Tag Archives: banks

Cryptocurrency

Polish Central Bank Paid Online Trolls to Smear Cryptocurrency

Leave a comment

(Dash Force News)  The National Bank of Poland paid a Polish YouTuber, Marcin Dubiel, around $30,000 USD to speak negatively of cryptocurrency and favorably of Polish fiat currency.

The video, titled “I lost all my money,” shows Dubiel losing all his money to the point where he could not pay for a dinner date. His date had to pay in fiat, which eventually lead to the couple’s breakup. The video takes an extremely biased view, “portraying Dubiel as a victim of an evil mastermind who counts the cash Dubiel lost” due to a get rich quick scheme that left him penniless and lonely. The video also includes the hashtag #uważajnakryptowaluty, which points to a website funded by the Polish Central Bank that describes crypto as “risky, having no guarantee, and not classified as electronic money.”

In addition to paying the YouTuber, the funding was not disclosed in the video. It was only later that the Polish Central Bank admitted “it carried out a campaign on the issue of virtual currencies in social media” without explaining why other YouTubers also received funding. This can be confusing since central banks are generally supposed to remain apolitical, and according to the National Bank of Poland’s own structing articles their chief mandate is to maintain price stability. This mandate seems to conflict with the Polish Central Bank’s actions in attempting to diminish the reputation of cryptocurrency.

Crypto can be speculative and still have stable value

While cryptocurrency presently retains a strong speculative bent and has experienced a certain amount of volatility and risk (to the point where cyptocurrencies can move hundreds or thousands of dollars within a day), the overall trend, with exceptions, has been upwards and those that have bought in, used, and held have seen their value increase over months and years. This is measured as opposed to users of fiat currency, many of whom have seen their value decrease with inflation and shrinkflation. Crypto’s price tends to be made up ofdirect added value to users with speculative value layered on top. These layers of value can actually work together, within the market, to search for greater price stability.

Nevertheless, crypto is still a comparatively young and small market, whose price can still be significantly influenced by rumors and negative opinions. The crypto market constantly goes through phases as rumors spread, and users attempt to confirm or deny the rumors. This is not particularly different than other markets, but has a noticeably larger affect on the crypto market because it is still growing in use and market volume. Thus, the National Bank of Poland’s actions only served to exacerbate the very volatility of crypto that they fear.

Dash’s share of online slander

Dash has been no stranger to troll brigades and misinformation spread online. Both Bisq and BolehVPN previously faced threats from the Monero community over their decision to support Dash. Online aggression and spreading of false information about Dash became enough of a problem that Dash Force previously ran a “troll patrol” program of countering the false narratives and standing up to bullying and brigading to create a more friendly environment for rational discussion about Dash.

While there has likely been a degree of paid/professional trolling in the online cryptocurrency wars, there may also be a significant element of tribal mentality among fans, similar to that of sports teams. Cornell professor Emin Gün Sirer dubbed this phenomenon “cryptohooliganism,” whereby fans of what should be a scientific and technological approach adopt a political mentality, resorting to any number of underhanded measure to “win” against the other side.

 

Written by: Justin Szilard

US

Survey: Millennials Support Colleges, Dislike Media, Religion

Leave a comment

A new survey indicates that a large number of Millennials have a growing support for financial institutions, corporations, labor unions, and universities but do not view religious institutions or the media in a favorable light.

According to the survey released by the Pew Research Center, Millennials— generally regarded as the generation born between 1982 and 2004— have a much more favorable perspective of colleges compared to past generations. The survey found that seventy-three percent of Millennials believe college has a positive impact on the United States, while 65% of Generation X and 59% of Baby Boomers believe college to be beneficial.

This data matches a survey conducted in 2010 which found that 39% of 18 to 24 year olds were enrolled in college as of 2008.

Millennials also showed an increase in support for banks and financial institutions. The latest numbers show that 45% of Millennials believe banks have a positive impact on the country compared with 35% five years ago. Still, the overall numbers from all groups surveyed show that 47% view banks in a negative light compared to 40% who support banks.

55% of those surveyed spoke positively about religious institutions. When it comes to the older generations, religion fares better with 62% of Generation X and 67% of Baby Boomers supporting religion. Pew reports that this marks the first time that Millennial perceptions of religion drop below that of older generations. A November 2015 report from the Pew Research Center also found that Millennials were less likely to believe in God than any other age group.

