Alt/Indie News

New ‘Vice’ ETF Mixes Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis Stocks

"AdvisorShares is rolling out the first U.S.-listed ETF to offer exposure to securities involved in the legal marijuana industry, including hemp- and cannabinoid-related companies. The actively managed AdvisorShares Vice ETF (ACT) also invests in stocks involve in the tobacco and alcohol industries."

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Cheers! California Winery Unveils Marijuana-Infused Wine

"The company doesn't plan to stop at just marijuana-infused Sauvignon Blanc. The owners are working on creating a pot-infused Rosé and champagne. Any wine and marijuana lovers older than 21 can pre-order a bottle of this Sauvignon Blanc for $59.99. Orders are expected to be sent out in early 2018. The company said the wine will be distributed through 500 marijuana dispensaries across the country."

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Timeline: How ‘Salvator Mundi’ Went From £45 to $450 Million in 59 Years

"Not so long ago, an eagle-eyed buyer purchased it at auction for a mere £45. How did we get from there to here? We’ve compiled a handy timeline of the painting’s history below. You really can’t make this stuff up."

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Warning: Trump’s Federal Reserve Pick Hates Gold and Cash

"Marvin Goodfriend thinks there should be a robust negative interest rate placed on cash. For example, if there was a -10% interest rate on cash, your $10 bill would actually be worth only $9. It is basically a penalty for using cash. The excuse is that this will stabilize the economy by keeping more capital in the banks. It means banks, and by extension, the Federal Reserve, have more control over your money. The gold standard, Goodfriend argues, was also an encumbrance on monetary policy, 'destabilizing' prices."

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The Bulgarian Government Is Sitting on $3 Billion in Bitcoin

"A crackdown on organized crime by Bulgarian law enforcement in May resulted in the seizure of more than 200,000 bitcoins – an amount worth more than $3 billion at today's prices. Twenty-three Bulgarian nationals were arrested during the operation, and officials said at the time that the arrests and subsequent asset seizures followed an investigation into an alleged customs fraud scam. In all, the alleged perpetrators avoided paying some 10 million leva (Bulgaria's national currency), worth roughly $6 million."

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Senate Tax Bill’s Marginal Rates Could Top 100% for Some

"The possible marginal tax rate of more than 100% results from the combination of tax policies designed to provide benefits to businesses and families but then deny them to the richest people. As income climbs and those breaks phase out, each dollar of income faces regular tax rates and a hidden marginal rate on top of that, in the form of vanishing tax breaks. That structure, if maintained in a final law, would create some of the disincentives to working and to earning business profit."

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Arizona Citizens Tracked In REAL ID Facial Recognition Database

"But the use of the system to prevent identity theft isn’t what people are worried about; the problem is the lack of oversight in government programs that allows anyone with access to look into the database. As such, state-run facial recognition databases are dangerous and can lead down a slippery slope to allow other operations the technology wasn’t intended for."

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