statism

A Desperate US Mint Testing New Metals to Make Coins Cheaper to Mint

"The Federal Reserve has so debased the value of the dollar that it is now very expensive for the U.S. Mint to buy buy and use copper, nickel and zinc in the coins it produces. Currently, a penny costs more than two cents and a nickel costs more than 11 cents to make and distribute. A 400-page report presented last week to Congress outlines nearly two years of trials conducted at the Mint in Philadelphia, where a variety of metal recipes were put through their paces in the massive facility's high-speed coin-making machinery. But the Mint couldn't find any good replacements. Evaluations of 29 different alloys concluded that none met the ideal list of attributes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Desperate US Mint Testing New Metals to Make Coins Cheaper to Mint

Government Stops Ebay Market in NotHaus Coins

"Mac Slavo has an article on this. See also his warnings 16 months ago. I've written here on the travesty of finding NotHaus guilty of counterfeiting and on the utterly false government arguments made in the case against him, which nevertheless found favor with a jury. Wikipedia provides an outline here. What do I think of this? I think that this entire government action against NotHaus is evil, by which I mean profoundly wicked, malevolent, and immoral. The government people doing this have labeled him a 'domestic terrorist', which is about as deep a lie and falsehood as can be concocted." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment Stops Ebay Market in NotHaus Coins

U.S. Secret Service Bans Sale of Silver and Gold Liberty Dollars on Ebay

"The Secret Service has gotten involved in order to ensure buyers don’t get confused by thinking they are acquiring legal U.S. tender. Apparently they believe that someone who buys a silver coin for $35 may, in a state of confusion, then attempt to exchange it for a $1 soda pop in the open market. Today they are targeting the Liberty Dollar because it 'represents a clear and present danger to the economic stability' of the United States. It wouldn’t be that far a stretch of the imagination to suggest the government could make the same argument for any mechanism of exchange or store of value, especially those which contain gold and silver." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Secret Service Bans Sale of Silver and Gold Liberty Dollars on Ebay

Everything that’s Wrong with the Tax System, in a Single Picture

"I used to think this image was a damning indictment of the internal revenue code. Or here’s another chart showing how the tax system has become more convoluted over time. But this new image may be the most effective of all of them. We don’t know what’s in the other 72,000 pages of tax code, but we’re all familiar with the basic 1040 tax form. Look at what the politicians have done to it over the past several decades." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEverything that’s Wrong with the Tax System, in a Single Picture

Treasury announces GM exit strategy; automaker buying 200 million shares from U.S.

"The Obama administration said Wednesday it will sell 40 percent of its remaining stake in General Motors Co. back to the automaker and announced plans to completely exit by March 2014. The exit timetable signals the end of one of the most extraordinary government interventions in the U.S. economy in history — the rescue and partial nationalization of two U.S. automakers and their finance arms supported by two U.S. presidents. Taxpayers will almost certainly lose billions of dollars in the $49.5 billion GM bailout. If the government sold the rest of its stock at current prices, taxpayers would lose more than $13 billion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTreasury announces GM exit strategy; automaker buying 200 million shares from U.S.

U.S. Government Asks Court Not To Consider Targeted Killing Challenge

"The U.S. government today filed its first response to a lawsuit challenging the targeted killing of the three U.S. citizens in Yemen last year, Anwar Al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old son Abdulrahman and Samir Khan. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the case on behalf of the families of the Americans who died, issued the following statement about the government’s motion to dismiss." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Government Asks Court Not To Consider Targeted Killing Challenge

Georgia supervisor, coworkers and four others cashed 1,300 U.S. Treasury checks before authorities caught them

"The former supervisor at an Atlanta mail distribution facility, a coworker and four others pled guilty this month to stealing $3 million in U.S. Treasury checks, including veterans benefits, tax refunds and Social Security checks. By the time authorities figured out the scheme, the small theft ring had stolen or cashed 1,300 federal checks, officials said. And the Georgia workers aren't alone. Between April and September of this year, 171 Postal Service employees were arrested for theft, willful delay or destruction of mail, according to a new report by the USPS inspector general. The Service has about 546,000 employees." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGeorgia supervisor, coworkers and four others cashed 1,300 U.S. Treasury checks before authorities caught them

The HSBC Debacle – A Double Whammy Of Political Risk And Hypocrisy

"Where does all of this money in fines go? The booty goes to the Federal Reserve (which probably gives it back to these big foreign banks anyways through stealth bailouts), the Justice Department, and other federal agencies. I struggle to think of another country besides the US that could successfully impose such obscene fines for similar reasons – that is because there are no meaningful comparisons. It may be easier to see the political risk in this if it is put in another perspective. Imagine if China imposed a 13 billion yuan (~$2 billion) fine on JPMorgan for doing business that somehow involved Taiwan, a country Beijing considers a 'rogue state.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe HSBC Debacle – A Double Whammy Of Political Risk And Hypocrisy

Amazon’s billion-dollar tax shield

"By setting up in Luxembourg, and channelling sales through its units there, the world's biggest online retailer could minimise corporate taxes. It was a move with big financial consequences. Amazon's Luxembourg arrangements have deprived European governments of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax that it might otherwise have owed, as reported in European newspapers. But a Reuters examination of accounts filed by 25 Amazon units in six countries shows how they also allowed the company to avoid paying more tax in the United States, where the company is based." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmazon’s billion-dollar tax shield

Google Revenues Sheltered in No-Tax Bermuda Soar to $10 Billion

"Google Inc. (GOOG) avoided about $2 billion in worldwide income taxes in 2011 by shifting $9.8 billion in revenues into a Bermuda shell company, almost double the total from three years before, filings show. By legally funneling profits from overseas subsidiaries into Bermuda, which doesn’t have a corporate income tax, Google cut its overall tax rate almost in half. The amount moved to Bermuda is equivalent to about 80 percent of Google’s total pretax profit in 2011. Governments in France, the U.K., Italy and Australia are probing Google’s tax avoidance as they seek to boost revenue during economic doldrums." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoogle Revenues Sheltered in No-Tax Bermuda Soar to $10 Billion