In a Nutshell

What is Wikirating Wikirating is an online community credit rating platform. It provides transparent source of credit rating information, which is reviewed by a worldwide commnunity... [read more] Motivation and mission Over the last few years, banks, companies and countries have based their risk and credit estimations on overrated assessments provided by few major and well established rating agencies. Wikirating's mission is to be a real independent and transparent source for credit ratings... [read more] How does it work Everybody can participate, either anonymously (with restricted edit rights) or by creating an account. All information have to be strictly referenced by at least one reliable source, like at Wikipedia. As contrary to other wikis, Wikirating reward the community... [read more] How to help Beside active users in general, Wikirating needs volunteers who want to do more (Credit Rating Specialists, Software Architects, PHP developers, MediaWiki experts,...). Feel free to contact us directly if you are interested to take over more responsibility.

Protesters with painted faces look on after a march to Los Angeles City Hall during the "Occupy Los Angeles" demonstration in solidarity with the ongoing "Occupy Wall Street" protest in New York City on October 1, 2011

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.

[...]

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

I didn’t refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.

Bitcoins in Real Life
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In the next year you’ll hear about people in casinos in Vegas buying and sell bitcoins for cash and casino chips.

Imagine a bachelor party comes to Vegas and STNY (someone that’s not you) gives $550 to a guy at a bar and he takes out his laptop or tablet and ships 100 bitcoins to STNY’s phone. STNY then goes to Craigslist and ships some bitcoins to an escort and a drug dealer, who then show up in person to provide goods and services.

The Drug Underground and Bitcoin
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Last month folks were buzzing about an online drug marketplace called SilkRoadMarket, which was reportedly trading in, well, all kinds of drugs: marijuana, mushrooms, LSD, ecstasy and DMT.

Of course, since bitcoin transactions are untraceable, you would have zero recourse if you sent a dozen bitcoins to someone for a couple of tabs of LSD. Just like you might lose your $10 if you gave it to a kid in the school yard for a dime bag and he never came back.   

Let’s Make Some Predictions
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We are 100% certain that governments will start banning bitcoins in the next 12 to 18 months. Additionally, we’re certain bitcoins will soar in value and a crush of folks will flood the system and start using them.

Currently there are 6M coins at $6.70 each for a total economy of about $40M. Bitcoin speculation and hoarding will also cause a massive spike in bitcoin value. For example, if 10M people find out about bitcoins in the next year and want to buy $100 worth, $1B will be infused into the bitcoin economy.

Finally, there will be massive breakage in bitcoins. If your laptop crashes and you didn’t back up your bitcoins, well, you’re SOL. If someone steals you laptop that has 10,000 bitcoins on it you won on Bitcoin Poker, you’re SOL. Lost your USB drive with 500 bitcoins on it after a night out on the town? You’re SOL.

Sites like 99designs, eLance and oDesk will start accepting bitcoins for payment. If they don’t, they will face competition from folks who do.

Bottom line: The world is going to be turned over by bitcoins unless governments step in and ban them by prosecuting individuals.

This is about to get really interesting, everyone.

L’idée de Salomon Raydan a été d’utiliser cette capacité des communautés pauvres à réunir un capital pour créer des  «  banques communautaires ».  Chaque membre de la communauté investit la même somme pour constituer un capital. Ce capital est utilisé sous deux formes : investit dans des actions sans risque et prêté à ses membres. Les membres reçoivent les dividendes des actions et ont l’opportunité d’emprunter.

La première banque a été crée en 1998 avec douze femmes de l’île de Margarita au Vénézuela. Ce sont 140 banques communautaires qui ont été crées depuis. Elles regroupent 10 000 associés et font des prêts d’en moyenne 100 bolivars fuertes (30 euros au taux officiel). L’investissement minimal est le prix qu’aura à payer la banque pour acheter une action, soit dix bolivars fuertes (trois euros au taux officiel).

Et si les gens ne remboursent pas ? La banque est entièrement gérée par la communauté, qui est formée et assistée par la Fundefir, jusqu’à être laissée indépendante. C’est donc elle qui prend en charge le contrôle du bon remboursement des prêts. Les communautés étant de faible effectif, le lien social est fort et la pression du groupe suffit généralement pour assurer le remboursement. Les chiffres sont éloquents puisque les emprunteurs font défaut à 0,5%.

Le système de banque communautaire se différencie du micro-crédit par le fait que l'institution appartient à la communauté. A propos de Yunus, Raydan dit : "Yunus a fait un travail formidable, mais celui-ci a été dénaturé. Ce n'est pas le micro-crédit qui est un échec, mais sa bancarisation."

WikiLeaks vows to target banks

Posted Sat Dec 18, 2010 7:21am AEDT

• Related Story: WikiLeaks says major bank is its next target

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said his organisation had come under attack from banks as he vowed to release damaging leaks about them.

"We have been attacked, primarily not by government... although things are heating up now, but by banks, banks from Dubai, banks from Switzerland, banks from the US, banks from the UK, so yes of course we are continuing to release material about banks," he told CNBC television.

In an interview published last month by Forbes magazine, Mr Assange, who has released thousands of confidential diplomatic cables, claimed a fresh "megaleak" will target a major US bank "early next year".

Mr Assange said the bank leak would "give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume".

The controversial Australian said that he was ready to unleash tens of thousands of documents that could "take down a bank or two".

The main target is thought to be Bank of America, based on comments last year from Mr Assange.

Bonuses have been inflated by a poaching war as firms that have survived in good shape, such as Barclays, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, snaffle top talent. Typically, they are hiring rainmakers on one-year guaranteed deals, with the highest earners in line for between $1 million or $2 million, regardless of whether they generate any business.

This is a far cry from the boom years when the same people could expect to earn five times that but the packages will still be seen as excessive when banks are under pressure to scrap large bonuses. It's no different from Premiership football where those who score goals command the most. Those in the "Ronaldo" category, making recent moves include Basil Geoghegan, who left Goldman for Deutsche Bank, Jonathan Grundy, who joined Credit Suisse from Merrill Lynch, and Jim Renwick, whom Barclays Capital poached from UBS.

Not to be caught out, victims of these poaching raids are responding by handing out retention bonuses - one or two-year deals to hold onto staff. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is understood to have paid its corporate broking teams bonuses to stay, while UBS, Europe's biggest casualty of the credit crunch, is said to have also paid up to stop rivals nabbing its best people.

The idea that bonuses could disappear, as the authorities wish, is seen as a joke in the City. Regulators insist that pay reform is on the way, and last week the Financial Services Authority's three-month consultation over its pay recommendations closed. However, whatever the FSA says, the premium on star names will remain. In an industry reliant upon contacts and relationships, they are the banks' lifeblood. The banks will always find a way to attract and reward them. Bonuses have not only not been away, they are not going anywhere.