for life and liberty

Why Does Ben Bernanke Set a Specific Point Target for Inflation and Not a Range?

"Because he thinks it is easier to hoodwink the public with a single target inflation rate than with a range. In the book, Inflation Targeting, which is co-authored by Bernanke, point targets versus range targets are discussed. Currently, the Fed has a price inflation target of 2%. Expect price inflation to climb above this level and for Bernanke to do as it says in his book and jawbone that inflation above target is simply 'because of unavoidable uncertainties.'" Continue reading →

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Greek government loses track of, asks again for stolen Swiss account data

"Greece has asked France to re-send it a list of Greeks with Swiss bank accounts, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said on Wednesday, after an original list delivered in 2010 apparently went missing. The list was originally acquired from France's then finance minister Christine Lagarde two years ago and is part of account data leaked by an HSBC bank employee in Switzerland. The first recipient of the data, former finance minister George Papaconstantinou, on Wednesday told a parliamentary committee that he did not know what had happened to the original version." Continue reading →

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Pennsylvania may force workers to pay taxes to their employers

"A bill that landed on Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett’s (R) desk this week would give companies that hire more than 250 new workers a gobsmacking tax incentive: 95 percent of those workers’ state income taxes would be paid to the employer, and not the state. It’s a bizarre strategy meant to attract companies from other states, specifically designed to lure California-based software maker Oracle into Pennsylvania. It’s also, as Philadelphia City Paper put it, 'lavish corporate welfare' writ large across state government." Continue reading →

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The Odyssey of Sound Economics

"As they say, it is always darkest before the dawn. And Lew Rockwell, on a shoestring budget, founded the Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics (LvMI's official name). What is more, he did so in the face of furious opposition from the same billionaires who had chosen to downplay Mises, financed the diffuse GMU program, and forced Rothbard out of Cato. Sound economics finally had an institutional home. What is more, truth, if made accessible, can spread like a prairie fire. Ron Paul has inspired thousands with his message of liberty. These thousands are a huge potential seedbed for future growth in the causal-realist Austrian School." Continue reading →

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Secession Fever Sweeping Europe Meaningless Without Debt Repudiation

"It is time for the restoration of formerly independent countries, each with their own unique cultural and ethnic heritage, that were forced at gunpoint into larger empire states. Venice wants out of Italy, Catalonia out of Spain, Bavaria out of Germany, Scotland and Wales want to leave the United Kingdom, the Flemish want out of Belgium. Even Vermont and some in the South want to regain their former status as sovereign republics separate from the most debt-ridden empire in world history, the U.S. Just as important, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Spain and Portugal – with demands in Germany itself – want to leave the EU and euro witches' brew created by their leaders." Continue reading →

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Nobel Selects EU … World Snorts

"Regulations pour out of the EU like smog while half of the union is bankrupt and the other half resent paying the bill. How all this is either laudable or peaceful is beyond us. Watching Greece and Spain (and soon France) go up in flames is to watch a spectacle of failure. But the EU has always been a spectacle and its handlers continue to try to manage its persona and profile with less and less success. The more it fails, the more those behind its misguided formation try to defend it and prop it up." Continue reading →

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Convicted Italian earthquake scientists resign over L’Aquila quake verdicts

"Earthquake experts worldwide expressed shock at the manslaughter convictions of six Italian scientists who failed to predict the deadly L'Aquila quake, warning that the decision could severely harm future research. Two scientists resigned their posts with the government's disaster preparedness agency Tuesday after a court in L'Aquila sentenced six scientists and a government official to six years in prison. Seismologists were aghast at the court's decision, noting that earthquakes remain impossible to forecast with any kind of accuracy." Continue reading →

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Cash-strapped Cyprus plots Russian exit from austerity

"The Russians, quite correctly, view Cyprus as a convenient backdoor to the European Union – and they are not alone. The Chinese have also started arriving, encouraged by what they regard as an incredibly low bar to immigration. Forget all those tricky visa forms, for anyone prepared to spend €300,000 on a property in Cyprus there is the bonus of eligibility for permanent residency. Once this is achieved, the owner is entitled to move anywhere within the EU. For the price of a shoebox in Shanghai, Cyprus is offering a gold-card travel pass and much more besides." Continue reading →

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Britain has left the European Union in all but name

"The UK is preparing to pull out of almost all areas of 'Justice and Home Affairs', the so-called Pillar III of EU jurisdiction. (Pillar I is the single market, and Pillar II is foreign affairs). This is revolutionary. We are withdrawing from 130 directives, covering everything from the European Arrest Warrant, the European Public Prosecutor, to the European justice department (Eurojust). Luckily, Tony Blair negotiated the right to a mass opt-out on this Pillar III corpus to be exercised before it all becomes justiciable at the European Court (ECJ) in 2014, a move that would transform the ECJ into Britain's supreme court." Continue reading →

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