"What does it all mean? Essentially that, just as in the 1930s during the Great Depression, everybody is in open protectionist confrontation against everybody else. Back then the 'beggar-thy-neighbor' policies started with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. This time responsibility for triggering the devaluation race in the developed world is more widespread but the objective is similar to that of tariff policy in the 1930s." Continue reading →
"An incredulous -- and insulting -- letter from an American capitalist to a Socialist government minister in France has revealed a monumental clash of cultures. Tire magnate Maurice 'Morry' Taylor Jr., head of Titan International, did not hold back when he decided to tell Arnaud Montebourg, France's minister for industrial renewal, where he could stick his suggestion that the U.S. businessman take over an ailing French factory." Continue reading →
"Colonel Gèze set up his headquarters in a camouflage tent across from the runway. Following the airstrikes by the French Air Force, his men entered Timbuktu without meeting any resistance. The colonel still feels a little uneasy about their speedy victory. Gèze can't say how many people were killed in the air strikes. His soldiers didn't take any prisoners, either. Still, even though the jihadists have left Timbuktu, Gèze hasn't defeated them. Perhaps they have gone to Mauritania or Algeria. The officer shrugs his shoulders. 'We're keeping our eyes and ears peeled and are questioning our informants,' he says. 'The Islamists have to be hiding out somewhere.'" Continue reading →
"Sterling's slide came as Martin Weale, a senior Bank of England policymaker, said on Saturday that the pound may need to weaken further, which would help to make exports cheaper and spur growth. 'It may be that high levels of uncertainty and a reluctance to take on new risks have stood in the way of exporters seeking new markets and domestic producers doing what is needed to displace imports,' Mr Weale said in a speech. 'Provided the calmer atmosphere we have seen since the summer is sustained, we may see further benefits of the depreciation.'" Continue reading →
Kaye Beach Feb.20, 2013 By Andrew Griffin at the Red Dirt Report; Guthrie man still “smarting” from police detainment after refusing new “smart meter” OKLAHOMA CITY — While most customers of Oklahoma City-based utility OG&E fully accept the installation of … Continue reading →
"Most of us are familiar only with modern-day attempts to get Americans to report non-US accounts and investments: the controlled foreign corporation laws of the 1960s, followed by the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, and today’s FATCA. But three decades before TD F 90-22.1 and seven decades before Form 8938, there was WRA 126, 'Application for Leave Clearance', which had to be filed by any Japanese American seeking to leave a War Relocation Authority internment camp." Continue reading →
"G20 finance ministers meeting in Moscow have pledged to crack down on tax avoidance by multinational companies. The final communique said members were determined to develop measures to stop firms shifting profits from a home country to pay less tax elsewhere. The UK, France and Germany were the main movers behind the drive. The communique also said members would refrain from devaluing their currencies to gain economic advantage, amid fears of a new 'currency war'." Continue reading →
"Under the agreement, a wide range of financial information on UK taxpayers with accounts in the Isle of Man will be passed automatically to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). A disclosure facility will allow account-holders to come forward and settle their past affairs before the details are automatically passed on to HMRC. The Treasury said the deal with the Manx authorities closely followed an agreement struck with the United States to improve international tax compliance." Continue reading →
Reblogged from OK-SAFE, Inc. Blog: 2/20/13 UPDATE: Red Dirt Report has just posted an update on this incident and fills in some blanks, including comments by OG&E spokesperson Karen Kurtz, who confirmed the incident, while claiming bringing the 3 officers … Continue reading →
"Cisco has $46 billion in cash, but CEO John Chambers says he is no longer willing to use it to acquire U.S. companies. That's because 80 percent of that cash is stored in overseas accounts and if Cisco spends it in the U.S., the company will have to fork over 35 percent in taxes. For years, he has been trying to get the U.S. to change that tax rule. He's said before that this prevents him from hiring more U.S. workers. But now he's said he's also stopped shopping for acquisition targets in the U.S., too. Microsoft keeps about 87 percent of its $66.6 billion stored outside the U.S.; Oracle, 80 percent of its $31.6 billion; and Apple about 68 percent of its $121.3 billion." Continue reading →