Tuesday, as Belgium charged two men with terror offenses and Germany arrested five people over the Isis plot.

The arrests in Germany and reports the Belgian police is investigating whether the men charged in Belgium provided the bombs used in the suicide attacks indicate that the conspiracy may have been wider than previously thought — and that more than one attacker may still be on the loose.

It also emerged that France has authorized the distribution of an antidote for nerve gas — a further sign of a sign of concern about the risk of more Isis attacks.

Meanwhile, evidence has grown that accomplices aided Salah Abdeslam, the 26-year-old French national at the heart of an international manhunt following the killings, to flee France after the attacks.

Prosecutors in Belgium on Tuesday charged two Belgian men — Hamza Attou and Mohammed Amri — with participation in a terrorist enterprise in connection with the Paris attacks. Belgian media reported that both men, who were arrested in a raid in the rundown Brussels district of Molenbeek on Saturday, are suspected of helping to assemble explosives for suicide vests used in the attacks.

French authorities said Mr Abdeslam had booked rooms in a hotel in the Alfortville suburb of Paris to serve as a safe house for the group ahead of the attacks, together with a flat in the Bobigny area.

When Isis claimed responsibility for the assaults, it mentioned a team of eight jihadis. But there are indications the actual number may be higher.

German police said they had detained five suspects in Alsdorf, a small town near the border with Belgium and the Netherlands, in an operation the DPA news agency said was linked to the Paris attack.

At least nine people are currently being held by French authorities, which has also stepped up air strikes against Isis in Syria.

Could the Attacks Have Been Prevented?

The Financial Times asks Could Attacks Have Been Prevented?

While not every terrorist plot can be thwarted, authorities missed a huge number of warning signs. Coupled with inane acceptance of Syrian refugees, the EU virtually invited terrorist activity.

Nine Warning Signs, Security Issues Missed or Ignored

Mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud: French authorities have named Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan origin, as the potential "mastermind" behind the attacks. Mr Abaaoud, 27, fought with Isis in 2013 in Syria, where he took part in atrocities before returning to Belgium in 2014. He had been in contact with Mehdi Nemmouche, a Franco-Algerian jihadi who shot four people dead at the Brussels Jewish museum in May that year.
High Risk Profiles: Five of the eight Paris suspects had fought for Isis in Syria. Questions will be asked about why they were not monitored closely given the known risks that such a profile entails. (Current academic research suggests at least one in five returnees will attempt an act of political violence.) Most of the plotters had long been known to intelligence agencies as figures in European Islamist circles.
Associations: Suicide bomber Omar Ismael Mostefai, 29, had a French police "S file" indicating his status as a potentially dangerous radical since 2010. The sheer number of such peripheral figures that European counterterror officials must track is daunting, but the Paris plot required eight of them to be in regular communication and to have trained together. Even if their profiles did not trigger intensive surveillance individually, their regular association should have done. Many will ask about the gaps in the system that prevented that.
Rapid Radicalization: Often the speed of the shift in an individual's religious beliefs is an indication of its danger. At least two of those involved in the Paris plot changed their behaviour and lifestyle significantly in the months that preceded the attack. The Abdeslam brothers, Ibrahim and Salah, were drinkers and gamblers until a year ago, when they both suddenly stopped. Bilal Hadfi, the "baby-faced jihadi", also turned to hardline political Islam in the last year. In July, he wrote on his public Facebook account, which is littered with pictures of automatic weapons: "Hit the pigs in their communities so they no longer feel safe even in their dreams." He had already traveled and returned from Syria. His social media output alone should have flagged him to Belgian authorities.
Molenbeek Warning Signs: The Brussels district has become notorious as a hub of jihadism in the heart of Europe. It has been linked to four terror attacks that were not picked up by intelligence agencies in the past 18 months alone. Nemmouche, who took part in the Brussels shootings of May 2014, and Amedy Coulibaly, the third attacker in the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January, acquired their weapons in Molenbeek. Ayoub el-Khazzani, 26, the Moroccan-born Spaniard who came within a whisker of committing mass murder aboard a train in August this year, was a regular worshipper at an unofficial, radical mosque in the district.
Turkish Connection: According to Turkish government officials, Ankara warned France three times about the risks posed by the Bataclan bomber Mostefai, who was known to French authorities as a radical. In October 2014, the Turks said he was a "terror suspect" after linking him to Isis attack planning cells in Syria. In December last year they sent another warning about him to the French. In June this year they reiterated it. The French did not request additional details from the Turks until after the attack.
Passport Issues: The identity of the third Stade de France suicide bomber remains a mystery. A Syrian passport in the name of Ahmad al Mohammad that was found near his remains is almost certainly a fake. Most likely he was known to authorities as a foreign fighter with Isis in Syria and had used the false documentation to sneak back into France. Sami Amimour, the gunman at the Bataclan, was a wanted suspect in France. He had been under judicial supervision since 2012 after he tried to travel to Yemen to fight with al-Qaeda. An international arrest warrant was issued in 2013 after he absconded and went to fight for Isis in Syria. Somehow, however, Amimour returned to Paris — according to friends several weeks ago — without raising concerns among security officials.
German Arms Cache: On November 5, a week before the attack, a 51-year-old Montenegrin man was stopped in his car in a routine check by police in Bavaria. His vehicle was laden with grenades, automatic weapons, dynamite and ammunition. His GPS was set for an address in Paris. German and French authorities are investigating a potential link to the Paris cell, but regardless of what they can establish, the discovery of such a large consignment and information about the likely destination should have been a cause for heightened concern.
Sourcing Explosives: Making large quantities of explosives is not an easy task. It is yet to be determined exactly what the attackers used to manufacture the suicide belts they used at the Bataclan and Stade de France. However, it is likely that they contained TATP, a highly unstable peroxide-based explosive used in the second, abortive London Tube bombing attempt in 2005, or a nitrogen-based compound. In some countries there are safeguards in place that stop sufficient quantities of key chemicals being sold at any one time, or that require shops to report purchases to security authorities. Where the attackers sourced their chemicals and why the sales were not flagged up will be a key question for authorities to answer.

