“Police in Ohio are blaming a lack of resources for the fact that unsolved homicide cases greatly outnumber the cases that are solved, yet they seem to have the resources to arrest thousands of suspected cannabis users.”
Read more: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/ohio-cops-resources-unsolved-murders/
“Marvin Goodfriend thinks there should be a robust negative interest rate placed on cash. For example, if there was a -10% interest rate on cash, your $10 bill would actually be worth only $9. It is basically a penalty for using cash. The excuse is that this will stabilize the economy by keeping more capital in the banks. It means banks, and by extension, the Federal Reserve, have more control over your money. The gold standard, Goodfriend argues, was also an encumbrance on monetary policy, ‘destabilizing’ prices.”
Read more: http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/warning-trumps-federal-reserve-pick-hates-gold-and-cash/
“The possible marginal tax rate of more than 100% results from the combination of tax policies designed to provide benefits to businesses and families but then deny them to the richest people. As income climbs and those breaks phase out, each dollar of income faces regular tax rates and a hidden marginal rate on top of that, in the form of vanishing tax breaks. That structure, if maintained in a final law, would create some of the disincentives to working and to earning business profit.”
Read more: http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2017/12/insane-senate-bills-marginal-rates.html
“Tighter blood pressure guidelines from U.S. heart organizations mean millions more people need to make lifestyle changes, or start taking medication, in order to avoid cardiovascular problems. At the new cutoff, around 46 percent, or more than 103 million, of American adults are considered to have high blood pressure, compared with an estimated 72 million under the previous guidelines in place since 2003. Potentially deadly high blood pressure can be brought under control with a wide array of medications.”
“Gravity-defying property prices in China have spawned widespread home-loan fraud as buyers fear missing out on what seems like a sure bet. Real estate agents, valuation companies and banks themselves are party to the scam.”
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-risk-mortgages/
“The employer mandate is lucrative for the government. It is expected to bring in penalty payments of $207 billion over the next decade, according to projections by the Congressional Budget Office. Businesses will generally incur fines of around $2,000 per employee (excluding the first 30) if they do not offer qualifying coverage to nearly all of those who work an average of 30 or more hours a week. The penalty is activated if at least one employee then buys insurance on the health law’s marketplace and receives a subsidy for it. The per-employee fine increases each year, and can add up quickly: A company with 100 workers that ignored the law this year would owe a penalty of more than $158,000.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/business/irs-health-insurance-mandate.html
“Blocking licenses is a more aggressive weapon, and states are using it on behalf of themselves and the federal government. Proponents of the little-known state licensing laws say they are in taxpayers’ interest. But critics from both parties say the laws shove some borrowers off a financial cliff.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/business/student-loans-licenses.html
“The world’s biggest businesses, heads of state and global figures in politics, entertainment and sport who have sheltered their wealth in secretive tax havens are being revealed this week in a major new investigation into Britain’s offshore empires. The material, which has come from two offshore service providers and the company registries of 19 tax havens, was obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with partners including the Guardian, the BBC and the New York Times.”
“State and local taxes on marijuana could surpass 45% in some parts of California, jeopardizing efforts to bring all growers and sellers into a state-licensed market in January, according to the global credit ratings firm Fitch Ratings. The report said that increased enforcement may blunt the illegal market, ‘but high taxes may complicate such efforts by diverting in-state sales to the black market.'”
“Thousands of pages of newly unsealed records reveal a widespread scheme — a highly unorthodox merger of an undercover law enforcement operation and a legitimate business. What began as a way to catch black-market cigarette dealers quickly transformed into a nearly untraceable A.T.F. slush fund that agents from around the country could tap.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/us/atf-tobacco-cigarettes.html