Monthly Archives: April 2014

Four states hit record highs for home prices

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“Home prices in Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota and Texas hit peaks, and another 18 states were within 10% of their peak prices (see the above chart from CoreLogic).  Factors driving home prices include low inventory and strong employment growth. The Dallas area, for example, recently posted the third largest annual gain in jobs among 32 U.S. metropolitan divisions. Over in North Dakota, county populations are booming, and the state had the No. 1 rate of personal income growth last year.  Of note, the four states that posted record high prices in February also all missed the extreme price volatility seen during the housing bubble and its aftermath.”

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/capitolreport/2014/04/01/four-states-hit-record-highs-for-home-prices/

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European central banks mull bolder moves to prevent low inflation

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“Asked what tools the ECB has remaining, Mr. Liikanen, who has headed Finland’s central bank since 2004 and is on the ECB’s 24-member governing council, cited a negative deposit rate as well as additional loans to banks and asset purchases.  Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann didn’t rule out large-scale asset purchases, known as quantitative easing. Mr. Liikanen also said it was an option for the ECB and wouldn’t run afoul of rules prohibiting the central bank from financing governments. The Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan have aggressively used the policy to keep inflation from falling too low.”

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ecb-mulls-bolder-moves-to-prevent-low-inflation-2014-03-26

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Cheap Printing vs. Expensive Drilling

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“Yellen explained that the Fed helps people secure employment ‘by influencing interest rates.’ She followed, ‘Although we work through financial markets, our goal is to help Main Street, not Wall Street.’  Her predecessor used the same rhetoric in 2012. ‘This is a Main Street policy. Many people own stocks directly or indirectly. The issue here is whether or not improving asset prices generally will make people more willing to spend.’  Oil, unlike the Fed’s fiat dollars, can’t be created out of nothing. And, job or no job, people are driving.  Mrs. Yellen tells crowds, Don’t worry be happy, your job will be printed anytime now.  Let’s just say, for those with a job to go to, getting there will not be getting easier.”

http://www.caseyresearch.com/cdd/cheap-printing-vs.-expensive-drilling

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Obamacare Consequence Will Leave Many Americans Out of Luck

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“Americans thinking about buying health insurance on their own later this year, or maybe switching to a different insurer, are probably out of luck.  With limited exceptions, insurance companies have stopped selling until next year the sorts of individual plans that used to be available year-round. That locks out many of the young and healthy as well as the sick and injured, even those who can afford to buy without government subsidies.  The law, which requires nearly all Americans to be insured or pay a fine, bans insurers from rejecting customers because of poor health. The companies say that makes it too risky to sell to individuals year-round.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/04/the-little-noticed-consequence-of-obamacare-that-will-leave-many-americans-out-of-luck/

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Wendy McElroy: A Vast Land Grab to Grouse About

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“Some time this month, the Department of Interior will decide on whether to list the Lesser Prairie Chicken as an threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Listing the grouse would give government the ‘right’ to protect a habitat of 40-million-acres that spreads over five states: Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico and Kansas.  Much of the land is privately owned, and it includes rich pockets of oil and gas as well as active ranch and farm land.  The land grab is being engineered in a manner that has become a signature of the Obama administration: quietly, autocratically and by sidestepping established restraints. In this case, the tactic is called ‘sue and settle.'”

http://www.thedailybell.com/editorials/35152/Wendy-McElroy-A-Vast-Land-Grab-to-Grouse-About/

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Feds to Hold Cell Carriers Responsible When Tower Climbers Fall

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“Tower climbing, a small field of roughly 10,000 workers, has been called the most dangerous job in America.  Cell phone carriers and tower owners have insulated themselves from legal and regulatory liability for on-the-job injuries by delegating this work to layers of subcontractors. Now, for the first time, OSHA is systematically tracking which companies subcontractors were working for when accidents occurred, collecting paperwork that spells out such relationships. In a letter sent in February to industry employers and state wireless associations, the agency criticized ‘check the box’ language written into contracts that doesn’t set out clear standards for safety.”

http://www.propublica.org/article/feds-to-look-harder-at-cell-carriers-when-tower-climbers-die

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Feds investigating discrimination accused of discrimination

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“The federal agency tasked with investigating allegations of discrimination in consumer financial transactions was accused of discriminatory treatment of its own employees in a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday.  Angela Martin, a senior enforcement attorney with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), alleged that a ring of managers within the CFPB favors men over women in promotions, performance reviews, and the work place environment.  She said a ring of upper level managers in the CFPB division she works in — the consumer responses division  — engages in behavior which discriminates against females and minorities.”

http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/03/agency-tasked-with-investigating-discrimination-accused-of-discrimination/

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US covertly built Twitter-like service to stir anti-Castro dissent

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“The US government secretly masterminded the creation of a Twitter-like communications network in Cuba aimed at fueling political dissidence by sidestepping the strict Internet filtering systems in the communist nation.  The program, codenamed ‘ZunZuneo’, was operated by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and was supported by foreign bank financing and the use of secret shell companies, the Associated Press reported Thursday. USAID, which is charged with stabilizing countries and delivering humanitarian aid to poor nations, describes its mission as working on ‘the same problems as our military using a different set of tools.'”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/us-covertly-built-twitter-like-service-to-stir-anti-castro-dissent/

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$6 Billion Goes Missing at State Department

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“The State Department has no idea what happened to $6 billion used to pay its contractors.  In a special ‘management alert‘ made public Thursday, the State Department’s Inspector General Steve Linick warned ‘significant financial risk and a lack of internal control at the department has led to billions of unaccounted dollars over the last six years.’  For instance, a recent investigation of the closeout process for contracts supporting the mission in Iraq, showed that auditors couldn’t find 33 of the 115 contract files totaling about $2.1 billion. Of the remaining 82 files, auditors said 48 contained insufficient documents required by federal law.”

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/04/04/6-Billion-Goes-Missing-State-Department

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Hackers turn security camera DVRs into bitcoin miners

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“A computer security instructor says he’s discovered that hackers have been able to infiltrate standard security cameras and then use that hardware to mine for bitcoin, the anonymous digital cryptocurrency.  Johannes Ullrich, a teacher at the computer security SANS Technology Institute, announced last Friday that he found malicious software on Hikvision digital video recorders (DVRs), which are used to record video from surveillance cameras. The virus seems to spread from device to device onto each machine it connects with on the network in question. It also uses the closed-circuit television operators to mine for bitcoin, sending those profits back to the virus’ creator.”

http://rt.com/usa/hackers-security-dvrs-bitcoin-miners-913/

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