International bankers are dropping dead at a somewhat alarming rate.

Bloomberg reports:

“Mike Dueker, the chief economist at Russell Investments, was found dead at the side of a highway that leads to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. He was 50.

He may have jumped over a 4-foot (1.2-meter) fence before falling down a 40- to 50-foot embankment, Pierce County Detective Ed Troyer said yesterday. He said the death appeared to be a suicide.

Dueker was reported missing on Jan. 29, and a group of friends had been searching for him along with law enforcement. Troyer said the economist was having problems at work, without elaborating.”

Who was Mike Dueker?

“Dr. Dueker writes regularly for Russell’s Market Outlook publications, forecasting the business cycle and the target federal funds rate. He developed and maintains a business cycle indicator that is updated regularly on Russell.com. He also spearheads Russell’s participation as a blue chip forecaster for both blue chip economic indicators and blue chip financial forecasts. Dueker brings state-of-the-art empirical modeling and forecasting techniques to key economic developments, the term structure of interest rates, currency markets and tactical asset allocation. He coordinates efforts to formulate globally consistent Russell views on the near-term macroeconomic outlook, including inflation and currency developments. Prior to joining Russell in 2008, Dr. Dueker was an assistant vice president and research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis from 1991 to 2008. His principal duties included briefing the bank president prior to monetary policy meetings and publishing articles in academic journals, such as the Journal of Econometrics, the Journal of Monetary Economics, and the Review of Economics and Statistics. Dueker served as an associate editor of the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics. He also was editor of Monetary Trends, a monthly publication of the St. Louis Fed.”

Mike Dueker was a high-power economic forecaster.

Dueker’s suicide was preceded by two others in the international banking cycle:

The Washington Times reporting:

“Two high-profile and high-up American bankers in London have killed themselves in separate incidents that took place within a couple days of each other.

Gabriel Magee, 39, a senior manager at JP Morgan, jumped 500 feet to his death Tuesday from the top of the bank’s European headquarters, the Daily Mail reported. Responders found his body on the roof that encircles the outside of the ninth floor.

On Sunday, another American bank executive, William Broeksmit, 58, was discovered dead in his South Kensington home. Police ruled the death a suicide by hanging.

Mr. Broeksmit had retired a year ago from his senior-level position with the Deutsche Bank, the Mail reported.”

That’s three high-ranking bank officers suicides in under a week’s time.

Are these incidents precursors of things to come in the world’s economy?

Or are the precursors there, but underreported?

  • Russia’s “My Bank” stopped all cash withdrawals for a week, possibly in an attempt at proactively cutting off a possible bank run.
  • British-based multinational banking giant HSBC Holdings plc., began restricting customer’s cash withdrawals in excess of £5,000, forcing the customers to provide documentation of what they intend to spend the money on at about the same time last month.

Read more at InfoWars.

All this, and President Obama has issued a Presidential Memorandum instructing the Treasury Secretary to create an government-managed, soon-to-be-compulsory IRA program.

What does The Economic Policy Journal think of Obama’s plan?

It’s a trap. It will make your savings highly visible to the government, very vulnerable to future special taxes and it drives investments in the direction of financing the government with your savings, rather than the productive private sector. That’s what myRA is all about.

It may very well be that in the near future, your mattress will be the safest place for you to keep your cash.

UPDATE – 2/8/2014

The Denver Post reports that a fourth financial executive has died from “self-inflicted wounds”.

The founder and CEO of American Title Services in Centennial was found dead in his home this week, the result of self-inflicted wounds from a nail gun, according to the Arapahoe County coroner.

Richard Talley, 57, and the company he founded in 2001 were under investigation by state insurance regulators at the time of his death late Tuesday, an agency spokesman confirmed Thursday.

It was unclear how long the investigation had been ongoing or its primary focus.

A coroner’s spokeswoman Thursday said Talley was found in his garage by a family member who called authorities. They said Talley died from seven or eight self-inflicted wounds from a nail gun fired into his torso and head.

Also unclear is whether Talley’s suicide was related to the investigation by the Colorado Division of Insurance, which regulates title companies.