"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 →
"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 →
"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 →
"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 →
"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 →
"A mountain in which are hundreds of meters deep into the rock top-secret data stored? What sounds like a spy thriller, is located in the Bernese Oberland reality: A team of 20 minutes online, paid a visit to one of the most protected places in Switzerland." Continue reading →
"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 →
"WSJ has the stats on income categories and wealth categories for Americans." Continue reading →
"Your paycheck will most decidedly go down because the bill that just worked its way through Congress failed to extend the 2% payroll tax break. But it is not the same for friends of Obama. I already pointed out that Hollywood will get a tax break, but so will Warren Buffett. Nick Badalamenti emails to point out that the bill has a tax break for railroads in it. In February 2012, Bloomberg reported that in addition to spending billions on core railroad projects, 'Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. plans to boost [other] capital spending at its railroad.'" Continue reading →
"Section 328 of the bill extends tax-exempt financing for the 'Liberty Zone,' the area around the former World Trade Center, for another year. As Matt Stoller points out, this tax provision was supposed to help fund reconstruction after 9/11. Yet a recent Bloomberg investigation found the bonds have mostly helped finance new luxury apartments, not to mention the construction of Goldman Sachs’ new headquarters." Continue reading →