Failure to hike debt limit means global catastrophe

One week has already passed since the Oct. 1 federal government shutdown forcing massive furloughs of workers and suspension of services not excepted by the Anti-Deficiency Act.

Because Congress did not enact regular appropriations or a continuing resolution for the 2014 fiscal year, appropriations have lapsed, and about 800,000 federal employees were indefinitely furloughed without pay, while another 1.3 million “excepted” employees were required to report to work for some indefinite period without pay until an appropriations bill is passed or their function is no longer excepted.

The U.S. government has shut down 18 times since 1976. The last actual shutdown came in 1996 and lasted three weeks.

For More: http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/failure-to-hike-debt-limit-means-global-catastrophe

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Blackhawk Partners/Inter-M Traders and Woodside LLC Agreement

Blackhawk Partners/Inter- M Traders; two family offices involved in the physical commodities trading business, are excited to announce that they have signed today a Partnership Agreement with Woodside LLC; a finance provider involved in global physical commodity trading and investments. Blackhawk Partners/Inter-M Traders will secure and provide to the partnership commodities allocation(s) and Woodside LLC will finance the aforementioned transactions alongside highly opportunistic Energy investment projects as well.

About Woodside LLC

Woodside LLC, led by trader Hironobu Hagi, is a Tokyo based finance provider backed by top rated financial institutions and high net worth individuals. The company specializes in funding trade and bridge financing needs globally with sector focus on physical commodity trading and Japan domestic real estate.

For More: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/11/prweb11294688.htm

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Financial Policy Council Re-Elects Ziad Abdelnour to Three Year Term

During his position as President of the Financial Policy Council, Ziad Abdelnour has demonstrated remarkable success. He put together a Board of Directors of 17 first class individuals who have one thing in common: a genuine pursuit of excellence and sense of mission second to none. At the end of the day, it's all about having the right people on board. Ziad Abdelnour hopes to increase the board to 21 members by the end of 1Q 2014.

Ziad also formed a First Class Publications Committee that is already producing its own proprietary research, with a goal of increasing capabilities by at least fivefold in the upcoming three years.

For More: http://www.pr.com/press-release/538910

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WHAT'S WRONG WITH CAPITALISM TODAY

There is not a single day that passes that I don’t hear some of my Wall Street peers complain about the state of capitalism in America today – and how different it is from only a couple of decades ago.

Is capitalism broken or what, exactly, has happened to this “fountain of money and growth” to draw such irritation among Wall Street financiers today?

I don’t believe that capitalism is broken but it is a fact that capitalism requires freedom to work. It frankly is not and has never been designed to work in an environment dominated by market controls, regulations, artificial barriers to entry, monetary manipulation and a myriad of other government interventions. To the extent that these things are present, I am afraid capitalism will appear broken. It is a wonder that what little capitalism that remains can still tug us along the path of progress as much as it does.

For More: http://www.wnd.com/2014/06/whats-wrong-with-capitalism-today/

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Ziad Abdelnour spoke to the group about how becoming successful takes time

Ziad Abdelnour spoke to the group about how becoming successful takes time, adding that overnight success is not usually possible. He encouraged students to be relentless and not only work hard, but efficiently.

“A lot of people get very close to success and then they give up,” Ziad K Abdelnour said. “It can take sometimes weeks, months, years, decades. An overnight success is really 15 years. It takes time, it takes perseverance, never ever giving up and passion to be successful.”

Mori said that his professional success came from his drive to help people and ability to handle daily issues. He said students could boost their careers by also looking to improve the lives of the people around them.

For More: http://www.bupipedream.com/news/51969/investment-banker-local-business-founder-show-how-to-succeed-in-challenging-environments/

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Deal Making Metrics that Matter

I crack up when I see so many rookies in the business world today trying to make deals happen having no clue how to go about it.

So they go on relying on bigger idiots who are totally inept at even understanding a deal and you have the recipe for disaster.

Having done more deals in more businesses than I can count, I’ve got a few simple rules that have saved me tons of money, helped me dodge more than a few bullets, and added a few years to my life.

