Corruption

EconMatters's picture

Taiwan Election: How a DPP Win Would Tick Off China





Time Magazine cover says she could lead the only Chinese democracy.  The same woman also said "Violence Is Normal in a Democratic Society"

 
EconMatters's picture

Investment Banks Share the Same Trading Algo Code





We used to have notions of ‘proprietary programmed code’ but the Investment Banks learned that they could make their life a lot easier by working together instead of cross purposes.

 
Tyler Durden's picture

Venezuela's Bizarre System Of Exchange Rates





Venezuela is currently going through its worst crisis in history, replete with an endless list of interesting problems. Foremost among these are severe shortages in even the most basic of necessities. Economists have used these shortages as textbook examples to illustrate the pernicious effects of price controls. Few people, however, are aware that many of the country’s problems are caused by a complex monetary arrangement that makes use of four different exchange rates simultaneously. The result is that Venezuela can either be extremely cheap, or unbearably expensive, depending on the rate used.

 
Tyler Durden's picture

Gallup Explains Trump: "A Staggering 75% Of Americans Believe In Widespread Government Corruption"





What explains America's revulsion with the existing system? The answer comes from the latest Gallup article: "Explaining Trump: Widespread Government Corruption" in which it finds that once the silent majority of the population can identify the object of their distrust and anger - in this case Congress and the political status quo - and once they can subsequently identify an object that represents its opposite, the latter object's distance to the Oval Office becomes considerably shorter.

 
Tyler Durden's picture

"Presidentialism" Not Serving American Politics Well





Evangelicals, Tea-partiers, Progressives, Libertarians, Ghettofied Blacks, Unionized Labor, and other groups will be tapped and lured by the career politicians in the two parties to receive their financial support and vote, in most instances without political voice… Our system of Presidentialism may have served us well in the past but its rigidity in the political process denies the multiple voices that need to be heard in a democracy, nor offers the required tools for political compromise.  Sadly... here we are, stepping into 2016 with the possible political prospect of having to elect as chief executive of this nation either a lady with questionable trust-credentials or a boisterous charlatan.

 
Tyler Durden's picture

Nomi Prins' Financial Road Map For 2016: "The Potential For Chaotic Fluctuations Is Greater Than Ever"





We are currently in a transitional phase of geo-political-monetary power struggles, capital flow decisions, and fundamental economic choices. This remains a period of artisanal (central bank fabricated) money, high volatility, low growth, excessive wealth inequality, extreme speculation, and policies that preserve the appearance of big bank liquidity and concentration at the expense of long-term stability. The potential for chaotic fluctuations in any element of the capital markets is greater than ever. The butterfly effect - the flutter of a wing in one part of the planet altering the course of seemingly unrelated events in another part - is on center stage.

 
Tyler Durden's picture

Hong Kong Publishers Reportedly Being Kidnapped By Chinese Authorities, Taken To Mainland





For several years now, we’ve periodically observed that China’s increasingly aggressive crackdown on dissent serves as a harbinger of far more difficult times ahead. The thinking goes that if anyone is privy to the severe fragility the country’s economic situation, it would be Chinese leadership. As such, desperate moves by Chinese leadership should foretell drastically worse economic and social conditions to come.

 
Tyler Durden's picture

Jailhouse Diary Of A Libor Manipulation Scapegoat





"It was over. The guard led me into a room daubed in graffiti, with the faint smell of cigarettes and urine. He allowed me to use the toilet, but it had no door – the days of privacy and dignity were over. A plastic toilet with no seat. I couldn’t really comprehend it."

 
Tyler Durden's picture

Pretend To The Bitter End





There’s really one supreme element of this story that you must keep in view at all times: a society (i.e. an economy + a polity = a political economy) based on debt that will never be paid back is certain to crack up. Its institutions will stop functioning. Its business activities will seize up. Its leaders will be demoralized. Its denizens will act up and act out. Its wealth will evaporate. Given where we are in human history - the moment of techno-industrial over-reach - this crackup will not be easy to recover from. Things have gone too far in too many ways. The coming crackup will re-set the terms of civilized life to levels largely pre-techno-industrial. How far backward remains to be seen.

 
Tyler Durden's picture

Oregon Standoff: A Terrible Plan That We Might Be Stuck With





The Oregon standoff potentially forces the hand of the Liberty Movement, not the hand of corrupt government - the exact reverse of what should be happening. Ammon Bundy and companions are not the tip of the spear.  Not even close.  What some fear is that they are cannon fodder beckoning a nationwide government crackdown to which others will then be forced to personally respond to with equal measure.  And all of this on the worst possible terms and at a very inconvenient time (executive actions on gun control mere weeks from now).

 
Tyler Durden's picture

Monopoly Much? America's Largest Utility Hikes Rates Most In 9 Years Despite NatGas Price Crash





Happy New Year Californians - behold the power of monopoly and regulatory capture.

 
Tyler Durden's picture

Mapping China's Hilarious European Stereotypes





For those wondering what comes to mind for the average Chinese web surfer with regard to nations in Europe, we present the following map from Foreign Policy who “plotted the most common Chinese-language Baidu query for each European nation.” Highlights include "likes to fight" for Russia, "why doesn't it annex Portugal" for Spain, and "beautiful women" for Ukraine.

 
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