Privacy debate looms as Canada prepares to share bank data with U.S.

"A debate over fighting tax evasion versus protecting personal privacy looms large for Canada as it prepares to announce a deal with the United States to share banking information. FATCA was signed into law in March 2010, and many of its provisions start on Jan. 1, 2014. It requires financial institutions in other countries to tell the U.S. Internal Revenue Service about Americans’ offshore accounts worth more than $50,000. Canada and the U.S. are negotiating whether Ottawa or the financial institutions will send the information, but the clock is ticking. If no deal is reached, banks operating in Canada will have to give the data directly to the IRS." Continue reading

Continue ReadingPrivacy debate looms as Canada prepares to share bank data with U.S.

Bill Bonner: How to Invest Like the Swiss

"You can barely throw a Krugerrand in any direction without hitting a rich banker or his model wife. They stroll along the Limmatquai. They dine at the Kronenhalle. They shop on Bahnhofstrasse. And what do they think of today's markets? 'It's crazy what is happening,' said our friend. 'But crazy things happen. You just have to make sure you're not doing something crazy too.' Only a fool would pretend to know where gold will come to a bottom. Nobody knows. But a lot of people think they know. And when people think they know something that they can't really know, it is an opportunity for those who don't know and who know they don't know. Is that clear?" Continue reading

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: How to Invest Like the Swiss

Peter Schiff: Tapering the Taper Talk

"In truth, I believe that the Fed's next big announcement will be to increase, not diminish QE. After all, Bernanke made clear in his press conference that if the economy does not perform up to his expectations, he will simply do more of what has already failed. Of course, when the Fed is forced to make this concession, it should be obvious to a critical mass that the recovery is a sham. Investors will realize that years of QE have only exacerbated the problems it was meant to solve. When the grim reality of QE infinity sets in, the dollar will drop, gold will climb, and the real crash will finally be upon us. Buckle up." Continue reading

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Peter Schiff: The Golden Cycle

"This analysis provides a good representation of the current conventional wisdom. The only twist here is that the article from which this summary is derived appeared in the August 29, 1976 edition of The New York Times. When the gold price approached $100 per ounce, a nearly 50% decline, the obituaries came fast and furious. Everyone assumed that the gold mania would never return. Although the writer of The Times piece did not yet know it, the bottom for gold had been established four days before his article was published. Few realized at the time that the real economic pain of the 1970's had (to paraphrase The Carpenters 1970's hit) 'Only Just Begun'." Continue reading

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Bill Bonner: How Low Can Gold Go?

"The price can easily step back 50% in a bull market... then continue its upward surge. 'At the moment gold shares are not far off pricing in the end of the world,' says Evy Hambro of Blackrock. End of the world? Not quite. The end of the world can come at any time... and at any gold price. But we doubt that it will come on July 1, with gold at $1,200 an ounce. The feds have created an economy that can't be sustained. Because it requires bigger and bigger inputs of cash and credit. Everyone knows this can't go on forever. That's why the Fed is talking about 'tapering.' But you don't 'taper' a major addiction; you have to hit bottom first." Continue reading

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: How Low Can Gold Go?

*BREAKING* Committee Meeting Tomorrow on Medicaid Expansion Bill!

COMMITTEE MEETING TOMORROW! Committee Government Operations Clerk Phone Number 373-3543 Location  Rooms 402 and 403, Capitol Building, 100 S. Capitol Avenue, Lansing, MI 48933 Date  Wednesday, 7/3/2013 Time 9:30 am Agenda  Healthy Michigan Workgroup update (on HB 4714) And any other business properly before the committee. Chair  Randy Richardville   EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - …

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Continue Reading*BREAKING* Committee Meeting Tomorrow on Medicaid Expansion Bill!

U.S. Spends $16 Billion Every Year To Care For Elderly Prisoners

"By the year 2030, there will be upward of 400,000 elderly prisoners — nearly a third of the projected total penal population. State and federal prisons spend an estimated $16 billion taxpayer dollars a year keeping elderly convicts in the clink…. Nearly a quarter of that price tag – roughly $3 billion taxpayer dollars annually – is devoted to providing health care to sick or drying prisoners. Although prison budgets and balance sheets vary state-to-state, certain jurisdictions offer striking evidence of the immense cost of medical care for elderly prisoners." Continue reading

Continue ReadingU.S. Spends $16 Billion Every Year To Care For Elderly Prisoners

The Latest Suburban Crime Wave

"One mother is hauled off to the police station. Another is clapped in handcuffs. The mothers' offenses? They let their kids wait in the car while they ran a quick errand. The laws differ in their particulars, but basically they state that a child under age 6, 7 or, in Utah, 9, cannot be left alone in the car for more than five or 10 minutes. In Nebraska, having your 6-year-old wait in the car is an offense in the same category as allowing the child to be 'deprived of necessary food' or 'sexually exploited.' In Louisiana, a second kid-in-car infraction carries a sentence of not less than one year in prison, 'with or without hard labor.'" Continue reading

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