Islamic Finance

  The “fiscal cliff” is another hoax designed to shift the attention of policymakers, the media, and the attentive public, if any, from huge problems to small ones.    The fiscal cliff is automatic spending cuts and tax increases in order to reduce the deficit by an insignificant amount over ten years if Congress takes no action itself to cut …

  In what the New York Times declared as a “dark day for the rule of law” on December 11, 2012, HSBC, the world’s second largest bank, failed to be indicted for extensive criminal activities in laundering money to and from regimes under sanctions, Mexican drug cartels, and terrorist organizations (including al-Qaeda). While admitting culpability, and with guilt assured, state and federal authorities …

Gold: $750   Over the past 30 years now, I’ve used known economic and demographic trends to predict major economy and market shifts with uncanny accuracy. If you know my work – and that of my firm, HS Dent – you know we’ve helped a lot of investors save money and become wealthy by accurately forecasting major economic events over the years. We …

  Is HSBC's $1.9bn (£1.2bn) fine enormous or a drop in the ocean? Well, it's a record for the offence of money laundering and breaking sanctions, which could be said to underline the gravity of the bank's actions. On the other hand, the sum represents about four weeks' earnings given the bank's pre-tax profits of $21.9bn last year. The financial pain is …