IMF’s Property Tax Hike Proposal Comes True With UK Imposing “Mansion Tax” As Soon As This Year

IMF’s Property Tax Hike Proposal Comes True With UK Imposing “Mansion Tax” As Soon As This Year
Tyler Durden on 03/22/2014 09:50 -0400
One could see this one coming from a mile away.
It was a week ago that we highlighted the latest implied IMF proposal on how to reduce income inequality, quietly highlighted in its paper titled “Fiscal Policy and Income Inequality”. The key fragment in the paper said the following: Read more of this post

Shiller: The Global Economy’s Tale Risks; Fluctuations in the world’s economies are largely due to the stories we hear and tell about them

ROBERT J. SHILLER
MAR 20, 2014
The Global Economy’s Tale Risks
TOKYO – Fluctuations in the world’s economies are largely due to the stories we hear and tell about them. These popular, emotionally relevant narratives sometimes inspire us to go out and spend, start businesses, build new factories and office buildings, and hire employees; at other times, they put fear in our hearts and impel us to sit tight, save our resources, curtail spending, and reduce risk. They either stimulate our “animal spirits” or muffle them. Read more of this post

South Korea’s public debt surpassed $841.7 billion in 2013, the highest level in history

Public debt hits all-time high last year
2014.03.19 16:43:37
South Korea’s public debt surpassed $841.7 billion in 2013, the highest level in history.
But the increase in public debt halved from a year ago.
The central and local governments owed 496.6 trillion won as of last year, and 45 non-financial state-owned companies either financed by the government or led by chiefs appointed by the government had to repay 412.1 trillion won, excluding shareholdings and investments, according to the Bank of Korea’s economic data system Wednesday. Read more of this post

Korean President Park to visit Germany; After Park’s father visited Germany, Korea’s per capita GDP soared from $80 to $24,000 and the aggregate GDP reached $1.1 trillion

President to visit Germany
Kim Seon-gul, Lee Sang-duk
2014.03.21 15:26:05
South Korean President Park Geun-hye is scheduled to make a four-day state visit to Germany from March 25.
Germany provided a textbook example for the incumbent President and her father, former President Park Chung-hee. After Park’s father visited Germany, Korea’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) soared from $80 to $24,000 and the aggregate GDP reached $1.1 trillion as of last year, coming in at 15th in the world. Read more of this post

New standards for bottled water may affect Tingyi, Coca-Cola

New standards for bottled water may affect Tingyi, Coca-Cola
Staff Reporter
2014-03-22
China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission is soliciting opinion regarding new standards for bottled drinking water, which may not be good news for companies that market their products under the guise of “mineral water,” Shanghai’s National Business Daily reports. Read more of this post

Wesley Gray: Is Smart Beta Bullsh!+?

Is Smart Beta Bullsh!+?
Posted MAR 21 2014 by DAVID FOULKE in TURNKEY BRAINWAVE
John Bogle did a tremendous service to humanity when he launched the first index fund in 1975. By providing people with a passive, low-cost way to invest in the entire stock market, Bogle enabled generations of investors to get cheap beta exposure, and avoid the high fees, commissions, taxes, and other costs associated with active management approaches. Clearly, consumers thought this was a good idea. The firm he founded, the Vanguard Group, now manages approximately $2.75 trillion. Read more of this post

Are China’s ‘ghost’ cities building towards economic ruin?

Are China’s ‘ghost’ cities building towards economic ruin?
March 22, 2014
Philip Wen
Demons are lurking behind China’s unprecedented housing projects.
Fears of property oversupply in China’s poorest province
Massive urban redevelopment projects in Guizhou are prompting fears of massive oversupply and fears that its capital, Guiyang will be left a ghost city. Read more of this post

Energy debate challenges facade of wa

Energy debate challenges facade of wa
BY STEPHEN HESSE
MAR 22, 2014
Torn between his nationalistic instinct to resurrect what he seems to regard as Japan’s great bygone days of empire-building and the mundane demands of caring for the pressing needs of his nation, a remarkably caring soul might almost feel sorry for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his first months in office. Almost. Read more of this post

The road ahead looks much smoother for restructured auto supplier Visteon, as a simplified strategy promises to end years of disappointing results

SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 2014
Visteon: In the Driver’s Seat
By CHRISTOPHER C. WILLIAMS | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR
The road ahead looks much smoother for restructured auto supplier Visteon, as a simplified strategy promises to end years of disappointing results.
When Tim Leuliette emerged from the boardroom to lead Visteon in August 2012, the auto supplier had swerved into a ditch. Two years out of bankruptcy, it had run through a chief executive, and its stock was languishing in the $30s, after trading as high as $75 the year before. Hedge funds and “special situation” investors were agitating for management to sell assets or even the whole company to boost the share price.
Soon after Leuliette became CEO, one such investor, anxious to cash out, asked him, “Can you get the stock to $50?” Leuliette’s reply: “It’s not important that I sell assets to get to $50. I can get you to $50, $60, or $70. There is a strategy here. Give us time.”
Read more of this post

Why the Dollar Endures: The U.S. currency’s wide appeal owes much to the weaknesses of the global monetary system

Why the Dollar Endures
By ESWAR S. PRASADMARCH 21, 2014

ITHACA, N.Y. — Why hasn’t the dollar plunged?
Since the 2007-8 global financial crisis, the public debt of the United States government has soared to $17.4 trillion, roughly equivalent to America’s annual gross domestic product. The Federal Reserve has pumped more than $1 trillion into the economy in an attempt to spur lending — and, in effect, weaken the dollar. Uncle Sam’s credit rating was downgraded, for the first time ever, in 2011. Round after round of fighting over the debt ceiling led to a government shutdown last October. Bitter gridlock has made it difficult for America to get its fiscal house in order. Read more of this post