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.”
Eerie Abandoned Japanese Island Hashima On Google Street View
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Eerie Abandoned Japanese Island Hashima On Google Street View
Ghost island: Hashima, a speck of land, used to be a coal mine where 5,000 people lived and toiled. But in the 1970s, it was abandoned and the concrete structures left to decay, only to resurface in the last James Bond movie. Now Google captured it for Street View – and made an awesome brief video of this eerie industrial wasteland.
The Power Of The Financial Lobby: “For 25 Years, It’s Never Been The Right Moment” To Tighten
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Power Of The Financial Lobby: “For 25 Years, It’s Never Been The Right Moment” To Tighten
Things move quickly at the G-20 when markets go south. The turmoil following Chairman Bernanke’s mere suggestion of a vague and slow taper of the Fed’s multi-year money-printing and bond-buying binge has already incited our illustrious finance gurus and central bankers at the G-20 to buckle – under the weight of the financial lobby.
Retail Investor Nightmare: The Bond Fund Rout
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Retail Investor Nightmare: The Bond Fund Rout
The bond selloff didn’t surprise anyone. Gurus of all stripes had predicted for years that it would happen, that the ridiculously low yields the Fed was imposing weren’t sustainable – only to watch as the Fed opened the spigot even wider. Then the smart money offered a tidbit of immortal wisdom to the euphoric bondholders: “run – do not walk!” And they did.
3D Printing “A gimmick” with no “Real Commercial Value”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on 3D Printing “A gimmick” with no “Real Commercial Value”
The Smart Money Sells “Everything That’s Not Nailed Down”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Smart Money Sells “Everything That’s Not Nailed Down”
It was the day when Private Equity firms – the smart money, the great beneficiaries of the Fed’s bond-buying binge – announced their intentions to the rest of the world. The heavy hitters were there, and they let fly some pungent words. In short, they were “selling everything that’s not nailed down.” Turns out, they weren’t kidding.
Perfecting The Surveillance Society – One Payment At A Time
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Perfecting The Surveillance Society – One Payment At A Time
Governments, corporations, even that genius app developer in Russia have one thing in common: they want to know everything. Data is power. And money. As the Snowden debacle has shown, they’re getting there. Technologies for gathering information, then hoarding it, mining it, and using it are becoming phenomenally effective and cheap. But it’s not perfect.
Controlling The Implosion Of The Biggest Bond Bubble In History
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Controlling The Implosion Of The Biggest Bond Bubble In History
In theory, the Fed could continue to print money and buy Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities, even pure junk, until the bitter end. But the bitter end would be unpleasant for those that the Fed represents – and now they’re speaking up publicly. They’re worried that their system might break down. It would threaten their empires. It would be the bitter end.
Tech Companies And Their Love Affair With NSA and CIA
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Tech Companies And Their Love Affair With NSA and CIA
Keyhole Inc., a venture-capital funded startup, was acquired by Google in 2004. Its product became Google Earth. Its technology filtered into Google Maps and Google Mobile. One of the venture-capital investors? The CIA. It didn’t ruffle any feathers at the time. But now we have NSA leaker Edward Snowden and his media blitz.
One Part Of Japan’s Abenomics Salvation Is Already A Fail
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on One Part Of Japan’s Abenomics Salvation Is Already A Fail
Japan’s make-or-break economic policies have been named lovingly after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – lovingly, because if they fail, he gets to carry an albatross called Abenomics around his neck for the rest of his life. And one of the “three arrows” of Abenomics is already headed that way: goosing the economy through a frontal attack in the Currency War.