By SIMON CONSTABLE
Last Monday was a tough day for citizens of Spain and Portugal.
Both countries were hit by an hourslong power outage that some say was the worst such event in living memory. What they did not get was a clear explanation of how it all happened. At least not from the government. It’s Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Financial innovations often get overheated. Frequently there seems to be a mania, then a crash, which is followed first by state prosecutions and then acceptance of a new way of doing things. And, true to form, it has happened again seemingly in the form of cryptocurrency, which has fast become a cause célèbre.
Cryptocurrency began in January 2009 with the invention of Bitcoin; it built on the related blockchain technology introduced in 1991. One innovation was that the historical blockchain coding couldn’t be retrospectively altered. It was like a ledger where the prior entries could not be changed. Another distinctive characteristic was there would only ever be a fixed number of Bitcoins available. Once they’d all been discovered, or mined, there could be no more. This differentiated cryptocurrency from dollars, which get devalued as more and more bills get printed. For more than a few people, these two attributes were enough to embrace Bitcoin and blockchain. Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
You may not have heard of the "guardrails approach," but this investing tool for retirement planning is worth considering, especially in a volatile market. That's because one of the biggest challenges for many people in retirement is ensuring their retirement investments last for the rest of their lives, yet leave a bequest to heirs. It’s a tough knot to untangle.
Part of the problem is that assets such as stocks and bonds are prone to be volatile. Some years offer solid double-digit returns and others are distinctly poor with tremendous losses. For instance, in 2022 the SPDR S&P 500 exchange-traded fund, which tracks the performance of the large-cap stocks, fell 18%. That same year, the bond market also declined, with U.S. 10-year Treasuries also falling 18%, according to data from New York University. Yet inflation spiked. Read more here.
Hans-Joachim Fröde (User:Acf), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Shares of European aircraft and military manufacturer Airbus could be set to take off following recent turbulence. The company is outpacing its main rival, U.S.-based Boeing, which has suffered from two 737 MAX crashes, a plane door falling off, and a major strike, not to say stranding two astronauts in orbit after Boeing Starliner problems. Airbus should also benefit as Europe builds up military capabilities.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
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By SIMON CONSTABLE
Over time, recessions come and go. It’s just a fact of life. And if one might be imminent, business leaders and politicians all want to know. After all, if a recession could be right around the corner, a company might want to cut back on expenses or hire new employees. But there’s a problem: Few predictions of these economic collapses are right.
Indeed, try as they might, economists are almost always missing the mark. In mid-2022, many all but promised an imminent US recession—one that still hasn’t shown up more than two years later. Likewise, the COVID-19 recession wasn’t widely foretold, nor the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009. Mere months before the 1930s began, economists weren’t forecasting the Great Depression, says Jack Ablin, founding partner at wealth-management company Cresset Capital. “This isn’t a new phenomenon,” he says.
Famed economist John Kenneth Galbraith summed up the failure with a quip: “The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.” Other pundits substitute weather forecasters for astrologists. Nevertheless, the question remains: Why do economists get it so wrong so often? Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
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Nuclear power accounts for almost 10% of electricity generation globally and the U.S., with its 94 reactors, is responsible for about 30% of it, making it the largest producer of nuclear-powered electricity in the world.
But how much do you really know about history of nuclear power, beyond, say, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and “The China Syndrome”?
By SIMON CONSTABLE
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French soldiers fire their artillery gun March 7, 2019 at the Grafenwoehr Training Area
U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Christopher Stewart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Nuclear power accounts for almost 10% of electricity generation globally and the U.S., with its 94 reactors, is responsible for about 30% of it, making it the largest producer of nuclear-powered electricity in the world.
But how much do you really know about history of nuclear power, beyond, say, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and “The China Syndrome”?
Test yourself with the following quiz.
Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Most people around the world either need or want to buy a car. But when it comes to choosing the model, American vehicles get short shrift. In other words, people outside the U.S. seem to shun buying U.S. vehicles. Instead, they’d rather buy their homegrown version..jpg)
By SIMON CONSTABLE
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By SIMON CONSTABLE
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By SIMON CONSTABLE
Just as the dot-com bubble began to burst in the second quarter of 2000, megasize phone company decided to shed its cellphone service known as AT&T Wireless Group. The ensuing sale became the then largest initial public offering on record, raising $10.6 billion.
Despite the epic amount of cash raised, AT&T Wireless’s first-day jump was just 7.4%. Wall Street expectations were for an “unspectacular price performance,” according to The Wall Street Journal. But many individuals had become conditioned to expect a huge first-day rally in the share price, says Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth Management.
That was likely disappointing for some who bet big on a first-day price surge. The Journal featured one AT&T employee’s borrowing $54,400 on the IPO, an amount far greater than his annual salary. “That was very much the investing mindset which had yet to burst,” Hogan says. But as became apparent shortly thereafter, that attitude evaporated as the tech-heavy Nasdaq index slumped until October 2022.
As often happens on Wall Street, the glow was barely off the giant IPO, when AT&T Wireless was sold to Cingular Wireless. Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Following Vice President JD Vance's warning that Europe was at risk of ‘engaging in civilizational suicide,' the continent has come under the microscope for largely failing to deal with mass migration from mostly Third World countries. Associated with that has been a massive rise in violent crime and a failing economy.
Freedom of speech is under attack as many complain of a two-tier justice system and, making things even more problematic, Europe's economy is not performing as expected. Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
As U.S.-Ukraine negotiations continue with both sides jockeying back and forth on a possible rare earth minerals deal, President Donald Trump said Sunday that Ukraine was trying to back out of the deal.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Hour 4 -- Fresh Prince. about 12 minutes in
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By SIMON CONSTABLE
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Being robbed is a terrible thing, and may be emotionally draining. The same is true of being fooled in romance. When you combine the two, it’s far worse.
Online romance scams do just that. To avoid being devastated this way, it helps to understand the intricacies of this type of crime. Take our quiz to find out how much you know.
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