Final fed climate report will present dire picture … The Obama administration is more certain than ever that global warming is changing Americans' daily lives and will worsen – conclusions that scientists will detail in a massive federal report to be released Tuesday. – APDominant Social Theme: Times are grim and getting hotter.Free-Market Analysis: The US government is repor...Read More
Inside Monsanto … The company is using its biotech muscle to genetically engineer crops — but also beef up traditional cross-breeding. Say the term "genetically modified organism," or GMO, and you're bound to get some strong opinions. But what is it? And should we be afraid? Like it or not, humans have been in the business of genetically changing organisms since we first...Read More
Correction will coincide with six-month seasonal downswingWe're still tiptoeing through queasy stock markets. So, don't rest easy just yet.A correction of some sort is under way - one that neatly coincides with the start of the markets' seasonal six months of underperformance, otherwise known as "sell in May and go away."But some industry sectors are rallying, while some indicators suggest there's...Read More
Worries over emerging markets continue, but North America looks poised for a recoveryThe stock market has been in quite a funk these last few weeks.Expectations of a reduction in stimulus from the Federal Reserve, weak economic data in the U.S., slowing Chinese growth, problems with specific developing countries - all of these factors have triggered a massive wave of selling in emerging markets ea...Read More
In the meantime they had been in deep and friendly conversation with three masked men with Kalashnikovs. "We are just making sure everyone remains calm," explained a sergeant. "These guys are being provoked, they are angry." Who is provoking them? I asked. "The Ukrainian army, of course, the rest of us want none of this bloodshed," the policeman responded. – UK...Read More
How to Teach Better Teachers … U.S. schools don't have enough great teachers. There are various reasons for that, chief among them tenure protections that prevent principals from cutting loose low performers and union contracts that require the worst teachers to be paid the same as the best. But the trouble begins even before teachers arrive in the classroom: Education schools at U.S. un...Read More
In the meantime they had been in deep and friendly conversation with three masked men with Kalashnikovs. "We are just making sure everyone remains calm," explained a sergeant. "These guys are being provoked, they are angry." Who is provoking them? I asked. "The Ukrainian army, of course, the rest of us want none of this bloodshed," the policeman responded. – UK...Read More
How to Teach Better Teachers … U.S. schools don't have enough great teachers. There are various reasons for that, chief among them tenure protections that prevent principals from cutting loose low performers and union contracts that require the worst teachers to be paid the same as the best. But the trouble begins even before teachers arrive in the classroom: Education schools at U.S. un...Read More
The surprise success of Thomas Piketty … The surprise success of the French economist Thomas Piketty's income disparity blockbuster Capital in the 21st Century has forced battlelines to be drawn in the world of political economics. Piketty's unremarkable contention, after having crawled through two centuries of data, is that the inequitable distribution of wealth in Western society h...Read More
Silver looks like gold as slump defies more car-part use … Silver is being undermined by its association with gold. While makers of everything from jewellery to solar panels are buying the most silver in nine years, prices are languishing. Investors are dismissing industrial demand and instead focusing on the waning appeal of precious metals as a haven, with the Federal Reserve paring econom...Read More
The surprise success of Thomas Piketty … The surprise success of the French economist Thomas Piketty's income disparity blockbuster Capital in the 21st Century has forced battlelines to be drawn in the world of political economics. Piketty's unremarkable contention, after having crawled through two centuries of data, is that the inequitable distribution of wealth in Western society h...Read More
Silver looks like gold as slump defies more car-part use … Silver is being undermined by its association with gold. While makers of everything from jewellery to solar panels are buying the most silver in nine years, prices are languishing. Investors are dismissing industrial demand and instead focusing on the waning appeal of precious metals as a haven, with the Federal Reserve paring econom...Read More
LNG TankerThe $100 billion Prosperity Fund that the British Columbia government claims will be generated by LNG development in the province is unrealistic, according to theCanadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).The projections are based on assumptions of large export volumes and high prices in Asia, which the CCPA said are "too good to be true." The government said the fund will accumulat...Read More
The Dow Jones industrial average rose to an all-time high on Wednesday after investors assessed more corporate earnings, the latest move from the Fed and an unexpectedly weak reading on economic growth in the first quarter. Sealed Air, a food packing company, and C.H. Robinson, a freight company, were among stocks that rose after reporting earnings. On Wednesday: The Dow Jones industrial average r...Read More
House Budget Committee to Hold Hearing on Poverty … Is the federal government responsible for lifting millions of Americans out of poverty or trapping them in it? That question has become a political Rorschach test this year, the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson's war on poverty. On Wednesday, Representative Paul D. Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, is holding...Read More
The Dow Jones industrial average rose to an all-time high on Wednesday after investors assessed more corporate earnings, the latest move from the Fed and an unexpectedly weak reading on economic growth in the first quarter. Sealed Air, a food packing company, and C.H. Robinson, a freight company, were among stocks that rose after reporting earnings. On Wednesday: The Dow Jones industrial average r...Read More
House Budget Committee to Hold Hearing on Poverty … Is the federal government responsible for lifting millions of Americans out of poverty or trapping them in it? That question has become a political Rorschach test this year, the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson's war on poverty. On Wednesday, Representative Paul D. Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, is holding...Read More
When you buy stocks in sectors and sub-sectors of the market, keep your goals in mind. If you're a conservative, income-seeking investor, focus on utilities, financial stocks and consumer goods stocks. If you're aggressive, buy more resource and manufacturing stocks.As a general rule, we advise you to keep at least 10 per cent-but no more than 30 per cent-in each of the five main economic sectors....Read More
Regulatory Costs Are World's No. 10 Economy … After years of rapid growth during the Obama administration, the cost of federal regulations is now bigger than the entire economies of all but nine countries in the world. That's according to the latest annual report on the regulatory state issued by the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute, titled "Ten Thousand Commandments...Read More
Angela Merkel's Vice Chancellor Stuns, Declares Germany's 'Energiewende' To Be On 'The Verge Of Failure' … The green energy orgy in Germany is over. The music has stopped and the wine that once flowed freely has long run out. The green energy whores and pimps can go home. In a stunning admission by Germany's Economics Minister and Vice Chancellor to Angela Merkel,...Read More