Links for 9/8

[admin]

Industrial production in Japan rose less than expected in July while household spending slumped and the inflation rate remained unchanged, highlighting the challenge of reflating the world’s third-largest economy.

Japan’s July Output Misses Estimates as Spending Slumps - Bloomberg

Some of America's top corporations are parking profits overseas and ducking hundreds of billions in taxes. And how's Congress responding? It's rewarding them for ripping us off

The Biggest Tax Scam Ever | Rolling Stone

Note that, of the three occupations with the least access to paid sick days, one is “personal care and service” while another is “food preparation and serving related”—just the people you want sneezing and coughing on the job. This situation isn't just bad for the customers. It's bad for the businesses that depend upon them,

Paid Sick Days—They Make Sense for California, and Whole USA | New Republic

Consumers cut spending in July for the first time in six months, a surprising drop that could lead to sharply lower third-quarter growth unless outlays rebound quickly.

Americans cut spending in July, save more - MarketWatch

Russia’s equity markets may face a “Lehman moment” if the Ukraine conflict deteriorates further, according to Alexander Kantarovich, head of research for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) in Moscow. “With the significant deterioration in the Ukrainian situation, markets may treat this as a Lehman-style shock,” Kantarovich wrote in an e-mailed report today. “Revisiting the post-Lehman lows would imply downside of 50 percent from an index perspective.”

JPMorgan Sees ‘Lehman Moment’ If Ukraine Deteriorates - Bloomberg

Members of Russia’s presidential council on human rights have asked for an investigation into the deaths of nine military contractors, while the Stavropol Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers has compiled a list of 400 Russian troops it says have recently been either killed or wounded.

Russians start asking: are we at war? | World news | theguardian.com

Although Sohail and I had removed a proven paedophile from the community and helped empower another woman to end her torture, we were not celebrated. On the contrary, we were shunned.

The untold story of how a culture of shame perpetuates abuse. I know, I was a victim | Society | The Guardian

One day we’ll be able to plaster more surfaces with solar harvesters, if the idea of transparent solar concentrators lives up to its potential. Researchers from Michigan State University report that they've developed transparent, luminescent concentrators that can be placed on windows, your phone screen—anything with a clear surface—without blocking the view.

With Transparent Solar Panels, Windows Could Harvest Energy Too | Motherboard

In her wonderful web essay on why the poor make terrible decisions, Linda Tirado said that only if her readers could imagine having no options would they understand why so many chose self-destruction. Why sleep with men who will abandon you if you fall pregnant? Enjoy the momentary hit of tobacco smoke on the back of your throat or the sugar rush of junk food? Why take out debt at usurious rates of interest or work for employers who will only exploit you?

Two Days, One Night – a film that illuminates the despair of the low paid | Nick Cohen | Comment is free | The Observer

People have changed the planet so dramatically that some geologists think the Earth has entered a new phase in its geological timeline, named the "Anthropocene." But what about the marks humans are leaving deep underground?

Humanity's Legacy May Be The Miles Of Holes We've Dug - Business Insider

As Putin pushes Ukraine to bend to his will and allow greater independence to Russian-backed separatists in the country's southeast, the Russian president holds a trump card: Winter is coming.

Putin's Ukraine Trump Card: Winter - Business Insider

“The Kremlin’s long-term strategy is to destabilize Ukraine -- not to take over its territory but to keep it weak,” Erixon said today by phone. “The notion that you reach a compromise deal with Putin through more talks, well, I just don’t see that.”

Putin’s Good Cop Claim Hollow in Kiev as Rebels Widen War - Bloomberg

Yields on 10-year rouble bonds have jumped to 9.7pc, up 130 basis points since June. The sanctioned bank VTB is up 180 points in a month. A liquidity crunch is rapidly taking hold across the financial system. "The market is shut. Not a single Russian entity has been able to borrow anything in dollars, euro or yen since early July," said Mr Weafer. The Kremlin's gamble has gone horribly wrong. The eastern regions of Ukraine have failed to rise in mass support for Putin's front organisations, led by political operatives from Moscow, and patently run by the Russian security apparatus (FSB/GRU) as even Russian newspapers admit. The latest report by the United Nations accuses these units of "eggregious abuses", carrying out systematic intimidation through torture and execution.

Vladimir Putin's pointless conflict with Europe leaves it a vassal of China - Telegraph

[admin]

Equity Group Investments’ Sam Zell is starting to sweat. “People have no place else to put their money, and the stock market is getting more than its share,” he said to CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. “It’s very likely something has to give here.”

