Bitcoin's Mt Gox disappears, insolvency feared - (www.cnbc.com) The
price of virtual currency bitcoin slumped 20 percent on Tuesday morning as
one of its leading major exchanges, Mt.Gox, went offline amid fears that it is
on the verge of bankruptcy. Japan-based Mt.Gox's website was blank Tuesday
morning and trading on it had been halted. This latest development comes after
the exchange deleted all of its tweets from
its Twitter account on
Monday and its CEO Mark Karpeles resigned on Sunday from the board of the
Bitcoin Foundation. The company also announced last week that it had moved
offices due to "security problems." Mt.Gox is one of the biggest
bitcoin exchanges—online marketplaces where people can buy or sell bitcoins using different currencies. However, its
customers have been unable to withdraw their bitcoins and convert them into
U.S. dollars since the beginning of February. The exchange blamed the problem
on a critical loophole—known as "transaction malleability"—in the
cryptocurrency that it said leaves all exchanges open to hacking.
FBI called after anti-wealth graffiti rattles
rich - (www.cnbc.com) The
Occupy movement seems to have moved West. After a wave of anti-wealth protests
in San Francisco, the nearby, posh town of Athertond, Calif., is having its
brush with populism. The Atherton Police Department said it's investigating
graffiti that was spay-painted on vehicles, garage doors, fences and gates in
the town's Lindenwood neighborhood. Atherton is one of the richest towns in
California, with manicured lawns, sprawling mansions and billionaire residents
that have included Charles Schwab, Eric Schmidt and Meg Whitman. The Atherton Police said the vandalism
occurred early in the evening on Sunday, Feb. 16, and included
"anti-wealth" phrases like "F--- the 1 percent." The
graffiti may just be another case of a few kids making mischief, but because of
the heated political climate over wealth, and rising class tensions in San
Francisco, the police informed the FBI. The bureau commonly tracks activist
movements like Occupy Wall Street. Atherton Town Manager George Rodericks said
that because the language in the graffiti is "similar to the Occupy
folks," the town wanted to alert the FBI. "The nature of the graffiti
was the 1 percent issue," Rodericks said. "So they wanted to alert
the FBI."
Ukraine:
Russian Ships Carrying Soldiers Said To Be En Route To Sevastopol - (www.zerohedge.com) Those
tracking the developments in the Ukraine, and specifically the Russian response
to this weekend's coup, will be interested to note that according to the
Russian flot.com website,
the large landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov, previously known for its participation in the Syrian naval arms build up, is expected to arrive in the Crimean
port of Sevastopol carrying 200 armed soldiers, sent from the nearby Black Sea
town of Temryuk. Today at 12:00 from the Russian port of Temryuk should
arrive in Sevastopol, the large landing ship "Nikolai Fil'chenkov"
with 200 soldiers on board. This was reported today by the chairman of the
Ukraine "Freedom" faction Oleg Tyagnibok citing sources in the
Crimean. "I can show you the text message" - said Tyahnibok and read:
"Today at 12:00 is expected the arrival from the port of Temryuk in the
Russian Federation in the city of Sevastopol large landing ship Nikolai
Fil'chenkov from the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation. It will bring
about 200 armed soldiers from the 328th Marine battalion, who are based in
Temryuk and 10 BTR-80." He also noted that "on February 22-23, ...
IL-76 flights airlifted from Kubinka (Moscow region) to Anapa, personnel from
the 45th Airborne Special Forces unit and additional divisions were relocated
via four Il-76 flights from Pskov to Anapa. And from Sochi to Anapa were
transported six Mi-8 helicopsters"- said Tyahnibok.
Google
Buses Fuel Inequality Debate as Boom Inflates Rents: Tech - (www.bloomberg.com) Peter
Seto wakes up at 5:30 a.m., drinks a cup of coffee and makes the 18-minute
cross-town commute to San Francisco’s waterfront. There, he hops in the
driver’s seat of a 45-foot luxury coach outfitted with tinted windows, plush
seats, TVs and wireless Internet to chauffeur a bus full of programmers around
the Bay Area.
Seto, 60, is benefiting from the burgeoning technology industry as part of a
growing cadre of bus drivers chaperoning employees to Google Inc. (GOOG), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Facebook Inc. (FB) and other companies. Yet, his $50,000
annual pay is hardly luxurious in a city where software engineers just out of
college can expect more than twice that and are fueling a boom that has sent
median home prices skyrocketing
past $850,000. “It’s very difficult for some people,” Seto, who started driving
after his garment company closed, said in an interview between his morning and
afternoon shifts. “I’ve seen a lot of friends move out. They would rather buy a
house outside the city.”
Survey finds ugly truth about Americans'
savings - (www.cnbc.com) Stagnant
wages, and prolonged unemployment and underemployment have meant that many
Americans continue to struggle to save. Finding it difficult to build wealth
through homeownership has also impeded many individuals and families from
making progress in meeting their savings needs, according to a national survey
released Monday. The survey found that only about one-third of Americans say
they're making "good" or "excellent" savings progress,
while nearly two-thirds are making only "fair" or "no"
progress. The survey found the issue for many Americans, regardless of income
level, is the ability to spend less than they make and save the difference. "Only
about one-third of Americans are living within their means and think they are
prepared for the long-term financial future," said Stephen Brobeck,
executive director of the Consumer Federation of America, which commissioned
the survey along with the American Savings Education Council (ASEC) and the
Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).
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