Hmm. How to explain spending billions on lying to small children about a fat man in a furry red coat? Every mall has one. So many of them ring bells in front of stores. Many parents expend energy and effort pretending a strange man broke in and ate the cookies and milk. Some thump on the roof to deceive their children. What do these parents mean to teach their kids? What do our children actually learn from this? Not to trust their parents? It's OK to lie?

There were a lot of funny 'toons about drones delivering for Amazon and/or Santa, but I thought this was one a good reminder BEFORE we hit the actual date.

Because it is the Solstice that drives it. The days wane and our ancestors wondered if maybe the days would continue to shorten until there was no sun left at all. And when it became clear that the death of the sun was an cyclical thing, they marked the days and celebrated when at last the shortest day had been reached and now they'd grow longer again, until the cycle repeated itself.

I think, if I may be allowed to wax philosophical here, too many of our "economists" have forgotten the cyclical nature of virtually everything, including empires and economies. This might be a good season to remember.

There actually was a St. Nicholas, he did give gifts to the poor, and the Catholic Church never liked to mention him, because of "contamination" by the commercial aspects of Christmas.

They never thought much of St. Francis of Assisi, either, a hippie of a previous time. At least, not until Pope Francis came along...

I rode around on X-mas day last year, and people loved it. Honking horns and waves.

Santa's sled is upgraded.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25226669

Ratings agency Moody's has raised its outlook for Spain's economy from "negative" to "stable".

Moody's said there had been a real improvement in the economy and government finances.

Last week, the Standard and Poor's ratings firms also raised its outlook for Spain on signs of economic improvement.

Debt-laden Spain has emerged from a two-year recession, with export growth and companies becoming more confident.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25227587

Australia and South Korea have agreed on a free trade deal in an attempt to boost trade between the two countries.

As part of the deal, tariffs on key Australian exports to South Korea such as agricultural products, energy and resources will be eliminated.

It is also likely to help South Korean firms in sectors such as steel, textile and car manufacturing to boost their presence in Australia.

Trade between the two nations was worth A$32bn ($29bn; £18bn) in 2012.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-falls-after-china-warning-2013-12

Bitcoin prices fell from a high of $1,240 to a low of $870 this morning. This is according to data from Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.

That $370 drop can by characterized as a 30% crash.

Earlier today, the People's Bank of China warned that the controversial electronic currency carried risk. It also instructed financial institutions not to trade it.

"Is this a bubble in Bitcoin?" asked former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Bloomberg on Wednesday. "Yeah it's a bubble."



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-falls-after-china-warning-2013-12#ixzz2mbJclEw0

He can now spot a bubble when he's looking at it...

http://www.businessinsider.com/britain-upgrades-gdp-growth-forecasts-2013-12

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government announced the biggest upgrade to official growth projections in more than a decade on Thursday, following the UK economy's surprisingly strong turnaround.

In a budget update, finance minister George Osborne said the economy was on track to grow by 1.4 percent this year - more than double the 0.6 percent penciled in at the time of the March budget.

Growth in 2014, he said, was expected to be 2.4 percent, up from the previous estimate of 1.8 percent.

Having been a laggard for several years, Britain has overtaken its euro zone peers to become one of the fastest-growing advanced economies in the world.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/britain-upgrades-gdp-growth-forecasts-2013-12#ixzz2mbKGBwGX

http://www.businessinsider.com/dutch-banker-compares-bitcoin-to-tulips-2013-12



The former president of the Dutch Central Bank, Nout Wellink, has told students at the University of Amsterdam that the hype around bitcoin is worse than his country's Tulip mania in the 17th century.

"Sooner or later the facade will fall", Wellink said, calling bitcoin "pure speculation" and "hype" according to comments reported in the Dutch press.

"This is worse than the tulip mania," he continued. "At least then you got a tulip [at the end], now you get nothing."

Wellink's comments follow a warning from the Dutch Central Bank about the risks of virtual currencies like bitcoin, which fall outside Dutch financial supervision laws.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/dutch-banker-compares-bitcoin-to-tulips-2013-12#ixzz2mbKtl6BW

When I first heard of the bitcoin, it reminded me of a Ponzi.
Substitute bitcoins for tulips.
Another investment where people want to get rich quick.
Eventually it crashes.

http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-approves-182-billion-stimulus-2013-12

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet approved a $182 billion economic package on Thursday to pull the economy out of deflation, but doubts remain about the economic impact.

The package has a headline value of 18.6 trillion yen ($182 billion), which is an exaggerated figure as the bulk of the package includes loans from government-backed lenders and spending by local governments that was already scheduled.

The core of the package is 5.5 trillion yen in spending measures Abe ordered in October to bolster the economy ahead of a national sales-tax hike in April, and the government does not have to sell new debt to fund this spending.

The package has raised concerns that Japan's government has not broken away from the stop-gap measures and piecemeal policymaking that some say has hampered long-term growth.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-approves-182-billion-stimulus-2013-12#ixzz2mbLhgAVy

http://www.businessinsider.com/peoples-bank-of-china-warns-on-bitcoin-2013-12

BEIJING (AP) — Bitcoins suffered a new setback after China's central bank said Thursday its banks and payment systems are barred from handling the virtual currency.

The central bank said bitcoins did not qualify as a currency but private individuals still are allowed to trade them at their own risk.

