Re-inflating the bubble … Obama hired back all the Clinton-era officials who caused the housing bust — so they can do it all over again … In the 1990s, convinced that the US mortgage market was racist, the Clinton administration launched a massive campaign of social engineering. Through government entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, officials encouraged extending mortgages to pe...Read More
Carbon-Intensive Investors Risk $6 Trillion 'Bubble,' Study Says … Investors in carbon-intensive business could see $6 trillion wasted as policies limiting global warming stop them from exploiting their coal, oil and gas reserves, according to research by the Carbon Tracker Initiative and a climate-change research unit at the London School of Economics. If this rate continues for the...Read More
The green jewel was the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)—the European-wide carbon market, by far the largest such system in the world. The ETS, launched in 2005, allowed Europe to put a common price on a ton of carbon, which was meant to encourage utilities and factories to reduce carbon emissions in the most efficient way popular … But the ETS—and carbon trading more generally&mda...Read More
Free exchange – Where did everyone go? … Demography may explain the weakness of America's recovery … The notion that America's potential growth has slipped is not new. Some economists have argued that the crisis itself undermined potential by starving innovative companies of financing and driving some workers, whose skills have atrophied from long spells of unemployment,...Read More
The hottest frontier …When you are trying to keep a retail outfit afloat amid hyperinflation, it helps to have a sideline. "We had a business selling crocodile skins to Hermès and Gucci for shoes and handbags," says John Koumides, chief executive of Innscor, a conglomerate based in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. The currency earned from this exotic export was a lifeline for...Read More
Carbon-Intensive Investors Risk $6 Trillion 'Bubble,' Study Says … Investors in carbon-intensive business could see $6 trillion wasted as policies limiting global warming stop them from exploiting their coal, oil and gas reserves, according to research by the Carbon Tracker Initiative and a climate-change research unit at the London School of Economics. If this rate continues for the...Read More
The green jewel was the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)—the European-wide carbon market, by far the largest such system in the world. The ETS, launched in 2005, allowed Europe to put a common price on a ton of carbon, which was meant to encourage utilities and factories to reduce carbon emissions in the most efficient way popular … But the ETS—and carbon trading more generally&mda...Read More
Free exchange – Where did everyone go? … Demography may explain the weakness of America's recovery … The notion that America's potential growth has slipped is not new. Some economists have argued that the crisis itself undermined potential by starving innovative companies of financing and driving some workers, whose skills have atrophied from long spells of unemployment,...Read More
The hottest frontier …When you are trying to keep a retail outfit afloat amid hyperinflation, it helps to have a sideline. "We had a business selling crocodile skins to Hermès and Gucci for shoes and handbags," says John Koumides, chief executive of Innscor, a conglomerate based in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. The currency earned from this exotic export was a lifeline for...Read More
Jobs, factory data point to slowing economy … Economic data for January and February suggested that growth accelerated in the first quarter after activity almost stalled in the final three months of 2012. But in a replay of the prior two years, the economy appeared to have hit a speed bump at the end of the quarter, with data ranging from employment to retail sales and manufacturing weakenin...Read More
For first time in six years, half of Americans say U.S. running well … A national poll released on Friday found 50 percent of Americans believe the United States is running well, the first time that at least half of respondents answered positively in more than six years. The CNN/ORC International poll asked the question: "How well are things going in the country today – very well,...Read More
The Biggest Economic Experiment Of The Last 5 Years Has Ended In Disaster … The U.K.'s economic story for the past five years has been bleak. Since then there have been two recessions This week again we saw the labor situation deteriorate. Next week we'll find out if the U.K. has entered its first ever triple-dip recession. Economists project the economy will post a tiny 0.1% –...Read More
Meltdown? 15% of world's gold miners face collapse after plunge in price strips $169-billion off market value … Gold's 9.3% plunge on April 15, the biggest one-day drop in New York since March 1980, couldn't have come at a worse time for gold companies. Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp., the world's two largest producers, are among companies in the FTSE Gold Mines I...Read More
Jobs, factory data point to slowing economy … Economic data for January and February suggested that growth accelerated in the first quarter after activity almost stalled in the final three months of 2012. But in a replay of the prior two years, the economy appeared to have hit a speed bump at the end of the quarter, with data ranging from employment to retail sales and manufacturing weakenin...Read More
For first time in six years, half of Americans say U.S. running well … A national poll released on Friday found 50 percent of Americans believe the United States is running well, the first time that at least half of respondents answered positively in more than six years. The CNN/ORC International poll asked the question: "How well are things going in the country today – very well,...Read More
The Biggest Economic Experiment Of The Last 5 Years Has Ended In Disaster … The U.K.'s economic story for the past five years has been bleak. Since then there have been two recessions This week again we saw the labor situation deteriorate. Next week we'll find out if the U.K. has entered its first ever triple-dip recession. Economists project the economy will post a tiny 0.1% –...Read More
Meltdown? 15% of world's gold miners face collapse after plunge in price strips $169-billion off market value … Gold's 9.3% plunge on April 15, the biggest one-day drop in New York since March 1980, couldn't have come at a worse time for gold companies. Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp., the world's two largest producers, are among companies in the FTSE Gold Mines I...Read More
Insight: Central bankers cast as superheroes with no script … Top central banks have slashed rates to zero, pumped in vast amounts of cash, helped orchestrate bailouts and fired their "big bazookas": buying trillions of dollars of government bonds to calm markets and spur lending and growth. … They also have something governments desperately lack: money. In fact, like modern-...Read More
Bernanke Is One of the Most Consequential Central Bankers of All Time … The Federal Reserve has emerged as one of the most important government entities when it comes to the economy. Many economists credit the Fed with helping the economy recover from The Great Recession. But many politicians – primarily Republicans – criticize the central bank for overreaching and creating more...Read More
Gold's decline shakes the true believers' faith … The dramatic slide in the price of gold in the past week has reversed a rise that for more than a decade has been steady and seemingly inexorable. The sudden fall in which prices plummeted 9 percent, to $1,347.40 an ounce, on Monday, the biggest two-day loss percentage since 1983 – has put goldbugs, who are by definition pessimi...Read More