In Brazil, Rising and Rampant Racism Is Written On The Wall … A group puts racist tweets on billboards in the neighborhood in which the troll lives. The biggest lawyers group seeks an apology and reparations for slavery. Brazil is combating racism in new ways. – NPRDominant Social Theme: The real problem with Brazil is its history of racism.Free-Market Analysis: In this article, we wil...Read More
The twentieth century has witnessed the beginning, development, and end of the most tragic experiment in human history: socialism. The experiment resulted in tremendous human losses, destruction of potentially rich economies, and colossal ecological disasters. The experiment has ended, but the devastation will affect the lives and health of generations to come. The real tragedy of this experiment...Read More
Greeks told to declare cash "under the mattress," jewelry and precious stones … When earlier today we read a report in the Greek Enikonomia, according to which Greek taxpayers would be forced to declare all cash "under the mattress" (including inside) or boxes that contain more than 15,000 euros as well as jewelry and precious stones (including gold) worth over 30,000 eur...Read More
Get Your Flu Shot Before the Flu Is Widespread: CDC … Everyone 6 months and older should be vaccinated before holiday trips and gatherings, experts say … While relatively few cases of flu have surfaced so far in the United States, health officials say the holiday season will likely change that, so everyone should get a flu shot now. People will be shopping, traveling and going to gathe...Read More
It Begins: Desperate Finland Set To Unleash Helicopter Money Drop To All Citizen … Finland is considering giving every citizen €800 a month. Proposals for a national basic income are intended to simplify the social security system and encourage more unemployed people to take on temporary work. – ZeroHedgeDominant Social Theme: Let's turn central banks into a force for good by...Read More
Will the IRS Take Your Passport? … A little-noticed provision in the highway funding bill Congress passed this week threatens a right most Americans take for granted: the right to travel abroad. The provision in question gives the Internal Revenue Service the authority to revoke the passport of anyone the IRS claims owes more than $50,000 in back taxes. Congress is giving the IRS this new po...Read More
Yellen signals growing likelihood of a December rate … Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told Congress Thursday that economic conditions appear to be improving enough for policymakers to raise interest rates when they meet in two weeks — as long as there are no major shocks that undermine confidence. Yellen said that even after the first rate hike, the Fed expects future rate increase...Read More
A few cheering thoughts on terrorism … Terrorism by Moslems in America and Europe cannot be stopped. If attacks do not occur, it will be because nobody tried very hard. Stopping them would require excluding Moslems, deporting them, or controlling them by totalitarian methods. Or, improbably, minding our own business in the Middle East. What you think of the foregoing approaches doesn't m...Read More
Gold ends near 6-year low as Yellen comments point to rate hike … Janet Yellen all but says interest rates are rising. Gold futures on Wednesday marked their lowest settlement in nearly six years, as a rise in November U.S. private-sector employment and comments from the Federal Reserve's chairwoman supported the likelihood that the central bank will agree to raise interest rates when it...Read More
Fourteen people were confirmed killed and 17 more wounded in a mass shooting at a San Bernardino community social services building. "We do have some preliminary numbers of upwards of 14 people that are dead and upwards of 14 people that are injured," said Chief Jarrod Burguan of San Bernardino Police. The number of injured was later upped to 17. – CBSLocalDominant Social Theme: Te...Read More
Federal Reserve official: Economy on track for 'normalization' phase … "I believe the national economy is on a reasonably solid trajectory," said Dennis Lockhart, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Speaking Nov. 19 at a DeKalb Chamber of Commerce general business meeting at the Georgia Aquarium, Lockhart added. – The Champion...Read More
Obama pushes for gun control after Planned Parenthood shooting … After a gunman opened fire at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood on Friday, killing three people and injuring several others, President Obama urged the nation to increase controls over "the easy accessibility of weapons of war." – CBS NewsDominant Social Themes: Guns kill people.Free-Market Analysis: Do guns...Read More
IMF approves China's yuan as reserve currency … Inclusion in elite list alongside US dollar and euro described as a milestone for world's second largest economy. With the decision, the yuan, also known as the renminbi, will join the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen and British pound next year in the list of currencies the IMF uses as an international reserve asset. – Al JazeeraDom...Read More
Hours Before the Terror Attacks, Paris Practiced for a Mass Shooting … Since the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January, from which 16 people died, Paris-area ambulance crews and emergency personnel have taken part in regular exercises designed to test their readiness for possible attacks. One such exercise was held on Friday morning, the day of the latest terror attacks. In a twist of fate, the s...Read More
Migrant crisis laid bare: 1.5 MILLION people have entered EU countries illegally this year … The staggering figure was revealed by European Council President Donald Tusk, as leaders from across the continent desperately tried to thrash out a way of stemming the flow of refugees into Europe. Hundreds of thousands of migrants – many fleeing war and persecution from North Africa and the M...Read More
Fo Real S'kebei … Pidgin english is now officially a language Na Pali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii Don't 'oe be givin me no stink eye, this is fo real s'kebei. After hundreds of years, Hawaiian Pidgin has been officially recognised as a language. A US census survey into languages, which was released on November 3, included both Hawaiian Pidgin and Pidgin in its official list for the...Read More
Turkey won't apologize for downing Russian warplane, Erdogan says … Turkey will not apologize for downing a Russian fighter jet it says violated Turkish airspace near the Syrian border, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an exclusive CNN interview Thursday in Ankara. "I think if there is a party that needs to apologize, it is not us," he said from the Turkish capita...Read More
Blockchain technology could reduce role of banks, says BIS … Blockchain technology could reduce the role of intermediaries such as banks and settlement houses, the Bank for International Settlements – or "the central bankers' central bank" – said in a report on Monday. Blockchain technology – or distributed ledger technology, as many financiers prefer to call...Read More
Sell gold because of Draghi? Bank President Mario Draghi has been promising to pursue inflation with a vengeance. He recently vowed to "do what we must to raise inflation as quickly as possible." Draghi's efforts, which have driven down the euro, have somehow been taken by Wall Street as a great opportunity to sell gold. That's ridiculous. – CNBCDominant Social Theme: Whate...Read More
Remembering Woodrow Wilson's racism isn't enough. It's much easier to condemn one man's racism than to confront the institutional and cultural racism that haunts our nation. – USA Today OpinionDominant Social Theme: Racism needs to be opposed in all its forms. If people want to clump together, they should be forcibly separated.Free-Market Analysis: What is racism? USA Today i...Read More