The former Portuguese colony of Macau took in $45 billion in gambling revenues in 2013, up 20% from the prior year and nearly seven times the action on the Las Vegas strip. But in the last six months, China’s President Xi Jinping has devastated the “Monte Carlo of the Orient” as he accelerates his anti-corruption campaign against vast layers of entrenched officials. Xi hopes his purge will deflect blame away from the Communist Party as China suffers its worst economic crisis in two decades.
by Chriss W. Street18 Jan 2015, 8:46 PM PST0
Attorney General Eric Holder announced he is terminating the Justice Department’s three-decade-old civil asset forfeiture program called Equitable Sharing that allowed state and local law enforcement agencies to keep 80% of cash, vehicles, real estate and other assets seized under federal drug laws before formal warrants or criminal charges were filed.
by Chriss W. Street18 Jan 2015, 5:31 AM PST0
The White House dropped a bombshell on Thursday by announcing that FCC already has the authority to take over regulating and taxing the Internet without Congressional approval.
by Chriss W. Street16 Jan 2015, 4:00 AM PST0
The European Constitutional Court of Justice ruled the European Central Bank (ECB) has unlimited authority to massively inflate the euro. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) was forced to drop its fixed exchange rate for the nation’s “franc” currency.
by Chriss W. Street15 Jan 2015, 6:57 PM PST0
The California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) has announced that its solvency has improved and that it is only $89.7 billion underfunded. Unfortunately, CalPERS’s purported solvency of percentage of 77% assumes the fantasy that it can conservatively compound its annual earnings at 7.5% without any losses. But if CalPERS only earns 4.5% a year–a rate conservative private pensions often shoot for–the fund’s long-term liability is a staggering $290 billion.
by Chriss W. Street15 Jan 2015, 4:00 AM PST0
Last February, the New York Times editorial writer Joe Nocera raged against “The Bitcoin Blasphemy,” which he claimed was libertarian “sacrilege” since it is “unconnected to any currency or any government.” But try as they might, the leftist thought police at the Times that see bitcoin as an existential threat to “full faith” in the dollar and the U.S. government are failing.
by Chriss W. Street15 Jan 2015, 3:00 AM PST0
With California facing what Steven Greenhut calls “Death by Pension,” former Democrat Speaker of the California Assembly and newly elected State Senator Bob Hertzberg released details of his Senate Bill 8 tax manifesto. What he refers to as the “Upward
by Chriss W. Street14 Jan 2015, 6:01 AM PST0
Cuba should be a bountiful island with an excellent growing season. But the workers’ paradise has to import $2 billion in food each year to prevent the workers from starving. American farmers have been able to get a small piece of the market since food sales were allowed as an exemption to the 1962 trade embargo in 2000. But with Obama Administration moving to normalize relationships, California, as America’s top food producing state, looks forward to serving a market of 11 million new consumers.
by Chriss W. Street13 Jan 2015, 4:37 AM PST0
Most national security analysts had assumed that both of the Paris terrorist attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo by the Kouachi brothers and the shooting of a policewoman and attack on a kosher market by Amedy Coulibaly had been sponsored by al-Qaeda as one-upmanship in their rivalry with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). But after his death in a shoot-out, a video was released indicating Coulibaly was on an ISIS mission.
by Chriss W. Street12 Jan 2015, 8:23 PM PST0
“Anonymous from around the world have decided to declare war against you, terrorists,” an affiliated member of the underground hacktivist movement threatened in a new video posted on YouTube as a response to the Paris attack on the Charlie Hebdo
by Chriss W. Street12 Jan 2015, 11:02 AM PST0
China’s Producer Price Index (PPI) that measures the price changes for the goods and services produced by the nation has fallen for 32 straight months. As the factory to the world, China has been exporting deflation. The economic impact has been increasing the real burden of debt, driving down worldwide wages and discouraging consumption.
by Chriss W. Street11 Jan 2015, 5:36 PM PST0
California Gov. Jerry Brown’s supposed “balanced budget” has no provision for another million illegal aliens.
