Archive
HSBC’s Criminal Clients
Thursday, 19 July 2012
‘And you thought bankers fixing interest rates and playing games with mortgage-backed securities was bad? How about laundering money for Mexican drug dealers, the Russian mafia and Mideast terrorists?
OK, if we’re talking about the potential economic impact on the average person, the interest rate and mortgage shenanigans are really bad, probably more so than the money laundering apparently brokered on a massive scale by the huge international bank HSBC.
But even so, the new report from the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations detailing HSBC’s multiple failings over the past years is quite the doozy. It reads like a treatment for a villain in a James Bond thriller that never got greenlighted because it was too unrealistic. We could accept getting in bed with the Russians — but the drug dealers and the terrorists as well? That’s overkill.’
Facebook Banking on a Cashless Society
Monday, 16 July 2012
‘As if the current methods of evaporating privacy and pushing a world toward the Cashless Society were not moving fast enough, Facebook is now developing and beta testing an app that would allow users to “pay their utility bills, balance their checkbooks, and transfer money at the same time they upload vacation photos to the site for friends to see.”
Essentially, the new application which is currently in beta phase with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, allows for interactions regarding banking and financial services over alleged secure and private connections.’
Senate Votes To Give Zionist, Racist Israel Another $9 Billion
July 16, 2012
‘The U.S. Senate passed their version on Friday June 29, 2012. Known in the Senate as S.2165, the measure guaranteed an astonishing $9 billion dollars in loans to Israel (plus all fees and interest!) in addition to giving “military assistance- stockpiles of defense articles” valued at $200 million for 2013 and $200 million for 2014.
Boxer praised passage of the bill, stating “I am so pleased that the Senate moved quickly to pass this important bill, which reaffirms the important bond between the United States and Israel and helps ensure that Israel has the necessary tools to defend itself in this time of dynamic change in the Middle East.”‘
Read more: Senate Votes To Give Zionist, Racist Israel Another $9 Billion
Wealth
:)
Japan and China to dump the USD and start direct currency trading
May. 29, 2012 – 02:35PM JST
TOKYO
China overtook Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy in 2010 AFP
Japan and China will start direct currency trading this week, Tokyo said Tuesday, the first time Beijing has let a major unit other than the dollar swap with the yuan.
The move, which will scrap the greenback as an intermediary unit, comes as China introduces measures as part of a long-term goal of internationalizing its currency to rival the dollar.
The two-way trade will also be allowed to move in a wider range than the narrow band at which the dollar and yuan change hands, Dow Jones Newswires and the Nikkei business daily reported.
China will set a daily rate based on dealer quotes with trade allowed to move within a 3% band above or below that rate, the reports said, compared with a 1% band fixed to yuan-dollar trading.
The Chinese central bank earlier Tuesday introduced a rate of 7.9480 yuan for every 100 yen, Dow Jones said.
However, there will be no fixed rates in Tokyo trade with the currencies trading freely, according to the same media reports which provided no further details.
The yen does trade freely against other major currencies on global foreign-exchange markets, including the greenback, with the dollar buying 79.50 yen in Asian afternoon trade on Tuesday.
“From June 1, the yen-yuan exchange rate will be constantly indicated in both markets, facilitating full-fledged direct exchange trading,” Finance Minister Jun Azumi told a regular press briefing.
The Countdown To The Break Up Of The Euro Has Officially Begun
Thursday, 10 May 2012
‘The tremendous backlash against the austerity approach that Germany has been pushing. All over Europe, prominent politicians and incumbent political parties are being voted out. In fact, Nicolas Sarkozy has become the 11th leader of a European nation to be defeated in an election since 2008. We have seen governments fall in the Netherlands, the UK, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Greece. Whenever they get a chance, the citizens of Europe are using the ballot box to send a message that they do not like what is going on.
It turns out that austerity is extremely unpopular. But if newly elected politicians all over Europe begin rejecting austerity, this puts Germany in a very difficult position. Should Germany be expected to indefinitely bail out all of the members of the eurozone that choose to live way beyond their means? If Germany pulled out of the euro tomorrow, the euro would absolutely collapse, bond yields for the rest of the eurozone would skyrocket to unprecedented heights, and without German bailout money troubled nations such as Greece would be headed directly for default.’
Read more: The Countdown To The Break Up Of The Euro Has Officially Begun
FDA Proposes Bypassing Doctors, Selling Prescription Drugs Over the Counter
Tuesday, 08 May 2012
‘When it comes to freedom of food choice, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers Americans to be too stupid to make their own dietary choices. But when pharmaceuticals are involved, the FDA apparently thinks individuals should be able to completely self-medicate themselves without a prescription, having recently proposed new guidelines that would make it easier than ever for patients to access high-risk prescription drugs without even having to see a doctor.
The Washington Times reports that a new four-page proposal made by the FDA suggests that cholesterol (statins), diabetes, and asthma drugs, among others, be made available over-the-counter (OTC) to patients without a prescription. And what is the reason for this? According to the agency, too many patients are not getting their prescriptions filled, and many would-be patients are not going in to receive the treatments that their medical overlords feel they should be receiving.’
Read more: FDA Proposes Bypassing Doctors, Selling Prescription Drugs Over the Counter
The Shame of Nations: A New Record is Set for Spending on War
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 07:06
‘On April 17, 2012, as millions of Americans were filing their income tax returns, the highly-respected Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its latest study of world military spending. In case Americans were wondering where most of their tax money — and the tax money of other nations — went in the previous year, the answer from SIPRI was clear: to war and preparations for war.
World military spending reached a recworldord $1,738 billion in 2011 — an increase of $138 billion over the previous year. The United States accounted for 41 percent of that, or $711 billion.’
Read more: The Shame of Nations: A New Record is Set for Spending on War
Canada Launches Its Own Virtual Cash, Called MintChip
By Rebecca Boyle Posted 04.12.2012 at 11:02 am
Next time you visit Canada, you might use digital currency to purchase your poutine, using something called MintChip backed by the Canadian government. The Royal Canadian Mint announced it’s getting rid of the penny and starting a new e-currency instead, and it wants the software community to help develop it.
The government just launched the MintChip Challenge— which was apparently so popular it’s already fully registered — to seek new digital payment apps for this new virtual currency. The idea is sort of a hybrid, combining the convenience of electronic transactions and the anonymity of cash. It will work via SD cards, but it will have no personal information or bank account data associated with it. It’s sort of like BitCoin but with actual, government-backed value.
The four-month contest includes 500 developers who will build apps that can demonstrate MintChip’s value. They’ll have to work on a variety of smartphone and desktop browsers. The prize: Solid gold wafers and coins worth about $50,000.
Its anonymity is a pretty unique idea. Other electronic payment systems — PayPal, Square, NFC-enabled phones, etc. — all connect to a person’s credit card or bank account. But cash is a great equalizer; you don’t need to have good credit to use it. MintChip would enable the same type of low-cost transactions for which you’d normally use cash. A Canadian banking group called Interac estimates that small-value transactions under $20 are worth $90 billion to the Canadian economy, the Toronto Star reported.
MintChip still has some kinks to be ironed out, including privacy, security of the currency and other questions. But it’s certainly an interesting concept.
[via Slashdot]
Believe nothing 