money

South Dakota College Tests Fingerprint Purchasing Technology

"On a recent Friday, mechanical engineering major Bernard Keeler handed a Red Bull to a cashier in the Miner's Shack campus shop, typed his birthdate into a pay pad and swiped his finger. Within seconds, the machine had identified his print and checked that blood was pulsing beneath it, allowing him to make the buy. Afterward, Keeler proudly showed off the receipt he was sent via email on his smartphone. It's the extra layer of protection — that deeper check to ensure the finger has a pulse — that researchers say sets this technology apart from already-existing digital fingerprint scans." Continue reading →

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U.S. to let spy agencies scour Americans’ finances

"The Obama administration is drawing up plans to give all U.S. spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the country, according to a Treasury Department document seen by Reuters. The proposed plan represents a major step by U.S. intelligence agencies to spot and track down terrorist networks and crime syndicates by bringing together financial databanks, criminal records and military intelligence." Continue reading →

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Former Santa Fe cop arrested for printing counterfeit $100 bills

"Former Santa Fe police officer Anthony Rivera and brother Dominic were arrested Sunday and charged with overseeing the production of fake $100 bills, created using $20′s that were stripped of their color using paint thinner. The two men, 44 and 34 respectively, were arrested along with 20-year-old Tyler Ament and accused of creating more than $1,200 in counterfeit currency. Police broke the case last week after Ament tried to use one of the bills at a gas station and a clerk turned him away. Ament returned to the gas station for cigarettes after buying jeans at a local Kohls and officers were waiting for him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer Santa Fe cop arrested for printing counterfeit $100 bills

Why Bond Market Bulls Are About to Get Crushed

"We have the lowest interest rates in 250 years – lower than at any time since the founding of the country – created by the Federal Reserve forcing interest rates to zero in the short term. In addition, we have the Fed encouraging banks to help lower rates through buying Treasuries. On top of this, we also have some $350 trillion of swaps derivatives of interest rates – more than half of all the derivatives out there are interest-rate derivatives. Banks use these swaps to transmit lower rates to other debt instruments based on what can they can get from the Fed. This drives all rates down. We've seen 30 years of declining interest rates." Continue reading →

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At BoE, Mark Carney could be handed powers to spur economy

"Last month, the Treasury set up a unit to explore changes to the Bank's remit amid mounting political pressure for action to boost economic growth. Options include giving the Monetary Policy Committee greater time to bring inflation back to the 2pc target, handing the Bank a dual mandate to target both employment and inflation – similar to that of the Federal Reserve in America – or targeting spending in the economy rather than inflation. The Canadian central banker, who replaces Sir Mervyn King in July, has said that 'considerable monetary policy' is required to take up the slack in the British economy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAt BoE, Mark Carney could be handed powers to spur economy

Banking group warns there’s too much ‘easy money’ in global economy

"An influential group of leading world banks warned Thursday that central banks are pumping out too much easy money and markets risk becoming dangerously addicted to ultra-low interest rates. The Institute of International Finance, which groups 450 banks, said if central banks continue to flood money into the global economy then any future bid to get it under control could itself destabilize the financial system. 'These conditions — quantitative easing, very low interest rates — cannot last forever, but the risk is that financial markets have become addicted to them,' it warned." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBanking group warns there’s too much ‘easy money’ in global economy

Some Breathing Room for Iran

"A recent letter from a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators to the presidents of the European Council and European Central Bank has shed light on the Iranian use of the European Central Bank’s Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer System—also known as Target 2. This allows Iran to convert Iranian rials into euros. With euros in hand, Iran has far more latitude to conduct foreign transactions than it otherwise could with their increasingly worthless currency. The Senators urged the European Central Bank to immediately block Iranian access to Target 2." Continue reading →

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Some Breathing Room for Iran

"A recent letter from a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators to the presidents of the European Council and European Central Bank has shed light on the Iranian use of the European Central Bank’s Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer System—also known as Target 2. This allows Iran to convert Iranian rials into euros. With euros in hand, Iran has far more latitude to conduct foreign transactions than it otherwise could with their increasingly worthless currency. The Senators urged the European Central Bank to immediately block Iranian access to Target 2." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSome Breathing Room for Iran

Egyptian Austerity Seen as Inflation Goes Up Hard

"Egypt's policy, apparently, is to engineer a controlled devaluation and hope that the IMF will come to the rescue. In the meantime, Egypt's reserves are being depleted and a surge in oil or commodity prices would put the bank and the country as a whole deeper into insolvency. It is regularly taught that only enlightened central bank monetary control can lift nations out of financial crises but as the 21st century dawns, it increasingly seems that the reverse is true. Central banks fix the price of money and price-fixing inevitably fails. As a result, most central banks lurch from one crisis to another, participating first in sustained booms and then terrible busts." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEgyptian Austerity Seen as Inflation Goes Up Hard