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Under the Microscope: The Real Costs of a Dollar

"Once upon a time, most paper currency in the world was backed by gold and directly exchangeable for it. On August 15, 1971, US President Richard Nixon ended the Bretton Woods System (Ghizoni, 1971), in what is now known as 'The Nixon Shock', allowing all currencies to float freely, with only the backing of the faith and credit of their issuing sovereign state. This type of currency is known as 'fiat currency', i.e., currency that is given value by government decree (Keynes, et al., 1978). This report will not discuss the relative merits and drawbacks of gold-backed currency and fiat-money, only the triple-bottom-line impacts of each." Continue reading →

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Hospitals profiling patients using their credit card purchase data

If this story didn’t have a Bloomberg byline, I would swear it was from last night’s edition of The Daily Show. Hospitals are now buying consumer purchasing data to figure out who smokes, who has a car, and who shops at Walmart or Whole Foods. The idea is to identify high-risk patients and help them choose a different path before it’s too late. Does anyone remember Snowden? Does anyone still think big institutions can manage enormous sets of data carefully and ethically? What are the chances that the bottom line will win out over individuals? Continue reading →

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Yellen Sees Little Threat to Financial Stability

"Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday that she doesn't see a need for the Fed to start raising interest rates to defuse the risk that extremely low rates could destabilize the financial system. Yellen said she does see 'pockets' of increased risk-taking. But she said those threats could be addressed through greater use of regulatory tools, such as higher capital standards for banks. Some critics of Fed policies have warned that the central bank could be setting the stage for another dangerous bubble by keeping rates so low for so long. In her speech, Yellen said she didn't see dangerous excesses in the financial system." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYellen Sees Little Threat to Financial Stability

Japan consumer price growth at 32-year high

"Consumer prices in Japan rose at an annual rate of 3.4% in May, the fastest pace in 32 years, as the effect of the sales tax hike from 5% to 8% started to be felt. The price growth in May follows a 3.2% jump in April and is a big boost for Japan's attempt to trigger inflation. The country's central bank has set a target of a 2% inflation rate. The measures, which include boosting the country's money supply, have started to have an impact and consumer prices in the country have now risen for 12 months in a row. Policymakers have been hoping that consumers and business will be encouraged to start spending and not hold back on purchases, as they may have to pay more later on." Continue reading →

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BIS: Central banks warned of ‘false sense of security’

"'The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has warned that ultra-low interest rates have lulled governments and markets "into a false sense of security'. The Basel-based organisation - usually dubbed the 'central banks' central bank' - urged policy makers to begin to normalise rates. 'The risk of normalising too late and too gradually should not be underestimated,' the BIS said. Markets have rallied since January. The FTSE all-world share index is up 5% so far this year, while the 'fear index', is at a 7-year low. 'Overall, it is hard to avoid the sense of a puzzling disconnect between the markets' buoyancy and underlying economic developments globally,' the BIS said in its annual report." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: Jailhouse humour

"We’re not going to let a little thing like forced labour spoil our Freedom Fest holiday. Anyway, it is only poor people who get caught up in the prisons’ slave market. So, we have nothing to worry about. We can hire a shyster lawyer when we need one. Besides, we like the Land of the Free. Which is to say, we appreciate hypocrisy. After all, it is the 'homage that vice pays to virtue'. Without it, virtue wouldn’t get any strokes at all. Free minds and free markets are virtues too. Nobody cares about them either. Not in America. We have the schools to shackle minds. And we have the feds to lock up, beat up, and tie up the markets." Continue reading →

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The World’s Biggest Ponzi Scheme Exposed

"The poor saps in this Ponzi scheme are on the hook for a whopping $222 TRILLION! Just like Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff, paying off promises with other people’s money is exactly how the United States Government operates. For decades, the US government has been racking up debt in your name and the names of your loved ones. Your personal stake in this Ponzi scheme is $714,000 and growing. Even newborn babies are immediately stuck with this bill! And it’s not like the United States Government is doing all of this for our own good. Ponzi and Madoff stole to live a life of luxury. What the American government is doing with your money is much, much worse…" Continue reading →

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Ron Paul on the Evolution of Freedom in the 21st Century

"Fewer people depend on regular TV and you see more programs being deleted from TV. So the Internet is the wave of the future and that's one of the reasons the freedom movement is growing, because it's not dependent on the establishment. When I got interested in these ideas in the '50s and '60s it was very, very difficult to get any information but today it's so easy and it spreads like a wildfire. It is worldwide. I've said it so many times – this is not a Republican deal. If the ideas are correct they will be pervasive. Interventionist foreign policy and Keynesian economics was endorsed by the Republicans and Democrats; they just argued over who got to be the managers." Continue reading →

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Anti-Surveillance Panel and a Chat with a Reporter Who Dislikes Us

Last night, I spoke on a really cool anti-surveillance panel with people from Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), ACLU of Southern California and Stop LAPD Spying Coalition. It was hosted by Restore The Fourth Los Angeles. I love speaking at events with Hamid Kahn of StopLAPDSpying. Where I’m usually considered the radical, Hamid keeps me in…

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