Yearly Archives: 2013

Barbados Debt Higher Than Cyprus Prompts Firing of 3,000

"Barbados will fire 3,000 public sector workers by March and freeze wages as the eastern Caribbean island’s debt burden soars and the International Monetary Fund says 'urgent adjustments' are needed. Barbados’s ratio of debt to gross domestic product reached 94 percent in September, the IMF said today, more than the 93 percent that forced Cyprus to seek a European Union-brokered bailout in March. Finance Minister Chris Sinckler told lawmakers yesterday that the government risks 'further hemorrhaging' of its reserves and the local currency’s peg to the dollar if nothing is done. Barbados’s financial struggles are mirrored across much of the Caribbean, which has seen eight debt defaults since 2003." Continue reading →

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Cyprus central bank: Bitcoin use dangerous

"The Central Bank (CBC) has said use of virtual currency bitcoin is extremely dangerous, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) said on Tuesday. 'Using any virtual money is extremely dangerous because they are not monitored by any authority, thus operating without control,' CNA said, quoting the CBC. In a written response later on Tuesday, Danny Brewster the CEO of Neo & Bee, the largest business in the world that is building infrastructure around the Bitcoin technology, said he had been trying for the past two weeks to reach and arrange a meeting with the CBC so that it could operate under the appropriate regulatory framework." Continue reading →

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Visa, MasterCard $5.7 Billion Swipe Fee Accord Approved

"Visa Inc. (V) and MasterCard Inc. (MA) won approval for a $5.7 billion settlement that ended years of litigation with U.S. merchants over allegations that credit-card swipe fees are improperly fixed. U.S. District Judge John Gleeson said that he was satisfied with the settlement, which was estimated to be the largest-ever U.S. antitrust accord. 'For the first time, merchants will be empowered to expose hidden bank fees to their customers, educate them about those fees and use that information to influence their customers’ choices of payment methods,' Gleeson wrote in his ruling today in federal court in Brooklyn, New York." Continue reading →

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Fed to Explode QE Next Downturn – Can’t Control Velocity

"'What's going to happen the next time there's an economic downturn? They're going to double, triple, quadruple (QE). Instead of making 85 billion per month, they're going to be making 850 billion per month. It'll go up TEN times.'" Continue reading →

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Instead of bitching and complaining about this screwed up government, why not step up and do something about it??

http://nationallibertyalliance.org/default.html “If a people expect to be ignorant and free they expect what never was and never will be” – - Thomas Jefferson WELCOME MONDAY NIGHT CONFERENCE CALL POLITICAL PROCESS JUDICIAL PROCESS COMMON LAW DOCUMENTS & BOOKS TODAY’S ISSUESCOUNTY ORGANIZERS REGISTER AS A JURIST QUESTIONS & ANSWERS JURIST ORIENTATION JURIST DOCUMENTS & SERVICESMISSION STATEMENT BIBLE […]

Continue ReadingInstead of bitching and complaining about this screwed up government, why not step up and do something about it??

Bill Bonner: Is This the World’s Cheapest Commodity Play?

"Brazil has made its share of bad decisions… and suffered its share of bad policies. Generals, dictators, repression, depression and hyperinflation – Brazil has seen it all. In the 1980s, Brazil’s consumer price increases went wild. In constant currency, a taxi ride that might have cost 4 cruzeiros in 1980 would have cost 5 trillion cruzeiros in 1994. The government tried to head off inflation by introducing a new currency, the cruzado. Then came the new cruzado. Then came the cruzeiro back. And finally, the government introduced the real. With prices rising so rapidly, it was impossible for investors and business people to make reasonable projections." Continue reading →

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Investors, Run for Cover From the Incoming ‘Taper Bomb’

"The bond market sell-off is leaving fixed-income investors (at least, those who didn’t heed my advice to get out of the way) with the worst annual losses on bonds since 1999. It also proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that the bond market is more powerful than the Fed. Now, against that backdrop, the Fed is about to hold its last policy meeting of 2013. On Dec. 17 and 18, policymakers will gather around a conference table in Washington and decide whether to continue their $85 billion-per-month QE program. My prediction? They drop a taper bomb and start dialing down those purchases, probably by at least $10 billion." Continue reading →

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Central banker: Aussie dollar needs to fall further

"Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens has indicated he wants an Aussie dollar closer to 85 US cents, while pointing to 'promising signs' that the economy is transitioning away from the mining boom. But he said that turning the lower currency into a real depreciation that spurs growth would require real wage cuts. 'I thought [US]85 cents would be closer to the mark than [US]95 cents . . .but really, I don't think we can be that precise. I just think that if things over the medium term evolve as we're presently assuming – and I think it's reasonable to make these assumptions – it's going to be surprising if a nine at the front is the right number,' he said." Continue reading →

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Dismantle the euro, says Nobel-winning economist who backed it

"A Nobel prize-winning economist will on Thursday withdraw his support for the euro saying it has created a 'lost generation' unemployed youngsters and should be broken up. Sir Christopher Pissarides was once a key proponent of a single currency but will on Thursday accuse the euro of 'dividing Europe' and say action is needed to 'restore the euro’s credibility in international markets' and the 'trust that Europe’s nations once had in each other', according to the Daily Mail. The Cypriot-British economist, who won the Nobel prize in 2010, is speaking days after Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, insisted the crisis in the eurozone was not yet over." Continue reading →

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European Union Warns on Bitcoin

"The European Union on Friday added to a string of recent warnings about the safety of using and investing in Bitcoin, the virtual currency that is not issued by any government. The union’s banking authority said consumers needed to be aware that they were not protected through regulation when paying with Bitcoins. The digital currency is vulnerable to hackers, might lose its value and any misuse could prompt law enforcement agencies to close Bitcoin exchange platforms and keep consumers from accessing their investment, the European regulator said, adding that it was looking into whether such currencies could and should be regulated." Continue reading →

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