Spain Levies Consumption Tax on Sunlight

By Mish: Proving that idiocy truly has no bounds, Spain issued a "royal decree" taxing sunlight gatherers. The state threatens fines as much as 30 million euros for those who illegally gather sunlight without paying a tax.
The tax is just enough to make sure that homeowners cannot gather and store solar energy cheaper than state-sponsored providers.
Via Mish-modified Google Translate from Energias Renovables, please consider Photovoltaic Sector, Stunned

The Secretary of State for Energy, Alberto Nadal, signed a draft royal decree in which consumption taxes are levied on those who want to start solar power systems on their rooftops. The tax, labeled a "backup toll" is high enough to ensure that it will be cheaper to keep buying energy from current providers.

Spain Privatizes the Sun

Via Google translate from El Pais, please consider Spain Privatizes The Sun

If you get caught collecting photons of sunlight for your own use, you can be fined as much as 30 million euros.

"It Can't Happen Here!"

Larken Rose: Here is my submission for the "Paul Revere" video contest being held by Alex Jones (www.infowars.com). Unlike most of my videos, this was a major production, and is a feature-length documentary. I've been working pretty much non-stop on it for a month, to get it finished by the deadline (today)--while neglecting almost everything else.

The Worldwide Surveillance And Privacy War (Which You Already Lost)

By Wolf Richter: For years, Congress tolerated or encouraged telephone and internet surveillance of Americans in the US by US government agencies. We all – and that includes the Chinese, for example – now know that, thanks to NSA leaker extraordinaire Edward Snowden. But on Wednesday, Congress was tricked into going on record.
The instigators were two unlikely bedfellows from Michigan, Rep. Justin Amash, a young Republican with a libertarian bent, and Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat who at 84 is the second longest-serving member of Congress. Their proposal would have restricted the NSA’s surveillance activities. And Congress voted 217 to 205 to give the NSA a free hand. Here is the roll call if you want to know how your rep stacked up in the battle over surveillance and privacy.  
It’s a worldwide phenomenon. The Snowden leaks have shown that European governments pursue it assiduously [my take... ‘Total Surveillance’ Officially Brushed Off In Germany]. And China’s internet surveillance and controls, among the most extensive and sophisticated in the world, are being pushed to the next level by the new Communist Party leadership, according to a report that Freedom House just released. It points out that “an extraordinary range of tools to contain critical conversations”

The Greatest Wealth Transfer in History Going on RIGHT NOW !!

Contango Down: Forget waiting for some unknown future time period to realize the rewards for investing in gold and silver...the greatest wealth transfer in human history is going on right now as we speak!

CRASH 2: BIG PLAYERS DECIDE – ‘ASSETS SECURED, SELL STOCKS’

Wiedemer…stock market plunge ‘a virtual certainty’

Why the big players know the stock market bubble is about to burst

The Slog: A quiet evacuation of the stock markets is taking place at the very top, opinion-leading end of stock markets around the world. They bought gold in its bull phase, and top-end property all last year. Now the élites are selling their investments in a global economy that’s heading for the buffers.

It is I think highly likely that, a year from now, George Osborne’s Help to Buy bribe is going to boomerang and hit him between the eyes. For just as the Election is about to kick off, a lot of young mugs are going to find themselves the proud owners of negative equity….in the context of rising interest rates and plummeting house prices. This is because, at the end of the day, one can manipulate everything except real consumer goods sales. Sales get audited within minutes, results have to be announced, exports can be measured, world trade totals aggregated, and trends drawn up. Not even a monster built from the important bits of Diamond, Dimon, Bernanke, Carney, Geithner, Draghi and Schäuble can disguise it.

Yanis Varoufakis on Saving Europe and SAC Sacked

theprimeinterest: It's official. SAC Capital is toast. That would be Stevie Cohen's hedge fund, which posted annual profits of over 20% and once had $15 billion under management. A grand jury indicted the firm alleging securities and wire fraud. And the hedge fund may have to disgorge hundreds of millions in profits. Notably, Mr. Cohen is not himself indicted. In fact, the Indictment doesn't even contain his name. He's simply referred to as the SAC Owner. So, SAC Owner, it looks like you've pulled a Corzine for now.

The Art of the Con: An Ex-Art Forger Tells All

Bloomberg: Genuine Fakes Owner John Myatt, who was involved in the greatest art forgery of the 20th century, according to Scotland Yard, tells us how he did it.

Bain’s tentacles reach into Education as G4S lies its way into the UK care home sector

Who are the bent Ministers lining up these Hobgoblins?

It fails again and again, but still gets the business. Why?

The Slog: As Bain’s tentacles reach into the Department for Education, The Slog asks what the basis is for choosing these privatisers, and what the rationale might be for continuing with an obviously failed philosophy.

I have been exposed to so much US corporate bollocks over the last three decades, I’m never surprised on coming across it again. It’s chiefly characterised by (1) protesting far too much and (b) being Orwellian in spouting the exact opposite of what the company is really about. Take the Bain website as a starter for ten (my Italics):

Bain’s commitment to enduring client results.
Our people are passionate about making a measurable impact.
True North: we are committed to doing the right thing—always.
I suppose you could say that Bain’s passionate commitment is out there on its sleeve like a Dayglo kestrel, but the three things they claim to ‘stand for’ are not what most objective commentators associate with the Bain Group. Their main commitment has always seemed to me to be to the fast buck, a lack of any emotion about anything except money, and a moral compass that broke years ago and never seemed worth fixing.

OMFG!! Wonga how the BBC, Cameron + Govt supports + protects + Neo-Feudalism.....Privatised Governance

The artist taxi driver

Our Country (USA) Is Run By Sicko Murderers

AJ: Wayne Madsen came to Austin for an exclusive interview on the current scandals, murders, and thievery that our current government is heading up. From Benghazi to Snowden and criminality In between Wayne covers a wide array of subjects. But There is hope if we speak out and get real with our situation.

The Truth About Detroit's Bankruptcy

Stefan Molyneux: Breaks down the truth about Detroit's recent bankruptcy including debt, unfunded pensions, health care liabilities, legalities, unemployment, income, poverty, tax burden, education, police, crime, white flight, racial divide, corruption, more bankruptcies coming, bailouts, and comparisons to the United States economy.

UK Death Rates Show 'Mystery Rise' 600 Per Week Higher

British Brainwashing Corporation: There has been an unexplained rise in the number of people dying in England and Wales, according to a report.

The document, seen by the Times newspaper and the Health Service Journal, reported 600 more people died each week last year than the average.
The increase was highest in the elderly, particularly those over 80.
Public Health England said death rates were currently in line with expectation.
About 10,000 people die a week normally, but last year's figures were about 5% higher than average.
The increase has not been explained although suggested contributory factors include flu, a levelling off of life expectancy, council cuts and rampant bankster inhumanity.