Tag Archives: It’s A Trap

Americans Gambling on Rates With Most ARMs Since 2008

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“In the second year of the U.S. housing recovery, the loans that helped trigger the housing bust are making a comeback. Applications in late June rose to the highest level since 2008 after the Federal Reserve sent fixed rates surging by signaling it may curtail bond buying credited with pushing borrowing costs to the cheapest on record. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped 1.2 percentage points in mid-July from May to the highest level in two years, adding about $200 a month to payments on a $300,000 mortgage. ARMs, loans with interest rates that adjust after initial fixed periods, usually of five, seven or 10 years, contributed to soaring defaults in 2008.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-24/americans-gambling-on-rates-with-most-arms-since-2008.html

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Google strengthens Android security with NSA’s SELinux; TPM also coming

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“Originally developed by programmers from the National Security Agency, SELinux enforces a much finer-grained series of mandatory access control policies.  the other big security enhancement introduced in Android 4.3 is a more robust way to store cryptographic credentials used to access sensitive information and resources.  ‘With the keychain enhancements, the system-wide keys are bound to a hardware-based root of trust process devices that support this,’ said Pau Oliva Fora, senior mobile security engineer at viaForensics. ‘The phone needs to have a secure element such as a Trusted Platform Module so that private keys can’t be stolen.'”

http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/07/google-strengthens-android-security-muscle-with-nsa-developed-protection/

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Funny Money Or New Economy? Alternative Currency Raises Tax, Other Challenges

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“Philadelphia isn’t the only community experimenting with this idea. Other areas, like the Berkshire area of Massachusetts, have a similar currency (theirs is called BerkShares, not to be confused with Buffett’s Berkshire).  The exchange of Equal Dollars is a $2.5 million operation, according to RHD. BerkShares claims that it circulated over one million BerkShares circulated in the first nine months of operation and over 2.7 million to date (roughly pegged at $.95 U.S. per BerkShare). Ithaca HOURS, touted as the oldest local currency in the country, currently has over $100,000 in circulation.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2013/07/23/funny-money-or-new-economy-alternative-currency-raises-tax-other-challenges/

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Indians urged to recycle stashed gold

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“The All India Gem & Jewellery Trade Federation, representing about 300 000 gold manufacturers and retailers, was asking members to offer incentives to lure holders to recycle their old jewellery, chairman Haresh Soni said yesterday. Using more scrap and hoarded metal may further reduce Indian imports of gold, which are forecast to tumble 22 percent in the second half.  Jewellers have suspended sales of coins and bars to retail buyers until the current account deficit has stabilised.  On Tuesday Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram appealed to Indians to moderate their demand for the metal, while ruling out a complete ban on imports.”

http://www.iol.co.za/business/international/indians-urged-to-recycle-stashed-gold-1.1549817

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India finance minister to countrymen: Contain ‘uncontrolled passion’ for gold

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“Finance Minister P Chidambaram today asked countrymen to contain their ‘uncontrolled passion’ for gold and instead save in financial instruments. ‘Have faith in our financial sector. Unfortunately, we have difficulty shedding our old habits and put our money in gold,’ he said while speaking at an event to mark the platinum anniversary celebrations of state-run Dena Bank. ‘The uncontrolled passion for gold must be contained,’ Chidambaram said. People should rather switch to financial products to funnel their savings, the Minister said and added the soon to be launched inflation indexed bonds is a very lucrative option.”

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/contain-uncontrolled-passion-for-gold–chidambaram-to-countrymen/1120501/0

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Granny’s Gold Bars Are Key to Vietnam Push to Boost Dong

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“The target of Vietnam’s campaign to stabilize its currency is in the locked bedroom wardrobe of retired civil servant Vu Thi Huong: gold bars. Huong is among millions of Vietnamese who hold an estimated 300 tons to 400 tons of bullion to store their wealth — valued at as much as $19 billion at domestic prices and equal to official U.K. holdings — a legacy of more than a century of war, revolution and economic turbulence. The central bank wants to convert the hoard, much of it smuggled in, into dong deposits to strengthen the currency, which has slid 21 percent against the dollar in five years.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-14/granny-s-gold-bars-are-key-to-vietnam-push-to-boost-dong.html

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Currency Controls in Cyprus Increase Worry About Euro System

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“On a visit to Athens this year, Marios Loucaides, a Cypriot businessman, saw an apartment he liked in the heart of the Greek capital and decided to buy it.  However, Mr. Loucaides discovered that the euros he had on deposit here in Nicosia, the capital, could not be moved to Greece, even though the two countries share the same currency and, in theory at least, the same free movement of capital.The apartment deal collapsed. And so, too, did Mr. Loucaides’s belief that Europe has a common currency. Tangled in restrictions imposed in March as part of a bailout for the country’s ailing banks, a euro in Cyprus is no longer the same as one in France, Germany or Greece.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/10/world/europe/currency-controls-in-cyprus-increase-worry-about-euro-system.html?_r=1&&pagewanted=all

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Proposed U.S. law could be a Snowbird tax timebomb

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“The good news is that the JOLT Act, (Jobs Originated through Launching Travel), would allow Canadian retirees to spend up to eight months, or 240 days, each year in the U.S. without a visa. That’s almost two months longer than the current 182-day annual limit. The bad news is that snowbirds who spend that long in the U.S. may be required to pay U.S. taxes. ‘It looks like a great deal. I can be in Palm Springs for 240 days., but they didn’t tell you that it comes with a very high tax cost,’ Roy Berg, international tax lawyer at Moodys Gartner Tax Law in Calgary, said in an interview.”

http://www.thestar.com/business/personal_finance/retirement/2013/05/31/us_law_could_be_a_snowbird_tax_timebomb.html

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Brazilian leader asks for referendum after worst unrest in 20 years

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“The move, widely supported by the public, came after three weeks of protests over corruption and public spending which marred the Confederations Cup, a dress rehearsal for next year’s football World Cup, which will also be held in Brazil.  On Tuesday night truck drivers blocked roads in at least 10 states to press for the elimination of tolls and fuel subsidies.  Leftist leader Rousseff last week proposed a national pact with state governors to boost public services and guarantee a balanced budget. A Datafolha poll showed that 68 percent of Brazilians back Rousseff’s proposals.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/03/brazilian-leader-asks-for-referendum-after-worst-unrest-in-20-years/

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China’s central bank ready to unveil deposit insurance

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“The central bank released the China Financial Stability Report 2013 on 7 June, saying that a consensus has been reached on the establishment of a deposit insurance system and that the system may be launched and implemented at a suitable time. Sources say China will set up an insurance fund and the maximum coverage for each bank account will initially be set at Rmb500,000.  With the absence of a deposit insurance system, the state has actually taken on the responsibility to guarantee deposits in banks, which can easily lead to slack risk management and excessive speculation of commercial banks in seeking profits, the central bank report said.”

http://economists-pick-research.hktdc.com/business-news/article/Business-Alert-China/China-s-central-bank-ready-to-unveil-deposit-insurance/bacn/en/1/1X000000/1X09TNDQ.htm

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