"Building on the burgeoning popularity of offshore asset protection trusts (OAPTs), 14 U.S. states have now enacted their own 'domestic' asset protection trust (DAPT) legislation. These laws date back to the 1990s, but only in the last year have I learned of challenges to them in U.S. courts. The record is not encouraging." Continue reading →
"Federal workers have had enough. Now if only they can convince elected officials not to hit them again. As the White House and Congress look for ways to avoid a Jan. 1 'fiscal cliff' of budget cuts and tax increases, federal employee groups are increasingly mobilized against more hits on their pocketbooks. The Federal Workers Alliance (FWA), a coalition of 20 unions representing more than 300,000 employees, scheduled a 'federal employee day of action' on Tuesday to pressure officials not to take any more away from the workforce in the name of deficit reduction." Continue reading →
"He referred to economist Milton Friedman’s famous 'helicopter drop' of money as a solution for deflation. In essence, the suggestion was that, if there is deflation, it may be cured simply by dumping new currency from helicopters. For this suggestion to come from a member of the Board of Governors of the Fed caused many economists and investors to worry that the US economy may not be in the most competent hands. The comment was so unnerving that much of the rest of the speech failed to generate much discussion; yet, in it, Mr. Bernanke revealed other points from his philosophy on dealing with deflation that most certainly deserve review." Continue reading →
HSBC is accused of laundering money, Hello!!! This Fed government has been laundering money since Woodrow Wilson!!! Now tell me , who should go to jail here????? Is anyone forcing anyone to deposit money into any bank, however isn’t there a gun at your head forcing you to pay taxes to this corrupt government??? This [...]
"The anti-cash movement has been vigorously promoted by major Swedish commercial banks as well as the Riksbank, the Swedish central bank. For three of the four major Swedish banks combined, 530 of their 780 office no longer accept or pay out cash. Fortunately, it seems that the Swedish people are not falling for the anti-cash propaganda spewed by bankers. It is reported that last year the value of cash transactions in Sweden were 99 billion krona, only a marginal decrease from ten years ago. Even more heartening is the fact that Handelsbanken, the largest bank in Sweden, is committed to serving consumers who demand cash." Continue reading →
"Robotics engineers say that they can build a humanoid robot 'boy' that will help with everyday tasks within nine months. The childlike 'Roboy' will have special artificial muscles and tendons, and is designed as a companion and helper for sick and elderly patients. A team at the University of Zurich’s Artificial Intelligence Lab, headed by professor Rolf Pfeifer, has enlisted up 15 project partners and more than 40 engineers in the creation of what they hope will be the most advanced humanoid robot ever built. Pfeifer said that the team hope Roboy will be a model for 'service robots' that work alongside humans." Continue reading →
"Imagine that 7 out of 10 working Americans got fired tomorrow. What would they all do? It’s hard to believe you’d have an economy at all if you gave pink slips to more than half the labor force. But that—in slow motion—is what the industrial revolution did to the workforce of the early 19th century. Two hundred years ago, 70 percent of American workers lived on the farm. Today automation has eliminated all but 1 percent of their jobs, replacing them (and their work animals) with machines. But the displaced workers did not sit idle. Instead, automation created hundreds of millions of jobs in entirely new fields." Continue reading →
"Problem in a Nutshell: Average salaries are up 44%. US spending is up 112%." Continue reading →
"This Grand Bargain is coming apart as the promises made to everyone cannot possibly be met. Claims on welfare and disability programs are skyrocketing at the same time that the demographics of an aging populace are causing 10,000 people a day to enter Social Security and Medicare, the two costliest government programs. Meanwhile, the upper middle class that pays most of the taxes has been slammed with lower income and a devastating drop in their housing-based net worth." Continue reading →
"The Social Security program ran a $47.8 billion deficit in fiscal 2012 as the program brought in $725.429 billion in cash and paid $773.247 for benefits and overhead expenses. The Social Security Administration also released new data revealing that the number of workers collecting disability benefits hit a record 8,827,795 in December--up from 8,805,353 in November. The overall number of Social Security program beneficiaries also hit a record in December, climbing from 56,658,978 in November to 56,758,185 in December." Continue reading →