statism

Winklevoss twins on Bitcoin: Time to work with the Feds

"The Winklevoss twins, who transformed a lucrative Facebook payout into a venture capital fund, say it's now time for bitcoin companies to work with governments rather than against them. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin Harvard graduates famously portrayed in the 2010 film The Social Network, showed up at the Bitcoin 2013 conference to talk up the future of the Internet's favorite alternative currency -- as long as it escapes a government crackdown. 'I don't think anyone wants a fight -- I think everyone here wants to build bitcoin, to work with regulators,' Cameron Winklevoss told over 1,000 conference attendees. 'Cooperation is really the way forward.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWinklevoss twins on Bitcoin: Time to work with the Feds

Insurers predict 100% to 400% Obamacare rate explosion

"Internal cost estimates from 17 of the nation's largest insurance companies indicate that health insurance premiums will grow an average of 100 percent under Obamacare, and that some will soar more than 400 percent, crushing the administration's goal of affordability. New regulations, policies, taxes, fees and mandates are the reason for the unexpected 'rate shock,' according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which released a report Monday based on internal documents provided by the insurance companies. The 17 companies include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Kaiser Foundation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInsurers predict 100% to 400% Obamacare rate explosion

Insurers predict 100% to 400% Obamacare rate explosion

"Internal cost estimates from 17 of the nation's largest insurance companies indicate that health insurance premiums will grow an average of 100 percent under Obamacare, and that some will soar more than 400 percent, crushing the administration's goal of affordability. New regulations, policies, taxes, fees and mandates are the reason for the unexpected 'rate shock,' according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which released a report Monday based on internal documents provided by the insurance companies. The 17 companies include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Kaiser Foundation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInsurers predict 100% to 400% Obamacare rate explosion

Bill Bonner: This is not a normal economy at all

"'Normal' is what you get when you don't experiment. So, how can you get to 'normal' from a 'Great Experiment?' We will leave that for the philosophers of tomorrow. Today, we'll merely suggest that maybe this economy isn't so normal. What's normal about an economy where the major financial institutions can borrow money at zero real cost? What's normal about an economy in which people who have run their businesses so recklessly that they had to be bailed out by the government are still running their businesses...and can now borrow at lower rates than good businesses?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: This is not a normal economy at all

Ex-BlackRock MD: US raid on Bitcoin exchange is ‘hysterical’ reaction

"Warwick Business School’s professor Jon Rushman, a former BlackRock managing director, says: 'It is a little bit of a hysterical reaction from the US authorities. There are concerns of Bitcoin being used in illegal ways, but unless there is more substantial evidence of this I don’t think there is any reason to shut down the main Bitcoin exchange. US dollars, Russian rubles and euros have all been used by criminals, but nobody is suggesting their central banks should be closed down and their governors imprisoned.' Rushman calls for more 'intelligent debate about Bitcoin and its future'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEx-BlackRock MD: US raid on Bitcoin exchange is ‘hysterical’ reaction

From the IRS to the EPA?

"Government agencies like the EPA typically waive so-called Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request fees for groups disseminating information for public benefit, but it's up to the agency to decide whether a fee-waiver is justified. At the EPA, fees were waived for liberal environmental groups like Greenpeace and EarthJustice almost always. Meanwhile, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank, 'had its requests denied 93 percent of the time. Most were denied because the agency said CEI 'failed to demonstrate that the release of the information requested significantly increases the public understanding of government operations or activities.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrom the IRS to the EPA?

Top Constitutional Experts: Obama Is Worse than Nixon

"Daniel Ellsberg notes that Obama’s claimed power to indefinitely detain people without charges or access to a lawyer or the courts is a power that even King George didn’t claim. Former judge and adjunct professor of constitutional law Andrew Napolitano points out that Obama’s claim that he can indefinitely detain prisoners even after they are acquitted of their crimes is a power that even Hitler and Stalin didn’t claim. Indeed, Obama has turned America into the most spied upon nation in world history, and has rolled back liberties to the time of the enactment of the Magna Carta in 1215." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTop Constitutional Experts: Obama Is Worse than Nixon

IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs IRS Obamacare Office

"The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation, ABC News reports. Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs IRS Obamacare Office

Director of IRS Tax-Exempt Determinations Office Is Obama Donor

"The director of the Office of Rulings and Agreements, which oversees the determinations of tax-exempt organizations, is a donor to Barack Obama. Holly Paz donated $2,000 to Obama’s 2008 campaign, according to Open Secrets, which maintains a database of individual political donations. An inspector general’s report released yesterday concluded that the IRS improperly targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups for undue scrutiny, and Paz heads the office in which the wrongdoing is said to have occurred. Paz’s donations are consistent with broader trends at the IRS, where agency employees donated overwhelming to President Obama in both 2012 and 2008." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDirector of IRS Tax-Exempt Determinations Office Is Obama Donor

Obama rejects calls for independent probe of IRS scandal

"President Obama brushed off calls for a special independent investigator into the IRS scandal that has engulfed his administration during a press conference this afternoon, saying the internal audit and criminal investigation headed by Attorney General Eric Holder are 'sufficient.' The press conference comes after Obama scrambled last night to fend off growing concerns about his administration following the news that the IRS targeted conservative groups. He also has been battling other controversies, including questions about the deadly attacks in Benghazi and the Department of Justice secretly obtaining Associated Press phone records." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama rejects calls for independent probe of IRS scandal