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What can debt collectors do in the UK vs the US?

Debt Collectors in UK and US

If you’re being contacted by debt collectors, the first thing to know is, you’re not alone and there are lots of ways to deal with them. In this article, we’ll cover exactly what debt collectors can do in the UK vs the US, so that you’re fully informed of your rights against debt collectors, and know how to defend yourself against any court action they may take.

When a debt collection agency first contacts you about unpaid debts, you may not even recognise the name of their company, which can add to your feelings of stress and intimidation. It is likely that the original person or business you owe money to (your creditor) has hired this company to chase you for the debt, or even sold the debt to them. For example, you may have owed money to T-Mobile or Vodafone, but suddenly find yourself being chased by companies like Robinson Way in the UK or Encore Capital Group in the US, because these companies bought your debts from T-Mobile or Vodafone at a fraction of their original amount, and are pushing you to pay them in full.

Unfortunately, the debt collection business is booming in the UK and the US, and debt collectors often unfairly (and illegally) spread fear and misinformation about what they can do, in the hopes of pressuring you to pay up. However, once you are fully informed of your rights, you’ll see that there is a lot that debt collectors have to prove before they can take you to court (it is unlikely to even come to this if you start proper debt management solutions). Even if debt collectors win a case against you, there are still things you can do to avoid being liable for a debt you just can’t afford.

Let’s take a deep dive into what debt collectors can do in the UK vs the US.

What can debt collectors do in the UK vs the US?

In the UK, debt collectors can contact you asking for payments and eventually take you to court if you ignore them, but they cannot harass you, enter or take items from your home, contact you at work, send you to prison, or get you to pay a debt without evidence of your original credit agreement.

In the US, debt collectors can contact you asking you to make payments and eventually file a lawsuit against you if you ignore them, but they cannot abuse or intimidate you, take items from your home, tell your employer about your debt, send you to prison, or get you to pay a debt without proof that you owe it.

Let’s look at what steps debt collectors can take in the UK and US to recover money that is owed, and how you can best defend against their tactics.

What steps can debt collectors take in the US?

Struggling with debt that you can’t pay, and receiving threatening letters from debt collectors (even though they often don’t have as much power as they make out), can be a really upsetting experience. Take a breath – there are lots of things you can do, and you won’t be put in jail for being unable to pay your debts (except for child support, if you had the finances but chose not to pay). For starters, when you get a call from a collection agency, do not keep ignoring them. In some cases, if you try negotiating with the debt collection agency, chances are that they might even settle for a lower amount than what you owe.

Here, we’re going to go through exactly what steps debt collectors can take against you in the US, and what you can do to protect yourself from a lawsuit.

If you have debts that you haven’t paid (including old debts from years ago that you thought had been forgotten about), a debt collector may contact you with a lawsuit. You are likely to have been contacted several times with letters or phone calls before notice of a lawsuit, though. If you don’t recognise the name of the company contacting you with a lawsuit, this may be because they bought your unpaid debt off your former creditor, and are now chasing you for it. Debt collectors may even try to chase for ‘zombie debts’, which refer to debts which are cleared off your credit report or which you don’t need to pay because the statue of limitations has passed. It goes without saying that you shouldn’t pay a cent of these debts, as the debt collector won’t have a strong case in court.

Once a debt collection company has filed a lawsuit, the matter comes before a court and the judge will consider the case. If the debt collector can prove that you owe the debt, the judge may impose something called garnishment. This is when either a portion of your wages is taken to pay off the debt, or money is taken directly from your bank account.

However, the debt collection company has a lot to prove in court before this can happen. The good news is, the scales are tipped in your favour, because getting enough proof that you owe a debt can be difficult. Use this to your advantage and don’t ignore the lawsuit – this is a surefire way to lose it, and have to pay a debt you might not have to pay.

How do I respond to a debt lawsuit?

LawsuitLet’s look at how to respond to a debt lawsuit, and how you can protect yourself against a debt collection company in court.

Respond to the lawsuit with an ‘Answer’

  • You must make sure you respond to a debt lawsuit. It can be scary to receive a lawsuit, especially if you know you can’t pay the amount, but if you don’t answer it, the collection agency suing you will get a default judgement against you. This means that they can garnish your wages, and potentially take money from your bank account. They are likely to add court costs, lawyers fees and other charges too. Whereas, if you respond to the lawsuit and demand the collection agency prove your debt, they may have a much harder time getting a judgement against you. Don’t admit liability for the alleged debt, because the burden of proof is on the debt collection company to show that you actually owe the money you do.
  • To reply to a debt collection lawsuit, you need to respond through legal briefs called an Answer. You need to file the Answer with the Clerk of Court, and asked for a stamped copy of the Answer. You should send the stamped copy to the debt collection agency (called the ‘plaintiff’ in court, because they’re filing a case against you). In most debt collection lawsuits, you’ll have between 20 and 30 days to file your Answer.
  • There will be a section in the Answer where you can assert your affirmative defence. An affirmative defence is basically a reason that you don’t have to pay the debt (even if you owe it!). This could be the statute of Limitations, because if the time frame in which a debt collection agency is permitted to file a lawsuit has passed, the case will be dismissed. This could also include Failure to Name an Essential Party, as if the debt collection agency have failed to name the right party, or failed to include them in the lawsuit, they won’t have a case. Here is some useful advice on how to draft an answer to a debt collection lawsuit.

How you can challenge the lawsuit

Not only can you get out of a debt lawsuit, but you can even counter-sue the debt collection company! The lawsuit against you all depends on proof, and whether the debt collection agency can prove you owe the debt. Luckily for you, debt collection agencies may often find it hard to get hold of all the necessary paper work – particularly if your debt has been bought and sold several times.

Demand documentation of the debt

You have the right, according to federal and state laws, to demand what is called a debt verification (information about the debt). If the debt collector can’t produce this information, they are much less likely to win the lawsuit. In your request for debt verification, you should demand:

  • a description of the amount owed
  • details of the original creditor, including name and address
  • documentation of all paperwork, to show how a debt which may have changed hands many times – has been purchased from the original creditor.

If the debt collection agency can’t provide this documentation, the lawsuit may well be dismissed, so it’s definitely worth demanding a debt verification.

In fact, if your debt collection agency fails to provide a debt verification, they’re in violation of federal policies. You can bring this up as a strong defence in court, even if the judge doesn’t dismiss the case. If a debt collector doesn’t verify the debt, you can also counter-sue, and get up to $1,000 per lawsuit, plus attorney’s fees and court costs.

What steps can debt collectors can take in the UK?

We understand that struggling with debt is a uniquely painful experience, and that debt collection companies often make us feel intimidated and small. In this section of the blog, we’re going to show you how debt collectors often don’t have as much power as we think, and how, in some circumstances, you won’t end up having to pay the debt (yes, even if you owe it!)

If you continue to ignore people you owe money to (creditors or debt collection companies who have bought the debt off them), they won’t just go away. They may end up taking you to court and getting a County Court Judgement (CCJ) order against you, which demands that you repay the debt. This will arrive in the form of a letter, and will detail:

  • how much you owe
  • how to pay (in full or in instalments)
  • the deadline for paying
  • who you have to pay

A CCJ stays on your credit profile for six years, even if you pay it off within six years, so it will affect your ability to get credit and important loans such as mortgages. You should note that a CCJ is not a criminal judgement, and won’t go on a criminal record. You also can’t go to prison in the UK for being unable to pay your debts (with the exception of debts like council tax and child maintenance arrears, in certain circumstances).

After you receive a CCJ, your creditor can apply for you to pay your debts off in three different ways:

  • Attachment of Earnings
  • Charging Order
  • Bailiff action.

An Attachment of Earnings is an order which tells your employer to deduct money straight from your salary to pay off your debt. This money goes straight to the court. A Charging Order is an order which allows your creditor to secure your debts against, for example, your home. If you don’t keep up with the debt repayments, you could lose your home. When your creditor gets a charging order, they can often apply to the court to force you to sell your home to pay off your debts (‘order for sale’). A CCJ can also allow for bailiff action, where bailiffs may come and remove some of your valuable assets. However, bailiffs are not allowed to remove children’s belongings, household goods or tools or vehicles (usually under £1,500) that you need for work.