When it comes to what Millennials oppose, media institutions are at the top of the list. Only 27% of Millennials responded favorably to national news media. This represents a 40% drop from five years ago. Generation X responded favorably at 26% and only 23% of Boomers support media institutions.

While these numbers indicate a growing mistrust of larger media organizations among Millennials, it is interesting to note that many of these media outlets are owned by the same corporations that 38% of Millennials surveyed said they view favorably. Also, some of the same corporations that a growing number of Millennials favor are owned or in business with the banks and financial institutions 45% of Millennials seem to support.

Overall, this survey paints a picture of Millennials who favor college and universities and strongly distrust religious institutions. They also seem to view banks, corporations, and media in a negative light but there may be a growing acceptance of banks and corporations. Another interesting facet of the Millennial generation comes from a recent poll which found that Millennials seem to support politicians who want to grow the size of the federal government, including Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders.

The survey was completed by the Pew Research Center between Aug. 27 – Oct. 4, 2015.

This article was updated January 11, 2016 at 1:55 p.m.

Business, Economy, Editor’s Pick, Featured, International, Politics, Technology, US

Breaking: 5 Major Banks Plead Guilty To Market Rigging, Fined $5.7 Billion

Video 82 Comments

On Wednesday, the Department of Justice announced that five major banks – Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, JPMorgan Chase, UBS and Citigroup – will be fined approximately $5.7 billion after pleading guilty to crimes involving the manipulation of global currencies and interest rates.

The DoJ noted that four of the banks – Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland – have been forced to plead guilty to antitrust violations in the foreign exchange market, after they allegedly worked together to enhance their profits by manipulating the $5-trillion-a-day foreign exchange market to $10 billion.

At a press conference on Wednesday morning, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that starting as early as 2007, currency traders at several multi-national banks formed a group they dubbed “the cartel.”

Lynch explained that almost every day for more than five years, traders in this “cartel” communicated through coded language in a private electronic chatroom to manipulate the market’s exchange rate between euros and dollars.

[pull_quote_center]“They acted as partners, rather than competitors, in an effort to push the exchange rate in directions favorable to their banks, but detrimental to many others,” Lynch said. “The prices the market sets for those currencies influence virtually every sector of every economy in the world. Their actions inflated the bank’s profits, while harming countless consumers, investors and institutions around the globe.”[/pull_quote_center]

The New York Times noted that when one member of the “cartel” would “build a huge position in a currency and then unload it at a crucial moment, hoping to move prices,” other traders would agree to “stay out of each other’s way.”

Business Insider reported that this is an unprecedented settlement for the parent companies of so many major banks “to plead guilty to criminal charges in a coordinated action,” and that JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are the “first major U.S. banks to plead guilty to criminal charges in decades.”

Featured, Police State, Politics

EXCLUSIVE: Sheriff Stands Up to IRS, Cancels Land Sale

228 Comments

WASHINGTON, February 7, 2015—New Mexico’s Eddy County Sheriff Scott London notified the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) via letter that the sale of county resident Kent Carter’s property is canceled until Carter receives due process of law and his appeal is heard. The certified letter dated February 4 received an immediate response from the Undersecretary of the Treasury’s office. According to the Treasury’s website, however, the public auction is still slated for February 19.

“Many officers have stood up over the years for the rights of citizens being victimized by the federal government,” said Sheriff Mack, founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, “But Sheriff London is the first one to stand up to the IRS since the early 1990s.” Mack said, “His actions show courage and humility. London is setting a good example for the rest of our sheriffs.”

Approximately ten days before Christmas, U.S. Marshals broke in the door of Carter’s rental property with their guns drawn. The tenant was a young mother with a new baby—home alone while her husband was at work. Sheriff London was called to the property to intervene. He advised the Marshals that Carter’s case was in appeal and he deserved due process. They threatened to arrest London, but he stood his ground and they backed off.

Carter has battled the IRS for decades over taxes on the earnings of his modest construction business. One court document listed his debt at $145,000, a figure Carter says an assessing agent “pulled out of thin air.” Every time he challenged them, his bill would shoot up a few hundred thousand dollars. His legal complaints state that the IRS failed to adhere to its own tax code, did not use proper accounting methods, and that the collection activity was unlawful because no notices of deficiency were given. Carter says his private and confidential information, including his social security number, was filed in public records and given to third parties. The IRS countered that it can publish and disperse the private information of Americans if it is trying to collect their money or property. A judge agreed.

