Infowars: France’s Socialist Government Moves to Impose Smartphone Tax
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
May 13, 2013
Tax targets Google, Apple, Amazon and other companies.
France’s recently elected socialist government has announced it plans to further stifle innovation and wealth creation by imposing a tax on smartphones and tablets.
The new tax will mirror a fee scheme imposed on French television and radio producers and internet service providers to fund art, cinema and music approved by the state.
The one percent tax targets Google, Apple, Amazon and other companies. The government of Francois Hollande estimates the taxation scheme will expropriate around 86 million euros per year. It plans to transfer the wealth to cultural industries producing French music and video content.
“Companies that make these tablets must, in a minor way, be made to contribute part of the revenue from their sales to help [French-only] creators,” Culture Minister Aurelie Filipetti told Reuters.
The scheme is part of France’s “cultural exception” – l’exception culturelle française – a protectionist policy designed to shelter French music and cinema industries from foreign competition. Previous legislation enacted in France has imposed mandatory quotas on non-French movies, books and music.
The move is certain to further stultify French culture. Critics argue that the country no longer produces notable artists such as the writer Jean-Paul Sartre or the singer Edith Piaf. This is due largely to the meddling of the state, which invariably throws its weight behind mediocre artists. Instead of fostering artistic independence and innovation, the French state is more interest in pursuing a leftist ideological agenda: Haute Autorité de Lutte contre les Discriminations et pour l’Egalité, or “high authority against discriminations and for equality.” In other words, a politically correct agenda focused on racism, homophobia, sexism, etc., and the expense of artistic creativity and innovation.
The French government plans to enlist leading figures in the cultural sector to push its latest redistribution of wealth plan, according to the Associated Press.
France also wants to exempt its cultural industries from free trade rules during upcoming talks between the European Union and the United States.
In 2012, the newly elected French government led by socialist Francois Hollande proposed a staggering 75% tax on the country’s wealthiest citizens. The move resulted in a number of wealthy people fleeing the country, including the actor the Gérard Depardieu. In December, France’s constitutional watchdog,Conseil Constitutionnel, ruled the new tax scheme unconstitutional.
Infowars: Is Facebook’s Smartphone Just a New Way to Collect Data About You?
Mark Guarino
Christian Science Monitor
April 5, 2013Using Facebook on your phone? Soon, the company will make it much easier, but, some say, at a steep cost to your privacy.
That’s the tradeoff as the social media giant announces on Thursday that it is launching a branded smartphone that will reportedly operate on software called Facebook Home. Unlike the current Facebook app that allows users to access the site, the new Facebook phone will further integrate the software into features such as text messaging, photo uploading, and more.
As more consumers transition their online habits from desktop computers to smartphones and tablets, advertisers are following. The phone allows Facebook to tap into the lucrative US mobile advertising market that is expected to be worth $7.29 billion by the end of 2013, according to eMarketer.
Infowars: 20 Signs That The U.S. Economy Is Heading For Big Trouble In The Months Ahead
Michael Snyder
Economic Collapse
Feb 21, 2013Is the U.S. economy about to experience a major downturn? Unfortunately, there are a whole bunch of signs that economic activity in the United States is really slowing down right now. Freight volumes and freight expenditures are way down, consumer confidence has declined sharply, major retail chains all over America are closing hundreds of stores, and the “sequester” threatens to give the American people their first significant opportunity to experience what “austerity” tastes like. Gas prices are going up rapidly, corporate insiders are dumping massive amounts of stock and there are high profile corporate bankruptcies in the news almost every single day now. In many ways, what we are going through right now feels very similar to 2008 before the crash happened. Back then the warning signs of economic trouble were very obvious, but our politicians and the mainstream media insisted that everything was just fine, and the stock market was very much detached from reality. When the stock market did finally catch up with reality, it happened very, very rapidly. Sadly, most people do not appear to have learned any lessons from the crisis of 2008. Americans continue to rack upstaggering amounts of debt, and Wall Street is more reckless than ever. As a society, we seem to have concluded that 2008 was just a temporary malfunction rather than an indication that our entire system was fundamentally flawed. In the end, we will pay a great price for our overconfidence and our recklessness.
So what will the rest of 2013 bring?
Hopefully the economy will remain stable for as long as possible, but right now things do not look particularly promising.
The following are 20 signs that the U.S. economy is heading for big trouble in the months ahead…
#1 Freight shipment volumes have hit their lowest level in two years, and freight expenditures have gone negative for the first time since the last recession.
#2 The average price of a gallon of gasoline has risen by more than 50 cents over the past two months. This is making things tougher on our economy, because nearly every form of economic activity involves moving people or goods around.
