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

Shale gas in northern England could meet Britain's gas needs for 40 years Northern England could provide enough shale gas to meet the UK's needs for more than four decades, an official report has revealed … The government said a British Geological Survey report estimates that there could be 1,300 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas trapped in the rocks under Lancashire, Yorkshire and su...Read More

Can the state be trusted to do anything right? … Revelations of unacceptable snooping and the draconian treatment of whistleblowers are making a mockery of the government's quest for 'openness and transparency.' This week, Peter Francis, a former Special Branch covert agent, told Channel 4's 'Dispatches' that his job had been to infiltrate the grieving family and '...Read More

Rubio addresses tea party criticism on senate floor … Sen. Marco Rubio took to the floor of the U.S. Senate Wednesday afternoon, to address concerns that have arisen from some grassroots conservatives over his support of immigration reform. "I have received numerous emails and calls from conservatives and tea party activists," he said at the beginning of his remarks. "To hear...Read More

Why U.S. is being humiliated by the hunt for Snowden … The increasingly slapstick global steeplechase in pursuit of Edward Snowden, the former American contractor who leaked topsecret details of surveillance programs, looks like a cross between "The Hunt for Red October" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities." Nobody, except perhaps Snowden himself, is coming out of this well....Read More

Shale gas in northern England could meet Britain's gas needs for 40 years Northern England could provide enough shale gas to meet the UK's needs for more than four decades, an official report has revealed … The government said a British Geological Survey report estimates that there could be 1,300 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas trapped in the rocks under Lancashire, Yorkshire and su...Read More

Can the state be trusted to do anything right? … Revelations of unacceptable snooping and the draconian treatment of whistleblowers are making a mockery of the government's quest for 'openness and transparency.' This week, Peter Francis, a former Special Branch covert agent, told Channel 4's 'Dispatches' that his job had been to infiltrate the grieving family and '...Read More

Rubio addresses tea party criticism on senate floor … Sen. Marco Rubio took to the floor of the U.S. Senate Wednesday afternoon, to address concerns that have arisen from some grassroots conservatives over his support of immigration reform. "I have received numerous emails and calls from conservatives and tea party activists," he said at the beginning of his remarks. "To hear...Read More

Why U.S. is being humiliated by the hunt for Snowden … The increasingly slapstick global steeplechase in pursuit of Edward Snowden, the former American contractor who leaked topsecret details of surveillance programs, looks like a cross between "The Hunt for Red October" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities." Nobody, except perhaps Snowden himself, is coming out of this well....Read More

Two Fed Presidents Emphasize Stimulus to Persist After QE Taper … Two Fed Presidents Emphasize Stimulus to Persist After QE Taper Two Federal Reserve (TREFTOTL) presidents who differ over the need for more stimulus emphasized that monetary policy remains accommodative, less than a week after a timeline to reduce bond purchase jolted financial markets. "What we're talking about here...Read More

Fed fights back against 'feral hogs' … A top US central banker on Monday warned the "feral hogs" of financial markets against trying to force the Federal Reserve to shelve plans to slow its bond buying, as yields on US Treasuries climbed to their highest level since August 2011. Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve, said in an interview with the Financial...Read More

Analysis: Brazil riots raise questions over sporting mega-events … Brazilian anger against the cost of staging the World Cup could undermine the argument that host countries benefit from sporting mega-events as they become too big for most countries to handle. UEFA's idea of splitting the Euro 2020 championship into minitournaments hosted in 13 different countries could be one of the alt...Read More

Kevin Rudd ousts Australia Prime Minister Julia Gillard … Kevin Rudd is more popular with voters than Ms Gillard … He won 57 votes in a leadership ballot of Labor MPs and senators called by Ms Gillard, who received 45 votes. The change comes ahead of a general election due in September, which polls suggest Labor is set to lose. After the vote, Ms Gillard confirmed she would stand by a...Read More

Pensioners living on pocket money as savings crisis hits millions … Pensioners-living-on-pocket-money-as-savings-crisis-hits-millions … Almost two million retired adults in the UK have less disposable income than the average 11 year-old, as Britain's savings crisis creates a generation of "pension paupers". A new survey last night said 15 per cent of men and women in reti...Read More

How Much Beanie Babies Were Predicted To Be Worth Vs. How Much They're Really Worth … The 1998 edition of the Scholastic Beanie Baby Handbook listed the original price of Beanie Babies when they were first released, how much they sold for in 1998, and their estimated price in 2008. Beanie Babies were supposed to be a good investment. From page 27 of the book: " Basically, if you can...Read More