statism

Starting an online store in Greece is no easy business

"It took 10 months, a fat bundle of paperwork, countless certificates, long hours of haggling with bureaucrats and overcoming myriad other inconceivable obstacles for one group of young entrepreneurs to open an online store. Antonopoulos and his partners spent hours collecting papers from tax offices, the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the municipal service where the company is based, the health inspector’s office, the fire department and banks. At the health department, they were told that all the shareholders of the company would have to provide chest X-rays, and, in the most surreal demand of all, stool samples." Continue reading →

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Patent Claims Causing Firms to Exit Business Lines: Study

"Patent demands are taking a big toll on technology companies, with results that range from forcing companies to tweak their products to exiting their business altogether, according to a Santa Clara University study. The study underscores the increasing difficulty of dealing with patent claims. Patents have become a major part of business strategy, with companies like Apple and Samsung battling each other in courts around the world in cases that could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The SCU report focuses on patent demands from companies that do not themselves make anything. Many detractors call them 'patent trolls.'" Continue reading →

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The Food-Truck Business Stinks

"In the ’80s, the city capped the number of carts and trucks at 3,000. Technically, a permit for a food cart or truck is not transferable, but vendors regularly pay permit holders something like $15,000 to $20,000 to lease their certificates for two years. I was reminded of corrupt countries that I’ve visited, like Iraq and Haiti, where illogical and arbitrarily enforced rules create the wrong set of incentives. Perhaps the biggest winner in our current system is an obscure type of business known as an authorized commissary. By city law, every food cart and truck must visit a licensed commissary each day, where a set of mandated cleaning services can be performed." Continue reading →

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The Startup Yahoo Won’t Be Buying

"Stamped, On The Air, SnipIt, Jybe, Alike and Summly: Yahoo's six acquisitions in recent months under Marissa Mayer's new leadership. The French video-sharing platform Dailymotion was to have been the seventh. Over 20 million videos, 112 million monthly unique visitors, a valuation around $300 million: a crown jewel for Mayer's content strategy and an inspiring success story for French tech entrepreneurs. But it won't be. Yahoo backed out of its deal to buy 75% of the company from main owner Orange/France Telecom after French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg intervened to stop the sale." Continue reading →

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CFTC’s Chilton Talks Bitcoin Regulation

"Bart Chilton, Commodities Futures Trading Commission commissioner, tells CNBC, 'I’m not 100% saying we should regulate it, but if anyone is going to, it seems like it’s something we should consider.' The volatility in prices, he noted, 'is amazing.' The CNBC anchors grilled him pretty aggressively but I don't think he was showing all his cards during the interview. It looks to me like the CFTC is looking at bitcoins very closely. It was instructive that Chilton was able to provide the penname of the founder of bitcoins, Satoshi Nakamoto, off the top of his head." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin: The Tyranny Test

"Bitcoin is a test for 'the powers that be.' The way they deal with this new method of exchange will reveal their true nature. If they ignore Bitcoin, they refute the charges of tyranny. If they attack it, they verify those charges. After all, what honest reason could there be to attack an inherently peaceful tool for transferring value? Reasons to attack Bitcoin have recently appeared in the 'public square.' Here are the three most popular ones, each followed with some analysis." Continue reading →

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Lawyers say case against Kim Dotcom threatens Internet freedom

"Lawyers for Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom accused the US government Wednesday of launching a flawed prosecution against their client with 'frightening' implications for all Internet users. The New Zealand-based Internet tycoon’s legal team released a 'white paper' to coincide with a visit to Auckland by US Attorney General Eric Holder, which argues that online piracy allegations against Dotcom are baseless. The 38-page document says that while copyright issues are normally treated as a civil matter, US prosecutors are trying to use anti-racketeering criminal statutes normally used against gangsters to press their case." Continue reading →

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FBI releases April 2013 NICS report; January through April renunciations up by 78%

"The FBI released their latest report on Active Records in the NICS Index last Friday. NICS now contains the records of 21,823 persons who renounced U.S. citizenship under INA § 349(5) (or, theoretically, the wartime provisions of INA § 349(6)) and are thus barred from purchasing firearms in the United States. This is an increase of 319 records as compared to March 2013, and 1,169 records since December 2012. Since last year one additional un-American (or someone using the identity of one) attempted to purchase a gun and got caught during the background check, increasing the total number of denials to renunciants since the inception of the NICS system from 57 to 58." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFBI releases April 2013 NICS report; January through April renunciations up by 78%

The “Chechen Connection”, Al Qaeda and the Boston Marathon Bombings

"Media reports carefully overlook the historical origins of the Chechnya jihadist movement and its pervasive links to US intelligence. The fact of the matter is that the jihadist movement is a creation of US intelligence, which has also led to the development of 'political Islam'. While the role of the CIA in support of the Islamic jihad is amply documented, there is also evidence that the FBI has covertly equipped and incited would be terrorists within the US. The CIA’s agenda starting in the late 1970s was to recruit and train jihadist 'freedom fighters' (Mujahideen) to wage 'a war of liberation' directed against the pro-Soviet secular government of Afghanistan." Continue reading →

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CFTC Considering Bitcoin Regulations

"Bitcoin 'is for sure something we need to explore', Bart Chilton, one of the five commissioners at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) told the Financial Times. Said Mr Chilton: 'It’s not monopoly money we’re talking about here – real people can have real risk in these instruments, and we need to ensure that we protect markets and consumers, even in what at first blush appear to be ‘out there’ transactions.' In essence, we’re talking about a type of shadow currency, and there is more than a colourable argument to be made that derivative products relating to Bitcoin falls squarely in our jurisdiction.'" Continue reading →

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