US Citizens Now One Step Closer To Becoming Permanent Tax Slaves
My sense is that the government has been watching the number of
expatriates rise over the years, and simultaneously watching the value
of the exit tax fall… and they’ve been looking for an excuse to make
sweeping (i.e. retroactive) changes. Eduardo Saverin is the perfect
excuse. The Facebook co-founder’s recent renunciation of US citizenship
has become a rallying cry for politicians to go back in time and steal
money from former citizens retroactively…plus establish a larger base
for future tax revenues. This is a truly despicable thing to do
considering that these former citizens followed the appropriate rules
at the time, paid the tax, and moved on with their lives. Now Uncle Sam
wants to go back in time to unilaterally change the deal, and expect
everyone to abide even though they’re not even citizens anymore. The
arrogance is overwhelming. More importantly, this bill is also a major
deterrent for people who are thinking about renouncing US citizenship
today.
UNCLE SAM BULLYING BROKERS OVER SILVER?...
Does The Gold "Support Channel" Mean The Drop Is Over?
With
the inevitable chatter of further easing from the ECB and the 'Fed
must act soon surely' to monetize Facebook shares, this chart via UBS
shows the longer-term support channel suggesting, at least for those who
follow technical analysis, that gold's dip may be over...Nigel Farage On Europe's Economic Suicide
Dismissing
the propaganda-like vision of growth and jobs that is now at the
forefront of any and every word from the status-quo seekers that are
the European Elite, England's Nigel Farage notes the hypocrisy of the
forthcoming summit's agenda. The Euro itself was supposed to create growth and jobs and yet it is actively destroying both of those things - more of the same - as the medicine is killing the patient.
He attacks the idea that the world will end if Greece were to exit the
Euro - "European leaders say if Greece leaves the sky will fall in -
it won't!" - though notes that there will indeed be a difficult few
weeks - and when challenged by a Greek politician (who questions what
will happen when gas prices for Greeks rise on Farage's suspected 50%
devaluation in the Drachma), Nigel, offering the other side of the coin
related to real growth, investment, and innovation to compete with
expensive imports pointedly remarks: "Give Greece a chance because stuck inside the Euro, you are going to be literally destroyed".The Other Euro Flaw
We have not been shy to point out the potential (and now proven) flaws in the Euro experiment (here, here, and here
for example) over the past year or so but UBS reminds us that while
most people remain fixated on the absence of a fiscal transfer union in
so large a monetary union (to offset incidents of inappropriate
monetary policy) as Eurobonds and Federalism come back to the fore; it
is the second flaw - the absence of an integrated banking system
(backed implicitly by a credible lender of last resort) - that should
be getting front-page headlines. As Niall Ferguson noted at Zeitgeist
this morning, "Structural reforms will work but will not work this
week" and in the meantime, TARGET2 balances grow out of control and the longer the 'problem' remains, the worse it becomes
leaving an implicit infinitely supported firewall as the only interim
solution. While most who foresaw the Euro as implicitly leading to
federalism were right, it seems the link to a German dominance (of ECB
rulings and general fiscal and monetary decisions) has been the
ultimate outcome. While an integrated banking system would do nothing
to change the relative competitiveness or growth issues that plague
Europe, the 'essential' internal capital flows would be sustained. Is this sort of integration a realistic prospect? The politics is not especially propitious.JPM Hires Ex-SEC Chief Enforcement Officer To Help Prop Trading Loss Damage Control
For anyone who had doubts that the JPM CIO debacle was only just starting, the just broken news by Bloomberg that the firm has hired former SEC enforcement chief William McLucas "to help respond to regulatory probes of the firm’s $2 billion trading loss" should put all doubts to rest. Because the last thing JPM needs now is to be perceived as engaging in even more regulatory capture (its current general counsel was also previously a head of enforcement at the SEC) . Yet because it is doing precisely this, means that the offsetting cost, namely the fallout that will be associated with the CIO unwind if and when completed (and we will know for sure when the Q2 earnings are released at the latest), will be fast and furious.
Leonard
Melman, veteran precious metals analyst, discusses the implications of
the recent European elections on the prospects for the gold and silver
markets and their likely huge rebound. Gold Report interview.TGR: It seems that economists can plan and recommend, and politicians can negotiate and maneuver, and pundits can analyze and predict all they want, yet when the people don’t want to play along, it can all mean nothing. Of course, we’re talking about the elections in France and Greece. What’s going on?
