A meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee was held in the offices of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, July 29, 2014, at 10:00 a.m. and continued on Wednesday, July 30, 2014, at 9:00 a.m. [snipped from the release] Staff Review of the Economic Situation” The information… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: August 2014
Bank Of America To Pay $16.65 Billion In Historic Justice Department Settlement
“Attorney General Eric Holder and Associate Attorney General Tony West announced today that the Department of Justice has reached a $16.65 billion settlement with Bank of America Corporation – the largest civil settlement with a single entity in American history ¬— to resolve federal and state claims against Bank of America and its former and… Continue Reading
The Effects of Unconventional Monetary Policies on Bank Soundness
IMF Working Paper – Monetary and Capital Markets Department – The Effects of Unconventional Monetary Policies on Bank Soundness. Prepared by Frederic Lambert and Kenichi Ueda. Authorized for distribution by Gaston Gelos. August 2014. “Unconventional monetary policy is often assumed to benefit banks. However, we find little supporting evidence. Rather, we find some evidence for heightened medium-term risks. First, in… Continue Reading
China reveals it has more than 2 million registered drug users
Adam Minter – Bloomberg: “As of March, China had more than 2.14 million registered drug users, according to China’s Ministry of Public Security. That’s a remarkable admission from the usually secretive government. It’s also a pragmatic acknowledgment of how ubiquitous and easy-to-obtain drugs have become in China. Dealers sell from street corners, from behind kebab stands, even — I’ve… Continue Reading
Treasury expert identifies ransom payments as key source of terrorist revenue
“ISIS broadcast its killing of captured American journalist James Foley [note: there is no link to the video – only to a more in depth article about Jim Foley] to show the U.S. what awaits anyone who challenges the Islamic State’s march across Iraq and Syria. Foley’s killing was a blunt and stomach-churning bit of messaging that… Continue Reading
Charity says military use of food pantries has been rising for years
Stars and Stripes: “The number of military families who struggle to put food on the table has been growing in the years since the Great Recession, the nation’s largest network of soup kitchens and food pantries said [August 19, 2014] that increase convinced the Feeding America charity to study servicemembers who use the food assistance… Continue Reading
Record decline of ice sheets: scientists map elevation changes of Greenlandic and Antarctic glaciers
News release: “Bremerhaven, 20th August 2014. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), have for the first time extensively mapped Greenland’s and Antarctica’s ice sheets with the help of the ESA satellite CryoSat-2 and have thus been able to prove that the ice crusts of both regions momentarily decline… Continue Reading
China’s Dirty Pollution Secret: The Boom Poisoned Its Soil and Crops
He Guangwei is a staff writer and investigative reporter with The Times Weekly, a national Chinese newspaper based in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Via Yale environment 360: “There are now signs that gravity of the soil pollution problem is belatedly forcing the Chinese government to begin to deal with a problem that has accumulated over many decades, and to reconsider… Continue Reading
The Declining U.S. Reliance on Foreign Investors
Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Thomas Klitgaard and Preston Mui, August 20, 2014 “The United States has been borrowing from the rest of the world since the mid-1980s. From 2000 to 2008, this borrowing averaged over $600 billion per year, which translates into U.S. spending exceeding income by almost 5.0 percent of GDP. Borrowing fell during the… Continue Reading
Preliminary Draft of Proposed Amendments Federal Rules of Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil, and Criminal Procedure
“On August 15, 2014, the public comment period opens for proposed amendments to: Appellate Rules 4, 5, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28.1, 29, 32, 35, and 40, and Forms 1, 5, 6, and New Form 7; Bankruptcy Rules 1010, 1011, 2002, 3002, 3002.1, 3007, 3012, 3015, 4003, 5009, 7001, 9006, and 9009, and New Rule… Continue Reading
Criminal Justice Act: At 50 Years, a Landmark in the Right to Counsel
US Courts news release: “August 20, 1964—the President signed into law the Criminal Justice Act (CJA), which for the first time assured professional legal counsel in federal courts by paying an hourly fee for court appointed lawyers. Six years later, Congress established a full-time federal defender service within the judicial branch. Together, the measures created the… Continue Reading
Parents Projected to Spend $245,340 to Raise a Child Born in 2013
News release: “Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its annual report, Expenditures on Children by Families, also known as the Cost of Raising a Child. The report shows that a middle-income family with a child born in 2013 can expect to spend about $245,340 ($304,480 adjusted for projected inflation*) for food, housing, childcare and… Continue Reading
