Jun 13 2009
Welker’s daily links 06/12/2009
Published by Jason Welker at 12:28 am under Daily Links
-
‘Japanese’ pair reportedly held with $134 billion in U.S. bonds | The Japan Times Online
Two Japanese were detained by Italian financial police last week after trying to enter Switzerland with $134 billion worth of undeclared U.S. bonds, mostly Treasury bonds, an Italian newspaper reported Wednesday.
The Japanese Consulate General in Milan acknowledged that two people had been detained, but it was still trying to confirm with Italian authorities their identities and whether they are Japanese nationals.
According to the report in il Giornale, two unidentified Japanese in their 50s concealed the bonds, including 249 U.S. Treasury bonds worth $500 million each, in a suitcase with a false bottom. The bonds were found June 3 during a search by Italian authorities in Chiasso, on the border with Switzerland about 50 km north of Milan.
The newspaper did not say on what grounds the two were detained, but they may have been held on suspicion of attempting to take a large amount of securities out of Italy without declaring them.
It said the Italian authorities were investigating whether the securities are genuine, given their huge value.
If the bonds are genuine, the two could be fined around 40 percent of their total value, it said.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
About the author: Jason Welker teaches International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement Economics at Zurich International School in Switzerland. In addition to publishing various online resources for economics students and teachers, Jason developed the online version of the Economics course for the IB and is has authored two Economics textbooks: Pearson Baccalaureate’s Economics for the IB Diploma and REA’s AP Macroeconomics Crash Course.
Jason is a native of the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and is a passionate adventurer, who considers himself a skier / mountain biker who teaches Economics in his free time. He and his wife keep a ski chalet in the mountains of Northern Idaho, which now that they live in the Swiss Alps gets far too little use. Read more posts by this author5 Responses to “Welker’s daily links 06/12/2009”
Probably good for the Japanese pair that the value of the US dollar is falling due to the supply of T-Bonds remaining at an all time high with a market full of sellers, but hardly any buyers. The plans to increase the money supply in the US will not help the value of the US dollar either. The amount of US debt is too high and continues to increase, accompanied with the fall in the value of the US dollar the only real option for the US is to stop borrowing money for the war in iraq and related issues such as the 2 millon dollars that was given to Pakistan recently for helping in the fight.
In relation to the fall in the US dollar, China is loosing money. The government bonds that were bought by China to increase profitsm of products being exported to the US. China bought government bonds to increase the value of the US dollar in relation to RMB which has been fixed by the Chnese government. As the US dollar floats, the purchase of bonds increase the value of the currency, and the electronic goods sold to the US and paid for in US dollars recieved more profit.
In a recession government's are supposed to have a surplus of money saved from taxes in order to increase government spending and increase demand in the economy, but in the case of the US, there are no surplusses and money is being spent in Iraq rather than domestically.
There is no way for the US to pay off the loan from China, which leaves one to speculate that the US will follow what Argentinia has done previously – only paying 30% of its government bonds. But for the US 30% seems optimistic at this point.
In conclusion, the longer the Japanese couple can delay sentancing, the less they will have to pay.
When I at first made a comment I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- Check box , right now every moment any comment is created I receive 3 e-mails that has typically the the exact same comment. Will there be any way you can pull out me from that system? Thanks!
5. Make confident to supply affordable bids and every day budgets. In no way set charges far more than you can afford to lose! Also, test your account a handful of times a day in order to manage your campaigns prior to it is as well late!
cheapest hotel in kuching sarawak
Welker’s daily links 06/12/2009 | Economics in Plain English
john lewis partnership jobs
Welker’s daily links 06/12/2009 | Economics in Plain English