This is all a worst case scenario, however, and there are many, many steps and actions you can take to avoid a CCJ, or overturn one in motion.

How to defend against a CCJ

Before creditors and debt collectors can take you to court, they must follow certain protocols. Before any court action, you should get a Letter Before Claim with a Reply Form. If you don’t get these documents, your creditor can’t take you to court, so make sure you check this!

Financial notice

If you debt is covered by the Credit Consumer Act (CCA), you can ask to be sent a copy of your original credit agreement and a statement for your loans. If you creditor can’t produce a CCA, you can’t get a CCJ for the debt and you can even decide to stop paying the debt after a couple of months, as it is no longer enforceable.

However, it is important to know that the CCA doesn’t apply to all debts, and asking for a CCA generally only works if your debt has been sold to a debt collection company (debt purchaser). If your debt is still with the original creditor, you probably won’t be able to stop a CCJ this way.

If you receive a Letter Before Claim, the Reply Form that should come with it, will ask if you owe the money. There are four boxes:

  • Box A – I agree I owe the debt
  • Box B – I owe some of the debt, but not all of it
  • Box C – I don’t know whether I owe the debt
  • Box D – I dispute the debt

Although you may owe money, your creditor may not be able to win a legal defence against you, so it’s important that you don’t rush into ticking anything. Tick Box C if you’re not sure whether you owe the debt and may have a defence against it (see our section on defences below), ‘possible defences’. For example, if the debt collection company taking you to court cant produce the original credit agreement, they won’t have a case against you. Ticking Box C gives you time to request further information, and get together defences against a CCJ.

Potential defences against a CCJ

  • You never owed the money in the first place. Sometimes, debt collection agencies will chase people for debts just because they have a similar name or some family connection to the actual debtor. It goes without saying that you do not have to pay these debts.
  • The debt is already paid. Obviously, if you’ve already paid the debt, then the debt collector is mistaken in chasing you for it, and won’t have a case against you. Still respond using the Reply Form though, as you’ll need to provide proof that you’ve already paid the debt off.
  • The creditor doesn’t have the original credit agreement. As we mentioned above, if your debt is covered by the Credit Consumer Act (CCA) and your creditor can’t provide a copy of the original credit agreement, you can’t get a CCJ.
  • You couldn’t afford the original credit. This is a defence particularly relevant to Payday Loans. If you’ve taken out a loan and the creditor didn’t do proper checks to see if you could afford it, you can send an affordability complaint to the original lender, and if they ignore you, to the Financial Ombudsman. You can even ask for a payday loan refund.
  • The debt is old, and the creditor delayed court action for too long. If your debt is older than six years and your creditor hasn’t taken action before now, you may not have to pay it. This is called a ‘statute barred debt’. The debt will technically still exist, but you it can’t be legally recovered through court action.

Overturning a CCJ

There are official solutions in the UK to help people deal with unaffordable debt. These include:

  • Individual Voluntary Solutions (IVAs), which allow you to pay off a small percentage of the debt that you can afford and write off the rest after five years.
  • Debt Relief Orders (DROs), which are available if you have very few assets and less than £50 spare income, and write off your debt after 12 months
  • Bankruptcy, which is a legal status that lasts for a year and is a way of clearing debts you can’ afford. Your assets and excess income will be used to pay off your creditors, and at the end of the bankruptcy, your debts are written off.

IVAs will usually overturn a CCJ, unless you have a Charging Order against your valuable assets. With DROs and bankruptcy, the CCJ will still technically go ahead, but the CCJ can be included in your DRO or bankruptcy, meaning you won’t have to pay it, or face legal action.

What are debt collectors not allowed to do in the UK

Although debt collectors can come across as very intimidating, there is a long list of things they are barred from doing in the UK. All debt collection companies are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and if they break any of these rules, you can report them to the FCA.

If you’re being harassed by an illegal money lender (possibly known as a ‘loan shark’), you can report them confidentially via the following contact details:

  • Telephone: 0300 555 2222 (24-hour service)
  • Text a report to 07860 022 116
  • [email protected]
  • Report loan sharks via Stoploansharks.co.uk

Debt collectors in the UK are not allowed to:

1. Call you at work

Calling you at your place of employment, or contacting anyone at your workplace to tell them about your debts, is strictly against Office of Fair Trading (OFT) laws. The debt collectors who use this tactic want to embarrass you into paying up, and you should report them immediately.

2. Contact you on any social media platform

If debt collection companies contact you via any of your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.), you should report them and keep proof of the communication.

3. Contact you outside of 8am-9pm on working days, or at all on weekends and holidays

Debt collectors can only contact you within specific hours, and are not allowed to harass you repeatedly. If any of them contact you outside of these hours,

4. Reveal the details of your debt to family members or friends

Debt collectors are not allowed to reveal details of your debts to your family or friends. They may do this to put psychological pressure on you to pay. This is illegal and any debt collector who does this is in breach of both the laws established by the OFT, and privacy laws.

5. Add additional costs onto the debt that were not specified on the debt repayment contract.

Under UK debt collection regulations, debt collection agencies can only add 8% interest to an account. If any debt collector tries to add more than this to account, refuse to pay it.

6. Give false allegations or information, for example, pretending that they have legal powers which they do not possess.

Debt collectors may try to lie to you, although this is totally against FCA and OFT laws. Debt collection agencies have even falsified documents in the past to look like official court documents, or have told the debt collectors that they’ve already received a CCJ. Scrutinise any letters or contact you receive about court action for false information. In our section ‘How to defend against a CCJ’, we’ve detailed the proper documents you should receive before court action on your debt, so you’ll be able to tell when a debt collector might simply be lying about court action to make you pay now.

7. Operate in a way that is considered threatening or abusive

If a debt collector of bailiff physically or psychologically abuses or harasses you, they’re in breach of the law and you can call the police. Visit the Citizens Advice Bureau’s ‘harassment by creditors’ page for further support.

8. Send or threaten to send bailiffs to your house.

Debt collectors may threaten to send bailiffs to take away your possessions, in order to pressure you into paying up. They know that if they have to take you to court it is a lot more hassle for them, and some of them will (wrongly and illegally) take any measures to get you to pay now. However, debt collection companies cannot send, or threaten to send bailiffs to your house. Only the courts can do this if you get a CCJ, but there are many steps you can take to avoid and even overturn a CCJ when you’ve received one. Regardless, bailiffs are not allowed to take essential household goods, tools you need for work and children’s toys and belongings.

9. Enter your home without permission

Debt collectors are allowed to come to your door, but they don’t have the right to come in unless you give that permission. Even if they say they have the right to enter, this is not true.

What are debt collectors not allowed to do in the US?

If you’re feeling anxious because of debt collectors calling or writing you letters, you should remember that there is a long list of things that debt collectors are not allowed to do in the US. Debt collectors almost never have as much power as they make out, and there are steps you can take to deal with your debt and stop them contacting you for good. Debt collectors in the US are regulated by a federal law called the The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and are not allowed to:

1. Contact you before 8am and after 9pm, or at an unusual place

If debt collectors try to contact you at unsociable hours or at places they know are inconvenient to you, it’s because they want to pressure you into paying the debt. However FDCPA law forbids them from contacting you before 8am and after 9pm, and in unusual places. If they do this, you can report them to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

2. Tell your employer about your debt

While debt collectors are allowed to contact your employer to ask for your address or telephone number, they are not allowed to tell your employer that you owe a debt. If you’re not allowed to receive personal calls at work, tell the debt collector that. If they have this information, they are not allowed to call you at work.

3. Tell people, other than certain people, about your debt

A debt collector is only allowed to discuss debt with your spouse, your parents (if you’re a minor), your guardian, executor or administrator and your attorney, if you’re being represented about a debt. A debt collector is not allowed to tell anyone else about your debt, and you should report them to the CFPB if they do.

