Mad Statists

Switzerland and Britain are now at currency war

"'Everybody is trying to weaken their currency at the same time. The Swiss have got away with it and now the Japanese want to try. The Sandinavians are pulling their hair out. The Turks are cutting rates even though the economy is overheating, and putting in credit controls instead because they don’t want the currency to rise. Policymakers are doing things that if you had suggested four years ago they would have put you in a straitjacket and thrown you in a cell. I don’t rule out anything any longer in this market. Desperate times lead to desperate acts,' said David Bloom, currency chief at HSBC." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSwitzerland and Britain are now at currency war

Portugal warns EU-IMF troika to back off on austerity demands

"Portugal has taken its medicine with stoicism until now, winning praise from the EU leaders for sticking to its bail-out terms. But Troika officials fear that 'social cohesion' is fraying as the slump deepens. The country saw the biggest street protest this autumn since the end of the Salazar dictatorship. Portugal’s jobless rate has risen from 13.7pc to 16.3pc over the past year, reaching 39pc for youth, even before the full impact of austerity hits." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPortugal warns EU-IMF troika to back off on austerity demands

Nigel Farage: This Is My Greatest Worry As We Head Into 2013

"What really has me worried, and this may go beyond 2013, but I think the one thing that is going to change is we’ve been through a period, since 2008, of interest rates being virtually zero. During that period of time, governments have racked up vast, vast amounts of debt, and are continuing to run huge budget deficits. And I think we are going to be heading into a world of rising interest rates. That is when our governments, who are continuing to run these deficits, are going to be in real, real trouble...." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNigel Farage: This Is My Greatest Worry As We Head Into 2013

Peter Schiff Doubles Down on Inflation Prediction

"Schiff looked at Bureau of Labor Statistics price changes for 20 goods and services between 1970 to 1980 and again between 2002 and 2012, decades that Schiff says were both periods of large deficits and loose monetary policy. Schiff found that his basket of goods increased 61% faster than CPI for the period between 2002 and 2012. In contrast, his basket rose just 5% faster than CPI from 1970 to 1980. 'How can you believe these statistics when the numbers are so flawed?' Schiff asks in response to his research on CPI." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPeter Schiff Doubles Down on Inflation Prediction

H.R. 193 would force farmers to pay a fee on saved seeds and register them

"H.R. 193 would change things for farmers who purchase patented seeds and then grow those seeds. After the harvest, many farmers save the seeds that they can, seeds produced from the product they already paid for. H.R. 193 would force those farmers who save their seeds to register those seeds with the Secretary of Agriculture. After they register those seeds, the farmers would then have to pay fees set aside by the Secretary of Agriculture for keeping the seeds, 'and for other purposes'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingH.R. 193 would force farmers to pay a fee on saved seeds and register them

America’s Platinum Express

"Even if you are Scott Sumner himself, you should be very alarmed when you’ve now got arguably the most prominent economist on Earth arguing that the government should start paying its bills with coupons that are then monetized by the Fed. That is just the barest step removed from having the Fed literally create new money to cover the government’s spending. Forget the macroeconomics for a second. Surely there is the faintest hint of Public Choice economics buried in the souls of the market monetarists. Can we all agree that Krugman’s flippant remarks above are downright alarming?" Continue reading →

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Expats in Spain warned to declare offshore assets

"Advisers with expatriate clients who are tax-resident in Spain say they are urgently reaching out to their clients to warn them that they must begin reporting to the Spanish tax authorities about any overseas assets they hold worth more than €50,000, following a recent change in the country’s tax regime. The new rules took effect yesterday, with Spanish residents with offshore holdings being expected to provide their first accounting of their non-Spanish assets between that date and 31 March 2013." Continue reading →

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France’s Socialists Generate A New Class Of Tax Exiles

"The message could not be clearer: The number of requests by French citizens to leave France are suddenly up by 400 to 500 percent. As far as my tax law business is concerned, we used to have three to five such cases a year, and we are already facing more than 20 this year. We are witnessing an explosive rise in tax exile since April 2012. Currently, however, we are seeing a lot of young entrepreneurs, not necessarily wealthy, but who would like to get wealthy and will not hand over their wealth to the government. The hopeful tax exiles are therefore getting younger: today they are aged between 35 and 50, and not between 55 and 70, as was seen before." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrance’s Socialists Generate A New Class Of Tax Exiles

Krugman: Let’s Just Print Funny Money

"Don’t like the platinum coin option? Here’s a functionally equivalent alternative: have the Treasury sell pieces of paper labeled 'moral obligation coupons', which declare the intention of the government to redeem these coupons at face value in one year. It should be clearly stated on the coupons that the government has no, repeat no, legal obligation to pay anything at all; you see, they’re not debt, and therefore don’t count against the debt limit. But that shouldn’t keep them from having substantial market value." Continue reading →

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