What We Read Today 30 March 2013

Econintersect: Click Read more >> below graphic to see today’s list.

The top of today’s reading list has an article about taxation slight of hand in Italy …….. and the last three articles cover the huge insider trading and fraud case developing against the largest hedge fund in the U.S.

• Italy PM Monti Announces Surprise Income Tax Cut (Reuters, CNBC)  Hat tip to Roger Erickson.  The headline doesn’t reveal that not only does income tax go down by 1% (on lowest incomes) but sales tax goes up by 1% for everyone.

• Inside Yahoo’s Resurgence (Chad Fraser, Investing Daily)  Chad Fraser has contributed to Global Economic Intersection.

• Gun Violence Costs U.S. Health Care System, Taxpayers Billions Each Year (Jeffrey Young, Huffington Post)

• Apocalypse perhaps a little later (The Economist) Scientists cannot explain why climate change is slowing down.

• Is There Any Culture Left, Anywhere, That is Agile Enough to Prevent It’s Own Failure? (Roger Erickson, Open Operations Forum)  Are most (all?) failures inability to adapt?  Roger Erickson is a Global Economic Intersection contributor.

• American Funds ups its game in retirement arena (Darla Mercado, Investment News)

• Picking apart photosynthesis (R&D, 29 March 2013)  Can man harness a natural process for producing hydrogen and oxygen from water?

• SAC Capital: When The Feds Came Knocking (Melanie Rodier, Wall Street & Technology, 29 March 2013)  The portfolio manager of the Largest hedge fund in the U.S. has been arrested and charged with insider trading and fraud how close is his boss, the legendary Steve Cohen to feeling the long arm of the law?

• Closing In On SAC, FBI Arrests Portfolio Manager (Phil Albinus, Advanced Trading)  More details on the SAC case.  The firm has already made payments totaling $616 million for civil settlements in insider trading suits brought by the SEC.  See GEI News articles about this investigation.

• SAC Capital Advisors Trader Charged With Fraud (Michael Rothfield, Jenny Strassburg and Chad Bray, The Wall Street Journal)  Many more details on the SAC case here with names of others charged.  The problems at SAC appear to be systemic.  Makes Steve Cohen look more at risk.