I, Pencil: The Movie
"A film from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, adapted from the 1958 essay by Leonard E. Read. For more about I, Pencil, visit www.ipencilmovie.org" Continue reading →
Thanks to Capitalism
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/11/thanks-to-capitalism.html
The Twinkie, a Suicide
"The snack giant endured $52 million in workers' comp claims in 2011, according to its bankruptcy filing this January. Hostess's 372 collective-bargaining agreements required the company to maintain 80 different health and benefit plans, 40 pension plans and mandated a $31 million increase in wages and health care and other benefits for 2012. Union work rules usually required cake and bread products to be delivered to a single retail location using two separate trucks. Drivers weren't allowed to load their own vehicles, and the workers who loaded bread weren't allowed to load cake. 'Pull up' employees moved products from back rooms to shelves." Continue reading →
Detlev Schlichter: Some personal thoughts on surviving the monetary meltdown
"That government bonds are a safe investment can, of course, not be left a matter of simple opinion but has to be enshrined in the laws of the land, and the state’s rapidly expanding finance constabulary is already working on it. Via legislation and regulation, the state is busily building itself a captive investor base for its own debt. I fear that to a large degree this is even welcome by the asset management industry. In an unstable and increasingly uncertain world, being told what to buy lifts a great responsibility off one’s shoulders." Continue reading →
Homelanders propose raising taxes on US Persons abroad to pay for “territorial taxation”
"In case you hadn’t already figured it out, this is the shape of things to come for U.S. Persons abroad: relentless bipartisan attacks on the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. The latest effort in this direction contains provisions to phase out 20% of the FEIE every year until it is fully eliminated in 2017. It uses the taxes and penalties raised from U.S. Persons abroad to cut taxes on Homeland corporations, allowing them to repatriate their foreign profits with a waiver of 85% of the U.S. tax that would be due. The benefits of this tax cut will be denied to U.S. corporations which do not maintain their 'U.S. employment levels'." Continue reading →
US Bank Run Imminent? FDIC Expanded Deposit Insurance Ends Dec 31st
"With the media fixated on the fiscal cliff, no one seems to be noticing the fact that the FDIC’s expanded 100% coverage for insured deposits ends January 1st, 2013. As of January 2013 the FDIC stops offering 100% coverage for all insured deposits. That amounts to $1.6 trillion in deposits, 85-90% deposited with the TBTF mega banks. Once the insurance ramps back to $250,000 the FDIC risk amelioration offered to large depositors will cause them to flee from the insecurity of the much reduced FDIC coverage." Continue reading →
Geithner’s Final Trick: Bye Bye Dodd-Frank, Volcker Rule
"Late Friday, just before the sleepy Thanksgiving week when most Americans turn their sights to turkey, Geithner finally got around to dressing [down] his own turkey: Dodd-Frank. DF is the financial regulatory monster which will create havoc over the entire financial industry, with new rules and regulations. But not for FOG (Friends of Geithner). With a quiet pen stroke, Geithner exempted $410.8 trillion, or 64%, of the entire OTC derivatives market from impending clamp-downs, which mostly benefits FOG." Continue reading →
Shots fired during FBI warrant search in District Heights
"Around 6 a.m. he says he came up to the living room and saw 15 FBI SWAT agents coming inside, guns drawn. Hughley says he looked up and saw his daughter standing outside her bedroom in the hallway. Then he heard gunfire. Myasia was treated at a local hospital for a flesh wound and released. The Hughley’s say none of them were armed an in fact, none of them own guns. They were never told why their home was raided." Continue reading →
Mentally disabled man playing with Legos fired upon by Seattle cop
"A police officer in King County, Washington opened fire on a mentally disabled man on Thursday, believing he was brandishing a gun, but later discovering the object was actually made out of Legos. The Seattle Times reported that the incident occurred in the morning hours, after several motorists reported a man waiving a gun at cars near a roadway. Police told the paper they’d encountered him before, and that he’s got a 'fascination with guns.' When the first officer arrived on the scene, he did not comply with her commands, so she opened fire." Continue reading →
Man with strange watch arrested at Oakland airport
"A bomb squad arrived within five minutes and determined there were no explosive materials in the watch, Nelson said. The checkpoint was closed while officers secured the area. McGann was taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin where he was charged with possessing materials to make an explosive device, sheriff's officials said. He was still in custody Friday night and could not be reached for comment. McGann told Transportation Security Administration officers that he's an artist and the watch is art, Nelson said." Continue reading →