"Taped Sept 3, 1970, this insightful economic conversation remains relevant today. Note Mr. Browne predicts that, 'as an act of economic desperation,' our government will have to 'renege on their promise to foreign governments to pay one ounce of gold for every $35 turned in at the Treasury.' On August 15, 1971, the Nixon Administration did so." Continue reading →
"The Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture, sponsored by James M. Rodney, presented at the Austrian Economics Research Conference. Recorded 21 March 2013 at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Includes an introduction by Joseph T. Salerno." Continue reading →
"Thousands of Cypriots are celebrating, after the country's Parliament gave a resounding no vote to the EU-IMF bailout package. The move could have seen the government take up to 10% of people's savings, from private bank accounts - as a precondition to securing the much needed 10 billion euro loan. Now that it's been rejected, the ailing Eurozone member will have to work out another plan to avoid bankruptcy." Continue reading →
"Back in mid-September, the NYPD (and the city of NY) was embarrassed by the work of an artist who managed to install 100 posters in pay phone kiosks that appeared to show the city was using armed drones to control crime. Last week, police finally arrested Essam Attia, the man they believe was at the center of the campaign. Mr. Attia has been charged with 56 counts of possession of a forged instrument — a fairly serious crime for someone who put up some posters that he claims were meant to spark a conversation about the troubling use of drones both domestically and abroad." Continue reading →
"A 58-year-old Brooklyn man was released from prison Thursday after his murder conviction was overturned following a witness’ confession that he was coaxed by authorities into identifying him as the suspect, CNN reported on Friday. 'As I said from the beginning, I had nothing to do with this case,' David Ranta said after leaving prison. Ranta’s case was reopened in 2011, after a witness, Menachem Lieberman, told his court-appointed attorney that police had told him to 'pick the guy with the big nose' when identifying suspects in a lineup." Continue reading →
"If your city faces a shortfall of tax revenues, the first response of overpaid bureaucrats in City Hall frantic to keep their jobs, pensions and perks will be to slash the hours the library is open. A 2% reduction in the Federal budget, we're told, will push orphans onto the frigid streets, send our troops into battle without ammo, and generally shut down every service the public cares about. The alternative you will never hear about is a reduction in the multiple layers of overpaid bureaucrats in City Hall, the White House staff, the Pentagon, the local school district, etc., or any reduction in funding the parasitic cartels that have captured the machinery of governance." Continue reading →
"With government sequestration looming, President Obama show cases how deep cuts will impact ordinary working Americans." Continue reading →
"For a few days, the people of Cyprus were calm, quietly and orderly accepting the unreality of the levy being imposed upon them - incredulous that it was even possible. As we reach the 4th day of bank closures, amid rolling rumors and ECB threats, it appears the people have reached a tipping point as this series of images from Cyprus ATM lines indicates - the bank-jog has arrived. When will it become a full blown sprint? It appears the catalyst for this latest move is the ECB threat and EU concerns over the future of the two biggest insolvent banks: As AFP reports: EU calls on Cyprus to set capital controls and merge 2 biggest banks Laiki and Bank of Cyprus." Continue reading →
"'At this stage of a recovery normalized interest rates should be around 2-3%,' says Rickards. 'Apply that 2-3%…to the entire multi-trillion-dollar deposit base of the United States of America and that’s a $400-billion per year wealth transfer from savers to bankers so they can pay themselves bigger bonuses or make crazy bets.' Over time, Rickards says, that wealth transfer could reach $1 trillion. Rickards says zero interest rates are just one way the Fed is fleecing depositors. Others include increasing inflation, which Bernanke is trying to do, and taxing deposits like Cyprus is pushing for." Continue reading →
"While Spain's economy minister Luis De Guindos proclaimed in the Senate today that bank deposits under EUR100,000 are 'sacred' and that 'Spanish savers should stay calm,' Spain, it would appear, has changed constitutional rules to enable a so-called 'moderate' levy on deposits- as under previous Spanish law this was prohibited. For now, they claim the 'levy' will be 'not much higher than 0%' and is mainly aimed at regions in Spain that have 'made no effort to collect taxes' based on new revenue expectations." Continue reading →