4. Contact you about your debt, if you’re being represented by an attorney.

If you’re being represented by an attorney about your debt, debt collectors are not allowed to contact you, and must usually contact your attorney.

5. Contact you, after you’ve told them in writing to stop contacting you

When you tell a debt collector in writing to stop contacting you, they are not allowed to contact you again except to notify you that they may take specific legal action, such as a lawsuit, against you. Telling a debt collector to stop contacting you won’t stop them from trying to extract the money from you in other legal ways.

6. Threaten, harass or intimidate you

If a debt collector verbally, physically or psychologically abuses you, they are in breach of the law. Report them to the CFPB immediately, and keep any evidence you can of harassment.

7. Deceive you or mislead you while trying to collect a debt

Although debt collectors may lie in order to try and intimate you into paying a debt (for example, threatening jail time when they have no power to do so), it is strictly against FDCPA to do so.

8. If they win a debt lawsuit against you, garnish your unemployment benefits, disability payments, and pension income

If a debt collection company does win a lawsuit against you, they are not allowed to garnish (take money from) federal benefits such as unemployment and socials security benefits, disability benefits and pension income. This doesn’t apply to child support and government debts, though.

9. Enter your home without your permission, and take property

Technically, debt collectors can come to your door and ring and knock, but they have no right to enter. They certainly don’t have the right to take property. If they claim any of these rights, they are lying and in breach of federal law.

What are debt collectors allowed to do in the UK?

While there are many things that it is illegal for debt collectors to do in the UK, they are still allowed to pursue you for late debt repayments, so it is important that seek free debt advice, with a charity such as StepChange or Christians Against Poverty. In the UK, debt collectors can:

  • Contact you about debt repayments, either by phone calls, letters or knocking on your door.
  • Sell your debt to other debt collection agencies, who will then pursue you for the debt
  • Take you to court, and get a CCJ against you

What are debt collectors allowed to do in the US?

While there is a long list of what debt collectors are not allowed to do in the US, they are still allowed to chase up on late debt payments and potentially sue you for a debt. Let’s look at what debt collectors can do in the US, so you are fully informed. Debt collectors can:

  • Contact you about debt repayments, either by phone calls, letters or knocking on your door.
  • Report unpaid debts to credit bureaus (this does significant damage to your credit score, and your ability to take out loans)
  • Sell your debt to other debt collection agencies, who will then pursue you for the debt
  • Sue you for payment on a debt.

You don’t have to deal with debt alone, however. If you’re being chased by creditors or debt management companies, make sure you get free debt advice from nonprofit agencies such as the National Foundation for Credit Counselling (NFCC).

How can you deal with debt collectors in the UK?

You can best deal with debt collectors in the UK by dealing with your debt. There are lots of methods for doing this, even if you cannot afford to repay the full debt. Once a debt collector knows you’ve taken action on your debt through various methods, they are less likely (or may be prohibited from) taking you to court over your debt. Even if you have already been taken to court, there are ways to reverse the effects of this. Let’s look at how you can deal with your debt in the UK

Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA)

An IVA s a government approved debt help scheme, which helps you if you’re struggling to repay your debts. An IVA is a legal agreement made between you and the people who you owe money to, and it is managed by an Insolvency Practitioner. An IVA allows you to pay back a small percentage of your total debt, and get the rest of it cleared. At the end of the IVA (which runs for 5-6 years), no matter how much money you have left to pay back, the debt is written off. You will make small, monthly payments towards your debt, based on what you can afford. IVA Advice offers free, online advice for dealing with your debt. If you already have a CCJ, entering into an IVA will overturn this.

Debt Management Plan (DMP)

A Debt Management Plan, either through a charity or a debt management company, allows you make reduced payments to creditors based on what you can afford, and usually freezes the interest on your debts. This means that you can focus on repaying your debts and seeing the figure go down, rather than dealing with spiking interest. Debt collectors are unlikely to keep chasing you if they know you have a repayment plan in place. You can also protect your valuable assets, such as your home or car, whereas if your debt goes to court, you may have to put these up as collateral to pay your debts.

Debt Relief Order (DRO)

A Debt Relief Order tops your creditors from contacting you by giving you legal protection against them, and writes off your debt after around 12 months. If you have a CCJ, it can be included in a DRO.

Bankruptcy

Going bankrupt is another way to deal with debt, but it has a very serious affect on your life and credit rating, and you should only consider doing it after you’ve taken free debt advice. Bankruptcy will clear your debt after around 12 months, although any assets you have may be sold off to pay your creditors.

How can you deal with debt collectors in the US?

Debt management plan with a nonprofit organisation

A Debt Management Plan allows you make reduced payments to creditors based on what you can afford, and usually freezes the interest on your debts. This means that you can focus on repaying your debts and seeing the figure go down, rather than dealing with spiking interest. You should be careful about seeking help from debt management firms though, as they may charge fees and will want to make a profit. You are better off seeking debt management help from a nonprofit debt charity like the NFCC.

Negotiating for a smaller payment

Debt collectors may well be open to negotiating for smaller payment, rather than going through the hassle of taking you to court. If they’ve already bought your defaulted debt at a less money from a creditor than it was originally worth, it won’t take much for them to make a profit. Start by offering them 10% of the original amount. Just make sure you don’t back down.

Be aware that you may have to pay taxes on whatever part of the debt is cancelled during the debt collection. This process is officially called a Cancellation of Debt, and you may have to fill in what’s called a Form 1099-C at the end of the year. You’ll have to report the cancelled amount as gross income in most situations.

If you accept a lawsuit, hiring a lawyer

If you end up accepting a lawsuit, your best bet is to hire an experienced debt lawyer to help argue your case. Most attorneys offer free initial consultations, and you may be able to get law help and legal aid from your state. Just make sure you evaluate whether the potential cost of hiring a lawyer is financially worth it (if your debt is very serious, you may be better off going bankrupt). A free legal consultation can help you decide this.

Fire a countersuit if the debt collector was in breach of FDCPA regulations

If a debt collection agency violated any of the FDCPA rules we highlighted above in our “what are debt collectors not allowed to do in the US” section, you may well have a case for a countersuit, and get paid for any damages they’ve incurred. Get free legal advice on this.

Bankruptcy

Going bankrupt is another way to deal with debt, but it has a very serious affect on your life and credit rating, and you should only consider doing it after you’ve taken free debt advice. Bankruptcy will clear your debt after around 12 months, although any assets you have may be sold off to pay your creditors.

There you have it. Our full rundown of debt collectors and what they can and cannot do in the UK and the US. We hope you’ve found it a helpful read and that, armed with full knowledge of your rights against debt collectors, you can start your journey into the debt-free life you deserve.

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What are CFD stocks and how do they work?

CFD Trading

Contract for difference (CFD) trading is when a contract is made between an investor and an investment bank. When this contract comes to an end, the parties involved will exchange the difference between the opening and closing prices of the chosen financial market. CFDs tend to be the most attractive to day traders, as they already use leverage to trade assets, particularly those that are more expensive to buy and sell.

CFDs are an advanced trading strategy that is best suited to more experienced traders, who prefer to trade in short-term stock movements. Another reason that trading in this way can be so attractive, is that you have the opportunity to benefit not only from rising prices, but also trading losses.

Read on to find out more.

What?

CFDs allow investors to trade in the form of the price movements of securities and derivatives – whether the stock’s worth will rise or fall over time. If a trader expects that a stock will move upwards in price, then they will opt to buy, whilst if they predict a decline, they will most likely sell.

If sold, the net difference between the purchase price and sale price will be brought together, before being settle though the investor brokerage account, therefore identifying the profit. Similarly, if you believe that a stock’s price is set to decline in the near future, you can go on to place an opening sell position, closed when you also purchase an offsetting trade. The net difference is then settled through that same brokerage account.

Unlike physical shares or currency pairs, you aren’t buying or selling an underlying asset with CFD trading. Instead, you’re buying and selling a number of units for a financial instrument. In a nutshell: for every stock that moves in your favour, you’ll gain multiples of the original CFD units that you’ve bought or sold, whereas, you’ll make a loss if the price moved against you.

How?

