Drug czar: No state can nullify federal marijuana ban

"President Barack Obama’s drug czar toed a strict line on marijuana Wednesday, saying federal laws will prevail regardless of state-level efforts to legalize pot. Gil Kerlikowske said enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 — which ranks marijuana as a Schedule One drug alongside heroin, LSD and ecstasy — remains in the hands of the US Department of Justice. 'No state, no executive can nullify a statute that has been passed by Congress,' the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy told a National Press Club luncheon." Continue reading

Continue ReadingDrug czar: No state can nullify federal marijuana ban

Drug czar: No state can nullify federal marijuana ban

"President Barack Obama’s drug czar toed a strict line on marijuana Wednesday, saying federal laws will prevail regardless of state-level efforts to legalize pot. Gil Kerlikowske said enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 — which ranks marijuana as a Schedule One drug alongside heroin, LSD and ecstasy — remains in the hands of the US Department of Justice. 'No state, no executive can nullify a statute that has been passed by Congress,' the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy told a National Press Club luncheon." Continue reading

Continue ReadingDrug czar: No state can nullify federal marijuana ban

Drug czar: No state can nullify federal marijuana ban

"President Barack Obama’s drug czar toed a strict line on marijuana Wednesday, saying federal laws will prevail regardless of state-level efforts to legalize pot. Gil Kerlikowske said enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 — which ranks marijuana as a Schedule One drug alongside heroin, LSD and ecstasy — remains in the hands of the US Department of Justice. 'No state, no executive can nullify a statute that has been passed by Congress,' the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy told a National Press Club luncheon." Continue reading

Continue ReadingDrug czar: No state can nullify federal marijuana ban

Harvard Economist: ‘No Doubt, Pensions Are Screwed’

"Der Spiegel interviews Harvard economist Carmen Reinhart who has the novel idea that central banks are acting like the 'adults' in the room by cleaning up after spendthrift governments. 'Governments are incapable of reducing their debts and now central banks are stepping in.' Perhaps this argument sounds reasonable to a Martian that has not been following exactly what central banks have been doing and continue to do, but last time we looked we weren't Martian. The idea that monopoly central bankers are 'responsible' and politicians are not seems a spurious question, in our humble view. A pox on both their houses." Continue reading

Continue ReadingHarvard Economist: ‘No Doubt, Pensions Are Screwed’

China Builds Great Central Bankers?

"Around the world, Western-style monetary recipes are failing. But this article attempts to convince us that the Chinese have somehow managed to implement miraculous growth using ingredients that are notably dysfunctional elsewhere. How is that possible? We would submit it is not. What is going on is a kind of campaign to convince people that as capital and power flow east, such a reality is reasonable and inevitable. Seen from this standpoint, the profile of this Chinese central banking genius – and it drones on and on – is part and parcel of a larger attempt at explaining the inexplicable." Continue reading

Continue ReadingChina Builds Great Central Bankers?

Don’t Sell Your Gold!

"You would be crazy to look upon the current events in the gold market and presume the golden age is over. It won’t end until America has a credible plan for dealing honestly with our country’s debt and Washington’s financial diarrhea. That isn’t likely for many more years yet. As I told attendees at the Global Currency Expo earlier this month, I don’t care if gold goes to $2,000 or $500, I don’t sell. I don’t cancel my homeowners insurance just because I don’t expect a fire at my house this year. Why would I cancel my lifestyle insurance just because some investors are bailing on gold?" Continue reading

Continue ReadingDon’t Sell Your Gold!

Bill Bonner: Gold versus paper cash

"Maybe there really is a recovery...however weak. Maybe the feds really do have the situation under control. Maybe the central banks are right to print money. Maybe it will be clear sailing from now until Kingdom Come. And we'll be fools not to be on the boat along with all the other stockbuyers and gold-dumpers. One day, however...and we won't say 'when'...people will stop worrying about the quantity of the paper and begin worrying about the quality of it. They will find that they have plenty of paper...and that more is coming all the time. They will look in their vaults and wonder what they will do with all this paper money." Continue reading

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Gold versus paper cash

Now It’s The Netherlands’s Turn

"The Netherlands, Berlin's most important ally in pushing for greater budgetary discipline in Europe, has fallen into an economic crisis itself. The once exemplary economy is suffering from huge debts and a burst real estate bubble, which has stalled growth and endangered jobs. No nation in the euro zone is as deeply in debt as the Netherlands, where banks have a total of about €650 billion in mortgage loans on their books ..." Continue reading

Continue ReadingNow It’s The Netherlands’s Turn

Helmut Kohl: ‘I acted like a dictator to bring in the euro’

"The Kohl administration actually donated funds to French politicians to influence French domestic opinion. And now it turns out that Kohl himself confesses he 'acted like a dictator' to ensure that Germany adopted the euro. Kohl explains that he acted like a dictator because he believes a centralized Europe with a single currency is the greatest hope for a peaceful Europe. Of course, there are plenty of questions about Europe's last two wars. If it is true, as history books now allege, that Adolf Hitler and National Socialism received a good deal of funding from American and British industrialists, then it would seem the historical recipe is incorrect." Continue reading

Continue ReadingHelmut Kohl: ‘I acted like a dictator to bring in the euro’