“The oil-rich nation plans to pay public workers in the digital token and to use tax incentives to encourage its use. While the petro would be backed by one barrel of Venezuelan crude, the coins can’t be exchanged for the actual oil.”
“Leftist President Nicolas Maduro is hoping to capitalize on the success of cryptocurrencies by creating one for Venezuela as the bolivar plunges to all-time lows and the country struggles with hyperinflation. Critics decry the petro as simply a way for the cash-strapped government to issue debt without being constricted by U.S. sanctions. But the U.S. Treasury last week warned that Americans engaging with the petro could still find themselves in violation of those sanctions. Many in Venezuela have used cryptocurrencies in recent years to evade strict currency controls.”
“Much of that gold comes from outlaw mines deep in the jungle where dangerous chemicals are poisoning rainforests and laborers who toil for scraps of metal, according to human rights watchdogs and industry executives. In comparison, the U.S. gold supply, mostly mined in Nevada and Alaska, offers stiff competition and regulations. Big companies control the big mines. Smaller companies looking to deal in U.S. gold are restricted to buying recycled ‘scrap’ gold from pawnshops and jewelry stores. To gain a competitive edge, many U.S. gold traders look south.”
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article194187699.html
“Ecuador’s two ‘lost cities of gold’ exist only in legend and in fragments of old texts like this one, written by a Spanish priest traveling through the region a half century after the settlements were destroyed. Spain eventually gave them up for lost after dispatching more than 30 failed expeditionary forces to reclaim them. Barron and a team of researchers have spent years sleuthing around the Vatican library, the immense General Archive of the Indies, in Seville, Spain, and in small churches and libraries scattered throughout Latin America.”
“Some 52,000 of the King Henry III gold pennies were struck nearly 800 years ago before it was realised they were too heavy. The basic mistake meant the gold it was made from was worth more than the coin itself. This made the coins financially unviable as the holders could get more money from melting them down for gold rather than using them as currency. Virtually all of them were smelted and were replaced with correctly weighed pennies in 1257.”
Read more: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/first-ever-english-gold-coin-11753688
“San Diego is cracking down on several restaurants that city officials say are adding surcharges in misleading and illegal ways to help cover increased labor costs from the minimum wage hike that took effect Jan. 1.”
Read more: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/sd-me-wage-enforcement-20170105-story.html
“The announcement marks President Trump’s first major trade action of 2018 and follows his campaign promise to get tough on America’s trading partners. A tariff, or tax, of 30% will be applied to imported solar panels, most of which come from China. Tariffs will begin at 20% on large residential washing machines, according to the announcement Monday from U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.”
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/22/news/economy/us-tariff-washing-machines-solar-cells/index.html
“Lukasz Niec was 5 years old when his parents brought him and his sister to the United States from Poland. With two suitcases in tow, his parents — both doctors — left behind a country on the verge of social turmoil. It was 1979, about two years before the country’s authoritarian communist government declared martial law. Niec, now 43, never fathomed that his legal status in the United States would become an issue.”
“Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions retracted an Obama-era guidance to state courts that was meant to end debtors’ prisons, where people who are too poor to pay fines are sent. These burdens fell disproportionately on African-Americans. The push to abolish debtors’ prisons will continue, as community advocates and local officials press on. It would be preferable, of course, for the federal government to fulfill its role as a leading protector of basic constitutional rights. Unfortunately, Mr. Sessions has made clear that under his leadership it will not.”
“Your local post office wants absolutely no marijuana sent through the mail. Even in stamp form. The ban does not apply to alcohol, tobacco and guns.”
Read more: http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2017/12/19/postal-service-bans-images-of-marijuana-on-stamps/