Archive for June, 2012
The Macroeconomics of Chinese Kleptocracy
June 12th, 2012This otherwise good Bronte Capital piece doesn’t mention that China is home to a lot of serious gold bugs. Look at this recent article from Bloomberg: China will topple India this year as the largest bullion market as rising incomes bolster demand, the World Gold Council forecasts. Gold may gain for a 12th year in […]
EU CONSIDERING TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
June 12th, 2012Via: AP: Olivier Bailly spokesman said Tuesday that, legally, limits could be imposed on movement of people and money across national borders within the EU if it’s necessary to protect public order or public security. “Some people are working on scenarios,” he said, adding that the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, was giving legal […]
Flame and Stuxnet Share Common Origin
June 12th, 2012Via: Threat Post: Researchers digging through the code of the recently discovered Flame worm say they have come across a wealth of evidence that suggests Flame and the now-famous Stuxnet worm share a common origin. Researchers from Kaspersky Lab say that a critical module that the Flame worm used to spread is identical to a […]
EURO ZONE CAPITAL CONTROLS AS WORST-CASE SCENARIO SHOULD ATHENS DECIDE TO LEAVE EURO
June 11th, 2012Via: Reuters: European finance officials have discussed limiting the size of withdrawals from ATM machines, imposing border checks and introducing euro zone capital controls as a worst-case scenario should Athens decide to leave the euro. EU officials have told Reuters the ideas are part of a range of contingency plans. They emphasized that the discussions […]
Family Net Worth Drops to Level of Early ’90s, Fed Says
June 11th, 2012Via: New York Times: The recent financial crisis left the median American family in 2010 with no more wealth than they had in the early 1990s, erasing almost two decades of accumulated prosperity, the Federal Reserve said Monday. The median family, richer than half of the nation’s families and poorer than the other half, had […]
Vatican Bank’s Former President Has, ‘Prepared a Series of Dossiers to be Sent to Named Individuals in the Event of His sudden Death’
June 11th, 2012Via: Guardian: The ousted head of the Vatican bank came under a withering counter-attack at the weekend as his former top official accused him of negligence and leaked documents were published casting doubt on his mental health. The Vatican meanwhile warned Italian prosecutors against using information in papers seized last week from the bank’s ex-president, […]
Freezer Failure at Harvard, ‘Could Slow Autism Research by a Decade’
June 11th, 2012Via: Boston Globe: A freezer malfunction at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital has severely damaged one-third of the world’s largest collection of autism brain samples, potentially setting back research on the disorder by years, scientists say. An official at the renowned brain bank in Belmont discovered that the freezer had shut down in late May, without triggering […]
Gunwalking: House Committee Schedules Contempt Vote Against Holder
June 11th, 2012Via: CBS: CBS News has learned the House Oversight Committee will vote next week on whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. It’s the fourth time in 30 years that Congress has launched a contempt action against an executive branch member. This time, the dispute stems from Holder failing to turn […]
Italian Economy in Deep Recession
June 11th, 2012Via: AP: Official statistics confirm that Italy’s economy contracted by a quarterly rate of 0.8 percent in the first three months of the year, the worst contraction in three years. The painful recession keeps pressure on Premier Mario Monti’s government, which is struggling to fend off the debt crisis and the perception that Italy could […]
Citizenship for Sale: Foreign Investors Flock to U.S.
June 11th, 2012Via: Bloomberg: Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin drew public ire last month following the revelation that he had renounced his U.S. citizenship, a move widely seen as a tax dodge. But thousands of wealthy foreigners are lining up to replace him, making investments here and putting themselves on a path to citizenship in the process. The […]
