Jul

25

Alleged drug magnate arrested

Filed Under Utterly random | Leave a Comment

It’s just been proven, what we’ve suspected all along - dealing in drugs does bring in big money. Say what you will about the risks of getting gunned down by rivals, police swat teams, or even angry jilted ex-girlfriends, that doesn’t change the fact that the potential money is enormous.

Mexican Zhenli Ye Gon, aka Charley Ye, had amassed at least USD 207 million in his Mexico City mansion, alleged from drug-related activities. Two whole tons of USD 100 notes. A guy like that has no need of credit cards, or stock market accounts. Just to put things in perspective, that is probably more that you will ever earn in maybe 50 lifetimes. Well, the tax on that would probably be more that you would ever earn in your lifetime.

Arrested in Washington, Charley Ye now faces extradition to Mexico City, where the government is eager to sink its claws into Charley, for embarassing them last week, when he told the Mexican media that he would prove that his fortune was, in no small part, due to senior officials in the government.

Ye had apparently owned a pharmaceutical company in Mexico, the Unimed Pharm Chem de Mexico. He had also been fond of gambling, visiting Las Vegas numerous times, and incurring a debt of over USD 125 million at various casinos.

Jul

21

Senate approves Tobacco tax to fund child healthcare

Filed Under Political | Leave a Comment

The US Senate Finance Committee has approved, voting with an overwhelming majority of 17 to 4, in defiance of a threatened veto by President Bush, a bill to increase the tobacco tax significantly, in order to expand child healthcare. Morever, it appears that most of the Republicans on the Committee joined the Democrats, voting in favour of the bill.

The current legislation for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, SCHIP, expires at the end of September this year.

If passed by Congress, the new bill would entitle another 3.2 million children from low income families to receive state funded health insurance, bringing the total to 10 million children. Typically, these families can’t afford medical insurance and ironically don’t qualify for Medicaid because their earnings are just above the cut off point.

President Bush has stated that he is against the bill because it expands the government’s role in healthcare and is financed by a huge tax increase, and he instead favours a system of tax breaks to encourage uninsured people to take up private insurance.

The original proposal in the Senate Committee by the Democrats was for a 50 billion increase, the 35 billion approved by the Finance Committee was a compromise. However, some Democrats are adamant about pursuing the original 50 billion, and others realise that to do this may compromise support for the bill because many Republican Senators will find it difficult to support a bill that would spend significantly more what the Finance Committee approved.

The Senate panel voted to provide an additional 35 billion dollars to finance the expanded program, bringing the total spend to 60 billion over the next five years. President Bush’s counterproposed a 5 billion increase to continue the program without expansion, with a total spend of 30 billion over five years.

A New York Times report quoted Republican Senator Charles E Grassley of Iowa, co-author of the bill calling Bush’s plan “unrealistic” and he couldn’t see how only a 5 billion dollar increase in funding would allow SCHIP to continue doing what it has been doing.

The committee approved bill calls for a considerable rise in tobacco tax to pay for it. The tax on a standard pack of cigarettes would increase from the current 39 cents to a dollar. Cigars would face a bigger increase, with premium cigars facing an increase in tax from 5 cents being taxed at 10 dollars each.

Senators in favour of the bill said the tobacco tax would also discourage smoking, particularly among teenagers..

According to a report by Reuters, Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said the Senate would approve the bill later this month in defiance of Bush’s threat to veto it.

Jul

21

Shorting the US dollar - what pattern will it take ?

Filed Under Currency, Financial | Leave a Comment

Anyone who reads can tell you that the US dollar is on a bearish - downward - trend compared to most of the other major currencies. The Aussie dollar and NZ dollar are consequently bullish, or rising. The China renminbi is skyrocketing. Even the Japanese yen is holding very steady.

The obvious bet, when trading the US dollar, is to short-sell. Basically, sell high and buy back to cover when it drops in value, over time.

But it’s not a linear fall. The US dollar kinda bumps around, drops for a few days, makes a U-turn, comes back up, occasionally even rises for a while before falling again. As such, any investor short-selling the US dollar must be careful, and watch closely the patterns, to anticipate these bumps before they happen. Short-selling is very time sensitive, and if you do not have the resources to cover your trades if they turn sour, you could lose a whole pile of money, much more that you stand to gain.

Remember, currency rates are not like gravity. Those that rise, continue to rise. Those that fall, continue to fall.

Jul

13

Good Food, Bad Food

Filed Under Health | Leave a Comment

It’s true - research has shown that certain good foods, like salmon ( full of omega 3), fruits and vegetables, do increase the elasticity of your blood vessels, improving their ability to adapt to situations when the body needs increased cardiac output. And bad foods, especially fried and fatty foods, those rich in triglycerides and cholesterol, can do the reverse, cause the blood vessel to  stiffen, harden, and potentially cause calcium deposition and plaque buildup. And these effect can start hours after the meal is ingested.

So it’s proven - good food does improve your blood vessels.