The Church Commission

[America’s intelligence gathering] capability at any time could be turned around on the American people and no American would have any privacy left. Such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide.

If this government ever became a tyrant, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government, no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know. Such is the capability of this technology.

I don’t want to see this country ever go across the bridge. I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that [the NSA] and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.

Senator Frank Church on Meet The Press, 17 August 1975

Washington's Corrupt Nature...This Town...Crony Capitalism

Gorgeous Glimpses of Calamity

Man-made perils to the universe’s garden of life are evident from space.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/opinion/sunday/gorgeous-glimpses-of-calamity.html?hp&_r=0&smid=tw-share

FATCA

by Cezary Blaszczyk on August 19, 2013 Among the many recent revelations about American surveillance operations was the fact that, according to Der Spiegel, the U.S. intelligence apparatus “not only conducted online surveillance of European citizens, but also appears to have specifically targeted buildings housing European Union institutions,” Few, if any, of those commenting of late on such affairs mentioned that numerous nations across the globe actually acknowledged the U.S. government’s anti-privacy offensive months before by accepting its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The FATCA legislation attempts to combat bank privacy on many levels and for many reasons including the American state’s desire for more effective tax collecting. According to U.S. tax law, every American taxpayer is obligated to fill out tax forms and pay taxes for their income attained not only on U.S. soil but overseas as well. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not distinguish where the taxpayer lives, since U.S. taxation is based on either residency or citizenship. Therefore America remains one of the two states worldwide that tax their non-residing citizens. The other is Eritrea, a country not known for an exemplary human rights record. It is therefore no wonder offshore tax evasion is a substantial problem for the federal government. Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in Senate, revealed in a statement that tax-dodging schemes cost the Federal Treasury $100 billion a year. More than six (out of seven) million American taxpayers living overseas never fulfilled their tax obligations. Neither the Qualified Intermediary (QI) program, nor direct diplomatic efforts concerning tax havens succeeded, which led to an amendment of FATCA in 2010. In general, the law forms an additional chapter to the Internal Revenue Code and obligates all Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) to provide the IRS with information on their clients that are U.S. persons, thus combating tax evasion. FFIs that do not conform to their reporting duties are bound to pay 30 percent tax on any “withholdable” payments owed them in the U.S (U.S. payers are obliged to withhold 30 percent of the gross payments to delinquent FFIs). These include virtually any payment of U.S. source income: payment of interest, dividends, salaries, wages, rents, annuities, licensing fees, profits, gross proceeds from the sale or disposition of U.S. property and even interest paid by foreign branches of U.S. banks. Since the act’s definition of Foreign Financial Institution is substantially broad, every bank, broker, insurance company, private equity fund or hedge fund either identifies and reports to the IRS on their U.S. clients or is robbed of 30 percent of income on American soil. (An FFI is defined as any foreign (non-U.S.) entity that either “accepts deposits in the ordinary course of banking or similar business; or as a substantial portion of its business, holds financial assets for the account of others; or is engaged ... in business of investing, reinvesting, or trading securities, partnership interests, commodities, or any interest in such securities, partnership interests, or commodities.”) The IRS has started an internet portal where FFIs can register online and agree to cooperate. The law is effective since January 2013, however withholding does not start until January 2014. According to FATCA, FFIs might be exempted from the 30 percent tax and recognized as FATCA-compliant if they identify all of their clients that are U.S. taxpayers and inform the IRS of the account holders’ names, TINs, addresses; the accounts’ balances, receipts, and withdrawals. Identification of the pre-existing high value accounts (that is: accounts with funds exceeding $1 million) are to be electronically scanned for so-called “U.S. indicia” and then manually verified (enhanced review) by the relationship manager who might have an actual knowledge about the account holder. Other pre-existing accounts are required to be electronically scanned only and accounts under de-minimis threshold of $50,000 ($250,000 for non-natural persons) are exempted from the search. If individuals meet the U.S. indicia, the participating FFI obtains the relevant tax forms from the account holder. Those who refuse are to be declared recalcitrant account holders, their accounts will be closed, and the tax will be deducted from their funds. U.S. indicia are: U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent resident (green card) status; a U.S. birthplace; a U.S. residence address or a U.S. correspondence address (including a U.S. P.O. box); standing instructions to transfer funds to an account maintained in the United States, or directions regularly received from a U.S. address; an “in care of” address or a “hold mail” address that is the sole address with respect to the client; a power of attorney or signatory authority granted to a person with a U.S. address. Not surprisingly, FATCA has been controversial from the very beginning. Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the law creates unnecessary paperwork and accused the U.S. of looking for tax havens where they do not exist. American Citizens Abroad (ACA) predicted that FATCA would have a devastating impact on the U.S. economy, U.S. financial markets, and American businesses operating abroad, while European media pinpointed that the main effect of FATCA’s introduction would be the dumping of clients with U.S. citizenship by European banks. Nevertheless the biggest problem is that FATCA affects not only U.S. persons but many entities abroad also. The costs of full compliance were estimated (in case of big banks in Poland) to reach almost 15 million Euro. The act was also heavily criticized for making foreign institutions “arms of US tax authorities.” Resistance to the act from foreign states has nevertheless been muted. From as early as 2010 Japanese bankers expressed no intention of complying to the regulations and yet they did. On June 11, 2013 the Japanese government signed the Statement of Mutual Cooperation and Understanding between the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Authorities of Japan to Improve International Tax Compliance and to Facilitate Implementation of FATCA. With the United Kingdom, Denmark, Mexico, Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, Spain, Germany and Japan as intergovernmental agreements (IGA) signatories and others coming, it is fair to say that January 1, 2013 is the day banking secrecy ceased to exist. Even Ueli Maurer, the Swiss president, admitted that “honouring the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act led to the lifting of banking secrecy for US customers of Swiss banks.” We did not have to wait long for a similar initiative from the European Union. According to the latest news, the European Commission seeks to expand automatic information exchange between EU Member States. EU Tax Commissioner Mr. Algirdas Šemeta revealed on June 13, 2013 a proposal for a Council Directive, which aims at eradication of tax evasion in Europe. The automatic exchange of information between member states is going to create a system called AEOI, the most comprehensive treasury and fiscal control in the world. Even Luxemburg and Austria, countries traditionally skeptical about collective anti-tax evasion initiatives, are expected to join the AEOI. It seems that there is little understanding that it was banking secrecy that helped to resist twentieth-century dictatorships and that high tax rates — not money havens — are responsible for tax evasion, as Prince Hans-Adam of Lichtenstein has pinpointed. Clearly the amount of information collected for the purpose of future tax investigation is enormous, leaving little place for human privacy and dignity. Most importantly, it raises a question as to who gave participating states a right to gather information on people that are not their citizens. http://mises.org/daily/6507/FATCA-and-the-End-of-Bank-Secrecy

