Early Bird Headlines 26 April 2015
Econintersect: Here are some of the headlines we found to help you start your day. For more headlines see our afternoon feature for GEI members, What We Read Today, which has many more headlines and a number of article discussions to keep you abreast of what we have found interesting.
Global
- U.S. chairmanship of the Arctic Council: The challenges ahead (Brookings) This weekend the United States assumed chairmanship of the Arctic Council for a two-year term. While the Obama administration has been preparing for this for several years, it remains to be seen how the president will balance the concerns of most Arctic residents who view development of the region as vital to improving their economic and social livelihood and those individuals inside and outside the administration who want to limit development out of concern for the how economic development may cause local environmental degradation while also accelerating climate change. See also from Brookings: Is the United States positioned to lead in the Arctic?
- Arctic Council Meeting Starts Amid Russia Tensions (The New York Times) The 8-nation Arctic Council started its biennial meeting Friday at Inquit, Nunavut on Canada’s Baffin Island.
U.S.
- How Can Our Senators and Representatives Vote for Giving Away Our Monetary Sovereignty? (Joe Firestone, New Economic Perspectives) Firestone says that the U.S. would give up control of the U.S. dollar by entering into the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership). That would put the U.S. is a bind similar to that experienced by many of the member countries in the Eurozone. There is another article by the same author on GEI today: Is the TPP a Usurpation of Sovereignty by Global Corporatism?
- Dangers Lurk in Fed’s Zero Rate Policy (Chris Whalen, American Banker) Hat tip to Ken Workman, LinkedIn. Whalen thinks that ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) is slowing the economy because banks can make lots of money without circulating much through the economy. His argument is with higher interest rates (to a point) circulation would increase because it would become profitable again to lend to the real economy, increasing cash flow (velocity of money).
- Why The U.S. Economy May Be Stronger Than You Think (Seeking Alpha)
- Glut of Capital and Labor Challenge Policy Makers (The Wall Street Journal) The global economy is awash as never before in commodities like oil, cotton and iron ore, but also with capital and labor-a glut that presents several challenges as policy makers struggle to stoke demand. We even have too much money (global wealth has more than doubled since 2000) but it is concentrated in too few hands. These authors say that all this is deflationary and it may take another decade to work all these excesses out of the economic system.
- How Wall Street captured Washington’s effort to rein in banks (Reuters) Intense lobbying of regulators, many of them veterans of the industry themselves, helped ensure that practices the Dodd-Frank law was meant to stop would remain in place. Econintersect: A government dominated by the intended regulatees can never produce effective regulators. That is, unless you believe that self-regulation works. We suggest that regulation must inherently be confrontational, so we do not subscribe to self-regulation.
- The Echo Chamber (Reuters) At America’s court of last resort, a handful of lawyers now dominates the docket and they are representing corporate interests, by and large. A small number of lawyers get most of the cases accepted for review and this investigation reveals the process is dominated by cronyism and corporate control. So the banks control the bank “regulators” (previous articles) and corporations granted charters under U.S. law control the court with final judgment of their actions. Is this system become the ultimate oligarchy? Actually, a more correct term would be plutarchy.
Nepal
- Nepal earthquake death toll climbs to nearly 1,900, massive rescue efforts on as aftershocks continue (Hindustan Times) The reports of the devastation are still coming in and the numbers of people killed, injured and affected by this earthquake continue to rise. See following articles.
- Everest Avalanches Kill 8, 17 Dead in Tibet After Quake (Bloomberg) At least eight people including Google Inc. executive Daniel Fredinburg are reported dead after Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Nepal triggered avalanches near the Mt. Everest base camp. No distress calls have been received from climbers higher on the mountain. At least 17 people in Tibet were killed, and 53 injured, due to the quake, China’s state-run Xinhua News reported, with more than 12,000 evacuated. Communications are spotty throughout the Himalyan and Tibetian region so exactly what has happened in these areas is unknown.
India
- Nepal earthquake: 52 dead, hundreds injured in India, huge damage in bordering areas (Hindustan Times) The massive 7.9 earthquake in neighboring Nepal gave a huge jolt to several north Indian states as well. As reports of large-scale damage and casualties poured in from Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, the death toll in India climbed to 52, with hundreds injured.
Bangladesh
- Tremor in Bangladesh claims three lives (bdnews24.com) Three women have died in three districts due to tremors that jolted Bangladesh following a powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Nepal.
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