background preloader

Where are you on the global pay scale?

Where are you on the global pay scale?

Q&A: Quantitative easing Image copyright Getty Images Governments and central banks like there to be "just enough" growth in an economy - not too much that could lead to inflation getting out of control, but not so little that there is stagnation. Their aim is the so-called "Goldilocks economy" - not too hot, but not too cold. One of the main tools they have to control growth is raising or lowering interest rates. But when interest rates are at almost zero, central banks need to adopt different tactics - such as pumping money directly into the financial system. This process is known as quantitative easing, or QE. How does it work? The central bank buys assets, usually government bonds, with money it has "printed" - or, more accurately, created electronically. It then uses this money to buy bonds from investors such as banks or pension funds. It can also push interest rates lower across the economy, even when the central bank's own rates are just about as low as they can go. What are the risks? Who has tried QE?

Viewpoint: A year of transition, uncertainty and change 2 January 2012Last updated at 17:13 By Rajiv Biswas Asia-Pacific Chief Economist, IHS Global Insight China's continued economic expansion is key to the region's overall growth In the Chinese Zodiac, 2012 is the Year of the Water Dragon - marking a year of transition, uncertainty and change. The Asia-Pacific economies certainly face considerable uncertainty as well as headwinds in 2012, with the eurozone already sliding into recession at the end of 2011, while the momentum of US economic recovery - although encouraging in recent months - remains moderate at best. The Year of the Dragon will also be a year characterised by political uncertainty, with presidential elections in the US and France, as well as leadership change in China. In autumn 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will elect the new Central Committee and Politburo Standing Committee members. Supporting pillars Continue reading the main story “Start Quote End Quote Weak links? Risk factors

Eurozone debt web: Who owes what to whom? The circle below shows the gross external, or foreign, debt of some of the main players in the eurozone as well as other big world economies. The arrows show how much money is owed by each country to banks in other nations. The arrows point from the debtor to the creditor and are proportional to the money owed as of the end of June 2011. The colours attributed to countries are a rough guide to how much trouble each economy is in. Click on a country name to see who they owe Europe is struggling to find a way out of the eurozone crisis amid mounting debts, stalling growth and widespread market jitters. But, with global financial systems so interconnected, this is not just a eurozone problem and the repercussions extend beyond its borders. While lending between nations presents little problem during boom years, when a country can no longer handle its debts, those overseas banks and financial institutions that lent it money are exposed to losses. GDP: €1.8 tn Foreign debt: €4.2 tn

China's great leap forward – into the supermarket | Money Made in China says everything, economically, about the last decade. Sold in China tells you everything about the next. Recent output figures from China were greeted with concern after the country reported its lowest GDP growth for three years, although, at 8.1%, it's magnificent compared to the UK's double-dip recession. Still, there is much talk among economists about a "hard landing", a "property bubble" and "bankrupt banks". But there is one key fact to remember about the economy in China. Within a generation, China is likely to displace the US as the biggest consumer market in the world. In Tianjin's vast factory zone, (across the road from a Foxconn plant making the next wave of Apple iPhones), the Master Kong factory makes more pot noodles than anywhere else in the world. Further south in the "groundscraper" (and weirdly Hogwarts-esque) Shanghai offices of Ping An, China's second biggest insurer, 12,000 commission-led telesales agents make one million sales calls every day.

