From tiny app makers to giants like AT&T, they’re all part of Big Data. They chase after billions by collecting, storing, and mining personal data. Data is money. Much more than money, if governments get it. Which led documentary filmmaker Cullen Hoback to lament: “The craziest thing is that I didn’t realize I was making a horror film.”
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The Systematic, Unrelenting Deterioration Of Japan’s Trade
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Systematic, Unrelenting Deterioration Of Japan’s Trade
The all-out effort by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to print money, stir up inflation, devalue the yen, blow asset bubbles, and pile on even more government debt – a newfangled religion called Abenomics – is bearing fruit. But the primary objective, creating a trade surplus to crank up the real economy, is failing miserably.
Japan Inc. Wins Big, Gloating Ensues
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Japan Inc. Wins Big, Gloating Ensues
“We welcome the ruling party’s victory,” announced Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of Sumitomo Chemical, and chairman of the Japan Business Federation, the country’s largest business lobby. He is one of the faces of Japan Inc. He’d been handed a gift: the ruling coalition controls both houses of parliament and will push Abenomics deep into the system.
Germany’s Government-Sponsored Export Machine Takes Aim At Greece, Argument Breaks Out
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Germany’s Government-Sponsored Export Machine Takes Aim At Greece, Argument Breaks Out
When going overseas, Chancellor Merkel doesn’t leave home without planeloads full of executives from Germany’s most coddled companies – exports being the core of foreign policy. And if these deals get snagged on the rusty nails of payment risks, it’s up to the government to help out with guarantees, even if they’re infested with conflicts.
David Stockman: Hedge Funds And The Regime Of Insider Trading
by David Stockman • • Comments Off on David Stockman: Hedge Funds And The Regime Of Insider Trading
“As the Fed transformed Wall Street into a casino,” wrote David Stockman, “arrangements for insider speculation took on massive size,” with “hedge fund footings” soaring from $150 billion in 1990 to $3 trillion by the 2007–2008 peak. Trading books of Wall Street banks grew even more explosively. Together, they formed “the fast money complex.”
“Who Could Trust Such A Company?” – The Big Fat Lies About Radiation Exposure Of Workers At Fukushima
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on “Who Could Trust Such A Company?” – The Big Fat Lies About Radiation Exposure Of Workers At Fukushima
The nuclear fiasco in Japan has shaken the omnipotent nuclear industry – and government agencies that aided and abetted it. Yet they still obfuscate the consequences of the triple melt-down. Latest revelation: the number of workers at the plant with cancer-inducing radiation doses in thyroid glands was eleven times higher than disclosed last December.
Verdict Is In: “The Banking Lobby Is Simply Too Strong To Allow It To Happen”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Verdict Is In: “The Banking Lobby Is Simply Too Strong To Allow It To Happen”
“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.
Just How Low Can Spain Go?
by Don Quijones • • Comments Off on Just How Low Can Spain Go?
BBC’s article about the political funding scandal gripping Spain featured a photo of hapless leader Mariano Rajoy licking his lips like a “dirty old man.” It spread like wildfire across the social media, setting off a cacophony of calls for Rajoy to resign for the irreparable damage he’d done to Spain’s overseas image.