Orwellian

UK tax office to get power to raid bank accounts without court order

"At the moment, if HMRC want to seize your property or cash, they have to take you to court, win and then get a court order. Now, after a couple of warning letters and a phone call, they apparently can do it at the flick of a switch. Crucially, there’s no safeguard built into this system – where's the appeal process? To repeat, if HMRC decide you owe them cash, they just take it. If you haven't managed to reach agreement with them, then you'll just wake up one morning, check your bank account, and find the money's gone. We're told that 'a minimum of £5,000 will be left across debtors’ accounts.' That’s a very low threshold – especially for a business or a pensioner." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUK tax office to get power to raid bank accounts without court order

Europol: Police need powers to tackle virtual money laundering

"The head of the European Union's policing agency warned on Monday that virtual currencies such as Bitcoin were being used for money laundering and called for police to be given more powers to identify criminal suspects operating on the Internet. 'We're seeing that virtual currencies are being used as an instrument to facilitate crime, particularly in regard to the laundering of illicit profits,' said Europol head Rob Wainwright, speaking on the margins of a nuclear security conference in The Hague. Wainwright said police should be given new powers to allow them to identify anonymous participants online and bring them to justice." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEuropol: Police need powers to tackle virtual money laundering

Visa, Mastercard block US-sanctioned Russian banks

"International payment system Mastercard has stopped serving clients of seven Russian lenders, after the US issued sanctions against it regarding Russia’s position over the Ukrainian turmoil. Rossiya Bank was blocked by both Mastercard and Visa, with the latter also cutting ties with Sobinbank, SMP Bank and Investcapitalbank. Washington’s move is meant to put pressure on people they see as members of President Vladimir Putin’s 'inner circle'. The bank’s owner, Yury Kovalchuk, is on the list as well, as an individual. Visa and Mastercard have a record of bowing to political decisions from Washington, most notably in blocking donations to the WikiLeaks whistleblower website." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVisa, Mastercard block US-sanctioned Russian banks

Head of Dutch Libertarian Party Arrested Just Weeks Before Election

"The former chairman of the Dutch Libertarian Party, Toine Manders has been kidnapped in Cyprus by the FIOD (the Dutch IRS) and is currently locked away in the Netherlands in complete isolation (aside from his lawyer), in an undisclosed location. He is being held for an extended 90-day period, the charges for which are unknown. Toine Manders began his career by giving legal advice to young Dutch men who wanted to avoid military conscription. Toine Manders had attracted special attention from the government by running controversial ads that stated 'Taxation is theft', and that it was people’s moral duty to pay as little in taxes as possible, as the government is a criminal enterprise." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHead of Dutch Libertarian Party Arrested Just Weeks Before Election

Is The NSA Changing Bank Accounts?

"The panels' recommendations are heartening because they are overwhelmingly critical of the NSA; the panel went so far as to unanimously call for splitting up the agency and for safeguards such as transparency. This is another surprise because the panel was hand-picked by Obama and included the die-hard loyalist Cass Sunstein and former CIA deputy director Michael J. Morell. Obama quickly indicated his rejection of some of the panels' recommendations. Meanwhile, everyone should make sure they have a print copy and a screen shot of their latest financial statements on hand. People should consider holding assets in a less conventional place than large and 'trusted' financial institutions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs The NSA Changing Bank Accounts?

Paul Craig Roberts: Manipulations Rule The Markets

"Until a whistleblower speaks, we cannot know for certain, but my conclusion is that the Fed understands that it must protect the dollar from being driven down by QE and that the orchestrated takedowns of gold are part of protecting the dollar’s value, and perhaps also the cutback in QE is a part of the protection by signaling an end of money creation. The Fed also understands that it cannot forever drive down the gold price and that it cannot forever pour liquidity into stock and bond markets. To retreat from this policy without crashing the edifice requires successful orchestrations. Therefore, we are likely to experience more of them in the days to come." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: Manipulations Rule The Markets

S&P: Britain’s euroscepticism a major factor in EU’s loss of triple-A rating

"Britain’s political debate over the future of its EU membership and the Prime Minister’s promise of European referendum in 2017 were cited as important factors in the uncertainty surrounding the Union’s future. 'The UK has recently passed a bill calling for a referendum on continued EU membership, which is the first time in the EU's history that a sitting government has proposed such a step,' said the S&P statement. 'Although this potential plebiscite is set for 2017, the UK general elections are expected in 2015 and we expect EU membership to be a key debate.' Cuts to the EU budget earlier this year, for the first time in its 56 years history, are regarded as a major risk." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingS&P: Britain’s euroscepticism a major factor in EU’s loss of triple-A rating

Sweden moves closer to a cashless society with new business registry

"The troublesome legislation does not end with a government registry and yet another extraction of resources from the citizens. Businesses must now in many cases also violate the privacy of its customers. According to the law, businesses or their employees must obtain detailed knowledge about its customers and also ask for their identification. Any suspicious activity should be reported to the financial police. Funnily enough businesses does not have to obtain knowledge about their customers if they are dealing with Swedish authorities or with banks and insurance companies. Article 2 section 5 of the law states that these are exempt." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSweden moves closer to a cashless society with new business registry

Report Suggests NSA Engaged In Bank Account Manipulation

"Governments should not use their offensive cyber capabilities to change the amounts held in financial accounts or otherwise manipulate the financial system.' While there have been plenty of reports about the US running hundreds of offensive cyberattacks on others, outside of things like Stuxnet, not many have been directly identified. And I'm unaware of any claims suggesting attempts to 'manipulate the financial system' of any particular country and/or to 'change the amounts held in financial accounts.' It seems a bit odd to come out of the blue like that, and certainly suggests that this particular bullet point likely came as a result of a rather specific thing that came up during the task force's review. " Continue reading →

Continue ReadingReport Suggests NSA Engaged In Bank Account Manipulation

Tell President Obama to Support Warrants for Email Spying

"The IRS, FBI, DEA, and even local law enforcement can access your stored emails, private social media messages, and cloud documents, without a warrant. Bills to reform ECPA have gained huge support in recent months from both parties in Congress. But... A power grab by the Securities and Exchange Commission is now blocking this legislation. They want a special carve-out so regulatory agencies can continue to access your documents without a warrant. This would neuter ECPA reform. The SEC did NOTHING to stop Bernie Madoff, even when they had legally acquired evidence. Shouldn't they first demonstrate more ability to use legal evidence before asking for illegal sources?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTell President Obama to Support Warrants for Email Spying