It’s not like politicians mucking with credit ever resulted in disaster before, right? RIGHT? Well anyhoo, it’s happening again, as politicians of all stripes and convictions (or lack thereof) lay siege to central banks with the help of pundits and other economic experts. That prompted a moderately alarming warning from ratings agency Fitch, which […]
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African Growth Will Bounce Back – Will Migration Too?
Sub-saharan Africa’s economic growth rate dipped to 2.3% in 2018, down from an average 3.3% in the previous half-decade, according to a World Bank cited by the Financial Times, but the slowdown won’t last: over the next few years increasing prices for commodities will boost the region’s agricultural and mining sectors, the mainstay of many […]
More Wind, Less Gas: UK hopes to cut natural gas usage
Yet another European country is turning its back on fossil fuels – or at least talking a good game about it. Britain hopes to begin reducing its dependence on natural gas in favor of renewable sources, especially wind and solar power, around 2025, according to Bloomberg. Any move away from gas will be slow […]
Don’t Crack The Tequila Yet: NAFTA 2.0 Is Frozen, Or On The Rocks
Six months ago one of Donald Trump’s signature campaign promises – the renegotiation of the “terrible, awful” North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – looked set to become reality after U.S., Mexican and Canadian trade negotiators reached agreement on a new pact, the creatively named U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). But things are looking very different now, […]
EU Competition Supremo: More digital taxes, more, more, MORE!
Although the EU-wide first attempt at taxing big digital companies for helping people buy and sell things and share pictures of cats online has failed, statists everywhere don’t despair: national governments can still punish them and stifle innovation all on their own. European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager is urging members states like France and […]
Europe Paralyzed By Brexit… Except For The Far Right
As Brexit negotiations go down to the wire – well, another wire, possibly more or maybe less significant than the previous ones – European leaders are scrambling to figure out what can, might, and should be done to avert a no-deal Brexit and bring some clarity and stability to the regional economy, beginning with when […]
BIG DATA – BIG WHOOP? More Data Doesn’t Equal Productivity (Yet)
By Erik Sass TES Editor In an age when technology carries more than just a whiff of Orwellian associations, “big data” was probably not the best nickname to give to the masses of information about us and everything else now collected by the Internet and digital devices and services of all stripes; maybe […]
Naughty Jungen: German Carmakers Colluded On Emissions Cheating
Well, we always said they were organized. Not only did German carmakers deceive regulators by installing cheat software on car engines during emissions tests, they colluded with each other to block the adoption of clean emissions technology, according to a new EU lawsuit reported by Reuters. Among other details: The plots were hatched at a […]
Down It Goes! Dutch Debt Fell (Really)
Low country indeed: as Italy prepares to dig itself even deeper into a fiscal hole, the Netherlands has somehow managed to reduce its public debt by 5%, almost unheard of in modern economies, according to Rabobank. The analysis notes: The Netherland’s current public debt, at 52.4% of GDP, is far below the Eurozone average of […]
And Then Never, EVER Have Another One Again: Second Referendum Key To Breaking Deadlock
The first one turned out so well, didn’t it? Declared anathema by hardline Brexiteers, who have nonetheless worked steadily to make it possible by leading the UK into an impasse, a second referendum is now the only way out of the unholy mess the UK finds itself in on Brexit, according to MP Anna Soubry, […]