WASHINGTON | By Mike Konczal at the Rortybomb blog via The Next New Deal | Everyone has been talking about the recent Larry Summers speech on secular stagnation, written up with force by Paul Krugman here. Gavyn Davies, in his own nice coverage, noted that the Q&A had an interesting exchange about fiscal stimulus between Bernanke and Summers, so I decided to write that up.
NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | JP Morgan, the U.S. biggest bank, will have to pay a historic penalty of $13 billion over faulty mortgage practices, according to the settlement with the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday. That’s the equivalent of Iceland’s annual GDP, and more than three times the amount BP had to pay for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. For some, it was about time that the administration started to take action against those who ignited the economic crisis. Others believe JP Morgan is just a scapegoat.
BEIJING | By Andy Xie at Caixin | Real reforms stripping speculators of their candy involve limiting government power in China. They are unlikely to come fast enough in this bubble economy.
MADRID | By Paul Krugman at Luis Arroyo’s Ilusión Monetaria | Looking at current macroeconomic policy, the obvious question is, stupid or evil? And the obvious answer is, why do we have to choose? But it is, I think worthwhile – or at any rate soothing – to think about the longer-term future for monetary and fiscal policy.
AMSTERDAM | By Stéphane Alonso at NRC Handelsblad via Presseurop | Negotiations on a free-trade agreement between Europe and the US will include discussions on an arbitration mechanism for the resolution conflicts between states and companies. However, in Brussels, there is growing criticism of systems that are already in operation, which too often find in favour of the companies.
By Benjamin Cole at Marcus Nunes’ Historinhas | Recently Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser opined that even periods of mild deflation could be welcome in the United States, and that Fed should have but a lone goal, and ideally that is zero inflation.
By Tomás López Fernebrand* | The recent landmark agreement reached at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to address aviation CO2 emissions proves that the industry remains at the forefront of initiatives addressing climate change. This is just one of the many projects to improve operations’ efficiencies for the benefit of travellers, airlines, airports, industry stakeholders and the environment. The development of aviation carbon calculators that provide trip related CO2 estimations to travellers stands out as one of the earliest initiatives to raise awareness of airline emissions.
BEIJING | By Pu Jun via Caixin | Party’s intention to let market set certain prices seen as creating room for progress to be made in areas like electricity reform. References in a document released after a major meeting of Communist Party leaders to letting market forces set certain prices have given experts hope that progress on electricity-industry reforms can be made.
By Ray Kwong | China’s embarrassingly ineffective anti-corruption campaign re-enters the spotlight as a damning New York Times investigative report reveals that JPMorgan secretly employed the daughter of former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the leading figure behind Beijing’s economic policy. Chinese government officials have long been “praised” for their skills to ensure their family’s futures, with some saying their collective efforts equal at least 3 percent of China’s GDP.