“A culture of dangerous greed and excessive risk-taking has taken root in the banking world,” said Senator McCain last week. Senator Warren told Wall Street, where failure has been rewarded with bailouts and record bonuses, that “Banking should be boring.” They were pitching the “21st Century Glass-Steagall Act.” Wall Street must have gotten the willies.
What Gloomy CEOs See That Giddy Retail Investors Don’t
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on What Gloomy CEOs See That Giddy Retail Investors Don’t
CEOs have, in these crazy days of ours, one primary job, it seems: manipulating up the stock of their company. Few master this delicate art like Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, who took his highflyer into the stratosphere on a wing and a prayer. But why are executives worldwide wallowing behind the scenes in 2009-like gloom about the economy’s future?
Big Pharma’s Lurid Tactics Under Fire In China – And In The US
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Big Pharma’s Lurid Tactics Under Fire In China – And In The US
At first, it was just multinational drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline that allegedly paid bribes in China, including “sexual bribes,” to “government officials, medical associations, hospitals and doctors,” by using travel agencies as conduit. For a total of $489 million. Now more big drugmakers are on the hot seat for the same crimes in China – and in the US.
Mother Of All Bubbles Pops, Mess Ensues
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Mother Of All Bubbles Pops, Mess Ensues
The asset bubbles the Fed’s money-printing and bond-buying binge has created are spectacular, the risk-taking on Wall Street with other people’s money a sight to behold. Big winners were mortgage Real Estate Investment Trusts – and those who got fat on extracting fees. But now the pendulum is swinging back, and the bloodletting has started.
Austrian Steelmaker Offshores Production To … Texas
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Austrian Steelmaker Offshores Production To … Texas
Voestalpine, an Austrian steelmaker with 46,000 employees, saw its revenues decline by 4% last year. It blamed the “cooling down of the global economy,” and “dwindling momentum in Asia (especially China).” Now it’s under pressure to cut costs. Hence offshoring to cheap countries! China or Indonesia? Nope.
Blinded By Optimism, German Economy Now Below Stall Speed
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Blinded By Optimism, German Economy Now Below Stall Speed
The financial crisis was brutal for Germany, but the recovery steep, and in 2011, the gloating started. They called it the German “success recipe,” a superior system that would keep the economy growing even amidst Eurozone debt-crisis mayhem. That optimism has endured, and stocks have hit new highs, but the economy has diverged sharply.
(Broke) Italy “Would Love To” But Can’t Pay Its Bills This Year
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on (Broke) Italy “Would Love To” But Can’t Pay Its Bills This Year
In most countries, it would be an act of mind-bending chutzpah, or perhaps a display of political insanity, but in Italy it barely made ripples: for a government official, a minister no less, to declare that the country cannot pay its long overdue bills, and not for a month or two, but for the rest of this year! Due to “technical” problems.
Goldman Sachs To The Fed: Taper But Don’t Tighten
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Goldman Sachs To The Fed: Taper But Don’t Tighten
Tapering bond purchases gets real. New York Fed President William Dudley has spoken. He represents Goldman, where he was a managing director. Goldman owns part of the NY Fed and is one of its 21 “primary dealers.” But it doesn’t want the financial system to blow up. On the theory that you can milk a cow many times, but you can bleed it only once.
‘Total Surveillance’ Officially Brushed Off In Germany
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on ‘Total Surveillance’ Officially Brushed Off In Germany
Chancellor Merkel’s coalition is likely to emerge victoriously from the elections in September, unless a major debacle blows up. So no debacle is allowed to occur until after the election. But just then, new revelations about NSA spying blew up: turns out, all citizens anywhere can be under surveillance by any government, including their own, beyond control and oversight.
Surveillance Society: If You Drive, You Get Tracked
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Surveillance Society: If You Drive, You Get Tracked
A technology that surreptitiously captures data of people out on the street, combines it with other data, and mines it ad infinitum? Local and federal government agencies love it. It’s increasingly sophisticated and cheap. It’s spreading. And it led a professor at West Point to warn: “We don’t have a police state in this country, but we have the technology.”