CFD trading is relatively easy to do, although it may sound daunting at first. To help you get to grips with the basics, here are five easy steps to get you started.

1. Choose a market

First, you need to decide which market you want to trade in. You can easily find a wide selection of trading options from online stock trading platforms such as Plus500 – if you’re unsure of where to invest.

2. Decide whether you want to buy or sell

If you think that a stock is going to increase in value then you will want to “buy”, whereas if you predict a fall, then you will want to “sell”.

3. Select your trade size

Choose how many CFD units that you want to trade. Keep in mind that one CFD unit is the equivalent to one physical share in equity trading.

4. Add a stop loss

A stop loss is always a good idea, as it ensures that your position is closed when the value reaches a certain price, should it move against your trade. This limits your losses, and acts as somewhat of a safety blanket.

5. Monitor and close your trade

Once you’ve chosen and placed your trade, you can monitor your profits and losses in real time on your preferred trading site.

It’s worth noting that buying or selling can also be referred to as “going long” or “going short”. There’s also no fixed contract size with CFD trading, with instantly tradable prices for the majority of deals. What’s more, you can trade at any time as there are no fixed expiry dates, as well as no Stamp Duty when you trade in the UK.

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How to Ensure You’re Safe When Riding a Motorcycle

Riding a Motorcycle

While some people prefer to drive fancy cars, some go for a motorcycle for various reasons. Apart from feeling good and cool, motorcycle riders feel a sense of freedom that allows them to connect with the world around them. A motorcycle ride can also make commuting easier and more fun. However, when you opt for a motorcycle rather than a car, make sure to prioritize your safety. This article tackles some of the most viable means on how to ensure your safety when riding a motorcycle.

Wear Appropriate Safety Gear

Helmet

One of the primary things that you need to do to ensure that you are safe when riding a motorcycle is to wear appropriate safety gear. A helmet is a fundamental safety gear that you should possess along with the purchase of your motorcycle. In most states and countries, it is illegal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet because this can just save your life in case you meet an accident on the road. At the very least, your helmet should be firm but comfortable to wear.

Gloves

Apart from a helmet, you should also wear gloves to protect your hands during a crash. Keep in mind that you will most likely use your hands to break a fall, with your palm hitting the ground first. Your gloves should completely cover your hands, ensuring that no skin is exposed.

Jacket

Whenever you ride, make it a habit to wear a jacket that can protect your limbs and torso in the event of an accident. However, it is crucial to go for a jacket that is specifically designed for motorcycle riding. Some of these are made from textile which is significantly cheaper, while others are made from leather which is more durable. Rest assured that either one is suitable for a motorcycle ride.

Follow Traffic Rules

Safety Course

Another thing that you need to do to ensure that you are safe when riding a motorcycle is to follow traffic rules religiously. In this case, it will prove to be beneficial if you take a safety course beforehand for you to get a good insight into the rules on the road when it comes to motorcycles. You can even refer to certain apps that can help you review the details of the course. Nevertheless, through this course, you will also have a good idea of the actions that you need to make should you encounter unpredictable riding situations.

Defensive Driving

Make sure that you use signals whenever you are turning or changing lanes for the other motorists on the road to be aware of your intentions. You should also adhere to the posted speed limits to reduce your risk of getting into a road accident. In parallel to this, you should also exert the effort to be visible to other drivers by avoiding blind spots or driving with your headlights on whenever necessary, even during the day, as long as the weather or road conditions call for it.

To be more visible on the road, there is also the option for you to wear reflective or bright clothing. You also need to be more observant and watch out for road hazards whenever you ride. For instance, sand or gravel can easily make you lose traction which is why you may need to slow down. You should also stay at a safe distance because tailgating will only increase the likelihood of you getting into an accident.

Get Insured

You should also get insured if you are a frequent motorcycle rider because this will help keep you safe and protected from unnecessary costs. Keep in mind that you will need motorbike insurance to ensure that your expenses will be covered for your medical treatments, as well as for the repair or replacement of your motorcycle. Apart from coverage on your medical bills and the damage to your bike, motorcycle insurance can also help you with the expenses that you can incur should you cause injury to others or damage to their property when you are riding. The key is in carefully reviewing and understanding the clause of your policy.

Motorcycle

Get Your Bike in Good Condition

Before You Ride

Finally, to ensure that you are safe when riding a motorcycle, you also need to exert extra effort to keep your bike in good condition. Before you go for a ride, check your tires for any cracks or bulges. Underneath your motorcycle, you should look for any signs of oil or gas leaks. Make sure that your headlight and taillights, as well as your signals, are all working properly too. Even the level of your hydraulic and coolant fluids should be checked regularly.

On Your Motorcycle

As soon as you have mounted on your motorcycle, check the clutch and throttle to make sure that they are working smoothly. Keep in mind that the throttle should snap back when it is released. You should also check your mirrors and adjust them accordingly to a sharp viewing. It is also vital to check your front and rear brakes, each one feeling firm, holding the motorcycle still when fully applied. Finally, you should also check the horn of your motorcycle to ensure that it is working.

Motorcycle Maintenance

To ensure that your motorcycle is in its best condition, you need to maintain it properly. In this case, you need to change the oil periodically to keep its engine running smoothly. You can check your motorcycle’s manual to find out when you should change the oil. You should also take the time to change the air filter to ensure that it is doing a good job in keeping the debris out of your engine. Additionally, you also need to maintain your motorcycle’s tire pressure and tread.

When riding a motorcycle, make sure that you are wearing your appropriate safety gear, and you follow traffic rules religiously. Alongside this, it is also a good idea to get insured to have the means to get by in case you encounter road mishaps when you ride. Also, exert the extra effort to get your bike in mint condition always before you ride. All these are geared towards ensuring that you are safe when riding your motorcycle.

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Why Teaching Your Children How To Code Will Help Set Them Up When They Grow Up

Teaching Children

Today’s world is greatly dominated by technology and the digital world. Life can be difficult for digitally illiterate individuals. We must learn as much we can about the online world and computing. If you are ever around children and technology, you may have realized that they are quick learners when it comes to technological devices and they are the ones teaching the older generations.

You must allow and incentivize your children to learn different aspects of using and working with computers, rather than merely playing games. Coding is a good example of something that you can teach your children, which will greatly support them academically as well as give them essential skills they can use in their future. Coding essentially is the language computers use, and those that know coding can instruct the machine to perform specific tasks, to create software, websites, apps, and video games.

In this article, we will discuss why teaching your children how to code will help set them up when they grow up.

Programming Helps Children Learn to Problem-Solve

One of the main reasons to start teaching your children coding for kids is because this helps them to find solutions to problems. Often we teach children by giving them the information they will need to remember – in these cases, not much is learned but memorized. Learning how to solve problems, which coding helps with, will support the children’s development of problem-solving skills. This is not only a great skill for them to have on their cv, it is also a great skill to have in their daily life as they grow into adults. It is recommended you read expert parenting blogs to improve your ways of teaching and motivating your children, particularly if they are currently homeschooled.

Computer Programming Gives Kids a Challenge and Helps Them Develop Resilience

As you can imagine, coding is a difficult subject to learn – considering this complexity, it will give children a good challenge to develop their brains. Children are much significantly better at absorbing information as they are young than an older person, therefore they will learn from a young age to face challenges and work to solve them. Facing difficulties and potential failure will also build resilience, which is essential so that they understand they can overcome barriers when faced with adversity. Again, as discussed above, such skills are crucial in all aspects of life, not only when applying for jobs.

Coding Teaches Children How to Think

It is widespread to hear parents or adults complain that children spend too much time on technological devices, and this is ‘no good for their brains.’ However, this could not be farther from the truth. Computers can provide a great source of exercise for the brain when used appropriately. Evidently, playing games on the computer all day will not be fruitful or beneficial for any young brain – learning to code is much different. This involves mathematics, ensuring the brain is constantly activating when this is being performed. Coding requires children to think hard and overcome difficult challenges. Individuals who are not required to think or face challenges often become lazy and always look for the easy option in every aspect of their life. Coding provides young people with the ability to break big problems into smaller ones in order to solve them. These are amazing skills that will greatly benefit them throughout their life.