Mish Questions Regarding Nine Failures

Mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud: Why wasn't Abaaoud arrested in 2014 when he returned to Belgium? Why isn't going to Syria and taking part in ISIS atrocities a war crime in and of itself?
High Risk Profiles: Why wasn't a group of known radicals monitored more closely?
Associations: Same question as above: Why wasn't a group of known radicals monitored more closely?
Rapid Radicalization: Why isn't inciting terrorism a crime in and of itself? Is it OK to post pictures of automatic weapons on Facebook with the message "Hit the pigs in their communities so they no longer feel safe even in their dreams"?
Molenbeek Warning Signs: What the hell are intelligence agencies doing if they miss four terrorist attacks all hatched in the same district?
Turkish Connection: What possible excuse can there be to not heed direct warnings regarding a known terrorist? This person should not have been allowed in the EU at all.
Passport Issues: Why cannot the EU detect fake passports? Why is the EU letting in economic refugees in the first place? ZeroHedge commented on the "the idiocy of anyone actually believing a suicide bomber would have brought their actual passport to what they knew would be their last act on earth". For details, please see ISIS Claims "Only Beginning of Storm"; Poland Backs Out of Refugee Agreement. I suggest ZH blew it and the fake passport was left on purpose, precisely to show terrorists entered the EU on such passports. Indeed, Fingerprints Confirm this Terrorist Entered via Greece in October, likely on a fake passport. The pictures match.
German Arms Cache: A vehicle bound for France, from Germany, laden with grenades, automatic weapons, dynamite and ammunition, was not properly followed up on. Why?
Sourcing Explosives: The munitions have not been traced back to the source so it is not yet known if there is a failure to report. But why aren't safeguards the same throughout the EU?

This was an all-around pathetic effort in the face of actual ISIS threats to carry out such attacks.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Industrial Production Unexpectedly Declines Again: Don't Worry, It's the Weather and Mining

Posted: 17 Nov 2015 09:58 AM PST

Econoday labels the unexpected 0.2% decline in Industrial Production deceptive. The consensus estimate was for a 0.1% gain. But subtract out the decline utilities blamed on weather that was "too good" and mining which no one cares about and there is reason to cheer.

