@hedge fund regulation -- trotsky, 12:21:01 10/16/06 Mon
there have been repeated attempts by the financial oversight bureaucracy to expand its powers further via introducing regulation of hedge funds. so far, these attempts have thankfully gone exactly nowhere (the most recent one has been struck down by a court ruling). allegedly this is 'necessary to avert a big systemic fund failure', but it should be clear to everyone that this is NOT what it is about. in reality, it's about increasing the State's power over how private entities may dispose of their property. you can rest totally assured that increasing regulation will achieve only two things: 1. a further erosion of economic liberty. and 2. additional costs for tax pax payers (it won't come cheap).
what it will NOT achieve is 3. 'avert a catastrophic failure'.
it's all a huge pile of sand anyway - the fault lies not with how private entities deal with a fiat money world - it's the system as such.
this article captures many of the basic problems succinctly:
theaustralian.news.com.au
@housing bubble bust update -- trotsky, 11:58:57 10/16/06 Mon
yes, there is, or rather WAS, no bubble, right, but there sure is a bust:
"Foreclosure rates, default notices soar "
"San Diego County is experiencing mortgage foreclosure rates not seen for the past eight years, two monitoring companies reported yesterday."
signonsandiego.com
@everybody hates the Yen -- trotsky, 11:31:22 10/16/06 Mon
" Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators placed a record amount of bets the yen will decline against the dollar, according to weekly data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Wagers on euro gains fell.
The difference in the number of wagers by hedge funds and other large speculators on a decline in the yen compared with those on a gain -- so-called net shorts -- was 123,598 on Oct. 10, which was 19 percent higher than a week earlier. It was the second straight week of record net yen shorts. "
bloomberg.com
freecotcharts.com
@using honest money is now a crime in the US -- trotsky, 10:27:28 10/16/06 Mon
"A trendy alternative to legal tender, the Liberty Dollar, could now land coin-aisseurs in prison for up to five years, according to federal prosecutors.
"Although we haven't had any of these types of cases in Montana yet, the statute says using one of these coins as legitimate money could be a crime," said Kurt Alme, assistant U.S. attorney for Montana. "It looks like if you make or attempt to pass a coin of gold or silver as current money it's a crime."
Becky Bailey, public affairs director for the U.S. Mint, said prosecutors with the Department of Justice determined last month that passing off Liberty Dollar medallions as official U.S. tender is indeed a federal crime, albeit with a fuzzy threshold for prosecution."
billingsgazette.net
oh, so it's a 'fuzzy threshold for prosecution'? this could get interesting if it goes to court, since the accused need only produce a copy of the constitution. the court may well determine that fiat money is really the 'crime'.
anyway, more proof that liberty has died - in this case, economic liberty. |