#3 Reader’s Digest, once one of the most popular magazines in the world, has filed for bankruptcy.
#4 Atlantic City’s newest casino, Revel, has just filed for bankruptcy. It had been hoped that Revel would help lead a turnaround for Atlantic City.
#5 A state-appointed review board has determined that there is “no satisfactory plan” to solve Detroit’s financial emergency, and many believe that bankruptcy is imminent. If Detroit does declare bankruptcy, it will be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
#6 David Gallagher, the CEO of Town Sports International, recently said that his company is struggling right now because consumers simply do not have as much disposable income anymore…
“As we moved into January membership trends were tracking to expectations in the first half of the month, but fell off track and did not meet our expectations in the second half of the month. We believe the driver of this was the rapid decline in consumer sentiment that has been reported and is connected to the reduction in net pay consumers earn given the changes in tax rates that went into effect in January.“
#7 According to the Conference Board, consumer confidence in the U.S. has hit its lowest level in more than a year.
#8 Sales of the Apple iPhone have been slower than projected, and as a result Chinese manufacturing giant FoxConn has instituted a hiring freeze. The following is from a CNET report that was posted on Wednesday…
The Financial Times noted that it was the first time since a 2009 downturn that the company opted to halt hiring in all of its facilities across the country. The publication talked to multiple recruiters.
The actions taken by Foxconn fuel the concern over the perceived weakened demand for the iPhone 5 and slumping sentiment around Apple in general, with production activity a leading indicator of interest in the product.
#9 In 2012, global cell phone sales posted their first decline since the end of the last recession.
#10 We appear to be in the midst of a “retail apocalypse“. It is being projected that Sears, J.C. Penney, Best Buy and RadioShack will also close hundreds of stores by the end of 2013.
#11 An internal memo authored by a Wal-Mart executive that was recently leaked to the press said that February sales were a “total disaster” and that the beginning of February was the “worst start to a month I have seen in my ~7 years with the company.”
#12 If Congress does not do anything and “sequestration” goes into effect on March 1st, the Pentagon says that approximately 800,000 civilian employees will be facing mandatory furloughs.
#13 Barack Obama is admitting that the “sequester” could have a crippling impact on the U.S. economy. The following is from a recentCNBC article…
Obama cautioned that if the $85 billion in immediate cuts — known as the sequester — occur, the full range of government would feel the effects. Among those he listed: furloughed FBI agents, reductions in spending for communities to pay police and fire personnel and teachers, and decreased ability to respond to threats around the world.
He said the consequences would be felt across the economy.
“People will lose their jobs,” he said. “The unemployment rate might tick up again.”
#14 If the “sequester” is allowed to go into effect, the CBO is projecting that it will cause U.S. GDP growth to go down by at least 0.6 percent and that it will “reduce job growth by 750,000 jobs“.
#15 According to a recent Gallup survey, 65 percent of all Americans believe that 2013 will be a year of “economic difficulty“, and 50 percent of all Americans believe that the “best days” of America are now in the past.
#16 U.S. GDP actually contracted at an annual rate of 0.1 percentduring the fourth quarter of 2012. This was the first GDP contraction that the official numbers have shown in more than three years.
#17 For the entire year of 2012, U.S. GDP growth was only about 1.5 percent. According to Art Cashin, every time GDP growth has fallen this low for an entire year, the U.S. economy has always ended up going into a recession.
#18 The global economy overall is really starting to slow down…
The world’s richest countries saw their economies contract for the first time in almost four years during the final three months of 2012, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said.
The Paris-based thinktank said gross domestic product across its 34 member states fell by 0.2% – breaking a period of rising activity stretching back to a 2.3% slump in output in the first quarter of 2009.
All the major economies of the OECD – the US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and the UK – have already reported falls in output at the end of 2012, with the thinktank noting that the steepest declines had been seen in the European Union, where GDP fell by 0.5%. Canada is the only member of the G7 currently on course to register an increase in national output.
#19 Corporate insiders are dumping enormous amounts of stockright now. Do they know something that we don’t?
#20 Even some of the biggest names on Wall Street are warning that we are heading for an economic collapse. For example, Seth Klarman, one of the most respected investors on Wall Street, said in his year-end letter that the collapse of the U.S. financial system could happen at any time…
“Investing today may well be harder than it has been at any time in our three decades of existence,” writes Seth Klarman in his year-end letter. The Fed’s “relentless interventions and manipulations” have left few purchase targets for Baupost, he laments. “(The) underpinnings of our economy and financial system are so precarious that the un-abating risks of collapse dwarf all other factors.”