In a deceptive headline, industrial production fell 0.2 percent in October but weakness is in utilities and mining. Boosted by construction supplies, manufacturing, which is the core component in this report, rose a very solid and higher-than-expected 0.4 percent to end two prior months of decline.

Construction supplies jumped 1.7 percent in the month in a reminder of how strong construction spending is right now. Motor vehicle production, a center of strength all year for the manufacturing sector, jumped 0.7 percent with the year-on-year rate in the double-digits at plus 10.9 percent. High-tech industries, where production has been flat all year, also rose 0.7 percent in the month. Spending this year on capital goods, held down by weak foreign demand, has also been flat, though production of business equipment did rise a respectable 0.2 percent in the month. Production of consumer goods slipped 0.1 percent though the year-on-year rate is a respectable plus 3.5 percent.

Utility output, reflecting the nation's unseasonably warm weather, was really down October, falling 2.5 percent. Year-on-year output is down 1.5 percent. Mining output, the report's third main component after manufacturing and utilities, fell 1.5 percent. This component, down a year-on-year 6.9 percent, has been getting hit by weak commodity prices.

Turning to capacity readings, total utilization came in at 77.5 percent which is unchanged from September's initial reading but down 2 tenths from September's revised reading. Capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector rose 2 tenths to 76.4 percent.

It's not been easy to find good news out of the manufacturing sector which makes this report a standout of sorts. Gains in production, however, would have to extend through year-end to turnaround what has been a weak, export-hit year for the manufacturing sector.

Recent History Of This Indicator

Industrial production has been on a two-month decline but is expected to edge 0.1 percent higher in October. The manufacturing component, which has contracted in four of the last five reports, is expected to rise 0.3 percent in line with a gain in manufacturing hours. Vehicle production has been showing the most strength in this report, offsetting weakness in business equipment and underscoring that demand right now is domestically based.

An Otherwise Excellent Report

If you throw out consumer spending, utilities, mining, total utilization, downward revisions to total utilization, and pray consumer auto buying holds up, this was an excellent report.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Putin: Hottest Ticket in Town at G20; Road to Peace Runs Through Moscow

Posted: 17 Nov 2015 12:49 AM PST

Hottest Ticket in Town

Low and behold, the much despised Vladimir Putin is suddenly the hottest ticket in town at the G20 summit.

Please consider Putin Transformed from Outcast to Problem Solver at G20.

Vladimir Putin left last year's G20 meeting in Brisbane early in a huff, tired of being chided by world leaders over Ukraine. Twelve months on, an audience with the Russian president was one of the hottest tickets in town, as western leaders were forced to recognise the road to peace in Syria inevitably runs through Moscow.

Few at the annual summit of world leaders have seen such a transformation in their fortunes, or appeared to enjoy it as much, as Mr Putin moved from a scolded diplomatic outcast to a self-styled problem-solver the west cannot ignore.

Whether it was shifting air strikes to target Isis rather than Syrian rebels, or backing a political settlement in Ukraine and offering a debt restructuring deal, Mr Putin felt he held all the cards as the west came to him for answers.

While progress this weekend in the Vienna peace talks on Syria has exceeded expectations, it will now enters a fraught period involving shepherding and bringing order to the ranks of more "moderate" rebels in Syria, who would partake in a transition process and unity government.

Until there is official consensus on that, Mr Putin can continue doing what he has been doing: bombing the rebels and at the same time trying to engage and pressure them into talks with Mr Assad. Washington and Moscow may agree on the strategy, said Yuri Ushakov, Mr Putin's foreign policy aide, but on "tactics" they are still far apart.

The depth of mistrust still to overcome with the US was captured by Mr Putin himself. "It is difficult to criticise us when they tell us: 'You are not hitting [Isis]', and we say: Tell us where, name targets', but they don't," the Russian leader said.

He added: "Curiously enough, there are reasons and principles for that. And one of them is ... that they fear to give us territories which they don't want us to hit, as they fear that we will then strike just there."

