Letting Wall St. hang … It's one thing for President Obama to attack Wall Street as the place fat cats roam free as proof, a class warrior justifying all the mainly useless banking regulations he's imposed since the 2008 financial crisis. It's quite another thing for New York's elected officials to let him get away with the big lie that's costing New Yorkers jobs and sque...Read More
Americans – Like Nazi Germans – Don't Notice that All of Our Rights Are Slipping Away … Americans Are Acting Like Slowly Boiling Frogs … The German citizens were boiling frogs … the water heating up so gradually that they didn't realize they had to jump out of the pot to safety. Because the exact same thing is happening to Americans (fear of terror makes peopl...Read More
The black swan sequester … Since the housing market imploded six years ago, we've been suffering from black swan fever. When Nicholas Taleb penned his passionate polemic about the inability of financial markets to allow for unanticipated and rare events ("black swans"), he did us all a great service in highlighting the narrow-mindedness that can have dire consequences. Then the...Read More
GRAY MATTER: This Story Stinks … In the beginning, the technology gods created the Internet and saw that it was good. Here, at last, was a public sphere with unlimited potential for reasoned debate and the thoughtful exchange of ideas, an enlightening conversational bridge across the many geographic, social, cultural, ideological and economic boundaries that ordinarily separate us in life, a...Read More
Letting Wall St. hang … It's one thing for President Obama to attack Wall Street as the place fat cats roam free as proof, a class warrior justifying all the mainly useless banking regulations he's imposed since the 2008 financial crisis. It's quite another thing for New York's elected officials to let him get away with the big lie that's costing New Yorkers jobs and sque...Read More
Americans – Like Nazi Germans – Don't Notice that All of Our Rights Are Slipping Away … Americans Are Acting Like Slowly Boiling Frogs … The German citizens were boiling frogs … the water heating up so gradually that they didn't realize they had to jump out of the pot to safety. Because the exact same thing is happening to Americans (fear of terror makes peopl...Read More
The age of austerity is ending … Whisper it softly, but the age of government austerity is ending. It may seem an odd week to say this, what with the U.S. government preparing for indiscriminate budget cuts, a new fiscal crisis apparently brewing in Europe after the Italian election and David Cameron promising to "go further and faster in reducing the deficit" after the downgrade o...Read More
United Nations chief urged to offset UN's carbon footprint … The United Nations' portal on Climate Change is impressive … The problem? Neither the United Nations nor its 38 Partners on Climate Change practice what they preach. – EcoGreen editorialDominant Social Theme: The United Nations is at the forefront of green environmental responsibility and is an inspiration to us...Read More
U.S. Government Wins Appeal in Kim Dotcom Extradition Battle … Kim Dotcom and his associates have lost a key battle in their extradition fight against the United States. On two earlier occasions, including once in the High Court, Dotcom's legal team successfully argued they were entitled to examine mountains of evidence held by U.S. authorities. But those rulings were overturned this mor...Read More
The age of austerity is ending … Whisper it softly, but the age of government austerity is ending. It may seem an odd week to say this, what with the U.S. government preparing for indiscriminate budget cuts, a new fiscal crisis apparently brewing in Europe after the Italian election and David Cameron promising to "go further and faster in reducing the deficit" after the downgrade o...Read More
United Nations chief urged to offset UN's carbon footprint … The United Nations' portal on Climate Change is impressive … The problem? Neither the United Nations nor its 38 Partners on Climate Change practice what they preach. – EcoGreen editorialDominant Social Theme: The United Nations is at the forefront of green environmental responsibility and is an inspiration to us...Read More
U.S. Government Wins Appeal in Kim Dotcom Extradition Battle … Kim Dotcom and his associates have lost a key battle in their extradition fight against the United States. On two earlier occasions, including once in the High Court, Dotcom's legal team successfully argued they were entitled to examine mountains of evidence held by U.S. authorities. But those rulings were overturned this mor...Read More
Stalling for Time: Greek Reform Effort Slows to a Crawl … The troika is back in Athens this week and with all eyes on Italy, Greece feels it has little to fear. But important reforms have stalled and the government's belt-tightening efforts seem paralyzed. Politicians are playing for time and hoping for fresh money. The troika mission has returned to Greece, but this time things are diff...Read More
'Smart borders': enhancing mobility and security … The EU is moving towards a more modern and efficient border management by using state-of-the-art technology. Today, the Commission proposed a 'smart border package' to speed-up, facilitate and reinforce border check procedures for foreigners travelling to the EU. The package consists of a Registered Traveller Programme (RTP)...Read More
INCOMES DROP MOST IN 20 YEARS … Consumer spending in the U.S. rose in January even as incomes dropped by the most in 20 years, showing households were weathering the payroll-tax increase by socking away less money in the bank. Household purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the economy, climbed 0.2 percent after a 0.1 percent gain the prior month, a Commerce Department report show...Read More
Stalling for Time: Greek Reform Effort Slows to a Crawl … The troika is back in Athens this week and with all eyes on Italy, Greece feels it has little to fear. But important reforms have stalled and the government's belt-tightening efforts seem paralyzed. Politicians are playing for time and hoping for fresh money. The troika mission has returned to Greece, but this time things are diff...Read More
'Smart borders': enhancing mobility and security … The EU is moving towards a more modern and efficient border management by using state-of-the-art technology. Today, the Commission proposed a 'smart border package' to speed-up, facilitate and reinforce border check procedures for foreigners travelling to the EU. The package consists of a Registered Traveller Programme (RTP)...Read More
INCOMES DROP MOST IN 20 YEARS … Consumer spending in the U.S. rose in January even as incomes dropped by the most in 20 years, showing households were weathering the payroll-tax increase by socking away less money in the bank. Household purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the economy, climbed 0.2 percent after a 0.1 percent gain the prior month, a Commerce Department report show...Read More
Europe's Green Recovery … BRUSSELS – The need for clean energy has returned to the top of the global economic agenda … In his second inaugural address, US President Barack Obama discussed climate change more than any other issue, saying, "We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries." At the World Economic Forum in Davos...Read More
IMF is regaining trust … The International Monetary Fund has improved its image since the global financial crisis and should address member countries' long-standing criticism to build on the regained trust, according to an internal audit. With a call for temporary fiscal stimulus to avoid a collapse of the world economy in 2008-09, the Washington-based IMF was seen as breaking away from...Read More