Monthly Archives: March 2013

Spoiled greens

"Ever since the Illícitos Cambiarios Law was approved in 2010, buying, selling, and even mentioning the price of black market dollars in Venezuela has become a crime punishable by up to 7 years in prison. The answer to this legal gag on all things dollar-related was a flourishing black market, which has spawned its own little sub-culture, jargon (Lechuga Americana, Lechuga Europea, Lechugas en hojas frescas, Lechugas Amazónicas), code-words (1000 a 25. Transfer. Norte. Inbox me.), and a host of anonymous Twitter accounts that helpfully quoted daily reference prices, which, as we established, is illegal." Continue reading →

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Underground Economy Helps Account for Discrepencies in Economic Data

"Kalmes is among the 4.8 million unemployed Americans -- 40 percent of all those jobless -- who have been out of work for more than 27 weeks, even as the economy has been growing since June 2009 and the job market shows recent signs of healing. As her unemployment benefits have run out, she has entered the informal economy to make ends meet. America's shadow economy includes activities that are actually illicit -- prostitution and drug dealing -- and more benign jobs like working construction for a day for cash, or even the $2 per child that Kalmes gets for walking neighborhood students to the bus. Economists estimate $2 trillion could be involved." Continue reading →

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Scotland will vote on referendum for independence in 2014

"Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond said on Thursday that Scots will vote in a referendum on whether the country should become independent on September 18, 2014. Announcing the long-awaited date for the ballot, Salmond said it would be the 'historic day when the people will decide Scotland’s future'." Continue reading →

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Gold and Silver Coins in Arizona May Become Legal Tender

"Arizona is likely to become the second state after Utah to pass a law specifying that gold and silver coins will be regarded as legal tender inside the borders of the state. The important thing about this legislation, as well as the law in Utah, is that it is now becoming clear to more voters that there is something fundamentally wrong with a monetary system that is run by a committee of tenured bureaucrats in Washington. This kind of legislation would have been inconceivable 10 years ago. The legislation is important mainly as an economic indicator of a change in public opinion, at least in Western states, regarding the future of fiat money." Continue reading →

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Tarrant lawmaker seeks to create Texas Bullion Depository

"Call it the Rick Perry gold rush: The governor wants to bring the state's gold reserves back from a New York vault to Texas. And he may have legislative support to do it. Freshman Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, is carrying a bill that would establish the Texas Bullion Depository, a secure state-based bank to house $1 billion worth of gold bars owned by the University of Texas Investment Management Co., or UTIMCO, and stored by the Federal Reserve. Capriglione said the bill is not about putting Texas on its own gold standard. Rather, a depository would give the state a reputation as being more financially secure in the event of a financial crisis." Continue reading →

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Swiss to Vote on Initiative to Return Gold Stored in the US to Switzerland

"Enough signatures have been collected for an initiative to force a vote to ensure that the Swiss National Bank: 1. Stops selling gold reserves. 2. Keeps 20% of its assets in gold (currently 10%). 3. Repatriates gold held abroad (including in the US). The Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP), the Christian Democrats (PDC), and the Liberal-Radical Party (PLR) are in the process of writing an initiative to anchor bank secrecy in the Constitution, with some exceptions for criminal investigations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSwiss to Vote on Initiative to Return Gold Stored in the US to Switzerland

The Ever-Growing Insanity of Venezuelan Exchange Controls

"With soaring import demand due to double-digit inflation, collapsing local production of almost everything other than the ever-flowing black gold, and increasing regime uncertainty ever since the Comandante’s passing, there seems to be no end in sight for the bizarre efforts with which the Venezuelan government is trying to sustain foreign exchange controls. If you want to get a good grasp of the whole shenanigan, make sure to read this, this and this, by Francisco Toro and Emiliana Duarte at Caracas Chronicles." Continue reading →

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Argentina Turns To Gold As Inflation Tops 26%

"In the country Paul Krugman hailed as a Keynesian success story, the people are fleeing the government's currency. Banco de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina’s only bank offering gold bullion coins and bars to investors and savers is negotiating with mining companies to purchase gold direct as surging demand depletes the scrap supply. The bank began marketing gold to clients after Argentina tightened currency controls in October 2011. Banco Ciudad is the only bank left that trades in gold after Fernandez banned the purchase of certified 99.99% pure gold for savings in July. The bank sells it at 99.96% purity." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingArgentina Turns To Gold As Inflation Tops 26%

Cyprus risks euro exit after EU bailout ultimatum

"The European Union gave Cyprus till Monday to raise the billions of euros it needs to secure an international bailout or face a collapse of its financial system that could push it out of the euro currency zone. Trying to placate its lenders, the government proposed to parliament a 'solidarity fund' that would bundle state assets, including future gas revenues, as the basis for an emergency bond issue, likened by JP Morgan to 'a national fire sale'. It also sought the power to impose capital controls on banks, a type of measure unseen since before the country joined the single currency bloc five years ago." Continue reading →

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Congratulations! Michigan Liberty Lovers!

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Wendell Phillips, (1811-1884), abolitionist, orator and columnist for The Liberator, in a speech before the Massachusetts Antislavery Society in 1852,   The Level One Federal funding appropriation bill for the (Obama Care) Health Insurance Exchange did NOT come up before the Senate for a vote and the Senate …

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Continue ReadingCongratulations! Michigan Liberty Lovers!