It's your fault: How our 'tribes' help create gridlock in Congress … If Congress has danced at the most perilous edges of brinkmanship, we the people helped push them there. We did it by voting lawmakers out of office when they work with the other party to craft legislation but then claiming we want Congress to compromise and seek bipartisan solutions. We're doing it by sendi...Read More
Yet, in view of the populist skepticism about patents which has penetrated deep in the zeitgeist, the Supreme Court sharply cut back on patenting in the emerging field of personalized medicine. The Court in its recent Mayo decision cited academics and other critics to conclude that in this area patenting will actually impede innovation. – Thomson Reuters/WestlawDominant Social Theme: Patents...Read More
EU leaders set for crucial budget summit … European Union leaders are due to begin a two-day summit in Brussels to try to strike a deal on the next seven years of EU spending. High EU expenditure at a time of cutbacks and austerity across the continent is the main issue dividing the 27 member states. They failed to reach a compromise at a similar summit last November. The BBC's Europe ed...Read More
It's your fault: How our 'tribes' help create gridlock in Congress … If Congress has danced at the most perilous edges of brinkmanship, we the people helped push them there. We did it by voting lawmakers out of office when they work with the other party to craft legislation but then claiming we want Congress to compromise and seek bipartisan solutions. We're doing it by sendi...Read More
Yet, in view of the populist skepticism about patents which has penetrated deep in the zeitgeist, the Supreme Court sharply cut back on patenting in the emerging field of personalized medicine. The Court in its recent Mayo decision cited academics and other critics to conclude that in this area patenting will actually impede innovation. – Thomson Reuters/WestlawDominant Social Theme: Patents...Read More
EU leaders set for crucial budget summit … European Union leaders are due to begin a two-day summit in Brussels to try to strike a deal on the next seven years of EU spending. High EU expenditure at a time of cutbacks and austerity across the continent is the main issue dividing the 27 member states. They failed to reach a compromise at a similar summit last November. The BBC's Europe ed...Read More
IMF: Central banks must be responsible for financial stability … Financial stability should become a core central banking objective alongside monetary policy, although potential conflicts between the two functions might require some institutional redesign, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said. The IMF noted in a study that although central banks had delivered low inflation, they had fa...Read More
Afghan economy better than expected, says IMF … In 2013, the economy will continue to grow and inflation is expected to be stable. An IMF report, released on Monday, noted that a large crop has boosted real GDP growth to 12 per cent and helped moderate inflation, which was 6pc year-on-year in December 2012. The IMF team reached staff level understandings with the authorities on a path to com...Read More
Can local currencies help advance global sustainability? Local financial systems that put people and the environment at their heart are welcome, but can these new models be truly scaled? Local currencies can encourage shoppers to buy local, purchasing their goods at nearby shops and markets … By definition, they can be exchanged for goods only in a limited region. So why participate? The cor...Read More
IMF: Central banks must be responsible for financial stability … Financial stability should become a core central banking objective alongside monetary policy, although potential conflicts between the two functions might require some institutional redesign, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said. The IMF noted in a study that although central banks had delivered low inflation, they had fa...Read More
Afghan economy better than expected, says IMF … In 2013, the economy will continue to grow and inflation is expected to be stable. An IMF report, released on Monday, noted that a large crop has boosted real GDP growth to 12 per cent and helped moderate inflation, which was 6pc year-on-year in December 2012. The IMF team reached staff level understandings with the authorities on a path to com...Read More
Can local currencies help advance global sustainability? Local financial systems that put people and the environment at their heart are welcome, but can these new models be truly scaled? Local currencies can encourage shoppers to buy local, purchasing their goods at nearby shops and markets … By definition, they can be exchanged for goods only in a limited region. So why participate? The cor...Read More
On January 24, 2013, state-owned company Kazatomprom announced that the uranium production in the Republic of Kazakhstan amounted to 20.9 ktU in 2012 (excluding data from the Stepnogorsk mining and processing facility).This means that Kazakhstan remained the world's largest uranium producer in 2012 with approximately 37% of global uranium production volume (55.7 ktU, according to Kazatomprom's pre...Read More
Annual income of richest 100 people enough to end global poverty four times over … Leaders must aim to bring down global inequality at least to 1990 levels … An explosion in extreme wealth and income is exacerbating inequality and hindering the world's ability to tackle poverty, Oxfam warned today in a briefing published ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos. "We can no l...Read More
Cantons begin to see downside of low tax rates … For years they fought to offer the lowest tax rates but now some cantons in central Switzerland are questioning the wisdom of this rampant tax competition as the population boom that came with it weighs more heavily on local resources. The paradise that is central Switzerland is as much natural as it is fiscal: glassy lakes, snowy peaks, untou...Read More
Annual income of richest 100 people enough to end global poverty four times over … Leaders must aim to bring down global inequality at least to 1990 levels … An explosion in extreme wealth and income is exacerbating inequality and hindering the world's ability to tackle poverty, Oxfam warned today in a briefing published ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos. "We can no l...Read More
Cantons begin to see downside of low tax rates … For years they fought to offer the lowest tax rates but now some cantons in central Switzerland are questioning the wisdom of this rampant tax competition as the population boom that came with it weighs more heavily on local resources. The paradise that is central Switzerland is as much natural as it is fiscal: glassy lakes, snowy peaks, untou...Read More
Keystone pipeline decision to languish until mid-June-US source The Obama administration's decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline will not be made until at least June, a U.S. official said, which would delay the project for months and frustrate backers of Canada's oil sands. "We're talking the beginning of summer at the earliest," said the source, who did not want to be ide...Read More
Commentary … The Age of Neo-Feudalism: A Government of the Rich, by the Rich, and for the Corporations … The pomp and circumstance of the presidential inauguration has died down. Members of Congress have taken their seats on Capitol Hill, and Barack Obama has reclaimed his seat in the White House. The circus of the presidential election has become a faint memory. The long months of deb...Read More
Keystone pipeline decision to languish until mid-June-US source The Obama administration's decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline will not be made until at least June, a U.S. official said, which would delay the project for months and frustrate backers of Canada's oil sands. "We're talking the beginning of summer at the earliest," said the source, who did not want to be ide...Read More