Monthly Archives: September 2013

Around the World with Bitcoin

"We are thrilled to announce a trip around the world on bitcoin as part of our documentary film! Trip dates: October 12th - November 3rd Week #1: We will drive across the United States from our home Provo, Utah to New York City with multiple cities in between. Week #2: We will fly to Europe and specifically visit the glorious cities of Stockholm, Sweden and Berlin, Germany. Week #3: We will fly from Berlin to Singapore and spend a week in Asia. November 3rd: We will arrive back in Salt Lake City having circled the globe and paying for the trip with the world's first decentralized, digital currency, bitcoin!" Continue reading →

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Big Banks Start Campaign to Destroy Credit Unions

"As of March of this year, credit union membership has increased to more than 95 million members and they hold 6 percent of the financial assets of United States to the tune of $1 trillion dollars. Now the major banks want to destroy them. This month the American Bankers Association started a huge lobbying effort to end the tax break credit unions receive as non-profit organizations – a tax break that allows them to run as a non-profit and offer their members services at a much lower rate. There is a big budget battle looming and the estimated $2 billion in annual revenue that is estimated from eliminating the tax exemption has already been floated." Continue reading →

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Complying With U.S. Tax Evasion Law Is Vexing Foreign Banks

"Financial institutions, trade groups, scholars and members of Congress have raised an array of concerns, starting with the cost of creating the complex computer systems needed to track Americans’ accounts. In addition, tax havens like China, Panama and Russia have yet to sign on. And American banks are unhappy about a Treasury Department pledge to foreign banks, not part of the original law, to require American financial institutions to share data with other countries about foreign investors who have accounts in the United States." Continue reading →

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Beef Prices Set New Record Highs

"Retail beef prices rose nearly 4¢ in August to reach $5.394/lb, a record high, reports Beef Magazine. This should be no problem, though, if you switch to lower priced goods as beef climbs, as government theorizes consumers do as part of its chained-inflation index. For example, peanut butter prices are down 5.7% over the last 12 months, according to the BLS. So if you switch from steak to peanut butter sandwiches, you won't notice any increase in the cost of eating." Continue reading →

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Mortgage slowdown forces new layoffs at Wells Fargo

"The ax is falling again at Wells Fargo's mortgage origination unit, as refinancing activity continues to slow. The bank on Wednesday sent 60-day notices of displacement to 1,800 employees across the country, citing a slowdown in activity throughout 2012 and early 2013. It's unclear how much Wells Fargo—the nation's largest mortgage provider—needs to rightsize to adjust to the new normal. The bank has already cut 3,000 jobs in origination and servicing, but activity has been bouncing around. Other Wall Street banks are making similar moves, as a sharp rise in rates has kept consumers from taking out or refinancing mortgages. JPMorgan laid off more than 2,000 employees in early August." Continue reading →

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Home-Loan Drop Pushes Fed Away From Mortgage Bond Taper

"A surge in mortgage rates to two-year highs has undercut borrowing, pushing down refinancing by more than 70 percent since last September. Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) said this month originations may fall 29 percent this quarter, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. said volumes may plunge 40 percent in the second half compared with the first six months of the year. Builders began work on fewer U.S. homes than projected in August and applications for future work declined more than forecast, the Commerce Department said today. Housing starts rose 0.9 percent to a 891,000 annual rate, following the prior month’s 883,000 pace that was weaker than previously estimated." Continue reading →

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Plundering The Provinces

"The establishment media and many economists and other social scientists continually bemoan the varying income differences generated by voluntary and ever changing consumer choices on the market. In the U.S., the political class regularly and forcibly extracts a massive amount of income from productive workers, investors, and entrepreneurs via taxation and money creation ('quantitative easing' and 'zero interest-rate policies') and funnels these stolen funds into its own pockets and those of privileged financial institutions, giant agribusiness corporations, government military contractors, construction unions, etc." Continue reading →

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Theaters brace for new federal rules on accommodating blind, deaf

"Movie-house owners -- as well as disability advocates -- are anxiously awaiting the release of an Obama administration proposal that would require theaters to install expensive technology so deaf and blind patrons can enjoy their films. Theater owners -- particularly those with small, independent houses -- say they cannot afford the technology shift which starts with converting to digital cinema. The cost of that is about $70,000 per screen, though most theaters have already gone digital. Theaters then would have to purchase the headsets that narrate films for the blind and glasses that provide the closed-captioning for the deaf, at an additional cost." Continue reading →

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Operation Compliance: Detroit’s War on Small Business

"Mayor David Bing announced in January that he'd assembled a task force to execute Operation Compliance. Operation Compliance began with the stated goal of shutting down 20 businesses a week. Since its inception, Operation Compliance has resulted in the closure of 383 small businesses, with another 536 in the 'process of compliance,' according to figures provided to Reason TV by city officials. But business owners say that Operation Compliance unfairly targets small, struggling businesses in poor areas of town and that the city's maze of regulations is nearly impossible to navigate, with permit fees that are excessive and damaging to businesses running on thin profit margins." Continue reading →

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Anarcho-Perspective on Detroit is Catching On

"Detroit’s ground-up resurrection has not been created by the city, but rather, it has been enabled by the city because in spite of its seemingly unyielding regulatory environment, as presented by the media and some local businessmen, the government-regulatory complex has been too corrupt, too inept, and too inconsequential to enforce its own ridiculous dictates, for the most part. Detroit’s entrepreneurial storm that is rooted in rejection of the conventional political system is purposeful in that creative human capital actually seeks Detroit out as a place where they can potentially launch and operate innovative entrepreneurial efforts with minimal bureaucratic meddling." Continue reading →

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