Some incredible statistics about the bull market that should have you bearish | Talking Numbers - Yahoo Finance

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's grand plan to revive the economy, which has run into several stumbling blocks in the past year, is reaching a "moment of reckoning", Goldman Sachs has warned.

Abenomics approaches a moment of reckoning

The strongest monthly rise in German industrial output in over a year is an 'encouraging signal' for the economy, Germany's statistics agency has said.

BBC News - German factory orders raise economic hopes

The best anti-ageing technique could be standing up, scientists believe, after discovering that spending more time on two feet protects DNA.

How standing might be the best anti-ageing technique - Telegraph

Scientists have named a 'super-cluster' of galaxies which contain the Milky Way Laniakea. This means everyone in Earth is now an official citizen of Laniakea, which means "immeasurable heaven" in Hawaiian.

'Super cluster' of galaxies containing earth identified by scientists - Telegraph

Adding plants to a “lean” office could boost employee productivity by 15pc, according to a new report that examines, for the first time, the effects of workplace greenery in real offices.

How to boost worker productivity: plant some clutter around your office - Telegraph

“All this little stuff they are talking about is not going to make any difference,” said Ashoka Mody, a former eurozone bail-out strategist for the International Monetary Fund. “These actions come extremely late and lowering the interest rate marginally is beside the point. I don’t see how anything other than large fiscal stimulus can help now,” he said.

ECB papers over rift with rate cuts but holds back on meaningful QE - Telegraph

A top Federal Reserve official on Thursday said he believes U.S. interest rates are too high, and had no "good answer" when asked why the Fed is reducing its efforts to push borrowing costs down.

U.S. interest rates are too high: Fed's Kocherlakota - Yahoo Finance

Economic growth since the Great Recession has improved the fortunes of the most affluent Americans even as the incomes and wealth of most American families continue to decline, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.

Fed Says Growth Lifts the Affluent, Leaving Behind Everyone Else - Yahoo Finance

The “Alternative for Germany” won seats in a state parliament election for the first time last Sunday, but is there really an anti-euro surge in the country as media coverage suggests?

An anti-euro surge in Germany? The evidence vs the coverage | News | theguardian.com

European employment targets are "unrealistic" and "bold action" is needed to boost job creation, according to a report published by the Ambrosetti Forum ahead of the open of its international economics conference.

‘Bold action’ needed on Europe unemployment: Report

ECB president Mario Draghi, in announcing the measures, mentioned that the vote was not unanimous. The strongest economy in the eurozone, Germany, is widely expected to have dissented.

Europe could have a new problem on its hands: Pro

[admin]

As the weather begins to cool, the European crisis is hotting up. Pressure is mounting on the German establishment to decide what they want for the future. Are they prepared to bend to make the euro work at least tolerably well? Or are they determined to stick to their guns – even if this puts the euro at serious risk?

Germany must lead the way to eurozone growth - Telegraph

A German news magazine reported on Sunday that Chancellor Angela Merkel is unhappy with European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi for apparently proposing a greater emphasis on fiscal stimulus over austerity in order to boost growth in Europe.

Merkel unhappy with Draghi's apparent new fiscal focus - Spiegel - Yahoo Finance

THERE are few truisms about the world economy, but for decades, one has been the role of the United States dollar as the world’s reserve currency. It’s a core principle of American economic policy. After all, who wouldn’t want their currency to be the one that foreign banks and governments want to hold in reserve? But new research reveals that what was once a privilege is now a burden, undermining job growth, pumping up budget and trade deficits and inflating financial bubbles.

Dethrone ‘King Dollar’ - NYTimes.com

Everyone loves a monstrously powerful vacuum. Sure, there's something to be said for elegant design, clever attachments, and extra features, but there's just no replacement for raw cleaning ability. That's why their power draw has been steadily increasing over the years. But if you live in Europe, your next vacuum will probably be a bit less powerful. The Daily Mail reports that the European Union is banning the import and manufacture of all vacuum cleaners with motors over 1,600 watts, starting September 1st.

EU Bans Powerful Vacuums in Name of Environmentalism - Reviewed.com Vacuums

The Eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers index plunged to a 13-month low of 50.7 in August., down from 53.8 in July.  This was worse than the 50.8 expected by economists.

