All posts by HeG

10 Books for Understanding #China’s Economy

Pacific Money writer James Parker recommends the most insightful economics and finance offerings.

James Parker was recently asked which English-language books he would recommend for someone seeking to understand the Chinese economy and financial system. The list and some brief summaries are included here

http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/10-books-for-understanding-chinas-economy/

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    Follow up of my post on BIG COMPANIES NOW HAVE A HAND IN THE COLLABORATIVE ECONOMY Here is one picture.
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  • 73
    http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/gigafactory.pdf
    Tags: economy
  • 68
    Greek debt tracker   As the government in Athens haggles with its lenders over economic reforms,Greece is running out of money. Here is what it owes in the upcoming months. http://www.ft.com/ig/sites/2015/greek-debt-monitor/
    Tags: money, economy
  • 68
    Why do we say so ? Easy money policies of recent years could lead to big problems. Warning indicators like the significant number of original general public offerings of organizations that are unprofitable, and substantial degrees of financial debt issued to firms, often with weak credit score.
    Tags: financial, offerings, money, economy
  • 66
    This is a story about ARM Holdings (ARMH), the mobile technology company. But before it gets going, here are a few things you need to know: 1. ARM is a company made up mostly of chip engineers. They design parts of chips—such as graphics and communication bits—and they design entire…
    Tags: economy

China’s New Avian Flu Has “Pandemic Potential”

Even as the H7N9 avian flu continues to spread within China, a new flu strain has already claimed one life. The Los Angeles Times reports that a new H10N8 avian flu infected at least two people last month, and one of the patients (an elderly woman) did not survive.

Though there have only been two reported infections so far, a Chinese study on the virus (published in The Lancet medical journal) warned of H10N8′s “pandemic potential.” The scientists are concerned that H10N8 could adapt to be spread directly between humans. However, there’s still no evidence to suggest either of these strains can currently be transmitted from person to person — patients are presumed to have caught the virus from contact with infected poultry. As a result, the Chinese government has culled chickens and banned the live poultry trade in an attempt to stop the spread of avian influenza.

http://thediplomat.com/

China central #bank says to continue stable monetary policy

China‘s central bank reiterated its stance of continuing with a stable monetary policy this year and promising to contain risks in lending, noting that the economy has yet to find a stable base for growth.

In its quarterly monetary policy report, released on Saturday, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) also said that it would step up oversight of lending in risky areas such as property and industries struggling with overcapacity.

(Reuters)

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    Chinese economic growth slowed to the lowest level since 1999 last year, expanding 7.7%. Policymakers have recognized the need to rebalance economic growth and are now slowly transitioning away from a credit and export driven economy to one driven by consumer growth. Some argue that the recent crackdown on shadow banking and the money market rate spikes are…
    Tags: growth, economy, china, year, china's
  • 10000
    One reason for global market weakness is investors’ fears that emerging market economies may be heading for a broad crisis, sparked by higher U.S. interest rates and slowing growth in China. Much of the analysis in the last few days has focused on why these nations are less exposed to…
    Tags: china, growth
  • 70
    11 Ugly Charts That Confirm China's Dramatic Slowdown During the National People's Congress, China's policymakers announced that it would target 7.5% GDP growth target for 2014. This is down from 7.7% growth in 2013, and the recent data shows that the economy is clearly off to a slower start to…
    Tags: china's, growth, economy, lending, people's, year, china
  • 69
    China's central bank is prepared to take its strongest action since 2012 to loosen monetary policy if economic growth slows further, by cutting the amount of cash that banks must keep as reserves, sources involved in internal policy discussions say. A cut would be triggered if growth slips below 7.5…
    Tags: bank, central, china's, growth, policy, monetary, year, economy, china
  • 69
    When stock markets are free-falling 10+% in a matter of days, it’s natural to seek some answers to the question “why now?” Some are saying it was all the result of high-frequency trading (HFT), while others point to China’s modest devaluation of its currency the renminbi (a.k.a. yuan) as the…
    Tags: china, growth, economy, central, bank

