Alternative News

Interest-Rate Market Going Berserk

"It seems the more bond yields surge, the more the bond fund managers say it’s not a 'real' crisis because 'inflation is still anemic.' These are the same guys who are bleeding assets, losing you money, and who have utterly failed to foresee the carnage of the past few months. Bond yields are not rising solely because of higher inflation, the traditional cause of rising rates. Instead, it’s all about the flow of hot money! Too much hot money piled into the bond market over the past four and a half years, encouraged by reckless Fed policy. And now the same investors who dog-piled into bonds to piggyback on the Fed’s policy are getting crushed." Continue reading →

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Summers vs. Yellen: Tweedledumb vs. Tweedledee

"The media are doing their best to create interest in who will be Bernanke’s replacement: Lawrence Summers or Janet Yellen. Summers is a dove. The media have re-defined 'exit.' Any reference to an exit these days means merely a reduction of the rate of increase in the present rate of $85 billion a month. The FED is buying over $500 billion of the Treasury’s estimated annual deficit of $650 billion. It is buying almost $500 billion in Fannie-Freddie bonds. What happens to interest rates if the FED stops buying? What happens to Wall Street? What happens to the housing recovery? No one asks Yellen what she thinks would happen. No one asks Summers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSummers vs. Yellen: Tweedledumb vs. Tweedledee

Germany recognizes Bitcoin as a “private money,” subject to capital gains tax

"In response to a query by a member of parliament, the German Finance Ministry has declared that it accepts bitcoins as a 'unit of account.' The Ministry added that bitcoins are a sort of 'private money' and that mining bitcoins constitutes 'private money creation.' The Ministry also clarified that if a German taxpayer holds bitcoins for more than a year, then she is exempt from paying the 25 percent capital gains tax. Such a tax would ordinarily be paid after profiting from the sale of a stock, bond, or other security. A taxpayer would be expected to declare them as part of her assets and income as part of her annual tax return." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Bites: Germany recognizes digital currency as ‘private money’

"Bitcoin is slowly joining the big league of currencies. Germany has become the first country to accept the digital money - recognized in law and for tax purposes. Katie Pilbeam from RT's Venture Capital program explains." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoin Bites: Germany recognizes digital currency as ‘private money’

The Internet: We’re Doing It Wrong

"This week Facebook’s ban-bot went berserk; Github went down; and all Google services collapsed for a few minutes, taking 40% of the Internet with them. Just another week on the Internet, then. We love our centralized services, until they let us down. Bruce Sterling calls them “the Stacks”: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft. They don’t want much, those Stacks. Just your identity, your allegiance, and all of your data. Just to be your sole provider of messaging, media, merchandise, and metadata. Just to take part in as much of your online existence as they possibly can, and maybe to one day mediate your every interaction with the world around you." Continue reading →

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Government works to make federal agencies appear as protagonists on TV

"Many agencies, including U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), actually staff an 'entertainment and multimedia liaison' in order to coordinate the agencies starring roles. Brandon A. Montgomery is such a liaison for ICE. In a news release from his agency, he is described as 'actively working to generate an agency presence in film and TV.' 'It’s important to get (ICE) on TV because it ensures we are on the top of the mind to the American public and our stakeholders,' Montgomery said, noting that it was 10 times as effective as putting an agency in a news blurb. Montgomery touts his influence at acquiring ICE features in TV shows." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment works to make federal agencies appear as protagonists on TV

Feds Threaten To Arrest Lavabit Founder For Shutting Down His Service

"The saga of Lavabit founder Ladar Levison is getting even more ridiculous, as he explains that the government has threatened him with criminal charges for his decision to shut down the business, rather than agree to some mysterious court order. The feds are apparently arguing that the act of shutting down the business, itself, was a violation of the order. That same article suggests that the decision to shut down Lavabit was over something much bigger than just looking at one individual's information -- since it appears that Lavabit has cooperated in the past on such cases. Instead, the suggestion now is that the government was seeking a tap on all accounts." Continue reading →

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Who Gave Hollywood’s Representatives the Same Exact DMCA Question?

"The Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet (a part of the House Judiciary Committee) held hearings on the role of technology as it relates to content creation and copyright. In the span of less than 15 minutes, two separate representatives -- both representing parts of Los Angeles, asking questions one after the other asked THE IDENTICAL question to a panelist. Sure looks like someone is feeding them their questions, but next time they might want to keep track of who they told to ask their misleading question...." Continue reading →

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Administration Can’t Let Go: Felony Streaming Provisions Of SOPA Are Back

"We've been working our way through a paper released last week by the Commerce Department, concerning copyright reform, and will have a much more detailed post about it soon (there's a lot in there), but over at the Washington Post, they're highlighting the silly recommendation to bring back the plan to make unauthorized streaming a felony. This was a part of SOPA and was widely discussed. This got a fair amount of attention when Justin Bieber was asked about the law, and said that Senator Klobuchar should be locked up. It's no surprise that this is coming back. It's one of the points that's been raised a few times since the death of SOPA." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAdministration Can’t Let Go: Felony Streaming Provisions Of SOPA Are Back