The ruling Social Democratic Party of Romania suffered a no-confidence motion by opposition parties, who have claimed rampant corruption and attacks the rule of law. The party has faced accusations of graft since taking over the reins of government in December of 2016. Last year, the government fired the head of Romania’s anti-corruption agency and, in 2017, it de-criminalized many...
READY TO EXPLODE, READY TO IMPLODE
One of our Top 10 Trends for 2019, “Ready to Explode” is getting bigger. According to a study published in The Lancet earlier this year, over two billion people – nearly 30 percent of the world’s population – are either obese or overweight. The study analyzed trending data from 188 countries. The highest percentage of obese people are in countries...
FIRST GAS STATION GOES ELECTRIC
A U.S. first but not the last: a gas station in Takoma Park, MD, has taken out its gas pumps, ripped up its underground fuel tanks, and replaced that infrastructure with electric car chargers. The station’s owner was motivated only partly by his teenage daughter’s environmental concerns. The rest of the decision was purely business. Maryland is home to more...
FROM GENES TO CURES
In September, more than 150 geneticists from 19 countries convened – in Cambridge, MA and on-line – to strategize about speeding research from spotting genes associated with specific common illnesses to figuring out how those genetic triggers work and on to cures. Dubbed the International Common Disease Alliance, or ICDA, the group is modeled after the Human Genome Project. Like...
NEW FAMILY OF SUPER-HARD MATERIALS
Scientists at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania have used data science, also known as informatics, to create a new class of super-hard alloys that could lead to crash-resistant vehicles and better protection for soldiers in combat. The researchers used a variety of sophisticated computer algorithms that compared and correlated the properties of different materials and then suggested combinations of materials that...
TRUMP VS. THE WHITE SHOE BOYS
Born on third base and thought he hit a home run, like the Gangsters who run Wall Street, the banking system, governments, military, and police… Donald Trump had it all. Rich as Richie Rich, he got everything he wanted… yet it was never enough. Made millions, lost millions, Reality Show TV star… try as he did, “The Donald” couldn’t get...
THE “GREATEST DEPRESSION” DATA: IT’S IN THE NUMBERS
All around the world, as markets cool, political unrest heats up. It’s all part of the “Greatest Depression”: when people lose everything and have nothing left to lose, they lose it… and the markets are losing it, too. The global slowdown will accelerate and equity markets will decline. It’s in the numbers. Mergers and acquisitions have fallen 11 percent so far...
AMERICA: WE’RE NOT BUYING IT
Typically, consumer spending, accounting for some 70 percent of America’s GDP, has been holding. But now there’s a slowdown in sight. It’s up only 0.1 percent, the weakest it’s been in six months. Deep in debt, and with last week’s data showing stagnant wage growth, ”borrowing more to buy little” is now becoming the American way. Can’t afford those new Nike sneakers?...
YOU CAN’T DRIVE A HOUSE
Car loans in the U.S., which were once a measure of the financial health of the middle class, are getting bigger and taking longer to pay off. Roughly 33 percent of auto loans take at least six years to pay off, up from 10 percent a decade ago. With the average cost of a new car being $34,000, in part due...
SKYLINES FOR SALE
From car sales to high-rises, the financial squeeze is being felt from bottom to top. The average price of a Manhattan apartment fell to just under $2 million, a 32 percent decline. Real estate agents attribute it to a state-transfer tax. Yes, in part. We attribute it to stagnant wages and “real” inflation numbers, not the fake ones the government...