Apple's quarterly results this week drew a flood of reactions - almost all negative. Given how well the company did under almost any absolute measure, this is odd, though, for Wall Street, not necessarily surprising. But the arc of Apple's rise and temporary fall tells a more troubling story about our current inability to maintain positive momentum about any aspect of our culture. We slay our heroes with casual abandon. Then we wring our hands about the absence of positive catalysts in our world today.
Read moreInflation Hawks Are Waging War Against Their Own Hallucinations
Earlier this week the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly inflation report. The numbers came in at 1.7 percent a year for all items. Excluding the ever-volatile food and energy, it was 1.9 percent.
Read moreClimate Change Doesn't Have to Mean the End of the World
This week the National Climate Data Center confirmed what most had long believed: 2012 was the warmest year on record for the United States. Ever. And not just a bit warmer: a full Fahrenheit degree warmer than in 1998, the previous high. In the land of climatology statistics, that is immense. In the understatement of one climate scientist, these findings are "a big deal."
Read moreFiscal Cliffs, Forever: The U.S. Is Hopelessly Addicted to Crisis
So we did not fall off the cliff. But the reaction to the news of the deal suggests that we've become a culture addicted to crisis, because barely had the vote been taken when the spin from politicians, from the mainstream media, and from the cacophonous web was angry, sullen, and negative.
Read moreThe Bright Side of Falling Off the Fiscal Cliff
As 2012 sputters to a close, it wraps up with a yawning gap between widespread economic pessimism and the actual state of economic affairs. Though consumer sentiment rebounded in the fall, it fell in December, amid relentless coverage of the impending fiscal cliff. Holiday spending was muted. Businesses, meanwhile, cite the unresolved negotiations in Washington as evidence of continued uncertainty and many have put new spending, hiring, or investment on hold. The media counts the days (and on some cable news channels, the minutes and the seconds) till we descend the fiscal cliff, adding to the general agitation.
Read moreThe Number: Zachary Karabell
Daniel Gross is joined by Newsweek & The Daily Beast contributor Zachary Karabell to predict what the year 2013 will hold. Karabell says this year will be the year of Mexico and the return of NAFTA.
Read moreThe Number: 2013
Will this be the year of Mexico? Global business editor Daniel Gross is joined by Zachary Karabell to predict what 2013 will hold. (Hint: Get used to the acronym NAFTA.)
Read moreWho's Afraid of Chained CPI?
As the fiscal cliff talks evolve and devolve, the latest spat has been whether the arc of federal spending should be curtailed by changing the way that we assess costs. The proposal from the White House is to switch the way cost-of-living adjustments are made for Social Security benefits. Rather than pegging those to the Consumer Price Index as currently calculated, these would be pegged to a "chain-weighted" Consumer Price Index, which would save as much as $125 billion in additional benefits over the next decade.
Read moreOur Hero, Ben Bernanke: Why Central Bankers (Not Politicians) Are Saving the Global Economy
The Federal Reserve just announced a new round of measures designed to keep the money flowing. Central bankers -- not to be confused with the heads of private banks that have received so much opprobrium for their role in the financial crises of the past years - are not noted for their charisma or their communication skills, but their role in shaping today's world, shadowy at times, could hardly be greater. The question is: Are they helping or harming?
Read moreThe Number: 22
That's how many days until we go over the so-called fiscal cliff—but should the public panic? Global business Dan Gross and contributor Zachary Karabell on why Americans shouldn't tear out their hair. Yet.
Read moreStandard & Poor’s and Other Ratings Agencies Must End Their Power Trip
In early December, the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s placed all 15 Eurozone countries under what it calls “negative credit watch.” Typically, that means there is an even possibility that it will downgrade the credit of these countries within 90 days.
Read moreHow Conspiracy Theorists Are Steering Us Toward the Fiscal Cliff
Consumers are feeling optimistic; sales are up; employment hasn't much improved but neither is it getting worse; Washington is as dysfunctional as ever; and housing is showing significant life. Not the best of times, by any means, but not the worst.
Read moreThe Bipolar Economy: If Consumers Are Happy, Why Is Business So Miserable?
A strange inversion has happened in the past few months: Consumers have gone from being deeply pessimistic about the future to slightly optimistic at the same time that companies have moved from being slightly positive to increasingly negative. That discrepancy is intriguing, and raises the question: Which view will determine the course of the near future? Will the buoyed spirits of people carry the day, or will corporate glumness pull us down?
Read more6 Reasons to Be Thankful About the Economy Today
It's admittedly trite to use the occasion of Thanksgiving to look on the bright side, but given how rarely we cast an optimistic outlook these days, it's as good a reason as any. With Chapter LXXII of the Middle East conflict playing out in Gaza and the daily soap opera of Washington politics oscillating between sex scandals and fiscal fearmongering, we are once again subsuming the bigger picture to the smaller one and privileging fear.
Read moreBoehner Still Wants Obamacare Repeal as Part of "Fiscal Cliff" Negotiations
Even after the election, Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner is still trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, even after all three branches of government have approved this. Meanwhile, other Republicans line up for 2016. Keith Boykin and Zachary Karabell of CNBC and Martin Kady of Politico discuss with Thomas Roberts on MSNBC's News Nation.
Read moreCheer Up, America! The Economy (and the Country) Is Much Better Off Than You Think
Barely had the counting ceased in last week's presidential election when the news took a somber turn. Two of the next day's headlines read "Back to Work, Looming Fiscal Crisis Greets Obama" and my favorite, "America has Sown the Seeds of Its Own Demise." Politicians either celebrated or decried the results, but regardless of party affiliation most warned of formidable challenges and a perilous future.
Read moreMaking Sense of a Changing China
As China’s influence expands, how will it influence global innovation?
Read moreCan the U.S. Stay Competitive?
Slow trains; second class cell service; inferior infrastructure; third-tallest buildings; fourth-rate education; 34th in infant mortality. What are we still best at? As innovation flourishes around the world, can the U.S. stay strong? How? This session seeks some answers.
Read moreThe Unequal Reality of America's Jobs Recovery
Today's U.S. Labor Department report on jobs confirms what we've known for more than a year: We have entered a new normal for jobs, with marginal gains, marginal losses and higher levels of unemployment becoming the unfortunate norm.
Read moreGoogle: Too Much Supply, Not Enough Demand?
CNBC's Jon Fortt, Jeff Cox and Zachary Karabell offer insight on the breaking Google story.
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