CLibertyC

Spain Plunders 90% Of Social Security Fund To Buy Its Own Debt

"Spain has been quietly tapping the country's richest piggy bank, the Social Security Reserve Fund, as a buyer of last resort for Spanish government bonds, raising questions about the fund's role as guarantor of future pension payouts. Now the scarcely noticed borrowing spree, carried out amid a prolonged economic crisis, is about to end, because there is little left to take. At least 90% of the €65 billion ($85.7 billion) fund has been invested in increasingly risky Spanish debt." Continue reading →

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Ireland Lobbies to Have Europe Share Banking Risk

"Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny would ideally like to use the ESM as a way of getting European taxpayers to shoulder the risks associated with all the debts of the Irish banking sector. He intends to use the six months of his European presidency to push through a banking union that would also make the bailout fund responsible for dealing with toxic assets in the European banking system left over from the financial crisis of 2007-2008. The [existing] €68 billion ($90 billion) in bailout funds are only expected to meet the country's financial needs until the end of 2013." Continue reading →

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Enhance Public Safety: Disarm the Police!

"The arrogance and irresponsibility displayed by law enforcement personnel in these cases – and thousands just like them – demonstrate beyond serious dispute that public safety would be enhanced if we were to disarm the police. Armed members of the productive class are busy earning the wealth plundered to pay the police; we shouldn’t be expected to track down the guns they allow to fall into the hands of private sector criminals." Continue reading →

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Supreme Court to decide whether police can take your blood without your permission

"'It comes down, basically, to are you going to see blood draws every single time someone gets pulled over for a DUI,' said Michael A. Correll, a litigator with the international law firm Alston & Bird, who examined the legality of blood draws in the West Virginia Law Review last year. Because drunk-driving stops are such an everyday occurrence, 'it's going to affect a broad area of society,' he told NBC News, adding: 'This may be the most widespread Fourth Amendment situation that you and I are going to face' for the foreseeable future." Continue reading →

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America’s Platinum Express

"Even if you are Scott Sumner himself, you should be very alarmed when you’ve now got arguably the most prominent economist on Earth arguing that the government should start paying its bills with coupons that are then monetized by the Fed. That is just the barest step removed from having the Fed literally create new money to cover the government’s spending. Forget the macroeconomics for a second. Surely there is the faintest hint of Public Choice economics buried in the souls of the market monetarists. Can we all agree that Krugman’s flippant remarks above are downright alarming?" Continue reading →

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UK government publishes 30 tax cheats’ photos on Flickr

"Over 30 of the UK’s top tax cheats are being publicised on Flickr as part of HMRC’s current tax evasion campaign. Exchequer secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said, 'The government is committed to closing in on tax evaders. Collectively the 32 criminals have been sentenced to more than 150 years. Most people play by the rules and pay what they owe, but HMRC is cracking down on those who don’t. We hope that publishing these pictures will help get across that it always makes sense to declare all your income, and tax dodgers are simply storing up trouble for the future.'" Continue reading →

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