House approves increase in debt ceiling with no strings attached, bill heads to Senate … The House voted Tuesday to raise the government's borrowing limit, as GOP leaders backed down from a potential confrontation with Democrats by declining to seek any concessions in exchange for the increase. The debt-ceiling bill passed on a 221-201 vote, and now goes to the Senate for final approval....Read More

Voters in Switzerland have narrowly approved a rightwing proposal to curb immigration. It imposes limits on the number of foreigners allowed in and may signal an end to the country's free movement accord with the European Union. The initiative was approved by just 50.3% of the votes and was passed by a majority of cantons. The move by the Swiss People's Party – known for its anti-for...Read More

The booming marijuana industry attracts enthusiasts and entrepreneurs … Working from a small booth on the fringes of a trade show packed with thousands of enthusiasts, Sean Donahoe says these are heady times to be in the marijuana business. "In a gold rush, you sell picks and shovels,'' says Donahoe, deputy director of the California Cannabis Industry Association. The young orga...Read More

The End of American Exceptionalism … From the moment Barack Obama appeared on the national stage, conservatives have been searching for the best way to describe the danger he poses to America's traditional way of life. Secularism? Check. Socialism? Sure. A tendency to apologize for America's greatness overseas? That, too. But how to tie them all together? … Newt Gingrich publis...Read More

Foreign Office caught asking Spanish press to undermine Scottish independence … The Foreign & Commonwealth Office has again been accused of meddling in the referendum, after it emerged that the British Embassy in Madrid has been urging newspapers in Spain to publish criticisms of Scottish independence. A letter published this month in the Tenerife News included a request from Simon Mont...Read More

Reagan's true legacy: The Tea Party … Tea Party Challenging the status quo is the correct condition of American conservatism. At the end of the American Revolution, Benjamin Rush, who had signed the Declaration of Independence, vowed that though the war with Great Britain was over, the Revolution would go on. The stirrings of original American conservatism were found in such sentiments....Read More

"F*** the EU": Top State Dep't official's phone call to U.S. ambassador in Ukraine leaked online. I'd call it a bombshell, not because of what's being said but because we're able to listen to it at all. The identities of the speakers haven't been officially confirmed but Jay Carney didn't deny when asked that this is Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nulan...Read More

Coming to a Post Office Near You: Loans You Can Trust? … The poor pay more, and that's one of the reasons people get trapped at the bottom of the economic ladder. But it doesn't have to be this way. In the same remarkable report this week, the OIG explored the possibility of the USPS offering basic banking services – bill paying, check cashing, small loans – to its custom...Read More

Simon Jenkins … apologised to the Germans for the forthcoming "avalanche of often sickening Great War memorabilia, largely at their expense. It will be the British at their worst: sanctimonious, self-congratulatory, worshipping at the tomb of the unknown, awful German." The war was nothing more than a pointless grinder, churning millions of bright young men into fertiliser for the...Read More

Emerging markets risk repeating eurozone blunder of synchronised tightening. Where have [we] seen this screenplay before? A string of countries tighten policy at the same time – some drastically – in order to prevent capital flight and show investors how tough they can be. Turkey, South Africa, and India all raised rates last week. Brazil and Indonesia did so before. Chile, Peru, Hunga...Read More

Justice Antonin Scalia says World War II-style internment camps could happen again … Justice Antonin Scalia predicts that the Supreme Court will eventually authorize another wartime abuse of civil rights such as the internment camps for Japanese-Americans during World War II. – WashingtonExaminerDominant Social Theme: Whatever is happening is fully justified and in the best interests o...Read More

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew Warns Time Is Running Out To Lift Debt Ceiling … Says U.S. will be unable to pay its bills past end of February if Congress doesn't raise debt ceiling … The Treasury Department will run out of "extraordinary measures" to keep the government afloat by the end of February if Congress does not act to raise the debt limit, Treasury Secretary Jack L...Read More

Stocks unravel after factory report; Dow sinks 300-plus points … U.S. stocks were hammered on Monday, with benchmark indexes falling through key support levels after a gauge of factory activity disappointed, heightening concern about the economy before Friday's monthly jobs report. – CNBCDominant Social Theme: The Dow goes up until it doesn't.Free-Market Analysis: Once more the...Read More

A central banker's 'license to lie' … Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who retires this week as the world's most powerful central banker, cannot be trusted. Neither can Janet Yellen, who will succeed him this weekend at the Federal Reserve. And neither can Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England; Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, or any of their...Read More

'Hidden away' in Deregulation Bill – plan to make it easier for police to seize journalistic material … The Newspaper Society has urged the Government to withdraw plans to change the law to make it easier for the police to seize journalistic material. The changes to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 are included in clause 47 of the Deregulation Bill which has its second...Read More

Deal or no deal? American politics may be becoming a bit less dysfunctional. In big annual speech to Congress, Barack Obama made several promises. He pledged to raise the minimum wage for those contracted to the federal government, to create a new tax-free savings bond to encourage Americans to save, to work for the closure of the Guantánamo Bay prison, to push immigration reforms and to ve...Read More

World risks deflationary shock as BRICS puncture credit bubbles … As matters stand, the next recession will push the Western economic system over the edge into deflation … It is a remarkable state of affairs that the G2 monetary superpowers – the US and China – should both be tightening … Half the world economy is one accident away from a deflation trap. – UK Te...Read More

Consign forward guidance to the bin … It would be better for the Bank of England to go back to the simplicity of inflation targeting "With a solid recovery finally in prospect, the earlier the Bank of England ditches the extra stimulus that is no longer required the better" The Bank of England's forward guidance is achieving nothing useful and could become dangerous. It is time...Read More

Why 'anti-European populists' won't win big in the European elections … For months EU politicians have been warning us about the upcoming elections for the European Parliament (EP), to be held in May in all 28 member states. European Commission President Jose Barroso recently predicted "a festival of unfounded reproaches against Europe" as a consequence of the EU-wide &...Read More

Iraq is poised to flood the oil market by tripling its capacity to pump crude by 2020 and is collaborating with Iran on strategy in a move that will challenge Saudi Arabia's grip on the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. "We feel the world needs to be assured of fuel for economic growth," Hussain al-Shahristani, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy in Iraq told oil industry d...Read More