regime uncertainty

Chinese farmer ‘privatizes’ part of Great Wall to develop new tourist attraction

"At the farthest end of the Great Wall, Yang Yongfu limps along the section he arduously restored, in effect 'privatising' it and putting himself on a collision course with the authorities. The farmer spent five million yuan ($800,000) and years of backbreaking work renovating several hundred metres of the national symbol deep in northwestern China, turning it into a tourist site. He set up an entrance area for tourists, complete with a car park and fishpond, and his wife Tao Huiping collects the 25 yuan admittance fee at the ticket booth — a table in the open air. A 2006 law gave the government the exclusive right to manage national relics — making Yang’s project illegal." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChinese farmer ‘privatizes’ part of Great Wall to develop new tourist attraction

Chinese farmer ‘privatizes’ part of Great Wall to develop new tourist attraction

"At the farthest end of the Great Wall, Yang Yongfu limps along the section he arduously restored, in effect 'privatising' it and putting himself on a collision course with the authorities. The farmer spent five million yuan ($800,000) and years of backbreaking work renovating several hundred metres of the national symbol deep in northwestern China, turning it into a tourist site. He set up an entrance area for tourists, complete with a car park and fishpond, and his wife Tao Huiping collects the 25 yuan admittance fee at the ticket booth — a table in the open air. A 2006 law gave the government the exclusive right to manage national relics — making Yang’s project illegal." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChinese farmer ‘privatizes’ part of Great Wall to develop new tourist attraction

Chinese farmer ‘privatizes’ part of Great Wall to develop new tourist attraction

"At the farthest end of the Great Wall, Yang Yongfu limps along the section he arduously restored, in effect 'privatising' it and putting himself on a collision course with the authorities. The farmer spent five million yuan ($800,000) and years of backbreaking work renovating several hundred metres of the national symbol deep in northwestern China, turning it into a tourist site. He set up an entrance area for tourists, complete with a car park and fishpond, and his wife Tao Huiping collects the 25 yuan admittance fee at the ticket booth — a table in the open air. A 2006 law gave the government the exclusive right to manage national relics — making Yang’s project illegal." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChinese farmer ‘privatizes’ part of Great Wall to develop new tourist attraction

With Bullets Scarce, More Shooters Make Their Own

"Gun stores around the country have had difficulty keeping up with demand for ammunition in recent months. Fears of government tightening of gun and ammunition controls have meant that retailers, from Wal-Mart to mom-and-pop gun shops, haven't been able to keep bullets on the shelves. Shopper Robert Nicholson, like thousands of other shooters, is going a different route. He's making more of the bullets he shoots. Shop owner Cliff Poser says the scarcity of ready-made bullets has frustrated shooters to the point they're spending between $200 and $1,000 to get into the hobby known as 'reloading.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWith Bullets Scarce, More Shooters Make Their Own

Jim Rogers: Gold Could Fall To $900, India To Blame For Correction

"What caused it to finally go down, and as much as I love India and Indians, they are the largest buyers of gold in the world. And India has a huge balance of trade deficit. The largest drivers are oil and gold. You can't do anything about oil so the Indian politicians are blaming their problems on gold. And they've taken many measures, and more measures are coming to diminish or even eliminate the import of gold. That was the main catalyst or the straw which broke the camel's back which made gold start going down finally, after 12 years of going up. So you have a lot of governments coming together with measures against gold and silver, but especially the Indians." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJim Rogers: Gold Could Fall To $900, India To Blame For Correction

Gold jewellery stocks hammered in India

"Gold jewellery stocks are in a freefall in India. The curbs imposed by the Indian government and the Reserve Bank of India to curtail domestic gold consumption and imports, has led to a hammering of stock prices. Some leading jewellers shares have dived by 20% to 50% during the past fortnight. Analysts attribute the mayhem to the fact that most gold retailers in India hold huge inventories of gold. Shares of Gitanjali Gems, touted as India’s largest gold and jewellery company, have slumped more than 60% since mid-June with investors preferring to bail out even on July 4." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGold jewellery stocks hammered in India

Obamacare: Insuring Lawlessness

"Western law is a plaything in the hands of the powerful. First, laws should apply to everyone. Congress, for instance, routinely exempts itself from laws applicable to others. When the legislative body constantly exempts itself from obeying the Law of the Land (no matter how irrational it might be) then lawlessness and corruption have reached the highest levels of society. Second, a legislative body (or law enforcement agency) shouldn't single out certain individuals or groups with specific lawmaking. From what we can tell, this is happening more and more. Even the targeting of Edward Snowden seems representative of this sort of activity." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamacare: Insuring Lawlessness

Down With the Supremes

"The United States Supreme Court made a serious and harmful blunder in its decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. Their first holding was that a gene or portion of a gene extracted as a strand of DNA from a genome is not an invention, but something found in nature, and thus not patentable. So far, so good. Unfortunately, they erred in reaching their second holding, that a strand of cDNA, which is derived by a different process, and contains only a single gene, is patentable. This means that genes do, despite the headlines, remain patentable." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDown With the Supremes

EBay’s double tax base prompts calls for investigation

"Britain and Germany may have missed out on a combined $1 billion in sales tax since online marketplace eBay picked a tiny Luxembourg office as its base for EU sales, a shift that lawmakers say should now be investigated. EBay, which is headquartered in San Jose, California, moved into Europe in 1999 when it established eBay International in Berne. Switzerland's low income tax regime for foreign companies was highly beneficial for the auction site. The Swiss base also meant, initially, that the company didn't have to charge EU customers VAT. But in 2003, Brussels changed the rules." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEBay’s double tax base prompts calls for investigation

Pot Is Legal, but Some Towns Won’t Partake

"More than two dozen cities and towns have already prohibited marijuana retail stores, according to the Colorado Municipal League, a lobbying group for the state's cities. Others, like Aurora outside of Denver, decided to postpone a decision on whether to allow sales. In Denver, leaders want to allow pot sales, but have said they want to push back the starting date for new businesses other than medical-pot outlets. The opt-out clause included in the Colorado pot law doesn't exist in Washington, which also legalized recreational pot last November. But local officials are using licensing and zoning to keep pot shops at bay." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPot Is Legal, but Some Towns Won’t Partake