In the not so distant future, Symborg Inc is developing an AI personal assistant. It is branded IRA, Intelligent Representative Avatar. At first Symborg is unsuccessful in achieving a sufficient level of autonomous intelligence in its algorithms and seeks a new direction in research, to co-opt the information content of the general population of the

The spread between Spanish and German bonds has widened from 0.93 to 1.22 in 6 weeks. While the spread between Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and even French bonds and German bunds has widened in the last 6 weeks, Spain’s reaction is the most substantial. A referendum on October 1 for Catalan secession is raising political risk

The Trade War continues. Since 2011, the Obama administration has been actively pursuing a program of reshoring. http://agmetalminer.com/2015/01/22/obamas-manufacturing-centric-state-of-the-union-youll-never-hear/ Donald Trump’s agenda only seeks to bolster or exacerbate an existing trend. As global growth slows, every country seeks to become more self-sufficient and insular. Trading nations and those with a small or ageing population do not

Analgesics are addictive. The US Federal Reserve has cut rates to address every downturn but sows the seeds of subsequent downturns so it can never quite normalize rates before the next crisis occurs. Analgesics are very addictive. Before 2008, the Fed used interest rates to manage the speed of the economy. It has now discovered

In late June at the ECB Forum in Sintra, the ECB Chairman Mario Draghi remarked that “all the signs now point to a strengthening and broadening recovery in the euro area.” The market took this as a sign of the impending end to QE and the EUR began a rally from 112 to 119 and