Monthly Archives: April 2013

Pot Legalization Draws Majority Support Nationwide

"A national Pew Research Center poll released Thursday shows the majority of Americans support pot legalization 52 percent to 45 percent, with 72 percent who say that the cost of federal law enforcement efforts are not worth it. The results mark the first time in more than four decades of Pew's polling that a majority has taken that position. As recently as a decade ago, only about one-third of American adults backed making marijuana legal. Support for legalizing pot is up 11 points since 2010, the most dramatic change since the late 1960s." Continue reading →

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Obama picks Goldman Sachs exec for ambassador to Canada

"U.S. President Barack Obama has selected a partner at the investment firm of Goldman Sachs in Chicago to be the new U.S. ambassador to Canada, CBC News has learned. Sources tell CBC News Network's Power & Politics that Bruce Heyman has accepted the job but still has to pass a vetting process in order to be be formally nominated. His confirmation will be up to the U.S. Congress. Well known as a high-level fundraiser to Barack Obama, Heyman and his wife Vicki, also a fundraiser, raised more than $1 million for Obama and were on his national finance committee. Heyman runs the private wealth fund at Goldman Sachs." Continue reading →

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Ex-Goldman Sachs trader charged with $118 million trading fraud

"A former trader with US banking giant Goldman Sachs was arrested Wednesday on criminal charges of fraud linked to a scheme to hide an $8 billion futures bet, officials said. The federal prosecutor’s office in Manhattan said Taylor was due to appear before a judge on the charges 'in connection with a scheme to accumulate and conceal an unauthorized $8 billion position in a trading account that he managed at Goldman, Sachs & Co.' In November, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission filed a civil suit accusing Taylor of defrauding his employer 'by intentionally concealing… the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated.'" Continue reading →

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Doug Casey: All Banks Are Bankrupt

"The whole banking business is corrupt from top to bottom today. Part of the problem is that banks are no longer financed by the individuals who start them, putting their personal net worth on the line. Now, they are all publicly traded entities – just like all brokerages – playing with Other People's Money. Management has no incentive to do anything but pad their wallets, so they pay themselves gigantic salaries and bonuses, and give themselves options. These people aren't shepherding their money and that of clients they know personally. They've got zero skin in the game. This is true all over the world, not just in the US and Europe." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: Is It Time To Sell Your Gold?

"There is no reason to think that the basic relationship between the Dow stocks and gold has been altered in any fundamental or everlasting way. For practically the entire 19th century... many years of the 20th century... and as recently as the 1980s, the ratio of the Dow to gold was 1 to 5 or less. Investors paid 5 ounces of gold to buy the Dow and its earnings. Will the Dow once again trade for 5 ounces of gold or less? Almost certainly. And it will probably happen before this historic drop in the Dow/gold ratio has reached its final bottom." Continue reading →

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Could a Government Cash Grab Happen Here?

"With $6.8 trillion on deposit in U.S. banks, do you think that our current federal government, the one so adept at manufacturing repeated crises, would hesitate for one moment before dipping into the private accounts of depositors if a U.S. bankruptcy were imminent? Well, with massive amounts of federal spending on tap that cannot be supported by current tax rates, it’s not exactly a stretch to think that a solvency crisis is headed our way … with the grabbing hands of the U.S. government reaching for the assets of hard-working Americans to bail it out." Continue reading →

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Cyprus, The First Domino?

"For the investor, if he has been preparing himself carefully for the events that will unfold in the next few years, Cyprus will have been an event that did not impact him at all. This sounds like economic heresy, because the very idea that banks would systematically and intentionally steal the money of its depositors is a major, major event. Yes, it is quite definitely a major event, but one that should not have impacted the seasoned investor, as it is an event that is a mere comma in his overall outlook – it is an event that was anticipated." Continue reading →

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The Financial Situation in Cyprus and the End of the Euro

"There are several lessons to be learned here: 1. Politicians lie. Only a few weeks ago, politicians in Cyprus promised that deposits in local banks would be backed 100% and that euro-zone taxpayers would finance any bailout. Obviously, that turned out not to be true. 2. The swift win the race. Those depositors who got their funds out of Cyprus banks before the bailout get to keep 100% of their capital. Those who delayed face losses up to 60%. 3. Cash is king. While the value of the euro has slumped in recent weeks, anyone with euros in cash form, rather than in an account, is far better off than with euros in a bank account. [..]" Continue reading →

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The Eurozone Unemployment Picture

"The unemployment rate for the currency bloc’s 17 nations was a seasonally adjusted 12% in February, up from 10.9% in February 2012. Among member nations with the lowest unemployment rates are Austria, at 4.8%, and Germany, at 5.4%, reports WSJ. Among members with the highest unemployment rates is Spain, at 26.3%. Three things are going on here." Continue reading →

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Fannie Mae record profit: How long until it pays back bailout money?

"The firm, along with a sibling corporation named Freddie Mac, is at the heart of a US mortgage market that imploded during the financial crisis. The two firms received some of the biggest taxpayer bailouts in 2008. But now, as housing markets are recovering, so are their fortunes. Fannie Mae has drawn some $116 billion in financial support from the US Treasury since the firm was taken over in a federal conservatorship in 2008. Some $35.6 billion of that has, in effect, been paid back through dividend payments to the Treasury since 2009. Executives at Fannie and Freddie are touting the role they’ve played in buoying the housing market since the recession ended." Continue reading →

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