Mark Carney goes in to bat for Britain … Governor Mark Carney takes the Tube on his first day … Mark Carney started his first day at the Bank of England with a Tube ride on the central line and a slew of advice on how he might try to fix the British economy. – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Mark Carney, the most brilliant central banker of his generation, takes the subway to...Read More
Historic Mistake Watch … When the Fed began its talk of "tapering" asset purchases, I warned that it might turn out to be a "historic mistake". I guess the historic bit is still up in the air; but the mistake aspect is now glaringly obvious. Bond prices have plunged, and the Fed's attempts to inform markets that they've got it all wrong have only modestly mitigate...Read More
Irish bankers 'hoodwinked' government over bailout, secret recordings show … Tape recordings suggest bankers 'hoodwinked' the government over the size of the bailout. A top banker with the financial institution that almost bankrupted Ireland boasted that he had picked the figure of €7bn (£5.9bn) they told the Irish government was needed to rescue the Anglo Irish Ba...Read More
Danny Alexander: Tories should not waste time on EU referendum laws as Ukip will 'come and go' … The Tories should not be wasting time on an EU Referendum Bil as "Ukip will come and Ukip will go", Danny Alexander, a senior Liberal Democrat minister, has suggested. Labour and Lib Dem MPs are expected to be encouraged to boycott the Tory EU referendum Bill. Mr Alexander, the...Read More
U.S. plays down reports of spying on EU, other allies … Nearly all national governments, not just the United States, use "lots of activities" to safeguard their interests and security, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday, responding for the first time to allegations that Washington spied on the European Union and other allies. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: Hor...Read More
Feldstein: Why Inflation Is Low … Why has quantitative easing coexisted with price stability in the United States? Or, as I often hear, "Why has the Federal Reserve's printing of so much money not caused higher inflation?" Inflation has certainly been very low. During the past five years, the consumer price index has increased at an annual rate of just 1.5%. The Fed's prefe...Read More
Mark Carney goes in to bat for Britain … Governor Mark Carney takes the Tube on his first day … Mark Carney started his first day at the Bank of England with a Tube ride on the central line and a slew of advice on how he might try to fix the British economy. – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Mark Carney, the most brilliant central banker of his generation, takes the subway to...Read More
Historic Mistake Watch … When the Fed began its talk of "tapering" asset purchases, I warned that it might turn out to be a "historic mistake". I guess the historic bit is still up in the air; but the mistake aspect is now glaringly obvious. Bond prices have plunged, and the Fed's attempts to inform markets that they've got it all wrong have only modestly mitigate...Read More
Irish bankers 'hoodwinked' government over bailout, secret recordings show … Tape recordings suggest bankers 'hoodwinked' the government over the size of the bailout. A top banker with the financial institution that almost bankrupted Ireland boasted that he had picked the figure of €7bn (£5.9bn) they told the Irish government was needed to rescue the Anglo Irish Ba...Read More
Danny Alexander: Tories should not waste time on EU referendum laws as Ukip will 'come and go' … The Tories should not be wasting time on an EU Referendum Bil as "Ukip will come and Ukip will go", Danny Alexander, a senior Liberal Democrat minister, has suggested. Labour and Lib Dem MPs are expected to be encouraged to boycott the Tory EU referendum Bill. Mr Alexander, the...Read More
U.S. plays down reports of spying on EU, other allies … Nearly all national governments, not just the United States, use "lots of activities" to safeguard their interests and security, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday, responding for the first time to allegations that Washington spied on the European Union and other allies. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: Hor...Read More
Al Korelin, founder of A.B. Korelin & Associates, tells Newsmax that despite its recent price plunge, gold remains appealing as a store of value and as a hedge against rising prices with inflation subdued.Read More
Many people offer well meaning, well intentioned advice. And so much of it is worse than worthless, but actually harmful! In school, we are taught to listen, and regurgitate what they tell us. Our parents are always teaching us to listen to them. And I'm mostly that way with my two young boys, too. But I also try to teach them to really think.So, who does teach us to stop and think for o...Read More
Risk of 1937 relapse as Fed gives up fight against deflation … The US Federal Reserve has jumped the gun. It has mishandled its exit strategy from quantitative easing, triggering a global bond rout that it did not anticipate, and is struggling to control. That the Fed should tighten even as it cut its own growth and inflation forecasts for this year is a bizarre state of affairs … It h...Read More
Viva la Siesta Should Southern Europe Really Be More German? In the wake of the euro crisis, Southern Europeans have increasingly traded their traditions of leisure for more work and more consumption – often at Germany's prodding. As backlash sets in, this logic must be questioned. Europe is groaning under German hegemony, but that isn't something we in Germany like to hear. From the...Read More
When the Guardian and the Washington Post revealed details about the National Security Agency collecting phone data from telecommunications companies and U.S. government programs pulling in emails and photographs from internet businesses, suddenly "George Orwell" was leading the news. The British essayist predicted it all, commentators asserted, and the United States now seems straight o...Read More
Emerging, maturing, protesting markets … At the beginning of this year, Eurasia Group, the political risk firm I lead, released its top 10 risks of 2013. We forgot to put Pepsi-guzzling whistleblowers on the list, but we did give our top slot to increasing turmoil in "emerging markets." In a global economy that has become more reliant on countries whose economies are vulnerable to...Read More
Families face 'unprecendented' squeeze on living standards … The rise in the cost of living and the squeeze on household budgets is much worse than the official measures suggest. Due to the 25pc rise in the cost of goods and services, families are facing a "squeeze" on their standard of living. The cost of essential goods and services has rocketed by 25pc in the past five y...Read More
Tour de France 2013: It was impossible to win Tour without taking drugs, claims Lance Armstrong … Five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault reacted angrily to Armstrong's comments and his claims that there was a doping culture in cycling. "We've got to stop thinking that all cycle racers are thugs and druggies," he told BFM TV. "It depresses me to hear all this. I think th...Read More