Land Of The Flea

China warns US to ‘stop manufacturing crises’ and raise debt ceiling

"Premier Li Keqiang added his voice to concerns that the world’s biggest economy could default on its debt. Mr Li told John Kerry, US secretary of state, that China was paying 'great attention' to the issue of raising America's $16.7 trillion (£10.5 trillion) debt ceiling. China is the largest foreign owner of US debt, holding more than $1.277 trillion in Treasury bills. Mr Li's remarks, published by the state-owned Xinhua News Agency, follow comments by vice finance Minister Zhu Guangyao on Monday that 'the clock is ticking' and any US default would have global repercussions. Mr Kerry [is said to have] made clear to Mr Li that President Barack Obama was 'committed to resolving the issue.'" Continue reading →

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David Stockman Explains The Keynesian State-Wreck Ahead

"'What has been growing is the wealth of the rich, the remit of the state, the girth of Wall Street, the debt burden of the people, the prosperity of the beltway and the sway of the three great branches of government - that is, the warfare state, the welfare state and the central bank... What is flailing is the vast expanse of the Main Street economy where the great majority have experienced stagnant living standards, rising job insecurity, failure to accumulate material savings, rapidly approach old age and the certainty of a Hobbesian future where, inexorably, taxes will rise and social benefits will be cut...' He calls this condition 'Sundown in America'." Continue reading →

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Capital One closes company’s bank account over mere mention of bitcoin

"Capital One has closed a bank account belonging to a company that produces metal medallions after it started selling commemorative silver and copper bitcoin coins. Rob Gray, CEO of Mulligan Mint, Inc said Capital One gave him no warning before it closed his company’s bank account. He has since contacted the bank, but isn’t satisfied with its response. Mulligan Mint does not accept bitcoin as payment for any of its products, the only connection with the digital currency is that it sells two types of bitcoin medallion. Both feature the bitcoin currency symbol on one side, set on a background of a computer circuit board." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCapital One closes company’s bank account over mere mention of bitcoin

‘Rejoice: the Yellen Fed will print money forever to create jobs’

"We now know where we stand. Janet Yellen is to take over the US Federal Reserve, the world's monetary hegemon, the master of all our lives. The Fed will be looser for longer. The FOMC will continue to print money until the US economy creates enough jobs to reignite wage pressures and inflation, regardless of asset bubbles, or collateral damage along the way. No Fed chief in history has been better qualified. She has pedigree. Her husband is Nobel laureate George Akerlof, the scourge of efficient markets theory. Her lodestar is the 'non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment' (NAIRU). When the rate is above NAIRU, she is a dove: when below, she is a hawk." Continue reading →

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The Invisible Plumbing Of Our Economy

"It turns out the money collected on Kickstarter is handled by Amazon. Great, we figure: This is the company that will sell you anything on the planet and get it you you the next day. And what we need in this case isn't even a thing, really. We just need Amazon's bank to send money electronically to a checking account at Chase bank. It's just information traveling over wires. How long could it take: A minute? An hour? It took five days. On today's show: Why the invisible pipes that move money around America are so slow. (And why the ones in England are so much faster.)" Continue reading →

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Americans Abroad Stranded as US Check Clearance Blocked

"U.S. citizens staying in Israel have discovered this week that they are no longer able to get Israeli shekels in exchange for their checks which are drawn to U.S. banks. Until this week, Israeli foreign exchange places would accept U.S. checks, at least from their regular customers, and would pay them out for a fee of 1 percent of their value. But this is no ,longer the case. 'The problem is with the check clearance process,” a Jerusalem money changer told The Jewish Press. 'No one outside the U.S. is able to do check clearance. It’s an international problem, it’s not a problem only in Israel.' American banks are not processing for clearance any checks coming from outside the U.S." Continue reading →

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Have We Reached Peak Government?

"How can government expand 300+% while the underlying economy that supports it expanded by 75%? Answer: borrowing money, i.e. debt--lots of it. Federal debt has skyrocketed by 600% since 1990. This is simply part of a vast, unprecedented expansion of debt in both public and private sectors since 1990. So the question of Peak Government is ultimately a question of Peak Debt: how much money can the government borrow to sustain its current spending? Can public and private debt expand at rates four or five times that of the underlying economy? If so, for how long? If we are not yet at Peak Debt, we are getting close, and that means we are also getting close to Peak Government." Continue reading →

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Credit card firm cuts off nation’s No. 1 gun store — for selling guns

"A subsidiary of Visa, a key Obama campaign donor, that specializes in credit card transactions has abruptly stopped servicing the nation’s largest gun store after four years because the store sells guns, a fact the owners never hid. Hyatt Gun Shop of Charlotte, N.C., told Secrets that the subsidiary, Authorize.net/CyberSource, simply sent an email to owner Larry Hyatt to announce that it was suddenly breaking off the business relationship. The reason: 'The sale of firearms or any similar product.' The brushoff of Hyatt's business has sparked a national boycott effort against Authorize.net and parent company CyberSource." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCredit card firm cuts off nation’s No. 1 gun store — for selling guns

Obama names campaign donor, Goldman exec as ambassador to Canada

"US President Barack Obama named a Goldman Sachs executive and large campaign contributor as ambassador to Canada on Thursday amid potential rifts between the allies over the Keystone pipeline. Bruce Heyman, managing director for private wealth management at the investment bank, lives in Obama’s base of Chicago and is a so-called 'bundler' who raised funds for the president’s campaigns. Like previous presidents, Obama has regularly named prominent fundraisers to diplomatic posts, seen as one of the top rewards doled out to campaign supporters." Continue reading →

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