Network Archives

Gold Gone? Germany baffled as Fed bars access to bullion

"The world is losing trust in the dollar as a safe haven. A major blow came after Germany's Bundesbank demanded the repatriation of a big chunk of its gold being held in the US. Because as RT's Gayane Chichakyan reports, some are concerned the assets of foreign nations in the Federal Reserve are not secure or even there. The Germans were infuriated when the US Federal reserve didn't even let them examine their own assets properly. Peter Boehringer, the founder and chairman of 'German Precious Metal Association', says that's a bad sign." Continue reading →

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Congress Is Nervous About This Whole Bitcoin Thing

"A Senate committee sent a letter to DHS asking what the agency is doing to crack down on the illicit use of Bitcoins. Similar letters were sent to a host of other three-letter agencies including the DOJ and the SEC. “The speed at which payments can be sent globally and the potentially profitable investments that can be made trading virtual currency have made them attractive to entrepreneurs and investors alike,' write Senators Thomas Carper (D-Del.) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) in the letter. 'However, their near anonymous and decentralized nature has also attracted criminals who value few things more than being allowed to operate in the shadows.'" Continue reading →

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The NSA: And Who Will Watch the Watchmen?

"While the government can hardly be accused of illicit activity in the gathering of one's publicly revealed Facebook information, surreptitious wiretapping without a warrant is another matter, with the legal niceties far from sorted out at this point. One of the truly disturbing facts about Edward Snowden's leaks—which have caused such a commotion in the media and among civil libertarians, while also provoking calls in Congress for him to be tried as a traitor—is that they should have come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying the slightest attention. Clues have been popping up all over the place for more than a decade." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: The Virgin Central Banker

"The air-traffic controller can help make sure people get where they were going safely. If he does his job well, things will turn out as expected. But if he does a ‘brilliant’ job, travellers end up where they didn’t expect to go; he has not really added to the sum of human happiness. Out-of-the-box air traffic controlling will not make the world a better place. It can only make a mess of things. Likewise, the best a central banker can do is the normal thing. Creative central banking — and experimental central bank policies — should be avoided. They don’t make the world a better place; they only take people where they didn’t want to go." Continue reading →

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Harvard’s Rogoff: Next Fed Chief Must Have ‘Tolerance for Inflation’

"Harvard University Professor Kenneth Rogoff, whose influential 1985 paper endorsed central bankers focused more on securing low inflation than on spurring employment, is highlighting the benefits of a Fed led by either Janet Yellen or Lawrence Summers precisely because they fail his old litmus test. President Barack Obama said Aug. 9 that they are 'outstanding' and 'highly qualified' candidates to replace Ben S. Bernanke, whose term as chairman runs out in January. What qualifies them in Rogoff’s view is their dovishness, a refusal to place too much weight on stable inflation at a time when unemployment is far above its longer-run level." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHarvard’s Rogoff: Next Fed Chief Must Have ‘Tolerance for Inflation’

Bernanke’s Bubble: A Counterfeit Boom Based on Counterfeit Money

"A lot of people on Wall Street think this stock market is a bubble. And a lot of people don’t. A lot of people think this market will fall sharply if the FED stops inflating. And a lot of people don’t. I think the people who blame the FED are right. I also think the FOMC thinks so, too. That is why it has no intention of tapering. Nothing it has said in print since last December indicates otherwise." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBernanke’s Bubble: A Counterfeit Boom Based on Counterfeit Money

Gold & silver sales jump during Ramadan and Eid in India

"Mohammed Kazi said the past week had seen a big rush of customers. 'Though we serve a large number of people regularly at this time of the year, a silver tinge has been added on to the gift giving this year,' said Kazi. Silver bars and notes with a print of 786, the holy number, with photos of the religious Mecca and Medina, and silver artifacts of Mecca and Medina, silver sandals and silver armbands are doing the rounds as gifting articles across households, said Kazi. Gold and silver sales tend to surge during Ramadan and Eid due to the purchase of gifts. For the devout, mass prayers end with greeting their brethren and handing over small gifts." Continue reading →

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Gold Smuggling to Climb in India on Tax Increase, Festivals

"The third increase in import taxes on gold this year by India, the world’s biggest user, is set to boost smuggling ahead of the festival and wedding seasons as official imports halt on central bank curbs, a trade group said. Poor Indian laborers working in the Middle East are acting as couriers for organized gangs in return for a ticket home and a few thousand rupees, according to Rishi Yadav, assistant commissioner at the Mumbai customs department’s Air Intelligence Unit. The gangs seek to benefit by selling that smuggled bullion to traders and mom-and-pop jewelry stores, who benefit from cheaper supplies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGold Smuggling to Climb in India on Tax Increase, Festivals

Feds Crack Encrypted Drives, Arrest Child Porn Suspect

"The arrest came months after the authorities told a federal judge they were unable to decrypt the drives and needed the defendant to disclose his passwords — pitting the constitutional right against compelled self-incrimination against the government’s need to access data. In June, the authorities urged the court to demand that Feldman fork over his passcodes, saying the suspect could 'forget his passwords.' The authorities did not say what type of encryption Feldman used. But the case illustrates that encryption isn’t foolproof and that the authorities are making headway cracking encryption." Continue reading →

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Bitcoins are a buy at $50, says equity fund VP

"Bitcoins aren’t going to crash and burn, and could be be a good investment at $50. So says famed banking analyst Richard Bove, vice president of equity research at Rafferty Capital Markets. What’s more, Bove wouldn’t mind buying bitcoins at the right price. 'If I could buy them at a low enough price, like $50, then I think it would be worthwhile speculating with a few of them,' he said in a phone interview. Bove decided to write about bitcoins after a top New York bank regulator issued subpoenas to several major bitcoin companies and issued a memo on virtual currencies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoins are a buy at $50, says equity fund VP