Yearly Archives: 2013

Obamacare ‘SHOP’ Web Based Sign Up Won’t Be Ready Until 2014

"A senior lobbyist at a medical association informs EconomicPolicyJournal.com that 'the SHOP exchange for small businesses to purchase insurance for their employees will require employers to sign up using paper forms. The ability to sign up using an electronic or web-based form will not likely be ready until January 2014 at best. The industry was informed of this limitation one week ago.' EPJ's source also says that WaPo has it right when quoting Joel Ario, the former Director of Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, 'nobody is going to say we’re not starting on October 1, but in some situations, you may see a redefinition of what ‘start’ means.'" Continue reading →

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The Big-Picture Economy, Part 3: Scarcity, Risk and Debt

"Scarcity of credit is the source of sound risk assessment and the discipline of aligning interest rates to risk and inflation. Manipulating rates to near-zero and opening the credit floodgates has incentivized everything sound economic policy avoids: moral hazard, speculation, leverage and reliance on marginal credit expansion for profits and 'growth.' 'Growth' that depends on manipulated interest rates and easy credit is a sand castle awaiting the rising tide; its destruction is assured." Continue reading →

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Some traders got Fed ‘no taper’ decision news early

"The Federal Reserve says it is contacting news organizations to discuss the rules surrounding lock up procedures and the release of market moving information from the Federal Reserve's headquarters in Washington. But the leading expert on millisecond level trading says he is focusing his attention on a certain type of news organization – those that offer so-called 'low latency' services to feed market moving data at high speeds directly into computerized trading systems. A key question is whether or not any organization transmitted information out of the lockup room and into its own computer system before 2 p.m." Continue reading →

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And the money trail leads to…

"A case in point is the Dodd-Frank Act. Wall Street was officially horrified by this law, which officially sought to end some of the practices that led to the financial collapse and big bailouts of leading U.S. investment firms in 2008-2009. But buried in the bowels of this 2,319-page law was a provision targeted squarely at 'foreign investment managers.' Simply put, the new rule forced every foreign bank, brokerage, or financial advisor with 15 more U.S. clients to register with the Securities & Exchange Commission. One Swiss-based investment manager who went through the process told me he spent more than $100,000 in legal fees to do it – not to mention hundreds of hours." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnd the money trail leads to…

Ron Paul: Internet Sales Tax Could Crush Small Businesses

"It is amazing that some of the same conservatives who rightly worry over Obamacare’s effects on job creation and economic growth want to impose new taxes on the most dynamic sector of the economy. The main proponents of this bill are large retailers and established Internet business. Big business can more easily afford to comply with a national Internet sales tax. In many cases, they are large enough that they already have a 'physical presence' in most states and thus already have to collect state sales taxes. These businesses are seeking to manipulate the political process to disadvantage their existing and future small competitors." Continue reading →

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Obamacare Navigators Won’t Have To Pass Background Checks

"Ben Swann takes a look at HHS navigators and the massive amounts of private and personal information they will collect and store in the Federal Data Hub under Obamacare. Plus, we ask the question, does private information even exist anymore?" Continue reading →

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Obama’s more than 19.5 million online fans who don’t really exist

"Of the president's 36.9 million Twitter followers, an astonishing 53 per cent – or 19.5 million – are fake accounts, according to a search engine at the Internet research vendor StatusPeople.com. Just 20 per cent of Obama's Twitter buddies are real people who are active users. Overall, the five most influential accounts linked to the Obama administration – the first lady has two – account for 23.4 million fake followers. Biden's nonexistent fans make up 46 per cent of his Twitter total, with 20 per cent being 'real' followers. The White House's followers are 37 per cent fake and 25 per cent active; the first lady's primary account is 36 per cent fake and 29 per cent active." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama’s more than 19.5 million online fans who don’t really exist

US Military Fills Social Networks With Fake Sock Puppet Accounts [2011]

"You may recall that one of the things that came out in the big HBGary Federal data dump was that the US government had put out a request (that HBGary was thinking of bidding on) for software that would let the government manage a bunch of social networking profiles at once, in order to create a series of different online personas on different social networks that could all be easily controlled by one person. Well, HBGary Federal didn't get the account... but someone else did. A company called Ntrepid has scored the contract and the US military is getting ready to roll out these 'sock puppet' online personas. Of course, it insists that all of this is targeting foreign individuals, not anyone in the US." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS Military Fills Social Networks With Fake Sock Puppet Accounts [2011]

Fake online reviews targeted by N.Y. attorney general

"It’s an online technique sometimes called 'astroturfing,' or laying down fake grass-roots excitement to help build a better online ranking for a business or product. It’s even become a full-blown racket when companies have hired freelance writers – sometimes paid up to $10 for every fake gush they tap out – to go to sites such as Citysearch, Google Local, or Yelp and praise products and businesses they've never seen, let alone tried. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Monday that 19 local companies have fessed up to using such techniques, agreeing to pay more than $350,000 in penalties for breaking laws against false advertising and deceptive business practices." Continue reading →

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