Taking the pulse of the news.

Greece
Greece accepted steep increases in taxes and cuts in government services as a price for its latest bailout. End of the story? No!. One quarter of the Syriza Party broke away, PM Tsipras resigned and called for new elections. The country's President called on the opposition to form a government. So far no luck. As you can expect, Greek stocks are tanking.


China
Chinese stocks are also tanking in spite of efforts by the Chinese govt to stop the plunge. To add insult to injury, the IMF had postponed trying to put together a basket of new reserve currency including the Yuan till next year.


The FED.
There are voices being raised for postponing raising interest rates in view of the DOW's 1,500 point plunge and the soft economy.


Puerto Rico.
Trying to restructure its debts.


Chicago.
Ditto.


Gold.
Definitely rallying.


Biden candidacy.
Under way.


Shemitah and Larry's cycles.
The first predicts calamities at the end of September, while Larry predicts calamities on October 7.


Ukraine.
Quieted down. The country is also a basket case and is trying to restructure its debts.


US politics.
Trump and Hillary dominate news. Trump's lead is expected to diminish as the field narrows (some people dispute that) while Hillary suffers the thousand cuts orchestrated by the Obama regime. The expectation is for Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren to run for a 'third term' of Obama.


The question of immigration.
The Constitution states that CONGRESS has the sole authority to regulate who is a citizen. The fourteenth Amendment does not grant citizenship to anyone being born in the US. This is an important issue in the 2016 presidential election.