investment

Dollar-Less Iranians Discover Virtual Currency

"Under sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies, dollars are hard to come by in Iran. The rial fell from 20,160 against the greenback on the street market in August to 36,500 rials to the dollar in October. It’s settled, for now, around 27,000. The central bank’s fixed official rate is 12,260. Yet there’s one currency in Iran that has kept its value and can be used to purchase goods from abroad: bitcoins, the online-only currency." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDollar-Less Iranians Discover Virtual Currency

Americans Forced to Close Their Intrade Accounts

"Intrade decided all its U.S. customers must now close their accounts and withdraw their money from the site. Why did the American government sue Intrade? It was not for operating an online gambling operation, but for allegedly violating America's incomprehensible financial regulations. The government says that many of the things Intrade allows people to predict - everything from what the price of gold will be in the future to whether the U.S. will go to war soon - are legally considered 'commodity options,' and that Intrade broke the law because it isn't licensed to trade those. The penalty is $140,000 per violation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmericans Forced to Close Their Intrade Accounts

Kyle Bass On The End Of The Debt Super-Cycle

"'When you let the politicians run monetary policy, well, that is how it [ends]... All of the ingredients are there [for Japan now] for this vicious cocktail to fall apart' is how Kyle Bass concludes this broad and succinct recent interview. With total credit market debt-to-GDP globally around 350% (or ~$200 trillion), his thesis remains that many countries will reach their profligate endpoint soon (if not already in Greece's case - where investors have already lost 90c on the dollar); but that managing around this current evolution is the single-hardest period for investing of the last few decades." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKyle Bass On The End Of The Debt Super-Cycle

China Will Build the Tallest Building In the World in Just 90 Days

"According to its engineers, this will be the tallest skyscraper in the world by the end of March of 2013. Its name is Sky City, and its 2,749 feet (838 meters) distributed in 220 floors will grow in just 90 days in Changsha city, by the Xiangjiang river. Ninety days! The skyscraper will be built in just 90 days at the unbelievable rate of five floors per day. They will be able to achieve this impossibly fast construction rate by using a prefabricated modular technology developed by Broad Sustainable Building, a company that has built 20 tall structures in China so far, including the that 30-story hotel." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChina Will Build the Tallest Building In the World in Just 90 Days

Downgrade the Long-Term Debt of the United States Before It’s Too Late

"Dear S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch: You are the world’s three dominant rating agencies, largely controlling the ratings of bonds and debts issued by thousands of corporations, municipalities, and sovereign governments. I am the chairman of Weiss Ratings, an independent rating agency. And today, I challenge you to promptly take the bold action that you have so far avoided — to downgrade the long-term credit rating of the U.S. government in order to help protect investors and prod Washington to fix its finances. The necessary first step toward solving our nation’s financial problems is to recognize and confront them honestly." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDowngrade the Long-Term Debt of the United States Before It’s Too Late

Coerced Foreign Tax Compliance Is Killing American Jobs

"No doubt thanks in part to FATCA, foreign direct investment in the US for the first half of 2012 declined by 39.2% over the prior year, and China surpassed the US as the world’s largest recipient of global foreign direct investment for the first time since 2003. At a time when Washington should be pursuing policies designed to attract foreign investment capital to American shores, politicians seem intent on driving it away." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCoerced Foreign Tax Compliance Is Killing American Jobs

Alberta Energy Minister Ken Hughes says province looking to tap U.S. military personnel to help develop oilsands

"Hughes said there are a half-million unemployed or underemployed younger military veterans in the U.S. Forecasts conducted on the labour needs of Alberta’s energy sector range greatly, with one study stating the province could be short 130,000 workers within seven years. Concerns over the welfare of U.S. military personnel returning from overseas — particularly the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — have been growing in the U.S. Among the challenges they face are homelessness, post-traumatic stress disorder and unemployment in a country still struggling with an unemployment rate of around 8%." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAlberta Energy Minister Ken Hughes says province looking to tap U.S. military personnel to help develop oilsands

The Twinkie, a Suicide

"The snack giant endured $52 million in workers' comp claims in 2011, according to its bankruptcy filing this January. Hostess's 372 collective-bargaining agreements required the company to maintain 80 different health and benefit plans, 40 pension plans and mandated a $31 million increase in wages and health care and other benefits for 2012. Union work rules usually required cake and bread products to be delivered to a single retail location using two separate trucks. Drivers weren't allowed to load their own vehicles, and the workers who loaded bread weren't allowed to load cake. 'Pull up' employees moved products from back rooms to shelves." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Twinkie, a Suicide

Detlev Schlichter: Some personal thoughts on surviving the monetary meltdown

"That government bonds are a safe investment can, of course, not be left a matter of simple opinion but has to be enshrined in the laws of the land, and the state’s rapidly expanding finance constabulary is already working on it. Via legislation and regulation, the state is busily building itself a captive investor base for its own debt. I fear that to a large degree this is even welcome by the asset management industry. In an unstable and increasingly uncertain world, being told what to buy lifts a great responsibility off one’s shoulders." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDetlev Schlichter: Some personal thoughts on surviving the monetary meltdown