IMF Happy Talk Cannot Obscure Japan’s Reality

"Printing a lot of money is really helping the Japanese economy, according to the International Monetary Fund. In fact, according to the IMF, there's plenty of room to do more if need be. This is part of a larger trend we've been observing of late. Whether it is Janet Yellen in the US or Mark Carney in England or the ECB or the BOJ itself, aggressive money printing is becoming a signature calling card. So what is all this money printing accomplishing? Well ... from our point of view, it's nothing more or less than a promotional exercise. It's clear to us. We couldn't figure it out at first but now we can. They're printing because there's nothing else to do." Continue reading

Continue ReadingIMF Happy Talk Cannot Obscure Japan’s Reality

Carney Gets Ready to Blow Up the World

"This article is truly scary. Like a bullet across the bow, or the crack of a whip, it announces with certainty that the world's top bankers intend to blanket the world with faux currency. Carney was said by his central banking peers to be the 'best' central banker of his generation and his recent choice to head the Bank of England was therefore preordained. In fact, we figured that was a bit like being the 'best' used car salesman. But we were wrong. It's worse, much worse. What this article in the Financial Times tells us is that Carney was brought in not just to glad-hand the media and put a sympathetic face on this bloody and miserable facility, but his real brief is to use its powers to the utmost." Continue reading

Continue ReadingCarney Gets Ready to Blow Up the World

A Confiscation Tax is Headed Your Way …

"Scariest of all in the IMF’s assessment is the phrase: 'If it is implemented before avoidance is possible.' The IMF reflexively recognizes that the medicine it prescribes will not go down without force, and that those of us who can will rapidly seek ways to keep the government’s greedy paws away from our personal wealth. To counter that, the IMF implicitly advocates a blitzkrieg approach to governmental thievery. Imagine waking up some random Monday to find that the federal government has imposed a week-long 'bank holiday' that limits your access to your own money to maybe $200 a day through an ATM, and that the government is imposing a new 'wealth tax'. Can’t happen here in America?" Continue reading

Continue ReadingA Confiscation Tax is Headed Your Way …

Salon: One World After All

"An article in Salon is entitled 'Elites' strange plot to take over the world.' It is basically an admission of the entire globalist enterprise over the past half-century or so. It clearly admits what we all know – that top Western elites have been in an open conspiracy to merge the world, at least the Western world, under one legislative, economic and military regime. What makes the article important? Well ... start with its writer, Matt Stoller, who 'has a background in financial journalism and was a fellow at the [technocratic/socialist] Roosevelt Institute and an editor of the financial site Naked Capitalism.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingSalon: One World After All

Finally, the End of Keynesianism

"Are you a Keynesian? So many seem to be. Do you really believe that a properly functioning, mathematically literate approach to high finance can salvage what's left of the financial systems of the US, the West, the entire world? Top central bankers apparently don't. Just look at this article excerpt. They've retreated from the idea of tapering until 2014 and Peter Schiff was probably correct that they won't really taper at all because they can't. That should put an end to Keynesianism, though probably it won't. The technocratic meme of money control is the most cherished of all dominant social themes." Continue reading

Continue ReadingFinally, the End of Keynesianism

Plans for Political Union Unravel in Europe

"Advocates of tighter integration believe that the euro zone needs to go further by borrowing elements from the American system of federalism. Many proposals reflect a belief that the euro zone needs to partially mimic the U.S., where the dollar works well across all states partly because of budgets, bonds, financial oversight and depositor protection at the national level. Over the past year, however, the political winds have shifted. Interviews with more than a dozen officials across Europe reveal how plans for deeper integration have run aground as financial markets have calmed and mistrust has simmered between power centers including Berlin, Brussels and Paris." Continue reading

Continue ReadingPlans for Political Union Unravel in Europe

Switzerland will release bank account numbers to foreign financial police

"Switzerland will cooperate more closely on fighting money laundering, the Swiss body responsible said on Wednesday, marking a further loosening of bank secrecy a day after the country signed an accord to fight tax evasion. In legislation that will come into force on November 1, the Bern-based Money Laundering Reporting Office (MROS) said that Swiss authorities will be able to release the numbers of bank accounts opened in the country to foreign investigators. A day earlier, Switzerland, widely considered a tax haven and long criticized for its secretive banking culture, signed an international agreement to exchange information among more than 60 countries aimed at exposing tax dodgers." Continue reading

Continue ReadingSwitzerland will release bank account numbers to foreign financial police

Lebanese banks tightening regulations in line with U.S. laws

"Lebanese banks Thursday assured the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon David Hale they were strengthening measures to combat all forms of money laundering, terrorist funding and tax evasion. 'We are preparing, in collaboration with our international audit firm, a manual on AML and FATCA policies and procedures,' Association of Banks in Lebanon President Francois Bassil told the ambassador. 'It will be available very soon to all operating banks in Lebanon,' he said, adding that this would allow for 'a standardized and harmonized implementation of the new U.S. regulations.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingLebanese banks tightening regulations in line with U.S. laws

Caribbean and Central America Close Tax Loopholes

"In Panama, owners of bearer shares no longer have their anonymity ensured. In the Cayman Islands, tax information will soon be shared under the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). These are just two striking examples of how jurisdictions in Central America and the Caribbean are cracking down on tax cheats. For decades, Switzerland prided itself as a haven for the world’s most affluent, with strict provisions for privacy. But now the former advantages of isolation and non-compliance are becoming a liability due to the limitations they place on access to the global financial system." Continue reading

Continue ReadingCaribbean and Central America Close Tax Loopholes

IMF Discusses A Super Tax Of 10% On All Savings In Eurozone

"One of the latest reports from the IMF discusses a super taxation of 10% on savings in the Eurozone. That would solve the debt problem in most sovereign countries. It would be an alternative of higher taxes or spending cuts. The economists who wrote the paper hasten to say that it is a theoretical proposal. Still, it appears to be 'an efficient solution' for the debt problem. For a group of 15 European countries such a measure would bring the debt ratio to 'acceptable' levels, i.e. comparable to levels before the 2008 crisis. One of the graphs (page 14) is also noteworthy: 'Relative to previous projections, fiscal deficits are somewhat larger in most countries, reflecting a weaker economic environment.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingIMF Discusses A Super Tax Of 10% On All Savings In Eurozone