The Economist explains… How did the global poverty rate halve in 20 years? Poverty is easy to spot but hard to define. America sets its poverty line at $11,490 of income per year for a one-person household, or just over $30 a day. Any income below that amount is judged inadequate for the provision of fundamental wants. Other rich countries set their poverty lines in relative terms, so an inc...Read More

Retirement at 70 will be 'new norm' … Retiring at 70 will soon be the "new norm", as the number of Britons saving enough for old age reaches an all-time low. Less than half of Britons are saving enough for their twilight years, according to Scottish Widows. – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Save more. Spend less. Simple.Free-Market Analysis: Is it an idle question...Read More

IRS woes grow with report of conference spending … The Internal Revenue Service, already under fire after officials disclosed that the agency targeted conservative groups, faces increased scrutiny because of an inspector general's report that it spent about $50 million to hold at least 220 conferences for employees between 2010 and 2012. The report by the Treasury Department's inspec...Read More

Enough shale gas to change UK energy balance, says IGas UK shale gas explorer … IGas says its licence area in northwest England could hold enough gas to meet the country's entire consumption for over five years, dwarfing a previous forecast and national proven reserves. IGas chief Andrew Austin said only some of the vast shale gas reserves would be recoverable but still had the potential...Read More

Abe Offers $32 Billion to Africa as Japan Seeks Resources … Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged 3.2 trillion yen ($32 billion) to Africa as his government seeks to catch up with China in pursuing resources, markets and influence on the continent. Abe announced the five-year commitment of public and private support in a speech today at the Tokyo International Conference on African Deve...Read More

European countries to be allowed to ease austerity… The European Commission has said it will allow some EU member states to slow their pace of austerity cuts, amid concerns over growth. France, Spain, Poland, Portugal, the Netherlands and Slovenia are all being given more time to complete their austerity plans. France will get two more years to bring its budget deficit below 3% of GDP. Commi...Read More

Eurozone unemployment reaches new record … The seasonally-adjusted rate for April was 12.2%, up from 12.1% the month before. An extra 95,000 people were out of work in the 17 countries that use the euro, taking the total to 19.38 million. Both Greece and Spain have jobless rates above 25%. The lowest unemployment rate is in Austria at 4.9%. The European Commission's statistics office, Eu...Read More

Households Still Haven't Rebuilt Lost Wealth … Americans have recovered only 45% of the wealth they lost during the recession, adjusted for inflation, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis estimated. The findings were released as part of the St. Louis Fed's 2012 annual report, which was made public on Thursday. In the report, the Midwestern bank announced the launch of a new Center f...Read More

Tiananmen group condemns Chinese leader Xi Jinping … Relatives of victims of the 1989 Tiananmen killings have criticised Chinese President Xi Jinping for failing to initiate political reform. The open letter, from the Tiananmen Mothers group, came ahead of the 4 June anniversary of the crackdown. It also came as Mr Xi departed for a tour of Latin America and the Caribbean that will culminate...Read More

Is the Dollar Dying? Why US Currency Is in Danger … The U.S dollar is shrinking as a percentage of the world's currency supply, raising concerns that the greenback is about to see its long run as the world's premier denomination come to an end. When compared to its peers, the dollar has drifted to a 15-year low, according to the International Monetary Fund, indicating that more count...Read More

Central Banks Act With a New Boldness … When James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, arrived in Frankfurt last week, he issued an unusual public warning to the European Central Bank: Be bolder. Central bankers, anywhere in the world, are a cautious lot. They prefer slow and steady over the dramatic gesture. And they rarely go public with criticisms of other central...Read More

The Wisdom of Bob Dole … Bob Dole no longer recognizes the Republican Party that he helped lead for years. Speaking over the weekend on "Fox News Sunday," he said his party should hang a "closed for repairs" sign on its doors until it comes up with a few positive ideas, because neither he nor Ronald Reagan would now feel comfortable in its membership. "It seems to be...Read More

UBS Hunts for Hidden Billionaires as It Expands in Africa UBS AG (UBSN), the Swiss bank seeking to boost profit from wealth management, said it plans to expand in Africa as economic growth rates surpassing 5 percent boost demand for banking services from the continent's rich. "Wealth management is key to the Africa franchise," Sean Bennett, the Johannesburg-based managing director of...Read More

Confidence at Five-Year High as U.S. Housing Climbs: Economy Consumer confidence climbed to the highest level in more than five years and home prices advanced by the most in seven as the housing rebound gives the U.S. economy a lift. The Conference Board's sentiment index rose to 76.2 in May, exceeding all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists and the highest since February 2008, data...Read More

France and Germany: A Tale of Two Countries Drifting Apart … A political, economic and demographic divide has opened up between France and Germany. And, if that were not trouble enough, a new Pew Research Center survey suggests that these two countries, which have for decades been the driving force behind European integration, increasingly see the world through different lenses. – Pew/...Read More

Germany fears revolution if Europe scraps welfare model … German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned on Tuesday that failure to win the battle against youth unemployment could tear Europe apart, and dropping the continent's welfare model in favor of tougher U.S. standards would spark a revolution. Germany, along with France, Spain and Italy, backed urgent action to rescue a genera...Read More

India's Golden Problem … The legendary Indian obsession with purchasing gold has been passed down for generations. Families purchase gold on auspicious religious occasions and, in larger quantities, for weddings. It forms a significant part of savings, particularly in rural areas, and is often passed down as inheritance. Today, however, it is also being credited as one of the main reason...Read More

Government Bonds (JGBs) and that can't be a good thing. Panic tends inevitably to lead to crisis, and goodness knows, global financial markets could hardly deal with another crisis without contagion on a massive scale. – CounterpunchDominant Social Theme: Turbulence? What turbulence?Free-Market Analysis: Japan's market turbulence may only be a glitch in a larger globalist plan to eve...Read More

Brazil Forgives Most of Africa's $900 Million Debt … The Brazilian government is forgiving or restructuring Africa's almost $900 million debt in an effort to strengthen economic ties between Brazil and the African continent. Twelve countries will benefit from the decision, including Tanzania, Zambia and Congo-Brazzaville. – Clutch MagazineDominant Social Theme: Africa … t...Read More

12 years ago with Sheryl Sandberg, long before she joined Facebook Inc. and wrote her book on female empowerment. We were listening to her boss at the time, U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, speak about the need for structural reforms to the Japanese economy, in a giant auditorium devoid of women. It was one of several male-dominated events that day. The author of "Lean In" leane...Read More