Carter says the IRS is currently claiming he owes $890,000, a figure that “doubled with the stroke of a pen.”

The Taxation & Revenue Department ordered Carter to cease “engaging in business in New Mexico” until his arbitrary tax debt was paid. Carter appealed this injunction on the grounds that it was both unconstitutional and vague, as it deprived him of his right to make a living and also prohibited him from, “carrying on or causing to be carried on any activity with the purpose of direct or indirect benefit.”

“The IRS fabricates evidence against citizens by pulling numbers out of a hat and adding fees,” said Mack, “They wear people down emotionally and financially until they can’t take it anymore. No citizen should ever have to fight the IRS for decades in order to keep his land.”

“The IRS is a lie. The income tax is a lie,” said Carter. “Why should they be able to take anything? They’re worse than the mafia.”

The Carter properties have liens placed against them. A locksmith was instructed to change the locks. The IRS authorized the United States Marshal Service to arrest/evict anyone found on the premises. London, however, physically stood in front of Carter’s gate until the Marshals backed down. A public auction on the front steps of the Eddy County Courthouse is scheduled, but the local county sheriff—trained in the Constitution—resisted.

Carter voluntarily vacated his property and relocated his mobile home to an undisclosed location. “I chose to leave to keep it from escalating to something ugly—like Ruby Ridge, Idaho,” he said. Carter said he advised the Marshals and IRS Agents who publicly claimed he had armed friends on his land, “If there is going to be any violence, it is going to be you who starts it.”

Carter says 100% of his Social Security benefits is seized each month by the IRS, in addition to $2,800 the agency drained from his bank account. Legally, the IRS can take no more than 15% of Social Security benefits.

Mack says banking institutions quiver when faced with the IRS’ gestapo tactics and generally hand over customers’ personal banking information, including access to accounts, without requiring a warrant or even any documentation. He encourages county sheriffs to brief every bank in their jurisdiction to refer inquiries from IRS agents to them.

Sheriff Mack is calling for the IRS to start following the law, including no “random” audits without probable cause, as they violate the Fourth Amendment. He asks them to stop committing crimes and rewarding IRS employees with bonuses for cheating on their personal taxes. “I agree with Senator Ted Cruz and others who say the IRS should be abolished,” said Mack. “It’s time they got off the backs of the American people.”

Carter says he prays daily for wisdom, and that he is surviving to be able to look into his grandchildren’s eyes and tell them he fought for their future and for America.

London is the first Republican to ever be elected sheriff in Eddy County. He distributes Bibles on behalf of Gideon International and met his wife in choir practice.

Business, Economy, Politics, US

Obama’s “Robin Hood” Plan to Collect $320 Billion in New Taxes

26 Comments

On Saturday, White House officials announced that President Obama’s upcoming State of the Union address will include a plan to increase tax credits for the middle class, with $320 billion in revenue obtained by increasing taxes on the wealthy over the next ten years.

Americans for Tax Reform reported that Obama’s budget will include five major tax increases: a capital gains rate hike, an increase in the death tax rate, an increased tax on banks, a tax increase on families saving for college, and a tax increase in retirement plans.

According to the Associated Press, the capital gains rate hike would “increase the total top capital gains rate on couples with incomes above $500,000 to 28 percent,” which has “already been raised from 15 percent to 23.8 percent” during Obama’s presidency.

Obama’s changes in the death tax rate would eliminate a tax break on inheritances, where individuals pay both income and estate taxes on the same dollars. This would close a “loophole” that Obama has suggested is a “huge scam that wealthy people exploit,” according to Forbes.

The Guardian reported that Obama’s proposed “Bank Tax” will put a new 0.07% tax on the liabilities of U.S. financial firms with assets of more than $50 billion, “making it more costly for them to borrow heavily.”

Obama’s plan also includes increased taxes on families saving for college. While the current law lets money put in 529 plans, or college savings accounts, grow tax-free, Obama’s proposal would require that earnings “face taxation upon withdrawal, even if the withdrawal is to pay for college,” according to Americans for Tax Reform.

Politico reported that Obama plans to increase taxes on retirement plans such as the IRA and 401(k), by capping the amount an individual can accumulate in the account at $3.4 million, giving retirees a limit of $210,000 in annual income.

Once accumulating the money from the wealthy, the Associated Press reported that Obama plans to give a “new $500 ‘second earner’ tax credit for families where both spouses work,” and an expanded child care tax credit of up to “$3,000 per child under age 5.”

