System D

Drug lords make billions smuggling gold to Miami for jewelry and phones

"Much of that gold comes from outlaw mines deep in the jungle where dangerous chemicals are poisoning rainforests and laborers who toil for scraps of metal, according to human rights watchdogs and industry executives. In comparison, the U.S. gold supply, mostly mined in Nevada and Alaska, offers stiff competition and regulations. Big companies control the big mines. Smaller companies looking to deal in U.S. gold are restricted to buying recycled 'scrap' gold from pawnshops and jewelry stores. To gain a competitive edge, many U.S. gold traders look south."

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The Bulgarian Government Is Sitting on $3 Billion in Bitcoin

"A crackdown on organized crime by Bulgarian law enforcement in May resulted in the seizure of more than 200,000 bitcoins – an amount worth more than $3 billion at today's prices. Twenty-three Bulgarian nationals were arrested during the operation, and officials said at the time that the arrests and subsequent asset seizures followed an investigation into an alleged customs fraud scam. In all, the alleged perpetrators avoided paying some 10 million leva (Bulgaria's national currency), worth roughly $6 million."

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In North Korea, Black Markets Are Saving Lives

"Initially, these markets consisted of disorganized traders meeting in fields, facing seizure from police if they did not come up with a bribe. Today, the jangmadang practice has led to fully-fledged markets, complete with stalls selling street food, smuggled electronics, ingredients, and clothes; certain markets allegedly grew to encompass upwards of a thousand stalls. Today, the markets remain a crucial element of survival for many North Koreans, with some reports estimating that around 5 million (around a fifth of the overall population) are 'directly or indirectly dependent on the markets'."

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Is Government Really The Price Of Civilization?

"The infrastructure-building, law-codifying, biopolitical states of antiquity are not the starting points of universal history for Scott, as they were for both Marx and liberal historians. They are instead a kind of usurpation of a longer and quite possibly richer human practice of mobility and freedom."

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Patented insulin prices spike 10x, but black market keeps kids alive

"Sanofi's proprietary Apidra brand insulin has increased in price by 1,123% since 1996. So they've turned to the black market, trading the insulin that Corely's insurer will buy with other diabetic people they meet on the internet, who are covered on plans that buy the kind of insulin Corely needs to not slip into a coma and die before her tenth birthday." Continue reading →

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India gold smuggling at all-time high, despite Nepali kingpin’s death

"In two years--since government increased duty on gold to 10% to rein in a yawning current account deficit—gold smuggling has grown by 900%. That as an accepted principle seizures could be less than 10% of actual smuggling, the figures look even more ominous. Sources say gold has also begun to be smuggled in ever unique ways and from rather unexpected corners. There is a silver lining to the grim story though. There is an unexpected drop in Nepal which had seen a massive spurt in gold smuggling in the past couple of years. The reason: the kingpin of illicit yellow metal trade in the Himlayan nation died under the rubble of his house in Kathmandu during the recent quake." Continue reading →

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Under the Microscope: The Real Costs of a Dollar

"Once upon a time, most paper currency in the world was backed by gold and directly exchangeable for it. On August 15, 1971, US President Richard Nixon ended the Bretton Woods System (Ghizoni, 1971), in what is now known as 'The Nixon Shock', allowing all currencies to float freely, with only the backing of the faith and credit of their issuing sovereign state. This type of currency is known as 'fiat currency', i.e., currency that is given value by government decree (Keynes, et al., 1978). This report will not discuss the relative merits and drawbacks of gold-backed currency and fiat-money, only the triple-bottom-line impacts of each." Continue reading →

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Lessons from the Great Austrian Inflation

"One of these tragic episodes that is worth recalling and learning from was the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the accompanying Great Austrian Inflation in the immediate postwar period in the early 1920s. For those who say that such things as a hyperinflation, economic chaos, capital consumption and political tyranny 'can't happen here,' it is worth remembering that a hundred years ago, in 1914, few in prewar Vienna could have imagined that it would happen there." Continue reading →

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Gold Smuggling in India Spikes 446% in Last 12 Months

"As per the report, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had filed 40 gold smuggling cases in the last year whereas it has increased to 148 cases in the past 12 months. The aggregate value of the seized illegal gold from 464 people in 2013-14 is estimated at Rs 245 crore. Most of the gold smugglers are arrested from the nation’s international airports. The customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport said that they have nabbed 353 kg of gold worth at Rs 90 crore in this current financial year whereas it was 20-25 kg of gold in the last year. India had witnessed a dangerous increase of CAD to $88.2 billion which is about 4.7% of the country’s GDP in the year 2012-2013." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGold Smuggling in India Spikes 446% in Last 12 Months