Eurozone Economic Alarm - Business Insider

During the Depression, the Dow hit its low, 41, on July 8, 1932. Economic conditions, though, kept deteriorating until Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March 1933. By that time, the market had already advanced 30 percent. Or think back to the early days of World War II, when things were going badly for the United States in Europe and the Pacific. The market hit bottom in April 1942, well before Allied fortunes turned. Again, in the early 1980s, the time to buy stocks was when inflation raged and the economy was in the tank. In short, bad news is an investor’s best friend. It lets you buy a slice of America’s future at a marked-down price.

Warren Buffett On Geopolitical Risk - Business Insider

A new way to control the growth of crystalline materials called perovskites could lead to commercial solar cells that hit a sweet spot of high performance and low cost. Although individual perovskite cells have achieved promising results in the lab, until now it hasn’t been clear how they might be made in uniform batches.

Controlling the Growth of Perovskite Crystals Could Lead to Cheap Solar Cells | MIT Technology Review

The new generators exploit a phenomenon that Strano calls a thermopower wave. The conventional way to generate electricity by burning a fuel is to use heat to cause expanding gases to drive a turbine or a piston. In Strano’s system, as the fuel burns along the length of his nanotubes, the wave of combustion drives electrons ahead of it, creating an electrical current. It’s a much more direct and efficient way to generate electricity, since no turbines or conventional generators are required.

A New Way to Generate Electricity Shows Promise | MIT Technology Review

[admin]

Two minutes spent pretending to be a starfish could be the answer to your corporate jitters. Sure, it sounds outlandish, but laboratory studies suggest that adopting a so-called power pose could make the difference between success or failure in the workplace.

BBC - Capital - Cure for public-speaking jitters: Stand like a starfish

Making monetary policy has always been a complicated craft. Whenever there was an effort to reduce the art of central banking to a simple formula, be it an exchange rate target under the gold standard or an inflation target more recently, other problems – such as threats to financial stability – have had an awkward tendency to intrude.

The rules of central banking are made to be broken - FT.com

There has been a squeeze on pay in the rich world for several years now. Between 2010 and 2013 real (inflation-adjusted) wages were flat across the OECD, according to its annual “Employment Outlook”

Wage stagnation: The big freeze | The Economist

This unprecedented black level prowess has a gorgeous knock on effect with colours too, as they’re reproduced with an intensity and vibrancy so spectacular it makes your eyes want to grin with pleasure.

LG 65EC970V TV First Look

Draghi has once again demonstrated a boldness that surprised the market.  Recall his track record. He reversed Trichet's rate hikes almost immediately upon taking office.  He nearly single-handedly ended the existential crisis facing euro by aligning the ECB with the preservation of the monetary union.  He brandished what former US Treasury Secretary Paulson may have called a "big bazooka" (Outright Market Transactions), whose use has not been triggered, and may never be used.  He created a facility that lent cheap funds to member banks for three years, which helped drive down bond yields, and created the conditions that allowed financial institutions to return to the market.

Mario Draghi's Boldness - Business Insider

Five loaves, two fish and a goblet of red wine could be on the menu for Americans if a new diet takes off. Don Colbert, a Florida doctor, believes asking yourself "What would Jesus eat?" is the best way to stay fit, slim and trim.

BBC NEWS | Health | Americans look to Jesus for diet

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is urging France to speed up structural reforms to bolster economic growth and warning against using weak inflation as an excuse to relax public deficit reduction efforts.

IMF's Lagarde urges France to speed up structural reforms: report - Yahoo Finance

[admin]

To make sure it’s not sidelined in a potential bonanza, the European Union has created an unprecedented 10-year, 1 billion-euro ($1.3 billion) research fund called the Graphene Flagship. After decades of watching Asia and the U.S. cash in on ideas developed by European scientists, the EU is hoping the graphene fund will catalyze commercial development and encourage young scientists to start companies.

EU Bets a Billion on Fantastic Voyage Exploiting Graphene - Bloomberg

What TI has achieved is a holy grail in technology: a dominant design over which they full control. There is an entire ecosystem that hinges on that design and the switching costs are insurmountable.

Digitopoly | Why is the TI-84 calculator unstoppable?

At nine years of age Bolivian boy Jose Andre Montanho is already developing a fan base, playing gigs around Latin America – showing off skills that are all the more remarkable because he is blind.