According to Politico, Obama also plans to “expand tax breaks for small businesses that automatically enroll their employees in retirement savings accounts.”

NPR reported that Obama’s plans have been met with criticism from Republicans in Congress, such as a spokesperson for Representative Paul Ryan who said that the plan was “not a serious proposal.”

The Senate’s top tax law writer, Senator Orrin Hatch, told Reuters that Obama “needs to stop listening to his liberal allies who want to raise taxes at all costs and start working with Congress to fix our broken tax code.“

Politics, US

Fmr. Head of Fed Reserve QE Program Confesses The Program Is Nothing More Than Wall Street Welfare

7 Comments

Story by Sonya Sandage and Ben Swann

“I’ve come to recognize (Quantitative Easing) for what it really is: the greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout of all time”, writes Andrew Huszar, former head of Federal Reserve QE program in a stunning “confession” in the Wall Street Journal this week.

Consider the fact that up until 2008, virtually no American was aware of the economic term, Quantitative Easing. QE, as it is called by media is the Federal Reserve Bank’s policy of bond purchases in order to support bond prices. Bond buying via Fed Open Market Committee is a typical practice, but the $4 Trillion in QE we’ve seen over the last five years is anything but typical.

The Fed essentially is printing $85 Billion per month, out of thin air, using that digital money to buy bonds up, and trade them out with cash reserves or ultra-short term notes. Banks and hedge funds that owned the original bonds are then supposed to pump that money into the economy, creating a virtuous cycle.

What we now know, five years after the start of QE1, is that Quantitative Easing does virtually nothing to improve the U.S. economy. The reason for that is actually pretty simple, most of the loose money courtesy of Fed printing is being reinvested into even more bonds, as well as derivatives and stocks.

It’s not being invested in creating new businesses, or significantly increasing lending. The $85 Billion per month is not being reinvested into biomedical research, tech, space exploration, or really anything innovative that will create economic growth. This does not help the common man, aka Main Street. It does help investors, including 401(k) and IRA owners, and has made them richer than ever in their accounts. If there is a major market correction when a taper does start though, those gains could evaporate.

So what is the QE policy all about? According to Huszar, again the former head of Federal Reserve QE program, Quantitative Easing is really nothing more than Wall Street welfare.

“It has allowed QE to become Wall Street’s new ‘too big to fail’ policy.” writes Huszar.

Huszar goes on to write, “Unless you’re Wall Street. Having racked up hundreds of billions of dollars in opaque Fed subsidies, U.S. banks have seen their collective stock price triple since March 2009. The biggest ones have only become more of a cartel: 0.2% of them now control more than 70% of the U.S. bank assets.”

Long have critics alleged the policy is actually designed to prop up the balance sheets of the very same “Too Big to Fail” banks that caused the financial crisis by deregulation of Glass-Steagall, and irresponsible gambling in derivatives, as well as outright fraud.

To read the full confessional piece by Andrew Huszar, click here

Politics, US

President Obama Meets With Head of Goldman Sachs to Talk About “Payday Loan of Sorts”

58 Comments

Sources inside Goldman Sachs have leaked an email indicating that President Obama has had secret meetings with Goldman and Co, “in order to arrange a new debt ceiling, or more accordingly a new line of credit.”

The email goes on to say that this would be “almost like a payday loan.”

Obama and Goldman Sacs Secret Meeting

Reuters reported, President Obama was scheduled to meet on Wednesday with top bank chief executives to discuss the government shutdown and the looming deadline to raise the nation’s debt limit.

“The Bank chiefs scheduled to meet with the President included Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Michael Corbat of Citigroup, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America.”

As the email’s writer points out, for the President to hold meetings of this kind however, could violate the Antideficiency Act of 1870. The Act prohibits any government office holder from incurring any monetary obligation for which Congress has not appropriated funds. As NBC News pointed out just Wednesday,

“CNBC has learned that in several executive branch departments, high-level staff members review individual decisions about what government activities to allow for fear of running afoul of the Antideficiency Act. One White House official said he has advised his employees not to check their email or cellphones. Under the act, even volunteering for government service is expressly prohibited.”

Of course the other major issue here. Is the President asking for the heads of the nations largest banks to make short term loans to the U.S. government? Ultimately, what does this mean for the nation?
Leave your comments below.