Private industry was in a rage while privacy groups were elated on Tuesday over a new ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) affirming European citizens’ right to privacy from American tech companies.  On Tuesday, the European court ruled in favor of Max Schrems, an Austrian graduate student who asked that EU’s data protection commissioner bar Facebook from transmitting his personal data to the US on the grounds that many tech firms had cooperated with the National Security Agency. Transmission of personal data had previously been covered by a “safe harbor” agreement between Europe and the US that allowed tech firms to share the data with explicit consent from their customers. Businesses that operate in Europe must now make sure they are compliant with the EU’s own laws before they subject their customers’ personal information to laxer restrictions in the US, the court said.  The advertising industry was not pleased. “Today’s decision by the European Court of Justice jeopardizes thousands of businesses across the Atlantic,” said Mike Zaneis, executive vice-president of public policy and general counsel for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, who called the overturned provision “an efficient means to comply with EU privacy law”. “The weakening of the Safe Harbor agreement limits European consumers’ access to valuable digital services and impedes trade and innovation,” said Zaneis. “We urge the US and EU to agree on new rules for the transatlantic transfer of data, taking into account the CJEU’s judgment.”

Britain is among a handful of shining lights in the global economy this year as the world sees the slowest period of growth since the depths of the financial crisis, according to the International Monetary Fund. The IMF edged up its forecast for UK growth in 2015 amid downgrades "across the board" for advanced and emerging economies. It said China's slowdown, falling commodity prices and an expected increase in US interest rates would all weigh on output.   "Britain is among a handful of shining lights in the global economy this year"  I think someone must be holding this shining light in your eyes. I'd recommend a read of the Whole of Government Accounts for 2013-14, and of course for 2014-15 when they finally come out.  Here's a quick extract from 2013-14 WGA for you. "Assets have increased by £39.8 billion (3.1%) from £1,297.5 billion in 2012-13 to £1,337.3 billion in 2013-14. Property, plant and equipment (PPE) increased by £15.8 billion due to increased assets under construction and new academies; financial assets increased by £17.6 billion due to increased loans and advances to banks (repos) and trade receivables increased by £10.2 billion due to increases in taxation due.  Liabilities have increased by £263.7 billion (9%) from £2,925.4 billion in 2012-13 to £3,189.1 billion in 2013-14. The key factors behind this increase were an increase in the pension liability of £130 billion (11.1%), followed by an increase in government borrowing of £99.9 billion (10%) and financial liabilities of £17.8 billion (3.8%)."  Assets up by 39.8bn and liabilities up by 263.7bn, that's a net worsening of position of 224bn or so in a single year. Then of course we have the private pension sector whose recognised deficits have increased, according to the PPF, by 320bn over the last two years, primarily thanks to emergency low rates. They are going to need to suck that money out of the wider economy over perhaps the next ten years, as indeed many major companies are already doing.  As to GDP, well we have 8.9% of our GDP being provided by imputed rents, the rent that you'd theoretically have to pay yourself if you didn't already own your property, though it generates no real additional economic activity. Another large chunk of nominal GDP growth come from importing 330,000 people a year that we make no provision in terms of infrastructure or services for, we simply degrade existing ones with the extra load. And the remainder? Well we borrow three or four times the actual organic GDP growth to support it.

I'm not sure we can afford things being this good much longer.

The Federal Reserve isn't owned by the United States government it's an international business cartel, a privately owned business that generates over 80 billion dollars a year. More money than any company in America. They say that their objective is to reduce inflation, however, the lower interest is, the more people end up going bankrupt after retirement. When you have more bankruptcy, the banks are required to borrow more money from the federal reserve, increasing their profit margin. It seems to only logical that our monetary system should be controlled by a government agency rather than a privately owned business whose prime objective is to make money, and has financial motivation to cause bankruptcy and financial collapse....Markets have been manipulated for thirty years by and for the insiders, creating the too big to fail banks. Data is manipulated by the insiders, the regulators and government to demonstrate that all is well-nothing to see here. The last decade has seen nil interest rates and successive rounds of Quantitave Easing in an attempt to avoid deflation. This policy has totally failed. This leaves only painful policy options going forward. Orthodox economics which ignores the effect of money and debt on economics prescribes minus interest rates and counterfeit currencies. People who understand macro economics have identified the effects of debt, and understand that creating more debt is not a solution. World Debt is at 285% of GDP. Much of it is worthless and will never be paid back-so the action has to be write it off. Starting now...We know rates can't go up by more than 1% due to the quantum of personal debt in existence and the thin layer of surplus cash available for consumption every month.  More than 1% rate rise will signal defaults spiking. Any rise in rate will signal a slowdown in lending which is correlated highly with growth. This is a debt trap. Any inflation and monetary policy has nowhere to go. This is why there is a hang-up on whether to raise rates by 0.25%. Inflation watchers on one side (hawks) and growth seekers (doves). Frankly it's not worth bothering with, as the economy is stagnant at the zero lower bound whilst we operate in an environment of low growth capitalism. To solve the conundrum debt needs to see material reduction to create surplus cash flow, or wages need to increase - neither of which appear on the economic horizon within market fundamentalism.  Radical solutions would be debt jubilee with new controls on bank creation of endogenous money, regulate bank business models, and control spending / consumption to maintain 2% inflation, or increase wages significantly (with investors/ equity taking the hit - a move away from the conception of financial control and shareholder value to a stakeholder model) and drive a demand side response to deliver 'real' economic growth, not zero sum games we see today in stocks and real estate.