Coding Helps Children Learn How to Have Fun With Maths

Coding provides children a way to learn maths, which most people do not enjoy learning at school as well as data analysis. However, coding can be seen as fun to them. If your child is ever struggling at school learning mathematics, it may be a good idea to introduce them to coding. The experts behind the KidSmart App suggest using apps developed by experts is a good way to get your children ready to learn coding as well as to teach them effectively. Children are more likely to be motivated to learn when using apps as it may feel more like a game to them.

A Child Expands Their Creativity When They Learn How to Code

Coding is a great subject to teach your children as it enables them to experiment with the program, thus building the confidence to be creative. Although it can be somewhat difficult for us grown-ups to learn, young people will more likely find this easier, building their confidence. Additionally, they can create something of their own, which will also give them a sense of self-pride. Children are well motivated through receiving positive feedback and seeing positive results, therefore doing this will motivate them to continue trying and to continue experimenting and creating better things.

Computer Programming is The Future

As we mentioned previously, as the world develops, it is clear that technology will continue to dominate many aspects of life as well as different sectors and industries. Coding is therefore a great skill to have. The younger children are when they start learning how to code, the more familiar and better at it they will become, so when they grow up, their coding skills and knowledge will be impeccable. A number of different businesses will require individuals with these skills, giving your child a head start when it comes to the employment world, even if they do not specifically decide to get a job within the technology sector.

There is a Lack of Skills in The Software Industry

For the reasons discussed above, individuals with coding skills are highly sought by different businesses. Considering the challenges associated with computer programming and the fact that it is not a subject taught in school, not many people end up choosing this area of work unless they are born with a passion and interest in it. This creates a high demand for computer programs within the employment world. If your child learns coding from a young age, they can have a chance at securing one of these positions, which are highly paid.

Computer Skills

There are many different benefits to learning how to code, which is why you should start teaching your children how to do this as soon as you can. This will significantly help them, not only academically or with employability, but also to develop essential skills as positive human beings of the community. 

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Follow These Strategies To Ace Online Gaming Like A Pro In 2021

Online Gaming

Even as the New Year is here, online gaming continues to surge in popularity because people are still at home and want indoor entertainment. The virus is yet at large, so staying home is the best way to be safe. Thankfully, the internet offers a lot on the entertainment front that also keeps you busy and helps you make money. Right now, you will only want to get better and win more with your favorite online games. Just follow these strategies, and you can ace them like a pro in 2021.

Select the right game

You may have tried your hand at lots of options through 2020 and will probably know what works for you. It is time to stick to the ones you know well, though you can still experiment and find more. But everything boils down to finding a game that you understand inside out, from its rules to the probability of winning. Focus on these and play others only for entertainment.

Set a budget

Online gaming sets your adrenaline rushing, even if you are a seasoned gamer. But it makes sense to set a budget and stick to it throughout your gameplay. It is easy for newbies to forget the credit limit because you may want to cover the losses, but it only increases your risk. Budgeting keeps losses in check and ensures that you never cross the limits. You can take a smart approach by planning daily, weekly and monthly budgets.

Stay a step ahead of the game

The worst error you can make with online gaming is being overconfident and having a know-it-all approach. Although online gambling is pretty much the same regardless of the game you pick, go the extra mile to understand it. There are variations between the individual slots, which you must study carefully before playing for cash. It will keep you on the safe side.

Do not believe in tricks

Even as fellow gamers may have lots of tricks they swear by, never believe in them. Modern computer slots are smarter than you imagine, and you cannot expect to win cash by tricking them. You may apply probability, but it isn’t possible to predict the outcomes. Smart players may possibly notice programming errors and use them to their advantage, but the chances of such errors are practically negligible.

Practice makes you better

After a full year of online gaming behind you, it is easy to think that you are already a pro. But there is still much scope for improvement, and practice will make you better. While you may want to play for cash most times, dedicate efforts to getting better at your favorite games with some serious practice. You will notice the difference as you polish your skills and become sharper with this extra effort.

Online gaming will only get bigger and better in 2021, and there will be more opportunities to make big money. But the only way to achieve your goals is by staying a step ahead and making efforts to play like a pro. These strategies will definitely help!

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Large majority of Americans still in favor of capitalism

By Rainer Zitelmann

Time and time again, anti-capitalists such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez grab the headlines. But according to a recent survey, a clear majority of Americans still believe in the power of capitalism.

Is anti-capitalist sentiment on the rise in the United States, too? A number of polls in recent years have certainly suggested that this is the case. Among younger Americans in particular, it has been claimed that the term “socialism” now has more positive association than the term “capitalism.” A new poll by the American Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports in December 2020 has come to a different conclusion.

When asked, “Which is better – a free-market economic system or socialism?,” 75 percent of respondents chose the free-market option while just 11 percent preferred socialism and 14 percent were not sure. There is, however, one caveat to the poll’s findings. Like numerous other surveys in the United States, pollsters posed their questions to “likely voters” – those Americans who, according to the polling institute’s analyses are likely to vote – rather than to a random sample of the population as a whole. Had the survey also including non-voters, it is quite likely that the figures would vary. Nevertheless, the results are so clear that the overall trend would certainly not change.

Interestingly, there are no significant variations between male and female likely voters. Respondents with and without college degrees also provide almost identical answers to the poll’s questions and low-earners (less than $50,000 p.a.) are no more in favor of socialism than respondents earning more than $100,000 p.a. When the poll’s data are analyzed in terms of race, more than 70 percent of white, Black and Hispanic respondents expressed a preference for a free-market economic system. There is, however, one difference: Black likely voters are twice as likely to favor socialism (17 percent) than Hispanic likely voters (8 percent).

The largest variation was between younger Americans (18-39) and older Americans (65+). In fact, support for socialism is three times higher among young voters (18 percent) than among older voters (6 percent).

Among Democrats, support for a free-market economic system (57 percent) clearly outweighs support for socialism (19 percent). The difference is even more pronounced within the ranks of Republican likely voters: 91 percent are in favor of a free market economic system and only a tiny minority (4 percent) expressed any sympathy for socialism.

The findings of the American Heartland Institute/Rasmussen Reports poll correspond to a survey conducted for the The Rich in Public Opinion study, which confirmed that negative attitudes toward rich people are less pronounced in the United States than in European countries (with the exception of Great Britain, where attitudes are similar to the United States). The study calculated a Social Envy Coefficient to depict the levels of social envy in each of the surveyed countries. Levels of envy were highest in France and Germany (coefficients of 1.26 and 0.97, respectively), followed by Italy at 0.62. Social envy is far less pronounced in the United States (0.42) and Great Britain (0.37). The survey for The Rich in Public Opinion also confirmed the significant variations between younger and older Americans. The Social Envy Coefficient for Americans under the age of 30, for instance, was considerably higher at 0.56 than for Americans over the age of 60 (0.28). In the European countries surveyed, the exact opposite was true and it was younger respondents who are more positively disposed toward the rich than their older compatriots.

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About the Author

Rainer Zitelmann

Rainer Zitelmann is the author of “The Rich in Public Opinion” https://therichinpublicopinion.com/ and “The Power of Capitalism” https://the-power-of-capitalism.com/.

 

The Best Free Backlink Checkers Tools Online

Backlinks

Obtaining quality backlinks at your website is an ideal way to boost your page rankings and grab more visibility in search engine results. Well, the most preferable and popular way to get satisfactory backlinks is to dig into your competition and catch sight of where your competitors are obtaining their links. Presently, you can effortlessly locate backlinks by utilizing the multiple online tools accessible on the web.

There exist both paid and free choices to support you in the world of competition. But, here we’re going to discuss the top 5 free backlink checker tools. 

If you truly wish to lead ahead of your rivalry and want to attain success, just geared-up yourself because we are getting into the flow of knowledge!

What is the Importance of Backlinks?

Before knowing about tools, it is recommended to be clear on the importance of backlinks! In simple words, Backlinks is a meaningful ingredient of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as it helps boost the organic traffic of a particular website. Well, generally, backlinks are the links from outer sites referring to your webpages.

