The eyes of the financial world were on Greece once again this weekend, as the Hellenes went to the polls for the second time in six weeks. It’s fair to say that the world hasn’t been this focused on Greece for more than 2,000 years, and the ability of this nation of 11 million people to hold the world in thrall is, on the face of it, rather extraordinary.
Read moreWhat Jamie Dimon’s Senate Testimony Got Right
The JPMorgan Chase CEO is more correct than we’d like to believe about the impossibility of regulating risk.
Read moreJobs Numbers: Get Used to Bad Employment Data
Today’s employment figures show that America has entered job stasis. The headline number—69,000 jobs added—was weak at best, made worse by revised data for March and April that subtracted another 50,000 jobs, give or take. The unemployment rate nudged up to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent, but truly the most notable thing about this release was that there was nothing truly notable.
Read moreMarkets Relieved at Spain Bailout Deal, Financial World Still Worried
Over the weekend, the Spanish government bowed to the necessity of seeking a bailout for its banking system. The amount was large: $125 billion in loans from the European Union to stave off the collapse of Spanish banks. The result was greeted with relief by financial markets around the world, with stocks initially rising, bond prices falling, and the outflows from southern European banks for the moment stanched.
Read moreStiglitz: Wall Street Lures Talent, America Suffers
The Daily Beast's Zachary Karabell sits down with renowned economist Joseph Stiglitz to talk about a less-discussed form of inequality: how our country's best young minds end up working on Wall Street instead of innovating in laboratories or at universities.
Read moreStiglitz: Wall Street Lures Talent, America Suffers
The Daily Beast's Zachary Karabell sits down with reknowned economist to talk about a less-discussed form of inequality: how our country's best young minds end up innovating on Wall Street instead of in laboratories or at universities.
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Read moreWall Street, Not Facebook, Bears Most of the Blame for the Company’s IPO Debacle
All the actors in the Facebook IPO debacle look bad, Zachary Karabell writes, but most of the blame should be directed at Morgan Stanley and the other banks that underwrote the stock offering. Plus, Dan Lyons breaks down 7 things to know about the scandal.
Read moreJPMorgan Says Bye Bye Buyback
Big business is making big news. Newsweek & The Daily Beast’s John Avlon and Zachary Karabell on JPMorgan’s multi-billion dollar mistake, why Facebook’s IPO was actually a huge success and the fallout resume padding that led to the demise of Yahoo’s CEO.
Read moreDon't De-Friend Facebook Yet: Its IPO Might Not Mean Trouble Ahead
Facebook’s epically hyped IPO debuted not with a bang but with a whimper. While the company sold $16 billion worth of initial shares, the stock ended the day largely where it began, at $38 a share, leaving the company with a market cap of about $100 billion. The offering was widely derided by the Wall Street community of traders, who viewed the stock's failure to soar on day one as a sign of troubled times ahead for Facebook.
Read moreChaos Over New Elections Deepens Fear of a Greece Chain Reaction
For the third May in a row, events in Greece have taken on global significance. The spark this May, the rising debts and plunging growth of the onetime hub of civilization, is largely the same. But why does the fate of a country with not quite 11 million people and about $300 billion in GDP matter so much? Why does a nation with barely more people than one new Chinese city and an economy hardly larger than the state of Maryland continue to roil international markets? Not since the Trojan War has the fate of the Hellenes been so central to humankind.
Read morePaul Krugman’s Dismissal of Structural Causes for U.S. Employment Problem Is Misguided
The Nobel laureate insists our unemployment problems are part of a chronic cycle and require government action—and says arguing the issue is structural is an excuse for doing nothing. Zachary Karabell on why that stance is misguided.
Read moreJPMorgan’s $2 Billion Loss Fueled by Efforts to Avoid Risk
In a surprising announcement late yesterday afternoon, JPMorganChase, one of the largest banks in the world, announced that it had suffered massive losses in an internal fund meant to shield the bank from … massive losses. CEO Jamie Dimon,
Read moreJPMorgan’s $2 Billion Loss Fueled by Efforts to Avoid Risk
In a surprising announcement late yesterday afternoon, JPMorganChase, one of the largest banks in the world, announced that it had suffered massive losses in an internal fund meant to shield the bank from … massive losses. CEO Jamie Dimon, who had until now steered his behemoth institution with
Read moreThe U.S. Cannot Confront China on Every Move it Disagrees With
The saga of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has become the latest source of tension between China and the United States. And the way that story has entered domestic American politics sheds disturbing light on how in denial the United States remains about the state of the world in the early 21st century.
Read moreThe Monthly Jobs Numbers Don’t Matter
Today’s anemic jobs report is yet another indication that the unemployment picture in the United States is getting neither better nor worse. It is also yet another piece of evidence that there is a chronic, long-term structural employment issue in America. It is not an acute crisis; it isn’t getting much worse; and it isn’t going away anytime soon.
Read moreThe Monthly Jobs Numbers Don’t Matter
Today’s anemic jobs report is yet another indication that the unemployment picture in the United States is getting neither better nor worse. It is also yet another piece of evidence that there is a chronic, long-term structural employment issue in America. It is not an acute crisis; it isn’t getting much worse; and it isn’t going away anytime soon.
Read moreLatest Record Results Show Apple a Bigger Global Power Than Most Nations
Yet again, Apple announced record sales and earnings. Yet again, its “Jobs report” stood in stark contrast to the monthly official jobs report. For the past four years, as the U.S. economy has stumbled, Apple has soared. As millions have lost jobs or stayed underemployed, Apple has sold more phones, iPads, and computers than most thought possible. While its success certainly has come at the expense of competitors such as Research in Motion (maker of the BlackBerry) and Nokia, it has generated tens of billions in revenue and sold tens of millions of devices by reaching new customers and not simply taking market share. And it has seen its most dramatic success during one of the worst economic slumps in the developed world.
Read moreFireworks for Murdoch?
While many people may be hoping for the Murdochs to be raked over the coals this week at the Leveson Inquiry, that might not be the case. John Avlon talks with Zachary Karabell about the News Corp. scandal and what happens when new technology outpaces old laws.
Read moreZachary Karabell on Walmart's Alleged Bribery in Mexico
The New York Times is reporting that Walmart's Mexican division was allegedly involved in bribery and kickbacks. Newsweek & The Daily Beast's Zachary Karabell talks about what that will mean for the corporation's image and what it might say about American companies doing business in other countries.
Read moreHuge Corporations Win Global Economic Spoils as 99 Percent Get Squeezed
The 1 percent versus the 99 percent—the haves and the have-nots; the government or the people; China versus the United States. Our conversations today are framed by these splits, yet as compelling as these are, they are each secondary to the yawning gulf that has emerged between large, multinational companies and everything else.
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