Monthly Archives: July 2013

Ben Bernanke as Easter Bunny: Why the Fed Can’t Prevent the Coming Crash

"If you use a zero percent return, it's easy to figure out how much you need to save. If you want to work for 30 years, and live in retirement for 30 years, then you should save 50 percent. If you want to work for 40 years, and live in retirement for 10 years, you should save 25 percent. And so on. Over the last two decades or so, savings rates have ranged from single digits to slightly negative. In rough terms, zero percent. So as a nation, we have essentially no savings and face very low future returns. The inference is simple: We will need to increase savings drastically." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBen Bernanke as Easter Bunny: Why the Fed Can’t Prevent the Coming Crash

Decorated, wounded Marine treated ‘shamefully’ by TSA screeners

"Kemnitz, severely injured in 2004 in a roadside bomb attack in Fallujah, has limited use of his right arm and cannot lift it above his head. So when security guards at the state capitol building in Sacramento, Calif., asked him to remove his dress blue blouse 'because he was wearing too much metal,' and TSA asked him to raise his arms above his head for the full-body scanner at Sacramento International Airport, he could not comply. At the state capitol, the Marine’s refusal to remove his uniform top grew into a heated exchange between Kemnitz, a friend who was accompanying him and security officers." Continue reading →

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Parents now face hard consequences for leaving kids in car

"By the time Christina Moon pulled up to her local J.C. Penney to make a return after a morning of errands, her 4-year-old daughter was engrossed in a film in the back of the family’s SUV. So when it came time to go inside the store, the girl protested. The mom has since been investigated by Child Protective Services and faces a $500 fine and 93 days in jail. Moon has pleaded guilty in the case, so she has to pay $2,000 in court costs in addition to any fine. Jail time is a possibility, though she is hoping she will get probation when she is sentenced on July 23." Continue reading →

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Rally at Oklahoma Capitol opposes U.S. intervention in Syria

"An estimated 200 Oklahomans put aside their political and philosophical differences Friday night to join together to oppose U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war.For an hour Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians, conservatives and liberals, hawks and doves didn't seem to mind the nearly triple-digit temperatures during the anti-war rally on the south steps of the state Capitol. Those attending the rally are concerned the United States may support the armed opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has regained the upper hand more than two years into an insurgency." Continue reading →

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100-year-old Wild West silver certificate lassos $2.6M at auction

"Would you spend $2.6 million for a certificate for $1,000? A rare, century–old silver certificate bearing the likeness of 19th century politician William L. Marcy was sold to an anonymous buyer for that lofty sum, which auctioneers at Stack's Bowers Galleries say is a record. 'Only two exist of this type, the other being a treasure in the National Numismatic Collection in the Smithsonian Institution,' Stack's Bowers said in announcing the sale. The certificate was issued in 1891, at a time when silver miners, Western mining companies and some Western banks were objecting to the government's decision to adopt a gold standard." Continue reading →

Continue Reading100-year-old Wild West silver certificate lassos $2.6M at auction

Your Personal Gold Standard

"There isn’t a central bank in the world that wants to go back to a gold standard. But that’s not the point. The point is whether they will have to. I always tell people who say we’re not on the gold standard that, in a way, we are. You can put yourself on a personal gold standard just by buying gold. In other words, if you think that the value of paper money will be in some jeopardy, or confidence in paper money may be lost, one way to protect yourself is by buying gold, and there’s nothing stopping you." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin a Refuge For Argentines Tired of Government’s Currency Despotism

"Bitcoin's popularity in the U.S. is gradually rising as it branches out from tech-savvy and libertarian circles into the mainstream financial world. But who may benefit most from the technology are residents in countries like Argentina, where independent observers estimate inflation at 25 percent and the government imposes strict capital controls. The price of Bitcoins in Buenos Aires are about 30 to 40 percent higher than those in neighboring Uruguay, and last week, a Bitcoin Meetup brought 150 Argentines to the nation's capital to discuss the advance of the technology in the country." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoin a Refuge For Argentines Tired of Government’s Currency Despotism

Is This the Future of Bitcoin?

"When it comes to Bitcoin, the fast-growing 'digital currency,' there are good ideas, bad ideas and pie-in-the-sky ideas galore. All of these were on display Thursday night when more than 300 Bitcoin investors and entrepreneurs gathered at Microsoft’s (MSFT) sleek, marble-lined offices in New York City to show off their Bitcoin-based business ideas, munch on free pizza, and ruminate on the future of virtual currency in the company of other enthusiasts. Bitcoin has inspired a range of potential businesses, from physical Bitcoin ATMs to trading platforms, to services that pay videogamers in Bitcoins." Continue reading →

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$20 Million Claim Against Dept. Of Corrections By Man Shot In Bed 16 Times

"Thirty-year-old Dustin Theoharis is in Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, recovering from his twelfth surgery - this one to reconstruct his jaw. It’s unlikely he will ever fully recover from the barrage of bullets fired by police on Feb. 11, 2011. His attorney, Erik Heipt said that Theoharis suffered 'a broken shoulder, 2 broken arms, broken legs, he had a compression fracture to his spine, damage to his liver and spleen.' Theoharis wasn’t the guy police were after. The King County Sheriff’s deputy and Washington Department of Corrections officer who shot him were at the house to arrest a man who’d violated his parole." Continue reading →

Continue Reading$20 Million Claim Against Dept. Of Corrections By Man Shot In Bed 16 Times