Millions of immigrants living illegally in the US will be allowed to apply for work permits under a major shake-up unveiled by President Barack Obama. They include immigrants who have been in the US for five years and have children staying legally in the US. About four million people are expected to benefit from a reform package forced through using executive orders, which allow Mr Obama to bypass...Read More
Supervising the Supervisors …The Fed is sorry. Sorry about the whole being too cozy with banks thing. As penance, the Fed has "asked its inspector general to look into whether top supervisors were getting the information they needed to make their decisions," and if they "were hearing all the opinions of Fed bank examiners." Remember Dan Davies's take on bank supervisi...Read More
Millions of immigrants living illegally in the US will be allowed to apply for work permits under a major shake-up unveiled by President Barack Obama. They include immigrants who have been in the US for five years and have children staying legally in the US. About four million people are expected to benefit from a reform package forced through using executive orders, which allow Mr Obama to bypass...Read More
Tales in monetary voodoo, try this for a spin … We play with the money system at our peril. On Thursday, British MPs are to debate money creation, including so-called "helicopter money". This is supposedly the first time parliament has debated such matters since 1844. Back then, it didn't work out so well. Much debated but little understood, money creation is one of those fiend...Read More
Swiss National Bank's Zurbruegg Repeats Opposition to Gold Vote … Vote Would Force SNB to Maintain a Minimum of 20% of The Assets … A member of the Swiss National Bank governing board reiterated opposition to an upcoming vote that would require it to hold a fifth of its assets in gold, saying it would impede the central bank's ability to conduct monetary policy. In text of a sp...Read More
Tales in monetary voodoo, try this for a spin … We play with the money system at our peril. On Thursday, British MPs are to debate money creation, including so-called "helicopter money". This is supposedly the first time parliament has debated such matters since 1844. Back then, it didn't work out so well. Much debated but little understood, money creation is one of those fiend...Read More
Swiss National Bank's Zurbruegg Repeats Opposition to Gold Vote … Vote Would Force SNB to Maintain a Minimum of 20% of The Assets … A member of the Swiss National Bank governing board reiterated opposition to an upcoming vote that would require it to hold a fifth of its assets in gold, saying it would impede the central bank's ability to conduct monetary policy. In text of a sp...Read More
Despite some recent reversals, there is evidence that globalisation is on the march again … For most of the 1990s and 2000s, it seemed almost inevitable that the world would become ever more integrated and borders ever less bothersome. The crash of 2008, which spread havoc around the world faster than any previous financial crisis, called that assumption into question. Headlines about the wo...Read More
Wal-Mart Promises Organic Food for Everyone … Buoyed by the improving economy and Americans' belief that they can eat themselves healthy, sales of organic food are booming again. The growth in sales of organic products in the U.S., food and nonfood, had slowed to 4.6 percent in 2009 but has since rebounded. Sales rose 11.5 percent in 2013, to $35 billion, according to the Organic Trade A...Read More
Despite some recent reversals, there is evidence that globalisation is on the march again … For most of the 1990s and 2000s, it seemed almost inevitable that the world would become ever more integrated and borders ever less bothersome. The crash of 2008, which spread havoc around the world faster than any previous financial crisis, called that assumption into question. Headlines about the wo...Read More
Wal-Mart Promises Organic Food for Everyone … Buoyed by the improving economy and Americans' belief that they can eat themselves healthy, sales of organic food are booming again. The growth in sales of organic products in the U.S., food and nonfood, had slowed to 4.6 percent in 2009 but has since rebounded. Sales rose 11.5 percent in 2013, to $35 billion, according to the Organic Trade A...Read More
Japan's Warning to the World … Japan's renewed descent into recession – its sixth in the past two decades – comes with an urgent if obvious warning to the U.S., Europe and the rest of the developed world: Don't let this happen to you. Japan's famously stagnant economy may not be all that unique. True, Japan's predicament is exceptionally difficult. Extraordina...Read More
With focus elsewhere, GOP Congress shows little interest in blocking pot legalization in D.C. … Looming over the District's historic decision this month to legalize marijuana has been another mandate that voters delivered on Election Day: A Republican majority on Capitol Hill with the power to interfere with the measure when it goes to Congress for review. But congressional Republicans a...Read More
Japan's Warning to the World … Japan's renewed descent into recession – its sixth in the past two decades – comes with an urgent if obvious warning to the U.S., Europe and the rest of the developed world: Don't let this happen to you. Japan's famously stagnant economy may not be all that unique. True, Japan's predicament is exceptionally difficult. Extraordina...Read More
With focus elsewhere, GOP Congress shows little interest in blocking pot legalization in D.C. … Looming over the District's historic decision this month to legalize marijuana has been another mandate that voters delivered on Election Day: A Republican majority on Capitol Hill with the power to interfere with the measure when it goes to Congress for review. But congressional Republicans a...Read More
Diamonds and gold sales continue to finance conflict in chaos-ridden Central African Republic, which has illegally exported an estimated 140,000 carats worth $24 million this year despite international efforts to clamp down on illicit trade.While tensions appeared to have eased in the nation's capital Bangui after several days of a standoff between former rebels and international peacekeepers, a U...Read More
Time for a 'melt-up': the coming global boom … Get ready for a "melt-up." Back in mid-October, as stock markets around the world plunged faster than at any time since 2011, many investors and economists feared a meltdown. But with the U.S. economy steadily expanding, monetary and fiscal policies becoming more stimulative in other parts of the world and the autumn season for...Read More
Putin Is Hoarding Gold To Prepare For Economic War … Russia's central bank added to its reserves of bullion in the third quarter, according to the latest report from the World Gold Council. Russia has taken advantage of lower gold prices to pack the vaults of its central bank with bullion as it prepares for the possibility of a long, drawn-out economic war with the West. The latest resea...Read More
Time for a 'melt-up': the coming global boom … Get ready for a "melt-up." Back in mid-October, as stock markets around the world plunged faster than at any time since 2011, many investors and economists feared a meltdown. But with the U.S. economy steadily expanding, monetary and fiscal policies becoming more stimulative in other parts of the world and the autumn season for...Read More
Putin Is Hoarding Gold To Prepare For Economic War … Russia's central bank added to its reserves of bullion in the third quarter, according to the latest report from the World Gold Council. Russia has taken advantage of lower gold prices to pack the vaults of its central bank with bullion as it prepares for the possibility of a long, drawn-out economic war with the West. The latest resea...Read More