Blind nine-year-old jazz pianist Jose Andre Montanho shows his skills – video | World news | The Guardian

After warning on the risk of a temporary sell-off in stocks back in July, Goldman Sachs upgraded its outlook on equities to "overweight" on Monday, expecting a push higher for stocks in both the near- and medium-term.

Goldman Sachs gets bullish again on stocks - Yahoo Finance

Unfortunately, the fear is that this is coming too late and might not be enough. While the ECB plan to buy assets could expand its balance sheet over the coming months, the reality is that this move might just take its size to where it was several months ago. It is true that purchases of certain assets could have a stronger impact than the previous rounds of bank lending, but this might not be enough.

Antonio Fatas on the Global Economy: Whatever it takes to see helicopter Mario (Draghi)

“The Putin goal is federalization in some way creating an autonomous region inside Ukraine that would influence the whole of Ukraine, in a political way, military way, economic way, binding it with Russia and preventing the whole of Ukraine from going very rapidly to the West without consulting with the Kremlin and with Putin," Alexander Baunov, a Russian writer and political commentator, told The New York Times.

Putin's Plan For Ukraine, In One Sentence - Business Insider

Russian President Vladimir Putin must answer this: How can his country, with an economy the size Italy’s, restore the glory it once enjoyed as the Soviet empire?

Why Putin's Russian Revival Will Fail - Business Insider

[admin]

A world “out of sync” will extend the cycle. Growth and monetary policy dynamics remain highly un-synchronized in the developed and emerging world. This lowers the likelihood of overheating and is one reason we think the current global expansion could end up being one of the longest on record.

Morgan Stanley On Global On A World Out Of Synch - Business Insider

Graphene, first isolated in the lab 10 years ago, is 200 times stronger than steel and 70 times more conductive than silicon, properties so remarkable it may revolutionize fields from health care to aerospace. Samsung Electronics Co. (SMSN), International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and other companies have filed hundreds of patents to exploit the material.

EU Bets a Billion on Fantastic Voyage Exploiting Graphene - Bloomberg

Cutbacks in the world's largest sugar producer could end a multi-year supply glut, sending prices higher next year, according to traders.

A sugar rush may be coming, traders say

The widening gap between the wealthy and the rest of America during the recovery can largely be explained in one word: stocks.

Stock gap: American stock holdings at 18-year low - Yahoo Finance

An ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel criticised the European Central Bank and its president Mario Draghi in a rare public attack, telling Bild newspaper the ECB's new schemes to bolster lending and buy asset-backed securities would scare Germans.

Merkel ally lashes out at Draghi over ECB plans to buy 'junk' paper | Reuters

Stocks are in for a period of volatility that will present a strong buying opportunity, according to Bob Janjuah, the often-bearish strategist at Nomura Securities.

Janjuah: Central banks to boost market—for now

But you shouldn't let the possible breakup of the Sterling-zone distract you from the mess elsewhere. In France, a new poll shows that Marine Le Pen is the current favorite in the 2017 Presidential elections.

Europe Is Coming Apart - Business Insider

[admin]

This weekend’s must-read is quite apropos of today’s holiday. ‘Profits Without Prosperity’, an incredible article at the Harvard Business Review, shows exactly how corporate share buybacks have gotten out of control in the last decade. It then goes on to point out the various ways in which buybacks-gone-wild are killing the capital formation process in America, holding back the investments needed to keep us competitive and decimating the middle class workforce that actually built this country. The evidence is presented by William Lazonick, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and one of the nation’s foremost experts on corporate buyback activity. Having studied the subject for some three decades, Lazonick concludes that an SEC rule rewrite in the early 1980′s meant to drive Value Creation has instead ushered in an era of Value Extraction – wherein an increasingly smaller group of corporate executives and hedge fund managers reap an increasingly larger share of the productivity benefits of the economy.

How Share Buybacks Destroy America - Business Insider

A small psychological change to how we approach challenges can dramatically change how successful we are at these tasks.

Carol Dweck's Growth Mindset Theory Tweeted By Bill Gates - Business Insider

In May 2009, Asness served as a guest host on CNBC's Squawk Box and defended the $450 million in bonuses AIG executives received, arguing that President Obama and the Congress are responsible for the economic crisis and should pay the execs the bonuses themselves.

Paul Ryan's $700-Wine-Sipping Buddies: Hedge Fund Manager And University Of Chicago Economist

I thought: ‘I’m not going to make this,’” Moore says as Jackson snores softly. “I thought I was finished and it’s the emptiest, most horrible feeling ever. I felt helpless and lonely – lying on a driveway at night bleeding to death. I thought: ‘I can’t die here … how am I going to leave my kids with no dad?

