Monthly Archives: August 2013

Liechtenstein bank to pay $23.8M in US tax evasion case

"U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan and Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG, located in Vaduz, announced the agreement, saying the bank will forfeit $16.3 million, representing revenue it earned for maintaining the undeclared accounts, and will pay $7.5 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. IRS official Richard Weber said the parliament of Liechtenstein, an alpine country between Switzerland and Austria, also changed tax laws to make it easier to identify non-compliant U.S. taxpayers to the United States. Since then, Liechtenstein has transferred more than 200 files of U.S. taxpayers to the U.S. Department of Justice." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLiechtenstein bank to pay $23.8M in US tax evasion case

Lebanon’s Banks Have the Highest Cash Reserve Ratios in the World

"There are three features that distinguish the Lebanese financial system: 1. The banks have the highest cash reserve ratios in the world. 2. The central bank holds the second highest gold reserves on a per person basis. 3. Real financial privacy. Lebanon is also one of the few countries left in the world that still has real financial privacy, both in theory and in practice… just not for Americans, though, thanks to FATCA, which Lebanon has indicated it will comply with. Additionally, Lebanon ranks only behind Switzerland in terms of gold reserves per person according to this chart below from The Economist." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLebanon’s Banks Have the Highest Cash Reserve Ratios in the World

IMF to Germany: “Fiscal over-performance should be firmly avoided”

"The two have clashed at each stage of the crisis, with the Bundesbank deriding the IMF as the 'Inflation Maximising Fund' under the control of Keynesians who have overstepped their 'institutional and legal' authority. The rebukes have infuriated the IMF Board members, especially those from Asia, Latin America, which think the Fund has been doing Germany’s work for it. They grumble that the IMF has been dragged into ill-designed rescue packages, and that the lion’s share of IMF resources have been used to prop up the currency experiment of rich countries well able to clean up their own mess." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIMF to Germany: “Fiscal over-performance should be firmly avoided”

Foreign embassies in London hard hit as HSBC closes their bank accounts

"HSBC bank has told dozens of foreign missions in London that it will close their bank accounts, an official said Sunday, news that has sent diplomats across the capital scrambling to find a new place to put their money. Bernard Silver, an former honorary consul who serves as president of the Consular Corps of London, said he was told by British officials that more than 40 different embassies, consulates, and high commissions were affected. The Papal Nunciature — the Vatican’s mission to London — was affected, as was the Papua New Guinea High Commission, and the honorary consul from Benin." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingForeign embassies in London hard hit as HSBC closes their bank accounts

Zimbabwe to Seize Mines While Compensating Banks

"The government and black Zimbabweans will take half of the value of assets it has identified in the economy, he said. The state empowerment fund has so far acquired about $1 billion in assets, he said. The government will open a new stock exchange to trade the black-owned stakes in the companies, he said. Trading at the Harare Stock Exchange may start within 100 days of the new government taking office and will only be open to black Zimbabweans, he said. Investments in Zimbabwe will be protected by the government as long as companies do not seek to exploit the country without its people benefiting, Kasukuwere said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingZimbabwe to Seize Mines While Compensating Banks

Gold, the Titanic & Lifeboats – Why it’s Important to Own Physical Gold

"Why it is so important to own physical gold in the actual context and why the spot price doesn't matter that much in determining the real value of gold. We try to explain this by making an historical parallel with the Titanic shipwreck." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGold, the Titanic & Lifeboats – Why it’s Important to Own Physical Gold

The Secret’s Out: Now Is the Time for International Diversification

"For the United States and other debt-addicted countries, years of profligate spending have more or less sealed their economic fates. With the stage set, further encroachments of privacy are practically guaranteed. Faced with economic uncertainty, governments will search for new ways to plunder the productive members of society. These may include capital controls, more onerous regulations, or wealth confiscation, either explicitly or by way of the printing press. The developing NSA story along with the crisis in Cyprus prove that desperate governments will stop at nothing to prevent their house of cards from collapsing, no matter how futile." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Secret’s Out: Now Is the Time for International Diversification

Bill Bonner: What if Mr. Summers weren’t so brilliant, after all?

"We read Mr. Summers' commentaries regularly, in the Financial Times. We don't recall a single insight worth repeating or a single proposal that merits further discussion. Like Tom Friedman, he sees problems everywhere and finds solutions for them readily. And every solution he comes up with would be neat, logical, and disastrous. Unintended consequences? Has he ever heard of the concept? For him, reason has no limits...intervention has no risks...and the world has no black swans. Seeing no danger to further monetary stimulus, he will put the pedal to the metal and run at full speed...right into a brick wall." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: What if Mr. Summers weren’t so brilliant, after all?

How California Law Put a Hot Payments Innovator on Ice

"Three years ago Aaron Greenspan had a hot mobile payments startup on his hands that was poised to take a bite out of the entrenched card networks. Launched in April 2010, FaceCash signed up 25 Bay Area merchants and 500 consumers to use its novel technology, which combined mobile bar code scanning and photo identification. A Subway franchise in Palo Alto tested the service. Some suggested FaceCash could become the next blockbuster payments innovator after Jack Dorsey's Square. Then regulators put Greenspan out of business." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow California Law Put a Hot Payments Innovator on Ice

For Smoking Marijuana, the Government Ruined This Man’s Family Forever

"For the simple crime of smoking marijuana, Texas man Joshua Hill’s family is destroyed forever. The government took Hill’s two-year old daughter away from him because he was caught smoking pot while she was asleep. But under the watch of Child Protective Services (CPS), Hill’s child was abused and eventually murdered by foster parents. Was Hill’s 'crime' of smoking marijuana worse than the state’s prescription of removing his child from the home and placing her into a foster system with as much as 10 times higher risk of abuse?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFor Smoking Marijuana, the Government Ruined This Man’s Family Forever