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Advanced Global Trading, a Dubai-based company selling voluntary carbon credits to retail investors, has been accused of being either a boiler room scam or Ponzi scheme by a website which writes about emissions and deforestation. The article is written by Chris Lang founder of the website Redd-Monitor.org, which provides "news, views and analysis about reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation". Carbon credits, of which there are two types - voluntary emission reductions and certified emission reductions, are certificates which represent a company's right to emit one tone of carbon dioxide and can be traded for money legitimately. However, there has been a history of them being traded illegitimately. In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (or Financial Services Authority as it was at the time) has previously warned investors to be wary of unsolicited approaches to purchase the investments. In a statement, which is still available on the old FSA website alongside further information about the scam, it said: "Carbon credits can be sold and traded legitimately and there are many reputable firms operating in the sector. "However, we are concerned that an increasing number of firms are using dubious, high-pressure sales tactics and targeting vulnerable consumers." In the article, published last month on Redd-Monitor.org, Lang suggests that AGT is artificially inflating the price of the carbon credits it trades by selling them to new customers, much like a traditional Ponzi scheme. The company makes its money by taking a commission on each transaction so will continue to make money as long as new investors continue to buy carbon credits from existing investors. More: http://rnzmoore.deviantart.com/art/Hendren-Global-Group-International-News-Review-377394831 http://www.slideshare.net/aetherphanes/hendren-global-group-article-code-81345798450-hgg-beware-of-20-percent-returns-5-ways-to-separate-superior-performance-from-salesmans

With the global economy growing more slowly than expected, worries about a potential US government shutdown and the possibility of a default are keeping nations around the world and investors, cautious. Republicans in the US House of Representatives have so far refused to give in to President Barack Obama's demands for straightforward bills keeping the government running beyond September 30. House Republicans also challenged Obama on the debt ceiling increase, the amount the government is allowed to borrow; that the Treasury Department of the world's largest economy says is urgently needed by October 17. There is an October 1 deadline for Congress and the President to sign off on an emergency spending bill to avert a government shutdown. This is not the critical event that immediately leads to the risk of impending default - that comes on October 17 according to US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew - but it is significant enough that it can undermine investor confidence and further stymie an economic recovery. Last week Lew cautioned Congress that the United States would exhaust its borrowing capacity no later than October 17, at which point it would have only about $30bn in cash on hand. The fresh estimate adds another layer of pressure on lawmakers to raise the $16.7tn debt limit and comes as Congress struggles to pass a spending bill to keep the government funded beyond October 1, when the new fiscal year starts. "If the government should ultimately become unable to pay all of its bills, the results could be catastrophic," Lew warned in a letter to congressional leaders. The fate of the debt ceiling is up in the air with Democratic and Republican lawmakers once again deeply divided over how to extend the Treasury's borrowing authority. The trouble lies in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives push for a bill that includes a delay or complete halt to the Affordable Care Act (nicknamed "Obamacare") legislation passed in 2010 and set