Monthly Archives: October 2013

NSA’s “MUSCULAR” Secretly Breaks Into The Cloud Of US Tech Companies, Siphons Off Data, Fouls Up Revenues Overseas

The seamless, borderless surveillance society has a new dimension: MUSCULAR. Under it, the NSA and British GCHQ secretly break into the “clouds” of US companies to syphon off user data on a large scale. Illegal in the US. But the cloud is a worldwide phenomenon.

Politicians Are All Jabbering About Creating Jobs (Doing What?)

By James Murray: Computer power has reached the point where almost anything can be automated, and computer pricing has reached the point where it is profitable to do so. The world is undergoing a mega shift, and governments have no clue how to handle the problem.

OMG, Those “Who Truly Rule The World”

Most powerful person in the world? Putin! Sez Forbes. At least, it wasn’t Merkel, who has been throwing her weight around when she found out that her Handy had been bugged by the NSA, just like our cellphones. We have to take it; she gets to make a big stink and gripe to Obama on the (bugged) phone.

The Smart Money Denies They’re The Smart Money As They Franticly Sell Their Crown Jewels Before The Bubble Blows Up

“It’s a great time to sell,” mused a pension fund investment officer. And Blackstone Group, the world’s largest private equity firm, is doing exactly that, feverishly, relentlessly, hand over fist, at peak valuations, cashing out. What does that mean for the rest of us?

A Devastating Problem Japan Does NOT Have: Unemployment

Unemployment in Japan dipped to 4.0%, a gloriously low rate for most developed countries. But there are real reasons for this low number – a mix of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Twitter IPO A Dud? Yes, Says Survey of Financial Advisors (But You’ll Own It “Whether You Want It Or Not”)

Brokers, financial advisors, and wealth managers are a recalcitrant bunch, suddenly, after having gotten their manicured fingers burned on a few super-hyped IPOs, and now they just refuse to get exuberant about the Twitter IPO. At least that’s what they indicated in a survey. But individual investors, well, that’s another story.

Is the Giant Siberian Oilfield to be Developed by Russia and China Radioactive?

By Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com: The deal between Rosneft and China National Petroleum Corp to jointly develop a giant oilfield in Siberia may be tainted. I’m not talking about corruption or illegal activities, but rather the potential that the oil and gas in the field may be contaminated with radioactive materials from nuclear explosions.

Portrait of a Kleptocrat

For a certain segment of the population in Spain, albeit quite a small one, life has never been better.

American Boondoggle Meets Chinese Methods

BYD, the name of a Chinese electric vehicle and solar panel maker, stands for “Build Your Dream.” Maybe that’s what they’re trying to do in China. But here, they’re building a nightmare: broken promises, falsehoods, design flaws… all lushly funded by American taxpayers. And they paid Chinese workers in California $1.50 per hour to do it.

Rule #1 in Argentina: Do NOT Talk About The “Blue Dollar”

By Bianca Fernet, Argentina, The Bubble: The black/blue/unofficial ARS/USD rate hit 10/1 again. The Federal Police, the Prefecture, the Border Patrol, and representatives of the Central Bank are stomping around downtown, shutting down currency exchanges and being as obvious as possible. And now a gag order on the exchange rate!