China officially got its first winner of “China’s got Talent” last month. Liu Wei, an a handicapped singer and pianist, defeated a series of pantomime TV stars such as bellydancers, comedians and a pig impersonator. The ratings were through the roof as a third of all TV sets in the Shanghai area tuned in to find out who would win. But perhaps most pleased of all is Yang Wenhong, vice-president of Shanghai Media Group. He received a shot in the arm when the Communist Party’s media regulator lavished praise on the series for offering an inspiring social message. In China, it is not enough for commercial television to entertain; it must be educational, informational and so much more. Pleasing the masses is one small part of the programming. There have been many efforts by the world  [...] 

To give you the perfect image of the market manipulator, the commodity funds speculator, I would like to direct you to Exhibit A. Note the pantomime villain often found in a James Bond film. Suave, savvy, sometimes sporting a mustache and sometimes not, these figures are often hated because they are vile opportunists. You can almost picture them saying, “You are too late, Mr. Bond. For at a press of this remote button the price of Adamantium will shoot through the roof and I will be a very rich man. And the world will be mine. ALL MINE!!” Diabolically idiotic as my comparison sounds, it is only so much of an exaggeration of the ground reality. Speculators of commodity funds are being blamed by buyers for fluxes in the market prices and measures are being rolled out to limit their powers  [...] 

The US taxpayers holding in General Motors was more than halved thanks to the largest initial stock offering in the history of the nation. As a result of this, billions of dollars worth of bailout money made its way back to the federal government. GM stock offering raised a total of $23.1 billion is far larger and far more ambitious than had once seemed possible. What is amazing is the fact that GM was very nearly bankrupt recently. But they have built on their strengths and gone through a revival that sees the government recover some of its $50 billion investment. This fully justifies the Obama administration’s decision to keep GM afloat when many said that companies such as itself should be allowed to die a natural death. The Treasury now holds some 500 million shares and will have  [...] 

It’s a no brainer when you think about it. The largest of banks, the most active of hedge funds and the most opportunistic of investors will always be looking for lucrative avenues to grow their money as best possible. And in what is perhaps the most bizarre development, investors from all walks of life and of all shapes and sizes are bankrolling lawsuits and class action suits as an investment option. Millions of dollars are being poured into medical malpractice claims, class action suits and bitterly contested divorce proceedings, all in the belief that these investors will end up getting a share of the final earnings. This is bizarre and perhaps even morbid in nature, but these investments and loans are driving on some of the largest cases in the public eye and outside it. Amongst  [...] 

Wal-Mart has for a long time been the nation’s single largest retailer and has tried to put the pinch on its competitors by using rock-bottom prices to lure in customers that are price-sensitive and easily swayed. But Wal-Mart is trying to take its dominance into the virtual domain as well now, and Wal-Mart online stores are trying to strike a similar degree of fear into the competition by throwing some weight behind its holiday season cheer. The Wal-Mart online store has announced that it will offer free shipping on all products that have been ordered from its website. You’d imagine there would be a little asterisk above it and that there’d be some sort of caveat on it, such as a minimum purchase amount, but there’s nothing. That’s free shipping on about 60,000  [...] 

‘The luck of the Irish’…it’s something we all hear so often about. But the Irish economy has been many things in the last few years, lucky has not been one of them. And when interest rates for Irish government bonds surged recently, it served as a stark reminder to other nations burdened by European debt just how difficult it will be to cast off the yoke of public largess’ gone by. As it is, the Irish bond market was already plummeting after the Irish government recently announced that they will almost double tax levies and spending cuts across the board. This is to control the huge deficit they have to face up to. But investors might not take very kindly to it. It is less an indication of steely resolve to work through a perilous issue and more of rank desperation  [...] 

Everyone is waiting on the Fed to see just what they have to offer now. Regardless of whether the Democrats will be routed or not, the Federal Reserve will implement new measures this week to breathe some life into a comatose economy. Many investors are hoping for the Fed to come through for them and the stock markets have been surging since August as investors fully anticipated that the Fed would set off on on another round of what is called quantitative easing in financial circles. Gold and equities are beginning to pick up pace and dollar rates have been dropping, as have market interest rates. But because the official rate being offered is already near zero, the central bank is expected to instead turn their attentions to United States Treasury securities among other investments in an effort  [...] 

Banks can be legendarily obtuse and covert when it comes to setting rates and discussing terms. It’s like they’re a cult of some sort and they want a shroud of secrecy to be maintained over everything they do lest they get stripped of their mystique. In the interim, while you all were busy picketing banks and gathering up the wood to start a bonfire with which to burn these banks down, Mervyn King Bank of England (noted British economist and Governor of the Bank of England) has set about tearing into banks for their manner of operation during this economic crisis. It’s not just the post-crisis behavior that King takes issue with either; it’s the new Basel 3 proposals as well that he takes issue with for being too much of a soft touch. King’s argument is vitriolic,  [...]