money

Greek Banks Reopen but Cash Limits Remain and Taxes Soar

"The cash-strapped nation got a short-term loan from European creditors to pay more than 6 billion euros ($6.5 billion) owed to the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. But for most Greeks, already buffeted by six years of recession, Monday was all about rising prices as tax hikes demanded by creditors took effect. There are few parts of the Greek economy left untouched by the steep increase in the sales tax from 13 to 23 percent. strict controls on cash flows, including a ban on check-cashing and payments abroad as well as limits on cash withdrawals, remained in effect. New rules permit the withdrawal of up to 420 euros a week." Continue reading →

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IRS Agents Rob Convenience Store

"In June 2014, the government seized Ken Quran's entire bank account—more than $150,000. This was money that Ken worked for years to earn, and that he was counting on for his retirement. Ken had no prior warning before the government seized the account. The government told him they were taking the money because he withdrew cash from the bank in amounts under $10,000." Continue reading →

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Gold price falls to five-year low on US rate rise talk

"The gold price has fallen to its lowest level in more than five years as talk of a US interest rate rise has led investors to sell the precious metal. Gold closed 2.5% lower at $1,104.60 an ounce in London, having earlier fallen below $1,100 an ounce for the first time since March 2010. The gold price is now more than 40% below its August 2011 peak. The stronger US economy has led investors to expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year. The expectations have led investors to gradually sell gold - a perceived safe haven investment in times of crisis - to invest elsewhere. Other commodities have also fallen, with the price of platinum down 5% - its weakest level since the crisis." Continue reading →

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The Bank Branch: An Endangered Species?

"At Citigroup (C), we just learned that 15% have been eliminated in the past year. That leaves only 779 in North America. At Bank of America (BAC), 234 have gone the way of the dodo in the past several months. At JPMorgan Chase (JPM), 300 are being shuttered as we speak. I’m talking about one of the 21st century’s biggest endangered species: the bank branch. And chances are, you’re helping eliminate them almost every single day. When was the last time you deposited a check with an actual bank teller? Or even at an ATM? I can’t remember personally, and for a very simple reason. I bank with Chase, and the company’s smartphone app lets me do it right from my iPhone 6!" Continue reading →

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Ron Paul: Greece Today, America Tomorrow?

"While most commentators have focused on Greece’s welfare state, much of Greece’s deficit was caused by excessive military spending. Greece’s military budget remains among the largest in the European Union. Despite all the handwringing over how the phony sequestration cuts have weakened America’s defenses, the United States military budget remains larger than the combined budgets of the world’s next 15 highest spending militaries. Little, if any, of the military budget is spent defending the American people from foreign threats. Instead, the American government wastes billions of dollars on an imperial foreign policy that makes Americans less safe." Continue reading →

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IRS Seeks To Require Reporting Of All U.S. Bank Accounts

"Currently, information reports are not required on non-interest accounts, while there is a $10 threshold for reporting on interest bearing accounts. This change would be effective for the current tax year of 2015, giving banks and credit unions little time to adapt their systems for compliance. Should this provision be enacted, taxpayers will be awash in new 1099s reporting de minimis amounts of interest. In many cases, they will report less than a one dollar in earned interest per year. Additionally, this new reporting requirement will impose substantial costs on the financial services industry that far exceed the revenue that will be gained by the proposal." Continue reading →

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Paypal Shuts Down in Greece; Bitcoin Still Operates

"Capital controls imposed by the Greek government mean that Greek citizens can only withdraw 60 euros (effectively 50 euros after ATMs have run out of 20 euro notes) and online payment service, PayPal, has been left crippled, as a result. PayPal relies on the traditional banking sector and credit card industry for all its transactions to flow. Fact is, there is an old-style bank that underpins nearly every finance tech start-up that purports to threaten and disrupt the old guard. Examples are peer-to-peer lending platforms such as Prosper and Lending Club. Neither company holds the loans they award on their own balance sheets, but, instead, acquire the funds from WebBank, Salt Lake City, Utah." Continue reading →

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How to offshore your credit card with China’s Unionpay

"China created Unionpay 13 years ago to serve as its own interbank for payments. The unique benefit of Unionpay is that is controlled by the People’s Bank of China and has no relation to the western banking system. In fact, the Russian government is using the system while they build their own payment system to get away from western systems. One Russian billionaire commented that he got a Unionpay-backed card to protect himself after US sanctions were imposed on Russia. You can get a Unionpay card by opening a bank account in Mainland China. Interestingly enough, wealthy Chinese are even using Unionpay for capital flight out of Mainland China." Continue reading →

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Visa CEO Charlie Scharf: Moving at the speed of money

"West Coast venture capitalists see Visa as an oligopolistic dinosaur and are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into rivals that use bitcoin. Meanwhile, banks, which collect the bulk of the fees from merchants, are warily eyeing Visa’s efforts to bypass them and forge direct relationships with retailers by offering one-click internet transactions and providing data on consumer behaviour that only Visa possesses. None of which seems to faze Visa’s chief executive, Charlie Scharf. In time, he says, would-be Visa disruptors all discover—just as internet upstarts PayPal, Square and Uber did—that it is simply easier and more economical to work with his leviathan than fight it." Continue reading →

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Risky Loans Shunned by Banks Are Booming in Wall Street’s Shadow

"Regulators’ efforts to rein in Wall Street’s biggest banks are in danger of backfiring. Guidelines aimed at strengthening lending standards are shifting the market for high-yield credit to less-supervised loan funds, raising alarm this week from the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Because the funds don’t have depositors, some of their money comes from Wall Street banks, leaving systemically important institutions exposed to risks regulators hoped to avoid. BDCs and private credit funds [are called] 'Dodd-Frank banks' because they’ve grown in the wake of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act’s heightened supervisory scrutiny of regulated lenders." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRisky Loans Shunned by Banks Are Booming in Wall Street’s Shadow