Here are some real productive tips that should help you get ahead in life real fast and save you lots of time, money and dashed expectations.

For More: The Deal Making Metrics that Matter

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Trading Physical Oil: The Art of the Deal

As part of Blackhawk’s close group of family and friends; and to set the record straight, I thought I’d share with you those important tips you need to know if you’re actively involved in oil derivatives transactions in the physical commodities trading world.

As you may or may not know, the reality today is that oil buyers are a dime a dozen, real fuel is the issue. The secondary market is for the most part composed of “fake offers” around the world doing a circle jerk on the Internet as people who have the real oil already know where to sell it.

By the same token, no Major or legitimate buyer will issue a LOI, ICPO, nor will they issue any POF or pre advise of any kind, ever before seeing POP. Hence, our Modus Operandi is and has always been very simple: Prove the product, send an invoice, we will close it! Very simple…..We will also sell under the exact same circumstances. The exception is an unknown buyer to us where we’ll have to Swift an RWA to prove financial capability.

For More:Trading Physical Oil

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The Tech and Software Sectors Close to Eating the World

Not even in your wildest dreams …. as I believe we are just at the beginning of a revolution still at its embryonic stage.

For a start, you might think that tech is today in a bubble as a company whose sole product is a photo sharing app in which the pictures get deleted after they are shared recently turned down $3 billion.

Maybe…. But the reality is that even if there is a bubble in the making there are really no consequences. Unlike the late 90s, technology is now more entrenched than ever before. If one company blows up, other entrepreneurs will start a new one or join someone else. So If you really think about it, the cost of failure has never been so low, ever.

Having said that, here are a few trends in the making that I believe will be dramatically changing our world

For More: Tech and Software

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Geopolitical impact of lower oil prices

It is a fact that the US has increased its production of oil quite dramatically over the last two to three years. It has actually increased it by the size of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members or about two and a half to three million barrels per day.

So we are sitting today on around nine million barrels per day, which is third only to Saudi Arabia and Russia.

I believe that growth is still going to be happening, even if the oil price stays in the $80 to $90 dollar range it is right now.

There is indeed still a lot of production that is still going to be quite profitable in the United States and there is still going to be drilling. We have actually seen the rig rates in the United States kind of stay the same and that is really going to keep continuing to drive, maybe even adding another million barrels per day by the end of next year, which I believe will continue to add pressure on oil prices.

For More:Geopolitical impact of lower oil prices

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Challenges and Opportunities We See in the Defense Industry

The industry is indeed entering a period of change, and defense companies’ fortunes are tied to broader market shifts and government policies that could have lasting impact.

Though the defense industry has to sooner than later develop creative strategies and business models or risk catastrophic failure, we at Blackhawk Partners believe that despite a challenging environment, strong fundamentals in the defense and most importantly cyber security industry and unmanned aviation continue to offer some highly attractive investment opportunities.

We believe the industry’s fate largely depends on Pentagon’s decisions on how it will modernize U.S. forces to confront future threats. In its Cold War heyday, the Pentagon was the leading developer of cutting-edge technology and still commands the world’s most advanced military force. But at the same time, it has created self-defeating mechanisms that quash innovation and fail to capitalize on available opportunities.

For More: Challenges and Opportunities

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The Economic Warfare Facing Us Today

I hope “Economic Warfare” will open up your eyes as I lay out in detail a plan for restoring economic freedom in the United States and around the world. Along the way, I reveal the true nature of the enemy that threatens to destroy our free market capitalist system that has made this nation great. I also show where the weakening of our system began, how it was accomplished, and by whom. Most importantly, I seek to provide strong and serious solutions for overcoming the forces against wealth creation, and lay out a strategy for not only surviving in today’s turbulent financial environment, but regaining the economic freedom that marked American exceptionalism. For nearly one hundred years, we have allowed our public servants to operate based upon the theory that bigger government is better government, no matter the cost. That theory has nearly destroyed us.

