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For those of you who like talk radio. The Financial Guys is a talk radio program in western New York. Sat. 1 - 3 pm est. Financial Guys Twitter Financial Guys Talk Radio Link

The Federal Reserve voted Wednesday to seek input on a proposal to simplify the Volcker Rule, a provision of the post-financial crisis reform law that blocked banks from trading on their own accounts. The proposed alterations would tailor compliance based on the size of a firm's trading assets, benefiting smaller institutions; clarify that firms trading within internal risk limits are conducting permissible market-making or underwriting activity; and limit the rule's impact on foreign activities of foreign banks. The Fed will accept comments for the next two months, a key step toward final adoption and implementation of the changes drafted by...

A few years ago, I spoke with a young man preparing to get married. His aunt told him that she thought he and his fiancée were too financially-strapped to have a child, and that it wouldn’t be fair to bring up a baby in poverty. Keenly aware of his joblessness and his minuscule bank account, he concluded she was probably right. The young man and his fiancée were ready to tie the knot in a few months and they expected that she would be at the infertile phase of her cycle around the time of their honeymoon, so they would...

Just because it’s digital doesn’t mean it doesn’t need a vault, and Silicon Valley millionaires and billionaires now have a way to keep their cryptocurrency safe from the criminals: Underground bunkers packed with encrypted computer servers storing cryptographic keys for billions in bitcoin. This is cold storage, with a major security twist. It’s a new kind of vault for a new age and one Argentine pioneer has finally convinced the wealthy that this is where their digital currency will be safe. The brainchild of entrepreneur Wences Casares, a startup called Xapo has built crypto bunkers on five continents—including one in...

Governor Bill Haslam announced today that the global asset management firm AllianceBernstein will relocate its headquarters to Nashville. They are currently based in New York. With its relocation, AllianceBernstein will bring 1,050 high-quality jobs to Middle Tennessee and invest more than $70 million to establish the headquarters. “Tennessee is home to many world-renowned brands and we’re extremely proud to welcome AllianceBernstein, a global financial leader, to Nashville,” Haslam said. “Tennessee’s pro-growth policies continue to attract international companies to our state, providing fantastic job opportunities for our citizens. AllianceBernstein’s decision to bring 1,050 corporate office jobs to Nashville is an incredible...

I stopped to grab a burger in Marin County today and was kind of shocked to see the following posted on the front door. That is a pretty steep starting wage for nonskilled labor, and $5.00 more than the California minimum wage. In-N-Out does pay their employees well. The private burger chain pays store managers an average yearly salary of more than $160,000 with no college degree or previous management experience required. Facebook engineers soon to be flipping burgers. Nonbinding It is clear the minimum wage in California is nonbinding — that is irrelevant — and all the bluster about...

Wells Fargo will pay two federal regulators a total of $1 billion to settle an array of investigations into its mortgage and auto-lending practices. Customers were forced to pay for extending the length of so-called interest rate locks on mortgage applications even when the bank was responsible for delays in the application process. Thousands of customers who bought cars with loans from Wells Fargo were forced to buy unnecessary insurance policies from the bank with premiums that topped a $1,000 a year. The bank said the policies could have contributed to about 27,000 customers having their cars repossessed after defaulting...

Wells Fargo stemmed the tide of the push for new financial restrictions on gun makers and sellers by stressing that it is not a bank’s job to set U.S. gun policy. Wells Fargo believes firearm policy is a debate for Congress instead. According to Reuters, Wells Fargo CEO John Shrewsberry said, “The best way to make progress on these issues is through the political and legislative process. In the meantime, Wells Fargo is engaging our customers that legally manufacture firearms and other stakeholders on what we can do together to promote better gun safety in our communities.” Wells Fargo’s refusal...

Sixteen Republican congressmen are asking the General Services Administration (GSA) to reevaluate a $700 billion contract with Citibank as a result of the the financial institution’s “anti-Second Amendment policies.”The congressmen, led by Indiana Rep. Todd Rokita, sent a letter to GSA Administrator Emily Murphy on Wednesday, asking her to terminate the contract in response to Citibank’s March announcement restricting its clients participation in gun sales.“In 2017, the General Services Administration (GSA) awarded Citibank a contract of more than $700 billion to partially implement the federal charge card program, SmartPay 3,” the congressmen wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The...

Global bank Citi is starting a new commercial firearms policy within the U.S. "to do our part as a company to prevent firearms from getting into the wrong hands," the company said today. The new policy requires its new retail sector clients and partners to follow several practices: not sell guns to someone who didn't pass a background check; not sell bump stocks and high-capacity magazines; and not sell guns to people under 21 years old. Ed Skyler, Citi's head of global public affairs, said Citi has a few relationships with companies that manufacture guns, and for those relationships, "We...

