Icelanders who pelted parliament with rocks in 2009 demanding their leaders and bankers answer for the country’s economic and financial collapse are reaping the benefits of their anger.
Since the end of 2008, the island’s banks have forgiven loans equivalent to 13 percent of gross domestic product, easing the debt burdens of more than a quarter of the population, according to a report published this month by the Icelandic Financial Services Association.
Italian anti-mafia prosecutors said they seized a record $6 trillion of allegedly fake U.S. Treasury bonds, an amount that’s almost half of the U.S.’s public debt.
The bonds were found hidden in makeshift compartments of three safety deposit boxes in Zurich, the prosecutors from the southern city of Potenza said in an e-mailed statement. The Italian authorities arrested eight people in connection with the probe, dubbed “Operation Vulcanica,” the prosecutors said.
Back in the summer of 2009, a peculiar story circulated when two Japanese individuals were arrested trying to smuggle $134 billion in US bonds into Switzerland from Italy. The story quickly died down after it was subsequently reported that the bonds were merely fake bearer bonds. Nobody heard much about it since then. Until today, when out of the blue we get a new story which blows that one o... (more)
Gold traders are getting more bullish after billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson told investors it’s time to buy the metal as protection against inflation caused by government spending.
Twelve of 22 surveyed by Bloomberg expect prices to gain next week and five were neutral. Paulson & Co. is already the biggest investor in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange- traded product backed by bullion, with a stake valued at $2.9 billion, a Securities and Exchange Commission fi... (more)
Skip to 20 minutes. This is a great interview. They talk about Judge Nap's show being canceled, Ron Paul being robbed in Michigan, Austrian economics & the success of LewRockwell.com and the Mises Institute. I loved it. - Chris
Adding to the growing list of failed "green" energy companies, another solar firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday in hopes of selling off its solar power subsidiaries and other assets. Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ECD), a Michigan-based manufacturer of thin-film solar laminates (product shown at left), said it will continue to operate through the bankruptcy and sale process.
Through its subsidiaries Uni-Solar (USO) and Solar Integrated Technologies, the firm develop... (more)
Announcing his budget plans for fiscal year 2013 in an address at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va., President Barack Obama characterized the current income tax rates--signed into law by President Bush a decade ago--as a form of government spending.
Essentially, the president said that the federal government "spends" when it does not raise taxes.
“Right now, we’re scheduled to spend more than $1 trillion more on what was intended to be a temporar... (more)
The U.S. has been “overmedicated” by public policy and should consider the government’s 1920’s response to recession, said James Grant, editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer.
Responding to a severe economic downturn from 1920 to 1921, the Federal Reserve increased interest rates and the national budget was balanced, moves that kept the painful recession short, New York-based Grant said. In contrast, he said U.S. policy makers are prolonging the pain of the so-called Great Reces... (more)
Advocates of government stimulus are running victory laps on recent developments that appear to vindicate their strategy. In particular, Paul Krugman compares the sluggish growth in Europe to the somewhat-less-sluggish growth in the US to prove that stimulus was more effective than austerity. Other economists are using government inflation measures to defend Fed Chairman Bernanke's easy-money policy. The only problem is, they're calling the race before the finish line is even in sight. ... (more)
President Barack Obama’s budget plan calls for taxing dividends received by high-income taxpayers as ordinary income, raising the top rate to 39.6 percent from 15 percent as part of a $1.4 trillion tax increase on top earners over the next decade.
The proposal, in the president’s fiscal 2013 budget released today, would reverse his previous policy that called for taxing dividends more lightly than wage income. The plan would treat dividends as ordinary income for married couples m... (more)
With trillions of dollars in debt, the U.S. government, like a runaway shopaholic, still manages to find ridiculous things to throw its dollar bills at. From pancakes to prostitutes, monkey poop to video games, here are the 25 craziest things the U.S. government spends money on.
From Warren Buffet's newsletter:
Even in the U.S., the dollar has fallen a staggering 86% in value since 1965 when I took over management for Berkshire Hathaway.
It now takes $7 to buy what $1 did in 1965. Consequently, a tax free institution would have needed 4.3% interest annually from bonds over that period of time just to maintain itself. ... (more)
When most people think about America's debt problem, they think of the debt of the federal government. But that is only part of the story. The sad truth is that debt slavery has become a way of life for tens of millions of American families. Over the past several decades, most Americans have willingly allowed themselves to become enslaved to debt. These days, most of us are busy either going into even more debt or paying off the debt that we have accumulated in the past. When your finances ... (more)
Though there is often much focus on the richest private individuals in the United States, the U.S. Congress actually has far more economic power.
In this video, economist Robert Lawson compares the economic power of the 535 most wealthy private citizens with the spending power of the 535 members of Congress. You might be surprised by what you find out.... (more)
Marc Faber gives a superb interview to Bloomberg News, he gives his take on Facebook's upcoming IPO, details what he thinks is in store for the economy next year, lists a few stocks he bought recently, and discusses why he thinks the entire derivatives market will collapse to zero. - Video aired 02 Feb 2012
Author and former OMB director David Stockman sits down with the Daily Ticker to explain Obama's latest election year scheme to give re-fi's to select underwater mortgage holders. It's nothing but another bailout for JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, and other big underwriters of 2nd mortgages and home equity loans, since ultimately these 'homeowners' are going to default. This is where 40 years of government meddling in the housing market has gotten us. This scam is all about wealth redistribution... (more)
This week, Arizona legislators are voting on a package of bills that would be "Wisconsin on steroids" -- banning collective bargaining, release time and automatic deduction of union dues from paychecks. The unions plan state capitol protests this week, so things are heating up and the story has already appeared in various national publications. Sin... (more)
When National Public Radio airs a segment on the gold standard, you know that the debate over the quality of money has reached the point where it can no longer be ignored. Another sign came last month when Newt Gingrich, who has never shown the slightest interest in the cause of sound money, suddenly began to talk about restoring the gold standard.
The last time there was talk about this issue was more than 30 years ago, after the devastating inflation of the late 1970s robbed an ... (more)
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Facebook's upcoming IPO will make founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg a billionaire -- but it will also stick him with an eye-popping tax bill that could reach as high as $2 billion.
Industry experts say that might be one for the record books.
"I personally have never seen a bill into the billions -- close, but not quite," said Anthony Nitti, a Colorado-based CPA and partner with Withum, Smith and Brown. "I talked to a few buddies of mine at the B... (more)
Floyd Norris writes for the New York Times that it's 1980 all over again.
Discussion of gold has gone from nonexistent a decade ago to the question of whether its price is in bubble territory, and now a policy question in the Republican primary. Ron Paul has been stumping for a return to the gold standard for decades, and the populace has finally caught up.
... (more)
Hrm... advocating for a gold standard... how suspicious...
