Alternative News

DEA agrees to pay $4.1 milllion to student they locked in a cell for days

"A San Diego, California college student was awarded $4.1 million in a settlement with the federal government on Tuesday, ending his lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) for leaving him in a holding cell for five days with no food or water in April 2012. KNSD-TV reported that no criminal charges will be brought against the officers involved in the incident, which began when the victim, 24-year-old Daniel Chong, was taken to a DEA office following a raid by a task force made up of DEA, state and local officers on a '420' party Chong attended." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDEA agrees to pay $4.1 milllion to student they locked in a cell for days

A Western Alternative to the West

"Investors in Dubai needed patience. Even in 2011, stocks dropped another 20% before hitting rock bottom. The recovery started only last year, with shares up 20%. But the rally this year has been truly spectacular at 63% on the Dubai Financial Market. That’s against a falling trend in other emerging markets. The market has also massively outperformed the S&P 500. Indeed, it ranks among the best stock market performances in the world this year. It’s trounced the S&P 500. House prices have also recovered very strongly, though we are still a little shy of the peak valuations of 2008. For rental increases, Dubai is ranked No. 1 in the world this year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Western Alternative to the West

Overstock.com CEO: Steve Cohen Responsible For Corruption That Cost Hundreds Of Thousands Of Jobs

"Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne colorfully explained in his own words why he took out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal mocking SAC Capital's Steve Cohen Saturday. Since 2005 Byrne has been saying that powerful market actors have been working to destroy his company. In 2010 he identified them as Michael Milken and SAC's Steven Cohen. Two years later, emails accidentally leaked by lawyers representing a number of Wall Street banks described how the banks were allegedly naked short-selling Overstock.com stock and advising their hedge fund clients on how to do the same. SAC Capital, as you know, is one massive hedge fund client." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOverstock.com CEO: Steve Cohen Responsible For Corruption That Cost Hundreds Of Thousands Of Jobs

Japan now reconsidering sales-tax hike

"Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may ditch a long-planned hike in the national sales tax, a senior official said Sunday, according to Kyodo News. Abe had intended to help shore up Japan's finances by raising the 5% national consumption tax to 10% in two steps, slated for April 2014 and October 2015. But Kyodo quoted Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga as saying in a television interview that Abe would reconsider the issue 'after revised data are released in September on preliminary figures for April-June gross domestic product, and before a fall extraordinary Diet session.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJapan now reconsidering sales-tax hike

Ex-inmate at Chinese prison: We made airline headsets

"Major airlines including British Airways and electronics manufacturers have been accused of sourcing products from a Chinese prison where inmates are tasered if they don’t hit production targets. The Australian Financial Review was tipped off about the story by New Zealander Danny Cancian, a former inmate of Dongguan prison in southern Guangdong province. He claimed he had made in-flight headphones for Qantas, British Airways and Emirates as well as parts for local firms which supply US technology giant Emerson and home appliance maker Electrolux. All companies denied any knowledge of selling products made in Dongguan." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEx-inmate at Chinese prison: We made airline headsets

Challenging a Long-Held Assumption about Commodities

"When it comes to oil demand, 17 years ago, China was a net exporter. Today, it is the second-largest importer, transporting 5.4 million barrels of oil into the country every day. That’s why it is widely accepted that the Asian giant spurred higher commodity prices in the past decade. And if the country was the force behind the boom, then the assumption is that China’s lower, but still healthy growth will be a drag on commodity prices. But recent research challenges this assumption. According to BCA Research’s Chen Zhao, what is initially an 'outrageous proposition' may not actually be." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChallenging a Long-Held Assumption about Commodities

Bullish at the Bottom: Why Now is the Time to Buy Commodities

"At first glance, the correction seems to support naysayers who believe the supercycle in commodities has ended, such as Credit Suisse analysts who had declared that the 'era is over' in its digital magazine The Financialist. We disagree. Instead, we see severe price declines as possible buying opportunities during this ongoing commodity supercycle. Consider the extreme pessimism on gold. As one measure of how bears have ganged up against the yellow metal, take a look at the spike in the level of short positions on the precious metal since the beginning of the year. As of the beginning of July, the number of outstanding gold short contracts was close to 140,000!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBullish at the Bottom: Why Now is the Time to Buy Commodities

Marc Faber on shadow banking, market psychology, & the global impact of American monetary policy

"Marc Faber is an economic authority on global macroeconomics, capital markets, and investment and the Editor & Publisher of 'The Gloom Boom & Doom Report'. He spoke with The Prospect Group about easy monetary policy and credit growth, asset price volatility, and the Fed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarc Faber on shadow banking, market psychology, & the global impact of American monetary policy

Inflation is rotten to the core: Regardless of what Fed says, prices are rising

"You might be just a trifle curious about how the use of the core rate of inflation (leaving out food and energy) came into being. The core rate of inflation was the brainstorm of Arthur F. Burns, chairman of the Federal Reserve during the early 1970s. The object of this exercise was to take people’s eyes off what was really happening to prices so that the Fed of that era could run an ultra-easy monetary policy. The professorial Burns managed to convince the Congress, the government’s statistical agencies, the press and his fellow economists that excluding food and energy was the right way to look at prices." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInflation is rotten to the core: Regardless of what Fed says, prices are rising

US Rents Hit Record Highs As Homeownership Plunges To 18 Year Lows

"The raw homeownership rate of 65.0% was unchanged from last quarter and 0.4% lower than a year ago. And on a seasonally adjusted basis, the percentage of Americans who have a house declined from 65.2% to 65.1%: the lowest since 1995. Obviously the flipside to most 'children' in their mid-30s still living in their parents' basements is that those wishing to brave the New Normal world will have to spend a lot for rent. A record lot in fact: the median asking rent for US vacant housing units just hit an all time high of $735 per month. The pain is most acute for those renting in the Northeast, where the median rent soared by $65 to a record high of $961." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS Rents Hit Record Highs As Homeownership Plunges To 18 Year Lows