Crypto Currency: EU agrees on landmark crypto regulation in wake of Terra meltdown and Bitcoin plunge

The European Union has agreed on landmark rules for regulating the cryptocurrency industry, whose meltdown has been wiping out fortunes and sparking calls for tighter scrutiny worldwide.

EU negotiators hammered out the final details for a provisional agreement late on Thursday on a sweeping package of crypto regulations for the bloc’s 27 nations, known as Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA.

"Today, we put order in the Wild West of crypto assets and set clear rules for a harmonised market,” said Stefan Berger, the lead lawmaker negotiating the rules.

Read more at: EU agrees on landmark crypto regulation in wake of Terra meltdown and Bitcoin plunge | Euronews

USA: The next financial crisis is fast approaching - by Willem H. Buiter

Since early 2020, central banks across the advanced economies have had to choose between pursuing financial stability, low (typically 2%) inflation, or real economic activity. Without exception, they have opted in favor of financial stability, followed by real economic activity, with inflation last.

As a result, the only advanced-economy central bank to raise interest rates since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has been Norway’s Norges Bank, which lifted its policy rate from zero to 0.25% on Sept. 24. While it has hinted that an additional rate increase is likely in December, and that its policy rate could reach 1.7% toward the end of 2024, that is merely more evidence of monetary policy makers’ extreme reluctance to implement the kind of rate increases that are required to achieve a 2% inflation target consistently.

Read more at: Opinion: The next financial crisis is fast approaching - MarketWatch

Global Warming: Earth hasn't been this hot in 125,000 years, but scientists say temps are rising much faster now

Climate change is warming the planet, but not since the last interglacial period — almost 125,000 years ago — has it been this hot, according to scientists.

While the planet wouldn't have been inhospitable to humans at that time, temperatures would have been 1 to 2 C
above pre-industrial times — and up to 8 C higher in the Arctic.

The difference is that the last time the climate warmed to these levels, it did so over tens of thousands of years, allowing species to adapt. Today, climate change is moving far faster.

Read more at: Earth hasn't been this hot in 125,000 years, but scientists say temps are rising much faster now | CBC Radio

EU vaccination chaos: How many vaccine doses have arrived in EU countries and how do they get there?

More than 85 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been distributed by vaccine manufacturers to EU and EEA countries and millions more are expected to arrive before the summer months.

Four vaccines are approved for use in the bloc - the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines, as well as the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine and the single dose jab from Johnson & Johnson.

But the EU has been heavily criticised for its slow vaccine rollout, with critics emphasising that they needed to incentivise companies better to scale up vaccine production before the vaccines were authorised.

Read more at:How many vaccine doses have arrived in EU countries and how do they get there? | Euronews

USA: The battle for the soul of the Republican Party is now underway

A high-stakes battle for the soul of the Republican Party is now underway, holding far-reaching implications for the near future of American politics.

One front in this battle opens up this week with the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump as Republicans grapple with just how far to go in defending a former president whose effort to overturn an election result ended in deadly tragedy amid the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

So far, those rare Republican lawmakers who've dared to criticize Trump have been harshly rebuked by his loyalists.

Read more at: The battle for the soul of the Republican Party is now underway | CBC News

A torn America: Can President Joe Biden mend a torn America? - by Thomas Frank

It is the ‘duty’ of American citizens, President Joe Biden announced in his inaugural address last week, to ‘defend the truth and to defeat the lies’. Much of Biden’s speech was an unremarkable stringing-together of patriotic platitudes, but this call for a great truth crusade stood out for its audacity. America is, after all, the homeland of the public relations industry, of televangelism, of Madison Avenue, of PT Barnum. Our leading scholars worship at the shrine of post-structuralism; our brightest college graduates go on to work for the CIA; our best newspapers dynamite the barrier between reporting and opinion; our greatest political practitioners are consultants who ‘spin’ the facts this way or that.

In declaring a national quest for truth, of course, Biden was referring to none of these things. His target was a single man: Donald Trump, the most energetic shit-shoveler ever to occupy the Oval Office.

Consider the events of just the last few months. After losing the election of 3 November, Trump refused to acknowledge what happened and instead filed lawsuit after preposterous lawsuit charging that the election had been stolen from him by some unspecified method. Ambitious young Republican politicians pushed the nonsense along, trying to agree as conspicuously as possible with the president’s vain theorising. The last straw came on 6 January, when Trump addressed a throng of hardcore true believers and urged them to take their protest to the Capitol itself, where the final electoral formalities were then taking place.

Unlike Donald Trump, FDR was a genuine populist, and genuinely popular. But, as commentators noted at the time, the unified front that upper America presented against him in 1936 made him even more popular still.

Read more at: Can President Joe Biden mend a torn America?, by Thomas Frank (Le Monde diplomatique - English edition, February 2021)

U.S. economy contracted an estimated 3.5% in 2020, worst drop since WW2

The U.S. economy contracted 3.5 per cent in 2020, the Commerce Department reported Thursday, the worst economic freeze since the end of the Second World War.