Twitter account SochiProblems has emerged as the viral curator

The Olympics officially began yesterday, but the defining image of the games so far is the issues surrounding Sochi’s readiness. Athletes, journalists and tourists have been sharing their experiences publicly on social media, and #SochiProblems has become the default hashtag for exposing deficiencies in hospitality, accommodation failures and the endless parade of stray dogs.

http://blogs.wsj.com/

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    Amid continued debate over whether or not Sochi is prepared to host the 2014 Olympics (here are 15 alarming signs that Russia might not be ready) reporters from around the world are starting to check into local hotels — to their apparent grief. Some journalists arriving in Sochi are describing appalling…
    Tags: sochi, journalists, media, dogs, stray, experiences, olympics
  • 44
    Despite all the criticism, the games in Sochi will take place, and they will most likely be deemed a triumph, a validation of Putin’s leadership, unless of course disaster strikes in the form of terrorism or some other tragedy. http://www.nytimes.com
    Tags: gard, sochi, games
  • 44
    Olympic Controversies, Scandals, & Stardom 20 historic Olympic moments from doping to protests, to the “whack heard ‘round the world.” Interactive: Olympic controversies As the Winter Olympics kick off in Sochi, relive 20 infamous events in the history of the games.  
    Tags: sochi, games, olympics
  • 37
    Ukraine's economy is in urgent need of assistance will Russia with Putin as leader help them out ? Vladimir Putin holds brief talks with Viktor Yanukovich at Sochi Games as Ukraine awaits Russian bailout amid uprising. Viktor Yanukovich, who has been battling anti-government protesters since he rejected a trade deal…
    Tags: sochi, games
  • 37
    Norway itself is a Winter Olympics marvel: With only five million people, it has won 303 Winter Olympic medals, far more than any other country on the planet. To find a country smaller than world-leading Norway on the all-time Winter Olympics medal table, you have to travel down to Croatia,…
    Tags: olympics, sochi, games

Ukraine’s economy is in urgent need of assistance

Ukraine’s economy is in urgent need of assistance will Russia with Putin as leader help them out ?

Vladimir Putin holds brief talks with Viktor Yanukovich at Sochi Games as Ukraine awaits Russian bailout amid uprising.

Viktor Yanukovich, who has been battling anti-government protesters since he rejected a trade deal with EU in favour of closer ties with Russia, arrived back to Ukraine on Saturday, following a brief meeting with Putin.

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    Ratings agency fears steep and uncontrolled depreciation of the currency as central bank limits private transfers abroad of around $5,700 a month Ukraine's economic woes deepened on Friday after Fitch downgraded its credit rating and the central bank imposed new capital controls to bolster the hryvnia. The ratings agency cited…
    Tags: ukraine, ukraine's
  • 72
    A Russian occupation of Crimea raises the specter of the Cold War, in which the nuclear stalemate between the United States and the Soviet Union devolved into regional disputes around the world. While military and political frictions made the biggest headlines, the Cold War couldn’t be well understood without using…
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  • 67
    Follow up of my post on BIG COMPANIES NOW HAVE A HAND IN THE COLLABORATIVE ECONOMY Here is one picture.
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  • 67
    Crimea's parliament voted to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum within 10 days on the decision in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula. The sudden acceleration of moves to bring Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority and has…
    Tags: russia, russian, ukraine
  • 67
    http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/gigafactory.pdf
    Tags: economy

Foreign-exchange options are the latest issue to come under scrutiny

A regulatory probe that flamed up in one corner of the vast foreign-exchange market is now engulfing the entire industri.