They are the main stuff for ranking higher in Search Engine Result Pages (SERP); that’s the reason successful websites pay attention to generating high-quality backlinks. And in short, they are significant for verifying to Google the energy, quality, and originality of your content.

Suppose you’re a newbie and wish to boost your domain authority. In that case, you need to stay focused on producing quality backlinks. Now, it’s time to talk about the best backlink checker tools!

5 Cost-Free Backlink Checkers Compared best for 2021

After lengthy research, we have gathered the most reliable tools in one spot! Just scroll a little down and look at the list and analysis!

SearchEngineReports — Backlinks Checker

This is a 100% free backlink checker that provides detailed data about who is linking to your opponents, how well content is performing as an outcome of those links, and what pages are circulated most frequently. The best thing about this backlink counter is it specifies alternatives for links and discovers the types of content that can fascinate the most links.

Suppose you need a platform that can enable you to build normal and applicable backlinks. In that case, we will suggest you Backlink Checker by SearchEngineReports. This amazing online utility service can create productive and relevant backlinks for you within a minute. This place is totally free of charge and extremely straightforward to operate. You can build numerous free backlinks and can also check the materialistic details by just clicking on CHECK MY BACKLINKS button!

Moz

So, here enters the master of backlink checker tools! This is the oldest and most powerful open Site Explorer that is supposed to be the promising tool accessible for backlink calculation. It provides you the number of links for a website. The complete data includes the newest links, page authority, the spam record, and DA (domain authority).

Free scans only bring you so much knowledge. The paid searches allow you to operate endless reports, trace links over a period, and much more.

SEM RUSH

Here comes another popular tool that is currently standing third in the top list! SEMRush offers you a ton of valuable details about any URL that you provide. The information that you can fetch includes the backlinks referring to the site and backlink building. You can trace numerous competitor websites and obtain detailed data about the links. You will need to get registered for a premium (paid) account for this intention. However, It’s working methods are quite good, and the features it offers are 100% handy. This place also gives you safe and limited searches for free.

Rank Signals

This backlink checker helps the way many different checkers do, just by putting in a URL and instantly obtaining a link profile. However, the data required is much more comprehensive, involving analyses of links by date, traffic, context, areas, and further. You can similarly operate this tool to examine what links must be eliminated to boost your page status. Well, there exist multiple filters to assist you in constructing the data the kind you wish.

Buzz Sumo

This place is built mainly to keep an eye on rivals. It provides you data like the total amount of links, the page rank, the anchor text utilized, and more. If we talk about its credibility, then one thing must be clear: it is a high-level performer that never compromises quality. Also, being a free tool, it doesn’t let you down in any condition.

Besides, you can easily access this tool from anywhere, at any time. No matter which device or browser you are using!

Sitechecker

One of the features of the Sitechecker SEO platform is the Backlink Checker. Using this tool, you can analyze the backlinks profile of your site and find all the backlinks and their anchors. You will also find out the ratio of dofollow and nofollow links and the best pages on your site by backlinks.

This tool is also great for analyzing your competitors’ backlinks.

Mind it! Backlinks are just like building, a bridge to the path of success! Luckily, you can use online tools for this purpose. So, Cash this time now!

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DeFi Token Trends 2021

DeFi Tokens

First, there is Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, created by an unknown person or group of persons that goes by the name Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin was created as a reward for a process known as mining. Eventually, other cryptocurrencies follow suit, like Namecoin and Litecoin. Then someone thought of recording all the transactions digitally in a ledger, publicly, thus, paving the way for Blockchain existence. 

What is DeFi? It stands for Decentralized Finance. DeFi has long been existing with Bitcoin, it only became popular when it was built on the Ethereum Blockchain.

In opposition to traditional finance, DeFi is a system of financing where digital banking services are made minus the middleman. All transactions are made publicly without any permission to any entity or authority.

When it comes to DeFi tokens, these are financial applications running on blockchains which mirror concepts successfully used in traditional banking and finance, such as stocks. There are many kinds of DeFi tokens but we will discuss a few tokens which have shown a great potential to trend in 2021.

Trending tokens

SNX token

SNX which is from the Synthetix network. A derivatives and a decentralized exchange that is built on Ethereum which you can trade a bunch of derivatives. 

This will be a huge token in 2021 because this derivative is actively traded as of now. But, I believe this area is going to become bigger in the future because, at present, the biggest market.in trading is the derivative market. It has a one quadrillion valuation in its market cap. So, the overall market cap for the derivative market is estimated to be around 1 quadrillion dollars. If just a fraction of that were to be traded on the Synthetix exchange, this Synthetix token will be worth a lot of money because you need the Synthetix token in order to mint these Synthetix derivatives.

Synthetix has a ton of different assets and they plan to add more in the future. They also have a second exchange called quenta and this is used to trade different assets that are not unique to Ethereum. This is for trading forex, traditional equities, different commodities and various cryptocurrencies that are not native to the network. 

Synthetix has great potential in 2021 because of what we just mentioned but because it’s been up 500% for just this year and still climbing.

Aave token

A token for lending and borrowing, used to be called Lend. They did a migration from Lend token to the Aave token, moving it from a hundred Lend to one Aave and that really increased the price of it from that migration. This token had quite a surge as of recent but, we are still bullish on it nonetheless. 

They are a competition to Compound, Maker and all borrowing and lending platforms but they stay innovative and they release with new iterations constantly. The team behind them has been putting out updates on a regular basis. If you’re going to be borrowing and lending, we recommend, the best choices would be Aave.

Ren token

This is a token for collateralizing positions onto other chains. This is a cross chain bridge which does it in a trustless way in a decentralized manner. There is a big increase of Bitcoin onto Ethereum and one of the best ways to do that is to use the Ren token via the Ren Bridge. 

So, if you go to the Ren website it shows that this bridge is not only made for Bitcoin but, for other cryptocurrencies, as well. This is an agnostic chain bridge to go to Ethereum or other chains.

Nexus Mutual token

This token has increased recently but it is still undervalued because the insurance market in DeFi is underserved. There is very little insurance to go around for all of these smart contracts.

In so doing, this will accrue more value over time as more smart contacts become insured versus having no insurance.

Owning the Nexus Mutual token can get a yield on it by supplying it for any of these protocols supplying insurance for. 

Balancer token

This is a great protocol for decentralized exchanges. What makes this one unique is that it’s not like the uniswap protocol wherein you can only add two tokens. This protocol is a multi-asset token pool where you can deposit multiple tokens in the pool. You are not restricted to only two tokens; you can add as many as eight tokens into the Balancer pools and you can supply just one of those tokens if you like. This one is an improvement or provides a different market fit for the decentralized exchanges. I’m very positive on Balancer that it will perform as expected because it provides many use cases, besides the decentralized exchange volume has been increasing. Balancer will be one of these pools that increases with it as well because Balancer is unique in how they provide liquidity to the pools.

Final thoughts

Every one of these tokens mentioned above has the most positive trend of all the various DeFi tokens in the market. Uniswap and Curve may be bullish but you have to add only one asset or two assets unlike the tokens in the list which you can add either just one or a lot more. 

Upon observing the total value locked, a lot of the one that are mentioned have good metrics. All of them seem to be up within the past few days and the revenues generated from this token are pretty amazing. If you see a trend in DeFi continuing to go up, then these tokens are must have.in 2021. 

As of September 30, 2020, the total market capitalization of DeFi tokens has reached over $16 bln, which represents one-third of the total Bitcoin capitalization. According to Google Trends, the popularity of DeFi is continuing to grow exponentially. The amount of revenue to this kind of protocol is enormous, even unlimited in a sense. But every money making endeavour has its risk. So, try to be prudent in making decisions. 

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The Dark Forces behind American Insurrectionists

US Capitol

By Dan Steinbock

On January 6, 2021, a mob of white supremacists stormed the U.S. Capitol, presumably to overturn Trump’s defeat. Their final goal may have involved assassinations of elected officials, however.

