Monthly Archives: December 2016

Dallas freezes pension fund withdrawals, plans bailout with 130% tax increase

Posted on by

Police and firefighter pensioners rushing for the exits to escape a government-run Ponzi scheme — the Dallas public-sector employee pension that had promised 8% annual returns — were hit with the news that further lump-sum cashouts would be denied thanks to a lawsuit by none other than the mayor of Dallas.

The city of Dallas pension board has recommended a 130% property tax rate increase with a goal of raising $1.1 billion to plug the present gap in the pension fund.

The pension fund had recently reached for yield in risky real estate investments, losing $320 million before filing a lawsuit against its investment advisory firm earlier this year.

Expect many more such revelations in defined-benefit plans such as pensions, annuities, and life insurance as ZIRP/NIRP run their course.

 

 

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Black Market Arises In Cash Conversions Following India’s Cash Ban

Posted on by

“As Indians struggle with the chaos caused by last month’s sudden banning of their 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, money-laundering networks are spreading across the country, seizing on a new market in helping people turn their cash hoards into legal tender.  While people have until year-end to deposit old notes in their bank accounts, the government has said it will scrutinize large cash deposits and money with undeclared origins — and will tax or penalize depositors. That’s created a scramble for ways to turn so-called black money, the local term for cash that has evaded taxation, into white.”

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-04/money-laundering-networks-thrive-amid-india-s-cash-ban-chaos

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Bill Bonner: Funny Money Is Getting Funnier

Posted on by

“Funny money is getting funnier and funnier.  Our challenge is to figure out who’s the butt of the joke.”

Read more:

Funny Money Is Getting Funnier

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Popular dolls transmit kids’ conversations to US military contractor

Posted on by

“Once children talk to their toys, that voice data is sent to Nuance, a voice analysis firm that reportedly powers Siri and Samsung’s S Voice. It also holds contracts with the US military.  Both toys also accompany abysmal privacy policies that ultimately defer to Nuance’s Privacy Policy, which states that the company uses collected data to improve its products. One of its products, Nuance Identifier, is a ‘highly accurate voice biometric solution that allows public security officials to quickly and easily identify known individuals through their voice within large audio data sets.’ Law enforcement can use the software to identify suspects by their voice.”

http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/12/8/13868826/my-friend-cayla-ique-intelligent-robot-privacy-policy

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Bill Bonner: How Do You Destroy a Business?

Posted on by

“Mr. Mnuchin was on the board of Sears for the past 11 years, throughout its devastating decline. He is resigning now, letting the ship go down without him. Besides, he has already stolen the silver.  How do you destroy a business?  It’s not that hard. Rather than invest in new people and new methods, you take the money for yourself.   It is even more attractive if you can borrow a lot of fake money at ultra-low rates against the company’s credit… pay it out to yourself and other financiers… and then jump ship, leaving the company, its employees, and its creditors to drown in your debt.”

http://bonnerandpartners.com/how-do-you-destroy-a-business/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Hackers steal 2 billion rubles at Russia’s central bank

Posted on by

“The central bank did not say when the heist occurred or how hackers moved the funds. But so far, the attack bears some similarity to a recent string of heists that has targeted the worldwide financial system.  In January 2015, hackers got a hold of an Ecuadorian bank’s codes for using SWIFT, the worldwide interbank communication network that settles transactions. In October, hackers used the same technique to slip into a bank in the Philippines.  Two months later, hackers tried to make fraudulent requests at a commercial bank in Vietnam. They were stopped.  This past February, computer hackers stole $101 million from Bangladesh’s central bank — also by gaining access to SWIFT.”

http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/02/technology/russia-central-bank-hack/index.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

The Secret, Dangerous World of Venezuelan Bitcoin Mining

Posted on by

“The main factor driving Venezuelans to take up bitcoin mining is a price control put in place by the socialist government: Electricity is virtually free. In Venezuela, the government has turned bitcoin mining into something akin to owning a home mint.  Since bitcoin mining is a process, in effect, of converting the value of electricity into currency, Venezuelan miners are engaging in a form of arbitrage: They’re buying an underpriced commodity and turning it into bitcoin to make a profit. The miners have turned socialism against itself.”

http://reason.com/archives/2016/11/28/the-secret-dangerous-world-of

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet