Larry Page wants to 'set aside a part of the world' for unregulated experimentation
posted 05/16/2013, 1:53 AM (The Verge)
[Category: Economy]
"There are many exciting things you could do that are illegal or not allowed by regulation," Page said. "And that's good, we don't want to change the world. But maybe we can set aside a part of the world." He likened this potential free-experimentation zone to Burning Man and said that we need "some safe places where we can try things and not have to deploy to the entire world." ... (more) All Google has to do is buy an island or help finance the Seasteading institute. Mark my words, anarchy will come about due to the inherent inefficiencies of the state, it's much cheaper to simply build a road rather than create a state, loot people en masse through taxation, use the loot to employ thousands, hundreds of thousands, or as we have now millions of bureaucrats, then have those bureaucrats pay a private company to build the road after looting some 95% in overheads. - Chris |
How to Not Attack Capitalism
posted 05/14/2013, 9:16 PM (James E. Miller)
[Category: Economy]
The mark of any flunk economic thinker is the statement "we live in a capitalist system." Without a doubt, the United States, along with the rest of the West, is still gifted with a market-based economic system. But calling it capitalism – the uninhibited buying and selling of goods and services – is a crime against words and their meaning. In the U.S., the state has its filthy presence in practically every marketable transaction. A true, unadulterated market has not been allowed to proliferate ... (more) |
IRS targeted groups that criticized the government, IG report says
posted 05/13/2013, 7:39 PM (Washington Post)
[Category: Economy]
At various points over the past two years, Internal Revenue Service officials targeted nonprofit groups that criticized the government and sought to educate Americans about the U.S. Constitution, according to documents in an audit conducted by the agency’s inspector general.
The documents, obtained by The Washington Post from a congressional aide with knowledge of the findings, show that on June 29, 2011, IRS staffers held a briefing with senior agency official Lois G. Lerner in ... (more) |
Feds Spend $402,721 on Underwear That Senses Cigarette Smoke
posted 05/10/2013, 12:55 PM (CNSNews.com)
[Category: Economy]
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded more than $400,000 to a research project involving underwear that can detect when a person smokes cigarettes.
The University of Alabama has received two grants totaling $402,721 for the project, which so far has produced a "very early prototype" of the monitoring system, which -- in its current state -- fits like a vest.
The goal of the three-year study is to "develop a wearable sensor system comprised of... (more) |
Grave Robbers: Anti-Competitive Regulations for the Dead
posted 05/07/2013, 4:27 PM (The Freeman)
[Category: Economy]
HARRISBURG – The monks of St. Joseph Abbey in Covington, Louisiana leave this world in the same simple way as they live in it.
And when public interest in their basic, handmade wooden caskets grew, the monks proved to have a shrewd business sense too. They opened a woodworking shop in 2005 to produce caskets that they sell for about $2,000 each, far below the average price for a casket in the state.
But where the monks saw an opportunity, a state cartel of funeral... (more) |
How Protectionism Hurts Hawaii: Why It's Time to Repeal the Jones Act
posted 05/05/2013, 3:01 PM (YouTube)
[Category: Economy]
"What would an enemy want to do to the people of Hawaii during war time?" asks Ken Schoolland, professor of economics at Hawaii Pacific University and scholar at the Grassroot Institute. "They would want to cut us off from international shipping. Well, this is what the law does to us all the time."
Reason TV sat down with Schoolland to talk about the Jones Act, federal legislation that r... (more) |
Will Bitcoin Be Accepted by PayPal?
posted 05/05/2013, 2:59 PM (Wall Street Journal)
[Category: Economy]
EBay may open its wallet to the virtual currency Bitcoin.
The e-commerce heavyweight is exploring ways to integrate bitcoins into its PayPal payments network, Chief Executive John Donahoe said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
“It’s a new disruptive technology, so, yeah, we’re looking at Bitcoin closely,” Donahoe said. “There may be ways to enable it inside PayPal.”... (more) |
If It Moves, Tax It
posted 04/29/2013, 11:19 PM (Jeffrey Tucker)
[Category: Economy]
 A contributing factor in the rise of Internet commerce, a feature that gave it a kick-start, was that you didn’t have to pay sales tax on what you purchased out of state. Ah, the glory days of the 2000s, when you could order anything and, for once in your life, not get hammered by the government. It was not a free market, but freer than most anything else you could find.
