Finance

Mamma Mia: Italian Banks on Verge of Collapsing Entire Eurozone Financial System
A stress test conducted a few days ago by the European Banking Authority confirmed a poor condition of many credit institutions in Europe. Italian banks and Germany’s Deutsche Bank are doing the worst. In recent months, Deutsche Bank shares have lost 25% of their value, French bank Société 23% [...]
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Deutsche Bank Collapse May Trigger ‘Global Financial Catastrophe’
In June, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) labelled Deutsche Bank as the most risky global financial institution. Experts do not believe the bank will suffer the same destiny as Lehman Brothers. But if it does this would be a global financial catastrophe. [...]
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Russia Becomes Globe’s Top Buyer of Gold Bullion, Boosting Reserves
The Central Bank of Russia became the world's leading purchaser of gold when it bought 356,000 ounces of the precious metal in February, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). China took second place; its Central Bank purchased about 320,000 ounces of gold in February, according [...]
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$2,500 to one and all: Swiss vote on landmark monthly ‘basic income’ law
Switzerland may become the first country in the world to introduce a universal basic income after Sunday’s referendum. If passed, every adult legally residing in the country would receive a monthly income of around $2,500, whether they work or not. [...]
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Letting ‘Wall Street’ Walk
Legal double standards are the norm in the U.S. – no jail for law-flouting Wall Street bankers but mass incarceration for average citizens, especially minorities, who get caught up in the prison-industrial-complex, as Michael Brenner describes. Illicit financial behavior has been decriminalized in the United States – for all practical purposes. [...]
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American Tuition Rates So High Students Seek Out Sugar Daddies
The average tuition rate for a four-year college in the US is $38,600, and even more for a graduate degree. As a result, students often finish university hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. These grueling statistics have forced some students to seek out unique ways to pay their bills. One such student, Candice Kashani, who was facing an annual $50,000 in tuition and expenses, decided to j [...]
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‘Why? And Why Now?’ Panama Papers ‘John Doe’ Steps Out of Shadows
The anonymous source behind the Panama Papers stepped out of the shadows on Friday to offer justification for what has been called the biggest leak in history. The whistleblower's gender and name remain secret, as does their occupation. [...]
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Romanian Hacker Claiming to Have Broken Into Clinton’s Server Talks to FBI
The Romanian hacker who claims to have breached Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server says he spoke with an FBI agent. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Romanian hacker Guccifer who claims to have breached Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server says he spoke with an agent from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) while being extradited to the United States. [...]
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‘Serial Child Molester’ and Former US House Speaker Hastert Sent to Jail
Former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Wednesday after a judge referred to him as a “serial child molester,” making him one of the highest-ranking politicians in US history to go to prison. Hastert, 74, pleaded guilty last year to paying $3.5 million in hush-money to a man to keep the molestation secret. [...]
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Panama and the Criminalization of the Global Finance System
Panama was basically carved off from Colombia in order to have a canal. It was created very much like Liberia. It’s not really a country in the sense that a country has its own currency and its own tax system. Panama uses U.S. dollars. So does Liberia. [...]
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The Real Earthquake Is About to Hit
Don’t try to praise bestselling author, Peter Schiff, for accurately predicting the 2008/2009 crash. That is, because in his opinion, the financial crisis wasn’t the REAL crash… It was only a tremor before the big one hits. “Armageddon is inevitable,” says Peter. So will 2015 be the year when we finally run out of fools willing to lend to us? [...]
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What US Fed Chairman Yellen Told Obama During Secret Meeting
Last week, US President Barack Obama, US Vice President Joe Biden and Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Janet Yellen held a secret meeting at the White House, during which they discussed the US and global economy, an official statement released by the White House said. However, according to former US politician and political expert Ron Paul, the subject discussed behind closed doors could be m [...]
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Calls for David Cameron’s Resignation Escalate in Panama Papers Fallout
British Prime Minister David Cameron is facing increasing calls to resign in the wake of revelations that he had profited from offshore tax havens and personally intervened to prevent a crackdown on tax evasion in the United Kingdom. [...]
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‘US pretends fighting tax havens while creating its own’
The United States have been professing to be fighting tax evasion all over the world, but at the same time, it’s opened up tax havens at home: in Delaware, Nevada, Wyoming and South Dakota, says journalist Ernst Wolff. Why would people move their offshore money to a relatively high-tax regime in the United States rather than say Ireland or Luxembourg? [...]
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Britain is the heart and soul of tax evasion
The British government’s claim to be tackling tax evasion is about as credible as Al Capone claiming to be leading the fight against organized crime. In fact, Britain is at the heart of the global tax haven network, and continues to lead the fight against its regulation. The 11 and a half million leaked documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca have proven, once again, [...]
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Panama dilemma: Washington doesn’t know if leak was ‘theft,’ but approves of ‘independent journos’
US officials, always sensitive to anti-American leaks and harsh to whistleblowers, now appear unconcerned about how the Panama Papers came to light. Grilled by reporters, the State Department could not tell if the US-funded leak was actually data theft or not. [...]
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Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko: The biggest loser from the Panama Papers?
The media hype has focused on Vladimir Putin (who was actually not named) and David Cameron (who wasn't either). However, the biggest loser from the Panama Paper’s fallout just might be Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko. [...]
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First to Fall? Panama Papers Bring Down Iceland PM, Portending Future Fallout
In the first instance of a prominent politician taken down by the 11.5 million documents leaked in the Panama Papers, Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson resigned on Tuesday after fully 10 percent of Iceland's population rallied in protest of his wife's secret, offshore shell company holding millions. [...]
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HSBC, Coutts & Rothschild: British banks help the 1% evade tax, #PanamaPapers suggest
Big British banks have allegedly been helping the rich and powerful ferret away their wealth beyond the taxman’s reach for decades, according to explosive revelations in the Panama Papers. Some of the world’s biggest banks were implicated in the largest data leak in history on Monday, including Britain’s HSBC, Coutts, and Rothschild, and Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse. [...]
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Germany wants its gold back
The Bundesbank has announced plans to repatriate some of Germany’s gold reserves from abroad. At least half of the country’s gold would be transferred to Frankfurt by 2020, according to Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann. Weidmann says 366 tons of gold worth €11.5 billion have been delivered to Frankfurt so far. "There are now about 1,400 tons or 41.5 percent of our gold reserves here," t [...]
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US credit card debt skyrockets, approaching $1 trillion
A new study from CardHub.com says credit card debt in the US has jumped by about $71 billion to $917.7 billion in 2015. The average American household with credit card debt now owes $7,879, which is the highest figure since the 2008 financial crisis. [...]
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American Hegemon’s Bankruptcy is Only a Matter of Time…the Nearest Time
Amid official economic statistics that claim “the world’s largest paper economy is in a marvelous recovery” and the insistence of leading US economists that the national debt doesn’t matter as it is owed to itself, geopolitical analyst F. William Engdahl argues that the country is almost bankrupt and its end could be nearer than any of us imagine. [...]
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