Author Archives: Richard Smith

Cheer Up, FTAdviser: At Least You Don’t Publish Threadbare Excuses from Scammers, Like Reuters Does

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By Richard Smith

Having hooted mildly at FTAdviser yesterday, for their somewhat skimpy fact checking, I found my eye caught today by a similar miss from Reuters (in bold):

“FTAdviser” Tricked Into Lending the Good Name of the Financial Times to Carbon Credit Scammers

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Naked Capitalism: the First Five Years (Nearly)

The fifth anniversary of Naked Capitalism’s first post is due on 19th December. According to WordPress, another 8,361 posts have gone up since 2006. 7,453 of them are posted by Yves, who thus averages four posts per day, week in, week out, for all that time: unnerving. For all the generosity of Yves’s tributes to other contributors, it’s pretty obvious where the lion’s share of the engagement is coming from, though I would have to single out Ed Harrison as the most wonderful near-full-time helper when Yves is having one of those bandwidth-challenged annual “holidays”.

From direct observation, and deduction, the average Yves Smith working day, which is to say, the average Yves Smith day, splits up something like this:

European summits in ivory towers

By Paul de Grauwe, Professor of international economics, University of Leuven, member of the Group of Economic Policy Analysis, advising the EU Commission President Manuel Barroso, and former member of the Belgian parliament. Cross-posted from VoxEU.

The Eurozone crisis plays on to a familiar tune. Finance ministers meet on the weekend only for markets to dismiss their efforts the following Monday. This column argues that Europe’s leaders have lost touch, that the ECB has the firepower but is not prepared to use it, and that the outcome of all this is depressingly clear: Defeat by the financial markets.

Turning Japanese is a Boon

By Rumplestatskin, a professional economist with a broad range of interests and a diverse background in property development, environmental economics research and economic regulation. Cross posted from MacroBusiness.

What few seem to appreciate, either inside or outside of Japan, is just how strong the resulting Japanese recovery from 2002-2008 was. It was the longest unbroken recovery of Japan’s postwar history, and, while not as strong as pre-bubble Japanese performance, was in fact stronger than the growth in comparable economies even when fuelled by their own bubbles.

How on Earth did Japan manage that with their ageing population and zero population growth?

Occupy Sydney Day 8 – Steve Keen on Economists and Debt Crises

A quick tutorial from Steve Keen at OccupySydney, via @Ian_Fraser

New Zealand Science Minister Mapp’s Sudden Disappearance from New Image’s Web Site

NZ Science Minister who praised New Image runs for cover…New Image spokesperson in a spin…New Image “stand by” colostrum quack cure testimonials but simultaneously repudiate them by taking them off their web site…New Image still flogging worthless fuel economy product Powerpill Fe-3 to Malaysia.

Business As Usual in New Zealand!

New Zealand’s Miracle Cure Peddler and “The Most Spectacular Fraud in Australian History”

New Zealand company New Image Group is the supplier of the bogus fuel economy product behind Australia’s biggest stock fraud. And New Image is still selling it!

New Zealand Science Minister Wayne Mapp Endorses Dubious “Miracle Cure” Multi-Level Marketing Company

My last pop at New Zealand’s regulatory set-up mentioned New Image International, the company that uses multi-level marketing techniques to sell Colostrum as a miracle cure. The New Image product pitch is a generic hoax, as explained last time out:

…major warning signs include:
Read more...

Ian Fraser: On Banking, Cameron is Clueless

David Cameron displayed an astonishing lack of understanding of the banking sector in his interview with Sarah Montague on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Tuesday morning (as I’m afraid did Sarah, given her blinkered obsession with “bonuses”).

If Cameron’s stumbling performance was due to ignorance, then it’s simply inexcusable. If it’s down to him attempting to gloss over a situation he knows to be far worse than he claims, then it’s sinister.

New Zealand: Where Health Scam Companies Get Stock Exchange Listings

New Zealand is playing host to the sort of large scale miracle cure scam that would get investigated for wire fraud in the US. One company even has a New Zealand stock exchange listing!

New Zealand: a Great Place to do Business…and Scams

By Richard Smith

The little story NC carried a couple of months ago about New Zealand scam companies has come out from behind the paywall, courtesy of the NZ Herald (hat tip: John G.). We hinted at the time that the problem’s large and nasty, and the NZ Government admits this in a cabinet paper:

Chinese manufacturing takes a hit from abroad

The just released official manufacturing purchasing mangers index (PMI) for China shows a small rebound in August. The headline PMI rose from 50.7 in July to 50.9 in August, just slightly below market expectation of 51.1.

An Almost-Open Letter to the CEO and Chairman of the UK’s Financial Services Authority

A letter to the UK’s Financial Services Authority, by one of the victims of an apparent massive fraud perpetrated on SME customers of Halifax-Bank of Scotland (HBOS)