Bitcoins are created, distributed, and authenticated independently of any bank or government. Their relative anonymity holds out the promise of being able to spend money across the Internet without scrutiny.

"Bitcoins are virtual goods that have no legal status or monetary equivalent and should not be used as currency," said a Chinese central bank statement.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/peoples-bank-of-china-warns-on-bitcoin-2013-12#ixzz2mbMk17xv

regardless of the inherent value of bitcoin.

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-robot-technology-2013-12

In the same week that Amazon revealed plans for delivery-drone domination, it has emerged that Google is getting serious about revolutionizing the robotics industry.

Over the past six months, Google has acquired seven tech companies as it aims to develop the next generation of robots. Spearheading the effort is Andy Rubin, the engineer responsible for developing Google’s Android mobile phone software.

Google won’t divulge the specifics, but The New York Times reports the effort is geared toward creating robotics for the manufacturing sector, not the everyday consumer. Experts say the technology could be used to automate parts of existing supply chains such as electronics assembly or factory floor operations. Some speculate that the technology could eventually be deployed to automate part of its home delivery service. According to Rubin, there are abundant opportunities to further automate the manufacturing and logistics sectors.



Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230237?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+entrepreneur%2Flatest+%28Entrepreneur%29#ixzz2mbNVd9Ls

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/ecb-examines-weapons-of-last-resort-to-combat-debt-crisis-a-937382.html

From Mario Drahgi's perspective, the euro zone has already been split for some time. When the head of the powerful European Central Bank looks at the credit markets within the currency union, he sees two worlds. In one of those worlds, the one in which Germany primarily resides, companies and consumers are able to get credit more cheaply and easily than ever before. In the other, mainly Southern European world, it is extremely difficult for small and medium-sized businesses to get affordable loans. Fears are too high among banks that the debtors will default.

For Draghi and many of his colleagues on the ECB Governing Council, this dichotomy is a nightmare. They want to do everything in their power to make sure that companies in the debt-plagued countries also have access to affordable loans -- and thus can bring new growth to the ailing economies.

The ECB has already gone to great lengths to achieve this objective. It has provided the banks with virtually unlimited high credit and drastically lowered the collateral required from the institutions. The central bank has also brought down interest rates to historical lows. Since early November, financial institutions have been able to borrow from the ECB at a rate of 0.25 percent interest. By comparison, the rate was more than 4 percent in 2008.

Lending Still in Decline

The only problem is that all those low interest rates have so far barely been put to use. Lending to companies in the euro zone is still in decline. In October, banks granted 2.1 percent less credit to companies and households than in the same period last year.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/deutsche-bank-ordered-to-pay-big-fine-in-rate-fixing-scandal-a-937260.html

The statement had already been prepared: "We are attaching the highest institutional importance to ensuring that this type of misconduct does not happen again," the chief executives of Deutsche Bank, Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen, said in a statement shortly before midday on Wednesday. Minutes earlier, the European Commission in Brussels had slapped record fines totaling €1.7 billion ($2.3 billion) on six international banks. Deutsche Bank's share was the biggest by far at €725 million.

The Commission concluded that Germany's biggest bank, together with three other banks, was part of a cartel that manipulated the Euribor benchmark interest rate. It also said the bank colluded illegally in setting the equivalent London and Tokyo rates. The banks had admitted their misconduct and agreed to a settlement, said Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia.
It's the first major fine Deutsche Bank has has to pay for its past sins,and it's unlikely to be the last. The bank is embroiled in many lawsuits around the world, most of them related to the time before the 2008 financial crisis.

• Several US authorities are targeting the perpetrators of the financial crisis -- banks that bundled and sold the controversial mortgage-backed securities from home loans. JP Morgan Chase alone has to pay $13 billion. Deutsche Bank faces possible claims running into billions of dollars.

• Deutsche Bank also faces a hefty fine in its neverending battle with the heirs of the late media tycoon Leo Kirch. A Munich court has already sentenced the bank to pay compensation but Deutsche Bank has lodged an appeal with the Federal Court of Justice. Kirch's lawyers blame the bank for the media empire's collapse in 2002. They want around €2 billion in compensation.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/cheap-central-bank-money-contributes-to-dangerous-bubbles-a-936823.html


When 42-year-old hedge fund manager Mark Spitznagel wants to forget about his high-stakes business for a while, he heads to the goat farm he and his wife Amy purchased in the bucolic hills of Michigan. There, he produces cheese according to environmentally sustainable methods, because he views modern agriculture, with its large-scale pesticide use and automated factory farms, as degenerate. In fact, he says, factory farming is "an ideal metaphor" for the economy.

In Spitznagel's view, the world's financial and equities markets are also dysfunctional, and what happens there is unhealthy and anything but sustainable. As a money manager, he has also opted for an alternative business model of sorts: He's betting on a crash.

For his customers, Spitznagel's multi-billion-dollar fund acts as an insurance policy against the next meltdown in the financial system. When the market is doing well, they lose modest amounts of money. But they cash in as soon as prices take a nosedive, even when all other investments are going up in smoke.

The hedge fund manager has made a lot of money in the past with his prognoses, and he is convinced that substantial turbulence is on the cards for the near future. "The setup is there for it," says Spitznagel.