The latest conflagration: concerns about a type of foreign-exchange derivative that is widely used by financial institutions and companies world-wide, according to a person familiar with the matter.

http://online.wsj.com/

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    Citigroup's head of European spot foreign exchange trading, Rohan Ramchandani, has left the global bank, a spokesperson told Reuters on Friday. "He is no longer with Citi," bank spokeswoman Danielle Romero-Apsilos told Reuters. Asked if Ramchandani, who has been based in London, had been fired amid a global investigation into…
    Tags: probe
  • 10000
    Benjamin Lawsky, New York's financial services superintendent, has opened an investigation into manipulation of the currency markets by large banks and is requesting documents from more than a dozen institutions, according to a source familiar with the matter. The source said Lawsky has asked for documents from Barclays BARCR.UL, Credit…
    Tags: familiar, financial, probe, institutions, matter
  • 38
    Deutsche Bank has fired a currency trader in Argentina amid investigations by global regulators into alleged manipulation of the foreign exchange market, according to a source familiar with the matter, bringing to four the number of traders the bank has dismissed. Ezequiel Starobinsky, a vice president, at Deutsche office in…
    Tags: probe, familiar, matter, market

Tyrone Hayes said that a chemical was harmful, its maker pursued him #longread

Hayes has devoted the past fifteen years to studying atrazine, a widely used herbicide made by Syngenta. The company’s notes reveal that it struggled to make sense of him, and plotted ways to discredit him.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/02/10/140210fa_fact_aviv

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    A few weeks ago David Carr profiled Kevin Kelly on page 1 of the New York Times Business section. He wrote that Kelly's pronouncements were "often both grandiose and correct." That’s a pretty good summary of Kevin Kelly's style and his prescience. http://www.edge.org/conversation/the-technium
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  • 80
    In Mike McQueary, some see a hero who brought down a monster. Others see a liar who railroaded a legend. At the upcoming trial that will close the book on the Jerry Sandusky scandal, Joe Paterno's former protégé will have the final word. http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/10542793/the-whistleblower-last-stand
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  • 79
    Meetings are such a fixture in our work lives that we constantly hear the same advice: have an agenda, keep it short, don’t invite too many people. However, despite the commonality of this well-meaning advice, research from Harvard suggests that half of all meetings are unproductive. http://99u.com/
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  • 79
    Nate Weiner is neither a journalist nor a publisher. He’s a developer bent on changing publishing, and he’s built the platform to do it. With 10 million users, Pocket is the largest save-for-later service on the market. But more than market share, what sets Pocket apart is its ability to…
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  • 75
    Real life is the game that – literally – everyone is playing. But it can be tough. This is your guide. Basics You might not realise, but real life is a game of strategy. There are some fun mini-games – like dancing, driving, running, and sex – but the key to winning is simply…
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Machines are for answers; humans are for questions. #Longread

A few weeks ago David Carr profiled Kevin Kelly on page 1 of the New York Times Business section. He wrote that Kelly’s pronouncements were “often both grandiose and correct.” That’s a pretty good summary of Kevin Kelly’s style and his prescience.

http://www.edge.org/conversation/the-technium

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  • 80
    Hayes has devoted the past fifteen years to studying atrazine, a widely used herbicide made by Syngenta. The company’s notes reveal that it struggled to make sense of him, and plotted ways to discredit him. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/02/10/140210fa_fact_aviv
    Tags: #longread
  • 79
    In Mike McQueary, some see a hero who brought down a monster. Others see a liar who railroaded a legend. At the upcoming trial that will close the book on the Jerry Sandusky scandal, Joe Paterno's former protégé will have the final word. http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/10542793/the-whistleblower-last-stand
    Tags: #longread
  • 78
    Nate Weiner is neither a journalist nor a publisher. He’s a developer bent on changing publishing, and he’s built the platform to do it. With 10 million users, Pocket is the largest save-for-later service on the market. But more than market share, what sets Pocket apart is its ability to…
    Tags: #longread
  • 78
    Meetings are such a fixture in our work lives that we constantly hear the same advice: have an agenda, keep it short, don’t invite too many people. However, despite the commonality of this well-meaning advice, research from Harvard suggests that half of all meetings are unproductive. http://99u.com/
    Tags: #longread
  • 74
    Real life is the game that – literally – everyone is playing. But it can be tough. This is your guide. Basics You might not realise, but real life is a game of strategy. There are some fun mini-games – like dancing, driving, running, and sex – but the key to winning is simply…
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Fitch Downgrades Ukraine to ‘CCC’

