Bin €500 notes to spread debt burden … The €500 note is one of the many mysteries surrounding the birth of the euro. For whom, exactly, was the equivalent of $600 or £400 designed? No other significant currency is available in a form that allows £1m-worth to be comfortably carried in a briefcase and which is effectively non-negotiable in everyday use. – Financial...Read More

North Korea Capability-cobalt 60 weapon poisoning of world … North Korea's ultimate defense! – Godlike ProductionsDominant Social Theme: Nuclear war is just around the corner.Free-Market Analysis: We have wondered recently why the US has not acted more forcefully as regards North Korea's various "provocations."One theory being floated by certain more "far out&quo...Read More

Louis C.K."Of course ... But Maybe"Read More

Sinta-se mais confiante ao ouvir esse lindo louvor, na voz de Leni Silva,??guas Passadas.Read More

Major Lazer - Keep Cool (feat. Shaggy & Wynter Gordon)From the album "FREE THE UNIVERSE"Read More

The 'laws of economics' don't exist … In a world increasingly framed by economic debates, the phrase "the laws of economics" has become ever more prevalent … Referencing "the laws of economics" as a way to refute arguments or criticize ideas has the patina of clarity and certainty. The reality is that referencing such laws is simply another way to justif...Read More

The Scary Message for Everybody in Obama's Budget … Most Americans will ignore the dickering over the federal budget that President Barack Obama wants Congress to pass this year. But there's an important message for just about everybody in that budget: The pain is going to get worse. It would be easy to conclude that Washington has imposed enough austerity on the U.S. economy already...Read More

China posts surprise trade deficit for March …China swung to a trade deficit of $880 million in March, the General Administration of Customs reported Wednesday, as imports surged 14.1% from a year earlier. The deficit, which followed February's $15.2 billion surplus, missed a forecast for a surplus of $14.7 billion from a Dow Jones Newswires survey and a $15.2 billion projected surplus t...Read More

Are We About to See a Global Gold Selling Spree? … Heavily indebted euro zone nations such as Italy and Portugal could come under pressure to put their bullion reserves to work as a result of plans for Cyprus to sell gold to meet its financing needs. A European Commission assessment of what Cyprus needs to do as part of its European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout showed Cyprus is...Read More

Margaret Thatcher made Britain a less, not more, desirable place to do business The ex-PM's greatest mistake was her failure to recognise that social cohesion is crucial to long-term economic growth … 'Margaret Thatcher's most important long-term legacy is likely to be the huge rise in inequality which she caused. – GuardianDominant Social Theme: Margaret Thatcher's fre...Read More

The 'laws of economics' don't exist … In a world increasingly framed by economic debates, the phrase "the laws of economics" has become ever more prevalent … Referencing "the laws of economics" as a way to refute arguments or criticize ideas has the patina of clarity and certainty. The reality is that referencing such laws is simply another way to justif...Read More

The Scary Message for Everybody in Obama's Budget … Most Americans will ignore the dickering over the federal budget that President Barack Obama wants Congress to pass this year. But there's an important message for just about everybody in that budget: The pain is going to get worse. It would be easy to conclude that Washington has imposed enough austerity on the U.S. economy already...Read More

China posts surprise trade deficit for March …China swung to a trade deficit of $880 million in March, the General Administration of Customs reported Wednesday, as imports surged 14.1% from a year earlier. The deficit, which followed February's $15.2 billion surplus, missed a forecast for a surplus of $14.7 billion from a Dow Jones Newswires survey and a $15.2 billion projected surplus t...Read More

Are We About to See a Global Gold Selling Spree? … Heavily indebted euro zone nations such as Italy and Portugal could come under pressure to put their bullion reserves to work as a result of plans for Cyprus to sell gold to meet its financing needs. A European Commission assessment of what Cyprus needs to do as part of its European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout showed Cyprus is...Read More

Margaret Thatcher made Britain a less, not more, desirable place to do business The ex-PM's greatest mistake was her failure to recognise that social cohesion is crucial to long-term economic growth … 'Margaret Thatcher's most important long-term legacy is likely to be the huge rise in inequality which she caused. – GuardianDominant Social Theme: Margaret Thatcher's fre...Read More

Italy and France Pose Grave Risks to Euro Zone, Report Says … The uneven performance of economies using the euro is one of the main reasons for the severity of a debt crisis in which some of the worst affected countries were able to borrow more than they could repay. France and Italy are among the nations in the beleaguered bloc that need to accelerate the policy changes needed to improve th...Read More

Publish Book – Get Turned Over by Police … No, I am not making this up. My memoirs A Mote in Brussels' Eye describing my five years in the Brussels lunatic asylum came out as an eBook at the end of January. Today, March 5, nine policemen arrived unannounced at my front door armed with a warrant to search our home. Much of my book details my efforts on behalf of the taxpayers of SE...Read More

In favour of the living wage … In the United States and some other developed economies, wages for the least well paid are too low. A mandatory living wage is the best way to redress this injustice. The idea of minimum wages is well accepted, but the American $7.25 an hour does not meet the simple standard of providing enough to support the worker who earns it. For an adult in New York State,...Read More

Beware of Economists Peddling Elegant Models … Mathematics can be beguilingly elegant. It can also be dangerous when people mistake its elegance for truth. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity might be the best example of elegant math, capturing a wide range of subtle and surprising phenomena with remarkable simplicity. Step toward the practical, though, and physics moves quick...Read More

Italy and France Pose Grave Risks to Euro Zone, Report Says … The uneven performance of economies using the euro is one of the main reasons for the severity of a debt crisis in which some of the worst affected countries were able to borrow more than they could repay. France and Italy are among the nations in the beleaguered bloc that need to accelerate the policy changes needed to improve th...Read More