Monthly Archives: August 2013

Will Grigg: Abolish Your Local Police

"Ronald Weekley, Jr. , a 20-year-old college student from Venice, California, was riding his skateboard on the 'wrong side' of the street in front of his house when he was assaulted by four armed gangsters and severely beaten. The assailants then abducted the victim and accused him of a criminal offense because he was insufficiently docile while being beaten. They also claimed that Weekley had previously been seen on their turf, without permission, after sundown. The assailants belonged to that privileged caste of social misfits and intellectually stunted functionaries called 'police officers.'" Continue reading →

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Eric Margolis: Are We Becoming What We Once Hated?

"In the late 1980’s, an old friend of mine based in Moscow was calling her husband in the USA late one night. She said it was a 'typical dumb husband/wife call,' mostly about a broken garage door. Around midnight, a gruff voice broke into the call. 'This is your KGB listener. This is the most boring, stupid call I’ve ever listened to. Shut up and go to bed!' Ah, those innocent Cold War days. Today, Big Brother listens to your calls, reads your email, and follows your internet searches on silent cat’s feet. China’s Taoists warned, 'you become what you hate.' They are right." Continue reading →

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Minnesota Starts to Regulate and Track Gold Coin Dealers

"Minnesota has passed legislation that would regulate bullion coin dealers. But it has coin dealers and coin club officials scratching their heads over just what it means and how to comply. Implementation of the bill will have the effect of licensing bullion coin dealers in the state. Bullion coin dealers will be subjected to registration as of July 1, 2014, with the state commissioner of commerce at a fee of $25 for a bullion coin dealer and $10 for his representatives. The legislation defines 'bullion coin' as any coin that contains 'more than one percent by weight of silver, gold, platinum, or other precious metals.'" Continue reading →

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Confusion, not regulation the major dampener for Indian gold demand

"While it is likely that imports will be dampened as a result of the new regulations, at least part of the reason for that will be because of the sheer confusion as to exactly what is going on. As UBS explains, 'The difficulty is that the new regime appears quite complex from implementation and logistical standpoints. How exactly are customs authorities going to track all this flow and ensure that all the required quotas are met? Where will the bonded warehouses be located? Will there be enough warehouse capacity in necessary locations? How does this new framework fit in with participants' business models in terms of logistics and distribution?'" Continue reading →

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Indian central bank has debased the rupee 99% vs the dollar; no hope in next Guv too

"The rupee has lost almost 99 percent of its value against the US dollar since 1947 when the rupee was at parity with the dollar. The dollar itself has been no great paragon of virtue and has lost 98 percent of its value against gold in the same period ($35/ounce in 1947 to around $1,330 today). So to state the the RBI has decimated the value of the rupee would actually be an understatement of sorts. But it continues to amaze me when I see the RBI Governors being extolled to the realm of divinity by the media. 'Headless Chicken' would be a much more appropriate description of how they have performed over the last few decades." Continue reading →

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India Pledges Rupee Action as Currency Nears Fresh Low

"On Tuesday, traders were rattled after Subbarao said the central bank would return to a pro-growth monetary stance only once the currency stabilised. Separately, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the government was looking into liberalising foreign direct investment rules, attracting funds from non-resident Indians and clamping down on the import of non-essential items such as electronics. 'There's no rocket science in manufacturing basic electronic hardware ... So we can manufacture electronic hardware goods here,' he told a news conference in New Delhi." Continue reading →

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The Bitcoin Gambling Diaspora

"Bitcoin gambling is growing to be much more than just SatoshiDice. Of couse, many old-time gambling sites like BitZino and Seals with Clubs have been providing alternatives to SatoshiDice all along, but in the opening months of 2013 the massive success of Erik Voorhees’ juggernaut has prompted dozens of people to come up with alternatives. We now have the roulette-style wheel games SatoshiCircle and most recently BitcoinSpin, the minefield Satoshi Karoshi, the SatoshiDice clone SuzukiDice offering half the fees of the original, and the lottery BitMillions, and new sites are opening practically every week." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin suitcase eats your pocket change, spits out digital currency

"A hacker called Garbage was milling around outside of the Rio convention center showing off the invention to fellow Bitcoin enthusiasts. 'Most people know about Bitcoin, but they don't have it,' he said, hailing from Kalamazoo, Michigan with his group TwoSixNine, which built the device for around $250 using a Raspberry Pi microcomputer and a portable 4G modem. It takes in your spare change through a metal coin slot, checks the current exchange rate on Bitcoin trading post Mt. Gox, and prints out a QR code on receipt paper, which contains the cryptographic hash you can use to redeem your digital gold nugget." Continue reading →

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Jim Rogers: “Nothing Good In India”

"If you know Jim's story, you probably know that this man was born to be one of the greatest investors of all time. Selling peanuts at the age of five to getting a job in Wall Street at the age of 22 to starting his first index fund with George Soros at the age of 31, Jim has had a meteoric rise in the investing world. And what's even more interesting about him is that he likes to break rules as an investor. He is famous for his contrarian calls and controversial ideas. In fact, he proved it again in our interview, when he went ahead with his latest commentary on the Indian economy, and said: 'I am short India.'" Continue reading →

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Jim Rogers: Higher Education And Finance Are Getting The Ax

"We finally caught up with Jim Rogers to discuss his new book Street Smarts. In it he discusses not only the shift of wealth from West to East, but also the complete restructuring of society. Higher education will be totally revamped. Ivy league schools will be revised and will be a shadow of their former selves. Same thing with Wall Street. That’s why younger people need to quickly re-evaluate their options and seek training in the right specialties, such as mining, petroleum and other scientific and agricultural specialties." Continue reading →

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