So what do you think is going to happen to the U.S. economy in the months ahead?
Please feel free to express your opinion by leaving a comment below…
Should You Go to Jail for Unlocking Your Phone? (by ReasonTV)
Alex's Blog: Pentagon inks deal for smartphone tool that scans your face, eyes, thumbs
presstv.com
February 13, 2013In a few years, the soldier, marine or special operator out on patrol might be able to record the facial features or iris signature of a suspicious person all from his or her smartphone — and at a distance, too.
The Defense Department has awarded a $3 million research contract to California-based AOptix to examine its “Smart Mobile Identity” biometrics identification package, Danger Room has learned. At the end of two years of research to validate the concepts of what the company built, AOptix will provide the Defense Department with a hardware peripheral and software suite that turns a commercially available smartphone into a device that scans and transmits data from someone’s eyes, face, thumbs and voice.
“They’ve asked us, based on what they’ve seen of our product, to work on some more specific needs and requirements for DoD,” Chuck Yort, AOptix’s vice president for identity solutions, tells Danger Room. Data security for the system will be provided by partner CACI International, which shares in the $3 million contract, which will be officially announced Wednesday morning.
Currently, U.S. troops rely on a single-use device, known as the Handheld Interagency Identity Detection System (HIIDE), to scan, upload and transmit data from someone’s facial, eye or thumb features to its wartime biometrics databases. The HIIDE, shown below, looks a bit like the camera Hipstamatic uses for its logo, and troops who want to operate it need to bring it close to the faces and thumbs of the people they scan.
The hardware AOptix has developed isn’t itself a phone. It’s a peripheral that wraps around a phone to enable the additional sensing capabilities necessary to acquire the biometric data. AOptix was hesitant to describe the peripheral, but supposedly it won’t impact the phone’s form factor, and the company swears a smartphone bulked up with its sensing dongle will weigh under a pound. Unlike HIIDE, it’ll only take one hand to operate.
Outside of the add-on, the computational power of the smartphone is supposed to enable the software package that AOptix built — and displayed at a September conference in Tampa partially sponsored by the National Security Agency. The company won’t say what operating system Smart Mobile Identity it’s configured to run on, but the Defense Department tends to like the relative cheapness and open architecture of Android devices. Yort promises the software will have a “very intuitive interface that leverages smartphone conventions.”
Smart Mobile Identity has limited ability to record biometric data at a distance, but its specs outperform the HIIDE camera. It scans faces at up to two meters away, irises from one meter, and voice from within the typical distance from a phone. Thumbprints will still require a finger against the reinforced glass face of the phone. Joey Pritikin, another AOptix executive, says that an additional advantage of the system is its ability to capture an iris in bright sunlight, which is a challenge for HIIDE and other biometrics device. Apparently the system will also be able to snap an image of someone’s face or eye once the phone running the software focuses on it, without a specific click, swipe or press.
AOptix is also cagey about which part of the Defense Department inked the deal with the company. (Pentagon officials didn’t respond to requests for additional information.) But since AOptix and CACI are supposed to deliver Smart Mobile Identity after 24 months of research, its most likely application would be for special operations forces, who after the 2014 completion of the troop drawdown from Afghanistan will be doing the majority of patrolling in places where biometric ID collection on a mobile device will be relevant.
It’s worth noting that even though the military is backing away from foot patrols in warzones, it’s not backing away from biometric data acquisition — far from it. The U.S. Central Command has held on to the biometric database of three million people it compiled during the Iraq war. And Darpa-funded projects are already working on biometric identifier devices that can scan irises and even fingerprints from further distances than Smart Mobile Identity — to say nothing of next-gen biometrics projects that can scan thearea around your eye, your odor, and even the way you walk.
It’ll be a very long time before any of those detection systems can run on a phone, however. And even with the Defense Department’s budget crunch, the Army and now the Navy are showing interest in equipping their troops with smartphone and smartphone-like devices. Enabling them to scan someone’s physical features with the same device may not be a step too far.
(via infowarsdotcom)
At one of his seminars, a student asked Professor Mises, “Why aren’t all businessmen in favor of capitalism?” “That very question,” Mises answered, “is Marxist.” Mises’s response shocked me at the time. It took me some time to realize what he meant. The questioner assumed, as had Karl Marx, that businessmen had a special group or “class” interest in capitalism that other people didn’t.
—Bettina Bien Greaves. Part I Introduction to Economic Freedom and Interventionism
Debt
Debt is like a monkey who lives on your back and has a whip. A whip he hits you with, with out reason or rhyme. Causing a great deal of pain and stress.
