OK, you don’t have to listen to me. But listen to Nouriel Roubini, the high profile economist that sees past the King’s New Clothes. World financial crisis ‘not over’ “There is a wall of liquidity chasing assets. But I think that there is a growing gap between asset prices and the real economy.” Beware of …
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Category:3 The World of Money
‘The bellboys are handing out stock tips in the lifts’
Are markets reaching bubble proportions? Regular readers of our world of money blog know how I feel. That’s not to say you can’t make money in a bubble. Or that valuations won’t be maintained. But I just can’t get comfortable with the massive hole in the financial system on one hand and the buoyancy of …
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Sovereign wealth funds: much ado about some money
Sovereign wealth funds: much ado about some money by Charles Kovacs* The first sovereign wealth fund (SWF) was established by Kuwait in 1953,[1] and was followed by many others from 1973-4, after the first oil crisis.[2] Since then, each major jump in oil and gas prices increased the number and size of SWFs; after 2000, …
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The recession has not slowed humanity’s consumption of the planet.
You would have thought that an economic recession, which has slowed spending, raised unemployment and impacted trade, would have had a beneficial effect on humanity’s ecological footprint. But it has not. The Consumption Explosion continues. Humanity’s footprint is still as large as ever. Today is “ecological debt day”, the day that humanity has used the …
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Guide to Socially Responsible Investment
See here the Guide to Socially Responsible Investment by NEF (pdf).
Dirty politics costs you millions.
Transparency International’s 2009 corruption survey is out. There is no improvement in the swathe of corruption that stifles the work of everyone. It is a dirty scum of waste that feeds the rich, all over the world. The report notes that in the US corporations spent an average of $200,000 a year on lobbying every …
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Green rankings for US big 500 companies
Newsweek has produced a ranking of America’s 500 biggest companies according to green criteria. It is useful to get a quick overview of the initiatives taken by America’s biggest companies. However, the ranking omits companies that are much greener, like Interface, because they are not in the biggest 500. It is also noteworthy that there …
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Zero Growth: The Future of Business – Ethical Corp/Jonathan Porritt
The big interview: Jonathan Porritt – When real progress means standing still Business must see that zero growth is the future for developed economies, according to Jonathan Porritt Interview by Eric Marx As he prepared to step down in July as chief environmental adviser to the UK prime minister, Jonathan Porritt headed out for one …
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A story about changing course: Trading derivatives for dogs.
Here’s a short story about a former financial trader who now sells frankfurters in Frankfurt’s business district. A new and interesting job, hard work, fulfilling. “If you’re not happy with your job, it’s bad for you.” BBC: German fat cat turns to hot dogs
Crisis: lessons not learned!
It is no surprise that headlines a year after the collapse of Lehman Bros declare that the lessons of the financial crisis have not been learned and there is no sytstemic improvement in the financial system. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says the rapid return to the City’s bonus culture shows real reform …
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