Tag: Monday Business Edition

Mar 21 2011

Monday Business Edition

Monday Business Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Business

1 Disaster could cost Japan $235 billion: W. Bank

by Martin Abbugao, AFP

47 mins ago

SINGAPORE (AFP) – Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami could cost its economy up to $235 billion, or 4.0 percent of output, and reconstruction could take five years, the World Bank warned Monday.

“If history is any guide, real GDP growth will be negatively affected through mid-2011,” the Bank said in its latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update report.

But growth should pick up in subsequent quarters “as reconstruction efforts, which could last five years, accelerate”, it added.

Mar 14 2011

Monday Business Edition

Monday Business Edition is an Open Thread

Now with 47 Stories.

From Yahoo News Business

1 Tokyo stocks hammered, BoJ unleashes record funds

by David Watkins, AFP

25 mins ago

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese stocks tumbled Monday and the central bank pumped a record amount of cash in a bid to soothe money markets shaken by Japan’s biggest ever earthquake, a devastating tsunami and a nuclear emergency.

Nuclear plant operator TEPCO dived almost 24 percent on fears of a meltdown at one of its reactors while producers such as Sony and Toyota tumbled as power shortages prompted blackouts and factories remained closed, hurting production.

The Bank of Japan said it would pump a record 15 trillion yen ($184 billion) to help stabilise the short term-money market, making good on its pledge Sunday that it would unleash “massive” funds following the quake.

Feb 28 2011

Monday Business Edition

Monday Business Edition is an Open Thread

Now with 50 Stories.

From Yahoo News Business

1 India increases social spending in pro-poor budget

by Penny MacRae, AFP

6 mins ago

NEW DELHI (AFP) – India’s left-leaning Congress government on Monday unveiled a budget focused on helping the poor and rural masses with pledges to hike social spending by 17 percent and fight food inflation.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, lifting the lid on government plans for the financial year from April 1, scaled up spending for farmers, fertiliser subsidies, food programmes, education and rural employment.

“The country has carried for long enough the burden of hunger and malnutrition,” Mukherjee told parliament, saying the money earmarked for social spending would amount to 36 percent of the total budget.

Feb 21 2011

Monday Business Edition

Monday Business Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Business

1 China’s Alibaba bosses step down after fraud probe

by D’Arcy Doran, AFP

52 mins ago

SHANGHAI (AFP) – Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.com said Monday its chief executive and head of operations had resigned after a probe found fraudulent suppliers had used the site to cheat buyers.

David Wei and Elvis Lee resigned as chief executive officer and chief operating officer respectively, accepting responsibility for “systemic breakdowns” that allowed the fraud to happen, the company said in a statement.

“The investigation confirmed that Mr Wei and Mr Lee and other members of senior management were not involved in any of the activities that led to the claims by buyers against fraudulent suppliers,” the statement said.

Feb 14 2011

Monday Business Edition

Monday Business Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Business

1 China overtakes Japan as world’s No. 2 economy

by David Watkins, AFP

2 hrs 40 mins ago

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan lost its 42-year ranking as the world’s second-biggest economy to China in 2010, with data on Monday showing a contraction in the last quarter due to weak consumer spending and a strong yen.

While Japan was expected to fall behind a surging China in the year, the data underlined the weak state of a Japanese economy burdened by deflation, soft domestic demand and pressured by the industrialised world’s biggest debt.

“It is difficult for the deflation-plagued Japanese economy to achieve self-sustained growth,” said Naoki Murakami, chief economist at Monex Securities.

Feb 07 2011

Monday Business Edition

Go Pack!  I think I’ll get to the economics of the upcoming NFL lockout later.

From Yahoo News Business

1 AOL to buy The Huffington Post for $315 million

By Anthony Boadle, Reuters

Mon Feb 7, 3:08 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – AOL Inc has agreed to buy The Huffington Post, the influential and rapidly growing news, analysis and lifestyle website, for $315 million, the struggling U.S. Internet company announced on Monday.