Mrs. F.’ was 84 years old the first time she ever went to prison. Her crime? Petty shoplifting. She stole rice, strawberries, and cold medicine. She served her time. Got released. Then shoplifted again so that she’d go back to prison. She’s now 89 years old serving out another 2 ½ year sentence, not too far away from where I am right now, at a women’s prison about 60 miles outside of Tokyo. Did you know? You can receive all our actionable articles straight to your email inbox... Click here to signup for our Notes from the Field newsletter. She’s...

The Bank of England plans to offer a proposed sharia-compliant liquidity tool to a wider range of financial institutions beyond Islamic banks to boost demand, a senior official said on Monday. London has long sought to position itself as a global hub for Islamic finance, aiming to attract business from core centres in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The central bank has been working on a fund-based deposit model that would help Islamic lenders meet regulatory requirements for liquid asset buffers. But the tool will also be available to institutions whose articles of association incorporate sharia compliance, Arshadur Rahman,...

Awards season is in full swing in California, and the Golden State just took home a booby prize of its own. California ranks dead last among U.S. states in quality of life, according to a study by U.S. News, ranking behind New Jersey (49th) and Indiana (48th). The ignominious honor reflects California's low marks in the sub-categories of environmental quality and social engagement. The latter category measures voting participation and community bonds. Californians scored poorly in part because they're simply insufferable, U.S. News suggested. "In addition to a healthy environment, a person's quality of life is largely a result of...

What if the finance industry — credit card companies like Visa, Mastercard and American Express; credit card processors like First Data; and banks like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo — were to effectively set new rules for the sales of guns in America? Collectively, they have more leverage over the gun industry than any lawmaker. And it wouldn’t be hard for them to take a stand. PayPal, Square, Stripe and Apple Pay announced years ago that they would not allow their services to be used for the sale of firearms.

NEW DELHI: A turf battle for national highways has erupted with the department of economic affairs (DEA) seeking to take control of the funding for the highway construction programme. After unsuccessfully pushing for corporatisation of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the DEA has proposed changes in the Central Road Fund (CRF) Act to take control of the allotment of fuel cess for infrastructure projects and to decide the priority of expenditure. So far, the road transport and highways ministry is entitled to get the largest share of the CRF, estimated at 41%. The proposal to use 2.5% of...

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn spoke to CNBC via telephone this morning and had some very ominous warnings after what he has seen in the last few days. Reflecting on the market’s moves recently, Icahn shocked the anchors by saying: “This is something we’ve never seen before… I don’t remember ever seeing a market with this kind of volatility over two weeks.“ “The market has become a much more dangerous place [due to index funds and ETFs]… it’s like 2008 where everyone was buying mortgages and CDS.” Concluding that: “Passive investing is the bubble right now.” “There is going to be...

For those who are interested in the BitCoin phenomenon, it has been dropping considerably tonight. It has been as low as 8314, but is now rebounding in the mid 8400 range. I have provided a link to the ticker.

In its latest reminder that China is a (for now) happy holder of some $1.2 trillion in US Treasurys, Chinese credit rating agency Dagong downgraded US sovereign ratings from A- to BBB+ overnight, citing “deficiencies in US political ecology” and tax cuts that “directly reduce the federal government’s sources of debt repayment” weakening the base of the government’s debt repayment. Oh, and just to make sure the message is heard loud and clear, the ratings, which are now level with those of Peru, Colombia and Turkmenistan on the Beijing-based agency’s scale of creditworthiness, have also been put on a negative...

"When prosperity comes, do not use all of it." -- Confucius Is China about to do the United States a big favor, however unwittingly? According to Bloomberg, China is considering whether to slow, or even stop, purchases of U.S. Treasuries. At $3.14 trillion, China holds the world's largest foreign exchange reserves. It is also the largest underwriter of U.S. debt. Financial experts and political observers have long worried that becoming financially dependent on an unfriendly and rival nation is not good for the U.S. in the long term. In the short term, however, should Beijing choose to pull back its...

France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Wednesday urged Germany to plow more investments into major European projects and allow wages to rise, as part of Berlin’s contribution to boosting growth in Europe. “France has taken on its European responsibilities, in reducing its public spending and reforming its economy. We expect Germany to join the movement, by adopting more offensive wage policies and investing more,” he told Die Zeit weekly at a time when Chancellor Angela Merkel is battling to form a new coalition government. Le Maire’s call comes at a sensitive time for Merkel, as public spending is a...