to move up and down
Extremely Bad Advice: Bitcoin Fever
Dear Cyber-Steve, Please explain bitcoin to me. What can I buy with bitcoin? Is it just a new way to score drugs online without having to go to my offline dealer? (Because he lives really far away in a really shady part of town, but the Internet is, like, everywhere, man.) Do the ladies like bitcoin? Help a bit-brother out.
Back from the brink — the United States fiscal situation in 2013
America may have avoided a fiscal cliff this week, but Republicans are determined that spending cuts must happen in the future to bring the nation’s $16-trillion debt under control. So where does the U.S. get its money, and where does it spend it? Hopefully this graphic clears up any misconceptions.
Melissa Leong gets tough on New Year’s resolutions
Start the new year with some long-term financial planning (the 2050 robot version of you will be grateful)
Graphic: Sizing up Google’s earnings stumble
Google lost US$15.8-billion after dismal quarterly results. We put the massive stumble in perspective. (Illustration: Richard Johnson/National Post)
How superheroes save
We asked a comic book expert, a financial planner and a senior wealth management advisor to look at how superheroes and villains rank in the financial literacy department.
Click thorough for the details.
Greek government on brink of collapse
The Greek government teetered on the brink of collapse on Thursday over plans for a referendum on a euro zone bailout, with defections from the ruling party casting grave doubt on whether Prime Minister George Papandreou can survive a confidence vote.
“I don’t think the government will last until tonight,” said Costas Panagopoulos, Managing Director of pollsters ALCO.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos broke ranks with Papandreou, coming out against holding the referendum after a bruising meeting with the German and French leaders, who made clear that Greece would not receive a cent more in aid until it votes to meet its commitments to the eurozone.
“The referendum is dead,” Greek ruling party lawmaker Nikos Salayannis said on state radio.
Nothing like a referendum to clear the air on bailout
What a scene: the mighty dealers in back-room bailouts and fiscal trickery, the wheelers of trillion-dollar barrels of cash through secret accounts and unfathomable routes, the foot-dragging political horse-traders who have been “rescuing” Greece for almost two years, the spinning factotums from monetary funds and central banks — all suddenly at the mercy of the thing for which Greece is world famous: democracy.
All are aghast, shocked, dismayed, running for cover. Stocks plunged, copper prices fell, disaster was predicted and the eurozone declared doomed — all the result of Prime Minister George Papandreou’s call for a referendum.
A referendum on what isn’t clear, but it may be the best thing that could happen to Greece and to Europe. Canadians should be especially alert to the benefits of referendums; Greece is to Europe as Quebec is to Canada. A good referendum, disruptive and divisive on the way through, clears the air quickly and decisively.
A referendum would certainly be preferable to the collapse of the Papandreou government and, by extension, the disintegration of the global effort to bring some order to the unwinding of Greece’s US$500-billion debt.
Protesters camp out on Wall Street; ‘Here for the long haul’
A standoff near Wall Street between protesters opposed to what they say is corporate greed and police may drag on into winter, with a march on police headquarters the likely next test of whether tensions escalate.
The Occupy Wall Street movement was planning on Friday an unauthorized demonstration on the streets outside the New York City police center of operations.
The group is adding complaints of excessive police force against protesters and police treatment of ethnic minorities and Muslims to its grievances list, which includes bank bailouts, foreclosures and high unemployment. (Photo: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)
Photos: Demonstrators ‘Occupy Wall Street’
Everything you need to know about the Greek crisis
At this point, it looks like Zeus himself would not be able to steer Greece away from the edge as the country steers even closer to a cataclysmic default.
What happens if Greece defaults?
Fears that Greece will default on its debt continue to rock financial markets on Monday. Below, we assess the impact if the struggling Mediterranean country does succumb.
Let it ride: Investing outlook 2011 — Stock markets shook off their double-drip blues this year and look set to climb again in 2011. (Illustration by Juan Carlos Solon)
