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Cayman FATCA Agreement Makes It Tougher for Wealthy Americans to Hide Money

“The Cayman Islands, known as a haven for wealthy Americans seeking to stash cash overseas without scrutiny from the U.S. government, is about to become less secret. An agreement between the countries will put in place the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca. The 2010 law makes it tougher to hide money overseas because foreign banks must report their accounts to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service or face, in some cases, a 30 percent withholding tax. The accord is significant because the Cayman Islands is a major financial center and home to operations for dozens of banks, funds and wealth-management entities.” Continue reading →

CIA admits to helping overthrow Iran’s democratically elected leader in 1953

“The CIA has publicly admitted for the first time that it was behind the notorious 1953 coup against Iran’s democratically elected prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, in documents that also show how the British government tried to block the release of information about its own involvement in his overthrow. Malcolm Byrne, deputy director of the national security archive, has called on the US intelligence authorities to release the remaining records and documents. ‘There is no longer good reason to keep secrets about such a critical episode in our recent past. The basic facts are widely known to every school child in Iran,’ he said.” Continue reading →

Indian gold imports set to resume after 4-week halt as export rule clarified

“A resumption of imports would ease tight domestic supply and prices ahead of a festival and wedding season that kicks off next month. Indian imports would also support benchmark international gold prices, which hit a two-month high on Monday. The confusion centred on a rule that required importers to re-export at least 20 percent of all imports, known as the 80/20 rule. Last week, the Reserve Bank issued detailed guidelines on how the rule would work, but the complexity of the rule had prevented banks from importing immediately. Banks are the main importing agencies for gold into India.” Continue reading →

LA Businessman Shoots Five Robbers Dead in Four Separate Incidents

“Five robbers made bad decisions. They decided to rob this man’s watch repair shop. They came in armed. They went out feet first. Yet the end of the story is sad. The gangs vowed revenge. He closed his store. He no longer has walk-in customers. Los Angeles is gang-ridden. The social breakdown in this welfare state is obvious to victims. Self-government is declining in a society where the state funds irresponsibility in the name of compassion. Today, California has eleven bills in the legislature to make gun ownership more difficult. The gangs favor these bills. It makes their work so much safer.” Continue reading →

Asians Buy Gold. Westerners Sell It.

“American investors did not buy physical gold, but instead bought ETFs — promises to pay money, not gold — because commissions were lower than coins. But the commodities futures organizations are now facing the lowest inventories of deliverable gold ever. If the owners of contracts for future deliveries — ‘longs’ — start taking delivery, the exchanges will have to deliver digital dollars instead. Westerners like George Soros and John Paulson have been selling their paper gold positions. Asians are taking delivery of physical gold. You can’t make jewelry out of digits. Who is selling physical gold? No one in the industry knows.” Continue reading →

Federal Reserve Issues a Toothless Report on the Big Banks

“Yesterday, the FED issued a report on the lack of capital — too much leverage — of America’s largest banks. In its evaluation, the Federal Reserve found that firms needed to improve a number of aspects of their capital planning processes, including their accounting for risks most relevant to the specific business activities, their methods of projecting the effect of certain stresses on their capital needs, and their governance of the capital planning processes. The banks ‘need to improve on a number of issues’? They do? And if they don’t, what will the FED do about it? It will issue another report.” Continue reading →

The Lifespan of Storage Media

“As each new form of data storage comes on the scene, the market is at first enamored with its compactness, convenience and hoped-for data longevity. But invariably, the reality of physical vulnerability and a limited lifespan remains. Eventually, all media fails, but Cloud backup is forever.” Continue reading →

Consumer demand for gold jumps 53%

“According to WGC there is renewed interest in gold due to its falling prices, which has brought total purchases of gold jewellery, bar and coins to 1,083.2 metric tons. Jewellery demand reached its highest level in 5 years, increasing by 37% to 576 tonnes. Chinese demand was up 54% compared to the same period last year, while India bought 51% more gold ornaments than in 2012. Bar and coin investment surged by a significant 78% across the world and topped 500 tonnes in a quarter for the first time. The WGC statistics come on the heels of India’s recent measures to curb gold purchases because it is the most costly non-essential item that the country imports.” Continue reading →