It is now 65 years since George Orwell died, and he has never been bigger. His phrases are on our lips, his ideas are in our heads, his warnings have come true. One answer to "why Orwell?" is because of his posthumous career. Five years before his death in 1950, he was, in the words of one of his biographers, D.J. Taylor, "still a faintly marginal figure" … It was only wi...Read More

Five reasons why markets are heading for a crash … Hold onto your hats. Stock markets look much as they did in 2000 and 2007 … We had a slight premonition of what's to come in the October mini-crash … Many stock markets are close to their all-time highs, the oil price is plummeting, delivering a significant boost to Western and Asian economies, the European Central Bank is ge...Read More

How Science Suffers During Government Shutdown … Congress (probably) won't defund the government next week. But if they do, their decision will be disastrous for science … No one wants another government shutdown. Not President Obama, who needs the funding to fight ISIS and Ebola abroad. Not Speaker Boehner, who warned House Republicans last month that defunding the government woul...Read More

The Gold Fairy Tale Fails Again … Will they never learn? Yesterday, oil rallied 4.3 percent and gold gained 3.6 percent as commodities had an up day after a long and painful fall. The fascinating aspect of the trading wasn't the $45 pop in gold, nor the even greater percentage rally in oil, but the accompanying narrative. … When it comes to speculating, especially in precious metal...Read More

Here Are Exactly What Types Of Porn The UK Just Banned … The UK just announced a change in the guidelines that govern online pornography, and people are scared that the government is embarking on a far-reaching crackdown on porn. The Independent, for instance, is reporting that "the measures appear to take aim at female pleasure." That's not really true. There isn't a lengt...Read More

Rand Paul dives back into Ferguson debate … Rand Paul wrote a column for TIME following the decision in Ferguson. He said that politicians are to blame in Ferguson and elsewhere … Individuals, he argued, are ultimately responsible for their own fate … His comments are part of his aggressive minority outreach. – CNNDominant Social Theme: This is a crazy conservative who does...Read More

The People's Republic of Plymouth … The strange and persistent right-wing myth that Thanksgiving celebrates the pilgrims' triumph over socialism. The first Thanksgiving, socialism "Down with the Commies! Let's eat!" … This Thursday, Americans will gather together for an evening of family, food, football, and arguing with the relatives about politics. And why shoul...Read More

Stock markets set to take off as Europe, Asia abandon austerity … The Great Divergence is a term coined by economic historians to explain the sudden acceleration of growth and technology in Europe from the 16th century onward, while other civilizations such as China, India, Japan and Persia remained in their pre-modern state. This phrase has recently acquired a very different meaning, howeve...Read More

Swiss Vote Against Gold Deals Blow to Investors Hurt by Slump … Gold futures for December delivery fell 0.2 percent to $1,143.60 an ounce on the Comex … With no chance that the Swiss central bank will be the next big buyer of gold, it's one more reason for investors to be bearish. Voters today rejected a referendum requiring the Swiss National Bank hold at least 20 percent of its 5...Read More

American banking has its own Tea Party … Like the anti-establishment wing of the Republican Party, the American banking business has its own version of a Tea Party: the Independent Community Bankers of America. In just the past week, the trade group has vociferously opposed the nomination of a Wall Street banker to the Treasury and hailed a bill that would increase congressional oversight of...Read More

According to the [book], the company provides FBI and CIA with unfettered access to users' e-mails … Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in his book planned to be out on December 1 reveals that Google in fact works for the US State Department, as reported by the Spanish Publico.es web edition. – TassDominant Social Theme: Google and Facebook represent the best of US capitalism and inn...Read More

Opinion: Federal Reserve relies on misleading indicators … When it decides whether and when to raise interest rates, the Federal Reserve will be watching two numbers very closely: the rates of unemployment and inflation. A sizable drop in the jobless rate from present levels would be a sign that higher rates are nigh; the same would be true if the rate of inflation should accelerate. –...Read More

Gold prices may surge if Swiss vote on reserves passes … Global gold prices may surge in the coming week if Swiss voters approve a controversial measure that would force their country's central bank to keep at least a fifth of its assets in gold. If the referendum Sunday passes and the Swiss government is forced to start beefing up its reserves, the price of gold could jump to more than...Read More

Britain's EU retreat means German hegemony warns Prodi … Britain is already a lame duck within the EU's internal governing structure and is losing influence "by the day" in Brussels, even before David Cameron holds a referendum on withdrawal. This self-isolation has upset the European balance of power in profound ways, leading ineluctably to German hegemony and a unipolar s...Read More

The Market Is Your Friend. Really: One Millennial's Advice to Peers … Dear fellow millennials, We need to talk about our approach to investing. A recent study by Moody's Analytics shows that U.S. adults under age 35 spend, in aggregate, 2% more than what they earn. This finding has been the subject of much hand-wringing about our generation, which is sometimes defined as anyone born...Read More

It just keeps rollin' … The populist party wins the Rochester and Strood by-election … THE UK Independence Party (UKIP) bandwagon kept on rolling through the pretty Kent streets of Rochester and Strood on November 20th. Its candidate, Mark Reckless (pictured, right), won the by-election he had occasioned by defecting from the Conservatives with 42% of the vote. This gives UKIP its...Read More

Why America Needs an Exit Tax … President Obama's executive action on immigration will end the threat of deportation for as many as 3.7 million parents of American citizens, while also protecting about 350,000 immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. It's being sold as a stopgap measure until Congress passes a comprehensive immigration act. If Congress does finally address immigr...Read More

Supervising the Supervisors …The Fed is sorry. Sorry about the whole being too cozy with banks thing. As penance, the Fed has "asked its inspector general to look into whether top supervisors were getting the information they needed to make their decisions," and if they "were hearing all the opinions of Fed bank examiners." Remember Dan Davies's take on bank supervisi...Read More

Millions of immigrants living illegally in the US will be allowed to apply for work permits under a major shake-up unveiled by President Barack Obama. They include immigrants who have been in the US for five years and have children staying legally in the US. About four million people are expected to benefit from a reform package forced through using executive orders, which allow Mr Obama to bypass...Read More

Tales in monetary voodoo, try this for a spin … We play with the money system at our peril. On Thursday, British MPs are to debate money creation, including so-called "helicopter money". This is supposedly the first time parliament has debated such matters since 1844. Back then, it didn't work out so well. Much debated but little understood, money creation is one of those fiend...Read More