The move will create a media group that will have a combined base of 117 million visitors a month in the United States, and reach 270 million people globally, AOL said in a statement.

The deal follows efforts by AOL’s chief executive Tim Armstrong to turn around the dial-up Internet access business by trying to turn it into a media and entertainment powerhouse, despite difficulties in attracting investors.

Jan 31 2011

Monday Business Edition

Just News so far.

From Yahoo News Business

1 Chinese property ‘bubble’ fuels hard landing fears

by Hui Min Neo, AFP

Sun Jan 30, 6:49 pm ET

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) – The world business elite raised concerns over China’s property prices at its annual get-together in Davos, with some worrying that if the bubble bursts it could hurt growth.

“Can China deflate its real estate bubble without generating a hard landing in its economy? It’s a serious problem. The Chinese themselves are quite worried about it,” said Nariman Behravesh, an analyst at IHS Global Insight.

“If you look at the ratio of home values relative to GDP, China is about the same level as Japan’s before Japan’s bubble burst,” he warned.

Jan 24 2011

Monday Business Edition

Much News now.  Editorial later.

From Yahoo News Business

1 Elites to tackle ‘fundamentally changed’ world at Davos

by Hui Min Neo, AFP

Sun Jan 23, 9:15 pm ET

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) – The eurozone’s debt battle and the power shift towards emerging giants like China and India will be at the heart of discussions on a “fundamentally changed world” at this week’s Davos meeting of global elites.

“The world has fundamentally changed,” said Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum which organises the annual meeting at the Alpine resort.

“One of the most important factors of the new reality is the shift of geopolitical and geoeconomic power from north to south, from west to east.

Jan 17 2011

Does Money Make You Stupid?

Monday Business Edition

I can of course only speculate (unless you want to give me some), but returning to the theme of last week’s Gold diaries, including 2 by Translator– Popular Culture and Pique the question always is can you eat it?

Gold is easily digestible, since it is non reactive, but it has no nutritional value.  It’s eating dirt, like the Haitians.

Oil is more dirt eating, only it goes up in the air to kill us and is quickly disappearing.  A real economist would expect the value of Gold v. Oil to decline due to supply and demand, but what do I know?

The real utility of Money is not as a store of value, but as a medium of exchange.  By turning over the ability to create money to private enterprises with little regulation through leverage we’ve encouraged a series of financial inflations in the speculative value of assets that will never be realized in a free market.

Even the most Randian will admit there will be winners and losers, their problem is that compared to their exposure to loss there is literally not enough money in the world to cover their bets.

Eventually it’s this shadow economy that’s going to have to take a hair cut and a devaluation.

Why?

Because that’s where the money is.

If you are leveraging 30 : 1 (that is, betting 30 for every 1 you actually have) where is the bigger number?

Business News below.

Jan 10 2011

Gold

Monday Business Edition

One of the things we know about Loughner is that he’s a Gold Bug.  This is the derisive term given to people who think that ‘money’ has some unique and special snowflake identification with a particular commodity.

Money is a medium of exchange and a store of value.

Let’s examine that ‘store of value’ part.  What Gold Bugs are arguing for is an arbitrary limit on the supply of the primary medium of exchange.

Leverage says that financial institutions can create unlimited amounts of fictional exchanges of perceived value.

So that horse hasn’t only left the barn, but the barn has burned down so there isn’t even a door to close.

Any commodity’s price is fundamentally related to it’s economic utility unless speculation, sentiment, and marketing distort the market.  Diamonds should be dirt cheap because they’re actually a very common gem stone.

On the other hand you have pork bellies, cotton, and oil,

William Jennings Bryan had at least to his credit that he didn’t want to crucify the economy on a cross of gold.  Limiting your medium of exchange wastes resources that could otherwise be put to productive use.

‘Money’ is electrons in a database and photons on a screen.  It’s worth what you can get for it.

Sad to say Gold Bugginess is not limited to fringe lunatic assassins.  Perfectly respectable Republican lawmakers in Georgia and Virginia think this is a good idea too.

Business News below.

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