sound money

The Criminology of Firearms

"In 2004, the National Academy of Sciences reviewed 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications and some empirical research of its own about guns. The Academy could not identify any gun restriction that had reduced violent crime, suicide or gun accidents. Why don’t gun bans work? Because they rely on voluntary compliance by gun-using criminals. Actual research results—as opposed to unsupported opinions—pose a question embarrassed gun prohibitionists invariably try to evade: why ban guns to ordinary owners, i.e., people who never commit gun crimes?" Continue reading →

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Jump in Swiss jobs good news for expats

"The number of jobs offered in Switzerland has jumped by seven percent since the start of the year, offering encouragement to those considering a move to the country. The latest Michael Page Swiss Job Index shows more jobs being advertised across the country, with western Switzerland leading the way. Demand for engineers grew significantly and the negative trend in IT jobs reversed from last year. Other sectors showing big increases were the metal industry and health and social services. Swiss SMEs are generally hiring more than multinationals, 'which remain slightly conservative and cautious due to their greater exposure to global difficulties', Semeraro notes." Continue reading →

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Geneva car show opens amid industry gloom

"Switzerland, the host of what is one of the auto industry's biggest events, is a rare bright spot on the crisis-hit continent. The Swiss, who do not belong to the EU, saw new car registrations jump 2.4 percent last year from an already record year in 2011, with 431,000 new registrations. For the neighbouring EU nations, however, the end of the tunnel remains out of sight and most experts refuse to guess when, if ever, the market will come roaring back and hit its pre-crisis 2007 level of 16 million cars sold." Continue reading →

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China “fully prepared” for currency war: central banker

"Yi Gang, deputy governor of China’s central bank, issued the call after G20 finance ministers last month moved to calm fears of a looming war on the currency markets at a meeting in Moscow. Those fears have largely been fuelled by the recent steep decline in the Japanese yen, which critics have accused Tokyo of manipulating to give its manufacturers a competitive edge in key export markets over Asian rivals. South Korea’s incoming president Park Geun-Hye has also signalled her willingness to step in to stabilise the won and protect exporters battling a stronger Korean currency and a weaker yen." Continue reading →

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China’s Property Bubble – Why Is ’60 Minutes’ Telling the Tale?

"Western Money Power doesn't have the same control in China. China has a Western system but ultimately the ChiComs are the ones that run it. And maybe they have run it into the ground. Either it was planned or it was not. Or a combination of both. But we wrote that when the property bubble burst, if it did burst (as all bubbles must) then the Chinese Communist Party itself would be in trouble. So listen to this video snippet, excerpted above: the part where one of the largest builders of homes in China (and thus the world) is interviewed. He seems paralyzed by fear, and says a housing bust would be a disaster. He even predicts regime change." Continue reading →

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US Unlikely To Crack China FATCA Agreement

"FATCA has been created to track down the offshore financial assets of US taxpayers and make the institution concerned reveal details so that tax can be collected. Now China is telling the US that there will be so few US citizens holding Chinese bank accounts that the cost of implementing FATCA outweighs the benefit to the nation’s financial institutions. The Chinese have also pointed out that even the opportunity of signing an IGA which would allow them to get details of Chinese taxpayers in the US would also serve minimal benefit to the government." Continue reading →

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The Housing Bubble and the Limits of Human Knowledge

"Senior government officials previously denied that the government was on the hook for Fannie and Freddie (presumably thinking that their denial would never be tested by events — a bad theory). What financial shape were Fannie and Freddie in as the crisis proceeded? How bad would the effects of the shriveling bubble be? How much can you trust the word of government officials? How much about the financial future can central bankers or anybody know? Consider the lessons of the following 10 quotations." Continue reading →

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Ron Paul: The Sequester ‘Crisis’ And What Should Be Done

"The United States did not collapse last Friday when the package of spending reductions known as 'sequestration' went into effect. The financial markets hardly blinked, as they have come to be more skeptical about these periodic government-hyped 'crises.' What had been portrayed as a drastic reduction in government spending was merely a decrease in the projected rate of increase in government spending over the next decade. Under sequestration, government spending increases by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years rather than $2.5 trillion without it. So we are speeding toward collapse at only 100 miles per hour instead of 110 miles per hour." Continue reading →

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