Monthly Archives: January 2014

A Government Turning the Tools of War on Its Citizens

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“While poets and psychologists talk about soldiers bringing the battlefield home with them, in fact, the U.S. is doing just that. More and more, weapons, tactics, techniques and procedures that have been used abroad in war are coming home, this time employed against American Citizens.  Today’s front-page article in the Washington Postconfirms that wartime surveillance blimps– aerostats– used in Iraq and Afghanistan will now monitor most of the Northeast United States. The aerostats will be able to track individual cars and trucks as they move about their business. The Army confirmed that by summer 2014 at least two of these aerostats will be permanently over the Washington DC area.”

http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/01/23/a-government-turning-the-tools-of-war-on-its-citizens/

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Air Force Spends $1 Billion On Software Now Declared Utter Failure

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“The Expeditionary Combat Support System was heralded as a ‘revolutionary’ supply-chain management system that was sold to the people over at the Pentagon who did what they often do.  In the end, the Pentagon contractors and officials informed Congress that it would require $1.1 billion and eight years beyond the planned rollout date to fix the system. So we scrapped it. Another one billion evaporates and Pentagon officials just move on to the next program. No one is fired. No one is prosecuted. By the way, this is just one of nine massive software systems ordered by the Pentagon, and six are running as late as 12 years beyond their planned rollout date. Twelve years.”

http://jonathanturley.org/2014/01/21/united-states-air-force-spends-1-billion-on-software-system-now-declared-utter-failure/

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Did anyone read the latest spending bill?

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“The bill gives at least $62 million, and possibly as much as $119 million, to the United States Enrichment Corp., a government spinoff that last month announced plans to file for bankruptcy.  The bill blocks the Navy from retiring seven cruisers and two amphibious ships. It gave the Pentagon $950 million more than it wanted for one class of attack submarines. But the measure denied the Pentagon $8 million it sought to study more base closures.  The bill awards the Pentagon $666 million to study illnesses and afflictions ranging from Lou Gehrig’s disease to breast cancer — activities not closely related to war-fighting.  The bill gives the oil and nuclear industries a bonanza.”

http://herald-review.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/article_21c6a955-3d39-5a77-bf46-39af53902fb2.html

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Fed Signals End of Easy Money — Ready for A Massive Shift in Rates?

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“Specifically, the Fed said it would shrink its QE program by another $10 billion, to $65 billion. Policymakers also strongly implied they will continue reducing their bond buys going forward. The ramifications of these moves will be widespread and severe for both the interest rate markets and the markets that take their cues from them — which, frankly, are pretty much every market on the planet.  We’re already seeing vulnerable emerging markets impacted by the Fed’s moves. Central banks in Turkey and South Africa have been forced to respond to the Fed’s policy shift by jacking up their interest rates. Other countries as far flung as Indonesia and Brazil have already done the same.”

http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/fed-signals-end-of-easy-money-are-you-ready-for-massive-shift-in-rates-57889

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The Bitcoin ATM Has a Dirty Secret: It Needs a Chaperone

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“One day in November, a few weeks after launching the ATM, Demeter noticed something peculiar as he perused the machine’s transaction data at his office, across town from the coffee shop. At one point, the machine had voided 15 transactions in a row, for no obvious reason. So he drove down to the cafe, and as he walked through the front door, he immediately saw the problem.  A man was sitting next to the machine, at one of the cafe’s wooden tables, and he was holding a sign that read: ‘Don’t Pay Transaction Fees.’ This very human entrepreneur, you see, was undercutting the world’s first bitcoin ATM, which was charging a 7 percent transaction fee.”

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/01/bitcoin_atm/

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Bitcoin transformative as the Web, venture capitalist says

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“Bitcoin could be as ‘big as the Internet’ in reshaping the world and spurring economic growth, said a venture capitalist and well-known booster of the virtual currency.  ‘Virtual currency, particularly bitcoin, reminds me so much of that time in the early ’90s,’ said Fred Wilson, a partner at Union Square Ventures. ‘We are at beginning of an exciting time, not just for investors but for all of society.’  His comments came at a hearing Tuesday on the potential regulation of bitcoin.  Virtual currencies have ‘serious and documented dangers,’ said Benjamin M. Lawsky, superintendent of financial services for the state’s Department of Financial Services, who led the panel discussion.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101370984

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Bitcoin saves Australian company TOMCAR $50,000 in bank fees

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“All-terrain vehicle manufacturer Tomcar saves over $50K AUD due to the Bitcoin payment network.”

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Why Bitcoin Terrifies Big Banks: Andreas Antonopoulos

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“Abby Martin speaks with Andreas Antonopoulos, founder of Root Eleven and co-host of let’s Talk Bitcoin, discussing how Bitcoin works, and why it’s so important to have a decentralized system of money.”

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NY top financial regulator Benjamin M. Lawsky on future Bitcoin Regs

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“Luke Rudkowski interviews Ben Lawsky at tuesday New York State regulatory bitcoin hearing about the future of government intervention with bitcoin. Benjamin M. Lawsky is New York State’s first Superintendent of Financial Services who called for tuesdays special proceedings.”

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New York announces plans for bitcoin ‘license’ amid high-profile arrest

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“New York plans to create regulations that will guide virtual currency firms that operate in the state, possibly requiring them to hold a ‘BitLicense,’ the state’s top banking regulator said Tuesday, one day after a major arrest in the bitcoin universe.  Benjamin Lawsky, New York’s Superintendent of Financial Services, said such regulatory guidelines would seek to bar misconduct like money laundering while not cornering in booming cryptocurrency technology. His comments came during the start of hearings this week – organized by the New York Department of Financial Services – on the future of online currencies.”

http://rt.com/usa/bitcoin-regulations-new-york-320/

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