The report estimated that the nation's gross domestic product — its total output of goods and services — slowed sharply in the October-December quarter after a record 33.4 per cent surge in the July-September quarter. That gain had followed a record-shattering annual plunge of 31.4 per cent in the April-June quarter.

The economy grew at a four per cent annual rate in the final three months of 2020.

Read more at:U.S. economy contracted an estimated 3.5% in 2020, worst drop since WW2 | CBC News

USA - The U.S. needs a democracy overhaul. Here’s what Biden’s first step should be

Since loosing reelection, President Trump has failed to overturn the results. But his post-election tantrum, not to mention his behavior before now, has magnified legitimate concerns about weaknesses in the nation’s democratic institutions. Mr. Trump lost the electoral college by a secure margin. What if he hadn’t? What will happen when a wanton president, an out-of-control state legislature or a hyper-partisan congressional majority sees a riper opportunity, based on a cockamamie legal theory or bad-faith execution of its duties, to reject the will of the voters?

In short, Mr. Trump and a disturbing number of Republican officials have made obsolete the old assumptions that each major party will play fair, that electoral results will reflect the will of the majority and that each side will willingly turn over power when defeated at the polls. The nation needs a top-to-bottom review of how it conducts elections, counts votes and assures the public of the democracy’s health, so that it resists those who want to restrict voting, trash legitimate ballots and leverage positions of trust to upend valid results. Among President-elect Joe Biden’s first acts should be to convene a high-level commission to recommend a democracy overhaul.

Read more Opinion | The U.S. needs a democracy overhaul. Here’s what Biden’s first step should be. - The Washington Post

The US in Crises: Capitol riot: What does a deadly day mean for Trump's legacy? - by Anthony Zurcher

For weeks, Donald Trump had been pointing to 6 January as a day of reckoning. It was when he told his supporters to come to Washington DC, and challenge Congress - and Vice-President Mike Pence - to discard the results of November's election and keep the presidency in his hands.

On Wednesday morning, the president and his warm-up speakers set the whirlwind in motion.

Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, said the election disputes should be resolved through "trial by combat".

Donald Trump Jr, the president's oldest son, had a message to members of his party who would not "fight" for their president.

"This isn't their Republican Party anymore," he said. "This is Donald Trump's Republican Party."

Read more at: Capitol riot: What does a deadly day mean for Trump's legacy? - BBC News

View from the EU: Britain 'taken over by gamblers, liars, clowns and their cheerleaders'

Britain faces an uncertain future as it finally pulls clear of the EU’s orbit, continental commentators have predicted, its reputation for pragmatism and probity shredded by a Brexit process most see as profoundly populist and dangerously dishonest.

“For us, the UK has always been seen as like-minded: economically progressive, politically stable, respect for the rule of law – a beacon of western liberal democracy,” said Rem Korteweg, of the Clingendael Institute thinktank in the Netherlands.

read more at: View from the EU: Britain 'taken over by gamblers, liars, clowns and their cheerleaders' | Politics | The Guardian

USA: Made By Putin? A 21st Century Slow-Burn US Civil War - by Alexei Bayer and Stephan Richter

Periods of leadership vacuum are by their very nature notoriously dangerous. In mature democracies — and the United States certainly considers itself as one — this shouldn’t be so. But it is.

Read more at: Made By Putin? A 21st Century Slow-Burn US Civil War - The Globalist

Famine Expected in 2021: Nobel-winning UN agency warns of 'famines of biblical proportions' in 2021

The head of the World Food Program says the Nobel Peace Prize has given the U.N. agency a spotlight and megaphone to warn world leaders that next year is going to be worse than this year, and without billions of dollars “we are going to have famines of biblical proportions in 2021.”

Read more at: Nobel-winning UN agency warns of 'famines of biblical proportions' in 2021 | Euronews

USA: Win or lose, Trump was the mirror America needed

A day after Election Day 2020, the presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is still too close to call. As states continue to count ballots, the potential for recounts and litigation to affect the final outcome remains. Viable routes to victory remain for both candidates, even in the midst of several colossal failures that should have resulted in a trouncing of the incumbent Trump.

Read more: Win or lose, Trump was the mirror America needed

USA: Stocks Close Sharply Lower on Rising Coronavirus Cases - as Donald Trump brags the US turned the corner on the Coronavirus

U.S. stocks continued to sell off on Wednesday in what is shaping up to be their worst week since late March, as rising coronavirus infections shook investors’ confidence in the global economic recovery.The Dow industrials lost 943.24 points, or 3.4%, to 26519.95, their fourth losing session in a row and worst day since June 11.

