Mainstream News

Greece: Crony Capitalists Will Squeeze You and Freeze You

"The household price for heating oil in Greece reached 1,266 euros per 1,000 liters (264 gallons) in the second quarter of 2012, surging 48 percent from a year earlier, according to the International Energy Agency. Greeks pay both excise and value-added taxes on heating oil that can make up 42 percent of the total cost. Greece’s oil prices are high because of laws that protect the country’s two refining companies and prevent competition, said Pavlos Eleftheriadis, a lecturer in law at the University of Oxford in England, who studies monopolies. 'The Greek political system works for the insiders,' said Eleftheriadis, a native of Greece." Continue reading →

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Ecuador Central Bank President Resigns After Admitting Fake Degree

"The president of Ecuador’s central bank, Pedro Delgado, resigned late Wednesday after admitting he faked having a university degree. Mr. Delgado, a cousin of President Rafael Correa, also resigned from his administrative posts with other state agencies. 'I committed an error, a serious error 22 years ago. I made a mistaken decision in order to reach an academic goal. I made mistake and I am paying the price now,' he said." Continue reading →

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Robert Parker’s wine ‘bible’ moving to Singapore

"Influential US wine critic Robert Parker is moving the headquarters of his newsletter to Singapore after selling a major stake to investors based in the city-state, a report said. Parker told the Wall Street Journal he intends to step down as editor-in-chief of The Wine Advocate and phase out its print edition, giving oversight to his Singapore-based Asia correspondent, Lisa Perrotti-Brown. 'The Asian market has come of age in the last decade or so, and it would be unrealistic not to expect to be part of it,' he said. He declined to name his new investors but described them as 'young visionaries' in financial services and information technology based in Singapore." Continue reading →

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Chinese buyers lead foreign investment in US housing market

"Non-American buyers accounted for $82 billion in home sales last year. More than $7 billion of that is by the Chinese, who are now the second largest foreign home purchasers after Canadians. They're buying high-end, multimillion-dollar homes from California to New York and paying cash. While some of the Chinese buyers live in the U.S. full or part-time, realtors estimate about 40 percent of the homes are for investments. They're snapping up houses in states hit hard by foreclosures such as Nevada and Florida. Some are buying two or three homes at a time. Buyers from China also invested almost $2 billion in commercial property in 2011." Continue reading →

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Asia, not North America, now has most millionaires

"Millionaire wealth in the United States and Canada in 2011 fell 2.3 percent to $11.4 trillion - still the wealthiest region by this measure - though it had 1.1 percent fewer millionaires, slipping by about 39,000 to a total of 3.35 million. Strong economic growth in China and other markets increased the ranks of millionaires across the Asia-Pacific region by 1.6 percent to a total of 3.37 million, as Asia vaulted past North America as home to the most millionaires." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAsia, not North America, now has most millionaires

U.S. Treasury to miss deadline on FATCA tax crackdown

"The Treasury Department will miss a year-end deadline to publish final rules for a new global tax enforcement regime targeting the offshore assets of U.S. taxpayers. FATCA was enacted in 2010 after an outcry over a Swiss banking scandal that revealed U.S. taxpayers had hidden millions of dollars in assets overseas from the Internal Revenue Service. The law requires foreign financial institutions to tell the tax-collecting IRS about Americans' offshore accounts worth more than $50,000. International businesses ranging from Western Union Co to BlackRock Inc are waiting anxiously to see the rules so they can figure out how to comply with the law." Continue reading →

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Putin offers French actor Gerard Depardieu Russian passport following tax controversy

"Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he was ready to offer French movie star Gerard Depardieu a Russian passport to resolve his tax row, calling him a friend. 'If Gerard really wants to have a residency permit in Russia or a Russian passport, we can consider this issue resolved positively,' Putin said at his first major news conference after his return to the Kremlin in a March election. Depardieu on Sunday threatened to give up his French passport and take up Belgian citizenship to protest at the Socialist government’s new tax hike on the rich." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPutin offers French actor Gerard Depardieu Russian passport following tax controversy

UBS Libor-fixing fine may reach $1.5 billion

"Swiss banking giant UBS may be slapped with a combined fine of $1.5 billion (1.1 billion euros) to settle allegations that it manipulated Libor interest rates, the Financial Times reported Tuesday. Around three dozen bankers and senior managers will be implicated, and according to the terms of the deal, the Swiss bank’s Japanese subsidiary will plead guilty to a US criminal offence, the paper said. If the Financial Times report is correct, the Swiss bank would be hit with one of the biggest fines ever imposed on a financial institution." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUBS Libor-fixing fine may reach $1.5 billion

Police Raid at Deutsche Bank World Headquarters

"Frankfurt raid at Deutsche Bank: Before the Twin Towers are ten VW team buses and two large Mercedes buses of the Federal Police, in the foyer, five riot police taken a position. Tax inspectors and officials in suits and ties and black arm bands with the word 'police' rush out of the elevator into a conference room. They wear heavy black briefcase, a staff member described the start of the raid as 'martial'. Against five unnamed employees of Deutsche Bank warrants were issued, total is now calculated against 25 bankers. It now not only going to tax evasion, but also to the charge of money laundering." Continue reading →

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Could 2 platinum coins solve debt crisis?

"If President Obama wants to avoid an economic calamity next year, he could always show up at a news conference bearing two shiny platinum coins, each worth ... $1 trillion. That sounds wacky, but some economists and legal scholars have suggested that the 'platinum coin option' is one way to defuse a debt ceiling crisis. Under this scenario, the U.S. Mint would make a pair of trillion-dollar platinum coins. The president orders the coins to be deposited at the Federal Reserve. The Fed moves this money into Treasury's accounts. And just like that, Treasury suddenly has an extra $2 trillion to pay off its obligations for the next two years." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCould 2 platinum coins solve debt crisis?