We've enjoyed a pleasant break – prepare for more economic storms ahead … The challenge of managing the exit from QE and returning interest rates to a more normal 5pc or so level will remain … 'It now appears that (a slight blip at the end of 2012 aside), there has been fairly strong growth in the UK since the summer of 2012.' … How is the UK economy doing, wher...Read More

Michael Tellinger: Ubuntu Party Elections 2014 Philosophy and Plan of Action … A Blueprint For Human Prosperity, abolish the privately owned RESERVE BANK … Create a PEOPLE's BANK that creates money for the people by the people, tax-free and interest-free, debt slavery, Decentralize the government, escape the grips of Monsanto, Gift Economy, grow organic food … Michael Telling...Read More

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, says he was wrong to ignore marijuana's medical potential when he wrote an opinion piece in 2009 called "Why I would Vote No on Pot." Gupta filmed a documentary that aired on CNN on Sunday, August 11, and earlier this week wrote an editorial on CNN.com in which he admitted that the research for the movie changed his mind about...Read More

Time to stop following defunct economic policies … Can economists contribute anything useful to our understanding of politics, business and finance in the real world? I raise this question having spent last weekend in Toronto at the annual conference of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, a foundation created in 2009 in response to the failure of modern economics in the global financial...Read More

Reefer Madness, and Reason … Marijuana has now been legalized or decriminalized in 17 states and the District of Columbia, with Maryland joining the list just last week. Not to harsh anyone's mellow, but it may be an appropriate time (and day) to bring back another useful verb to associate with marijuana use: stigmatize. The drive toward legitimization will be hard to stop. Most American...Read More

The problems of HFT … Never mind Michael Lewis. The most interesting and provocative thing to be written of late about financial innovation in general, and high-frequency trading in particular, comes from Joe Stiglitz. The Nobel prize-winning economist delivered a wonderful and fascinating speech at the Atlanta Fed's 2014 Financial Markets Conference today; here's a shorter version o...Read More

"Free Jeff Mizanskey" Efforts Continue with Billboards and 360,000 Signatures … The billboard is on I-70 in Saline County. Efforts to release Jeff Mizanskey, the only man in Missouri serving a life-without-parole sentence for a nonviolent marijuana charge, are continuing this month with help from Show-Me Cannabis and Change.org. Show-Me Cannabis has bought billboard space on I-70 n...Read More

US financial showdown with Russia is more dangerous than it looks, for both sides … The United States has constructed a financial neutron bomb. For the past 12 years an elite cell at the US Treasury has been sharpening the tools of economic warfare, designing ways to bring almost any country to its knees without firing a shot. The strategy relies on hegemonic control over the global banking...Read More

BRICS countries to set up their own IMF … Very soon, the IMF will cease to be the world's only organization capable of rendering international financial assistance. The BRICS countries are setting up alternative institutions, including a currency reserve pool and a development bank … The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have made significant progress...Read More

The lost promise of progressive taxes … By midnight on April 15, roughly 140 million Americans will have filed their federal income tax returns and breathed a sigh of relief. Politicians from both parties, however, will spend most of the day criticizing our current tax system. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: Tax everyone according to his ability to pay.Free-Market Analysis: This Reuter...Read More

The Astounding Conspiracy Theories of Wall Street Genius Mark Gorton … Mark Gorton is a prominent financier and a respected entrepreneur. He founded the music sharing site Limewire, and he runs Tower Research, a famed high-frequency trading firm. Gorton also believes that the "ruthless" secret cabal that assassinated JFK and planned 9/11 could be coming to kill his family. Mark Gor...Read More

Why Europe needs the City's financial weapons of mass destruction … There is very little chance of a market-led recovery taking hold in Europe without a revival in securitised lending to give it legs. America's sub-prime lending boom led to the banking crisis, yet securitisation is poised to make a comeback … They were the "financial weapons of mass destruction" which...Read More

"A nonviolent revolution is not a programme of 'seizure of power' but it is a programme of transformation of relationships, ending in a peaceful transfer of power." -Mahatma Gandhi … Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. As we organize to exercise our right to free expression we must dedicate ourselves to promoting democracy and human dignity alike....Read More

Germany risks EU fines with record current account surplus … Wise Men say country's external surplus will keep rising to a modern-era high of 7.9pc of GDP this year, far above the 6pc limit set by Brussels. Germany first agreed to the new procedure thinking it would be used to punish deficit countries living beyond their means. Germany's current account surplus will smash all records...Read More

Nevada Rancher: 'The Citizens Of America' Got My Cattle Back … After a tense standoff with the Bureau of Land Management, the Nevada Rancher at the center of the disagreement proclaimed that "the citizens of America" got his cattle back. Rancher Cliven Bundy reached a deal with the BLM Saturday allowing the cattle that had been removed from the BLM land to be released back...Read More

It is now nearly seven years since the start of the financial crisis, yet despite growing evidence in America and Britain of a return to relative normality, something remains profoundly broken at the heart of the world economy. One manifestation of this – much discussed among the officials, finance ministers and central bankers gathered in Washington this week for the spring meeting of the I...Read More

Sen. Sessions: 'Deliberate Plan by President' to Collapse U.S. Law Enforcement System … Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said today that Americans need to stand up to "a deliberate plan by the president of the United States" to collapse the nation's law enforcement system regarding illegal immigration. – CNSDominant Social Theme: The US system is either perfect or perf...Read More

When credit is too much of a good thing … What does credit do after it has finished the job it was designed for? The supply of credit ought to stop at funding productive activity. But the reality is different. Surplus credit fuels dangerous asset price inflation and funds profligate governments. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: A new kind of credit danger! And a new solution!Free-Market...Read More

Why Do Investors Make Bad Choices? … For many years, I have studied human behavior, including the mistakes occasionally made by fallible people, including investors. But a few years ago, I made a really dumb investment decision. In a single day, I hit the trifecta, committing at least three classic behavioral mistakes. – Bloomberg/Cass SunsteinDominant Social Theme: The stock market is...Read More

The Libertarian Surge … Libertarianism – the political philosophy that says limited government is the best kind of government – is having its moment. Unfortunately, that's mostly because government has been expanding in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and the financial crisis. Somehow government failures lead to even more government. When the financial crisis hit in the...Read More