HSBC and Standard Chartered to pay US over $2bn in charges - https://rt.com/business/...ndard-charter-fine-797/

Foregoing meals to buy airtime!?

http://www.standardmedia...ng-meals-to-buy-airtime

There has to be a way out of this quagmire - mobile telephony is now a basic need...

Then GoK taxes mobile money?! - http://www.businessdaily...66/-/em5qae/-/index.html

Standard Bank to sell China's ICBC 60% of 2 UK trading units - http://www.reuters.com/a...k-idUSL5E8ND4D220121213

At this rate Standard bank SA will become ICBC SA... Are we soon to see ICBC in EA where Standard Bank has a presence...

The saga continues...
http://www.businessdaily...6/-/vn3834/-/index.html

Quote stuffing - Unbelievable that Credit Suisse admits that it is not a conspiracy theory as markets get rigged & raided everyday by HFT bots. This will open an interesting pandora's box for international prop trading desks who vehemently defend their HFT strategies with the support of market regulators.

So now we know of gold/silver manipulation and now HFT predators. Great swimming in this ocean now knowing where the shark tanks are located

http://www.nanex.net/aqck2/4022.html

Eh, this H&S pattern is currently playing out on the Apple stock. Unless some drastic announcement is made to make it turn bullish, the cliff jump will happen all the way down to $425-450 gap up zone.

Image courtesy of Seekingalpha.com

The rich in heavily indebted countries are as prized as rhino horns, targeted with increasing zeal by government workers to pay off the interest, interest on interest, interest on interest on interest and so on of sovereign debt. A new class is emerging of Tax Refugees, willing to give up their citizenship for tax havens.

"A tax crackdown by the United States has sent more than one million Americans and green-card holders living in Canada scrambling to figure out how to comply.

The move is part of a push by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to make sure U.S. taxpayers are paying what they owe on foreign accounts. Unlike most countries, the U.S. requires its citizens to file annual tax returns based on their worldwide income, regardless of where they live...."

Read more:

http://www.theglobeandma...esidents/article584297/



France's Socialist leanings are driving the wealthy overseas. Belgium or Bust. One wonders what will happen when the rich vacate or get creative with tax declaration. Will the definition of "rich" get a downward adjustment?

"FRANCE'S leading actor, Gerard Depardieu, says he is giving up his French passport after the prime minister called him "pathetic" for seeking to avoid taxes by moving to Belgium.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, the 63-year-old Cyrano de Bergerac and Green Card film star said he had been treated unfairly after years of supporting France and paying millions of euros in taxes...."

Read more:

http://www.theaustralian...-e6frg6so-1226538072852



Nowhere to run, not even once safe-haven Switzerland.

"The German upper house of parliament, dominated by opposition parties, has rejected a tax treaty aimed at legalising undeclared assets held by Germans in Swiss banks. The accord is set to fail if no compromise is found next month....

The accord would impose a retroactive levy of up to 41 per cent on capital in offshore bank accounts held by foreign citizens, impose a tax on future interest income and allow the account holders to remain anonymous..."

Read more:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/..._deal.html?cid=34023936


A FUBAR situation is in formation. Western governments are in austerity mode while they should have been spending to make up for the declining private sector spending. Hunting down the holders of wealth and investors only serves to worsen the situation, creating a downward spiral in private sector spending. Lack of private sector spending or capital flight reduces employment and economic growth, without which the government lacks the taxes to pay its workers and maintain the perks of civilisation (security, infrastructure, social security etc). Laying off government workers while cutting spending only serves to fray the fabric that holds society together sparking off protests, strikes and demonstrations. The private sector will not be attracted to a country whose workers are an ever-present menace on the streets and cannot be depended on to clock the number of working hours expected. And so the downward spiral continues.

Gulf states face hard
economic truth about
subsidies
Kuwait's electricity rates are so negligible that people often do not even bother to pay. And there are no repercussions. The state
simply picks up the tab.
The IMF has said that Kuwait will have exhausted all its savings by 2017, if it keeps on
spending money at the
current rate.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/new...ld-middle-east-20644964

RIM and Netflix Dropped From Nasdaq 100 Index - http://www.huffingtonpos...sdaq-100_n_2313336.html

Probably we have seen the last of blackberry phones as the online pay video stream biz also takes a nosedive to soon kill off Netflix.

The China Daily dated 24th of October, 2012 reported the formation of a Renminbi bloc in East Asia amongst seven of the ten economies to peg their currencies to the Yuan, and de-couple from the U.S. Dollar. The spirit of the move underlines the unease with the U.S. Fiscal Management which has the potential of being transmitted into the reserve currency of the world - the U.S. Dollar.

Wrangles and brinkmanship marked the August 2011 debate on the debt ceiling. Now we know that was the first Scene of what seems to be many Acts marking the superpower's descend from its citadel.

From a cyclical perspective, 5th of January, 2013 stands out as a turning point.