Archive for March, 2010
Portugal Credit Rating Downgraded Over Debt Concerns
March 24th, 2010WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. The U.S. Dollar Index is sharply higher on the news. It’s up and out of the recent range at 81.803 right now. Via: BBC: Portugal’s credit rating has been downgraded from AA to AA- by leading credit rating agency Fitch over […]
Obama’s Nominee to Oversee Security at U.S. Airports Favors Israeli Model
March 24th, 2010Is that the model where intelligence operatives clone the passports of unsuspecting travelers and then carry out assassinations with their identities? Via: Reuters / Washington Post: President Barack Obama’s nominee to oversee security at U.S. airports said on Tuesday he wants to shift screening closer to the Israeli model to include more behavior detection in […]
Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Finance
March 24th, 2010Via: Asia Times: By 2014, International Monetary Fund official John Lipsky remarked March 21, the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio of the Group of Seven countries will reach 100%, and the governments of the industrial world will carry the highest debt burden since shortly after the end of World War II. That is bad news; […]
IRS May Need to Hire 16,500 Additional Employees for Health Care Enforcement?
March 24th, 2010Via: Wall Street Journal: House Republicans said Thursday that the health care overhaul will expand IRS authority by giving agents the power to verify acceptable health care coverage and fine or confiscate the tax refunds of Americans without coverage. Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee, a panel that oversees taxes and health […]
And Now… Lawmakers Eyeing National ID Card
March 24th, 2010Mmm hmm. Via: Wired: Lawmakers are proposing a national identification card — what they’re calling “high-tech, fraud-proof Social Security cards” — that would be required for all employees in the United States. The proposal by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-South Carolina) comes as the states are grappling to produce another […]
March 23: This Day in History
March 24th, 2010Here’s an interesting coincidence: March 23, 1933: Germany: The Enabling Act Via: Wikipedia: The Enabling Act (German: Ermächtigungsgesetz) was passed by Germany’s Reichstag and signed by President Paul von Hindenburg on March 23, 1933. It was the second major step, after the Reichstag Fire Decree, through which Chancellor Adolf Hitler legally obtained plenary powers and […]
Israel Cloned Travelers’ Passports to Carry Out Assassination
March 24th, 2010Via: Guardian: Passing through Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, a few miles east of Tel Aviv, is a unique experience no first-time visitor is likely to forget. It represents the pinnacle of modern aviation security. Baggage is passed through giant, state-of-the-art machines, and travellers – both arriving and leaving – are frequently subjected to lengthy, personal […]
Madoff Programmers Face Charges for Creating Software that Generated Bogus Trading Records
March 23rd, 2010Via: Register: A federal grand jury has indicted two computer programmers on fraud and conspiracy charges for developing programs used by Bernard Madoff to cook the books in his billion-dollar ponzi scheme. Jerome O’Hara and George Perez knowingly created the programs that removed or altered key data contained in reports submitted to regulators in the […]
Airport Device Follows Fliers’ Phones
March 23rd, 2010Via: USA Today: Today’s smartphones and PDAs could have a new use in the nation’s airports: helping passengers avoid long lines at security checkpoints. The Transportation Security Administration is looking at installing devices in airports that home in and detect personal electronic equipment. The aim is to track how long people are stuck in security […]
UK to Expel Israeli Diplomat Over Use of British Passports in Mossad Assassination Operation
March 23rd, 2010Via: Guardian: Britain is to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of forged UK passports by the killers of a senior Hamas official in January. The foreign secretary, David Miliband, will make a statement to the House of Commons this afternoon, blaming Israeli intelligence for the cloning of passports belonging to British citizens. The […]
