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Google’s Android smartphones make up 53.7 percent of U.S. market share

"Apple and Google extended their dominance in the US smartphone market as 2012 neared its close. The share of smartphone service subscribers relying on Google’s Android software inched up to 53.7 percent in the three months leading up to December, while Apple’s portion grew to 35 percent from 34.3 percent, comScore reported. The most popular mobile phones were made by South Korean consumer electronics titan Samsung, whose handsets were used by 26.9 percent of US telecom service subscribers, according to comScore." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoogle’s Android smartphones make up 53.7 percent of U.S. market share

U.S. fines Transocean $1.4 billion over Gulf oil spill disaster

"The United States hit drilling rig operator Transocean with $1.4 billion in criminal and civil fines Thursday for its role in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly two months after oil giant BP was fined $4.5 billion for its leading role in the disaster, Transocean agreed to plead guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and pay the fines, the Justice Department said. The firm was ordered to pay $400 million to resolve criminal charges and another $1 billion in civil penalties, partly to fund spill prevention and environmental restoration in the five states hit by the three-month-long spill." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. fines Transocean $1.4 billion over Gulf oil spill disaster

ADP Jobs Number Blows Through the Roof

"The just released ADP jobs report shows a 215, 000 increase in private sector jobs in December. That's 50% higher than the 140,000 that was expected. Bernanke money printing manipulation of the economy upward. Unfortunately, because it is a manipulation, it will crash down the road, but not now, For now, happy days are here again. And most of the jobs gains are in the capital goods sector, as would be expected based on Austrian Business Cycle Theory." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingADP Jobs Number Blows Through the Roof

November’s Leading Indexes Suggest Expansion in 49 States in First Half of 2013

"The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released the leading indexes for the 50 states for November 2012. The indexes are a six-month forecast of the state coincident indexes (also released by the Bank). Forty-nine state coincident indexes are projected to grow over the next six months, while one index (Wyoming’s) is projected to decrease." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNovember’s Leading Indexes Suggest Expansion in 49 States in First Half of 2013

Greek debt crisis ‘far from over’

"After five straight years of recession, the eurozone's weakest link moves into 2013 with an economy set to further contract, unemployment at a record 26%, one in three living on or below the poverty line, and the worst of austerity yet to come. In the runup to Christmas, even the Greek finance minister, Yannis Stournaras, felt fit to admit that despite being the recipient of €240bn in EU and IMF rescue funds – the biggest bailout in global history – Greece could still default on its massive pile of debt, a move that would result automatically in exit from the 17-nation bloc." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGreek debt crisis ‘far from over’

Japan plans ‘nationalisation’ of factories to save industry

"Premier Shenzo Abe is to spend up to one trillion yen (£7.1bn) buying plant in the electronics, equipment, and carbon fibre industries to force the pace of investment, according to Nikkei news. The disclosure came just a day after Mr Abe vowed to revive Japan's nuclear industry with a fresh generation of reactors, insisting that they would be 'completely different' from the Fukishima Daiichi technology. Mr Abe's Liberal Democrats have already lambasted the central bank, threatening a new bank law unless it adopts radical measures to pull Japan out of deflation – including a growth target of 3pc for nominal GDP, implying massive monetary stimulus." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJapan plans ‘nationalisation’ of factories to save industry

Don’t Show Bernanke This Chart Of Gold Loans In India

"The chart shows the staggering eightfold increase in India's gold loans 'which monetize the idle gold in the country', in just four short years. In short it proves that in India, gold is the only real money, and is the only fallback option in a country where inflation is still rampant, and where even simple peasants prefer to keep their wealth not in the local paper currency, which has been losing its value aggressively in recent years, but in the shiny metal. Must be 'tradition.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDon’t Show Bernanke This Chart Of Gold Loans In India

India’s finance minister says current account deficit worrying, eyes gold curbs

"India's record current account deficit is 'worrying,' Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Wednesday, and hinted at cutting gold imports to bolster weak external accounts that have brought back memories of a 1991 currency crisis. He said he was considering reining in imports of gold, used as an investment tool by Indians but which mean a drain on foreign currency reserves. 'We may be left with no choice but to make it a little more expensive to import gold,' Chidambaram said. Recently, Reserve Bank of India executive Director Deepak Mohanty urged investors to shift from physical gold as a hedge against rising prices to financial products like inflation-linked bonds." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia’s finance minister says current account deficit worrying, eyes gold curbs

Tim Carney: How corporate tax credits got in the ‘cliff’ deal

"The 'fiscal cliff' legislation passed this week included $76 billion in special-interest tax credits for the likes of GE, Hollywood and even Captain Morgan. But these subsidies weren't the fruit of eleventh-hour lobbying conducted on the cliff's edge. The Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012 was copied and pasted into the fiscal cliff legislation, yielding a victory for biotech companies, wind-turbine-makers, biodiesel producers, film studios -- and their lobbyists. So, if you're wondering how algae subsidies became part of a must-pass package to avert the dreaded fiscal cliff, credit the Biotechnology Industry Organization's lobbying last summer." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTim Carney: How corporate tax credits got in the ‘cliff’ deal