Authored by Leith van Onselen via MacroBusiness.com.au,
Transparency International has released a new report, entitled Doors Wide Open: Corruption and Real Estate in Four Key Markets, which has identified Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA as the top four spots targeted by corrupt officials or criminals for real estate crime.
Australia is the worst, failing to address 10-out-of-10 loopholes.
Below are the key extracts:
The Russian central bank opened its first overseas office in Beijing on March 14, marking a step forward in forging a Beijing-Moscow alliance to bypass the US dollar in the global monetary system, and to phase-in a gold-backed standard of trade.
According to the South China Morning Post the new office was part of agreements made between the two neighbours "to seek stronger economic ties" since the West brought in sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis and the oil-price slump hit the Russian economy.
One glance at the shocking headlines over the first quarter of 2017 and one would imagine intense volatility in the world's capital markets - from the leader of the free world being 'managed' by Putin to North Korean Nukes; and from Fed rate hikes to the rise of populism in Europe. But that would be entirely wrong - Q1 2017 was the calmest for US stocks since 2006...
Just a week ago, it looked as if the dormant CBOE Volatility Index was awakening.
Eric Townsend and Patrick Ceresna, the people behind the weekly Macro Voices podcast, have released an extended, hour-long interview with Julian Brigden founder of Macro Intelligence 2 Partners, in which among the various topics discussed (see the attached slidepack for supporting materials and charts) were:
Once upon a time Washington was simple: on one hand you had Republican interests, on the other: Democrats, and inbetween them perhaps, the occasional independent or "green." Now... it's less simple. At last check, DC currently boasts at least nine different parties, groups, factions or ideologies. Which is why keeping track of who wants what, and how the various groups allign, in US politics has become quite complicated.