Ripped From The Headlines, March 9, 2023
Visa & Mastercard Pause On Gun Sales Tracking, JP Morgan In The Epstein Crosshairs, America's Debt Apocalypse - #Read, #Share, & #Subscribe - SherlocExposes.com
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“Visa, Mastercard and Discover announced they will pause a plan to implement a new merchant category code for the nation’s gun retailers after political pressure from Republicans.
The measure that was designed help flag potential mass shooters and gun traffickers. In the wake of mass shootings, some financial companies, including Mastercard and Visa, have explored the possibility of tracking gun sales through their payment systems. Advocates say this would help track suspicious transactions of firearms and ammunition and could help flag potential mass shooters and gun traffickers.
The merchant category code (MCC) system would have separately categorized sales at gun and ammunition stores. Nearly every retail item has a merchant category code. Merchant codes track where a consumer used a credit card, but don’t flag what specific items were purchased.
But two dozen Republican attorneys general warned the credit card companies that month that they should not to go ahead with their plans.
In a letter to the CEOs of the card giants, the Republican officials said that adopting a new sales code for gun stores would harm the constitutional rights of gunowners and potentially violate consumer protection and antitrust laws.
Several state lawmakers proposed legislation that would prevent the companies from using the new code.
Under pressure, the companies backed down.
‘Today, there are bills advancing in several states related to the use of this new code,’ Mastercard said in a statement. ‘If passed, the result will be an inconsistency in how this ISO standard could be applied by merchants, issuers, acquirers and networks. It’s for that reason that we have decided to pause work on the implementation of the firearms-specific MCC.’
Visa said that there is ‘now significant confusion and legal uncertainty in the payments ecosystem, and the state actions disrupt the intent of global standards. Accordingly, Visa is pausing implementation of the MCC.’”
“A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) to hand over more documents concerning Chief Executive Jamie Dimon to the U.S. Virgin Islands for the territory's lawsuit accusing the bank of aiding in Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said the bank must turn over requested documents from 2015 to 2019, a period after JPMorgan had dropped Epstein as a client. Rakoff did not explain his reasoning in his one-sentence order.
The U.S. Virgin Islands is seeking damages from JPMorgan for allegedly aiding in Epstein's sex trafficking by keeping him as a client, and missing red flags about his misconduct on Little St. James, a private island he owned.
Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 2000 to 2013. He killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The U.S. Virgin Islands has called Dimon ‘a likely source of relevant and unique information’ about why JPMorgan kept Epstein on, and discussions on Epstein's referrals of prominent and wealthy potential clients.
JPMorgan countered by accusing the U.S. Virgin Islands of going on a ‘fishing expedition’ after having obtained a ‘massive trove’ of information in litigation in which the territory recovered more than $105 million from Epstein's estate.”
“Americans racked up a record $180.3 billion in additional credit card debt last year, as rampant inflation and dwindling savings rates forced many families to tap lines of credit, a new study finds.
US credit card users ended 2022 with $1.18 trillion in outstanding credit card debt, a 15% increase from the year before, according to a study by WalletHub released on Wednesday.
In the fourth quarter alone, credit card debt increased by $85.8 billion – the highest quarterly increase ever recorded – and the average household ended the year with $9,990 in credit card debt.
As the Federal Reserve raises its benchmark interest rate to fight inflation, credit card variable rates have risen in tandem, making the debt more costly to pay off.
If the Fed issues a larger 0.5-percentage point rate hike later this month as expected, it will cost credit card users $3.4 billion in addition interest payments over the next 12 months, according to another study for WalletHub.
'Workers have seen falling real wages for almost two years. Getting inflation under control will help stabilize ordinary families' purchasing power,' said Alexander William Salter, associate professor of economics at Texas Tech.”
Thursday Madness, Ripped From The Headlines. Things To Ponder:
“Get Your Hands Off My… Gun Purchases!”
Sound like great news, right?
Here’s what you need to be careful of…
Getting Complacent.
Don’t think that a battle like this one is just going to stop…
That’s what the other side of the argument is betting on.
And, now’s the time to keep your foot on the gas, to make sure your state Attorneys General and State Legislatures continue to do their jobs.
Your Future Depends On It.
“Nothing Wrong Happened at JP Morgan With Epstein… Except For The Stuff That Did…”
They always seem to think it will just go away, don’t they?
Except, it doesn’t.
We’re betting this judge wants to see the suspicious activities reports, or, if he already has some of them, he wants more of them…
Why?
Because they will prove that JP Morgan knew really bad things were happening, and didn’t do anything about it.
Yet, JP Morgan will deflect you to some other news, all the while Jamie Dimon knows where the bodies are buried…
These people are your enemy… you need to be aware of that.
Know. Your. Foe.
“Don’t Worry About That Debt… We’ll Just Bankrupt You And Not Pay It Back… Ever!”
They just keep doing the same thing to people over and over again… kind of like this:
It’s the banana in the tailpipe… over and over again…
And we keep falling for it…
Except now, they are out of musical chairs… and there’s no seat left for you… don’t believe us?
Take a look at this chart and think about where things will end up:
There’s no happy ending there…
You need to get prepared… quickly.
Things are about to get bumpy.
What does this mean?
Things continue to deteriorate at a more rapid pace economically. Every warning bell is ringing, but many aren’t listening.
Things are actually worse than you were thinking.
This is one of the big reasons we chose to do Ripped From The Headlines… so you can be out in front of what’s coming.
Note the perfect storm of issues, combined with ongoing infrastructure challenges, supply shortages, high prices, and “climate activism” looking to kill natural gas.
None of this is good.
Why should I care?
This stuff is accelerating, fast, and you stand to lose a lot, quickly.
We’re noticing a rapid spike in scams of all kinds. Be vigilant.
You should REALLY care.
They are after you... and everything you have.
What should I do?
Think about the basics that people need, and look at those things as potential avenues to protect yourself.
Do you know why Berkshire Hathaway’s stock is so expensive?
They touch 90% of your life every day, and you don’t even realize it.
You should also tell as many people as you can about what’s happening. Don’t leave people behind, while we still have a window to help them.
A quick way to do that: Share this newsletter… heck, take from it, and do your own. We give you permission…
Take the time to learn more about Parallel Economies, and find alternatives to the things you use today… food, money, and transportation.
GET MOVING ASAP.
James Wesley, Rawles, publisher of SurvivalBlog.com has put together a “bookshelf” list of key things you should have. CLICK HERE to access the list.
Plus a recap of the 50 things you should have handy to barter.
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