“President Obama held a press conference earlier today, and he said he still wants to close the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, but he doesn’t know how to do it. He should do what he always does: declare it a small business and tax it out of existence. It will be gone in a minute. Be gone in a minute! One month! Be out of there!” Continue reading →
"You will never hear directly from the mouths of Rush, Mark, and Sean what they are implicitly telling Americans; that is, that they hate virtually everything the Founding Fathers thought and prescribed for U.S. foreign policy — in short hand, do not stick your nose in other peoples’ affairs in which you have no interest — and that they do not mind how many Americans get killed as long as Washington keeps pursuing the interventionist foreign policy they believe benefits their friends overseas and their benefactors at home." Continue reading →
"If you find yourself driving through the suddenly packed condo canyons of Miami—lamenting not having bought during the property crash—shake a fist or two at the Argentines. So many of them ponied up 80 percent cash down payments on units that South Florida’s condo depression rather abruptly turned into another boom. Their thinking was defensive: Swap iffy pesos for dollars and store that value in U.S. property, out of the prying hands of the government back home. Now, with Buenos Aires finding some rather innovative ways to crack down on the flight to dollars, that spirit of capital preservation has morphed into a panic." Continue reading →
"Labour leader Ed Miliband wants to block the UK Independence Party from having a role in the TV leader's debates, it emerged today. The Tories were already opposed to the idea of giving UKIP leader Nigel Farage equal status ahead of the 2015 general election. Labour had thought UKIP would only damage the Tories' election hopes. But strategists now fear UKIP's 'brand of anti-politics could damage all three main parties in unpredictable ways,' The Guardian reported." Continue reading →
"The man arrested for shooting a security guard at the Family Research Council headquarters in Washington, D.C. has said in court that he got the idea by reading the Southern Poverty Law Center's 'Hate Map.' Interestingly, every time there's a multiple shooting the Southern Poverty Law Center is the first to spread the (baseless) rumor in the media that the shooter is 'thought to have links to right-wing hate groups.' There is no group of individuals more devoted to spreading hate and intolerance than the Southern Poverty Law Center. Their schtick is to label anyone who disagrees with their left-wing extremism as a 'hate group' or 'linked to' a hate group." Continue reading →
"Argentine Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino’s appearance on Greek television in which he abruptly ended an interview and refused to speak about inflation in Argentina has spurred speculation he may quit, Clarin newspaper reported, without citing its sources. President Fernandez met with Lorenzino to express her concern that he lost credibility among voters after he told an aide at the interview that he wanted 'to go' after the reporter asked what he planned to do if the IMF sanctioned the country for not improving its inflation index, Clarin said. Deputy Eco. Minister Kicillof would replace Lorenzino, Clarin said, without citing anyone." Continue reading →
"Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan won't exclude increasing the central bank's gold holdings at some point and said most of its reserves are held domestically. More than 70 percent of the SNB's 1,040 tons of gold are held in Switzerland, with about 20 percent at the Bank of England and 10 percent at the Bank of Canada, he said, for the first time disclosing where the physical assets were stored. The SNB's gold holdings are the target of a popular initiative, which demands that at least 20 percent of the central bank's assets be in the form of gold. The measure would also block the sale of such holdings and require all SNB gold to be located in Switzerland." Continue reading →
"The only metrics that count are debt and the ability to service that debt. Households have this tiny little problem known as declining income that makes it impossible to service more debt unless interest rates fall to near-zero. Presto-magico, real interest rates (adjusted for inflation) are near-zero, and can't fall any lower. That means the Fed has run out of room to lower rates. From here on, households will only be able to service more debt if their income rises. Alas, with full-time employment back to 1980 levels, that is not even a remote possibility." Continue reading →
"Another day, another editorial in Reuters about central banking superheroes. Are you convinced yet that this is a dominant social theme? And how exactly does this work? Is it coincidence? Do all the Reuters columnists sit down in a room together and decide that they will write editorials, serially, comparing central bankers to Superman? Lord, help us. Good things come in threes, and since this is the second article in a week comparing bankers to superheroes, we expect at least one more." Continue reading →
"The sequester cuts about $637 million from the FAA, which is less than 4% of its $15.9 billion 2012 budget, and it limits the agency to what it spent in 2010. The White House decided to translate this 4% cut that it has the legal discretion to avoid into a 10% cut for air traffic controllers. Though controllers will be furloughed for one of every 10 working days, four of every 10 flights won’t arrive on time. ... To run smoothly and efficiently, our ATC system should be given independence from the government. We should privatize the system, as Canada has done very successfully. Unlike the U.S. system, Nav Canada is self-supporting and not subsidized." Continue reading →