Read more at: Stocks Close Sharply Lower on Rising Coronavirus Cases - WSJ

Britain -Brexit: Fighting over fish is symbolic of our independence and little else - by David Wallis

Read more at: Fighting over fish is symbolic of our independence and little else | The Independent

The US Economy and the US Dollar: the US is facing a dollar collapse by the end of 2021 and an over 50% chance of a double-dip recession, economist Stephen Roach says - by Shalini Nagarajan

• The US dollar could collapse by the end of 2021 and the economy can expect a more than 50% chance of a double-dip recession, the economist Stephen Roach told CNBC on Wednesday.
• The US has seen economic output rise briefly and then fall in eight of the past 11 business-cycle recoveries, Roach said.
• Grim second-quarter data cannot be dismissed, he said, pointing out that "the current-account deficit in the United States, which is the broadest measure of our international imbalance with the rest of the world, suffered a record deterioration."
• Roach last predicted a crash in the dollar index in June, when it was trading at about 96. He said at the time that it would collapse 35% against other major currencies within the next year or two.

The "seemingly crazed idea" that the US dollar will collapse against other major currencies in the post-pandemic global economy is not so crazy anymore, the economist Stephen Roach told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Wednesday.

Roach,a former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, also said he sees a more than 50% probability of a double-dip recession in the United States.

He based that prediction on historical evidence, saying that in eight of the past 11 business-cycle recoveries economic output has risen briefly and then fallen.

"It's certainly something that happens more often than not," he said.

Roach last predicted a dollar crash in June, saying it would collapse 35% against other major currencies within the next couple of years. At the time, the dollar index traded at about 96. On Thursday, the index traded at about 94.41.

He said on Wednesday that he expected the collapse to happen by the end of 2021, but he did not say by how much.

Read more at: 
The US is facing a dollar collapse by the end of 2021 and an over 50% chance of a double-dip recession, economist Stephen Roach says | Markets Insider

USA: The Economic Recovery Story Is As Fake As Ever - by Jeffrey Snider

Disastrous to employment. Absolutely right. And in the more modern, 21^st century sense it doesn’t even have to be outright deflation anymore. We’ve seen time and again that a realistic threat is all it takes (a reminder about what happened last September before this March).

Familiar to us, if not always easily recognizable, it’s the very hazard of unsolved, chronic liquidity risks that spikes the dollar, keeps interest rates low (interest rate fallacy), and, as Keynes said, is therefore disastrous to employment by the introduction of what current Economists and central bankers otherwise call, while they do everything humanly possible to avoid recognizing, macro slack.

Bernanke, like his predecessors and successors, claims to be a keen follower of Keynes anyway.

What comes next is the weekly reminder about the labor market; initial jobless claims were 870k last week. That is, still, in the middle of September, 200k more than any of the worst weeks on record before March. And this latest “disastrous to employment” comes to us on top of the macro slack which has already forced the Fed to redefine (undefine, really) their whole conception of full employment.

They’ve got everything covered. Recovery’s in the bag. That’s the story, and it’s one with all the same characters, all the same scenery, and, least surprising of all, the same ending.

Read more at:
The Economic Recovery Story Is As Fake As Ever | RealClearMarkets

USA: An 'ominous’ report reminds us the U.S. economy is far from OK - by Sam Ro

On the one hand, we should be encouraged by how much the ;economy has improved since the most intense days of the Covid-19 pandemic." On the other hand, the economy is far from fully recovered , but the good news is that this was the fourth consecutive week the number was below 1 million For the complete report go to:https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jobless-claims-high-ominous-for-us-economy-morning-brief-095438514.html

U.S. budget deficit tops $3 trillion with one month left in fiscal 2020

 The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the U.S. federal budget deficit above $3 trillion for the first 11 months of fiscal 2020, more than doubling the previous full-year record, the U.S. Treasury said on Friday.

The $3.007 trillion year-to-date deficit was nearly triple the $1.067 trillion deficit for the comparable year-ago period, spurred by a massive increase in government spending to battle the economic fallout from the pandemic.

Read more at: 
U.S. budget deficit tops $3 trillion with one month left in fiscal 2020 | Reuters

Global Economic Recession"US, China, India, Europe can't save global economy from recession - by Linette Lopez

The coronavirus depression will be much worse than the last worldwide recession, because this time no country is strong enough to rescue the global economy.

The story of the Great Recession goes like this: the US and Europe were crippled while working to clean up their devastated banking system, the global services sector suffered without its biggest player — the US consumer engine — but global economic growth didn't completely fall off a cliff because other countries kept money moving around the planet.

Over in China policymakers enacted a massive stimulus to skip over the recession entirely. The country's GDP grew 9.4% in 2009. India chugged along as if the crisis barely happened, with its GDP growing 7.9% in 2009.

But this time there is no corner of the globe that has been left untouched by the pandemic or its effects. And so, there's no country that can reasonably chug along and keep things from getting truly disastrous.

Read more at: 
US, China, India, Europe can't save global economy from recession - Business Insider