This is a major factor in why, despite every prediction that it could never work, Internet commerce rose from t... (more) |
VIICE Interviews Silk Road Drug Dealers
posted 04/29/2013, 11:15 PM (VICE United States)
[Category: Economy]
The Silk Road is sometimes described as the eBay of illegal drugs. It’s actually more like Etsy, with its do-it-yourself philosophy and friendly community. Just like Etsy, you place your order with a stranger on the other side of the world, pay using electronic money, and in a couple of days, your package arrives. Except that instead of a dream catcher made of hair and toenail clippings, you get heroin!... (more) |
Perth Mint Works Through Weekend as Gold Demand Surges on Price
posted 04/29/2013, 11:15 PM (Bloomberg)
[Category: Economy]
Australia’s Perth Mint, which refines nearly all of the nation’s bullion, said that demand has jumped to the highest level in five years after prices plunged, with the factory kept open through the weekend to meet orders.
There’s been strong interest, including from the U.S., with buyers speculating that the metal will rebound from the decline, Ron Currie, sales and marketing director, said in a phone interview from Perth.
Bullion fell 14 percent in the two days to ... (more) |
$2 Trillion Underground Economy May Be Recovery's Savior
posted 04/28/2013, 10:28 PM (CNBC)
[Category: Economy]
The growing underground economy may be helping to prevent the real economy from sinking further, according to analysts.
The shadow economy is a system composed of those who can't find a full-time or regular job. Workers turn to anything that pays them under the table, with no income reported and no taxes paid — especially with an uneven job picture.... (more) We need more of this, people simply ignoring the government's stupid laws and doing as they please. (Of course, that unfortunately puts you at greater risk from the police state) - Chris |
Gold Bears Defy Rally as Goldman Closes Short Wager
posted 04/28/2013, 10:24 PM (Bloomberg)
[Category: Economy]
Hedge funds accumulated their second-biggest bet against gold on record just as prices rallied the most in 15 months on surging demand for coins and jewelry and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ended a recommendation to sell.
The funds and other large speculators held 69,726 so-called short contracts on April 23, within 0.6 percent of the all-time high reached six weeks earlier, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. The net-long position dropped 25 percent to 46,168 futures... (more) |
Investor Jim Rogers May Buy Gold If Prices Drop to $1,300
posted 04/28/2013, 10:24 PM (Bloomberg)
[Category: Economy]
Jim Rogers, who predicted a commodity rally in 1999, said he may buy gold if a bear market deepens and prices fall to $1,300 an ounce or below.
Bullion for immediate delivery tumbled to $1,321.95 on April 16, the lowest since January 2011, stoking a frenzy among coin and jewelry buyers from the U.S. to India and Australia. Rogers, the chairman of Singapore-based Rogers Holdings, hasn’t bought any bullion after the slump, he said in an interview.
“If it goes to $1,30... (more) |
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Wednesday April 24th, 2013
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Japan Steps Into the Void
posted 04/22/2013, 7:45 AM (Peter Schiff)
[Category: Economy]
In the years following the global financial crisis, economists and investors have gotten very comfortable with very high, and seemingly persistent, government debt. The nonchalance may be underpinned by the assumption that globally significant countries that can print their own currencies can't get trapped in a sovereign debt crisis. However, it now appears that Japan is preparing to put this confidence to the ultimate stress test.
For the better part of 20 years, successive Japan... (more) |
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Thursday April 18th, 2013
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Gold Miners Lose $169 Billion as Price Slump Adds ETF Pain
posted 04/18/2013, 10:44 AM (Bloomberg)
[Category: Economy]
Gold producers, ignored as global stocks rebounded in the past two years and investors turned to exchange-traded funds that track bullion, face closing mines or shutting themselves down after the metal’s worst slump in three decades this week made 15 percent of miners unprofitable.
Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) and Newmont Mining Corp., the world’s two largest producers, are among companies in the FTSE Gold Mines Index (FTMIGMI) that have collectively lost about $169 billion in market ... (more) I'm itching to pull the trigger on GDX, haven't bought any yet though. - Chris |
US Mint Sells Record 63,500 Ounces Of Gold In One Day
posted 04/18/2013, 10:18 AM (Zero Hedge)
[Category: Economy]
One of the more curious revelations of the New Normal is the fundamental dichotomy when investing between paper "investors", or those who chase returns based on intangible, fiat-based and central bank-backed promises, such as capital appreciation or cash flow streams, and those who would rather convert their paper money into hard assets, even if said assets can not be, in the immortal words of Warren Buffett, fondled, or otherwise generate a cash-based return. Such as gold. ... (more) |
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Wednesday April 17th, 2013
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India's Response To The Gold Sell Off: A Massive Buying Frenzy
posted 04/17/2013, 9:18 AM (Zero Hedge)
[Category: Economy]
Panic, depression, rage, suicidal ideations: watching the US mainstream media, one would think that these are the prevailing sentiments among those who unlike the prevailing "developed world" speculative class, are invested most heavily in physical old - Indians, who collectively comprise the largest end-demand consumer segment for gold products. One would be very wrong. ... (more) |
Bitcoin Dreams Endure to Savers Crushed by CPI
posted 04/17/2013, 9:18 AM (Bloomberg)
[Category: Economy]
Banned from buying dollars and confronted by the fastest inflation in the Western Hemisphere, some Argentine savers are seeking refuge in bitcoin as a store of value even after the virtual currency's collapse.
TradeHill Inc., the San Francisco-based bitcoin exchange, plans to open its first Latin American office in Argentina after demand surged the most in the region, founder Jered Kenna said in an interview on April 12. Rodolfo Andragnes, an agent for bitcoin buyers and sellers ... (more) |
Audi wants to change a 45-year-old U.S. headlight rule
posted 04/17/2013, 9:18 AM (Bloomberg Businessweek)
[Category: Economy]
The headlights on the forthcoming Audi A8 sedan can illuminate around corners and throw brighter-than-average beams. They’re also smarter, adjusting automatically to traffic, pedestrians, and road conditions. “Extremely trick,” admired Car and Driver magazine. Audi plans to put the sedans into showrooms around the world this year. U.S. drivers likely will have to wait longer for models equipped with the headlights. That’s because a 1968 regulation requires that headlights switch between two sett... (more) See how government wrecked the modern car. |
Is The Takedown Of Gold A Sign That The Entire Global Financial System Is About To Crash?
posted 04/16/2013, 3:10 AM (The Economic Collapse)
[Category: Economy]
 Somebody out there is sure getting prepared for something really big. We have just witnessed a takedown of gold and silver unlike anything that we have witnessed in decades. On Monday, the price of gold had fallen by more than 10 percent at one point. It shocked investors all over the globe, and overall what we have just seen was the largest two day decline in the price of gold in 30 years. The price of silver dropped even more rapidly on Monday. It was down more than 14 percent at one poin... (more) |
Gold in the Crosshairs
posted 04/16/2013, 3:10 AM (Peter Schiff)
[Category: Economy]
 In the opening years of the last decade, most mainstream investors sat on the sidelines while "tin hat" goldbugs rode the bull market from below $300 to just over $1,000 per ounce. But following the 2008 financial crisis, when gold held up better than stocks during the decline and made new record highs long before the Dow Jones fully recovered, Wall Street finally sat up and took notice. The new devotees helped to push gold to nearly $1,900 by September of 2011. For the next year and a half i... (more) |
Global Economic Policy Now Firmly In The Hands of Money Cranks
posted 04/15/2013, 5:41 AM (DetlevSchlichter.com)
[Category: Economy]
The lesson from the events of 2007-2008 should have been clear: Boosting GDP with loose money -- as the Greenspan Fed did repeatedly between 1987 and 2005 and most damagingly between 2001 and 2005 when in order to shorten a minor recession it inflated a massive housing bubble -- can only lead to short term booms followed by severe busts. A policy of artificially cheapened credit cannot but cause mispricing of risk, misallocation of capital and a deeply dislocated financial infrastructure, all of... (more) |
What's Going on with Gold?
posted 04/15/2013, 5:37 AM (Mises Institute)
[Category: Economy]
For those of us who think that the world's central banks have been placing too much faith in the money printing press as a means of rousing sluggish economies, last week was bewildering. Gold closed the week below US$1500 per ounce. Not since June 2011 has the yellow metal traded beneath that level. Indeed, well before the breach of $1500, gold had been languishing after hitting an all-time high of $1900 in September 2011, stuck as it was within a range between $1800 and $1520.
Al... (more) |
Gold Bulls Endure Bear Market as Goldman Says Sell
posted 04/15/2013, 5:37 AM (Bloomberg)
[Category: Economy]
Hedge funds and other speculators added to bullish gold bets as the metal slumped into a bear market and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. warned the retreat is accelerating after the longest rally in nine decades.
