CLibertyC

WSJ: Five Reasons Why the Gold Bulls Are Right

"1) Sentiment is improving in peripheral Europe: The recent collapse in gold prices was precipitated by news that Cyprus may sell its gold holdings to assist in the recovery from its banking crisis. 2) Equities could tumble: Record strength in stock indices such as the Dow is not supported by macroeconomic fundamentals. 3) India’s monsoon season won’t last forever: Inhabitants of the world’s second most populous country are also the biggest buyers of gold jewellery. 4) The important Indian demand for gold isn’t all about jewellery: In some jurisdictions, notably India, gold counts as part of a bank’s liquidity ratio. 5) Retail investors are still buying." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWSJ: Five Reasons Why the Gold Bulls Are Right

Soros Reports Over $239mm In Gold Positions, Buys $25mm In Junior Miner Calls

"While debate continues as to how far gold and gold equities will continue to drop, the Soros Fund is lightening up on physical gold in exchange for gold mining equities and call options on the extremely volatile junior mining stocks. There couldn’t be any stronger indication by the fund as to its beliefs about the timing of this bottom (outside of selling everything and going all-in on call options of course). It remains to be seen whether these positions will end up in the green or not, but with a forty year track record of 20% annual returns, I’ll be betting on the Soros Fund." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSoros Reports Over $239mm In Gold Positions, Buys $25mm In Junior Miner Calls

Global Central Banks Added To Their Gold Stockpiles In Q1 Even As Prices Tumbled

"Gold prices are down about 12.5% since the start of April. But global central banks have been increasing their reserves of the yellow metal. A new report from the World Gold Council shows that central banks bout 109 tonnes of gold in the first quarter. This was the seventh straight quarter in which they purchased over 100 tonnes of gold. According to the WGC, Russia and South Korea were among the biggest buyers of gold." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlobal Central Banks Added To Their Gold Stockpiles In Q1 Even As Prices Tumbled

Bitcoin concept is gaining currency

"Bitcoin's growing popularity and a recent surge in value has caught the eye of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, including some who are convinced that Bitcoin could be the biggest thing on the Internet since, well, the Internet itself changed our lives two decades ago. This weekend, about 1,000 representatives of the growing Bitcoin economy will gather to discuss how far the currency has come, and what needs to happen next to fulfill what they see as its revolutionary promise. So far, Bitcoin has been used to buy games and virtual products from Internet merchants. Online exchanges have also sprouted up to trade the currency." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoin concept is gaining currency

Ex-BlackRock MD: US raid on Bitcoin exchange is ‘hysterical’ reaction

"Warwick Business School’s professor Jon Rushman, a former BlackRock managing director, says: 'It is a little bit of a hysterical reaction from the US authorities. There are concerns of Bitcoin being used in illegal ways, but unless there is more substantial evidence of this I don’t think there is any reason to shut down the main Bitcoin exchange. US dollars, Russian rubles and euros have all been used by criminals, but nobody is suggesting their central banks should be closed down and their governors imprisoned.' Rushman calls for more 'intelligent debate about Bitcoin and its future'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEx-BlackRock MD: US raid on Bitcoin exchange is ‘hysterical’ reaction

From the IRS to the EPA?

"Government agencies like the EPA typically waive so-called Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request fees for groups disseminating information for public benefit, but it's up to the agency to decide whether a fee-waiver is justified. At the EPA, fees were waived for liberal environmental groups like Greenpeace and EarthJustice almost always. Meanwhile, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank, 'had its requests denied 93 percent of the time. Most were denied because the agency said CEI 'failed to demonstrate that the release of the information requested significantly increases the public understanding of government operations or activities.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrom the IRS to the EPA?

Benghazi: Who Cares?

"In Libya, the media has gotten side tracked on a potentially sensational Obama administration cover up—no matter how minor—instead of asking the more important questions: 'Would U.S. diplomats have been killed if the United States had not overthrown Muammar Gaddafi and destabilized Libya?' or 'Did the U.S. military intervention destabilize the entire region by unleashing Gaddafi’s huge weapon stocks and fighters into places like Mali?' Bloodthirsty Republicans, such as John McCain and Lindsay Graham, don’t want to ask these questions, because it would undermine the rationale for their zealous advocacy of an ill-advised American intervention in Libya." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBenghazi: Who Cares?

Top Constitutional Experts: Obama Is Worse than Nixon

"Daniel Ellsberg notes that Obama’s claimed power to indefinitely detain people without charges or access to a lawyer or the courts is a power that even King George didn’t claim. Former judge and adjunct professor of constitutional law Andrew Napolitano points out that Obama’s claim that he can indefinitely detain prisoners even after they are acquitted of their crimes is a power that even Hitler and Stalin didn’t claim. Indeed, Obama has turned America into the most spied upon nation in world history, and has rolled back liberties to the time of the enactment of the Magna Carta in 1215." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTop Constitutional Experts: Obama Is Worse than Nixon

IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs IRS Obamacare Office

"The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation, ABC News reports. Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs IRS Obamacare Office

Director of IRS Tax-Exempt Determinations Office Is Obama Donor

"The director of the Office of Rulings and Agreements, which oversees the determinations of tax-exempt organizations, is a donor to Barack Obama. Holly Paz donated $2,000 to Obama’s 2008 campaign, according to Open Secrets, which maintains a database of individual political donations. An inspector general’s report released yesterday concluded that the IRS improperly targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups for undue scrutiny, and Paz heads the office in which the wrongdoing is said to have occurred. Paz’s donations are consistent with broader trends at the IRS, where agency employees donated overwhelming to President Obama in both 2012 and 2008." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDirector of IRS Tax-Exempt Determinations Office Is Obama Donor