They’re at it again! Originally created by Congress in 2007, the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program provided low-cost government loans that were subsidized, and then in part eaten as we now know, by hapless and strung-out American taxpayers. In 2011, it was left behind as dead, but now the government wants to bring that zombie back.
Stocks: “Drastic Correlation Between Printing and Pumping” – And What It means When The Printing Ends
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Stocks: “Drastic Correlation Between Printing and Pumping” – And What It means When The Printing Ends
German Gov. CONFIRMS: Key Entities Not To Use Windows 8 with TPM 2.0, Fearing Control by ‘Third Parties’ (Such As NSA)
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on German Gov. CONFIRMS: Key Entities Not To Use Windows 8 with TPM 2.0, Fearing Control by ‘Third Parties’ (Such As NSA)
I expected the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) to contact me in an icily polite manner and make me recant, and I almost expected some goons to show up with an offer I couldn’t refuse, and I half expected Microsoft to shut down my computers remotely and wipe out my data. But none of that happened. Instead, the BSI confirmed the key points.
“Limited Freedom of Speech” For Japanese Bureaucrats To Cover Up The “Dire Fiscal Condition”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on “Limited Freedom of Speech” For Japanese Bureaucrats To Cover Up The “Dire Fiscal Condition”
He came out and said what no one in the power structure was allowed to say. It was blasphemy against Abenomics that rules governmental thinking. Abenomics wouldn’t solve Japan’s fiscal and economic problems, he said. And the government’s outlook was way too rosy. But “without realistic figures, a real debate on fiscal reform can’t begin.”
A Very Profitable Part Of Banking Goes Totally To Heck
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on A Very Profitable Part Of Banking Goes Totally To Heck
Refinancing mortgages is phenomenally profitable for banks – one of the few growth sectors actually spawned by the Fed’s herculean efforts to force down long-term interest rates through waves of quantitative easing. Banks went on a hiring binge to shuffle all this paper around and extract fees. But now, with rising rates, that business is getting decimated.
LEAKED: German Government Warns Key Entities Not To Use Windows 8 – Links The NSA
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on LEAKED: German Government Warns Key Entities Not To Use Windows 8 – Links The NSA
Experts at the German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (BSI) determined that Windows 8, the touch-screen enabled, super-duper, but sales-challenged operating system is dangerous for data security. It allows Microsoft to control the computer remotely through a backdoor – with keys likely accessible to the NSA.
When “QE Infinity” Turns Into A Pipedream: Hot Money Evaporates, Rout Follows – See Emerging Markets
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on When “QE Infinity” Turns Into A Pipedream: Hot Money Evaporates, Rout Follows – See Emerging Markets
Printing money and forcing interest rates to near zero, that’s how the Fed and other central banks papered over the Financial Crisis, duct-taped the bursting credit bubble back together, inflated new asset bubbles, and propped up TBTF banks. It accomplished a huge feat: a worldwide tsunami of hot money. Which is now receding.
Abenomics Utter Fail: Japan’s Crazy Exploding Trade Deficit
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Abenomics Utter Fail: Japan’s Crazy Exploding Trade Deficit
The new salvation religion being preached in Japan to a hardened and cynical bunch who’ve lived through one of the worst bubbles and busts in recent history is this: prodigious money-printing will devalue the yen, causing exports to skyrocket and imports to shrink. The resulting trade surplus will save Japan. But the opposite is happening. And fast!
US Tech Companies Raked Over The Coals In China
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on US Tech Companies Raked Over The Coals In China
China is the promised land for our revenue-challenged tech heroes: 1.2 billion consumers, economic growth several times that of the US, and companies splurging on IT. Layer the “cloud” on top, and China is corporate nirvana: a high-growth sector in a high-growth country. Or was nirvana, now that the NSA’s hyperactive spying practices have spilled out.
Retail Woes: They Shopped Till They Dropped
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Retail Woes: They Shopped Till They Dropped
Men’s retailer Jos. A. Bank warned that sales in the quarter plunged 11%. OK, it suffered from management foul-ups, goofy marketing, obnoxious ads, and – at least at the store I looked at – dusty shirts on the shelf. But it isn’t an outlier. It’s the latest entry on a laundry list of revenue-challenged retailers whose woes are spreading relentlessly across the US.