Tag Archives: Middle Class Dismissed

DEA agents seize black businessman’s $16K life savings; no charges filed

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“Even after a telephone call to Joseph’s mother in Detroit to corroborate his story, the agents refused to believe the young man, insisting that the money was drug-related.  Despite the fact the officers found no drugs or guns in Joseph’s luggage – and failed to charge him with any crime – they took his cash away from him under the civil asset forfeiture program.  The Justice Department’s multibillion-dollar civil asset forfeiture fund allows officers to seize a citizen’s belongings, based only on a suspicion that a person is breaking the law. Rivers claims that he was picked on by officers as he was the only black person in his section of the train.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3077890/Black-aspiring-businessman-16-000-life-savings-seized-DEA-never-charged-crime.html

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Venezuela Moves to Nationalize Food, Ration Medicine, Kill Comedy

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“The crisis in Venezuela is escalating, and it’s not funny anymore.  Socialist President Nicolás Maduro, successor to the Hugo Chavez regime, has announced he will use his ‘decree powers’ to nationalize the country’s food distribution network.  Milk, flour, and toilet paper may be hard to find, but money can always be located for public employees: ‘Maduro also announced a 30-percent increase in public wages on Friday.’ The government blames ‘hoarding’ — whatever that means — for [medicine] shortages. But doctors and pharmacists blame government price controls, production regulations, and trade restrictions for cutting off the supply.”

http://fee.org/anythingpeaceful/detail/venezuela-moves-to-natonalize-food-ration-medicine-kill-comedy

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Bill Bonner: To the Class of 2015, Part 2

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“We — your parents — enjoyed an economic expansion that began when we were born and continued, with only short interruptions, until we retired. We got out of school with little or no student debt. We could start businesses with generally few impediments. We could borrow money to fund our businesses and our lives. We could hire, fire, switch jobs…buy and sell houses…move from place to place… We were freer…and richer…than you will be…unless you can wipe the slate clean of our debts, our foolish wars and dumbbell programs, and our attempts to hold back the future and prevent you from living rich, full, free lives of your own.”

https://www.equitymaster.com/dailyreckoning/detail.asp?date=05/12/2015&story=2&title=To-the-Class-of-2015-Part-2

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I Wish My Job Didn’t Exist

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“I was not hired to teach students, perform research or help our students become better leaders. But without my work, many of our students would not be able to enroll in our university.  My work entails keeping Norwich out of trouble with many regulations, such as the Clery Act, FERPA, and Title IX, but I’d like to focus on perhaps the most maddening set of regulations—those pertaining to online education. Over the last four years, Norwich has spent over $500,000, a figure that includes my salary, fees paid to states, surety bonds, agent permits, registered agents, and travel costs. Not one cent had any educational value.”

http://fee.org/anythingpeaceful/detail/i-wish-my-job-didnt-exist

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California to cap income eligibility for clean-vehicle rebates [2014]

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“Nearly four-fifths of [California] rebates went to households earning $100,000 or more. Nearly half of those getting rebates for Tesla’s premium electric sedan earned at least $300,000.  With the state’s incentive program constantly running out of funds — about 13,500 buyers are on a waiting list to get their rebate — state lawmakers are now looking to get more of that money into the hands of lower-income drivers.  Proposed legislation underscores the dilemma the state faces in lowering tailpipe emissions in a traffic-choked state: how to nurture the development of expensive automotive technology without simply underwriting high-priced cars for the rich.”

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-electric-car-rebates-20140807-story.html#page=1

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Why It’s Cheaper to Lease a New Electric Car Than to Buy One Used

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“It comes down to the government’s preferred way of encouraging people to drive EVs: tax credits. The federal credit is $7,500. That’s a bottom-line credit, so if you’re not paying at least that much in federal taxes, you’re not getting the full benefit. (Various states offer different credits, or none at all.)  That leads people to lease EVs instead. The financing company that buys the new car from the automaker gets the full tax credit, so it can pass those savings to the lessee in the form of lower monthly payments. That’s why you can get a new Nissan Leaf for $2,400 down and $199 a month for 36 months. It’s hard for used EVs to compete with lease rates this low, because the tax credit isn’t passed down.”

http://www.wired.com/2014/08/why-its-cheaper-to-lease-a-new-electric-car-than-to-buy-one-used/

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The Danger Of Overstuffing Your IRA

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“If you put too much in an Individual Retirement Account, you can expect to hear from the Internal Revenue Service. That’s the bottom line of a new report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, ‘Actions Can Be Taken To Further Improve The Strategy For Addressing Excess Contributions To Individual Retirement Arrangements.’  It’s not just taxpayers making mistakes. When analyzing tax year 2011 Forms 5498 for excess contributions, TIGTA determined that approximately 834,000 (7 percent) of 11.9 million Forms 5498 filed by IRA custodians appeared to be inaccurate.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleaebeling/2015/04/23/the-danger-of-overstuffing-your-ira/

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Dentist Attacked for Charging Too Little For Teeth Cleaning

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“When is it illegal for a licensed dentist in Arkansas to clean teeth? When he also happens to be a licensed orthodontist.  In 2013, Dr. Ben Burris ran afoul of Arkansas’ law when he started offering low-cost teeth cleanings.  Within weeks, Ben was told by the Arkansas State Board of Dental Examiners that he was breaking the law and that his license would be revoked if he continued offering the cleanings.  Arkansas prohibits licensed dental specialists like orthodontists from doing work outside of their specialty even though they are qualified to practice general dentistry. Faced with the threat of seeing his practice ruined and his 100+ employees out of work, Ben suspended the program.”

http://fee.org/anythingpeaceful/detail/its-illegal-to-charge-too-little-for-teeth-cleaning

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Citi Economist: Abolish Cash To Enforce Negative Interest Rates

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“In a new piece, Citi’s Willem Buiter looks at this problem, which is known as the effective lower bound (ELB) on nominal interest rates.  According to Buiter, the ELB only exists at all due to the existence of cash, which is a bearer instrument that pays zero nominal rates. Why have your money on deposit at a negative rate that reduces your wealth when you can have it in cash and suffer no reduction?  Cash therefore gives people an easy and effective way of avoiding negative nominal rates.  Buiter’s note suggests three ways to address this problem: Abolish currency.  Tax currency.  Remove the fixed exchange rate between currency and central bank reserves/deposits.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-10/citi-economist-says-it-might-be-time-to-abolish-cash

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Germany’s 10-year government bond yields are about to go negative

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“Germany’s benchmark for how much it costs the government to borrow money is plunging lower and lower — and on this trend, it’s just a matter of time before investors are actually paying to hold the government’s debt.  The 10 year bund yield, which is the most commonly used indicator of how much or how little a government is paying on its debt, is now yielding less than 0.1%.  Government debt doesn’t usually offer big returns for investors unless it’s a risky government — but it does usually offer something. Now we’re in a bizarre climate where investors will effectively pay — and lose money — to hold onto government debt, at least for some countries, because it feels safer than the alternatives.”

http://www.businessinsider.com/german-bonds-negative-yield-2015-4

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