Humanity Is Drowning In Washington’s Criminality

Paul Craig Roberts

"Americans will soon be locked into an unaccountable police state unless US Representatives and Senators find the courage to ask questions and to sanction the executive branch officials who break the law, violate the Constitution, withhold information from Congress, and give false information about their crimes against law, the Constitution, the American people and those in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Guantanamo, and elsewhere. Congress needs to use the impeachment power that the Constitution provides and cease being subservient to the lawless executive branch. The US faces no threat that justifies the lawlessness and abuse of police powers that characterize the executive branch in the 21st century."

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2013/08/13/humanity-is-drowning-in-washingtons-criminality-paul-craig-roberts/

HedgeEye - End of Bond Bull Run

Dan Ariely on Cheating Bankers - worse than Politicians...

Lavabit to shutdown

"One who appears to have been a customer was Snowden: When the ex-NSA contractor invited human rights groups to a press conference at the Moscow airport on July 11, his message was communicated from a Lavabit.com email address — edsnowden@lavabit.com. Snowden himself told Glenn Greenwald of the Guardian last week that he found Levison’s decision to close rather than provide information to the government "inspiring" and asked why other larger companies such as Google "aren't fighting for our interest the same way small businesses are.""

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/13/20008036-lavabitcom-owner-i-could-be-arrested-for-resisting-surveillance-order?lite

Greenwald: Is U.S. Exaggerating Threat to Embassies to Silence

@JamesGRickards - The First Book on the Next Crisis...

John Hathaway Tocqueville Gold Fund (Miners) Interview with mainstream media

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000191449#eyJ2aWQiOiIzMDAwMTkxNDQ5IiwiZW5jVmlkIjoiYzlXbmVPcndBRVhMQVV5ZzloeXJhdz09IiwidlRhYiI6InRyYW5zY3JpcHQiLCJ2UGFnZSI6MSwiZ05hdiI6WyLCoExhdGVzdCBWaWRlbyJdLCJnU2VjdCI6IkFMTCIsImdQYWdlIjoiMSIsInN5bSI6IiIsInNlYXJjaCI6IiJ9

An Amazing Chart

http://www.financialsense.com/sites/default/files/users/u758/images/2013/cash-gold-lease-rate-15-aug-2013.jpg

@JamesGRickards - Currency Wars and Inevitable Banking Crisis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeCqzwNnqyk

A Short History of the World as we know it...

JPM goes long, CB's retreat to new Maginot Line

Turd Ferguson of the TF Metals Report today analyzes the latest futures traders commitment reports in the United States and, echoing silver market analyst Ted Butler, finds that the biggest U.S. banks, including presumably JPMorganChase, have gone spectacularly long gold and that Morgan took 95 percent of all Comex gold deliveries in August:

http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/4929/reconciliation

Presuming that Morgan remains the agent of the U.S. government, gold investors now may have reason to hope that the gold price suppression scheme is contemplating a retreat to a higher level as the real metal gets scarce as it did during the last weeks of the London Gold Pool:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Gold_Pool

In any case, as the fund manager and general Renaissance man James G. Rickards said a few years ago, "When you own gold you're fighting every central bank in the world

http://www.gata.org/node/12904

Bill Haynes - Gold moving from West to East

Bill Haynes, president of coin and bullion dealer CMI Gold and Silver in Phoenix, tells King World News that North American refineries are recasting gold from Comex warehouses and exchange-traded funds into forms popular in Asia and shipping the metal there as gold generally moves from the West to the East. Haynes' commentary is posted at King World News here:

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/8/9_Pro...

Lackshman Achuthan speaks

Bob Rice and Diedre Bolton on Pension Fund Obligations

Revised GDP Accounting

Future pension benefits promised by governments and private companies are counted as income. Previously, only cash payments by companies and government agencies into their pension plans counted as income. This change boosted Americans’ savings rate by about 1.5 percentage points in 2011 and 2012 — to 5.6 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively. The government says the change better reflects the retirement plans of those Americans with pensions and is less subject to manipulation than the cash payments. Wow!  The U.S. Ministry of Truth, in a grand fraud that rewrites U.S. economic history and obfuscates declining living standards, will now count PROMISES to pay as economic growth [income]...and expenses as investment.  You couldn't make this stuff up!