Jamie Moore: ‘I felt helpless and lonely, lying there bleeding to death’ | Sport | The Guardian

The Brazilian wandering spider – perhaps the world's most aggressive and venomous spider – is a rare visitor to these shores, but has recently been turning up in shipments of bananas, most recently in Colchester. Such is their fearsome reputation that a woman who found its eggs in bananas she bought from Tesco on Monday had to incinerate her vacuum cleaner after using it to clean them up.

Essex woman finds eggs of world's most venomous spider in her shopping | World news | theguardian.com

Even though the ECB’s long-term forecasts of moderate recovery remain unchanged, the bank’s board members have grown increasingly worried about the recent downward pressure on prices and the softening of consumer confidence. Its latest moves are designed to stave off deflation and jolt the sluggish eurozone economy back to life.

Economists point to emerging ‘Draghinomics’ - FT.com

Many have tried to come up with a theory of what is happening in the European economy. Why is unemployment not coming down faster? Why is inflation so much lower than the forecasts suggest? Why are we once again near a recession? Of all last week’s statements by Mario Draghi, European Central Bank president, it was what he had to say about these questions, rather than concrete policy measures, that were the most interesting.

What Mario Draghi must do next to fix Europe’s economy - FT.com

Apple AAPL, -0.38%  unveiled Apple Watch on Tuesday after several months of hype, however the reaction in the tech world has been largely ho-hum, if not outright disappointment.

Is Apple Watch a disappointment? - MarketWatch

[admin]

In fact, the Ukraine crisis is as much a modern economic conflict as it is a traditional military one, if not more so. And Putin is doing a better job than his Western counterparts of incorporating economic and financial considerations into his strategy.

Don't be fooled by the Russia-Ukraine cease-fire—commentary

The year-on-year rate of increase in the CPI is expected to accelerate moderately, along with increasing wages, against the backdrop of rising inflation expectations as well as improvements in the output gap, given that Japan's economy is expected to continue growing at a pace above its potential

Bank of Japan's Iwata says consumer prices to increase along with wages By Investing.com

While the Federal Reserve wouldn't dare say so in public, the central bank is in fact working hard to boost stock prices, says Paul McCulley, chief economist at Pimco.

Pimco Economist McCulley: Fed Seeks Higher Stock Prices

Europe’s top restaurants once depended on Argentina to supply the best cuts of beef. Now they can’t get enough, as policies designed to protect domestic consumers are driving exports to 13-year lows.

Steaks for Argentines Mean EU Diners Turn to Uruguay Beef - Bloomberg

An anti-smoking guru who has helped millions of smokers kick the habit has died from lung cancer.

BBC NEWS | Health | Allen Carr dies from lung cancer

In contrast to the first two waves, IS actually stresses violent action over theology and theory, and has produced no repertoire of ideas to sustain and nourish its social base. It is a killing machine powered by blood and iron.

BBC News - Islamic State: Can its savagery be explained?

Judge Judy is still the highest-paid celebrity on TV. Sheindlin's "Judge Judy" continues to be the most-watched syndicated show during the week with an average of 9 million viewers. TV Guide reported that "Judge Judy" brought in $230 million in advertising in 2012.

TV Personality And Host Salaries - Business Insider

The "large and persistent" shortfall in the number and quality of jobs in some of the world's largest advanced and emerging economies is threatening economic recovery, a new report shows.

Substantial job 'gaps' are threatening the recovery

Last week, fast-food workers around America went on strike for higher wages. While some say we can't afford the pay increase and that it would cause people to lose their jobs, Paul Krugman says in an interview with BI that there is actually not much risk of significantly higher wages hurting the workers.

Paul Krugman On Raising Minimum Wage - Business Insider

As it stands, more than 100 million people are unemployed in the G20 economies and 447 million employees are "working poor" or living on less than $2 a day in emerging G20 economies, according to the report.

Substantial job 'gaps' are threatening the recovery

[admin]

The turmoil between Russia and Ukraine has created a rare opportunity to buy low-cost assets, according to some large investors. For others, securities are cheap for very good reasons and they say Russia should be avoided.

