Oh, the trials and tribulations of sitting on $2.5 trillion. That’s how much China holds in foreign currency reserves. And in this period of market turmoil and economic uncertainty, what would you do with it? I can’t figure out where to put my far more meager earnings. I couldn’t begin to guess where I’d invest [...]
One of the worries as house prices began their now three-year plunge back in 2007 was the affect of falling values would have on budgets of cities and other local governments, which rely heavily on property taxes. Well it turns out, property tax revenue is far more resilient than people thought. The strength of the [...]
Brace yourself for the backlash. University of Colorado sociologist Tim Wadsworth has a study out in Social Science Quarterly suggesting that more immigration leads to less crime. During the 1990s, the incidence of serious crime dropped in many places in the U.S.—but fastest in the cities with the largest increase in immigrants. That conclusion comes from studying [...]
Is it wrong to be relieved that some white-collar crime is still old-fashioned and easy to understand? Today authorities arrested two people charged with trying to sell information about upcoming Disney earnings to hedge funds. According to the SEC complaint, Bonnie Jean Hoxie, an assistant to a Disney executive (who Dow Jones identifies as corporate [...]
The Standard & Poors 500 vs. The CBOE Volatility Index Volatility Mad Dow disease is back, baby. The Dow Jones industrial average started the day with a bang, down 300 points. It then rose most of the day. The result: The Dow was down just 20 points by the end of the day. The Standard & Poors [...]
These are the worst of times for the euro. Not only is the currency steadily sinking in value, but the Eurozone’s debt crisis has provided all kinds of new ammunition to critics of the monetary union to do some self-satisfied euro-bashing. The euro has even been blamed for causing, or at least exacerbating, the Eurozone’s [...]
South Korean President Lee Myung Bak made big news by announcing a new slate of sanctions against North Korea, including the cessation of all trade between the two Koreas. The steps are in retaliation for the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in March, which more and more evidence shows was the result of [...]
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been watching the sovereign and bank bailouts in Europe and asking, “Okay, but what’s in it for me?” Well, here is your answer: cheaper gas.
Once again, the wisdom of crowds doesn’t look so smart. A few months ago the prevailing wisdom was that mortgage rates were headed up. Why? Well, for so many reasons. Government borrowing was going to push up interest rates. The economy was recovering. And of course, we were soon going to be hit by massive [...]
Fixing the stock market, it appears, is not as easy as we thought. In the days after the May 6th so-called “flash crash” that sent the market down nearly 1000 points in about 15 minutes, it seemed that everyone agreed on one point: We need better stock market curbs. Halt stocks instead of exchanges and [...]