The investors increased net-long positions by 19 percent to 56,084 futures and options in the week ended April 9, the first gain in three weeks, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. That contrasts with a 7.9 percent decline in bullish wagers across 18 U.S.-traded... (more) |
Homeland Security's New $3.9 Billion Headquarters
posted 04/15/2013, 5:35 AM (Business Week)
[Category: Economy]
President Barack Obama is trying to solve big problems in his proposed 2014 budget. His efforts to curtail entitlement spending have gotten most of the headlines. But he also seems determined to complete the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s new headquarters, the largest federal construction project since the Pentagon rose in the 1940s. The cost: $3.9 billion.... (more) |
9/11 Memorial goes back on its word, charges fee
posted 04/15/2013, 5:34 AM (New York Post)
[Category: Economy]
The 9/11 Memorial foundation, funded to the tune of $830 million, has begun nickel-and-diming visitors for ticket reservations.
Even though the nonprofit has long vowed admission to the sacred site would be free, it is now demanding $2 per ticket for all advance reservations made online or by phone.
Officials quietly rolled out the fee on March 1 — but it did not escape the notice of some outraged families of Sept. 11 victims.... (more) |
Why Chemotherapy That Costs $70,000 in the U.S. Costs $2,500 in India
posted 04/14/2013, 4:10 AM (The Atlantic)
[Category: Economy]
Why does Gleevec, a leukemia drug that costs $70,000 per year in the United States, cost just $2,500 in India?
It's seemingly simple. Gleevec is under patent in the U.S., but not in India. Accordingly, Novartis, its Swiss-based manufacturer, may prevent competitors from making and selling lower-cost versions of the drug in the U.S., but not in India.... (more) |
Tax Freedom Day 2013 is April 18, Five Days Later Than Last Year
posted 04/14/2013, 4:10 AM (Tax Foundation)
[Category: Economy]
What is Tax Freedom Day?
Tax Freedom Day is the day when the nation as a whole has earned enough money to pay its total tax bill for the year. A vivid, calendar based illustration of the cost of government, Tax Freedom Day divides all federal, state, and local taxes by the nation’s income. In 2013, Americans will pay $2.76 trillion in federal taxes and $1.45 trillion in state taxes, for a total tax bill of $4.22 trillion, or 29.4 percent of income. April 18 is 29.4 percent, or 108... (more) |
Paulson Loses More Than $300 Million as Gold Declines
posted 04/14/2013, 4:10 AM (Bloomberg)
[Category: Economy]
Billionaire John Paulson lost more than $300 million of his personal wealth on his gold bet, as the precious metal fell to its lowest price in almost two years.
Paulson has roughly $9.5 billion invested across his hedge funds, of which about 85 percent is invested in gold share classes. Gold dropped 4.1 percent today, shaving about $328 million from his net worth on this bet alone.
Gold tumbled and entered a bear market after falling more than 20 percent since Augus... (more) |
Pirate Party Crowd-Sources File-Sharing Fine Settlements
posted 04/14/2013, 4:04 AM (TorrentFreak)
[Category: Economy]
Anyone obtaining and sharing files on the Internet should be aware of the risk that someone, somewhere, might consider their behavior to constitute a breach of their rights. If people are eventually held to account, painful monetary fines can be the outcome. However, a new initiative by the youth division of the Swedish Pirate Party aims to soften the blow for those unlucky enough to get caught by paying their copyright infringement fines.... (more) |
Sam Zell: "The Stock Market Feels Like The Housing Market Of 2006"
posted 04/12/2013, 7:17 AM (ZeroHedge)
[Category: Economy]
Instead of the endless procession of "different this time", "buy-the-dip", "money-on-the-sidelines" asset-gathering, Muppet-fleecers that CNBC so typically trots out, Sam Zell graced them with his presence and the truth was allowed a voice for a few minutes. Joined by David Rosenberg, who clarifies the insanity that engulfs US equities, explaining in wonderment that it is "not surprising the market rises even in the face of bad ISMs, worse jobs, and worst NFIB data, because Japan and the US are ... (more) |
Cyprus May Sell Majority Of Gold Reserves to Help Fund Bailout
posted 04/12/2013, 7:17 AM (BBC News)
[Category: Economy]
Cyprus may sell off some of its gold reserves to help finance part of its bailout, according to reports.
An assessment by the European Commission says Cyprus must sell about 400m euros (£341m) worth of gold.
The country has already been forced to wind down one of its largest banks in order to qualify for a 10bn euro lifeline from international lenders.
Even with that bailout, it is predicted that the Cypriot economy will shrink by 8.7% this year.
... (more) |
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Thursday April 11th, 2013
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