Big money disagrees over Russian investment opportunity

Since World War II, U.S. manufacturers have unleashed an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 synthetic chemicals into our soil, air and water—usually without first testing their effects on humans. Many of these substances are “endocrine-disrupting chemicals” (EDCs), which interfere with hormonal signaling and have been linked to breast cancer, diabetes, infertility, birth defects and even autism.

Nemesis of the Chemical Giants - In These Times

Income inequality in America has become so severe and polarizing that 2015 could look a lot like 1935, according to University of Toronto business professor Roger Martin. Almost 80 years ago "capital was beating up labor, so we got the NLRB, which changed the balance of power between capital and labor," Martin tells Yahoo Finance, referring to the National Labor Relations Board, which protects workers' right to unionize. If the current income imbalance in America doesn't change there will be another "intervention that will change the power dynamics," Martin writes in the October issue of the Harvard Business Review.

Income inequality hitting a tipping point: biz school professor - Yahoo Finance

"We have reached a tipping point where talent takes too much," says Martin in the video above. "The median person in the American economy has to be asking: 'When will I start moving ahead again while the top one percent rockets up into space?'"  So who is this talent that Martin says is taking too much for themselves? They're the corporate executives whose compensation is stock-based, which creates incentives for CEOs to cut labor costs; venture capitalists; tech billionaires; and hedge fund managers who create value for themselves rather than the broader economy, he says.

Income inequality hitting a tipping point: biz school professor - Yahoo Finance

The best we can hope for - should tribalism prevail - is German political hegemony in Europe. The German people so far remain a bastion of rationalism, holding together as others tear themselves apart. The French are too paralysed by economic depression and the collapse of the Hollande presidency to play any serious role.

Fragmentation fashion across Europe means German hegemony, if we're lucky - Telegraph

The problem is that sapphire costs five to 10 times as much as the toughened glass used now in almost all smartphones, limiting its use to small screens or specialized devices. But in Danvers, Massachusetts, engineers at GT Advanced Technologies say they are solving the cost problem with a new manufacturing process that cheaply and efficiently produces sheets of sapphire just a quarter as thick as a piece of paper.

Cheap, Nearly Unscratchable Sapphire Displays | MIT Technology Review

[admin]

The announcement that both Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have set up plans to relocate their headquarters to England in the event of a Yes vote (as they would have to under European Union laws) may focus attention on the potential consequences for employment.

Soros wades in to Scotland debate

However, in any given year you might hear from a handful of stock market bears that earnings expectations are too optimistic. While they're probably right, it's almost certainly no reason to sell stocks.

Earnings Expectations Decline Throughout Any Given Year - Business Insider

Think about it. On average, earnings growth expectations fall throughout the year. Yet, on average, stocks go up throughout the year.

Earnings Expectations Decline Throughout Any Given Year - Business Insider

New data from EIA shows that new natural gas plant additions beat out solar in the first six months of the year. But there's a crucial segment of the market missing: commercial and residential solar projects of less than 1 megawatt.

New Solar Capacity Beats Natural Gas in the First Half of 2014 : Greentech Media

New European Union sanctions against Russia will be enacted tomorrow, while the EU also will lay out its conditions for eventually suspending the measures, three EU officials said.

EU to Pull Trigger on Russia Sanctions, Set Review Terms - Bloomberg

Over the last several years, anti-Fed "policy bears" have been warning about how the extraordinary steps taken to juice the economy would end in disaster. Some predicted surging interest rates. Some people predicted runaway inflation. And a lot of folks said that the Fed was murdering the dollar. Well, none of that has happened. And not only that, the dollar is one of the strongest currencies in the world.

This Might Be The Final Humiliation Of The Fed Haters - Business Insider

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, fresh from announcing a new batch of stimulus measures a week ago, urged governments to match the ECB's effort with investment and structural reforms to help the flagging euro zone grow.

Over to you, ECB's Draghi tells euro zone governments

Tesla’s planned 5-million-square-foot ‘gigafactory’ wouldn’t just be the biggest battery factory in the world. It would be one of the biggest factories in the world, period. But hours before CEO Elon Musk took the podium last week to tout the $5 billion facility came August sales numbers for electric vehicles and a spate of news stories about how U.S. interest for electric cars has stalled.

Why Musk Is Building Batteries in a Desert When No One Is Buying - Bloomberg

One morning in February, Japan’s government personnel department began an experiment in a nondescript building in a Tokyo residential area that could end up rewriting the rules of the nation’s powerful bureaucracy.

Tokyo Last-Train-Home Culture Under Fire as Abe Backs Women - Bloomberg