sound money

Washington Sees Incomes Soar as Most of U.S. Declines

"American incomes have tumbled over the last decade. But for many people in Washington, D.C., it’s been something of a party. The income of the typical D.C. household rose 23.3% between 2000 and 2012 to an inflation-adjusted $66,583, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. During this period, median household incomes for the nation as a whole dropped 6.6% — from $55,030 to $51,371. The Washington, D.C. metro area — which includes the surrounding suburbs in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia — has it even better, with a median household income of $88,233 that ranks highest among the U.S.’s 25 most populous metro areas." Continue reading →

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Dozens Of TSA Employees Fired, Suspended For Illegal Gambling Ring

"Dozens of local Transportation Security Administration workers have been fired or suspended after they were caught in an illegal gambling ring at Pittsburgh International Airport. Sources confirm TSA employees on the job set up an office betting pool of sorts, employees betting year-round on all of the big sporting events, the Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, the World Series, the Stanley Cup and more. Sources confirm the employees recommended for termination did 'make a little money off of the top.' TSA sources confirm none of the betting affected any of the security at the airport." Continue reading →

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The Path to $10,000 an Ounce Gold, Revisited

"Most traders, obsessed with the tiniest tweaks to the monthly rate of Fed printing, are missing the big picture: Credit growth has outpaced the economy’s productive potential, both here and around the globe. Each successive growth spurt in money and credit has a weaker marginal impact on the real economy; this requires permanently easy monetary policy, and perhaps, eventually, a formal devaluation of paper against gold. In his latest Gloom Boom & Doom Report, Marc Faber argues that the Fed has lost control of the bond market. Treasury note yields have doubled from the summer 2012 lows — a development that surely wasn’t part of the Fed’s stimulus playbook." Continue reading →

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Precious Metals True To Form As Markets Wake To Reality

"As for PMs, the funds and other 'smart money' as well as retail investors took the news from the Fed to mean the USD will depreciate against hard assets of all kinds. PM gains of 10-15% were widespread within ninety minutes though most faded toward the close. September 16 nearly all issues gave back significant portions of their gains as the metals indicated that their roller-coaster nature had not gone away. With those postulates in mind, it is useful to look at some of the better companies in the sector to see how they fared the day after the QE go sign flashed. Price action is important in considering what horses you will ride." Continue reading →

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Monetary Authority of Singapore warns on ‘unregulated’ bitcoin

"The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is cautioning consumers against bitcoin trading even as a few merchants in Singapore have started accepting the digital currency as payment for physical goods. Invented in 2009, bitcoin is the world's most well-known digital currency. It is not issued or managed by a single company or monetary authority. Bitcoins can be bought through online exchanges that convert real money into the virtual currency. Due to its anonymous nature, bitcoin trading was declared illegal in Thailand in July over money laundering concerns. An MAS spokesman told The Straits Times that consumers should be wary of such trading." Continue reading →

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For Virtual Prospectors, Life in the Bitcoin Mines Gets Real

"Aubrey McIntosh has taken up mining in his spare time, and he's finding it hard and hot—even if it's prospecting for a virtual currency and a computer is doing all of the work. Mr. McIntosh, a semiretired chemistry professor in Morris, Minn., is among the growing ranks of enthusiasts who use powerful computers to 'mine,' in insider parlance, 'bitcoins,' an unregulated digital currency. Mr. McIntosh keeps his specialized computer, which he said cost about $1,500 and is custom-built to find bitcoins, near the chimney flue in his basement to try to get rid of all the heat it generates." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFor Virtual Prospectors, Life in the Bitcoin Mines Gets Real

Homeless, Unemployed, and Surviving on Bitcoins

"The internet provides the extra money he needs to buy a meal each and every day. Since setting up a bitcoin wallet about three or four months ago, he has earned somewhere between four or five bitcoins — about $500 to $630 today — through YouTube videos, Bitcoin Tapper, and the occasional donation. And when he does odd jobs for people around Pensacola — here in the physical world — he still gets paid in bitcoin, just because it’s easier and safer. He doesn’t have to worry as much about getting robbed. Jesse Angle isn’t your average homeless person. But he shows that bitcoin is changing the world in more ways than you might imagine." Continue reading →

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Swiss socialist politician asks government to create report on bitcoin

"Jean Cristophe Schwaab of the Swiss Socialist Party said he is concerned about the potential of bitcoin. 'At the moment, I have no idea, but a Swiss journalist recently bought drugs from Silk Road using bitcoins, so I think the state needs to make an intervention,' he added. The 34-year-old said bitcoin came to his attention because he has a strong interest in internet policy, data protection and new online trends. He has also come across bitcoin in his work as a unionist for bankers – he is on the executive board of the Swiss Bank Employees’ Association. He said the only people in Switzerland who know about bitcoin are 'geeks, criminals and special police units'." Continue reading →

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