Yearly Archives: 2013

Turkey will not halt Iran gold exports despite sanctions pressure

"U.S. officials are concerned that Turkey’s gold sales, which allow Iran to export natural gas, provides a financial lifeline to Tehran, which is largely frozen out of the global banking system by Western sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme. Turkey, Iran's biggest natural gas customer, has been paying the Islamic Republic for oil and gas imports with Turkish liras, because sanctions prevent it from paying in dollars or euros. Iranians then buy gold in Turkey, and couriers carry bullion worth millions of dollars in hand luggage to Dubai, where it can be sold for foreign currency or shipped to Iran." Continue reading →

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Iranians shun own currency for Gold

"Iranians continued to purchase gold from every available centers on fears about it's economy, particularly the risk of soaring inflation and a wobbly currency. Worries about the declining buying power of the rial and doubts over the currency’s stability are the main drivers behind the flight to gold. Due to sanctions, Iranians have no choice but to invest in gold coins as they can't move their capital and invest in other countries. Treasured as a store of value, Iran’s gold coins, minted over centuries, are also culturally important. Produced by the Central Bank of Iran, a standard gold coin weighs 8.133 grams. It is also sold in smaller denominations." Continue reading →

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Jim Rogers: Don’t Sell Your Gold and Silver Coins

"Demand for gold and silver coins is raging, and given the weak outlook for paper currencies, investors should hold on to these coins, says star investor Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings. Gold coin sales hit a 19-month high last month, while silver eagle sales climbed to a record peak. 'You can’t get [silver coins]. They sell out,' Rogers tells Yahoo. 'Several mints have run out of coins, … because everybody’s worried about the future of the world.' Rogers says he 'wouldn’t rush in right now' to buy more coins, but would consider purchasing gold if prices fall further." Continue reading →

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Neocons Getting Nervous?: Reviews of Rand Paul’s Foreign Policy Speech

These are by no means all the reviews of Sen. Rand Paul’s foreign policy speech at Heritage last week, but they are particularly noteworthy. I categorized the best I could. Glowing praise: The Washington Times editorial thought it was an important speech that stressed the desperate need to reexamine US foreign policy.  The Washington Times [...]

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Karl Hess: Tools to Dismantle the State

"Karl Hess was a noted speechwriter (for Barry Goldwater among others) and author, and later in his life became known as a tax resister and market anarchist. In this video from a Libertarian International conference in Stockholm in 1986, Hess speaks about everything from his time as a speechwriter for Barry Goldwater to Euclid, the impending collapse of global communism, children's education in America, the dawn of the personal computer, new management styles in business (he somewhat accurately predicts the way Google treats its employees based on Cray Supercomputers' management style at the time), and several other fascinating topics." Continue reading →

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Drones, Phones and RFID; PRIVACY Unites Left and Right in Oklahoma

On Sat. Feb. 23rd at the Oklahoma State Capitol, we will have an opportunity to assemble and to demonstrate those numbers and make it very clear to our elected representatives that Oklahomans expect their privacy rights to be respected! Continue reading →

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Obama administration wants to put Algerian militant on secret ‘kill’ list

"Senior members of President Barack Obama’s administration want to put the mastermind of last month’s attack on an Algerian natural-gas facility on a secret 'kill' list, The Wall Street Journal reported. Adding Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar to a US list for targeted killing would entail a significant US military expansion into northwestern Africa, the newspaper said, citing unnamed US officials. It would mean extending drone strikes and other lethal counterterrorism operations to the region, the paper added." Continue reading →

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Barack Obama’s ‘extreme’ anti-terror tactics face liberal backlash

"President Barack Obama is facing a liberal backlash over his hardline national security policy, which critics say is more extreme and conservative than that pursued by George W Bush. The outrage comes after a week in which Obama’s nominee to be the next head of the CIA, current White House adviser John Brennan, faced a grilling from the Senate intelligence committee over his enthusiastic support of using unmanned drones to strike suspected Islamic militants all over the globe." Continue reading →

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Another Hypocritical Leftist Caught with His Hand in the Tax-Haven Cookie Jar

"Treasury secretary nominee Jack Lew will face questions at his confirmation hearing next week about an investment fund registered in a Cayman Islands building that has been called a notorious site for tax haven abuse. Lew held between $50,000 and $100,000 in the fund… The investment fund could become an issue during the upcoming hearing because Lew’s job as Treasury secretary would give him a major role in shaping the administration’s tax policy. The president has targeted tax haven abuse as a major problem in the country’s tax system." Continue reading →

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Ohio governor wants to tax funerals, concerts, parking garages

"Under Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s proposed sales-tax expansion plan, Ohioans may soon be paying sales tax on music downloads, parking garages and even funerals. 'Essentially, the tax would be assessed on all but about 40 of types of economic activity,' the Dispatch reported. The scope of the new sales tax proposal, however, is broad. It will include charges on bank services, bowling allies, hunting and fishing guilds, and amusement parks, concerts and sporting events that are not deemed educational." Continue reading →

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