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Colorado Man Will Go to Trial Over $42 Girl Scout Cookie Purchase

"A Colorado man's purchase of $42 of Girl Scout cookies has led to a court date and more than $700 in debt for what he says was an error by a Girl Scout troop's bank. Tad Osborn, an IT professional in Fort Collins, Colo., bought about a dozen boxes last year from a scout from his neighborhood. He wrote a check for $42 and enjoyed the cookies with his family. Then last summer, he received a notice from a collection agency, informing him that his check had bounced and nearly doubled his bill to $82. The debt collection agency, AAA Collectors Inc., sued Osborn for $739.85, the bulk of which is $450 in attorney fees, followed by court and principal costs." Continue reading →

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Texas Tells Company to Stop Investments Using Bitcoin

"Texas regulators ordered an energy company to stop accepting Bitcoin for investments in oil and natural-gas wells, the first action of its kind by a state securities commissioner. Balanced Energy LLC, in the Dallas suburb of Southlake, was directed to stop selling unregistered securities using the digital currency, Texas Securities Commissioner John Morgan said yesterday in a statement. The order reflects concern that investors using Bitcoin might not get their money back, said Bob Webster, a spokesman for the Washington-based North American Securities Administrators Association. Webster described the order as the first of its kind." Continue reading →

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Bit of Headache for Paris, Bitcoin Regulation Added to EU Agenda

"On 04 March 2014, Pierre Moscovici urged EU member states to begin talks regarding the regulation of virtual currencies. As it currently stands, bitcoin is considered 'neither a legal currency, nor a means of payment …[and]… does not fall directly within the scope of supervision and surveillance of competent authorities in payment issues', according to the Bank of France. The same can be said for the European Central Bank, who mirror these findings and also added that virtual currencies. Where publications choose to highlight negative issues, without giving fair exposure to the positive issues, it is no surprise to see the concerned authorities call for regulatory measures." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: The Massive Problem Threatening the Global Recovery

"Debt is an obligation laid upon the future by the past. The larger it gets, the harder it is for the future to happen. There is a correlation between extreme levels of public debt and low economic growth. High levels of debt-to-GDP have been historically associated with low levels of economic growth. That is what has been happening in Japan for the last 23 years… and in Europe and the US for the last seven. These economies are still fighting deleveraging, resisting debt deflation and pretending that they can continue to add debt forever… and that somehow this will get them out of their debt traps. But they are doomed. Without growth they can’t pay the debt. With so much debt, they can’t grow." Continue reading →

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Global Debt Exceeds $100 Trillion as Governments Binge, BIS Says

"The amount of debt globally has soared more than 40 percent to $100 trillion since the first signs of the financial crisis as governments borrowed to pull their economies out of recession and companies took advantage of record low interest rates, according to the Bank for International Settlements. The $30 trillion increase from $70 trillion between mid-2007 and mid-2013 compares with a $3.86 trillion decline in the value of equities to $53.8 trillion in the same period. Borrowing has soared as central banks suppress benchmark interest rates to spur growth. Yields on all types of bonds average about 2 percent, down from more than 4.8 percent in 2007." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlobal Debt Exceeds $100 Trillion as Governments Binge, BIS Says

Stefan Molyneux, Bitcoin: The Psychology of Money

"What does psychological research reveal about people's perception of money and value? What mental barriers do Bitcoin adoptees need to overcome to help others welcome the new paradigm? Stefan Molyneux, host of Freedomain Radio, brings the latest scientific insights into the psychology of money and value to bear on the challenges of evangelizing Bitcoin to the masses!" Continue reading →

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Pensions in Ukraine to be halved: sequestration draft

"The self-proclaimed government in Kiev is reportedly planning to cut pensions by 50 percent as part of unprecedented austerity measures to save Ukraine from default. With an 'empty treasury', reduction of payments might take place in March. Ukraine’s new prime minister, Arseny Yatsenyuk, promised the government would do its best to avoid a default, adding that he expects an EU/IMF economic stabilization package soon. The European Commission offered Ukraine an 11 billion euro loan if Kiev agrees a deal with the IMF. Accepting IMF money will mean many sacrifices for Ukraine’s economy, [such as] increased gas bills, frozen government salaries, and all around budget cuts." Continue reading →

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Free banking will go, says RBS chief

"Savers eventually will have to pay for their current accounts, according to the new chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland. Ross McEwan, the head of Britain’s second-biggest current account provider, said that free banking would come to an end because up-front fees were more transparent. RBS had no plans to scrap free banking, but he cast the eventual adoption of a fee-based system in the context of making banks more straightforward for customers. He said in a weekend interview: 'I think [the end of free banking] is something that will be addressed in the marketplace.'" Continue reading →

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