Mainstream News

A Desperate US Mint Testing New Metals to Make Coins Cheaper to Mint

"The Federal Reserve has so debased the value of the dollar that it is now very expensive for the U.S. Mint to buy buy and use copper, nickel and zinc in the coins it produces. Currently, a penny costs more than two cents and a nickel costs more than 11 cents to make and distribute. A 400-page report presented last week to Congress outlines nearly two years of trials conducted at the Mint in Philadelphia, where a variety of metal recipes were put through their paces in the massive facility's high-speed coin-making machinery. But the Mint couldn't find any good replacements. Evaluations of 29 different alloys concluded that none met the ideal list of attributes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Desperate US Mint Testing New Metals to Make Coins Cheaper to Mint

Too little punishment for Pr. George’s police officer’s assault

"If a witness hadn’t shot video of two Prince George’s County police officers savagely beating John McKenna, a University of Maryland student, after a March 2010 men’s basketball game, that would probably have been the end of it. The officers didn’t file a report, as required, on their use of force. When initially questioned about the beating, they lied. And when they filled out the initial paperwork on the incident, police said Mr. McKenna had sustained his injuries, including a concussion, from being kicked by a police horse. Thanks to the video, and to the persistence of Mr. McKenna’s lawyers in uncovering it, the coverup didn’t work." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingToo little punishment for Pr. George’s police officer’s assault

FBI is investigating former Utah trooper Lisa Steed

"The FBI is investigating former Utah Highway Patrol Cpl. Lisa Steed for civil rights violations, an attorney said Sunday. Michael Studebaker said 10 of his clients recently spoke to FBI agents. He said his clients have not been asked to speak to a grand jury. Steed has been accused of arresting people for DUI who were sober. Two judges have found Steed lied on the witness stand." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFBI is investigating former Utah trooper Lisa Steed

Chicago cop whose home was raided is awarded $565,000 in damages

"When Chicago police broke into his Austin home with guns drawn and a search warrant, Markee Cooper Sr., a cop himself, and his family could only look on as drawers and closets were searched for crack cocaine based on an alleged informant's tip. On Friday, a federal jury awarded Cooper and his family $565,000 in damages after finding one officer at fault for a falsified warrant and two others responsible for the illegal 2007 search. Their two young sons, Markee Jr., 13, and Zion, 8, were traumatized at seeing their father confront a roomful of cops with guns before kneeling to the living room floor and handing over his badge and weapon." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChicago cop whose home was raided is awarded $565,000 in damages

Leszek Balcerowicz: The Anti-Bernanke

"As an economic crisis manager, Leszek Balcerowicz has few peers. When communism fell in Europe, he pioneered 'shock therapy' to slay hyperinflation and build a free market. In the late 1990s, he jammed a debt ceiling into his country's constitution, handcuffing future free spenders. When he was central-bank governor from 2001 to 2007, his hard-money policies avoided a credit boom and likely bust. Poland was the only country in the European Union to avoid recession in 2009 and has been the fastest-growing EU economy since." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLeszek Balcerowicz: The Anti-Bernanke

Treasury announces GM exit strategy; automaker buying 200 million shares from U.S.

"The Obama administration said Wednesday it will sell 40 percent of its remaining stake in General Motors Co. back to the automaker and announced plans to completely exit by March 2014. The exit timetable signals the end of one of the most extraordinary government interventions in the U.S. economy in history — the rescue and partial nationalization of two U.S. automakers and their finance arms supported by two U.S. presidents. Taxpayers will almost certainly lose billions of dollars in the $49.5 billion GM bailout. If the government sold the rest of its stock at current prices, taxpayers would lose more than $13 billion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTreasury announces GM exit strategy; automaker buying 200 million shares from U.S.

Georgia supervisor, coworkers and four others cashed 1,300 U.S. Treasury checks before authorities caught them

"The former supervisor at an Atlanta mail distribution facility, a coworker and four others pled guilty this month to stealing $3 million in U.S. Treasury checks, including veterans benefits, tax refunds and Social Security checks. By the time authorities figured out the scheme, the small theft ring had stolen or cashed 1,300 federal checks, officials said. And the Georgia workers aren't alone. Between April and September of this year, 171 Postal Service employees were arrested for theft, willful delay or destruction of mail, according to a new report by the USPS inspector general. The Service has about 546,000 employees." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGeorgia supervisor, coworkers and four others cashed 1,300 U.S. Treasury checks before authorities caught them

Germans hoarding mountains of gold

"Like Scrooge McDuck or the dragon Smaug in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, Germans are gathering vast quantities of gold - a study showed that the average German owns close to €6,000 worth of the shiny metal. Even though Europe's largest economy has weathered the world economic crisis relatively well, Germans have still been extra jittery about their savings, a study by the Steinbeis Research Center for Financial Services in Berlin revealed. Around 32 percent of the gold owned in Germany in the form of bars and coins was accumulated since the financial and economic crises began, the study concluded." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGermans hoarding mountains of gold

An Afghan Mystery: Why Are Large Shipments of Gold Leaving the Country?

"Without knowledge of how much gold is leaving, it is impossible to calculate the value of the trade. But airport security forms that cover the last two weeks of October indicate about 560 pounds, worth about $14 million, were carried by hand out of Afghanistan during that period. That is a princely sum in one of the world’s 10 poorest countries. But it is perhaps a measure of the current state of affairs in Afghanistan that seemingly no one — not Afghan bank regulators, not American investigators of illicit financing, not European economic experts — found it particularly surprising that gold appears to have joined bank notes in the skies over Afghanistan." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAn Afghan Mystery: Why Are Large Shipments of Gold Leaving the Country?

Actor Gerard Depardieu ‘giving up French passport’ in tax controversy

"France’s leading actor Gerard Depardieu said on Sunday he was giving up his French passport after being 'insulted' by the prime minister calling him 'pathetic' for becoming a tax exile in Belgium. In an open letter to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, the 63-year-old 'Cyrano de Bergerac' and 'Green Card' star said he had been treated unfairly after years of supporting France and paying millions of euros in taxes. Depardieu has joined some of France’s wealthiest business figures in Belgium following moves by President Francois Hollande’s Socialist government to tax annual incomes above one million euros ($1.3 million) at 75 percent." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingActor Gerard Depardieu ‘giving up French passport’ in tax controversy