295 search results for "australia"

The Relentless, Systematic Tear-Down Of The Dollar Hegemony

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on The Relentless, Systematic Tear-Down Of The Dollar Hegemony

How long before the dollar surrenders its status as world reserve currency and number-one payment currency to the Chinese yuan and to that other currency everyone loathes?

Corporate Colonialism: Winners and Losers of Global ‘Free’ Trade

by Don Quijones •  • Comments Off on Corporate Colonialism: Winners and Losers of Global ‘Free’ Trade

By Don Quijones: The new trade agreements have little to do with promoting free trade. They’re about extending the power and control of the world’s largest corporations.

Rosy Dreams? Conundrum for American LNG Exporters

by Oilprice.com •  • Comments Off on Rosy Dreams? Conundrum for American LNG Exporters

Natural gas prices in the US hovered between $2 and $4 per million btu for years, while reaching $19 in Japan. The industry is pushing for permits to export LNG, hoping for an easy arbitrage opportunity. But the markets may bite back.

How the BBC Over-Egged UK Retail Sales … And The World Soaked Up Every Word

by Contributor •  • Comments Off on How the BBC Over-Egged UK Retail Sales … And The World Soaked Up Every Word

By John Ward, The Slog: The BCC misread and misreported UK’s so-so December retail sales as “the fastest annual sales growth in more than nine years.” It was picked up by Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters…. everywhere. Actual retail recovery? Not so much.

Clean Energy Presents “Perfect Storm” for Utilities

by Oilprice.com •  • Comments Off on Clean Energy Presents “Perfect Storm” for Utilities

A UBS report finds that the declining costs of renewable energy and energy storage are presenting a “perfect storm” for big utilities: They upend centralized electricity generation and put the utility business model in jeopardy.

Silicon Valley Frenzy: Big Bucks, Big Data, and Spying

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Silicon Valley Frenzy: Big Bucks, Big Data, and Spying

The government spy-services marketplace, part of Big Data, is juicy. Investors clamor to get in on it. Scores of startups have sprung up. The hottest one is Palantir. Its valuation jumped 50% in three months – to $9 billion! Its technologies, designed for the CIA to track terrorists, have transitioned to track you and me.

Coming Soon: Corporate Tools To Hollow Out National Sovereignty

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Coming Soon: Corporate Tools To Hollow Out National Sovereignty

Now “trade agreements” are negotiated behind sealed doors, without public oversight, beyond the reach of Congress. The text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership is secret, but some sections were leaked. It deals with trade only on the margins. Corporate interests dominate. It mocks democracy, establishes kangaroo courts, and taxpayers are on the hook.

High-End Food-Fraud Scandal Deliciously Spirals Out of Control, Whacks Japanese Consumer Confidence

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on High-End Food-Fraud Scandal Deliciously Spirals Out of Control, Whacks Japanese Consumer Confidence

Today it was Hotel Okura Co., which operates landmark hotels across Japan. It confessed its restaurants had misrepresented 235 menu items. That followed confessions by leading department store chains, other high-end hotel chains, traditional ryokan hotels…. New revelations bubble up daily. And consumer confidence is taking a hit.

The Global Corporatocracy is Almost Fully Operational

by Don Quijones •  • Comments Off on The Global Corporatocracy is Almost Fully Operational

By Don Quijones: 58% of the world’s biggest 150 economic entities aren’t countries but corporations. Royal Dutch Shell’s revenues exceed the GDPs of 171 countries, making it the 26th largest economic entity in the world. And the balance of power is shifting rapidly.

Multi-Trillion Dollar Question: How Much of Our Debt Is “Odious”?

by Don Quijones •  • Comments Off on Multi-Trillion Dollar Question: How Much of Our Debt Is “Odious”?

By Don Quijones: If there is a two-word combination that strikes primal fear into the hearts of global senior bankers and representatives of international financial institutions, it is “odious” + “debt,” a legal theory that holds that the national debt incurred by a regime for purposes that do not serve the best interests of the nation shouldn’t be enforceable.