Bad News For Barclays, Ben & Jerry's Big Announcement, Bernanke's Funny Speech And More

June 3, 2013 Subscribe · Forward Markets Tuning Out Economic Dangers, Influential Group Warns FRANKFURT, Germany -- Investors have ignored poor economic news as stocks have risen, leaving markets now vulnerable to unsettling volatility and potential losses, an organization of the world's central banks said Sunday. The Bank for International Settlements said central banks' policies of record low interest rates and monetary stimulus had helped investors "tune out" bad news – every time an economic indicator disappointed, traders simply took that as confirmation that central banks would continue to provide stimulus. Continue reading... Ben & Jerry's To Drop Controversial Ingredient Scandal-Plagued Bank Pulled Into Investigation Ben Bernanke Talks His Future, Forrest Gump, At Princeton You're Playing Monopoly All Wrong States Spending The Least On Education A Single Walmart's Shocking Cost To Taxpayers The World's Coolest Jobs Adorable Cheerios Commercial Gets Racist Backlash Online Bank Employee Makes Huge Mistake With Bag Of Cash Adorable Cheerios Commercial Gets Racist Backlash Online A Single Walmart's Shocking Cost To Taxpayers JARED BERNSTEIN The China Dance: It Ain't No One Step Neither China, nor any other country, has "unlimited financial resources." Finite resources are, in fact, the core principle of economics. When you tee up the problem that way, you risk missing the actual problem, which is a combination of state power and the savings imbalances noted above. As the authors note, it has long been the policy of China to suppress household consumption, virtually insuring both excess national savings (Pettis stresses that Chinese household savings are not unusually high) and wide-spread poverty (though they should have noted that there are at least internal noises in China pushing the other way -- we'll have to see what they amount to). Those national savings must flow somewhere, and flow they do, to countries across the globe that consume more than they produce. Continue reading... ROBERT REICH Economic Storm Clouds Ahead Economic forecasters exist to make astrologers look good. But the recent jubilance is enough to make even weather forecasters blush. "Just look at the bull market! Look at home prices! Look at consumer confidence!" Continue reading... TROY CAMPBELL Ikea's New Free Food Deal -- and the Powerful Psychology Behind It In the end what's so fascinating is that customers may be completely aware of how Ikea's deal will manipulate them. But they may be fine with it anyway. Continue reading... RAJ PATEL On Human Rights, Wendy's Isn't Old Fashioned -- Just Outdated Rather than joining their competitors in respecting farmworkers rights, Wendy's has ended up doing something different. They chose to mislead their stockholders and customers. Continue reading... RICHARD (RJ) ESKOW The Truman Show Economy (With a Nod to Philip K. Dick) The Truman Show was the 1998 movie in which Jim Carrey slowly realizes that his entire life is a televised illusion. Welcome to The Truman Show economy. Much of what we hear nowadays hides a grim reality -- not just from our leaders, but from us. Continue reading... Received this from a friend? Sign up for alerts from The Huffington Post here. Unsubscribe here. Huffington Post, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003