sound money

Why Expansionist Central States Inevitably Implode

"We are at the inflection point indicated on the chart where the lines cross, just before the crisis: tax revenues are lagging spending in an enormous structural deficit; the State dominates the economy and its spending cannot possibly be contained, due to the political promises made to entitlement constituencies, fiefdoms and cartels, and the drag of unproductive State spending has sent the economy into systemic decline. Each constituency, cartel and fiefdom is convinced that they are acting in their own best interests in demanding more State funding and subsidies." Continue reading →

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The safest place in the world

"Every few hundred years, wealth and power shifts. This has happened so many times before, it’s hard to even keep track. Mesopotamia. Persia. Macedonia. Greece. Roman Empire. Byzantium. Mongolian Empire. Ming Dynasty. Ottoman Empire. Habsburg Empire. French-Bourbon Monarchy. British Empire. Third Reich. United States of America. This change is as old as human civilization itself. And it’s happening again. Decades of unsustainable debt have caught up to the West, and wealth and power are once again shifting." Continue reading →

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Study: Companies from emerging markets will shape global economy in next decade

"The top 100 fast-globalising companies from rapidly developing economies are outpacing their rivals from developed economies in terms of expansion, job creation and productivity, said the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) study. These companies, which it called global challengers, grew at an annual average of 16 percent from 2008 through 2011, four times the rate of their competitors in developed countries. Their average revenue hit $26.5 billion (20 billion euros) in 2011, compared to $21 billion for the non-financial companies listed on the S&P 500 stock index." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudy: Companies from emerging markets will shape global economy in next decade

China may cut U.S. debt holdings

"China’s sovereign wealth fund, which has more than $480 billion in assets, could cut holdings of US Treasury Bonds as they are becoming a less attractive investment, state media said Tuesday. The Shanghai Securities News quoted Lou Jiwei, chairman of sovereign wealth fund manager China Investment Corp (CIC), as telling a conference in Hong Kong on Monday that the US economic recovery had made other investments appealing. China has the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves and according to US government figures is the largest foreign holder of US Treasuries with $1.16 trillion at the end of October last year, the latest available statistic." Continue reading →

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Chinese Internet users hit 564 million in 2012

"Tuesday’s figures showed that the number of people accessing the Internet via mobile devices in 2012 increased 18.1 percent to 420 million. The use of micro-blogging services — similar to Twitter — also surged, the report said, with the total number of users increasing by 58.73 million to 309 million. Internet use has steadily increased despite strict censorship via what is known as The Great Firewall — the country’s system of online limits and restrictions. Online shoppers in the world’s second largest economy, meanwhile, rose 24.8 percent to 242 million." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChinese Internet users hit 564 million in 2012

US court drops charges on Aaron Swartz days after his suicide

"A federal court in Massachusetts has dismissed the hacking case against Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide on January 11 while facing decades behind bars and a $1 million fine. Though JSTOR decided not to press charges – and even urged the US government to drop the case – MIT went ahead with a civil suit. As a result, Swartz faced serious legal consequences, which observers believe led to his suicide last week. According to a Huffington Post report, Swartz's defense team suspected federal attorneys were using Swartz as an example to show how serious they could be with online crime cases." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS court drops charges on Aaron Swartz days after his suicide

Wyden asks Obama’s terrorism chief for rules governing assassination of U.S. citizens

"'Senior intelligence officials have said publicly that they have the authority to knowingly use lethal force against Americans in the course of counterterrorism operations, and have indicated that there are secret legal opinions issued by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel that explain the basis for this authority,' Wyden wrote. 'I have asked repeatedly to see these opinions, and I have been provided with some relevant information on the topic, but I have yet to see the opinions themselves.'" Continue reading →

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Documents reveal U.S. sells arms to Bahrain’s anti-democracy government crackdown

"Despite Bahrain’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, the U.S. has continued to provide weapons and maintenance to the small Mideast nation. Defense Department documents released to ProPublica give the fullest picture yet of the arms sales: The list includes ammunition, combat vehicle parts, communications equipment, Blackhawk helicopters, and an unidentified missile system. Defense Department spokesman Paul Ebner declined to offer any more detail. 'We won’t get into specifics in any of these because of the security of Bahrain,' said Ebner." Continue reading →

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A Little Bit Of History To Think About

"We hear very little of Wounded Knee today. It is usually not mentioned in our history classes or books. What little that does exist about Wounded Knee is normally a sanitized 'Official Government Explanation.' And there are several historically inaccurate depictions of the events leading up to the massacre, which appear in movie scripts and are not the least bit representative of the actual events that took place that day. Wounded Knee was among the first federally backed gun confiscation attempts in United States history. It ended in the senseless murder of 297 people." Continue reading →

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