Network Archives

Maligned dollar flourishes in Venezuela

"Black-market dealers operating on the thriving underground market sell greenbacks at more than four times the official, government-set rate of 6.3 bolivars to the dollar. And the price they’re getting these days — 28 per dollar — is more than three times what it was just eight months ago. Because the bolivar is artificially overvalued and practically worthless outside Venezuela, everyone here is desperate for dollars, from auto-part importers to supermarkets to ordinary Venezuelans planning to travel abroad. Even government officials and the politically connected businessmen who have made fortunes off the free-spending state search out and trade in dollars." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMaligned dollar flourishes in Venezuela

Marc Faber Buying Gold, But Won’t Keep It In America

"Marc Faber, publisher of The Gloom, Boom and Doom report, told Talking Numbers that he is buying physical gold and will buy more if it hits the $1,300 mark. But, he said that he isn't keeping it in the U.S. 'I bought gold at $1,400, I buy every month some gold, and I have an order to buy more at $1,300 because I want to keep an allocation towards gold – physical gold – and not stored in the United States at all times.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarc Faber Buying Gold, But Won’t Keep It In America

CME Halted Silver Trading 4 Times Sunday as Prices Slid 9%

"Exchange operator CME Group Inc. (CME) said it halted silver trading four times Sunday evening due to highly volatile markets, a spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires. The trading halts came as silver futures slumped 9.4% to a low of $20.250 a troy ounce in the first few minutes following the open of electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver trading was stopped for two 20 second intervals at 6:07 p.m. EDT and 6:09 p.m. EDT, and two consecutive 20 second halts at 6:09 p.m. and 6:10 p.m., the spokesman said. CME Group owns and operates both the Nymex and the Comex exchanges." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCME Halted Silver Trading 4 Times Sunday as Prices Slid 9%

Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange closes its doors; investors compensated in cash

"HKMEx chairman Barry Cheung Chun-yuen told the Sunday Morning Post that the decision to surrender the trading licence and not reopen for business tomorrow would have no impact on investors and that client contracts would be honoured. 'There is no question of not getting your money back or anything like that. People absolutely do not have to worry about that and I don't think they are. The only thing they will want to know is what settlement price will be used,' Cheung said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHong Kong Mercantile Exchange closes its doors; investors compensated in cash

Rumors Of Social Security Collapse Spark Bank Run, Break-Ins in Brazil

"Rumors that Brazil's social security fund called Bolsa Familia was to be cancelled led thousands of people to rush to withdraw money from a Brazilian bank over the weekend. Customers lined up at ATMs at dozens of bank branches of Caixa Economica Federal, a government-owned bank, which pays the social security subsidy on Saturday and Sunday. Brazilian newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo reported that at five branches in the northeastern city of Sao Luiz and four others in the state of Maranhao, depositors broke into branches." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRumors Of Social Security Collapse Spark Bank Run, Break-Ins in Brazil

Debt ceiling suspended: US takes on $300bn in new debt after hitting $16.7 trillion

"America’s ticking debt bomb has been reset. Washington has suspended the debt ceiling, setting a date, and not a concrete dollar sum as a deadline, an unprecedented first in US history. Citing ‘extraordinary measures’, the US Treasury has further delayed tackling America’s debt, and will wait until Labor Day, September 2nd, to revisit the burgeoning crisis. The ceiling has been lifted, and the Treasury has promised it will keep cash pumping into government spending programs beyond the debt limit through a series of emergency cash tools." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDebt ceiling suspended: US takes on $300bn in new debt after hitting $16.7 trillion

Vicious Cycle: Thousands in Ohio too poor to pay fines, jailed with no trial

"The American Civil Liberties Union is warning the US public against being bogged down in too much debt. The group has revealed figures showing a rising number of people who fail to pay their debts and fines end up behind bars without a court verdict. The practice is being criticized as unconstitutional, but it's alive and kicking in the State of Ohio, as RT's Marina Portnaya explains." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVicious Cycle: Thousands in Ohio too poor to pay fines, jailed with no trial

IRS Demands: “Turn Over Those Names!”

"In 2012, the IRS demanded that the Conservative Leadership Institute turn over the names of its student interns. It also demanded the names of interns in 2008. No other years were audited. Both were election years. The Leadership Institute refused to comply. It supplied none of this information. The IRS found nothing amiss, but it cost the Leadership Institute $50,000 in legal fees." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS Demands: “Turn Over Those Names!”

AP: Sources Aren’t Talking To Us Out Of Fear Of US Government Spying

"Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, Pruitt, AP's president and chief executive officer, said the government's seizure of the phone records was 'unconstitutional' and was already clearly harming the press's ability to do its job. 'We are already seeing some impact. Already officials that would normally talk to us and people we talk to in the normal course of newsgathering are already saying to us that they are a little reluctant to talk to us. They fear that they will be monitored by the government. We are already seeing that. It's not hypothetical,' said Pruitt." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAP: Sources Aren’t Talking To Us Out Of Fear Of US Government Spying

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner Urges ‘Jury Nullification’ In Medical Pot Dispensary Case

"San Diego Mayor Bob Filner has injected himself into a federal criminal case against the operator of a medical marijuana dispensary, intensifying his standoff with federal prosecutors on cannabis enforcement issues. Filner's urging jurors who'll be chosen for the trial to reject federal law in favor of state statutes under a centuries-old legal concept known as 'jury nullification'-- whereby jurors can refuse to convict people under laws they believe should not be applied." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSan Diego Mayor Bob Filner Urges ‘Jury Nullification’ In Medical Pot Dispensary Case