Tag Archives: It’s A Trap

Loan Practices of China’s Biggest Banks Raising Concern

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“Text message solicitations began arriving on the mobile phones of many of China’s wealthy last month, promising access to lucrative wealth management products with yields far above the government’s benchmark savings rate.  The offers are not coming from fly-by-night operators but some of China’s biggest banks. They are raising huge pools of cash to finance a relatively new and highly profitable sideline business: lending outside the scrutiny of bank regulators. The complex way they go about making off-the-balance-sheet loans is at the heart of China’s $6 trillion shadow banking industry, which the government is now trying to tame.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/02/business/global/loan-practices-of-chinas-banks-raising-concern.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130702&pagewanted=all

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Congratulations to Gay Americans Who Are Now Eligible for the Tax Code’s Marriage Penalty

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“The CBO estimated that gay marriage in all 50 states would increase tax receipts by about $400 million a year if the George W. Bush tax cuts were extended and by about $700 million a year if they were not. Because those tax cuts ended up being mostly extended, the answer is probably somewhere in the middle, but closer to $400 million. The added revenue comes from the ‘marriage penalty’: Two-earner married couples where each spouse has a similar income tend to be taxed more heavily than they would be if both partners were single.”

http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/congratulations-to-gay-americans-who-are-now-eligible-for-the-tax-codes-marriage-penalty/

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‘Virtual’ Currencies Draw State Regulator Scrutiny

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“State banking regulators are scrutinizing companies that let people buy and sell virtual currencies such as bitcoin, and some are looking at requiring costly licenses, according to people familiar with the efforts.  Texas is one of 48 states that require companies to obtain money-transmission licenses to operate. South Carolina and Montana don’t have such rules. New York bank regulators said they are also discussing the issues with virtual currency exchanges operating in the state.  State money-transmission licenses can be costly. In Texas, companies seeking a license must provide a surety bond of between $300,000 and $2 million, depending on transaction volume.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324682204578517604191541808.html

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IRS targets First Caribbean International Bank thanks to ‘voluntary disclosure’ program

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“A witness statement filed in support of the summons by IRS agent Cheryl Kiger details how, during her investigation into a leak of offshore data, she came across information suggesting FCIB and Barclays accounts may have been used by tax evaders. Kiger also disclosed information obtained from a programme allowing individuals who have previously evaded US tax to voluntarily disclose this information and receive less stringent penalties. She identified at least 129 such cases which had involved the use of bank accounts with FCIB ‘its predecessors in the Caribbean’.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/27/irs-targets-first-caribbean-international-bank-over-tax-evasion/

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Winklevoss twins on Bitcoin: Time to work with the Feds

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“The Winklevoss twins, who transformed a lucrative Facebook payout into a venture capital fund, say it’s now time for bitcoin companies to work with governments rather than against them.  Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin Harvard graduates famously portrayed in the 2010 film The Social Network, showed up at the Bitcoin 2013 conference to talk up the future of the Internet’s favorite alternative currency — as long as it escapes a government crackdown.  ‘I don’t think anyone wants a fight — I think everyone here wants to build bitcoin, to work with regulators,’ Cameron Winklevoss told over 1,000 conference attendees. ‘Cooperation is really the way forward.'”

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57585151-38/winklevoss-twins-on-bitcoin-time-to-work-with-the-feds/

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Anti-cocaine vaccine research edges closer to human trials

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“Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have successfully used a vaccine to produce a long-lasting anti-cocaine immunity in nonhuman primates. ‘The vaccine eats up the cocaine in the blood like a little Pac-man before it can reach the brain,’ the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, said in a news release.  Using PET imaging, Crystal and his colleagues found the vaccine prevented cocaine from reaching the brain. The vaccine stimulated the immune system to produce specific antibodies that attached themselves to cocaine molecules in the bloodstream. This prevented the drug from passing through the blood-brain barrier.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/12/anti-cocaine-vaccine-research-edges-closer-to-human-trials/

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Sweden’s War on Cash: News from the Frontlines

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“Three of the four largest banks in Sweden continue to phase out the manual handling of cash at their branch offices at a rapid pace. Taken together, Swedbank, Nordea, and SEB, have stopped offering cash services at their branches at the rate of three branches per week since 2010. Thus during the period 2010-2012, cash disappeared from 465 Swedish bank branches. At Swedberg bank, only 75 of its 340 branches still handle cash.  Leif Faithful, Head of Financial Infrastructure at the Swedish Bankers’ Association, believes that eventually all Swedes will need a bank card and sees this development as beneficial to ‘both consumers and trade.'”

http://bastiat.mises.org/2013/05/swedens-war-on-cash-news-from-the-frontlines/

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Argentina offers tax amnesty to head off devaluation

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“Argentina’s latest effort to tease out billions of U.S. dollars said to be held by citizens through sweeping tax breaks and interest earnings received lukewarm response, though this may change.  Argentine citizens are said to be holding the greenback in illegal stashes as a hedge against the Argentine peso’s unstable performance, a runaway inflation and general distrust of the government’s fiscal and monetary policies. Official estimates say at least $160 billion is held in cash at home and abroad by Argentines who have yet to declare their holdings.”

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2013/05/08/Argentina-offers-tax-amnesty-to-head-off-devaluation/UPI-13451368055464/

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Flight of the RoboBee: Tiny hovering robot creates buzz

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“A robotic fly with a body not much taller than a penny standing on edge has taken to the air, passing its tests with flying colors. The Robobee, as it’s called, is the smallest artificial insect yet flown, according to the team that built it.  The tiny craft’s success – the team that designed it said it was the first such object to fly in a controlled manner – represents a key step in developing insect-size drones that designers say could one day search collapsed buildings for survivors after a disaster, sample an environment for hazardous chemicals before humans are sent in, or pinpoint enemy soldiers or terrorists holed up in urban areas.”

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0502/Flight-of-the-RoboBee-Tiny-hovering-robot-creates-buzz

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GAO Now Investigating DHS Ammo Purchases

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“The Government Accountability Office tells Whispers it is now investigating large ammunition purchases made by the Department of Homeland Security. Chuck Young, a spokesman for GAO, says the investigation of the purchases is ‘just getting underway.’  The congressional investigative agency is jumping into the fray just as legislation was introduced in both the Senate and the House to restrict the purchase of ammo by some government agencies (except the Department of Defense). The AMMO Act, introduced Friday, would prevent agencies from buying more ammunition if ‘stockpiles’ are greater than what they were in previous administrations.”

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/04/29/gao-now-investigating-dhs-ammo-purchases

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