Hhhhmmmm, wonder whats going on here?

From the BBC: What do you get when you mix two Japanese nationals with some fake US government bonds, a slow train to Switzerland and members of the Italian financial guard?

The answer is a $134bn (£82bn; 97bn euros) conspiracy theory which has fired up a whole realm of financial bloggers on the internet. See story HERE

From The Guardian UK: It was fortunate that Andrew MacKay did not encounter one of his elderly constituents when the Conservative MP defied growing public fury to show his face in Bracknell town centre yesterday.

“I can see ordinary people going round with shotguns and shooting them all,” said a pensioner in this industrious Berkshire town. She was so enraged by MPs’ expenses, she said, that she was tempted to shoot the Speaker herself.

The days when Dick Turpin reputedly rested up in a pub where this new town now sprawls have long gone. But voters outside Westminster are increasingly convinced that their representatives have got away with daylight robbery. See full story HERE

From The Globe and Mail: Anyone who has ridden an escalator and bothered to pay attention has seen – and likely ignored – little signs suggesting riders hold the grimy handrail.

In Montreal’s subway system, the friendly advice seems to have taken on the force of law, backed by a $100 fine.

Bela Kosoian, a 38-year-old mother of two, says when she didn’t hold the handrail Wednesday she was cuffed, dragged into a small holding cell and fined.

“It was horrible, disgusting behaviour [by police],” said Ms. Kosoian, a 38-year-old student of international law. “I did nothing wrong. They should go find the guys who stole my tires off the balcony.” See story HERE

From The Telegraph UK: The dollar plunged instantly against the euro, yen, and sterling as the comments flashed across trading screens. David Bloom, currency chief at HSBC, said the apparent policy shift amounts to an earthquake in geo-finance.

“The mere fact that the US Treasury Secretary is even entertaining thoughts that the dollar may cease being the anchor of the global monetary system has caused consternation,” he said. See story HERE

It seems that countries that pay the most in taxes are also the most happy: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says people in Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands are the most content with their lives. The three ranked first, second and third, respectively, in the OECD’s rankings of “life satisfaction,” or happiness.

There are myriad reasons, of course, for happiness: health, welfare, prosperity, leisure time, strong family, social connections and so on. But there is another common denominator among this group of happy people: taxes.

Northern Europeans pay some of the highest taxes in the world. Danes pay about two-thirds of their income in taxes. Why be so happy about that? It all comes down to what you get in return. The Encyclopedia of the Nations notes that Denmark was one of the first countries in the world to establish efficient social services with the introduction of relief for the sick, unemployed and aged. … Simply, you pay for what you get.

Taxes in the U.S. have taken on a pejorative association because, well, we are never really quite sure of what we get in return for paying them, other than the world’s biggest military. Healthcare and other such social services aren’t built into our system. That means we have to worry more about paying for things ourselves. Worrying doesn’t equate to happiness.

The U.S. ranked 11th on the OECD list. In addition to the top three, we were beat out by Sweden, Belgium, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Norway. See full story HERE from TaxProf Blog.

Hundreds of people across the country stand to lose millions of dollars in what investigators describe as a Ponzi scheme based out of a Fresno equipment-leasing company.

And the man FBI agents believe masterminded it all — John W. Otto, a pioneer in the equipment-leasing industry — committed suicide this week in Palm Desert.

His death complicates what investigators say will be an enormous task: tracking down where all the money went, and whether others in Otto’s firm — HL Leasing — were involved.

FBI agents began looking into Otto and HL Leasing after investors complained that they had not received April interest payments on their investments with the firm. As many as 1,200 victims nationwide could lose the money they entrusted to Otto, investigators say.

“At this point, it does appear to be a Ponzi scheme,” said Steve Dupre, an FBI spokesman in Sacramento. “Right now, from our preliminary review, it appears that $138 million is the potential loss in this case.” See full story HERE

It could be the ultimate in political control — but it won’t be patented in Germany. German media outlets reported last week that a Saudi inventor’s application to patent a “killer chip,” as the Swiss tabloids put it, had been denied.

The basic model would consist of a tiny GPS transceiver placed in a capsule and inserted under a person’s skin, so that authorities could track him easily.

Model B would have an extra function — a dose of cyanide to remotely kill the wearer without muss or fuss if authorities deemed he’d become a public threat.
The inventor said the chip could be used to track terrorists, criminals, fugitives, illegal immigrants, political dissidents, domestic servants and foreigners overstaying their visas. See full story HERE

Spain is forecast to be the hardest hit by the “crisis”. The economy has suffered its largest contraction in 50 years SEE HERE and the Spanish have been taking to the streets on a regular bases regarding protection of the jobless SEE HERE . And to top it all off they have found Cocaine in the air SEE HERE . Go figure,

From The New Scientist: WE ARE on the brink of technological breakthroughs that could augment our mental powers beyond recognition. It will soon be possible to boost human brainpower with electronic “plug-ins” or even by genetic enhancement. What will this mean for the future of humanity?

This was the theme of a recent Neuroscience in Context meeting in Berlin, Germany, where anthropologists, technologists, neurologists, archaeologists and philosophers met to consider the implications of this next stage of human brain development. Would it widen the gulf between the world’s haves and have-nots – and perhaps even lead to a distinct and dominant species with unmatchable powers of intellect? See story HERE

From The Guardian UK: Angry steel workers attacked the Luxembourg headquarters of ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, during the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting yesterday, setting off smoke bombs and breaking through the front door in protest at temporary layoffs. See fulls story HERE