Shadowy federal agency snooping in your wallet

"Created under the sweeping Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the agency sets regulatory guidance for an array of financial products. The bureau is funded through a direct percentage of Federal Reserve income, not by Congress – and that means there’s no congressional oversight. A recent report found that the CFPB has accomplished the monitoring of more than 85 percent of all credit card records from U.S. consumers. The agency’s goal is to reach 95 percent of the domestic credit card marketplace. The bureau presided over the U.S. Department of Justice’s Operation Choke Point, a campaign to choke off the credit lines of targeted businesses." Continue reading

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Money Will Be Digital — But Will It Be Free?

"What a strange world we now live in. Total surveillance of every citizen’s transactions, without any basis or suspicion, is not just normal but presented as a virtue, a form of patriotism. Using cash or wishing to retain your financial privacy is inherently suspect, a radical position, soon to be a crime. Using cash or wishing to retain your financial privacy is inherently suspect, a radical position, soon to be a crime. A future where all payments are trackable is terrifying, but a world with centralized control over transactions would be even worse. Digital currency with centralized control means the eradication of property as a right." Continue reading

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Ending the Ownership of Money

"The overriding effect that the elimination of cash will have on people will be that they will lose their freedom of monetary movement. They will be subject to government and banking surveillance of every transaction and, increasingly, will be subject to legislation that limits currency movement. Once this point is reached, governments will be free to move to a stage in which they declare that money is not the possession of the individual or company. It’s the possession of the government and the government 'allows' the public to use its currency in order to conduct commerce. As such, individuals and companies had best 'behave,' or they might find the privilege taken away and the money confiscated." Continue reading

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Silver Fixing Company to Stop Running London Benchmark

"The company that runs the London silver fixing, a benchmark dating back more than a century, will stop running the process after Deutsche Bank AG said two weeks ago that it was dropping out of the price-setting ritual. The London Silver Market Fixing Ltd. will stop administering the fixing on Aug. 14, it said today in a statement. Regulators have been stepping up their scrutiny of how gold and silver prices are set in the wake of the London interbank offered rate-manipulation scandal. The FCA is visiting member banks involved in the gold fixing as part of its review of gold benchmarks. Deutsche Bank has said it is leaving fixings as it scales back its commodities business." Continue reading

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Yellen Strikes Out

"Mrs. Yellen insisted that she supports 'transparency and openness on the part of the Fed.' She claimed that in terms of the 'range of information and the timeliness of that information, we are one of the most transparent central banks in the world.' That’s not only irrelevant but wan. She then declared that she would not support 'a requirement — any requirement — that would diminish the independence of the Federal Reserve in implementing, and deciding on implementing, monetary policy.'" Continue reading

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Report Suggests NSA Engaged In Bank Account Manipulation

"Governments should not use their offensive cyber capabilities to change the amounts held in financial accounts or otherwise manipulate the financial system.' While there have been plenty of reports about the US running hundreds of offensive cyberattacks on others, outside of things like Stuxnet, not many have been directly identified. And I'm unaware of any claims suggesting attempts to 'manipulate the financial system' of any particular country and/or to 'change the amounts held in financial accounts.' It seems a bit odd to come out of the blue like that, and certainly suggests that this particular bullet point likely came as a result of a rather specific thing that came up during the task force's review. " Continue reading

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Peter Schiff & Max Keiser talk of greatest Ponzi of our time

"In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss drinking the kool aid (never mind the cyanide) while the young and unemployed of Ireland are encouraged to emigrate by government economists determined to flatter their Troika stats. In the second half, Max interviews author and investor, Peter Schiff, about inflation in fraud as governments want a cut of financial crimes and the trickle down monetary policy ponzi scheme." Continue reading

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FINTRAC collecting too much info on innocent Canadians: privacy watchdog

"By law, Canadian banks, casinos and thousands of other businesses are required to report all financial transactions over $10,000, and any movement of money they suspect may be linked to terrorism or laundering the proceeds of crime. But in a special report to Parliament today, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart complains that an investigation of the Financial Transactions Reports Analysis Centre, known as FINTRAC, found found everyday financial transactions of ordinary Canadians — things such as down payments for homes and cars, and wire transfers from families overseas to their children studying here. FINTRAC has amassed over 165 million reports." Continue reading

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European Parliament votes to suspend US SWIFT data exchange

"The European Parliament has voted to suspend its SWIFT data exchange agreement with the US. They’ve called for US access to the SWIFT database to be halted following concerns that the US is spying on the EU, and not simply trying to combat terrorism. EU lawmakers suspect that the US has abused an agreement giving it limited access to SWIFT. As such, they voted to freeze Washington’s capacity to track international payments through the site. The worry comes after leaked American documents indicating the US was covertly tapping into SWIFT were aired on Brazilian television. The US denies any wrongdoing." Continue reading

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It Won’t Stay in Vegas: The Metro PD’s Homeland Security Theater

"Las Vegas, like every other city, does face a lethal threat from people who consider themselves emancipated from the law and entitled to kill without accountability. Like the Sovereigns, those people speak in a specialized language that supposedly legitimizes their lawlessness, and that makes no obvious sense to rational people who don’t belong to their clique. The Las Vegas branch of this domestic terrorist movement maintains a fraudulent 'court' where criminal actions, up to and including murder, are ratified. However, the crimes committed by that state-sanctioned terrorist syndicate are neither hypothetical, nor uncommon." Continue reading

Continue ReadingIt Won’t Stay in Vegas: The Metro PD’s Homeland Security Theater