Monthly Archives: September 2014

FATCA Threatens Russia’s Financial System, Official Says

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“FATCA, the U.S.’s global tax avoidance law, is a threat to Russia’s financial system, the head of Russia’s money laundering watchdog said Thursday, in the latest outburst from a Russian official against Washington’s unilateral application of its own laws beyond its borders.  FATCA, which went into force in July, requires foreign banks to pass information on the accounts of U.S. taxpayers to the U.S. tax service, the IRS, and withhold money on the IRS’s behalf. Shirkers face financial penalties on their U.S.-based income.  ‘In effect our financial institutions will become tax agents, tax informants for the U.S. economy,’ Yury Chikhanchin, chief of Rosfinmonitoring, said.”

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/fatca-threatens-russia-s-financial-system-official-says/506452.html

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Alibaba files to sell up to $24.3 billion in stock, biggest US IPO ever

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“Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Friday filed to sell up to $24.3 billion in stock, making it the biggest technology listing in the United States.  The intended deal size would make the Chinese e-commerce company the biggest IPO in U.S. history, followed by Visa, ENEL SpA, and Facebook, according to Renaissance Capital. Alibaba accounts for about 80 percent of all online retail sales in China, where rising Internet usage and an expanding middle-class helped the company generate gross merchandise volume of $296 billion in the 12 months ended June 30.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101976122

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Bill Bonner: What I Learned in China About the Fate of the US Dollar

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“‘China is the nation to watch,’ begins a Beijing colleague.  It is already the biggest trading nation in the world. And it will soon pass the US as the world’s biggest economy. But what is really important is that it will also overtake the US in two other important categories: military power and money.  Now, the US is making a show of supporting the nations around China… as though it could stop China by teaming up with the Philippines and Japan.  This is like the early 19th century, when France tried to get all of Europe to unite against Britain, the rising power of that era. It didn’t work… You can’t stop a nation whose time has come. And China’s time is coming.'”

http://bonnerandpartners.com/learned-china-fate-us-dollar/

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After Banning Pinball 80 Years Ago, Oakland Will Finally Legalize It

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“And here you thought games like Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto had it rough: 80 years ago, pinball — yes, pinball — was a seedy, controversial business. So controversial that thousands of U.S. cities passed laws making pinball machines illegal, including Oakland, California, where you might be surprised to find the game remains a criminal matter on the books to this day. That’s about to change, says the San Francisco Chronicle, which writes that Oakland is set to formally un-ban pinball at last, though it’ll be seen as a symbolic move: pinball machines are alive and well across the city, notes the Chronicle, and the ban hasn’t been enforced for decades.”

http://time.com/2912494/california-town-that-banned-pinball-80-years-ago-will-finally-legalize-it/

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Fantasy football: Legal questions arise as gambling games grow

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“Traditional leagues at ESPN and elsewhere received their legal clearance from the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which was designed mainly to stop internet poker. It included an important ‘carve out’ for fantasy football. Meanwhile, most state laws define fantasy football as skill-based propositions, which keeps them legal. ‘Part of the problem with entrepreneurial endeavors on the internet is that some people push the envelope and some cross the line,’ said Las Vegas-based attorney Tony Cabot. ‘Until there’s some sort of enforcement action on some level, I think you’ll see them keep pushing that line out further and further.'”

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_26402528/fantasy-football-legal-questions-arise-gambling-games-grow

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BitInstant Founder to Forfeit $950K to US Government in Plea Bargain

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“Further details have emerged of former BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem’s plea bargain with US authorities, which saw him plead guilty to aiding and abetting an unlicensed money-transmitting business on 4th Sept. Shrem and Robert Faiella’s plea bargains, [with the government’s decision to drop a charge of money-laundering,] provide for jail terms of up to 60 months. The guidelines also include a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the amount of money derived from the crime or double the loss to the victim, whichever is greatest. The Manhattan US Attorney, Preet Bharara, said that Shrem and Faiella sold $1m in bitcoin to ‘outlaws’ on Silk Road.”

http://www.coindesk.com/charlie-shrem-forfeit-950000-us-government-plea-bargain/

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BP found ‘grossly negligent’ in 2010 U.S. spill, facing $18 billion fine

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“A U.S. judge has decided that BP Plc was ‘grossly negligent’ and ‘reckless’ in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill four years ago, a ruling that could add nearly $ 18 billion in fines to more than $ 42 billion in charges the company took for the worst offshore environmental disaster in U.S. history. Barbier ruled that BP was mostly at fault and that two other companies in the case, Transocean Ltd and Halliburton, were not as much to blame. The amount is far more than the $ 4.5 billion maximum fine that could have been levied under a simple ‘negligence’ ruling. BP has set aside only $ 3.5 billion for fines under the Clean Water Act.”

http://thebostonjournal.com/2014/09/05/bp-grossly-negligent-in-2010-u-s-spill-fines-could-be-18-billion-2/

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Are We Underestimating America’s Fracking Boom?

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“It’s the tale of a company called Sasol, the former South African state oil company, which is embarking on what could be the single-largest foreign investment project in U.S. history.  Sasol is building a 3,034-acre energy complex near a bayou in Lake Charles, La. Tapping into cheap, fracked natural gas as well as Gulf Coast pipeline and shipping infrastructure, Sasol plans to spend as much as $21 billion there.  This is engineering on a scale so large that it requires closing 26 public roads, buying out 883 public-property lots, and hiring 7,000 workers at peak construction.  In all, some 66 industrial projects—worth some $90 billion—will be breaking ground over the next five years in Louisiana.”

http://online.wsj.com/articles/are-we-underestimating-americas-fracking-boom-1401234486

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Bill Bonner: Can This Simple Trading System “Beat the Market”?

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Bill-Bonner2

“Large-cap US stocks, for example, tend to trade between 10 times earnings and 20 times earnings. Occasionally, they are more expensive. Sometimes they are less.  When they are more than 20 times earnings, buyers typically have a hypothesis that justifies the higher prices. ‘This time it is different,’ the sentence begins, followed by ‘because…’  We can never know that this hypothesis is true. We may know from experience that similar hypotheses have been proven false. But we can’t be sure that this one will be disproven too.  But as the price of stocks rise, the potential reward for betting against the extraordinary new hypothesis goes up.”

http://bonnerandpartners.com/can-simple-trading-system-beat-market/

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The Last Time This Indicator Flashed Red Was in 1987

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“One widely watched sentiment indicator is the weekly US Advisors’ Sentiment Report, published by Investors Intelligence.  It looks at more than a hundred independent newsletters and assesses each author’s stance on the market: bullish, bearish or correction.   The norm is about 35% bears. But as you can see from the chart below, the number of bears just came in at only 13.3% – the lowest level since February 1987.  It’s another sign that US stocks are becoming a worryingly crowded trade.  If you look, for example, at all the times the bears dropped below 14% going back to the 1970s, you’ll see that the following average 12-month returns for the S&P 500 were just 0.7%.”

http://bonnerandpartners.com/last-time-indicator-flashed-red-1987-sentiment/

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