The Most Important Person in 2016 … Forget the presidential candidates – Fed Chair Janet Yellen is who you need to watch … – US NewsDominant Social Theme: The most important person in the world …Free-Market Analysis: The great debate has started and will continue to keep us focused on the Fed until the next move. We will be reminded over and over again of the phony im...Read More
The Teddy Awards 2015 … The arena was noisy in 2015, scarily so. … Political courage, which these annual Teddy Awards celebrate, seems a particularly necessary commodity in the face of such noise, the courage to stand against a tide of barbarity and incivility. – TIMEDominant Social Theme: The world belongs to the moderates.Free-Market Analysis: TIME magazine informs us that a ce...Read More
Why the bull market in stocks isn't dead yet … Don't write off the bull market in stocks … Market professionals surveyed by CNNMoney believe that the U.S. stock market will claw its way past these obstacles and reach new heights next year. – CNN MoneyDominant Social Theme: Things will go on. They always do.Free-Market Analysis: In this analysis we'll cover a predictab...Read More
Pakistan-Afghanistan hotline set up to reduce tension … Pakistan and Afghanistan have established a hotline between their respective military commanders to reduce frequent cross-border tensions … Security co-operation between the two countries is seen as crucial in countering the growing Taliban threat. – BBCDominant Social Theme: Everything is going to plan. Step by step we crea...Read More
Why the bull market in stocks isn't dead yet … Don't write off the bull market in stocks … Market professionals surveyed by CNNMoney believe that the U.S. stock market will claw its way past these obstacles and reach new heights next year. – CNN MoneyDominant Social Theme: Things will go on. They always do.Free-Market Analysis: In this analysis we'll cover a predictab...Read More
Pakistan-Afghanistan hotline set up to reduce tension … Pakistan and Afghanistan have established a hotline between their respective military commanders to reduce frequent cross-border tensions … Security co-operation between the two countries is seen as crucial in countering the growing Taliban threat. – BBCDominant Social Theme: Everything is going to plan. Step by step we crea...Read More
A heartless Conservative Government was elected, Labour was defeated in Scotland and the rise of ISIS has been remorseless … Yet there are still some hopeful signs for the year ahead. Axeman George Osborne has been forced to drop some of the harshest measures he wanted to introduce, including slashing benefits for the low-paid and poor, and decimating the police, while a global deal has been...Read More
Obama's 'Boots on the Ground': U.S. Special Forces Are Sent to Tackle Global Threats … They are taking on a larger combat role in Afghanistan, where the war was supposed to be over. They are headed to Syria to help fight the Islamic State in its stronghold. And President Obama recently ordered nearly 300 of them to Cameroon to assist African troops in their battle against a milit...Read More
A heartless Conservative Government was elected, Labour was defeated in Scotland and the rise of ISIS has been remorseless … Yet there are still some hopeful signs for the year ahead. Axeman George Osborne has been forced to drop some of the harshest measures he wanted to introduce, including slashing benefits for the low-paid and poor, and decimating the police, while a global deal has been...Read More
Obama's 'Boots on the Ground': U.S. Special Forces Are Sent to Tackle Global Threats … They are taking on a larger combat role in Afghanistan, where the war was supposed to be over. They are headed to Syria to help fight the Islamic State in its stronghold. And President Obama recently ordered nearly 300 of them to Cameroon to assist African troops in their battle against a milit...Read More
The Misinformation Mess … As Americans approach Election Year 2016, the crisis of misinformation is growing more and more dangerous. On issues from foreign policy to the economy, almost none of the candidates in the race appears to be addressing the real world, writes Robert Parry. – ConsortiumNewsDominant Social Theme: False flags? Nothing to see here. Let's move along.Free-Market...Read More
Anonymous war on Isis: Online activists claim to have foiled terror attack on Italy as part of 'Operation Isis' … Supporters of Anonymous have been working to shut down Twitter accounts and websites, but claims to have now disrupted attacks in the real world too. – UK IndependentDominant Social Theme: Anonymous is full of modern day heroes.Free-Market Analysis: Do we believe it...Read More
The Misinformation Mess … As Americans approach Election Year 2016, the crisis of misinformation is growing more and more dangerous. On issues from foreign policy to the economy, almost none of the candidates in the race appears to be addressing the real world, writes Robert Parry. – ConsortiumNewsDominant Social Theme: False flags? Nothing to see here. Let's move along.Free-Market...Read More
Anonymous war on Isis: Online activists claim to have foiled terror attack on Italy as part of 'Operation Isis' … Supporters of Anonymous have been working to shut down Twitter accounts and websites, but claims to have now disrupted attacks in the real world too. – UK IndependentDominant Social Theme: Anonymous is full of modern day heroes.Free-Market Analysis: Do we believe it...Read More
What if saving the economy was the easy part? … If the past seven years have proven anything, it's that the biggest danger is often the one that no one sees coming. "You have to worry, otherwise you can't be a central banker," Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said in a speech this month. "What worries me most is that things happen: You've got a nice framework. It&...Read More
The truth is rushing out there: why conspiracy theories spread faster than ever … From 9/11 to the Paris attacks, from Ebola to Isis, every major global event attracts a corresponding counter-narrative from the 'truthers', some so all-encompassing that they take over people's lives. Are our brains wired to believe, as a new book argues? And could such thinking actually be benefic...Read More
What if saving the economy was the easy part? … If the past seven years have proven anything, it's that the biggest danger is often the one that no one sees coming. "You have to worry, otherwise you can't be a central banker," Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said in a speech this month. "What worries me most is that things happen: You've got a nice framework. It&...Read More
The truth is rushing out there: why conspiracy theories spread faster than ever … From 9/11 to the Paris attacks, from Ebola to Isis, every major global event attracts a corresponding counter-narrative from the 'truthers', some so all-encompassing that they take over people's lives. Are our brains wired to believe, as a new book argues? And could such thinking actually be benefic...Read More
In Sweden, a Cash-Free Future Nears … Parishioners text tithes to their churches. Homeless street vendors carry mobile credit-card readers. Even the Abba Museum, despite being a shrine to the 1970s pop group that wrote "Money, Money, Money," considers cash so last-century that it does not accept bills and coins. Few places are tilting toward a cashless future as quickly as Sweden,...Read More
Katie Couric reveals what it's like to work with Marissa Mayer at Yahoo … Yahoo global news anchor Katie Couric tells INSIDER exclusively: "Marissa is in the spotlight … When you're a high-profile woman, I think that it can sometimes be uber-challenging, and I think she's putting her head down and trying to do the work, and I know it must be challenging at times for he...Read More