After the “failed insurrection,” dozens of the mob were found to be watch-listed in the FBI Terrorist Screening Database. Most are suspected white supremacists. But the ultimate goals of some may have been even darker.

In a court filing, federal prosecutors have targeted one of the mob’s most colorful figures, Jacob Anthony Chansley; the shirtless “QAnon Shaman” with a headdress of coyote skin and buffalo horns. “The intent of the Capitol rioters,” the prosecutors believe, “was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the US government.”

Insurrectionists’ bedfellows      

At the “Save America” rally on the morning of January 6, Donald Trump, Jr. urged the mob to “take back our country” and march over to the Capitol, while former mayor Rudy Giuliani called for “trial by combat.” Seconded by several Republican members of Congress, they called action to undermine the “stolen presidency.”

After reaching the Capitol and overwhelming police barricades, the protesters assaulted police officers and journalists, erected a hangman’s noose and waved a Confederate flag, while proudly wearing white supremacist paraphernalia, including an Auschwitz concentration camp shirt.

Trying to take lawmakers hostage, they looted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s offices, occupied the empty Senate chamber and planted improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on the grounds and the offices of the Democrats and Republicans. As news images evidence, some police officers were taking selfies with the far-right protesters, opening up gates and guiding the rioters in the Capitol.

After nearly half a dozen deaths, hundreds of injuries and significant property damage, the FBI has opened more than 160 investigations into the events, while the House of Representatives has voted to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection.”

Democrats seek to preempt Trump’s re-election opportunities, while Republicans hope to distance Trump from their party. But it may be too little too late; a number of Republicans have already embraced white supremacists’ war rhetoric and some are adherents of the quasi-idiotic QAnon conspiracy ploy (that US government is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles). 

Infiltration of US law enforcement                    

Since the creation of the Ku Klux Klan in 1865, white supremacists have maintained ties with law enforcement agencies. In the past two decades, those links have grown deeper, however.

According to recent report by former FBI special agent Michael German, police associations with militias and white supremacists have been uncovered in many states. When President Trump arrived in office in early 2017, there were 100 active white nationalist and as many active neo-Nazi groups in the US. According to US Department of Homeland Security, white supremacist violent extremists “have been exceptionally lethal in their abhorrent, targeted attacks in recent years.”

Eight virulent white supremacist groups espouse white ethno-nationalism and National Socialism. Neo-Nazi groups, such as the National Socialist Movement, Hammerskin Nation, and Atomwaffen Division, no longer bother to disguise their supremacy doctrines.

Emboldened by the 2017 white power rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which Trump refused to condemn, Capitol insurrectionists included members of the ultranationalist Proud Boys mingling with notorious hardcore nativists and white nationalists;

During the 2014-15 unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, the white supremacist Oath Keepers patrolled streets and rooftops with semi-automatic rifles. In Washington DC, the group’s founder Stewart Rhodes, a former soldier and Yale law school graduate, stood outside the Capitol building. The veteran militia group has pledged to ignite a civil war on Trump’s behalf.

Billionaire financiers, ultra-conservative politicians            

In the past two decades, US campaign finance has been transformed into a money game dominated by big corporations and the hyper-wealthy 1% to 10% of the population. Ultra-rich financiers favor ultra-conservative Republicans.

It is this tiny group of funders that’s also behind the politicians favored by the insurrectionists and led by the Club of Growth; an anti-tax group sponsored by billionaires, such as the shipping-supply giant Richard Uihlein and options-trading king Jeffrey Yass. Both have been eager to overturn the US elections results.

Through its Super-PAC, the Club donors include the far-right billionaire Peter Thiel whose Palantir Technologies made fortunes in the Trump era; hedge-fund manager Paul Singer who has used debt to default entire nations from Congo DR to Argentina; and most prominently, hedge funder Robert Mercer, Trump’s financier.

Some $20 million was steered to these politicians in the 2018 and 2020 campaigns, led by Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, as well as Marco Rubio. Along with the far-right gun-rights activist Lauren Boebert, Cruz and Hawley have pushed the unfounded conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was “stolen from Trump” inciting turmoil that led to the storming of the Capitol.

They are not alone. The Club has supported the campaigns of more than 40 conservative Republicans who recently voted to undermine US election results.

Shrinking middle class, rising insurrectionists                    

In America, the rise of the insurrectionists reflects extensive social collateral damage following four decades of neoliberal economic policies. Since the ’80s, the nation’s 1% hyper-wealthy elite has prospered more than any other social group, whereas the middle class has shrunk dramatically. Meanwhile, institutional racism prevails, as evidenced by deep gaps between whites and blacks in income and wealth.

As progressive taxation has been undermined, while corporate taxation has been largely offshored to tax havens, US welfare state is bleeding. The redistributive mechanisms that ensure not just economic growth but social equity have shrunk.

Hence, too, the rising morbidity and mortality of middle-aged white (non-Hispanic) Americans. As the Nobel-awarded Angus Deaton has warned, the trend is unique among rich-income economies. And it fueled Trump’s 2016 election triumph.

The tumultuous but deadly insurrection is only a beginning. January 20 inauguration could witness counter-inaugurations. So could Biden’s State of the Union address in February. Or more could follow when and where complacency returns.

After four decades of economic polarization, deep political divisions, misguided forever wars, coupled by four years of appeasement of far-right supremacists by the White House, a new, harder and more unpredictable era has begun in America.

Fueled by longstanding economic, political, social and military forces, these trends are structural. They won’t go away anytime soon.

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About the Author 

Dr Dan Steinbock

Dr Dan Steinbock is the founder of Difference Group and has served as research director at the India, China and America Institute (USA) and visiting fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (China) and the EU Center (Singapore). For more, see https://www.differencegroup.net/ 

Where’s the Risk? Global Intelligence for Business Decision-Making

Interview with Alexander Sehmer, Falanx Assynt’s Director for Geopolitical Intelligence

With the complexities of today’s international political scene, keeping abreast of developments and understanding their consequences in terms of the risk they represent to business is a formidable challenge. Here, Alexander Sehmer of global intelligence consultancy Falanx Assynt talks us through some of the principal areas of risk facing business around the world.


Hello, Mr Sehmer. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Could we start by talking about the business of assessing risk on a global scale? Perhaps you could give us some background on how your organisation approaches such a daunting task. And who would your typical clients be?

Falanx Assynt is a leading global intelligence consultancy, with long-standing expertise in analysing and interpreting geopolitical risk. We produce the Assynt Report, which is a highly regarded, digital subscription-based product, covering developments in key jurisdictions across MENA, Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the former Soviet Union and Latin America. We also provide strategic intelligence consulting, with projects ranging from market entry, sector analysis and pre-deal due diligence, to mapping out relationship networks, asset tracing, witness identification and much else besides. We also offer the opportunity to have analysts embedded with client organisations. Our clients are typically firms with a global footprint and interests in emerging markets.


The whole world is currently focused on responding to coronavirus. Is there a danger that, as a result of our preoccupation with the issue, we fail to prepare for other types of risk that may arise?

This is certainly a matter of potential concern. Given the sheer scale of the public health and economic challenges that have resulted from the pandemic, the ability to devote time and attention to other significant threats has certainly reduced. This is particularly significant as regards the threat of cyberattacks, with state and non-state actors capitalising on the situation to step up activities by playing on fears over the pandemic. There has also been an important shift in focus away from environmental concerns, with governments trying to focus on reviving their economies at all costs, and sidelining green concerns and issues as a result. In addition, geopolitical fragmentation, and associated risks relating to competition between the West and China and Russia have also accelerated, with the pandemic hampering efforts to develop a joined-up response.

We also provide strategic intelligence consulting, with projects ranging from market entry, sector analysis and pre-deal due diligence, to mapping out relationship networks, asset tracing, witness identification and much else besides.
The world political and economic situation is heavily influenced by adversarial relationship between the United States and China. What are the chief risks ensuing from that, and is there hope that the forthcoming elections in the US might represent an opportunity for improvement?


