Network Archives

Detlev Schlichter: Is present monetary policy rational?

"Deflation is not such a bad thing if you have to live on your savings or a modest, nominally fixed payment stream. Additionally, reshuffling the economy’s deck of cards could also offer opportunities. Tearing down the old structures and allowing the market to price things honestly again, according to real risks and truly available savings, may at first cause some shock but ultimately bring new possibilities. The present monetary policy is inherently conservative. It bails out those who got it wrong in the recent crisis at the expense of those who didn’t even participate in the last boom." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDetlev Schlichter: Is present monetary policy rational?

Spain refuses to extradite Swiss bank data ‘thief’

"A Spanish court refused on Wednesday to extradite a former HSBC bank employee to Switzerland where he is wanted for allegedly stealing data that exposed thousands of suspected tax dodgers. Hervé Falciani, a 40-year-old French-Italian, was arrested in Barcelona in July 2012 after he arrived by boat from France. Switzerland asked for Falciani to be extradited to face charges of violating Swiss banking secrecy laws and revealing industrial secrets. Spanish prosecutors had opposed Falciani's extradition on the grounds that he was helping authorities investigate tax fraud and because banking secrecy was abolished in Spain in 1977." Continue reading →

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IRS says hundreds of thousands of US citizens are not reporting Canadian trusts

"This week the IRS released statistics on the number of returns it received in 2010 from US citizens with foreign trusts. In all of Canada only 324 returns were filed that report ownership in a non-US trust, which likely means hundreds of thousands of US citizens residing in Canada had not filed the appropriate returns. This is important for two reasons: first, the penalties for not filing are draconian (but waivable); and second, last week the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report that encouraged IRS to pursue those taxpayers who file late returns using a technique known as 'quiet disclosure.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS says hundreds of thousands of US citizens are not reporting Canadian trusts

Dow hits 15000, but percentage of Americans owning stocks hits a low

"Although the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed for the first time above 15000 Tuesday, a new poll finds that the percentage of Americans who own stocks stands at a 15-year low point. Barely half of Americans, 52 percent, now say they own stock outright or as part of a mutual fund or self-directed retirement account, the polling group Gallup reported Wednesday. The level has been falling for six straight annual surveys, even though US stocks have more than doubled in value since hitting a recession low point in 2009. The decline in stock investing has been largest among middle-aged and middle-income Americans, the poll found." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDow hits 15000, but percentage of Americans owning stocks hits a low

Bill Bonner: Buffett is frightened

"Investors have reached a new level of bullishness. They're borrowing again to buy stocks, confident that prices go in only one direction. There's also a swift current of economic analysis telling us that the commodities boom is over, the Fed has the situation under control and the bull market in gold is finished. All of which is amazing and often breathtaking. Stock market investors don't seem to know or care that the only thing holding up their investments is something that will ultimately destroy them. And that the longer it continues, the bigger the mess when it finally blows up. We're talking, of course, about the Fed's monetary policy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Buffett is frightened

Should Libertarians Join the ‘Underbanked’?

"Big Data – that immense plethora of worldwide digital information that is now easily tracked, stored, and analyzed through increasingly powerful technology – is redefining the study of consumer behavior across the economy and raising critical questions about consumer privacy and security in its wake. The availability of digital consumer information continues to expand. The volume of the digital universe is projected to multiply 50 times between 2010 and 2020 to 40 zettabytes (ZB) of usable data. For the underbanked financial services market in particular, Big Data’s most profound impact lies in unlocking access to credit." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingShould Libertarians Join the ‘Underbanked’?

Cyber thieves steal $45 million from debit card companies in a matter of hours

"Cyber thieves around the world stole $45 million by hacking into debit card companies, scrapping withdrawal limits and helping themselves from cash machines, US authorities said Thursday. The massive heist unfolded 'in a matter of hours,' said the US prosecutor’s office for Brooklyn, New York. Prosecutors unveiled charges against eight people accused of forming the New York cell of the plot, which stretched across 26 countries. In their case, they allegedly lifted $2.8 million in cash and now face charges of conspiracy to commit access device fraud and money laundering." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCyber thieves steal $45 million from debit card companies in a matter of hours

Colorado passes laws for the legal sale of marijuana beginning Jan. 1

"Lawmakers in Colorado voted Wednesday night to approve a historic, first-ever regulatory framework for the production, taxation and sales of marijuana. Four bills awaiting the governor’s signature Thursday morning — SB 283, HB 1317, HB 1318 and HB 1325 — will convert the state’s medical marijuana regulatory agency into a body governing all marijuana sales and establish legal limits for driving while under the influence of marijuana. Voters will also be given the chance to approve a series of taxes on marijuana in November, starting at 10 percent sales tax at retail and 15 percent excise tax at wholesale, with additional local taxes to be set by each municipality." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingColorado passes laws for the legal sale of marijuana beginning Jan. 1

Federal Over-Criminalization Task Force Formed

"Ten House Judiciary Committee members joined together to pass a resolution to form the Over-Criminalization Task Force of 2013 to examine and make recommendations for paring down the federal criminal code, which has expanded rapidly in recent years. The Task Force will conduct hearings and investigations on over-criminalization issues within the Committee on the Judiciary’s jurisdiction, and has the opportunity to issue reports to the Committee on its findings and provide policy reform recommendations. This is the first review of the expansive federal criminal code since a Department of Justice review in the 1980s." Continue reading →

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Glenn Greenwald: U.S. oligarchs focused on military and surveillance state to put down unrest

“You can do one of two things in response to that discontent: You can try to placate it, whether symbolically placate it or substantively placate it so you avoid that kind of extreme income disparity… [and] even things out a just little bit more, however much you need to calm people down; or you consolidate your own power so that even if people become discontent, there’s nothing they can do to you because you’ve created this massive militarized state, this massive surveillance state. Our elite appears to be doing the later, and very little of the former, if any.” Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: U.S. oligarchs focused on military and surveillance state to put down unrest