Leonard Melman: What’s going on is that the monetary authorities in Europe have decided that austerity is the only way out of the financial dilemma, which I find kind of amusing, because it is their Keynesian activities that created those policies in the first place.
TGR: So, you aren’t looking for $75/oz silver as some people are?
LM: Not quite this year. But if this massive disillusion and even distrust of public monetary authorities occurs, who knows what numbers we could be looking at in 2013? But, $55/oz seemed about right when I made the forecast in writing and I’ll stick with it.
Read More @ MineWeb.com
Currency Devaluation: Short & Long Term Effects
Admin at Marc Faber Blog - 1 hour ago
Normally, if you let your currency weaken significantly, it may help you
near term but equally it causes a lot of long-term economic damage. - *in
NDTV *
*Marc Faber is an international investor known for his uncanny predictions
of the stock market and futures markets around the world.*
from Deadly Clear:
Mediation suggested by the courts – like modification, is a trap.
It buys time for the banks to dummy up more records and documents,
while lulling the homeowner into a false sense of security and reliance
that the servicer can actually perform a modification. In most cases
they can’t.
The number of fraudulent assignment of mortgage documents filed in the Hawaii Bureau of Conveyances, like many other states is appalling. Compounding the assignment fraud is the gigantic number of unrepresented homeowners in these foreclosure and eviction actions. These homeowners have absolutely no understanding that an assignment of mortgage even exists or that it is fraudulent, assigned too late to a New York or Delaware trust, was filed with intent to defraud and has clouded their title.
Read More @ DeadlyClear.wordpress.com
Mediation suggested by the courts – like modification, is a trap.
It buys time for the banks to dummy up more records and documents,
while lulling the homeowner into a false sense of security and reliance
that the servicer can actually perform a modification. In most cases
they can’t.The number of fraudulent assignment of mortgage documents filed in the Hawaii Bureau of Conveyances, like many other states is appalling. Compounding the assignment fraud is the gigantic number of unrepresented homeowners in these foreclosure and eviction actions. These homeowners have absolutely no understanding that an assignment of mortgage even exists or that it is fraudulent, assigned too late to a New York or Delaware trust, was filed with intent to defraud and has clouded their title.
Read More @ DeadlyClear.wordpress.com
This Is Your Bond Market. This Is Your Bond Market On Fedroids... And Germany Goes Zero Coupon
The following chart from Dylan Grice does a good job of demonstrating, once and for all, what is going on in the bond market. And speaking of bond markets, a few hours ago the German debt agency announced that it will for the first time ever, issue zero coupon 2 year bonds, which as the name implies will pay zero cash interest. In other words, Germany, sick and tired of being the only good cash collateral in Europe, is gradually halting the payment of any cash interest on its paper. After all: why should it? Coming soon to a market near you: negative interest bonds, where one pays the government for the privilege of holding repoable collateral. This is not a joke.
Patriot Coal Plunges On Report Of Bankruptcy Advisor Pitch
Wondering why PCX is plummeting, and slowly taking the entire energy complex lower? It is due to the following report from DebtWire as of last night, and reposted this morning.Egan Jones Cuts Spain To BB- From BB+
From Egan-Jones: "Spain will inevitably be faced with sizable payments to support its banking sector and for its weaker provinces. Assets of Spain's largest two banks exceed its GDP. We are slipping our rating to "BB"; watch for requests for support from the banks."Economists. What (Or Who) Are They Good For?
"Economists today primarily serve the needs of powerful interests at the expense of society in general" is how Robert Johnson - the frighteningly honest Executive Director of INET
- describes the self-indoctrinating field of study that remains in such
seemingly high regard in the nation. In an excellent and forthright
brief interview with Stifterverband,
Johnson notes that "Economists are very much accused of 'only seeing
the economy through the eyes of the model' as opposed to seeing the
economy and building a model as a map of what reality is." And while
"when the people become anxious they want the expert to tell them what's
going to happen. And they feel good when their anxiety is relieved
because they think they understand the future. But if the expert instead
of telling the truth is selling snake oil - a false story - when that
is unmasked the expert becomes the scapegoat." Overall he believes 'economists' did a great disservice to mankind and suggests a number of approaches to "cleaning up after that". Sadly, he opines, "At
the core, economics is about politics and about power, and the
question for the economists is whose power are you going to serve as an
expert."
from Gains Pains & Capital:
France and other, weaker EU members have begun pushing for “growth.”
