Monthly Archives: March 2013

Supreme Court Rules that Citizens Can Hold Federal Government Liable for Abuse by Law Enforcement Officers

"In its ruling in Millbrook v. United States, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court has concluded that the U.S. government may be held liable for abuses intentionally carried out by law enforcement officers in the course of their employment. Arguments put forward by The Rutherford Institute in its amicus brief urged the Court to enforce the plain meaning of federal statutes allowing citizens to sue the government for injuries intentionally inflicted by law enforcement officers. In striking down lower court rulings, the justices held that the courts had erred in dismissing a prisoner’s lawsuit alleging that three prison guards had brutally and sexually assaulted him." Continue reading →

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Study: Economists Willing To Sacrifice Body Parts For Prestigious Journal Publications

"The time tradeoff (TTO) method is popular in medical decision making for valuing health states. We use it to elicit economists’ preferences for publishing in top economic journals and for living without limbs. The economists value journal publications highly and have a clear preference among them, with the American Economic Review (AER) the most preferred. Their responses imply they would sacrifice more than half a thumb for an AER publication. These TTO results are consistent with ranking and willingness to pay results, and indicate that journal preferences are not entirely determined by impact factors or by expectations of a salary increase." Continue reading →

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The Great Super Fantastic Bank of Cyprus & Its Awards of Excellence

"The Bank of Cyprus, which is stealing up to 40% of deposits from those with more than 100k Euros, had quite a veil of legitimacy. Check out the prestigious awards that the bank recently earned. The Central Banking heart pumps propaganda with every single beat. The arteries in the U.S., including The New York Times, Slate, The Atlantic, BusinessInsider, WashingtonPost etc....carry the propaganda to the people in the U.S. in the exact same way that the publications listed above did in Cyprus." Continue reading →

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You’re Crazy Not to Have Some Cash

"Banks have been closed for over a week. Do you have enough cash on hand to buy gas, food, and other essentials for a week? Two weeks? Most of the preppers reading this are smiling, since they have these commodities and cash on hand already. Even in a major 'End of the World' style collapse, cash will be accepted by many people for a few days until the new reality sets in. In a minor disaster, such as Cyprus, having cash on hand will help you sleep better at night knowing you can feed yourself and your family, gas up the car, and potentially get out of Dodge if need be." Continue reading →

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Could the Government confiscate your gold?

"Roosevelt's 1933 gold raid is well documented but it's often forgotten that in 1966 Britons were banned from holding more than four gold coins or from buying any new ones, unless they held a licence. It's not just gold that governments can confiscate – pension assets can be in the firing line, although usually only in emerging markets and in extreme circumstances. In recent years, private pension schemes have been nationalised in Argentina and Hungary. Could such a scenario happen today? And if they did confiscate all private holdings of gold, would it be enough?" Continue reading →

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Marc Faber: Not Even Gold Will Save You From What Is Coming

"When you print money, the money does not flow evenly into the economic system. It stays essentially in the financial service industry and among people that have access to these funds, mostly well-to-do people. It does not go to the worker. I just mentioned that it doesn't flow evenly into the system. So we are creating bubbles and bubbles and bubbles. This bubble will come to an end. My concern is that we are going to have a systemic crisis where it is going to be very difficult to hide. Even in gold, it will be difficult to hide." Continue reading →

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CNBC: Bitcoin Bonanza

"They won't make a sound no matter how many of them you try to toss in a bucket, and you can't pitch them in a fountain and wish for good luck. But make no mistake, bitcoins are getting big. The online alternative currency, previously little more than a curiosity in financial markets since its 2009 inception, has zoomed in trading value since the Cyprus banking crisis erupted two weeks ago. With fears spreading that even insured deposits might not be safe in similar nations hit by banking crises, those looking for a haven to store their wealth have fled to the complicated world of digital cash." Continue reading →

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Bloomberg: Bitcoin May Be the Global Economy’s Last Safe Haven

"One of the oddest bits of news to emerge from the economic collapse of Cyprus is a corresponding rise in the value of Bitcoin, the Internet’s favorite, media-friendly, anarchist crypto-currency. Bitcoin thrives where people would prefer to throw in their lot with anonymous strangers instead of the world economy. It’s gold-bug thinking reinvented for an age of fluid transparency and instantaneous transactions. And as such it’s an excellent indicator of anxiety. Where you see Bitcoins in action you find a weird and heady mix of speculative angst, a fear of being left behind, and people who appear to have lost faith in institutions, who feel most left behind." Continue reading →

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Cyprus bank controls to last a month, minister says

"Cyprus conceded on Thursday that tight capital controls would remain in force longer than expected as the island's banks reopened for the first time after the government was forced to accept a tough EU rescue package to avoid bankruptcy. The government initially said the controls would remain in place for a week, subject to review. Economists say they will prove hard to lift as long as the economy is in crisis. To help the Cyprus banks weather the crisis, the European Central Bank flew in 5 billion euros ($6.4 billion) in cash overnight from Frankfurt, a German newspaper reported." Continue reading →

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Cyprus and the Unraveling of Fractional-Reserve Banking

"The 'Cyprus deal' as it has been widely referred to in the media may mark the next to last act in the the slow motion collapse of fractional-reserve banking that began with the implosion of the savings-and-loan industry in the U.S. in the late 1980s. This trend continued with the currency crises in Russia, Mexico, East Asia, and Argentina in the 1990s in which fractional-reserve banking played a decisive role. Even more than the unprecedented financial crisis of 2008, however, recent events in Cyprus may have struck the mortal blow to fractional-reserve banking. For fractional-reserve banking can only exist for as long as the depositors have complete confidence." Continue reading →

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