Hope for Sex in Japan: Figures on Low Libidos Misunderstood

Part of the problem with understanding sex in Japan is cherry-picked data. Take the 2011 survey by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research on which sex-drought stories are often based. Its finding that 61 percent of unmarried men and 49 percent of single women between 18 and 24 of age weren’t in any kind of romantic relationship is mentioned up high. Rarely cited is this fact on Page 2 of the report: almost 90 percent of respondents intend to marry someday. And what about international comparisons? A recent Pew study found that 71 percent of unmarried Americans aren’t in committed relationships. Also, there can be big cultural and generational differences in the meaning of “single,” “dating” and “having sex.”  There are important things to be learned from the Japanese experience.  How do countries manage with large aging populations and low birth rates.  William Pesek reports.  Japan Faces Aging Population and Low Birth Rates

Japan's Future

 

Will Switzerland Be Known for Watches, Cheese and Chocolate

Banks in Switzerland are under pressure.  Agreements make non-compliant accounts difficult.  Distinctions between tax evasion and tax fraud have been erased.  Swiss banks have to establish banks in foreign countries for deposits from that country.   Fees once charged to customers can no longer be, and how far back customers can go to retrieve unauthorized fees has not been established.   Booz Report

Switzerland of the Future

Repairing Europe’s Banks

The first step will be to try to get a measure of just how much bad debt there is through a close examination of the assets. On October 23rd the European Central Bank gave some details of how it will do this in an “asset- quality review” and what standards it will expect banks to meet. These revealed something of the fierce arguments that have taken place recently within the ECB and the compromises it has had to swallow. The ECB needs to be tough on banks to restore confidence—yet not too tough. If it reveals capital shortfalls so large that filling them would destroy the public finances of struggling countries then it may undermine confidence rather than restore it.  The Economist Reports   


Non-Performing Loans

India Financial and Business Development for Women with WOTR’s Work

WOTR initiates and implements various development activities that not only enhance their economic status but also reduces drudgery and burden. The Samyukta Mahila Samiti (SMS) gives them a space and voice at the village level. Financial support is provided for livelihood and income generation activities through VDCs under a separate revolving fund. Women’s Empowerment  Video

Climate Change Adaptation

The Climate Change Adaptation project is being implemented in 65 villages of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh covering an area of 40,734 ha (407 sq.kms), directly benefitting 63,282 people from over 11,979 households.

Wall Street Pays PhDs to Persuade the Courts and Congress

How much of a difference can one academic make? Last September, a federal court knocked down a proposed regulation concerning “position limits,” a provision of Dodd-Frank designed to limit the role of speculators in inflating the price of commodities like oil, wheat and aluminum. To understand how this came about, follow the path of the University of Houston’s Craig Pirrong, who plays a Zelig-like role in the story of how this rule—hated by both the big speculators and the private exchanges in which commodities are traded—came to face delays, legal setbacks and now an uncertain future.

While numerous studies have demonstrated, and even Goldman Sachs has conceded, that excessive speculation on crude oil has boosted the price of gasoline at the pump by billions of dollars for consumers, the impetus for reform can be traced to the record spike in gas prices in June of 2008. The following month, a congressional hearing was called on the role of speculators. That’s when Professor Pirrong’s assault began on what would later become part of Dodd-Frank.

In his testimony, Pirrong said that “speculation is not the cause of high prices for energy products” and that there is “no evidence” to the contrary. In fact, there is an abundance of research, including a 2006 report from the Senate Homeland Security Committee, about the role of speculators in driving up the price of energy products like crude oil. Nevertheless, Pirrong pressed on, advocating against action on speculation in a report for the libertarian Cato Institute, in an opinion column for CNN Money, and in comments to major media outlets like the Financial Times.   The Nation Reports

A Professor Testifies

Greece Made Largest Fiscal Adjustment, says EU Paper Published ‘by mistake’

Greece made largest fiscal adjustment, says EU paper published ‘by mistake’.

Brussels – Greece performed the largest fiscal adjustment in the eurozone between 2011 and 2013, according to a research paper by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, which was apparently published by mistake on Monday. Greece made largest fiscal adjustment, says EU paper published by mistake

A simple comparison between the US approach and the EU approach to economic recovery is ample proof that Keynes was correct in his assessment of macroeconomic processes relative to managing economies of scale in a globally connected market. Austerity moves inflicted unnecessary harm on economies and peoples. When consumers loose faith in markets and markets contract soverigns are the only source of liquidity left. Governments must prime the pumps of the economy, albeit in a deliberate thought out way, in order to jump-start the economic engines.

Fiscal-Consolidation-Paper

Fiscal consolidations and spillovers in the euro area periphery and core

 

Small Businesses Need a Website

Forty-five percent of consumers look more favorably on SMBs that have a website, so there’s plenty of incentive to jump onboard and get a website. Companies without an Internet presence may be missing out on the wide variety of marketing and small business tools offered by today’s B2B business services companies.  In the new world, this may seem obvious, but almost half of small businesses do not have their own site.
Small-Businesses-Need-Websites

Websites

Wall Street Banks “Unsafe”?

Regulators were caught off guard when JPMorgan traders gambled away $6.2 billion of depositors’ funds in wildly risky and illiquid derivative trades in an outpost in London. On August 14 of this year, the U.S. Justice Department announced criminal indictments against two of the traders involved in the matter, the infamous London Whale case, alleging they hid the extent of the losses.

Until the Glass-Steagall Act is restored by the U.S. Congress, until prosecutors rid Wall Street of its serial wrongdoers parked in the executive suites, it’s best to pay careful attention.  Are Wall Street Banks Unsafe?

Rules of the Street

Caesars Palace Under Money Laundering Investigation

Caesars Entertainment Corp. (CZR) disclosed that federal Caesars Palace2
regulators, continuing a crackdown on money laundering at casinos, are investigating the unit operating its flagship property in Las Vegas.

US authorities have been increasingly focused on anti-money laundering policies and procedures, with a particular focus on the gaming industry.

In August, Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) agreed in a nonprosecution deal to pay $47 million and change its policies to resolve a federal criminal investigation over noncompliance with a law that requires casinos to report suspicious customer transactions.

After the gambling industry received a stern warning from the Justice Department, casino executives had vowed to beef up their antimoney-laundering procedures.
CZR_SEC_8-K_Filing_

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