Ratings agency fears steep and uncontrolled depreciation of the currency as central bank limits private transfers abroad of around $5,700 a month

Ukraine‘s economic woes deepened on Friday after Fitch downgraded its credit rating and the central bank imposed new capital controls to bolster the hryvnia. The ratings agency cited the ongong political instability and fears over its debt repayment schedule as it downgraded the country from “B-” to “CCC”. Fitch added that “political uncertainty has contributed to a weakening in confidence in the Ukrainian hryvnia and in the exchange rate policy”.

http://www.theguardian.com

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    Press conference following the meeting of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank on 4 September 2014 at its premises in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, starting at 2:30 p.m. CET: Introductory statement by Mario Draghi, President of the ECB. Question and answer session. Registered journalists pose questions to Mario Draghi, President…
    Tags: central, bank
  • 65
    The Swiss National Bank's foreign exchange reserves inched higher in August, data showed on Friday. The SNB held 453.799 billion Swiss francs in foreign currency at the end of August, compared with 453.353 in July, revised from an originally reported 453.391 billion, preliminary data calculated according to the standards of…
    Tags: currency, exchange, friday, bank, central
  • 53
    Imagine Fed Governor Rip van Winkle started his nap at the beginning of 2007 and just woke up to find that inflation is close to the Fed’s objective and the unemployment rate is at its 30-year average. You could forgive him for expecting the federal funds rate to be close…
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  • 50
    The dollar is stronger today following the slightly hawkish stance of the FOMC Minutes, which hinted at the potential for an earlier-than-expected hike in interest rates. Nothing is likely to happen any time soon though, and equities liked that idea in continuing their positive trend, with the S+P regaining its…
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  • 50
    Mario Draghi has set the bar high for the European Central Bank’s next meeting Thursday. The bank president’s warning about reduced inflation expectations, made in a speech on Aug. 22, fanned hopes that the ECB may announce additional stimulus measures to boost economic growth and prices. A report Friday showing…
    Tags: bank, fears, month, central, friday, economic

Apple Yanks World’s Most Popular Bitcoin Wallet From App Store

Apple has removed the world’s most popular bitcoin wallet from its App Store.

Late Wednesday, the tech giant yanked the Blockchain app from the popular mobile app marketplace and did not provide a specific reason, says Nicolas Cary, the CEO of Blockchain. The app is currently used by about 120,000 people to send and receive the world’s most popular digital currency. Blockchain users can still run the app on their iPhones and Macs, but they will no longer be able to get software updates via Apple. There are more than 1 million Blockchain users worldwide.

http://www.wired.com/

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  • 10000
    Read what @johngapper write in @ft Bitcoin is being forced to grow up fast. The arrest last week on money laundering charges of Charlie Shrem, a leading Bitcoin champion, coincided with a regulatory hearing in New York to consider what on earth it is – a virtual currency, speculative asset or…
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  • 68
    With the price of bitcoin seemingly on the up and up, there’s no shortage of conversation on the topic of where the price goes from here. There’s seemingly no shortage of optimism, either, with the value of bitcoin up a whopping 18 percent in the past week. Hedge fund Laureate BVI is…
    Tags: bitcoin, currency, digital, ceo, will
  • 67
    The alternative currency has been plagued by hacks, ponzi schemes and increasingly professional thefts since 2011, explains Alex Hern Sometimes it seems like not a week goes by without news of some bitcoin service getting hacked and losing everything. Thankfully, such attacks are rarer than that. But given the size…
    Tags: bitcoin, currency
  • 65
    The website of Mt. Gox appears to be taken down, shortly after six major Bitcoin exchanges released a joint statement distancing themselves from the troubled Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange. Mt. Gox's homepage was not loading, although no error message appeared. Mt. Gox was not immediately available for comment. "This tragic violation…
    Tags: bitcoin, currency, digital