On January 8, the 4th Amendment Protection Act or SB819 was introduced to protect Missourians from unwarranted NSA surveillance. (learn about it here) The bill was referred to the Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee. STATUS: SB819 was PASSED through the Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee on Mar. 27. It will now receive a…
"Comments this week from Janet Yellen, who just took over as Fed chair, caught many in the market off guard when she suggested the central bank may be in a position to raise its key interest rate as soon as six months after ending its massive bond-buying stimulus. That could put the first rate hike on the table by the spring of 2015 compared with previous expectations for no sooner than the second half of the year. Indeed, rate futures markets now assign a 52 percent probability to the Fed's April 2015 meeting for the first rate hike versus just a 33 percent chance a month ago. Stocks such as utilities could be an option to steer clear of some of the hotter stocks and sectors of 2013 that are now richly valued." Continue reading →
"The Fed can manipulate stock prices. That's perhaps the only thing they can do. But why would you want to get an advantage from the wealth effect when you know you are going to have to give it all back when the Fed reverses course. At the same time, the Fed encourages steady increasing leverage and more asset bubbles. It's clear to most investing professionals that they can benefit from an asymmetric bet here. The Fed gives them very cheap leverage on the upside, and then bails them out on the downside. And you should have more confidence of that now. The only ones who have really benefited from QE are hedge fund managers." Continue reading →
"Wal-Mart Stores Inc this week sued Visa Inc for $5 billion, accusing the credit and debit card network of excessively high card swipe fees, several months after the retailer opted out of a class action settlement between merchants and Visa and MasterCard Inc. In December, a federal judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., approved a $5.7 billion class action settlement between merchants and Visa and MasterCard despite the objections of thousands of retailers that complained it was inadequate. Wal-Mart, Amazon.com Inc, and Target Corp were among those opting out of the monetary components of the settlement to have the freedom to seek damages on their own." Continue reading →
"In a decree issued by the finance ministry, the 300 euro limit per person per day was scrapped, along with restrictions on breaking fixed-interest time deposits prior to maturity. The decree also allowed, under conditions, individuals to open bank accounts in other credit institutions. Restrictions remain on moving money abroad. Cypriot officials have previously said they anticipate that all controls could be fully lifted by the end of 2014. Cyprus was forced to wind down a major bank and convert large deposits in a second to recapitalise it in order to qualify for aid from the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission." Continue reading →
"Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said the downgrade of Russia’s rating outlook by the Standard & Poor’s ratings agency was due to a directive rather than objective circumstances. The downgrade decision 'was clearly directive, not objective,' Peskov told journalists Friday, adding that such forecasts reduce the degree of credibility of such agencies. On March 20, S&P said it revised its outlook on the Russian Federation to negative from stable. Fitch Ratings on Thursday revised the outlook on Russia's long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) to negative from stable and affirmed the IDRs at 'BBB'." Continue reading →
"President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Russia should create its own national payment settlement system, in a bid to reduce economic dependence on the West amid the controversy over Moscow's seizure of Crimea. In countries such as Japan and China these systems work, and work very well,' Putin told lawmakers in televised remarks. Initially, they started out solely as national systems limited to their own markets, their own territory, their own population but they are becoming more popular right now.' 'Why should we not do it? We should definitely do it and we will do it,' he said, noting that Russia's Central Bank and the government have been looking into the matter." Continue reading →
Not very What sanctions? If Vladimir Putin is worried about the sanctions imposed on his closest allies, he’s hiding it like a poker champ. Even his sanctioned allies have shrugged off or even mocked the measures. Yuri Kovalchuk, chairman of … Continue reading →
The Tennessee 4th Amendment Protection Act (HB1907) would ban the use of warrantless data in state courts, and create a mechanism to turn off resources to the NSA facility there. (learn more here) After passing through a subcommittee on Mar. 27, it will now have to pass by a majority through the House Civil Justice…
No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear: “But what would you replace it with?” When you put out a fire, what do you replace it with? – Thomas Sowell I agree wholeheartedly with Thomas Sowell, so you may be surprised to learn that the purpose […]