France Rethinks Putin

The Financial Times reports France's François Hollande Urged to Rethink Syria Strategy.

François Hollande vowed to "crush" Isis, the terrorist organisation that launched suicide attacks in Paris. But the war rhetoric has come under fire from critics at home, who question the French president's strategy in Syria.

On Monday, Mr Hollande said he would deploy France's aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, to the eastern Mediterranean later this week, trebling France's military capabilities in the region.

He called for a single coalition to fight Isis, which has won a swath of territories in Syria and Iraq. He hinted at a possible alliance with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who is providing military support to Bashar al Assad, the Syrian leader France has vowed to topple.

"The goal is not contain Daesh [Isis]," Mr Hollande said in an address to the lower and upper houses of parliament, in joint session at the Palace of Versailles. "It is to destroy it."

Yet, opposition leaders, intelligence and military experts are questioning the choices that guide France's intervention in Syria.

"Let's draw the lessons of past experiences: things have only worsened in 10 years, things are worse in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq," said Dominique de Villepin, former foreign minister, who opposed the US war in Iraq in 2003.

Opposition leaders are instead pushing Mr Hollande to revisit his tough stance towards Mr Assad, whom many in France believe is key to winning Russia's support in the fight against Isis.

Straight after a meeting with Mr Hollande on Sunday, former president Nicolas Sarkozy requested an "inflection" in France's foreign policy.

"We need everyone to help fight the Islamic State, notably the Russians," he said.

But other experts are sceptical.

"Assad is part of the problem, not the solution, and as the last few months have shown, he is barely capable of controlling his own territory," said Jonathan Eyal, international director at the military think-tank RUSI.

But three days after the worst terror attack on French soil, Mr Hollande hinted at a change of tack. The ultimate outcome of a political transition in Syria cannot be Assad, he said, but "our enemy in Syria is Daesh".

The world appears to be slowly coming around to my point of view on Russia and Assad. It's too bad it took a brutal terrorist attack to cause that rethink.

But it's not a done deal yet. Politicians have a knack of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory at the last moment.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

One Terrorist's Fingerprints Match Refugee Who Entered Greece in October

Posted: 17 Nov 2015 12:19 AM PST

German chancellor Angela Merkel and EU president Jean-Claude Juncker are two holdouts in the EU's open door policy. Merkel said she did not want to jump to conclusions in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Tonight we can confirm there's no need to jump to conclusions. Fingerprints on one of the terrorists are from an alleged "refugee" entering Greece in October.

These attacks fuel new questions about Europe's border-free travel.

Friday night's attacks are now raising the possibility that the ease of movement that Schengen guarantees may have been used by the terrorists to wreak havoc.

French authorities working to identify the suicide bombers who blew themselves up outside the Stade de France have matched a fingerprint of one of the attackers to a man who entered the EU on the Greek island of Leros in October.

A passport found near his body bore the name of Ahmad Al Mohammad, and said he was a 25-year-old Syrian from the north-west town of Idlib, an area outside the control of Islamic State extremists near the Turkish border.

The suggestion that someone who entered the EU along with thousands of other refugees washing ashore on Greece's easternmost islands was able to move unhindered across national boundaries before assaulting the French capital has intensified the debate over whether Schengen can survive in its present form.

Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister who has been the bloc's leading elected critic of its handling of the migration influx, said European leaders had ignored the threat of terrorism and that violent extremists were using the refugee influx to "blend in" with migrants arriving on the continent.

"European and American security experts, spy chiefs and law enforcement officials repeatedly warned Europe of the increased risk of terrorism. Every politician and every European leader had knowledge of these risks," he told Hungarian legislators on Monday. "It's alarming to consider how many terrorists have crossed through our lands. It's time to put an end to this."

OK Chancellor, what's your next half-baked solution?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Damn Cool Pics

Hilarious Signs That You Would Love To See In Public

Posted: 17 Nov 2015 02:48 PM PST

We come across a lot of signs in public most of which are dull. But every once in a while you find yourself in front of signs like these ones that are laugh out loud funny.