by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Growing Expectations Of TBTF Bank Creditor Bailouts Tighten Their Tentacles Around Taxpayers
One of the few rebellious Fed heads, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, fired a salvo when testifying before the House Judiciary Committee. He hit Wall Street risks covered by implicit government guarantees in the size of America’s GDP.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Strung-out Consumers, Desperate Retailers, Crummy Sales
Tally: 7 deaths, 90 injuries from shootings, stabbings, tramplings, fights, pepper sprayings…. “Only in America people trample each other for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have,” a tweet explained. It’s been tough for retailers too.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Unemployment Crisis Hits Economic Wunderkind Austria
In Eurostat’s “harmonized” unemployment rates for EU Member States, Austria is the glory land for job seekers: 4.8% unemployment, in first place, a universe apart from Spain (26.7%) and Greece (27.3%). But this “harmonized” rate is bologna. Austria is facing a growing crisis.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on This Inflation Is Supposed To Be GOOD For Japanese Workers?
Japan’s new economic religion of printing yourself out of trouble works. For the elite. This is a lesson learned from the Fed. But how are workers and consumers faring? And by implication the real economy?
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on How Much Is My Private Data Worth? (Google Just Offered Me Money)
The first thing I noticed after I’d removed the glossy brochure from the envelope was the crisp $5 bill. I’m a sucker for free money. After peeling it off the letter, I started reading. It was from Google and involved a lot more money – in return for just about all my private data.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Stock Bubble In Context (Will The Last Bear Please Turn Out The Lights?)
Stock market bubbles – they allow investors to make the mostest the fastest – don’t happen in a vacuum. They happen in a context. But this time, the context is different. Very different.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on French Megabank: “Germany Should Leave The Eurozone”
Suddenly, there’s a solution to France’s economic crisis. Unlike the cacophonous clamor from the far right to drop the euro, this one is attractively presented with graphs and in terms that even a French politician might understand. And it’s not contaminated by partisanship.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Seems The NSA Spied On Me When I Lived In Belgium
Another Edward Snowden revelation indicates that I, a humble, incoherent, harmless, and (mostly) law-abiding American, may have gotten tangled up in the NSA’s vast spying dragnet for inexplicable reasons of national security. It’s getting personal.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Japan Is Used To Natural Disasters, But This One Is Man-Made
The dogfight over Japan’s biggest problem, its gargantuan government deficit, entered its annual ritual of leaks and pressure tactics that usually lead to a pre-Christmas draft budget with an even bigger deficit. But this time, it’s different. Very different.
