Mad Statists

Indians Who Bought Gold, Won. Those Who Didn’t, Lost.

"The idiot Keynesians who ran the Bank of India destroyed the rupee. In India, fathers buy gold for their daughters’ dowries. They don’t buy rupees. India put a tax on gold imports in a vain attempt to save the rupee. It didn’t work. The government hates it when Indians buy gold. This shows a lack of faith in the government. That lack of faith is well deserved. The government said that Indians who bought gold were making a big mistake. But it turns out that Indians who trusted the government’s rupee made the big mistake. If you think it can’t happen here, you could wind up like all those Indians who have lost a quarter of their wealth in recent months. They believed their government. Silly them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndians Who Bought Gold, Won. Those Who Didn’t, Lost.

India Bans All Gold Coin Imports, Increases Capital Controls

"Not satisfied with raising import tariffs on gold and putting in place jarring new FX flow capital controls, it seems the war on a weakening Rupee continues. We previously discussed the unintended consequence of such actions - including the rise of the gold smuggler - but the latest total ban on the importation of gold coins and medallions is edging India closer and closer to the Argentinian edge of Cristina Fernandez totalitarianism (after the initial ban on sales in June). In an effort to 'moderate outflows' of Rupee, the Indian central bank slashed the amount of money families can send out of the country per year to $75k and limited overseas investment to 100% of net worth (from 400%)." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia Bans All Gold Coin Imports, Increases Capital Controls

India’s Sonia Gandhi seeks support for law to banish hunger

"Gandhi told MPs to send a message to the world that India was ready to eradicate hunger and malnutrition. 'The big message which will go out to the country and rest of the world is clear and concrete: that India is taking the responsibility of providing food security of all its citizens,' she said. 'Our goal for the foreseeable future must be to wipe out hunger and malnutrition from our country,' Italian-born Gandhi told lawmakers to applause in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament. Her government says the programme will add 230 billion rupees ($3.6 billion) annually to India’s existing 900-billion-rupee food subsidy bill." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia’s Sonia Gandhi seeks support for law to banish hunger

22 Reasons Why Starting World War 3 In The Middle East Is A Really Bad Idea

"Russia and China are sternly warning the U.S. government not to get involved in Syria, and by starting a war with Syria we will do an extraordinary amount of damage to our relationships with those two global superpowers. Could this be the beginning of a chain of events that could eventually lead to a massive global conflict with Russia and China on one side and the United States on the other? Of course it will not happen immediately, but I fear that what is happening now is setting the stage for some really bad things. The following are 22 reasons why starting World War 3 in the Middle East is a really bad idea." Continue reading →

Continue Reading22 Reasons Why Starting World War 3 In The Middle East Is A Really Bad Idea

Michael Scheuer: Use the Constitution to prevent war with Syria

"Amidst the developing momentum for the U.S. to enter another war that will strengthen al-Qaeda and its allies — like the one Obama fought in Libya and the anti-democratic one in Egypt he authorized this month — perhaps it is worth reviewing three salient and crystal clear facts. –1st : The United States has no genuine national-security interests in Syria. –2nd: Unless America is attacked first, no U.S. president has the constitutional authority to take America to war without a formal declaration of war by Congress. –3rd : Today’s status quo in Syria benefits U.S. national-security interests without Washington having to take any action at all." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichael Scheuer: Use the Constitution to prevent war with Syria

The Pentagon: Angry Birds Hold the Key to Our Security

"'The digital battlefield has to be as easy to navigate as an iPhone,' writes Wired magazine’s Noah Shachtman. 'The attacks have to be as easy to launch as an Angry Bird.' Mr. Shachtman points out that U.S. cyberoffensives have taken months of planning and have required small specialized units. Instead, the Pentagon wants 'munitions made of 1s and 0s to be as simple to launch as ones made of metal and explosives.' The Pentagon has brought in 'designers behind some of Apple’s most famous computers — with assistance from the illustrators who helped bring Transformers to the silver screen.' The DoD will shell out $16.1 billion in contract money to conduct their cyber makeover." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Pentagon: Angry Birds Hold the Key to Our Security

Have You Heard the One About the Fiat Money Printing Central Banker?

"Here’s the abstract from a new paper in the October 2013 issue of Economic Inquiry: 'During their meetings, the members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) make monetary policy, but they also make each other laugh. This article studies the amount of laughter elicited by members of the FOMC during their meetings. The study finds that a member elicits more laughter if he or she expects higher inflation, other things being equal. This finding suggests that members may use humor to cope with the threat of inflation. (JEL E52, E58, C23)' They use humor. One wonders what savers and pensioners use." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHave You Heard the One About the Fiat Money Printing Central Banker?

Who Will Punish Americans for Their Manifest Violations, Joe?

"Americans can expect to be attacked in the future by those seeking to 'punish' them for a very long list of their own manifest violations of not only international norms, but more importantly international laws that their government has signed on to and then brazenly broken. In other words, the White House is digging the graves of Americans and lowering their security by lowering the bar for what it takes to attack another country. Why can’t some other country claim that the Kent State massacre, or the Waco massacre, or the attack on Iraq, or bombing Libya, or bombing Serbia, or killing innocents by drones, or the sanctions on Iraq that killed 500,000 children, or removing the government in Afghanistan?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWho Will Punish Americans for Their Manifest Violations, Joe?

Even Eurocrats Realize that Taxes Can Be Too High

"Tax increases imposed by the Socialist-led government in France have reached a 'fatal level', the EU's commissioner for economic affairs said today. Olli Rehn warned that a series of tax hikes since the Socialists took power 14 months ago – including €33bn in new taxes this year – threatens to 'destroy growth and handicap the creation of jobs'. President Hollande has kept his electoral promise to attack French deficits and accumulated debt. He has done so, however, almost entirely by tax increases rather than by cuts in a state apparatus which swallows 56.6 per cent of the country’s GDP. It has emerged that final budget plans for 2014 will include at least €6bn in tax rises." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEven Eurocrats Realize that Taxes Can Be Too High

France ‘ready to punish’ Syria over chemical weapons strike

"French President Francois Hollande upped the ante, pledging to 'punish' the regime over suspected chemical attacks and boost military support for the opposition. Hollande will on Thursday meet the head of Syria’s main opposition group, which has blamed the regime for a suspected gas attack that it says killed more than 1,300 people. The alleged attack has prompted increasingly frantic calls from Western and Arab nations for action against the Syrian regime, which denies any involvement. Sources close to Hollande say one of the options for France would be to deploy the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier off the Syrian coast. Hollande said the Syrian conflict threatened 'world peace.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrance ‘ready to punish’ Syria over chemical weapons strike