Monthly Archives: April 2013

China Goes Gold Crazy. Why Now?

"Mainland Chinese purchasers have been ferocious. First, they emptied stores in their own country. Caibai, Beijing’s largest gold merchant, had a queue 30 feet out the door on the morning of the 19th. 'So many people in line,' remarked a customer in Nanjing, where one person splashed out 2.9 million yuan on ten gold bars each weighing a kilogram. Retailers ran out of stock in Guangzhou. The China Gold Association reported that on the 15th and 16th retail sales of gold tripled across China. Daily sales soared to five times the usual level at one retail chain. As Chinese emptied the shelves in their own country, they also went south and swarmed shops in Hong Kong." Continue reading →

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Can You Name the One Nation in the World with a Higher Corporate Tax Rate than the United States?

"I’ve made the point before that the United States foolishly imposes the highest corporate tax rate of all developed nations. But that obviously means it is theoretically possible for there to be a nation in the developing world that has a higher corporate tax rate. It’s not China, which is nominally still a communist nation (though apparently with more of a pro-business mentality than the United States). It’s not Venezuela or Argentina, corrupt and thuggish Latin American nations. And it’s not Zimbabwe, a statist kleptocracy in Africa. The one nation in the world which is worse than the United States is the United Arab Emirates, with a corporate rate of 55 percent." Continue reading →

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A Taxing Choice? PAC Checks May Ease the Pain

"Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told the Times he was motivated to support the Internet sales tax in part by the owners of a local bridal shop, who complained to him that many customers browse in the store, then buy online for a better deal. Blunt didn't tell the Times that three other supporters of the Internet sales tax with much deeper pockets than the bridal shop -- PACs run by Home Depot, Walmart and Target -- each gave $5,000 to his leadership PAC, Rely On Your Beliefs, earlier this year. And Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) who told the Times about a local shop in his state that lost customers looking for better deals on rifle scopes, took $5,000 from Home Depot on March 31." Continue reading →

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Gun nights for ladies spring up at shooting ranges around the country

"In a growing trend, many of the pro-gun groups — like the ladies at The Fredericksburg Range — are all women, aiming, as Ovalle explains, 'to teach a lady how to handle a gun safely.' The 'Shooting Divas' group trains just a few miles away in Virginia, while 'Gun Powder Gals' is based in North Carolina and 'A Girl and A Gun' organizes some 40 groups around the country. And websites, magazines, merchandise — pink pistols and bra holsters — abound in the growing market. According to polling firm Gallup, 13 percent of women in the US owned a gun in 2005 compared to 23 percent in 2011." Continue reading →

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Collected Quotations Of The Dread Pirate Roberts, Silk Road Founder

"In public, the pseudonymous Internet drug czar known as the Dread Pirate Roberts doesn’t say much. But within the community that the Dread Pirate Roberts has created, Silk Road’s founder is hardly so shy. On the Tor-hidden online forums associated with Silk Road, Roberts posts long manifestos, philosophical and political musings, love letters to Silk Road’s users, and even hosts the Dread Pirate Roberts Book Club, a reading and discussion group devoted to 'agorism, counter-economics, anarcho-capitalism, Austrian economics, political philosophy, freedom issues and related topics.'" Continue reading →

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BitCoin Is Gold 2.0: Venture Capitalist

"The bitcoin boom is just getting started, two venture capitalists said Monday at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference. Get ready for a wave of new bitcoin start-ups, said Chris Dixon, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Dixon, who said he has a 'fair amount' invested in bitcoins, said that tech entrepreneurs have historically struggled to get into the financial tech space because of its massive size and the rigid regulations related to the finance industry. But the anonymous payment network that bitcoin provides helps avoid these obstacles and that has entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley excited, Dixon said." Continue reading →

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Buy Gold NOW

"The important thing to realize that if gold and silver were to see another leg down, we fully expect buying physical metals to get more difficult and expensive, not better. At this point, there is no evidence that supply is easing up. Even – or perhaps especially – at lower spot "paper gold" prices, it could become very difficult to get your hands on bullion. And you'll pay even higher premiums on items with the tightest supply. We don't care to predict how long delivery times could get. Don't be fooled by what happened in the futures market. If you wish you'd bought tech stocks in 1990 or real estate in 2000, you now have a moment like that in gold." Continue reading →

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A New “Global Standard” Takes Shape

"Financial privacy should not be viewed in a negative light, as it is often portrayed. The Swiss view it as a fundamental human right to preserve dignity, akin to medical privacy. How would you feel if the government snooped into your medical records and automatically shared those records with foreign governments? While it would appear the primary objective of this new 'global standard' is to rake in more money for bankrupt governments, it seems another motive is at play here. The optimistic estimate for FATCA is that it will bring in around $9 billion over 10 years or $900 million on average per year. It appears the primary motivation here is control." Continue reading →

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Four Reasons Why American Tax Laws Make U.S. Expats Suffer

"As any student of American history can tell you, one of the reasons behind the American Revolution was 'no taxation without representation.' Since then, America has striven to ensure that the government is responsive and fair. Until now. Sadly, the United States seems to be straying from her heritage, as millions of unrepresented American expats are being subjected to extra reporting requirements simply because they live overseas. To add insult to injury, the American government isn't the only body discriminating against Americans living overseas. Banks (both foreign and American), insurance companies, and credit/debit card companies are joining in." Continue reading →

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Judge Gives ’5 Second Probation’ In Widow’s $21M Tax Case

"Consider 79 year-old Mary Estelle Curran of Palm Beach who inherited Swiss and Liechtenstein accounts when her husband died in 2000. She failed to report them and the IRS lost out on approximately $667,716 in taxes. That’s a lot of money to be sure, but the size of her penalty was, well, enormous: 50% of the highest balance: $21,666,929. And that’s not all. She was facing serious jail time too. And it seemed doubly unfair that she was unsophisticated and had tried to come forward to the IRS long before. Fortunately, though, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp eased up, even suggesting that the government could probably use a little more discretion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJudge Gives ’5 Second Probation’ In Widow’s $21M Tax Case