A software update scheduled for release in about three months would give Model S Tesla sedans the ability to start driving themselves, which the company refers to as autopilot mode … For many drivers who commute long distances, the prospect of owning a self-driving car – where a driver takes his hands off the wheel and feet off the gas – has been an elusive dream. – New Yor...Read More

Justice, capitalism and progress: Paul Tudor Jones II at TED2015 … Can capital be just? As a firm believer in capitalism and the free market, Paul Tudor Jones II believes that it can be. Jones is the founder of the Tudor Investment Corporation and the Tudor Group, which trade in the fixed-income, equity, currency and commodity markets. He thinks it is time to expand the "narrow definiti...Read More

China's Place in the New World Economic Order … Competition between the world's two greatest economic powers is both inevitable and (for the most part) beneficial. This is the case even when China and the U.S. are arguing over control of increasingly obsolescent international financial institutions. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: The New World Order is coming to town?Free-Ma...Read More

Central Bank Autonomy Is Under Attack … Current events in Cyprus and Turkey hammer home a point that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan made in the memoirs he published in September 2007. Central bank independence, Greenspan said, is "not set in stone." Left unsaid was the fact that it should be. Against an ever-shifting political backdrop, monetary policy can provide a...Read More

Global population growth threatens to outstrip fresh water supply: study … Global demand for fresh water is set to outstrip supply as a result of population growth by the middle of this century if current levels of consumption continue, a study said. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: The world is running out of everything. Soon we will freeze in the dark … or maybe die of thirst.Fr...Read More

Defying U.S., European allies say they'll join China-led bank … Germany, France and Italy said on Tuesday they would join a new China-led Asian investment bank after close ally Britain defied U.S. pressure to become a founder member of a venture seen in Washington as a rival to the World Bank. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: Asia will show the West how to run an investment bank.Fre...Read More

Elon Musk: cars you can drive will eventually be outlawed … Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk believes that cars you can control will eventually be outlawed in favor of ones that are controlled by robots. The simple explanation: Musk believes computers will do a much better job than us to the point where, statistically, humans would be a liability on roadways. – The VergeDominant Soci...Read More

What it means if Fed no longer says it's 'patient' on rates … For the Federal Reserve, patience may no longer be a virtue. Surrounding the Fed's policy meeting this week is the widespread expectation that it will no longer use the word "patient" to describe its stance on raising interest rates from record lows. The big question is: What will that mean? – APDom...Read More

New border deal: Canada customs agents could work in U.S., vice versa … Canadian customs agents could soon work in the U.S. and carry firearms, and the U.S. border guards could do the same in Canada, as a result of a new border agreement between Canada and the U.S. – CBCDominant Social Theme: It makes a lot of sense for US and Canadian security personnel to work together – maybe...Read More

German Chancellor Merkel Examines the Model of Cyprus As a Solution for Greece … The model of Cyprus might be the best solution for Greece in order to force the government's implementation of the structural reforms it has already agreed to with the country's creditors. This is what the German magazine Der Spiegel estimates, citing information from the Chancellery. – Greek Repor...Read More

For the first time, the world economy grows while carbon emissions don't … The change is likely due to an increase in sustainable energy … For the last 40 years, whenever the world economy grew, so did the Earth's carbon dioxide levels — until 2014, The Washington Post reports. – The VergeDominant Social Theme: When there is less carbon dioxide, the world rejoices.F...Read More

Go Ahead, Bash the Fed …"Bash" is a useful word for journalists looking to stack the deck. We criticize; the people we disagree with "bash." The bashing may take the form of criticism, but the choice of words has primed readers to regard the criticism as stupid and vulgar. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: The Fed needs to be criticized so it can work better.Free-Ma...Read More

'Blurred Lines' and Bad Law … If the devolution from Marvin Gaye to Robin Thicke doesn't stand for the decline of Western civilization, nothing does. The Los Angeles jury that found Thicke's "Blurred Lines" unintentionally plagiarized Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" apparently agreed. Choosing the dead genius over the living epigone was artistically correct...Read More

American Mystery Story: Consumers Aren't Spending Even In a Booming Job Market … It's an American mystery story: More people have jobs and extra pocket money from lower gas prices, but they aren't buying as much as economists expected. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: Happy days are here again. People don't understand it yet.Free-Market Analysis: Is it really a mystery...Read More

Columbia Journalism School to Cut Class Size and Staff Jobs … Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism is reducing its class size and cutting staff positions as demand for journalism schools across the country dwindles. – New York TimesDominant Social Theme: Good reporting will always find a market.Free-Market Analysis: What is analogous to debating how many angels can dance on the...Read More

Only mass default will end the world's addiction to debt … As global debt rises off the scale, creditors stand to take a huge hit in a threatened tsunami of defaults. – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: This will end badly as it has to.Free-Market Analysis: This is another one of those hopeless articles that the mainstream media specializes in. There's nothing about it that pr...Read More

Major survey finds record low confidence in government … Americans' confidence in all three branches of government is at or near record lows, according to a major survey that has measured attitudes on the subject for 40 years. The 2014 General Social Survey finds only 23 percent of Americans have a great deal of confidence in the Supreme Court, 11 percent in the executive branch and 5 pe...Read More

Gold's Long Decline Is the Real Story … Equity markets started off this year by falling. They rallied in February, working their way back into the green. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index now is up about 1 percent for the year. Gold has traveled the opposite path … – BloombergDominant Social Theme: Gold is a bad investment.Free-Market Analysis: We track dominant social...Read More

U.S. Senators Introduce Historic Bill to Allow Full Legalization of Medical Marijuana … Three U.S. senators unveiled a new bill today that would effectively end a federal ban on medical marijuana, according to multiple sources. – MedicalJane.comDominant Social Theme: Cannabis is a scourge.Free-Market Analysis: Believe us now? Meme watching is a skill. As soon as we detected the first &...Read More

The Fed Needs Humans … U.S. legislators … want to remove human judgment from its decisions on where to set interest rates. It's a terrible idea that could endanger the entire global economy. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: The Fed is an art form. Technocrats are the artists.Free-Market Analysis: Our ongoing effort to analyze the arguments against an "audit" of the...Read More