A history of the world, BRIC by BRIC Goldman Sachs - via economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 - invented the concept of a rising new bloc: BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and, later, South Africa). Some cynics couldn't help calling it the "Bloody Ridiculous Investment Concept". Now that doesn't really apply. Soon, in fact, that acronym may have to expand to include Turkey, Indonesia, South Korea and, yes, nuclear Iran: What would that make? The multitrillion-dollar global question remains: Is the emergence of BRICS a signal that we have truly entered a new multipolar world? Yale's canny historian Paul Kennedy (of "imperial overstretch" fame) is convinced that we either are about to cross or have already crossed a "historical watershed", taking us far beyond the post-Cold War unipolar world of "the sole superpower". The Group of Eight (G8) is already increasingly irrelevant. On the other hand, willy-nilly may prove the way of the world. In India, the choice seems to be between manageable and unmanageable chaos. In Chinese eyes

‘All we want to do is work, to be able to support ourselves. But thanks to the rich being greedy, we can’t even have that’ - Americas - World Sean touches a flame to the note and uses it to light a cigarette. "That's debt, and that's what we do with it," he says, grinning to his fellow Occupy Wall Street protesters. It's one of those braggadocio gestures that probably has as much to do with the presence of an unfamiliar young woman as it does to hatred of the super-rich "1 per cent" whom this ramshackle global anti-capitalist movement set themselves against when they started camping out in Manhattan's financial district last September. Smoke streams from Sean's fingers. He doesn't listen to other activists, who are already checking the internet on their phones to see if burning money is a federal crime. "I just hate money for what it did to my family," he says. Funded by the union National Nurses United at a cost of $10,000, this coach is taking Sean, 40 protesters and me on a sweaty 16-hour journey to Chicago. Delegates are protected by ground troops, riot cops. Chris, 21, describes himself as "the electrician". Connection.

Why A Falling Stock Is Not Always A Bargain An old axiom warns investors not to "catch a falling safe", a reference to the fact that a falling stock is not always a bargain. For every solid company whose stock is experiencing a temporary downturn, another is punished by the market for very good reasons and may not recover. To "buy low and sell high" successfully, it makes sense to find undervalued stocks that are trading for less than they should. The trick for investors is separating a temporary stock pullback from a prolonged - and perhaps irreversible - downturn. Pullback Vs. Take, for example, J.C. Lehman Brothers Holdings (OTC:LEHMQ) presents an entirely different set of circumstances. Lehman's subsequent share price free-fall was not a pullback but, rather, a realistic assessment of value - leaving safe catchers vulnerable to getting clobbered. Technical AnalysisBeyond poking into a company's fundamentals, there are a few other ways of identifying pullbacks and regressions. Five trading days later, J.C.

Western banks 'reaping billions from Colombian cocaine trade' | World news | The Observer The vast profits made from drug production and trafficking are overwhelmingly reaped in rich "consuming" countries – principally across Europe and in the US – rather than war-torn "producing" nations such as Colombia and Mexico, new research has revealed. And its authors claim that financial regulators in the west are reluctant to go after western banks in pursuit of the massive amount of drug money being laundered through their systems. The most far-reaching and detailed analysis to date of the drug economy in any country – in this case, Colombia – shows that 2.6% of the total street value of cocaine produced remains within the country, while a staggering 97.4% of profits are reaped by criminal syndicates, and laundered by banks, in first-world consuming countries. The economists surveyed an entire range of economic, social and political facets of the drug wars that have ravaged Colombia. But no one went to jail, and the bank is now in the clear.

The shirt you can wear for 100 DAYS without washing (or ironing) Made from wool which is also wrinkle freeFirm claims the shirt feels like a normal shirt By Eleanor Harding and Mark Prigg Published: 16:26 GMT, 29 April 2013 | Updated: 06:35 GMT, 30 April 2013 It could spell an end to laundry days – or at least make them a much less frequent chore. Manufacturers claim they have invented a shirt that stays clean even after 100 days of wear.The garment resists odour so effectively that it even smells fresh after being worn during rigorous exercise, its makers claim. It is also said to need no ironing because it is made of wrinkle-free material that can withstand even the roughest of treatment. Wool & Prince claim the shirt can be worn for 100 days without being washed or ironed American company Wool & Prince said they developed the shirt for men who hate having to wash their clothes so often. They sent researchers around the world wearing the shirts doing everything from backpacking in the Andes to dancing in sweaty New York nightclubs to test their design.

Related: