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

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Micropayments now ready to slash price of online news

“Microtransactions could let users read the rest of a New York Times article for a few cents instead of signing up for a full monthly subscription, Armstrong wrote, or ‘pay for Wi-Fi internet metered by the minute (or second!) if you just need to check one email’ or ‘support your favorite artists or coders with a tip’. The idea of a Bitcoin-based paywall is already out there. BitWall aims to give publishers more flexibility over how they charge for content, allowing for sales of daily, weekly or monthly subscriptions, or on a per-article basis. Meanwhile, Flattr allows people to make donations to the creators of free online content.” Continue reading

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It’s Time for a Crypto Bank: The Crypto Finance IPO

“Coupled with recent moves from the US Government, the sporadic shutdown of Bitcoin services, and suspicion from many other banks over Bitcoin transactions, users must be eagerly awaiting the launch of the world’s first crypto bank: Crypto Finance. Crypto Finance is planning to launch in Q4 this year, and will be based in Panama. The company will offer personal and business bank accounts for individuals converting up to 20 different Fiat currencies, and an exchange for purchasing crypto currency with Fiat currency. Transactions will be faster, fees lower, and ‘100% of the funds will remain intact in the customer’s account’.” Continue reading

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Google confirms critical Android crypto flaw used in $5,700 Bitcoin heist

“Google developers have confirmed a cryptographic vulnerability in the Android operating system that researchers say could generate serious security glitches on hundreds of thousands of end user apps, many of them used to make Bitcoin transactions. This weakness in Android’s Java Cryptography Architecture is the root cause of a Bitcoin transaction that reportedly was exploited to pilfer about $5,720 worth of bitcoins out of a digital wallet last week. The disclosure, included in a blog post published Wednesday by Google security engineer Alex Klyubin, was the first official confirmation of the Android vulnerability.” Continue reading

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Why the White House Is Panicking About Obamacare

“About one in every four individuals who are eligible for Medicaid in this country has not bothered to enroll. About one in five employees who are offered employer-provided health insurance turns it down; among workers under 30 years of age, the refusal rate is almost one in three. Think about that for a moment. Millions of people are turning down (Medicaid) health insurance, even though it’s free! Millions of others are turning down their employers’ offers. Welcome to the huge disconnect in health reform. On the one hand there are the people who are supposed to benefit from health reform. On the other hand there are the people who talk about it and write about it.” Continue reading

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Missouri lawmaker wants ‘personal exemption’ from Obamacare birth control mandate

“A Catholic state legislator from Missouri has filed suit with the U.S. District Court in St. Louis asking that his family be exempted from the contraception coverage mandate section of the Affordable Care Act, also known as ‘Obamacare.’ According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, state Rep. Paul Wieland (R) said that the provision, which stipulates that insurance companies offer birth control pills and other forms of pregnancy prevention at no cost to policy-holders, violates his First Amendment right to religious freedom.” Continue reading

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Bill Bonner: America’s faith-based economy

“Did Mary really ascend to Heaven on this day? Was she really a virgin? Did she really give birth to the son of God? You need faith to believe such things. Likewise, you need faith to believe that a piece of green paper is ‘money’. You are also supposed to believe that its managers will make sure this ‘money’ holds its purchasing power even as they do their damnedest to undermine it. But to believe that you need more than faith. You need a full frontal lobotomy.” Continue reading

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The Ph.D Bust: America’s Awful Market for Young Scientists—in 7 Charts

“Politicians and businessmen are fond of talking about America’s scientist shortage — the dearth of engineering and lab talent that will inevitably leave us sputtering in the global economy. But perhaps it’s time they start talking about our scientist surplus instead. I am by no means the first person to make this point. But I was compelled to try and illustrate it after reading a report from Inside Higher Ed. In short, job prospects for young science Ph.D.’s haven’t been looking so hot these last few years, not only in the life sciences, which have been weak for some time, but also in fields like engineering.” Continue reading

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