Despite its role in bringing on the financial crisis, debt continues to plague many of us the world over (just ask the Greeks). In the UK the appetite for debt is undiminished, with the run up to Christmas…
Fast-spinning black holes don’t just exist in space – Queensland’s Liberal National and Labor parties are busy attacking each other’s strategies to cut debt, yet both have been guilty of having black holes in their plans.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Author’s update, January 29: In the week since this article was published (on January 23), Labor has moved to address the funding “black hole” in its plans to reduce Queensland’s debt, mainly by adopting…
Caesars Entertainment argues the credit default swap market is giving at least one holder of its debt a perverse incentive to seek its default.
Shutterstock
In 2009, US trucking company YRC Worldwide faced ruin as it struggled to restructure its debt. With tens of thousands of jobs at stake, the Teamsters union, led by James Hoffa, accused some YRC bondholders…
Merkel in the middle as Greek debt clouds the vote.
Hindrik Sijens
Germany has sent the message that a Greek exit from the eurozone might be the lesser of two evils. It has been interpreted as a warning to the Greek electorate ahead of its January 25 election as left-wing…
Pensioners protest in Nicosia.
Katia Christodoulou/EPA
The nightmare for Cyprus started in March 2013. The country’s banking sector faced a sudden squeeze. The two biggest players – Bank of Cyprus and Marfin Laiki Bank – were in danger of a collapse which…
Even at major NCAA Division I schools like Alabama, whether or not their athletic programs turn a profit varies by year.
Tim Murphy/Flickr
Parents, government officials, and tuition-paying students are all seeking solutions to the skyrocketing costs of higher education and the burden of student debt. Currently, public universities in America…
Laden with debt.
Andy Dean Photography via Shutterstock
As retailers encourage us to spend, spend, spend, the steady growth in both personal debt and income stagnation appears to show little sign of abating. This increase in personal debt is a growing problem…
The US has been accused of inflicting their commercialised version of Halloween on us, and now we have the horror of the Black Friday “celebrations” in our calendar as well. In the US, this is the day…
Taken at face value, David Cameron’s warning this week about risks in the global economy sounds like it might be wonderfully prescient. Here’s the country’s economic chauffeur, carefully checking his instrument…
How did US student loan debt get so big?
Flickr/thisisbossi
Eric Best, Jacksonville State University and Joel Best, University of Delaware
The US student loan system is unique in age, size, and scope. Since 1958, the US has had some form of federally sponsored student loan system. Since inception, college and borrowing have become much more…
Soon to be a thing of the past?
κύριαsity via Flickr
The Financial Conduct Authority’s new controls on payday lenders are geared toward protecting borrowers from excessive charges, which is welcome news. From January of next year, the regulator will impose…
Angela Merkel has thus far closed her eyes to the need for more spending, at her country’s peril.
Reuters
There’s growing pressure on Germany to spend more to support Europe – and for good reason. But it’s proving to be a hard sell to the country’s leaders. Germany’s budget is balanced and the government insists…
Sovereign debt is a crucial lubricant for growth, especially among emerging nations, and so it is equally crucial that we can ensure the interminable row over Argentina’s default is not repeated. Measures…
Draghi and Merkel, in happier times.
Hannibal Hanschke/EPA
We are in a new phase of the post-crisis world. Growth is disappointing with Italy in recession, France close to it, and even Germany lagging. It is a useful reminder that recovery in a debt-overhang economy…
Ordinary people stand to lose if Argentina’s economy collapses.
EPA/David Fernandez
Another week, another proposal to deal with Argentina’s debt. The latest one, by the Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, is to launch a voluntary debt swap where investors holding defaulted…
A wall of indebted students at the University of Portsmouth.
upsuportsmouth
“Life imitates art far more than art imitates life,” according to Oscar Wilde. No more so than in the contemporary issue of debt. It seems that while we may have been born free, many of us will die financially…
In the eye of the beholders, dollar dominance rules.
http://www.welovecostarica.com/watching/
In imploring the world to be less dependent on the US dollar for international transactions, French finance minister Michel Sapin is expressing a wish that many of the euro’s creators hoped would already…
Facebook’s efforts in 2012 to manipulate the emotions of its users for part of an academic study have left the kingpin social network struggling to explain its actions. Maybe part of their mistake was…
The drive to privatise was popular during the Howard era.
Alan Porritt/AAP
The Abbott government is about to unveil a new A$10 billion infrastructure package in its first budget. Apparently it is to be funded by a “special immediate measure” in the form of a levy imposed on high-income…
These days, if investors ever want a break from fretting over the euro zone or US jobs, they can always look east. China’s bubbling debt problem has become a source of genuine anxiety and a potential threat…