Pot & Kettle

The Real Surveillance Problem

"The real story—and scandal—of intelligence surveillance and incidental collection is the mass incidental collection and use of Americans’ communications without a warrant. Under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), countless Americans are subject to the same incidental collection that President Trump now thinks is a serious problem, and the rules for accessing and using those communications are far more lax than the Susan Rice process, and totally unrelated to foreign intelligence and national security." Continue reading →

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The 45 times Trump said attacking Syria was a bad idea and might start WWIII

"In October, Trump blasted then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's position on Syria — that the U.S. military should take out al-Assad's airfields, the exact type of strike Trump ordered Thursday — by saying attacking a Russian-backed government could start World War III." Continue reading →

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Trump said Obama needed war authority from Congress. Will he ask for it now?

"A senior administration official told reporters on Friday that the president acted pursuant to his authority under Article 2 of the Constitution, which makes him commander in chief. And, the aide said, top officials including Vice President Mike Pence are in 'constant contact with congressional leaders.' On Thursday night, Trump laid out conventional U.S. rationales for unilateral military action in a way that suggests he does not see a need for formal authority from Congress." Continue reading →

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Barclays fined $44 million over gold price fixing

"A U.K. financial regulator has fined Barclays (BCS) $43.8 million after it accused a former trader at the bank of improperly influencing gold prices. The British bank will be fined £26 million ($43.8 million) for failures that allowed trader Daniel James Plunkett to exploit the weaknesses in Barclays' systems and controls to seek to influence the price of gold, which allowed the firm to 'profit at a customer's expense,' according to a news release. The fine was handed down by the Financial Conduct Authority. Separately, Plunkett was fined £95,600, or about $161,000." Continue reading →

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Fed Warns Of Crackdown On Leveraged-Buyout Deals

"The Federal Reserve warned it may need to take additional action to rein in banks' funding of corporate takeovers after observing continued deterioration of lending standards this year. The statements were the latest warning that U.S. regulators want banks to end practices they see as risky in so-called leveraged lending markets. The Fed and the Office of the Comptroller told banks in March 2013 to avoid funding takeover deals that would leave companies with high levels of debt. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said that some bank-underwriting standards had loosened as a response to investor appetite for additional risk, a byproduct of low interest rates." Continue reading →

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Western banking regulations could be ‘mutually destructive’: IMF

"Western governments have put in place banking regulations that could be 'mutually destructive' and undermine efforts to prevent bust banks from costing taxpayers billions of pounds, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund. Policymakers representing the world's biggest financial centres have failed to make the banking sector stand on its own feet by ending implicit subsidies and co-ordinating rescue plans when multinational banks go bust, the Washington-based lender of last resort said. Subsidies to the banking sector in some countries are as high as they were before the crash, amounting to $590bn (£355bn), with the eurozone the worst affected." Continue reading →

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Bitcoins are like ‘glass beads’, warns Danish national bank

"The Danish national bank has released a briefing note firmly declaring bitcoin to not be money, noting that the currency is more like 'glass beads'. Denmark’s national bank is just the latest central bank to inveigh against bitcoin. In January, Malaysia’s central bank warned citizens that 'the Bitcoin is not recognised as legal tender in Malaysia… the public is therefore advised to be cautious of the risks.' In December 2013, the People’s Bank of China banned the country’s financial institutions from trading in the currency, shortly after the former president of the Dutch Central Bank said the currency’s boom was 'worse than the tulip mania'." Continue reading →

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Congressman Calls To Ban U.S. Dollar After Senator’s Bitcoin Ban Idea

"Congressman Jared Polis is calling on the Treasury to ban physical dollars in response to Senator Manchin’s plea to ban Bitcoin. 'The exchange of dollar bills, including high denomination bills, is currently unregulated and has allowed users to participate in illicit activity, while also being highly subject to forgery, theft, and loss,' wrote Polis in a statement. To be sure, the Congressman is being cheeky. 'This is just a satirical version of Senator Manchin’s letter, meant to draw attention to the fact that BitCoins are not any more susceptible to the problems that the Senator points out than dollars,' said Spokesperson Scott Overland." Continue reading →

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Texas Tells Company to Stop Investments Using Bitcoin

"Texas regulators ordered an energy company to stop accepting Bitcoin for investments in oil and natural-gas wells, the first action of its kind by a state securities commissioner. Balanced Energy LLC, in the Dallas suburb of Southlake, was directed to stop selling unregistered securities using the digital currency, Texas Securities Commissioner John Morgan said yesterday in a statement. The order reflects concern that investors using Bitcoin might not get their money back, said Bob Webster, a spokesman for the Washington-based North American Securities Administrators Association. Webster described the order as the first of its kind." Continue reading →

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Gold Fix Study Shows Signs of Decade of Bank Manipulation

"The London gold fix, the benchmark used by miners, jewelers and central banks to value the metal, may have been manipulated for a decade by the banks setting it, researchers say. The paper is the first to raise the possibility that the five banks overseeing the century-old rate -- Barclays Plc, Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) and Societe Generale SA (GLE) -- may have been actively working together to manipulate the benchmark. Authorities around the world, already investigating the manipulation of benchmarks from interest rates to foreign exchange, are examining the $20 trillion gold market for signs of wrongdoing." Continue reading →

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