This in of itself reveals how clueless the political elite in the EU are
(economic growth in Europe is synonymous with living beyond one’s means
and/or living off of others… the very policies that have lead to the EU
Crisis).
Indeed, this shift from focusing on austerity to growth is really just a switch from one side of a coin to the other… without actually addressing the fact that the coin itself has no value as a concept.
Let me explain.
Both growth and austerity are political hot buttons that fail to address the core issues plaguing the Euro-zone. Those core issues are:
1) Age demographics, which courtesy of a welfare state translates into…
2) Massive unfunded liabilities and debt overhang that stifles growth…
3) And an unwillingness to innovate or pursue democratic capitalism
When political leaders talk about austerity today, they’re not even actually addressing real austerity. France, for instance, is balking at the prospect of submitting to more “austerity measures” when it actually increased its spending by $62 billion from 2009-2011.
Read More @ GainsPainsCapital.com
France and other, weaker EU members have begun pushing for “growth.”
This in of itself reveals how clueless the political elite in the EU are
(economic growth in Europe is synonymous with living beyond one’s means
and/or living off of others… the very policies that have lead to the EU
Crisis).Indeed, this shift from focusing on austerity to growth is really just a switch from one side of a coin to the other… without actually addressing the fact that the coin itself has no value as a concept.
Let me explain.
Both growth and austerity are political hot buttons that fail to address the core issues plaguing the Euro-zone. Those core issues are:
1) Age demographics, which courtesy of a welfare state translates into…
2) Massive unfunded liabilities and debt overhang that stifles growth…
3) And an unwillingness to innovate or pursue democratic capitalism
When political leaders talk about austerity today, they’re not even actually addressing real austerity. France, for instance, is balking at the prospect of submitting to more “austerity measures” when it actually increased its spending by $62 billion from 2009-2011.
Read More @ GainsPainsCapital.com
No one likes paying taxes. You’d think. And it’s not just income taxes
but a slew of other taxes. In San Francisco, we already have an 8.5%
sales tax—but propositions to increase the state portion are worming
their way onto the November ballot. At least we get to vote on it. And
if it passes, it’s our own @#%& fault. In Japan, efforts to raise
the national consumption tax from 5% to 8% by 2014 and to 10% by 1015
have led to a groundswell of opposition and a nasty political fight—yet
Japan is the one country of all developed countries whose budget deficit and national debt are truly catastrophic.
There are strong cultural and religious reasons why India has
traditionally been the world’s biggest buyer of gold, but China is
poised to overtake the subcontinent this year as its biggest source of
demand.
Precious metals are still struggling to gain ground in the face of
persistent fears about the eurozone and the threat of a 2008-style
market meltdown. The CFTC’s latest Commitments of Traders Reports for
the gold and silver futures market in America shows managed money (read:
hedge funds, commodity trading advisors, etc) holding their largest
short positions in these markets since September 2008. Is 
Chicago police have an odious reputation for brutality. It’s well
deserved. On Sunday, it showed up forcefully. The whole world watched.
Today one of the top CEO’s in the world told King World News that gold
will trade over $3,000 within twenty four months. Sean Boyd, CEO of
$6.5 billion Agnico Eagle, also stated that prior to this, “I’ve never
been at the $3,000+ number, ever, in 27 years.” Boyd also discussed the
mining shares, but first, here is what Boyd had to say about the action
in the gold market: “I think you’re in a situation right now
where the problems in Europe are front page and it has hurt the euro.
So the US dollar is stronger. If you look at the US dollar, that story
is on page 3 or 4. It will be a front page story soon. The debt
ceiling has to be raised and we really haven’t fixed a lot of the
issues, whether it’s in the US or in Europe.”
An open society is a free society, and the media’s primary job in
helping to maintain a free, open society is to shine the light of
scrutiny on government. In doing so the media lives up to its (supposed)
mantra of afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted. The
only thing that could possibly get in the way of that mission is, of
course, the government, through one of its surrogates in the federal
court system.
The only thing that can stop the euro from breaking apart in the short
term is old-fashioned capital controls. Otherwise, more and more money
will flow from the periphery to the core. The weaker the peripheral
countries become, the higher the risk of political instability and the
greater the risk of a change in policy.
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