Economics

Chicago committee to consider settling cop misconduct cases for nearly $33M

"The settlement in the Eilman case would avert a trial detailing the events of May 2006, when the then-21-year-old California woman was arrested at Midway Airport in the midst of a bipolar breakdown. She was held overnight and then released at sundown the next day without assistance several miles away in one of the city's highest-crime neighborhoods. Alone and bewildered by her surroundings, the former UCLA student was abducted and sexually assaulted before plummeting from a seventh-floor window. She survived but suffered a severe and permanent brain injury, a shattered pelvis, and numerous other broken bones and injuries." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChicago committee to consider settling cop misconduct cases for nearly $33M

Take Steps Today To Say “Adieu” Tomorrow

"Governments are becoming increasingly hostile toward citizens that leave for greener pastures, and they will use any means to prevent the outflow. They will publicly humiliate expats; Hollande has called Depardieu 'pathetic' and 'unpatriotic.' They will enact laws to specifically punish expats for leaving; the US Congress attempted to pass a law aimed at punishing Eduardo Saverin, the Brazilian-born co-founder of Facebook who renounced his US citizenship. They will even take proactive steps to prevent citizens from leaving, either by limiting their citizens' ability to freely travel or by limiting their citizens' ability to relocate their capital abroad." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTake Steps Today To Say “Adieu” Tomorrow

The Basket Case Sometimes Known as Japan

"Japan may be the poster child for reckless and irresponsible tax and spending policy. Even though the public sector already is far too big and even though the government has incurred more debt than any other developed economy, the new Prime Minister thinks another Keynesian stimulus package is the recipe for economic revival. I’m not joking. Even though the economy has been stagnant for 20 years – a period that has seen several so-called stimulus schemes, the government wants to throw good money after bad." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Basket Case Sometimes Known as Japan

Anthony Gregory: Newtown and the Bipartisan Police State

"The way that one mass murderer has been turned into a poster boy for the agenda of depriving millions of Americans of the right to own weapons that virtually none of them will ever use to commit a crime is disgusting, and seems to be rooted in some sort of cultural bigotry. Nothing else would easily explain the invincible resistance to logical arguments such as: rifles are rarely used in crimes, gun control empowers the police state over the weak, and such laws simply do not work against criminals, full stop. Rifles are easier to manufacture than methamphetamine, and we know how well the drug war has stopped its proliferation, and 3D printing will soon make it impossible to stop." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnthony Gregory: Newtown and the Bipartisan Police State

D.C. Prosecutor: A Gun Ban That Misfired

"The gun ban had an unintended effect: It emboldened criminals because they knew that law-abiding District residents were unarmed and powerless to defend themselves. Violent crime increased after the law was enacted, with homicides rising to 369 in 1988, from 188 in 1976 when the ban started. By 1993, annual homicides had reached 454. The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department also waged a war on firearms by creating a special Gun Recovery Unit in 1995. The campaign meant that officers were obliged to spend time searching otherwise law-abiding citizens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingD.C. Prosecutor: A Gun Ban That Misfired

D.C. Prosecutor: A Gun Ban That Misfired

"The gun ban had an unintended effect: It emboldened criminals because they knew that law-abiding District residents were unarmed and powerless to defend themselves. Violent crime increased after the law was enacted, with homicides rising to 369 in 1988, from 188 in 1976 when the ban started. By 1993, annual homicides had reached 454. The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department also waged a war on firearms by creating a special Gun Recovery Unit in 1995. The campaign meant that officers were obliged to spend time searching otherwise law-abiding citizens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingD.C. Prosecutor: A Gun Ban That Misfired

Why Expansionist Central States Inevitably Implode

"We are at the inflection point indicated on the chart where the lines cross, just before the crisis: tax revenues are lagging spending in an enormous structural deficit; the State dominates the economy and its spending cannot possibly be contained, due to the political promises made to entitlement constituencies, fiefdoms and cartels, and the drag of unproductive State spending has sent the economy into systemic decline. Each constituency, cartel and fiefdom is convinced that they are acting in their own best interests in demanding more State funding and subsidies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy Expansionist Central States Inevitably Implode

The safest place in the world

"Every few hundred years, wealth and power shifts. This has happened so many times before, it’s hard to even keep track. Mesopotamia. Persia. Macedonia. Greece. Roman Empire. Byzantium. Mongolian Empire. Ming Dynasty. Ottoman Empire. Habsburg Empire. French-Bourbon Monarchy. British Empire. Third Reich. United States of America. This change is as old as human civilization itself. And it’s happening again. Decades of unsustainable debt have caught up to the West, and wealth and power are once again shifting." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe safest place in the world

Study: Companies from emerging markets will shape global economy in next decade

"The top 100 fast-globalising companies from rapidly developing economies are outpacing their rivals from developed economies in terms of expansion, job creation and productivity, said the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) study. These companies, which it called global challengers, grew at an annual average of 16 percent from 2008 through 2011, four times the rate of their competitors in developed countries. Their average revenue hit $26.5 billion (20 billion euros) in 2011, compared to $21 billion for the non-financial companies listed on the S&P 500 stock index." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudy: Companies from emerging markets will shape global economy in next decade

China may cut U.S. debt holdings

"China’s sovereign wealth fund, which has more than $480 billion in assets, could cut holdings of US Treasury Bonds as they are becoming a less attractive investment, state media said Tuesday. The Shanghai Securities News quoted Lou Jiwei, chairman of sovereign wealth fund manager China Investment Corp (CIC), as telling a conference in Hong Kong on Monday that the US economic recovery had made other investments appealing. China has the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves and according to US government figures is the largest foreign holder of US Treasuries with $1.16 trillion at the end of October last year, the latest available statistic." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChina may cut U.S. debt holdings