What We Read Today 16 July 2014

Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary “reading list” which will include very brief summaries of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for “reading list” items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.

• China and the cost of stimulus (David Keohane, FTAlphaville) Keohane says that China faces a choice between a difficult but rapid decline in economic activity with employment being maintained or a crash with economic (and employment) chaos. See GEI News for breaking news on China’s GDP and GEI Analysis for Michael Pettis on the bad debt problems forcing China into a corner.

• Study: Friends share similarities in their DNA (Malcolm Ritter, R&D Magazine) It is highly speculative why, but a research study has found that 1,367 pairs of close friends share more DNA characteristics than the norm for about 1.2 million pairs of strangers. This raises some interesting questions about biodiversity in natural selection since the likelihood of procreation can be assumed to be greater between friends than between strangers.

• “Clear & convincing” evidence of FDIC wrongdoing (Dwight Haskins, LinkedIn) Dwight Haskins is a former Senior Financial Analyst with the FDIC who continues to seek protection as a whistleblower.

• I.S.I.S. and the Western media: Groping each other in public like a Kardashian Thanksgiving (Gary Brecher, PandoDaily) Hat tip to Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, who says: “OMG, this piece is awesome.”

• Concerns about Islamic Extremism on the Rise in Middle East (Pew Research) Hat tip to Sig Silber. Data is shown indicating that opposition to terrorist groups has risen significantly over the past one and seven years. An indication of current attitudes is shown in the graphic below.

There are 14 articles discussed today ‘behind the wall’.

The first four articles discuss the latest CBO debt projections for the U.S.

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