Can Yellen Float Above Politics? … There's a growing consensus that central banks need to develop a new tool – so-called macroprudential policy. This involves politics too. The basic idea is that financial regulation is connected to monetary policy … Financial rules affect the economy in the aggregate. With that in mind, they could and should be tweaked during the course of t...Read More
Italy to push for 'United States of Europe' when it holds the EU presidency … Italy will use its presidency of the European Union to push for a "United States of Europe," the prime minister has said . Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, has said that Italy will push for a "United States of Europe" during its six-month EU presidency, in a move likely to raise...Read More
Today's South is boldly moving backward …We used to call it the "New South." That was the era after Reconstruction and before the Civil Rights laws — when the states of the old Confederacy seemed most determined to preserve a social and economic order that encouraged low-wage industrialization as they fought to maintain Jim Crow. What was then distinctive about the South...Read More
Why pot is the new pizza … Dope to your door … EVAN COX used to deliver pizza. But 18 months ago, as he was running out of money at college in Seattle, he had a new business idea. The state of Washington was in the process of legalising the sale of marijuana, but he guessed it would take time for pot shops to open. So he set up Winterlife, a marijuana-delivery service. Delivering dope...Read More
Today's South is boldly moving backward …We used to call it the "New South." That was the era after Reconstruction and before the Civil Rights laws — when the states of the old Confederacy seemed most determined to preserve a social and economic order that encouraged low-wage industrialization as they fought to maintain Jim Crow. What was then distinctive about the South...Read More
Why pot is the new pizza … Dope to your door … EVAN COX used to deliver pizza. But 18 months ago, as he was running out of money at college in Seattle, he had a new business idea. The state of Washington was in the process of legalising the sale of marijuana, but he guessed it would take time for pot shops to open. So he set up Winterlife, a marijuana-delivery service. Delivering dope...Read More
Fed policymakers cut growth forecast … The Federal Reserve sharply reduced its forecast for U.S. economic growth Wednesday but also predicted that the unemployment rate by year's end will be lower than it previously estimated. This year's growth forecast is now just above 2% — in line with the pace so far in the five-year-old recovery. Yet the falling jobless rate, combined wit...Read More
Why The World's Dumbest Idea Is (Finally) Dying … Bad ideas don't die just because they are bad. They hang around until a consensus forms around another idea that is better. This is what's happening now with a stupid idea has dominated American business for the last four decades: that the purpose of a firm is to maximize shareholder value. The massive problems that this notion ha...Read More
Fed policymakers cut growth forecast … The Federal Reserve sharply reduced its forecast for U.S. economic growth Wednesday but also predicted that the unemployment rate by year's end will be lower than it previously estimated. This year's growth forecast is now just above 2% — in line with the pace so far in the five-year-old recovery. Yet the falling jobless rate, combined wit...Read More
Why The World's Dumbest Idea Is (Finally) Dying … Bad ideas don't die just because they are bad. They hang around until a consensus forms around another idea that is better. This is what's happening now with a stupid idea has dominated American business for the last four decades: that the purpose of a firm is to maximize shareholder value. The massive problems that this notion ha...Read More
"Cluster Of Central Banks" Have Secretly Invested $29 Trillion In The Market … Another conspiracy "theory" becomes conspiracy "fact" as The FT reports "a cluster of central banking investors has become major players on world equity markets." The report, to be published this week by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), confirm...Read More
In an ongoing effort to bridge the gap between the GOP and minority voters, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) deviated from traditional party lines during a speech at the Iowa State Republican Party Convention Saturday, criticizing racist drug policies in the United States and calling for the restoration of voting rights for ex-convicts. – Huffington PostDominant Social Theme: Lock 'em up and throw...Read More
"Cluster Of Central Banks" Have Secretly Invested $29 Trillion In The Market … Another conspiracy "theory" becomes conspiracy "fact" as The FT reports "a cluster of central banking investors has become major players on world equity markets." The report, to be published this week by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), confirm...Read More
In an ongoing effort to bridge the gap between the GOP and minority voters, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) deviated from traditional party lines during a speech at the Iowa State Republican Party Convention Saturday, criticizing racist drug policies in the United States and calling for the restoration of voting rights for ex-convicts. – Huffington PostDominant Social Theme: Lock 'em up and throw...Read More
Investing: The Message of a $549,000 Watch … I have been hearing a lot about the spending habits of the 0.01 percent lately. Perhaps, a little bit too much. Don't worry, this isn't going to be a class-warfare rant or a treatise on living the simpler, less materialistic life. Rather, it is a suggestion to some folks that perhaps they might want to make some of their conspicuous consum...Read More
Has the Dept. of Homeland Security become America's standing army … If the United States is a police state, then the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is its national police force, with all the brutality, ineptitude and corruption such a role implies. In fact, although the DHS' governmental bureaucracy may at times appear to be inept and bungling, it is ruthlessly efficient when...Read More
Investing: The Message of a $549,000 Watch … I have been hearing a lot about the spending habits of the 0.01 percent lately. Perhaps, a little bit too much. Don't worry, this isn't going to be a class-warfare rant or a treatise on living the simpler, less materialistic life. Rather, it is a suggestion to some folks that perhaps they might want to make some of their conspicuous consum...Read More
Has the Dept. of Homeland Security become America's standing army … If the United States is a police state, then the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is its national police force, with all the brutality, ineptitude and corruption such a role implies. In fact, although the DHS' governmental bureaucracy may at times appear to be inept and bungling, it is ruthlessly efficient when...Read More
Sukari gold mine, located 700 km from Cairo.London and Toronto-listed gold miner Centamin (LON:CEY) (TSX:CEE) said Monday its long-dragged dispute with Egyptian authorities over its flagship Sukari gold mine is likely to settle before the end of the year.The Alexandria-based company, which is Egypt's largest gold producer, is betting on the new government to pass an investor-friendly law that wil...Read More
IRS lost emails by official in tea party probe … The Internal Revenue Service said Friday it has lost a trove of emails to and from a central figure in the agency's tea party controversy, sparking outrage from congressional investigators who have been probing the agency for more than a year. The IRS told Congress Friday it cannot locate many of Lois Lerner's emails prior to 2011 beca...Read More