The major risk is posed to businesses with a truly global footprint, which will likely face increasing pressure from Western governments and China to effectively pick sides, and an associated potential loss of market access. Growing Chinese espionage and cyber-campaigns aimed at gathering intelligence and achieving technology transfer are also a key threat set to rise further over the coming years. Regarding the US elections, should Joe Biden replace President Trump, there will be no major improvement in relations with Beijing as he shares his concerns over the balance of trade and a desire to increase the onshoring of jobs lost to China. Moreover a Democratic administration is likely to take a firmer line on human rights abuses, and will be keener to exert pressure over, for example, the treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang. Ultimately, US and Chinese competition is going to be a major challenge for any US administration over the coming years, and reflects deeper, underlying changes in geopolitical structures that will persist, regardless of who becomes president.


The Middle East has been a region of volatility for many years. The ongoing conflict in Syria and the poor relationship between Iran and the United States, among other issues, are areas for concern. What are the implications for global security?

Instability is certainly set to persist in the region, with the economic impact of the coronavirus already placing governments across the Middle East under mounting fiscal pressure, in turn raising risks of further rises in popular discontent and unrest in coming years. Major conflicts in the region, including Syria and Yemen, remain likely to persist into 2021. Syria poses a particular challenge outside the region to Europe, as fraught relations with Turkey risk a breakdown of prior agreements regarding the hosting of refugees, something that poses the potential for renewed migrant flows into EU states, which in turn risks stoking populist political tensions. Regarding Iran, a change of US administration would likely be a positive in terms of calming regional tensions somewhat, particularly given that the Democrats appear willing to re-enter the 2014 nuclear deal abandoned by President Trump, but the growing influence of hardliners in Tehran means that tensions with Washington, and associated security risks in the Gulf, particularly to shipping, remain an issue.

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Islamic extremism continues to represent a security risk across the world. How would you characterise the current situation? Do you see any basis for optimism?

The threat from jihadist groups has receded markedly following Islamic State’s loss of territory in Iraq and Syria. Even so, despite the success of the international coalition’s efforts against the group, jihadist violence persists, particularly in the Sahel region in Africa. The successful work to degrade Islamic State’s capabilities shows grounds for optimism, but economic hardships occasioned by the pandemic will likely provide fertile ground for groups to recover and recruit new supporters. The US withdrawal from Afghanistan is also likely to be a boon to al-Qaeda, as despite Taliban assurances, the group will enjoy a major reduction in Western military pressure, giving it an opportunity to rebuild for the longer term.


Many see commercial opportunities in emerging markets, such as South America, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Would you say that these regions more, or less, risk-prone than more traditional investment markets? And what are the main risks that potential investors should be taking into consideration?

Emerging markets are inherently more risky than developed markets, although rising political instability in more traditional markets, evidenced for example by the UK’s exit from the EU, has narrowed that gap somewhat in recent years. Having said that, the traditional risks associated with emerging markets remain numerous. They range from governmental instability, to the reputational risks of dealing with countries with poor records on human rights, and significant corruption throughout the public and private sectors. Care should, however, be taken to assess risks relative to individual markets, as the nature and extent of such business risks is hugely variable across geographies.


The last few years have seen multilateralism and free trade on the decline in favour of isolationism and protectionism, and a general lack of a unified approach to problems at a global, or even regional, level. Brexit would seem to be one example of fragmentation in Europe. What do you see as the main risks arising from this trend?

Even with a retreat from globalisation, the world still is, and will remain, enormously interconnected, with so many major challenges, including the environment, the rise of political disinformation, trade disputes and the weakening of US hegemony having a global aspect. If you look at the coronavirus pandemic, it has been piecemeal, nationalist approaches to dealing with it that have actively undermined efforts to minimise its global impact. Ultimately, the risk from increased fragmentation in the face of current and future challenges – including issues like climate change – is that nations will focus on their own short-term interests, which in the long run simply stores up trouble for them in the future.

Emerging markets are inherently more risky than developed markets, although rising political instability in more traditional markets, evidenced for example by the UK’s exit from the EU, has narrowed that gap somewhat in recent years.
In Russia, it seems that Mr Putin continues to consolidate his political power by various means. Moreover, there have been repeated allegations of Russian interference in electoral processes in other countries. Perhaps the lack of leadership and unity in the West might encourage Russia to adopt more robust tactics on the world stage. What risks does Russia pose on a global level?


Russian strategy focuses very heavily on so-called “wedge issues” in Western countries, such as controversy within the US over the Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police. Moscow aims to use its disinformation networks, including via its more traditional media outlets such as Russia Today, to polarise politics in Western countries and sow division, as well as to boost electoral candidates it prefers, such as President Trump. Ongoing disunity within the West will provide major opportunities for Russia in this regard. Beyond this, however, Russia’s potential geopolitical influence is and will remain well below that of China’s. Moscow will only really be able to maintain an opportunistic disruptive foreign policy approach. That said, both can work together to try to further weaken US hegemony.


Experts on artificial intelligence, including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, have expressed the view that the development and implementation of AI carries huge risks, and may even threaten the survival of the human race. What risks do you see resulting from the rise of AI?

The immediate risks associated with AI are likely posed by increased automation and the subsequent political impact as human labour is replaced, although it remains to be seen if AI will be truly disruptive in this sense. Past technological advances have raised similar fears and these have remained unrealised. One particularly interesting development in the field that appears certain to have important ramifications is advances in quantum computing, which will massively increase processing power by orders of magnitude beyond present levels, with particular consequences for cryptography and cybersecurity. In terms of the risk to humanity and the survival of the human race, that’s probably something for future generations. Despite major advances in AI and machine learning, progress towards a properly “conscious” machine probably remains a long way off.

The risk from increased fragmentation in the face of current and future challenges – including issues like climate change – is that nations will focus on their own short-term interests, which in the long run simply stores up trouble for them in the future.
The arguments continue to rage about the causes of climate change – whether it is natural or man-made. Nevertheless, the reality of the phenomenon seems undeniable. What categories of risk do you see ensuing from this, and are there some general approaches that business can adopt in order to mitigate its effects?


As the consequences of climate change become more evident, the political impacts are likely to be particularly important for businesses. Firms are likely to face growing top-down regulatory pressure. Increasing anxieties will also likely fuel greater environmental activism, with the potential for more radical protest action and the targeting of businesses that are seen as noncompliant or unresponsive – so a proactive approach towards ESG matters is prudent. In the longer term, as physical changes begin to have a greater effect, such as increased flooding and droughts, security dynamics will alter and businesses will have to be agile in response to shifting risks over time.


Some observers have identified a risk posed by social unrest across the world, stimulated by increased distrust in governments and institutions, and perhaps exacerbated by these bodies’ faltering response to recent world problems. Do you recognise this phenomenon, and would you say that it constitutes a new kind of risk that needs to be taken into consideration?

I think it would be a mistake to view this as a new phenomenon. What has perhaps changed is the difficulty for citizens to accurately evaluate and judge information and understand the nature of political, economic and social change around them, which can in turn fuel discontent and unrest. That said, this, in itself, is not new, just more pronounced now.


Finally, do you think the world is a riskier place now than it was in the past – say, thirty or forty years ago? Are there any general strategies that companies can employ as a way of dealing with today’s risk environment?

Similarly, I don’t think the world is now riskier than it was in the past. Overall levels of violence, for example, are historically low. Undoubtedly, the world has become more complicated, though; the pace of change, particularly in the tech sphere, makes assessing and evaluating risk a more complicated task. The best strategy, from a business perspective is to adopt a holistic approach to risk intelligence. To bring together professionals with expertise across varying domains, and to try to ensure exposure to a wide range of perspectives and opinions. The coronavirus has made clear the interlinked nature of risk. A full understanding of the pandemic and its progress requires a sound grasp of medical, economic, psychological, technological and business domains. Businesses need to ensure that once the coronavirus threat recedes, they don’t forget this lesson.

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Executive Profile

Alexander Sehmer
Director, Geopolitical Intelligence
Alex joined Falanx Assynt as Director for Geopolitical Intelligence in 2018. He worked as a journalist in the Middle East before becoming a political risk consultant. He holds an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy from SOAS.

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