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A nonpartisan audit of the results of the 2020 presidential race in Wisconsin found that the state’s voting machines correctly tabulated the votes cast in the crucial swing state, marking another dismissal of claims by former President Trump and his allies of widespread irregularities. The report released by the Legislative Audit Bureau did not find any important errors made by the machines. And while a slate of recommendations were made by the elections panel, lawmakers involved in the process said the review underscored the security of the November race.

New research is casting even more doubt on the legitimacy of bitcoin trading. An analysis published by Bitwise this week shows that 95 percent of bitcoin spot trading is faked by unregulated exchanges. The survey, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, echoes concerns by regulators that cryptocurrency markets are still ripe for manipulation. Bitwise, an asset manager in the process of trying to list the first-ever bitcoin exchange traded fund, said it met with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday to discuss its application. As a part of the process, it submitted analysis that could help regulators cut...

Debit cards are given to less fortunate families in Connecticut by state officials to help them purchase food, but Eyewitness News learned that some people were using the cards at strip clubs, casinos and tobacco shops. Sarah Tresselt of Meriden is enrolled in a program called EBT cards that allow cash withdrawals at any ATM. She said her state benefits are her lifeline. "I'm a single mom. I don't receive child support. It's just me and my son. You know, I work full-time," Tresselt said. "I don't make that much so the money that I get for food. I usually...

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in an October 1 speech that his U.S. central bank would copy Japanese economic policy to get the U.S. economy moving, despite the fact that the Japanese economy hasn't seen significant economic growth since the 1980s. In that speech before the Economic Club of Indiana, Bernanke said he would keep suppressing interest rates in the United States over the long-term and purchasing long-term debt instruments, just as Japan has done. Bernanke, referring to suppression of U.S. interest rates in the domestic economy since the “great recession” began, noted: Once at zero, the short-term interest...

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is giving lectures on the University Circuit attacking the proposal for the U.S. to return to a gold standard. In his contempt for honest money, Bernanke argued that government monopoly money is more valuable than gold! In his incredulous argument Bernanke said that the strength of a gold standard is its greatest weakness because if the money supply is determined by the supply of gold, it cannot be ‘adjusted’ (a.k.a. manipulated by the Fed and politicians) in response to changing economic conditions." That’s the whole point! Our founding fathers intentionally implicitly mandated that money had...

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is giving lectures on the University Circuit attacking the proposal for the U.S. to return to a gold standard. In his contempt for honest money, Bernanke argued that government monopoly money is more valuable than gold! In his incredulous argument Bernanke said that the strength of a gold standard is its greatest weakness because if the money supply is determined by the supply of gold, it cannot be ‘adjusted’ (a.k.a. manipulated by the Fed and politicians) in response to changing economic conditions." That’s the whole point! Our founding fathers intentionally implicitly mandated that money had...

So far, during the presidency of Barack Obama, the price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped 83 percent, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (AP Photo) During the same period, the price of ground beef has gone up 24 percent and price of bacon has gone up 22 percent. When Obama entered the White House in January 2009, the city average price for one gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $1.79, according to the BLS. (The figures are in nominal dollars: not adjusted for inflation.) Five months later in June, unleaded gasoline was $2.26 per gallon,...

Monopoly money is the root of all evil from the coin of the realm till today. Monopoly money is monopoly (tm) money.

Now that the elections are over, attention is turning to the economy. The stock market rose steadily from the end of August up to the elections. Since the stock market tends to be forward-looking, its recent strong and steady rise suggests that investors have been optimistic. In my opinion, two factors have generated that optimism: 1) The expectation that significant Republican gains in Congress would produce political gridlock, thereby putting the brakes on the Obama/Pelosi/Reid/progressive spending binge. 2) The Federal Reserve's promise of "QE2," a second round of "quantitative easing," the currently fashionable euphemism for creating mind-boggling sums of new...

What can we do as concerned citizens to help the dollar. We have to start somewhere?

The Federal Reserve launched a controversial new policy on Wednesday, committing to buy $600 billion more in government bonds by the middle of next year in an attempt to breathe new life into a struggling U.S. economy.

Story at link below. Bloomberg does not allow posts on FR.

The embattled US dollar is expected to come under scrutiny at a summit of developing and industrialized nations following China-led calls to review its role as a reserve currency. The dollar issue is bound to surface at the two-day meeting in Pittsburgh as US President Barack Obama and other leaders of the Group of 20 economies debate a new framework for tackling the so called global "economic imbalances" blamed for fuelling the latest financial crisis. "Though not clear how the plan would be enforced, it would involve measures such as the US cutting its deficits and saving more, China reducing...

The degree of intermediation by the Federal Reserve in the issuance of US Treasuries hit a record in Q2, accounting for just under 50% of all net UST issuance absorption. This is a startling number, as the Fed's $164 billion in Q2 Treasury purchases dwarfs the combined foreign/household UST purchases of $101 billion and $29 billion, respectively, over the same time period. In fact, the Fed was a greater factor in UST demand than all three traditional players combined: Foreigners, Households and Primary Dealers, which amounted to a $158 billion in net Q2 purchases. This dramatic imbalance puts a lot...

WASHINGTON — The White House plans to announce that the federal deficit is about $262 billion less than officials predicted earlier this year — partly because the administration has provided less aid than expected to Wall Street.

In concert with the claims I made in the prior Martenson Insider post, The Fed bought $7 billion in Treasuries today and even more yesterday. This is at the upper end of their recent range of already exceptional purchasing activity. If things are so rosy that every single dip is being bought in the stock market with a vengeance, I wonder why these printing operations are really necessary? This $14 billion plus buying activity by the Fed represents fresh money created out of this air that was exchanged for the sovereign debt of the US. However, since the Fed has,...

Al Gore’s campaign against global warming is shifting into high gear. Reporters and commentators follow his every move and bombard the public with notice of his activities and opinions. But while the mainstream media promote his ideas about the state of planet Earth, they are mostly silent about the dramatic impact his economic proposals would have on America. And journalists routinely ignore evidence that he may personally benefit from his programs. Would the romance fizzle if Gore’s followers realized how much their man stands to gain? Earlier this year Gore experienced a notable public relations debacle. The Tennessee Center for...

The Government Accountability Office today issued a report on the $787 billion stimulus bill called "RECOVERY ACT: As Initial Implementation Unfolds in States and Localities, Continued Attention to Accountability Issues Is Essential." The GAO study asserts that officials from most of the states surveyed "expressed concerns regarding the lack of Recovery Act funding provided for accountability and oversight. Due to fiscal constraints, many states reported significant declines in the number of oversight staff -- limiting their ability to ensure proper implementation and management of Recovery Act funds." Because the economic downturn has led to "fiscal constraints, many states reported...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. WASHINGTON -- Benjamin Franklin in orange. Andrew Jackson with purple hair. Those crinkly greenbacks tucked into your billfold aren't going punk, but they are headed for another makeover that may make them more colorful. Some paper bills might even sport a spot of 3-D. The addition of color and technology that looks like 3-D holograms are some of the ideas being floated as the government works on designing new bills to thwart high-tech counterfeiters. That's a continuing challenge in a world where large quantities of bogus notes can be produced easily...