Peter Schiff Responds to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews & Joan Walsh 06-04-12 (by PenguinProseMedia)
Matthews & Walsh claim spending hasn’t gone up under Obama, which a fifth grader could tell you is obviously not true. Schiff responds with a few facts, the non-existent currency on MSNBC.
Wisconsin, Walker and the Reshaping of American Politics (by stefbot)
Stefan Molyneux, host of Freedomain Radio, takes the helm of the Peter Schiff Radio Show for a special edition examining the recent reelection of Gov. Scott Walker to the state of Wisconsin, and what this means to Democrats and Republicans. Freedomain Radio is the largest and most popular philosophy show on the web - http://www.freedomainradio.com
Peter Schiff - ”The Seen & The Unseen” of Government Spending 06-04-12 (by PenguinProseMedia)
Schiff applies Bastiat’s brilliant essay on the “Seen and Unseen” impacts of government spending: for every government-created job there are countless unseen jobs which never come into existence because politicians have taken the necessary capital out of the private sector economy.
Michael Coren with Jessie Sansone: Arrested over a picture of a gun (by SDAMatt2a)
Four months after arresting and strip-searching a man because his four-year-old daughter drew a picture of him shooting monsters and bad guys, police in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., have apologized to the young family.
In their internal review of 26-year-old Jessie Sansone’s arrest, Waterloo Regional Police said they did everything right — except their method of search.
“The results of this review have determined that Waterloo Regional Police officers acted in accordance with the law by arresting Mr. Sansone and made every effort to preserve his dignity and the safety of this community,” said Chief Matt Torigian.
“However, the review also found that due to a miscommunication in the processing of Mr. Sansone, he was subjected to a Thorough Search instead of a less intrusive Frisk Search— an oversight which we regret.”
Torigan said he and Deputy Chief Thomlison met with, and personally apologized to, Sansone for the impact his arrest had on his family.
Sansone, however, said sorry’s not enough.
“I am a forgiving person, but this isn’t just about me. It’s not just my own family. This was a whole system that crashed down on us, and it was all because of a four-year-old’s drawing,” he said. “They could have just talked with me instead. This can’t be allowed to happen to my neighbour, to another family.”
In February, the father of four was met at his children’s school by police officers, who arrested him for possession of a firearm.
He was taken to the station in handcuffs and strip-searched while his home was searched and his pregnant wife was questioned. His children were picked up at the school by social workers and taken across town for questioning.
Cops stripped Sansone naked and had him lift his testicles so officers could see under them, turn around, and bend over.
All of this started when his daughter Nevaeh, in junior kindergarten, drew a picture of her dad shooting bad guys on a classroom white board.
The ensuing conversation between the teacher and the tot lead the teacher to believe there was a handgun within reach of the children at home.
The school called family services who, in turn, called police.
Police found nothing in the home other than an empty plastic gun sold at Canadian Tire for $16. The toy was meant to propel peppercorn-sized plastic beads — something the family never had in the house.
“Although not crucial at the time of the arrest, the Air Soft Pistol that was located has the capability to fire a projectile at approximately 180 feet per second and if pointed at someone may constitute a criminal offence and could most certainly cause injury if used carelessly,” reads the police report.
Neither the school nor family services have apologized. The school board maintained it had the children’s welfare in mind because school officials “co-parent” students.
The family is trying to retain a lawyer.
Sansone will speak with Michael Coren on Sun News Network on Thursday in his first TV interview since his arrest.
Reality Bites - A Look Behind the Dismal Economic Data (by SchiffReport)
The Schiff Report (6/1/2012)
Order my new book The Real Crash at www.tinyurl.com/RealCrash
Follow me on Twitter @SchiffRadio
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Bilderberg Wants Ron Paul Dead (by Federaljacktube4)
Inside sources have leaked the fact that the Bilderberg group would like to see Congressman Ron Paul dead, suggesting he could end up like Congressman Larry McDonald. His mysterious death by plane crash was noted, while McDonald himself served as prototype and iinspiration for Ron Paul’s political career.
BILDERBERG 2012: Jim Tucker Reveals Bilderberg Wants Ron Paul DEAD (by Federaljacktube4)
Jim Tucker explains what his source overheard inside the Westfield Marriot lobby on Thursday, the first day of Bilderberg 2012 meeting in Chantilly, VA.
THANKS TO http://www.youtube.com/user/Freedom1stFilms FOR THE VIDEO
Former Dem. Rep. Artur Davis: Obama Hasn’t Lived Up To 2008 Expectations (by RomneyComms)
