What if saving the economy was the easy part? … If the past seven years have proven anything, it's that the biggest danger is often the one that no one sees coming. "You have to worry, otherwise you can't be a central banker," Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said in a speech this month. "What worries me most is that things happen: You've got a nice framework. It&...Read More
The truth is rushing out there: why conspiracy theories spread faster than ever … From 9/11 to the Paris attacks, from Ebola to Isis, every major global event attracts a corresponding counter-narrative from the 'truthers', some so all-encompassing that they take over people's lives. Are our brains wired to believe, as a new book argues? And could such thinking actually be benefic...Read More
In Sweden, a Cash-Free Future Nears … Parishioners text tithes to their churches. Homeless street vendors carry mobile credit-card readers. Even the Abba Museum, despite being a shrine to the 1970s pop group that wrote "Money, Money, Money," considers cash so last-century that it does not accept bills and coins. Few places are tilting toward a cashless future as quickly as Sweden,...Read More
Katie Couric reveals what it's like to work with Marissa Mayer at Yahoo … Yahoo global news anchor Katie Couric tells INSIDER exclusively: "Marissa is in the spotlight … When you're a high-profile woman, I think that it can sometimes be uber-challenging, and I think she's putting her head down and trying to do the work, and I know it must be challenging at times for he...Read More
Confident and clear, Yellen says rate path will be well signaled … The unanimous backing Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen got for the Fed's first rate hike since the financial crisis let her deliver a clear message: Don't expect further rate hikes for a while, and when we are ready, we'll tell you. Yellen's confident and measured performance – she even managed a joke...Read More
US general rebrands Isis 'Daesh' after requests from regional partners … Leader of operations against group uses alternative name – a pejorative in Arabic that rejects fighters' claims on Islam … A top Pentagon general has informally rebranded the jihadists of Isis with the name "Daesh" after allies in the middle east asked he not use the group's other m...Read More
Martin Shkreli, "America's Most Hated "… The "most hated man in America" just got arrested for securities fraud. Shkreli, the baby faced, former Jim Cramer protege and serial biotech mogul who famously raised the price of a toxoplasmosis drug by 5000% in September, igniting a media and political firestorm in the process, is accused of using Retrophin (a company he fou...Read More
Why the Fed's historic rate hike is good news and bad news for the economy. Yellen says rate hike shows Fed's confidence the U.S. economy is strengthening … — LA TimesDominant Social Theme: The Fed takes care of the economy, and this is the way it must be.Free-Market Analysis: The good news is that the economy is recovering, according to this article. The bad news is that the F...Read More
Why Hillary Clinton's 'Likeability' May Not Matter to Voters in 2016 … Hillary Clinton's candidacy will test an important proposition in presidential politics: Do voters cast ballots for candidates they don't necessarily like? Mrs. Clinton isn't hanging her candidacy on the idea that she's especially personable. The thrust of her campaign is that in precarious tim...Read More
Fed raises rates for first time in 9 years … The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade on Wednesday, signaling faith that the U.S. economy had largely overcome the wounds of the 2007-2009 financial crisis. The U.S. central bank's policy-setting committee raised the range of its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to between 0.25...Read More
Obama Tells New American Citizens Why Immigration Is 'Part of What Makes Us Exceptional' … On Tuesday morning, 31 people from 25 countries became American citizens while standing in the same room as the original Bill of Rights, which celebrated its 224th birthday today. They were very excited. Muhanned Ibrahim Al Naib, a refugee from Iraq and former translator, told the Guardian, &qu...Read More
The Fed is about to close a momentous chapter in monetary-policy history … The Federal Reserve is set to exit a historic monetary-policy era and enter a new one. On Wednesday, it will most likely raise its benchmark rate for the first time in nine years, ending the zero interest-rate regime that was designed to support the economy after the Great Recession. To do this, it would raise the tar...Read More
The Plot Against America: Donald Trump's Rhetoric … You can't effectively say that Donald Trump is vulgar, sensational, and buffoonish when it's exactly vulgar sensationalism and buffoonery that his audience is buying … Donald Trump, when he really gets going, hardly speaks in sentences anymore. He doesn't need to …. Whether we call him a Fascist or a right-wing d...Read More
Taking The Temperature Of The U.S. Economy. Is It Healthy? … Seven years ago, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to zero. David Greene talks to David Wessel of the Hutchins Center at the Brookings Institution about what impact this has had on the economy. – NPRDominant Social Theme: After so much time at the zero bound it's time to hike.Free-Market Analysis: This transcript fro...Read More
Francois Hollande is more popular than ever. So why is his party still losing? … François Hollande has not been a particularly lucky president so far. Saturday might have been a high point for the troubled politician: Under his leadership, delegates from all over the world agreed to a new climate treaty to stop global warming. – Washington PostDominant Social Theme: Hollande is...Read More
Larry Kudlow: I've Changed. This Is War. Seal the Borders. Stop the Visas … A hardline shift from an immigration reformer. I know this is not my usual position. But this is a war. Therefore I have come to believe there should be no immigration or visa waivers until the U.S. adopts a completely new system to stop radical Islamic terrorists from entering the country. A wartime lockdown. An...Read More
Is ISIS Simply A "Saudi Army In Disguise"? … Something major missing. In recent weeks I have been increasingly unsatisfied by the general explanations about who is actually pulling the strings in the entire Middle East plot or, more precisely, plots, to the point of reexamining my earlier views on the role of Saudi Arabia. – New Eastern OutlookDominant Social Theme: The House...Read More
Clock ticks on Swiss banking secrecy … Many Swiss believe banking secrecy cannot be sustained … Switzerland is facing mounting pressure finally to abandon its long tradition of banking secrecy. The United States has already told the Swiss government it expects Swiss banks to provide the US authorities with automatic information about US clients. Now the European Union is demanding the...Read More
The Silver-Skelos 'defense': Corruption is the way of Albany … How do you defend the indefensible? If you're former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, you do the same as your Assembly counterpart, Sheldon Silver: You don't. Like Silver, Skelos opted not to testify on his own behalf — likely realizing the jury wouldn't believe a word. – NewYorkPostDomina...Read More
It's going to get much worse for gold … It's been another tough year for gold. The precious metal has fallen 10 percent in 2015 and is tracking for its longest yearly losing streak since 1998. And according to one technician, the pain will continue heading into 2016. "I think there's still downside here," Rich Ross said Monday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." &...Read More