For More: Economic Warfare

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About the Basics of Making Money

This is how we learn most things. Whether you want to be a writer or a musician or a painter or a baker or an accountant, the way to get there is fairly clear. Not everyone’s going to be as good as one would like to be, but at least you know where to start. Lessons, classes, books, internships, … All of these things are accessible to most people who want them.

One of the interesting things about picking up polo was that I realized it had been some time since I had actually tried to learn something new. We spend most of our childhoods learning new things. But as you get older, the frequency with which you develop new talents slows down. Sometimes it stops completely.

For More: how to make money

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Why Is Patience So Important

I am often asked what it takes to start a company and see it prosper and succeed. Of course, there’s a long list of factors: money, people, technology, good advice, and judgment, to name a few. One thing I tell every person considering an entrepreneurial venture is the importance of having a lot of patience.

In a world of instant information, feedback, and connection we are spoiled into believing that everything is “instant.” That combined with overnight small business success stories makes patience all that much more difficult.

For More: Why Is Patience So Important

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The Single Greatest Problem Facing Lebanon Today

Lebanon has been a hard country to understand since the outbreak of its fifteen-year conflict in 1975. Was that a civil war or an international one? Who were the protagonists, the Left and Right, the Christians and Muslims, or some other parties? The debate continues today.

To understand the nuances of today’s Lebanon means looking critically at several key issues, including Syria and Hezbollah’s heavy influence over that tiny country, civil society, and the religious communities. From this we can draw conclusions about the future and about U.S. policy.

Syria & Hezbollah’s influence over Lebanon

For More:The Single Greatest Problem Facing Lebanon Today

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OUSTMARTING ISIS

It is clear to anyone with a half brain by now that President Obama has not offered a cohesive strategy for fighting ISIS. Since 2010, his determination to disengage from Iraq and Syria was evident in his refusal to assist the Free Syrian Army and keep U.S. forces in Iraq beyond 2011. He has partially reversed his stance following the August 2014 beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

Further, the U.S.-led air strikes have not shaken ISIS’s stranglehold on Syria and Iraq as it closes on Kobani and Baghdad. Obama’s lack of resolve was evident from the start when he ruled out sending U.S. ground troops to tackle ISIS.

For More: OUSTMARTING ISIS

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Policing the World: Right or Wrong Track

The US currently spends more on its military than the next top 14 spenders combined.

Some people claim the US cannot sustain being the world’s police force in the long run as the process is not only costly but also harming the US economic interests all over the globe.

Others claim the US is not really being the world’s police force but that all what it’s doing is promoting and defending its interests around the world—sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly depending on one’s point of view.

Though we can talk hours about the subject matter, I would like to make it short and sweet and hear your respective opinions in this regard.

For More: Policing the World

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When Performance Doesn’t Matter

One of the most amusing phrases on Wall Street is “smart money.”

This phrase is used to describe the handful of professional investors whose abilities and foresight are thought to be so acute that they spot the big moneymaking opportunities before the average Joe Pro.

The smartest of the “smart money” is thought to be hedge funds.

A look at recent performance suggests that hedge funds are indeed extremely smart money, though not in the way that most people think.

In fact on average, hedge funds are no smarter about picking stocks or other investments than anyone else. In fact, they’re decidedly, startlingly worse.

For More: Smart Money

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Making money consistently. A review of the state of the art

After a few decades investing in the markets I am coming to realize that to make money in such markets you have to first and foremost think independently and be humble. You have to be an independent thinker because you can’t make money agreeing with the consensus view, which is already embedded in the price. Yet whenever you’re betting against the consensus, there’s a significant probability you’re going to be wrong, so you have to be humble.

Early in my career I learned this lesson the hard way — through some very painful bad bets. The biggest of these mistakes occurred in the early 80s, when I became convinced that the U.S. economy was about to fall into a depression. My research had led me to believe that, with the Fed’s tight money policy and lots of debt outstanding, there would be a global wave of debt defaults, and if the Fed tried to handle it by printing money, inflation would accelerate. I was so certain that a depression was coming that I proclaimed it everywhere.

For More: Making money consistently

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