Tying together strands from the legal reasoning in the twin Supreme Court cases on Obamacare, we find a principle that just might shield individual Americans from the coercive force of the federal government if it were ever properly applied. It’s a simple fact in the insurance business: the more policyholders file claims, the more pressure…
Two shocking rulings handed down by the Supreme Court recently – one, King V. Burwell, rewriting precise language in the Affordable Health Care Act, the other, Obergefell V. Hodges, assuming federal authority to define marriage, illuminate a central flaw in the American system of government – as it now exists. That flaw is the lack…
SACRAMENTO, Ca. (July 15, 2015) – Yesterday, a California Assembly Committee unanimously passed a bill that not only bolsters restrictions on state officials from seizing property without due process, but throws a wrench into federal efforts to do the same. Previously passed by the Senate, it moves one step closer to the Governor’s desk. Introduced by…
"A Swiss court has ruled that Credit Suisse's decision to provide US tax authorities with information on an employee was illegal, according to the ruling made public Monday. In April 2012, the Swiss government gave 11 Swiss banks the go-ahead to accommodate a US tax evasion probe and hand over the names of thousands of their employees and consultants working with American clients. Fearful of harsh US penalties and prosecution, the banks then met Washington's demands, handing over personal information about numerous staff members, and reportedly also making personal documents, emails and details of telephone calls available." Continue reading →
"Currently, information reports are not required on non-interest accounts, while there is a $10 threshold for reporting on interest bearing accounts. This change would be effective for the current tax year of 2015, giving banks and credit unions little time to adapt their systems for compliance. Should this provision be enacted, taxpayers will be awash in new 1099s reporting de minimis amounts of interest. In many cases, they will report less than a one dollar in earned interest per year. Additionally, this new reporting requirement will impose substantial costs on the financial services industry that far exceed the revenue that will be gained by the proposal." Continue reading →
The victors of war write its history in order to cast themselves in the most favorable light. That explains the considerable historical ignorance about our war of 1861 and panic over the Confederate flag. To create better understanding, we have to start a bit before the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
Whenever a bill to allow industrial hemp farming – note, this is different than marijuana legalization – comes up in a state legislature, the leading opponents are generally law enforcement groups. These police lobbies almost always base their opposition on flawed logic and outright falsehood. A recent conflict between marijuana growers and hemp farmers in…
"Capital controls imposed by the Greek government mean that Greek citizens can only withdraw 60 euros (effectively 50 euros after ATMs have run out of 20 euro notes) and online payment service, PayPal, has been left crippled, as a result. PayPal relies on the traditional banking sector and credit card industry for all its transactions to flow. Fact is, there is an old-style bank that underpins nearly every finance tech start-up that purports to threaten and disrupt the old guard. Examples are peer-to-peer lending platforms such as Prosper and Lending Club. Neither company holds the loans they award on their own balance sheets, but, instead, acquire the funds from WebBank, Salt Lake City, Utah." Continue reading →
"China created Unionpay 13 years ago to serve as its own interbank for payments. The unique benefit of Unionpay is that is controlled by the People’s Bank of China and has no relation to the western banking system. In fact, the Russian government is using the system while they build their own payment system to get away from western systems. One Russian billionaire commented that he got a Unionpay-backed card to protect himself after US sanctions were imposed on Russia. You can get a Unionpay card by opening a bank account in Mainland China. Interestingly enough, wealthy Chinese are even using Unionpay for capital flight out of Mainland China." Continue reading →
"West Coast venture capitalists see Visa as an oligopolistic dinosaur and are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into rivals that use bitcoin. Meanwhile, banks, which collect the bulk of the fees from merchants, are warily eyeing Visa’s efforts to bypass them and forge direct relationships with retailers by offering one-click internet transactions and providing data on consumer behaviour that only Visa possesses. None of which seems to faze Visa’s chief executive, Charlie Scharf. In time, he says, would-be Visa disruptors all discover—just as internet upstarts PayPal, Square and Uber did—that it is simply easier and more economical to work with his leviathan than fight it." Continue reading →