Imperial Hubris

Eric Margolis: US Struggle With Iran’s Peace Offensive

"Iran is now making a major push to convince the world it has no nuclear weapons ambitions, starting with its spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomenei who has issued a fatwa condemning all nuclear weapons. The logical course for the United States to follow is to welcome Iran’s overtures and restore normal relations between the two powers. An Iran aligned to the outside world is less likely to be troublesome than the angry, frightened, besieged Iran of today. Furthermore, Washington has at some point got to accept that Iran is an influential regional power with its own legitimate interests." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEric Margolis: US Struggle With Iran’s Peace Offensive

Complying With U.S. Tax Evasion Law Is Vexing Foreign Banks

"Financial institutions, trade groups, scholars and members of Congress have raised an array of concerns, starting with the cost of creating the complex computer systems needed to track Americans’ accounts. In addition, tax havens like China, Panama and Russia have yet to sign on. And American banks are unhappy about a Treasury Department pledge to foreign banks, not part of the original law, to require American financial institutions to share data with other countries about foreign investors who have accounts in the United States." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingComplying With U.S. Tax Evasion Law Is Vexing Foreign Banks

When Dominance Leads to Incompetence and Catastrophe

"It's rather staggering to list Microsoft's failures over the past decade. The strategy that worked in the 1990s--copy rivals and add more features to the copycat products and services--is no longer working. Dominance in any space breeds complacency and enables the luxuries of political squabbling, sclerosis and loss of focus. Competence becomes incompetence, and the infrastructure that fosters creativity and flexibility--that is, a keen appreciation of risk and spontaneity--is slowly dismantled. That applies not just to corporations but to governments, nations and empires." Continue reading →

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The Treasury Secretary on How Unstable U.S. Government Finances Are

"Treasury Secretary Jack Lew made the following statement during remarks today before the Economic Club of Washington D.C.: '[W]e are relying on investors from all over the world to continue to hold U.S. bonds. Every Thursday, we roll-over approximately $100 billion in U.S. bills. If U.S. bond holders decided that they wanted to be repaid rather than continuing to roll-over their investments, we could unexpectedly dissipate our entire cash balance.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Treasury Secretary on How Unstable U.S. Government Finances Are

Canadian billionaire predicts end of US Dollar as world’s reserve currency

"Canadian billionaire businessman Ned Goodman predicts the end of the U.S. Dollar as the world's reserve currency. He predicts the transition out of the U.S. Dollar will become, '...quite ugly.' He delivered the lecture at Cambridge House's Toronto Resource Investment Conference 2013 on Thursday, September 12, 2013." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCanadian billionaire predicts end of US Dollar as world’s reserve currency

New Heights in Disgraceful Asset Forfeiture (Seizure)

"The U.S. is seizing 650 Fifth Avenue, the 36-story Piaget Building, from Iranian interests. I’d guess the value is several hundred million dollars. All asset seizure procedures are an utter disgrace, totally unlawful and unjust. This one is triply disgraceful, based as it is on undeclared economic warfare against Iran, phonily done in the name of anti-terrorism, and based on as about as unlawful a 'law' as Congress has ever manufactured." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew Heights in Disgraceful Asset Forfeiture (Seizure)

Senators want to ban Russian Banks from the United States over Syria

"In a joint letter, the senators urged Secretary Lew to enforce sanctions that prevent Russian banks that have propped up the Syrian government from doing business in the United States. 'Russian bank support violates international sanctions by enabling Syria to pay for imports and receive funds for exports. This assistance eases much of the financial burden on the Assad regime, allowing it to continue military purchases and pay the soldiers that sustain the war in Syria,' the senators wrote. 'It is now more critical than ever that you swiftly designate those financial institutions that have profited from violating sanctions to prop up the Syrian regime.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSenators want to ban Russian Banks from the United States over Syria

American expats are “offshore tax dodging” “trash”, say Homelanders

"So, there you have it. According to America, all Americans living abroad are 'offshore tax dodgers' since they are taxed where they live to pay for the infrastructure they use. Why does America seek to trash its diaspora? Because it believes that they are pirates sailing around with stolen treasure. Yet, the impact of US policy on Americans living abroad has never been an American concern, as one fellow kindly stated to one who does not live in America. The US government clearly doesn’t give a damn if Americans are harmed as a result of US policy, but it is eager to brand its expats as 'tax cheats' and to throw them away as 'trash'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerican expats are “offshore tax dodging” “trash”, say Homelanders

Glenn Greenwald: Inside the mind of NSA chief Gen Keith Alexander

"Now, on the website of DBI Architects, Inc. of Washington and Reston, Virginia, there are what purports to be photographs of the actual Star-Trek-like headquarters commissioned by Gen. Alexander that so impressed his Congressional overseers. It's a 10,740 square foot labyrinth in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The brochure touts how 'the prominently positioned chair provides the commanding officer an uninterrupted field of vision to a 22'-0' wide projection screen'. Its "primary function is to enable 24-hour worldwide visualization, planning, and execution of coordinated information operations for the US Army and other federal agencies.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Inside the mind of NSA chief Gen Keith Alexander

With “Follow The Money”, NSA Knows All About Your Spending Habits

"While collecting credit card data was to be expected, what is even worse is that the NSA has also secretly planted itself in the nexus of the entire global USD-intermediated financial transactions system courtesy of SWIFT. In other words, America's unsupervised uber spies, when not checking in on their former significant others, spend the bulk of their time tracking who is buying what, where, and with whose money. They also know how much anyone in the world has spent on credit card-based purchases, what the source of that money is, and what the purchase was. In other words: absolute monetary and financial surveillance." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWith “Follow The Money”, NSA Knows All About Your Spending Habits