END the FED

Don’t laugh – Bitcoin is making a serious point

"On one side of the Bitcoin argument, this internet-based currency has some fervent backers – many of them tech-savvy youngsters. On the other side stand almost all reputable economists, together with a fierce range of vested interests – including the banks, credit card companies and other conventional players in the extremely lucrative money-transferring business. To them, Bitcoin is a cross between a dangerous irritant and a bad joke. To mention it in conversation is tasteless. To take it seriously is deeply suspect. Yet several events happened last week that made me suspect that Bitcoin – and the idea of 'stateless' currencies more generally – will soon catch the zeitgeist." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDon’t laugh – Bitcoin is making a serious point

‘Without third party bitcoin is safer than Fed notes’

"WM: What we see in the world today with the libor crisis, and Greece, and the failure in Cyprus is regulation does not work. You have regulatory capture, you just have system failure. And the thing that makes bitcoin exciting for people that believe in bitcoin is the fact that it is an emergent system. If it does require regulation to survive then it really wasn’t as good as we thought it was. These sorts of things do happen. You can call this a bank. I would say this is a hosted service run by an 18-year-old. It is not a bank. The people who trusted the third party were really giving away the strength of bitcoin which does not require a third party." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: Is QE Broken?

"Forget about tapering off. Instead, think of tapering on. How about this as a possibility? With no more ginned-up earnings from ultra-low interest expenses… no boost to top-line revenues from rising consumer spending… and no pricing power – corporate America’s earnings begin to fall. QE or no QE, stock prices fall. The Fed panics. It will be confronted with dropping asset prices and disinflationary (possibly deflationary) consumer prices. It will have to find a way to modify QE so that it does put dollars directly into the economy. Second, this new push – if it comes – may well send stocks soaring again. There’s nothing like free money to make investors happy. Third, the entire project is doomed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Is QE Broken?

Where’s the Crisis That Requires Crisis-Era Monetary Policy?

"There simply isn’t one, no matter how much the Federal Reserve apologists try to justify the most aggressive quantitative easing since the 2008 crash. Look at initial jobless claims. Look at job creation. Look at GDP growth, or confidence, or anything else. None of these economic indicators are near or at the depths seen in 2007-2008 when the economy and credit markets were crashing. Then there’s the ISM manufacturing index, a benchmark survey of economic activity that has been conducted since 1948. This is no minor report, it’s right up there with the monthly jobs survey in terms of importance. And the story it’s telling is very important as far as I’m concerned." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhere’s the Crisis That Requires Crisis-Era Monetary Policy?

Federal Reserve Economist On Bitcoin: ‘Small Phenomenon But Growing’

"It’s a big moment for Bitcoin. The digital currency has gotten an official nod from the overseer of U.S. currency in the form of a primer out of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Senior economist François R. Velde wrote an elegant critique of the four-year-old currency, explaining its mechanics, limitations, and prospects for success, ultimately deeming it a 'remarkable conceptual and technical achievement, which may well be used by existing financial institutions.' If this were Economic Mean Girls, this is the part of the movie where Lindsay ‘Bitcoin’ Lohan gets friended by the powerful, popular crowd." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFederal Reserve Economist On Bitcoin: ‘Small Phenomenon But Growing’

JPMorgan’s $13B Penalty Helps IRS Deal A Huge Blow to Homeowners

"Here’s an illustrative example. Say an individual Detroit homeowner earning $40,000 a year gets a principal reduction of $100,000, roughly the average principal reduction in the National Mortgage Settlement, a previous deal that offered consumer mortgage relief as part of a penalty for bank misdeeds. In the tax year 2014, that homeowner would record an income of $140,000, and their resulting tax bill, according to this calculator, would be $29,693, or nearly three-quarters of the homeowner’s annual income. Homeowners struggling to stay in their homes typically do not carry large amounts of cash reserves to pay off tax bills; they wouldn’t be desperate for mortgage debt relief if they did." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJPMorgan’s $13B Penalty Helps IRS Deal A Huge Blow to Homeowners

ObamaLoans Up by Almost 3 to 1

"The official goal of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act was to make college more affordable. How? By making loans to students. The effect has been to lure millions of students into long-term debt for the purchase of liberal arts degrees that do not lead to high-income jobs. ObamaLoans took loan-making decisions away from banks and placed this into the hands of federal employees at the Department of Education — bureaucrats with job tenure. The amount of student debt owed to the U.S. government in 2009 was $120 billion. Today, it is $675 billion. In July 2010, ObamaCare was passed. That’s when the loans began to multiply." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamaLoans Up by Almost 3 to 1

Convenient Illusions: The 12 Regional Federal Reserve Banks

"What is the function of the regional Federal Reserve banks? They are primarily political. They were specifically set up to provide the illusion of regional control, when in fact the Federal Reserve System is a true central bank, with the powers associated with all national central banks. The central bank creates the monetary base on which commercial banks make loans. The regional Federal Reserve banks do not do this. The regional Federal Reserve banks are now, and have always been, a convenient illusion for misleading taxpayers and voters into believing that the Federal Reserve System is not a central bank, with all of the authority, power, and cartel control of all other central banks." Continue reading →

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ECB cuts rates to new low of 0.25%, euro sinks

"The European Central Bank (ECB) cuts its main interest rate to 0.25 percent from 0.50 percent on Thursday, sending the euro sharply lower. The announcement - unexpected by many - was followed by a press conference with ECB President Mario Draghi, who insisted the rate cut was in line with previous forward guidance." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingECB cuts rates to new low of 0.25%, euro sinks

Small businesses want Canadians to ditch credit cards every Friday

"The Canadian Federal of Independent Businesses, which represents almost 110,000 small- and medium-sized concerns, teamed up with financial commentator Gail Vaz-Oxlade today to launch a campaign for 'Credit Free Friday.' 'Very few consumers know than $5-7-billion each year in credit card processing fees is embedded in the cost of everything they buy, and with ever-higher tiers of premium cards hitting the market, that cost is only going up,' CFIB president Dan Kelly said as he launched the campaign. 'As consumers are often unaware that the merchant loses between 2-3.5 per cent of a credit card sale, Credit Free Fridays can be a great way to support small firms.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSmall businesses want Canadians to ditch credit cards every Friday