Families in Hurricane Sandy-ravaged New Jersey will face the highest tax increase as a percentage of their income – 6.82%  or about $6,933 more in taxes -- if Congress does not reach an agreement on the fiscal cliff tax issues during the lame-duck session, according to an analysis by the Tax Foundation. In its study of how the fiscal cliff would affect typical families in each state, the Tax Foundation repo ...

The transformation of America away from a white European-dominated society to a multi-ethnic mosaic is ending the United States’ romantic interlude with right-wing “Judeo-Christian” political leadership. The election of 2012 has proven that America that has backed right-wing dictatorships around the world, as well as the theocratic and woefully undemocratic regime of Israel, is changing its political hue. T ...

Michael Cohrs, a former Goldman Sachs banker who now sits on the Financial Policy Committee, said regulators may be trying too hard to “re-fight the last war” and that “allowing financial companies to blow themselves up, and then try and deal with the fall-out, may be – whether we like it or not – the reality of where we end up”. Speaking at the University of the West of England, he also warned the authorit ...

In what may be the most disturbing news of the day, moments ago the BOE announced it is halting its own version of QE3, and capping the asset purchase program at £375 billion after "some policy makers questioned its effectiveness in supporting a recovery that remains lackluster." Could it be that even that peculiar Homo Sapiens subspecies known as "economist" is starting to realize that when applying the sa ...

Only those in total denial would claim that the world economies could grow their way out of the debt bubble. Mathematically, the rules of compound interest always destroy the purchasing value of fiat currencies. The era of zero interest rates will end. When the cost to finance debts reverts to normal levels, the bleeding will become a gusher. The world reserve currency status of Federal Reserve Notes will c ...

On 8 November 2010, the German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble told the Wall Street Journal: "The USA lived off credit for too long, inflated its financial sector massively and neglected its industrial base." US gross government debt currently totals around $16trillion (£10trn). The US government holds around 40 per cent of the debt through the Federal Reserve and government funds. Individuals, corporati ...

Goldman Sachs bankers are on course to scoop average payouts of £280,000 this year, after receiving a 15 per cent pay rise. The investment banking giant was yesterday accused of showing a 'complete lack of sensitivity’ by campaigners.   Figures released tomorrow are expected to show the average wage in Britain is just 1.6 per cent higher than a year ago. The bumper pay rise at Goldman Sachs means it would n ...

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Federal authorities in New York have arrested a Bangladeshi man with “overseas connections to al-Qaida” who planned to blow up the Federal Reserve. Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis was provided with “inert explosives” by federal agents and closely monitored by the FBI as he tried to act out his plot, according to the Associated Press. Federal prosecutors said Nafis had proposed several spots for his atta ...