by Chriss W. Street10 Jan 2015, 5:44 PM PST0
Governor Jerry Brown triumphantly unveiled a record $113 billion state budget this week that increases spending by 5%, with promises to give a boast to K-12 schools, deposit $1.2 billion into the rainy day fund, and make a $1.2 billion debt payment. Yet he barely mentioned that healthcare costs for Covered Care, Medi-Cal and retirees are on fire and are sure to burn down California in the next recession.
by Chriss W. Street9 Jan 2015, 12:52 PM PST0
There will always be rumors in the stock market, but a Twitter-Yahoo deal would make more complimentary sense than most of the usual market chatter.
by Chriss W. Street8 Jan 2015, 12:42 PM PST0
Despite the positives of cheaper oil, a weaker yen currency, and zero interest rates, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index plunged -3.02% in overnight trading. Over the last 25 years, Japan has become the world’s most indebted nation and its stock market has lost 70.4% of value as the nation is literally beginning to die out in a demographic implosion.
by Chriss W. Street7 Jan 2015, 9:56 PM PST0
China’s Operation “Fox Hunt” just secured the cooperation of the American government to expropriate hundreds of billions of assets from corrupt former Chinese officials and business executives who moved to the United States thinking they escaped from the reach of the Communist Party.
by Chriss W. Street7 Jan 2015, 7:59 PM PST0
With American naval dominance facing its first major challenge in almost 70 years as China strives to become the world’s leader in offensive drone technology, the United States has tested and deployed the world’s first operational laser weapon.
by Chriss W. Street7 Jan 2015, 6:42 PM PST0
One of the drivers for oil falling to $50 a barrel is the fact that the world is entering the Golden Age of Natural Gas. Although oil is the primary energy source for transportation, natural gas is the most efficient low-carbon energy source for electricity, industrial production, and home heating. With the U.S. price of natural gas about 30% of the cost in Asia, huge specialized ships will soon be transporting LNG from the U.S. to displace a large percentage of diesel oil used for electrical generation and transportation in Asia.
by Chriss W. Street7 Jan 2015, 4:53 PM PST0
Consumer Electronics Show 2015 opened Monday morning in Las Vegas to throngs of the digerati hoping to get a peek at the latest technology trends and styles. Unlike shows in the past that featured connected gadgets and media, this year’s focus seems to be on the automobile as the ultimate connected consumer electronics platform.
by Chriss W. Street7 Jan 2015, 5:47 AM PST0
By the early response, the best mobile “phablet” phone of CES 2015 is the beautifully updated LG G Flex 2. The LG G Flex last year was big and featured a curved display technology with a somewhat dim screen. However, this year’s update fits in the hand better and uses its curve to dramatically improve screen appeal and phone durability.
by Chriss W. Street6 Jan 2015, 5:01 PM PST0
Despite all the pain Americans suffered from sub-prime lending, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Community Redevelopment Act (CRA) are once again pushing low-income people with little or financial cushion into dicey mortgage loans.
by Chriss W. Street4 Jan 2015, 9:43 AM PST0
Although Northern California is at 140% average rainfall so far this year, the state is still in the equivalent of one of its worst droughts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently downgraded its estimated probability of El Niño torrential rains developing this winter to approximately 65%.
by Chriss W. Street4 Jan 2015, 9:19 AM PST0
AAA estimates U.S. households in 2014 saved an average of $115 on gasoline compared to last year, with the majority of that savings coming during the price collapse that sent the national price down to an annual low of $2.26 on the last day of the year. Gasoline prices have continuously fallen every day for an all-time record of 97 days. The last time America saw such a low average national price was on May 12, 2009.
by Chriss W. Street3 Jan 2015, 9:43 AM PST0
It has been over 14 years since the NASDAQ index touched an all-time high of 5132.52 on March 10, 2000, signaling the end of the “dot-com” boom. By closing today at 4,726.81, the tech-heavy, over-the-counter stock exchange is only 6.2% from topping the previous record high.
by Chriss W. Street2 Jan 2015, 9:42 PM PST0
The California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) plan to offer cap and trade offset credits to California rice farmers to change the way they farm is like chumming fish. The government’s upfront offer of cash is a scam to encourage rice farmers to invite bureaucrats into their business. CARB will undoubtedly later change the farming rules by mandating the type of severe regulations that will strangle rural community success.
by Chriss W. Street1 Jan 2015, 8:55 AM PST0
