UK sanctions Russia’s biggest bank
The UK has added Russian financial major Sber to its sanctions list in connection with Moscow’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine, blocking the bank’s access to the British pound.As stated in the document published by Britain's Treasury on Tuesday, sanctions were imposed against correspondent accounts of Sber, and the bank is also prohibited from clearing operations in sterling.“PJSC Sberbank participates in the acquisition of benefits from the Russian government or supports it,” the document states. It also emphasizes that Sber, being the largest Russian bank in terms of assets, is “an exceptionally significant player in the Russian financial services sector, which is of strategic importance to the Russian government.” … [READ MORE...]
Pete Souza’s Obama Book Cuts Obama Out of the Picture
For the Obama aides closing up shop, those final months between Election Day and the inauguration were filled with tears and apprehension. On his last foreign trip as president, Obama privately mused to Ben Rhodes, his deputy national security adviser, that Trump’s victory made him question whether he truly understood the country that elected him as its first Black president. “What if we were wrong?” Obama asked Rhodes during a stop in Peru, according to a recollection Rhodes included in his book “After the Fall.” “Maybe we pushed too far. Maybe people just want to fall back into their tribe,” he elaborated. “Sometimes I wonder whether I was 10 or 20 years too early.”Trump, a real estate baron with no political experience and scant understanding of or respect for American traditions and … [READ MORE...]
Silicon Valley Had Its Heyday. Can Tech Ecosystems Now Grow Inland?
I’ve heard some concern, particularly when the Supreme Court decision [overturning Roe vs. Wade] was made. But I have not heard of any specific people who were going to move and decided not to, or had moved and decided to leave.You lived through a tech bust. Are there similarities to what’s happening now?In the first decade of AOL, nobody knew or cared about the internet, nor cared about AOL. In the second decade, suddenly everybody wanted to get online, and AOL ended up being the on-ramp. And when that was happening, you saw our stock price soar. Others said, “Wow, this internet thing is really interesting.”And suddenly there were hundreds of other dot-com companies, many of which were concept stocks that went public quite early. And then in 2000, obviously, it turned. Today, it’s fair to … [READ MORE...]
Latest News
August PCE Inflation Data Shows Prices Are Stubbornly High
The data underlined the challenging path the Fed faces as it tries to guide the U.S. economy toward slower inflation. Both the economy and price pressures have retained momentum, even as central bankers raise interest rates to try to cool demand. As a result, the Fed has become steadily more aggressive in its efforts to constrain spending and temper inflation, and it is likely to keep raising rates and keep them elevated for a while.Card 1 of 5What is inflation? Inflation is a loss of purchasing … [Read More...]
U.S. Economy Weaker Than Thought in Year’s First Half, by One Measure
Taken together, the two measures suggest economic growth was at best anemic in the first half of the year. At worst, the economy had been shrinking for two consecutive quarters, a common, though unofficial, definition of a recession. An average of the two measures, which some economists consider more reliable than either individual figure, shows that output shrank slightly in the first half of the year.The conflicting signals sent by the two measures of output in recent quarters had been … [Read More...]
Britain’s Gamble on Tax Cuts has Economists Warning of Past Mistakes
Ms. Truss has been cheered on by conservative champions of supply-side economics in the United States, including many of the chief backers of Mr. Trump’s tax cuts. Stephen Moore, who served as an outside economic adviser to the former president, praised Ms. Truss for her willingness “to challenge the reigning orthodoxy by sharply cutting taxes to boost growth,” calling the package “a gutsy and sound policy decision.”“By far the most important change is the reduction in the top income tax rate … [Read More...]
Why the British Pound Continues to Sink
Over the centuries, British leaders have often gone to extraordinary lengths to protect the pound’s value, viewing its strength as a sign of the country’s economic power and influence. King Henry I issued a decree in 1125 ordering that those who produced substandard currency “lose their right hand and be castrated.”In the 1960s, the Labour government under Harold Wilson so resisted devaluing the pound — then set at a fixed rate of $2.80, high enough to be holding back the British economy — that … [Read More...]
Previous news
- Protests in Prague Signal a Troubled Winter Ahead in Europe
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- Three Charts That Illustrate America’s Political and Economic Malaise
- The Long Road to Driverless Trucks
- Inflation Has Hit Tenants Hard. What About Their Landlords?
Small Business
Silicon Valley Had Its Heyday. Can Tech Ecosystems Now Grow Inland?
I’ve heard some concern, particularly when the Supreme Court decision [overturning Roe vs. Wade] was made. But I have not heard of any specific people who were going to move and decided not to, or had moved and decided to leave.You lived through a tech bust. Are there similarities to what’s happening now?In the first decade of AOL, nobody knew or cared about the internet, nor cared about AOL. In … [Read More...]
Silicon Valley Slides Back Into ‘Bro’ Culture
“We made a bit of progress, but I feel like that was almost a smoke screen,” said Christie Pitts, an investor at Backstage Capital, a venture capital firm. Now “there’s definitely a feeling of backsliding.”Two parallel Silicon Valleys have emerged. There’s the ThunderDome of Twitter, where tech thought leaders collect likes by posting edgy memes and spouting flip political takes — then invoke … [Read More...]
Your Money
Confused by the New Mortgage Gimmicks? Here’s a Guide.
Adjustable-Rate MortgagesMore people are turning to adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, which start out with a lower, fixed rate for a set period — say, five or 10 years — and then adjust to a variable rate. That makes them riskier, but it appears to be a risk more people are willing to take. As of Sept. 9, nearly 11 percent of mortgage locks — that is, when applicants lock in a particular rate — … [Read More...]
The Discount Data That Some Colleges Won’t Publish
Many people qualify for need-based financial aid, but most schools can’t afford to meet every family’s full need. Section H2 of the C.D.S. tells you how much of the need, on average, a school is able to meet. Families often end up filling any gap with student or parent loans.Card 1 of 5Many will benefit. President Biden’s executive order means the federal student loan balances of millions of … [Read More...]