“Ben Swann Reality Check explains QE3 and what it means for you.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf2WAw81OqQ
“The only reason we expect the Fed to ‘know the right monetary policy’ is because it’s been assigned a monopoly role in the economy. But not just a monopoly role, we also expect the Fed to be some sort of omniscient central planner, knowing when to step on the gas and when to hit the brakes. And we also are asked to suspend reality and assume that the folks at the Fed will be good central planners and never be influenced by their political masters. With so many difficult – or perhaps impossible – demands placed upon them, no wonder the Fed has a lousy track record So let’s ask a fundamental question. Is the Fed necessary?”
http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/09/19/can-we-envision-a-world-without-a-central-bank/
“This chart shows where the median household income of the US Superpower, the ‘indispensable people,’ stands at the culmination of 2011. Americans are as well off as they were in 1967-68. Most americans cannot pay for fighting multi-trillion dollar wars for 11 years, bailout trillions of dollars in uncovered casino bets by Wall Street, have their middle class jobs sent abroad by corporations, and still expect to have higher personal incomes.”
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/09/13/the-revolution-from-above-paul-craig-roberts/
“A thief who was once chief of the IRS frets that ‘the new enforcement duties’ Obummercare gives that gang of robbers may prove its Waterloo: ‘If the IRS does execute the long list of tasks assigned to it under the Affordable Care Act, there is still an unquantifiable but real risk that healthcare reform will falter or perhaps even fail because of the sheer number of moving parts and complexity of the new system. … The damage to tax administration would be serious and lasting.'”
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/120977.html
“In one example, investigators found a single address in Lansing, Mich., that was used to file 2,137 tax returns. The IRS issued more than $3.3 million in refunds to that address. Three addresses in Florida, the center of the identity theft crisis, filed more than 500 returns totaling more than $1 million in refunds for each address. In another troubling scenario, hundreds of refunds were deposited into the same bank account — a red flag for investigators searching for ID thieves who may be filing for refunds for multiple people. In one instance, the IRS deposited 590 refunds totaling more than $900,000 into one account.”
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/story/2012-08-02/irs-tax-fraud-refunds/56713268/1
“An Afghan judicial panel ruled Monday that administrative detention violates Afghan law, potentially thwarting a U.S. plan to hand over Afghan detainees that American officials believe should continue to be held without a trial. President Hamid Karzai’s office announced in a statement that a top-level judicial panel met earlier in the day and decided that the detention of Afghan citizens without a court trial ‘has not been foreseen in Afghan laws’ and therefore could not be used.”
“Jens Weidmann said that efforts by central banks to pump money into the economy reminded him of the scene in Faust, when the devil Mephistopheles, ‘disguised as a fool’, convinces an emperor to issue large amounts of paper money. In Goethe’s classic, the money printing solves the kingdom’s financial problems but the tale ends badly with rampant inflation. Without specifically mentioning Mario Draghi’s bond-buying programme, he said: ‘If a central bank can potentially create unlimited money from nothing, how can it ensure that money is sufficiently scarce to retain its value?'”
“A press release from The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) said that Chick-fil-A had confirmed to Chicago Alderman Proco ‘Joe’ Moreno that its nonprofit, the WinShape Foundation, would no longer donate money to anti-LGBT organizations. TCRA noted that the company had clarified that groups like Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage would cut off from future donations. As a result of the new stance, Moreno has agreed to drop his efforts to block Chick-fil-A from opening a new restaurant in Chicago’s Northwest Side ward.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/19/chick-fil-a-to-halt-funding-of-anti-lgbt-groups-report/
“The Asia-Pacific region is now home to 3.37 million high net worth individuals – people with $1 million or more to invest – compared with 3.35 million in North America and 3.17 million in Europe, according to a new report from Pacific, Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management. According to the report, the Asian wealthy are 54 percent concentrated in Japan, with almost 17 percent in China and more than 5 percent in Australia.”
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/09/asias-wealthy-outnumber-north-americas.html
“Quietly, without fanfare or Congressional hearings, the USA Patriot Act in 2001 bestowed on the 12 privately owned Federal Reserve Banks, domestic policing powers. The police officers are technically known as FRLEO, short for Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Officer. The system has its own police academies for training, their own patch and badges, uniforms, pistols, rifles, police cars and the power to arrest coast to coast without a warrant. They have ranks of Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain and a recruitment ad campaign with the slogan: ‘It’s about respect and recognition from your peers. It’s you.'”