US national debt tops $21 trillion for first time ever About a year ago, US President Donald Trump pledged to eliminate the national debt “over a period of eight years.” Treasury data now shows the debt has surpassed the $21 trillion mark this week for the first time in history. Last month Trump signed a suspension on the federal debt limit, allowing the government to borrow an unlimited am [...]

The real goal behind recent US sanctions is to isolate Russia economically from Europe and Asia, according to an analyst interviewed by RT. “The most obvious reason for sanctions is to drive a wedge into the relationship between Russia and the European Union, between Russia and China, etc.” said TeleTradeBel analyst Mikhail Grachev. [...]

Capital investment in 24 of the EU’s 28 member states has fallen dramatically over the past ten years, according to Eurostat. Countries in Europe’s east and south experienced the biggest drops in investment after the 2008 crisis. Investment decreased on average by 2.3 percent, falling to 20.1 percent of GDP last year. It stood at 22.4 percent from 2007 to 2017 period. [...]

In this special double header episode of the Keiser Report, Max and Stacy compare the real data and future for fracking using actual balance sheet results and investor complaints on the absence of any profits as of yet. From Bloomberg and CNBC, headlines warn that fossil fuels face squeeze as the cost of renewables plunge and just as the surge in natural gas supply from fracking absolutely obliter [...]

Washington’s renewed sanctions on Tehran supports China’s newly established oil futures, analysts say. The sanctions can make the yuan a more preferable currency than the dollar on the oil market. Since their launch in May, the interest in the renminbi-backed oil contracts has steadily surged. Traded daily volumes hit a record 250,000 lots last Wednesday, and the share of yuan contracts in glo [...]

In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max and Stacy discuss the ‘turds’ that are ‘harvesting baby brains’ in the cryptocurrency markets, according to Charlie Munger, the 94-year-old billionaire, partner of Warren Buffett. Max and Stacy note that bitcoin was a direct response to the financial system created by the likes of Buffett and Munger, so it makes sense that they would react more and [...]

Russia has decided not to participate in the increase in the World Bank's lending capacity and with good reason, analysts told Sputnik, suggesting that it doesn't seem logical for Moscow to fund the institution amid the US-led sanctions spree aimed against Russia. The World Bank's assets are being directed to fund reforms beneficial to transnational corporations, including those from the US, Va [...]

Living with ever-growing debt, which has passed $21 trillion, has become a trademark of the US economy. RT asked an analyst how long this can continue without serious problems for the world’s largest economy. US Treasuries and US foreign debt have long been supported by the dollar-printing machine, and this support may be ending, according to TeleTradeBel analyst Mikhail Grachev. [...]

After a stern warning about a calm before an economic storm, investor Peter Schiff has accused the US Federal Reserve of being oblivious to the upcoming crash. Seeking Alpha quotes Schiff as saying that yields have risen to levels unseen since the last financial crisis a decade ago, with yield curves currently flattening. [...]

With the Turkish Central Bank withdrawing its gold reserves from the US Federal Reserve System and shipping them to Ankara, Sputnik looks into how this move may affect the development of the world economy. All Conditions for Crisis in Place The global economy is struggling to cope with a barrage of hard conditions such as uncontrolled money printing, trade wars, sanctions, increasing interes [...]

The Central Bank of Russia keeps all its bullion at home, since only in Russia can its gold be completely safe, according to Anatoly Aksakov, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets. Answering a question about Turkey’s decision to repatriate its gold from the US Federal Reserve, Aksakov said: "We do not have a gold reserve in the US, we have only Forex (foreign exchange) re [...]

Turkey has decided to bring back all its gold stored in the US Federal Reserve, according to Turkish media. In recent years, Ankara repatriated 220 tons of gold from abroad, and 28.7 tons was brought back from the US last year. Turkey’s gold reserves are estimated at 564 tons and are worth about $20 billion, Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported. [...]

In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max and Stacy discuss the profits of war and ask why defense contractors’ shares have turned decidedly more ‘dotcom-like’ since 2011. They also look at ‘healthcare as the new oil’ and Obamacare, as the F-35 cost-plus program, in which profits are limitless. The two note the enormous government budgets devoted to defense and healthcare programs follow [...]

Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon stocks have enjoyed the fruits of the Arab Spring. Since 2011, the shares of US defense contractors have soared by as much as 700 percent, according to RT's Keiser Report. American global aerospace and defense technology company Northrop Grumman has appreciated sevenfold since 2011, rising from $54.82 to $357.70 per share. [...]

The Central Bank of Russia has sold $3.1 billion in US Treasury bills as of February, reducing its investment in American debt to the lowest level since March last year. Moscow still occupies the 16th position among the largest holders of US government bonds. Russia has cut its holdings for the third consecutive month. [...]

The time will come when you won't be able to buy a cup of coffee without being traced, warns investment guru Jim Rogers. To control people, governments will increasingly seek to hunt down cash spending, he adds. “Governments are always looking out for themselves first, and it's the same old thing that has been going on for hundreds of years. [...]

A report by the UK House of Commons library has warned that the continued accumulation of wealth at the top will fuel growing distrust and anger over the coming decade unless action is taken to restore balance. According to the report, seen by The Guardian, if trends seen since the 2008 financial crash were to continue, then the top 1 percent will hold 64 percent of the world’s wealth by 2030. [...]

Muammar Gaddafi wanted to shatter the dominance of the greenback in the Middle East by introducing gold-backed dinar, but failed. China has a chance to finish what he started, one industry expert has told RT. “Ideas related to oil trade in currencies other than the dollar arose more than once.  [...]

The Wall Street Journal is accused by its employees of attempting to suppress its own story after a senior editor allegedly tried to bury a deep dive into the 2008 global financial crisis and its aftermath. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published on Tuesday a graphics-heavy in-depth study on the aftermath of the world-shaking 2008 financial crisis, particularly noting that banking and investmen [...]

The American electric-car company Tesla will be bankrupt within four months unless its CEO Elon Musk “pulls a rabbit out of his hat,” according to hedge fund manager John Thompson. “Companies eventually have to make a profit, and I don’t ever see that happening here,” the head of Vilas Capital Management told Market Watch. [...]

The historic launch of the long-awaited trading of Chinese crude futures this week has stirred up a heated debate among analysts as to whether the new commodity product will prosper or flop. Some market analysts expressed doubts over the success of the petro-yuan, citing Beijing’s yearning for total control over trading as one of the key reasons for a potential bust. [...]

China is the world's biggest crude consumer and buys most of its oil from Russia. However, most settlements are still in US dollars. The launch of the petro-yuan now allows Moscow and Beijing to use national currencies instead. China and Russia are actively reducing dependence on the dollar in bilateral trade. In October 2017, Beijing launched a payment system for transactions in yuan and Russian [...]