The Gold Standard 

“The European Central Bank's monetary policy will remain accommodative, ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio said [recently] noting that inflation in the euro zone is falling significantly,” reported Thomson Reuters. "Monetary policy is accommodative," Constancio said. "It will continue to be accommodative to respond to the present situation in which inflation is going down significantly."

Annual euro zone inflation fell to 1.7 percent in March, its lowest level since August 2010, spurred by a continued downward trend in Read more

"Bitcoins" are a software novelty presenting as virtual coins.  They have been much in the news of late as the implicit market cap of these novelties soared to over $1 billion. 

This novelty "coin" has its enthusiasts in Silicon Valley, notably the Winklevoss twins of Facebook fame.  The LA Times notes an upcoming conference of 1,000 techies:  "Bitcoin's growing popularity and a recent surge in value has caught the eye of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, including some who are convinced that Read more

Cut and grow is the economic policy du jour in Europe. But it is hardly popular Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti warned: “There is a significant time-lag between the structural reforms and the results in terms of increased economic activity and job creation....In this context, public support for the reforms, and worse, for the European Union, is dramatically declining.”

The Economist noted last month that the IMF forecast that “France will join Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal in recession in 2013.”

Portugal Read more