Henrik Fisker has quit as executive chairman of Fisker Automotive, the plug-in hybrid car company he founded in 2007. A dispute with other executives over a survival strategy for the struggling start-up led to his departure. A former designer for BMW, Ford and Aston Martin, Fisker created the high-style Karma, a $100,000-plus plug-in luxury car with a backup gasoline engine similar to the powertra...Read More
Top House lawmaker questions validity of consumer bureau funding … Obama has renominated Cordray, who will have his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday, and nearly all Senate Republicans have promised again to block him. − Los Angeles TimesDominant Social Theme: This new bureau will really help make US consumers prosperous again.Free-Market Analysis: Why do US consumers need protection...Read More
Without coordinated leadership, Europe will falter … There is an increasing probability that financial markets will respond negatively to the unfolding economic and political drama unfolding across Europe. So far, the European Central Bank has pumped out cash and calmed the nerves of investors, but it needs to do more. A cut in interest rates by the ECB is crucial to contribute to a revival...Read More
Dallas Fed's Fisher: Three Ways to Curb Too-Big-to-Fail Banks … Despite honest efforts by the government since the financial crisis, too-big-to-fail banks haven't been reined in, says Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher. Just 12 huge banks hold almost 70 percent of the assets in the U.S. banking industry, he and Dallas Fed research director Harvey Rosenblum write in...Read More
EU unveils new air passenger rights … New rights for airline passengers have been unveiled by the European Commission. They include rerouting travellers with rival carriers if a flight is delayed for more than 12 hours. The rules also clarify what are considered exceptional circumstances for compensation. For example, mechanical failures on board the aircraft do not count, but natural disast...Read More
Cameron's new health tsar Don Berwick The NHS is suffering from "enormous sickness" in the wake of the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal, David Cameron's new patient safety tsar has told The Telegraph. Prof Berwick is one of the world's foremost authorities on patient safety. In his first interview with a British newspaper since his appointment, Professor Don Berwick said th...Read More
Without coordinated leadership, Europe will falter … There is an increasing probability that financial markets will respond negatively to the unfolding economic and political drama unfolding across Europe. So far, the European Central Bank has pumped out cash and calmed the nerves of investors, but it needs to do more. A cut in interest rates by the ECB is crucial to contribute to a revival...Read More
Dallas Fed's Fisher: Three Ways to Curb Too-Big-to-Fail Banks … Despite honest efforts by the government since the financial crisis, too-big-to-fail banks haven't been reined in, says Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher. Just 12 huge banks hold almost 70 percent of the assets in the U.S. banking industry, he and Dallas Fed research director Harvey Rosenblum write in...Read More
EU unveils new air passenger rights … New rights for airline passengers have been unveiled by the European Commission. They include rerouting travellers with rival carriers if a flight is delayed for more than 12 hours. The rules also clarify what are considered exceptional circumstances for compensation. For example, mechanical failures on board the aircraft do not count, but natural disast...Read More
Cameron's new health tsar Don Berwick The NHS is suffering from "enormous sickness" in the wake of the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal, David Cameron's new patient safety tsar has told The Telegraph. Prof Berwick is one of the world's foremost authorities on patient safety. In his first interview with a British newspaper since his appointment, Professor Don Berwick said th...Read More
Rather than opening up to debate and scrutiny like the rest of the digital establishment, the Five Star Movement has locked itself in its leader's weltanschauung. Grillo's project is reminiscent of Google and Facebook's one-way system of navigation. Grillo has more than one million Twitter followers, but he exclusively follows representatives of the movement who, in turn, use the mediu...Read More
The Great Portuguese Hollowing Out … With every passing day Portugal has less and less economy left, while fewer and fewer people remain to try to pay down the debt. As Portuguese President Aníbal Cavaco Silva once put it, "A country without children is a nation without a future." He was, of course, referring to his country's ultra-low birth rate, which is just over 1.3...Read More
House Democrats demand Obama release 'full legal basis' for drone strikes … In a letter sent Monday, Lee said a leaked Department of Justice memo showed an "increasing devolution of accountability, transparency, and Constitutional protections in U.S. counterterrorism operations." The 16-page memo provided an outline of the Obama's administration legal justification of t...Read More
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Saturday promised his recession-weary nation that there would be "no more austerity measures" as international creditors prolonged an audit of crisis reforms. "There will be no more austerity measures," Samaras said in a televised speech to his conservative party's political committee. "And as soon as growth sets in, relief measu...Read More
Seth Klarman Goes Nuts On The Fed In His Latest Investor Letter … Seth Klarman, the legendary head of Boston based hedge fund Baupost Group, sent out his letter to investors this week. He reports that his fund is up for the month, quarter, and year, but is sending out specifics in separate quarterly reports. That said: The juicy part of this letter has nothing to do with specific investments...Read More
Rather than opening up to debate and scrutiny like the rest of the digital establishment, the Five Star Movement has locked itself in its leader's weltanschauung. Grillo's project is reminiscent of Google and Facebook's one-way system of navigation. Grillo has more than one million Twitter followers, but he exclusively follows representatives of the movement who, in turn, use the mediu...Read More
The Great Portuguese Hollowing Out … With every passing day Portugal has less and less economy left, while fewer and fewer people remain to try to pay down the debt. As Portuguese President Aníbal Cavaco Silva once put it, "A country without children is a nation without a future." He was, of course, referring to his country's ultra-low birth rate, which is just over 1.3...Read More
House Democrats demand Obama release 'full legal basis' for drone strikes … In a letter sent Monday, Lee said a leaked Department of Justice memo showed an "increasing devolution of accountability, transparency, and Constitutional protections in U.S. counterterrorism operations." The 16-page memo provided an outline of the Obama's administration legal justification of t...Read More
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Saturday promised his recession-weary nation that there would be "no more austerity measures" as international creditors prolonged an audit of crisis reforms. "There will be no more austerity measures," Samaras said in a televised speech to his conservative party's political committee. "And as soon as growth sets in, relief measu...Read More
Seth Klarman Goes Nuts On The Fed In His Latest Investor Letter … Seth Klarman, the legendary head of Boston based hedge fund Baupost Group, sent out his letter to investors this week. He reports that his fund is up for the month, quarter, and year, but is sending out specifics in separate quarterly reports. That said: The juicy part of this letter has nothing to do with specific investments...Read More