Time For Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws To Meet The Same Fate As Jim Crow … One of the greatest political philosophers, Frederic Bastiat, wrote that the law should exist to protect life, liberty, and property, but unfortunately is often perverted into a means of "legal plunder." In other words, the law is used to legitimize the use of force to deprive people of their wealth. – F...Read More

Today's Markets – U.S. Stocks Rally After Fed Minutes Point to Caution on Interest Rates … U.S. stocks soared Wednesday to their biggest single-day gain this year, after meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve suggested the central bank would move cautiously on raising rates. The rally was a sharp reversal from a steep Tuesday drop on worries about international economic growth. U...Read More

Vaccine may be only way to bring Ebola under control in West Africa … As West Africa's Ebola outbreak continues to rage, some experts are coming to the conclusion that it may take large amounts of vaccines and maybe even drugs – all still experimental and in short supply – to bring the outbreak under control … "It may just keep going and going and it might require...Read More

Swiss Gold Initiative Would Hamper SNB Policy, Government Says … Asking the Swiss National Bank to hold a fixed portion of its assets in gold would hinder monetary policy, the government said today. Switzerland will vote on the initiative "Save Our Swiss Gold" on Nov. 30 that would force the central bank to hold at least twenty percent of its assets in gold. It would also forbid th...Read More

We've learned nothing in the Middle East. That isn't going to change. If you thought that two disastrous wars in the Middle East spread over 13 miserable years might cure Washington of its delusion that the next war will solve all our problems, you were wrong. The truth is that the people in power and contending for power have learned nothing. And guess what: two years from now, somebody i...Read More

Gold tumbles as US economy shows more signs of strength … The strengthening US economy has helped send gold prices below $US1200 per ounce … Strong US jobs data on Friday fuelled expectations that the US Federal Reserve will start hiking interest rates soon, sparking a 2 per cent slump in the gold price that took it to a four-year low. The precious metal on Monday extended the fall, sl...Read More

Cannabis dissolves cancerous tumor in young infant, deemed a 'miracle baby' by physician … Instead of opting for chemotherapy and radiation in an attempt to shrink an inoperable brain tumor, the father of an eight-month-old baby pushed for alternative treatment with cannabis oil. – Natural News/FitLifeTVDominant Social Theme: Cannabis is for hippies and losers.Free-Market Analy...Read More

Well This Is Just Embarrassing For The Fed Haters Business … One of the most infuriating things about the Fed haters — i.e. the people who predicted massive inflation and dollar debasement as a result of quantitative easing — is that they've never really admitted they got it all wrong. Maybe a few have, but for the most part, the people predicting doom and gloom and Weimar Ge...Read More

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf [spoke] out against Liberians failing to accept the reality of the epidemic. "We can build Ebola treatment units across the country, establish testing centres, bring in all the medication and personal protective equipment, but if the behaviour of Liberians is not changed, the virus will continue to spread," she said … The day's canvassing passes...Read More

The middle class is poorer today than it was in 1989 … The fundamentals of the economy are, well, okay. It's been slow and steady, but the recovery has chugged along enough to get us back to something close to normal. The economy has surpassed its pre-crisis peak, unemployment is at a six-year low, and stocks have more than tripled from their 2009 low. It's not the best of times, but...Read More

Wall Street Pays Its Workers to Suffer … Why do people on Wall Street get paid so much? It could be because Wall Streeters have generally high skills. Finance people tend to be good at using computers and working with numbers, but also at networking and forming business relationships. But a new study shows that there really is something special about Wall Street — when a worker moves f...Read More

David Cameron: he said everything we might have hoped for … Uncharacteristically, I'm almost lost for words – or at least for critical words. David Cameron said pretty much everything I wanted him to say in his belter of a conference speech. He chose to identify his overall theme as a "Britain people can be proud to call home". What this amounted to in effect was a pictur...Read More

It's Normal for Regulators to Get Captured … I'm in Chicago this week, preparing to give a seminar on covering the policy process at the Institute for Politics. So I don't have much time to write about the secret Fed tapes that were released by "This American Life" last week. But I do want to make one point: This is not surprising. It's normal. – BloombergDomi...Read More

Mass default looms as world sinks beneath a sea of debt … As if the fast degenerating geo-political situation isn't bad enough, here's another lorry load of concerns to add to the pile. The UK and US economies may be on the mend at last, but that's not the pattern elsewhere. On a global level, growth is being steadily drowned under a rising tide of debt, threatening renewed finan...Read More

Why Beijing Is Buying [Gold] … If China were to convert a relatively modest part of its $4 trillion foreign exchange reserves into gold, the country's currency could take on unexpected strength in today's international financial system. It would be a gamble, of course, for China to use part of its reserves to buy enough gold bullion to displace the United States from its position as...Read More

How Eric Holder Failed the Economy … Attorney General Eric Holder, who plans to step down after more than five years in office, has efforts and achievements to be proud of, no doubt, but will probably be remembered above all for something he didn't do: prosecute top executives for their role in the 2008 financial crisis. – Bloomberg editorialDominant Social Theme: One of the hallma...Read More

Marijuana industry makes political donations … The entrepreneurs of the young U.S. marijuana industry are taking another step into the mainstream, becoming political donors who use some of their profits to support cannabis-friendly candidates and ballot questions that could bring legal pot to more states. The political activity includes swanky fundraisers at Four Seasons hotels and art aucti...Read More

Falling Out of Love With Gold … Gold has let down its loyal investors during the past year, declining by about 8 percent. It has failed to benefit, as one might expect, from a series of geopolitical crises and concerns that stocks are overvalued. It has even failed to keep up with government bonds, usually the other recipient of flight-to-quality trades. Moreover, it has responded weakly to...Read More

Hong Kong clashes, arrests kick-start plans to blockade city …. Violent clashes between Hong Kong riot police and students galvanized tens of thousands of supporters for the city's pro-democracy movement and kick-started a plan to lock down the heart of the Asian financial centre early on Sunday. Leaders and supporters of Occupy Central with Love and Peace rallied to support students who...Read More

French employer group urges 'shock therapy' for economy … France's main employer group urged the government on Wednesday to scrap the 35-hour work week, raise the legal retirement age and cut the minimum wage to bring down chronically high unemployment and stimulate growth. Medef said its proposals would help Europe's second-largest economy create 1 million jobs over the next...Read More