Russia - "Experts estimate that some 400,000 to 500,000 citizens could apply for bankruptcy,".  So Putin is like Great Britain in the Suez Crisis, his economy is falling and when more sanctions hit he will have to make a choice. Plus new travel bans and his financial empire (purchased by Russian Taxpayers) exposed. The Oil prices is falling and set to remain low. His population is falling and people leaving Russian for their Human Rights. The cost of running a foreign war will hit the Soviet budget.  Russia like Britain is no longer an Empire, get over it Mr. Putin. Russia has previously allowed companies to declare themselves bankrupt but not individuals.

Russian banks encouraged people to take out loans and mortgages during the boom years of high oil prices and many are now struggling to make the repayments, particularly those who took out loans denominated in foreign currency before the ruble plummeted last year on the back of low oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. Some experts have questioned how many will actually be able to do so, due to the relatively high cost of the procedure. Banks, however, fear that a large number of lenders will use the law to avoid paying back loans, with the number of delayed payments already soaring over the past year. "I receive many such letters [on the issue] and behind each is a personal tragedy," said the deputy president of Russia's central bank, Vasily Pozdyshev. "Experts estimate that some 400,000 to 500,000 citizens could apply for bankruptcy," Mr Pozdyshev said. "The law is entering force at an inconvenient moment," wrote Vedomosti business daily. "Debts on consumer loans today total six trillion rubles, while mortgage debts total three trillion rubles."  "Formally, just under 600,000 Russians fall under the terms of the law."

Investors are on track to pull $541bn (£357bn) out of emerging markets this year, as fears that China is headed for a ‘hard landing’ have prompted the greatest flight for safety since 1988.  The Institute of International Finance (IIF) said that the net outflows would most likely continue next year, as the prospect of US interest rate rises threatens to dampen the emerging market outlook further.  Charles Collyns, managing director and chief economist at the IIF, said that “emerging markets have seen sharp losses in recent months”. The IIF’s forecasts came as economists warned that emerging markets could face a brutal slowdown over the next 12 months.  The carnage in investments marks a huge reversal from 2014, when investors poured a net $32bn into emerging markets. ... I was recently in Malaysia for three months. An interesting juxtaposition of wealth and the poor, with many visible high-end luxury cars on the roads alongside homeless 75 yo Chinese-Malay rickshaw pedallers who sleep in their chariots at night. Ferraris, Aston Martins, Porsches, Lambos, Benzes, Range Rovers, Hummers, Rollers, Bentley Continental GTs, BMW Zs... these fancy motors with their inflated price tags due to 130% import duties can be seen cruising past the $1 won ton soup stalls. Meanwhile China-based developers plan to turn Malacca into a bigger shipping port than nearby mighty Singapore. Saw a computer shop at an IT mall in Penang advertising for a part timer. Wage offered: 6RM/hour. $1.40. Walmart ain't so mean after all...But when China sneezes, emerging markets are gonna catch a nasty flu.

A kickstarter campaign to launch a computer costing just USD9 is another important milestone on the road to hyper-connectivity, creating risks and opportunities for insurers.   The C.H.I.P. is a tiny computer equipped with a 1 GHz ARM processor, 512 MB of DDR3 RAM, 4 GB of storage, and Bluetooth connectivity, all in a package smaller than a box of cigarettes. It runs on a Debian Linux operating system, is designed to work with most monitors and keyboards, and comes pre-loaded with a number of apps and a web browser.   The device is entering a market that already includes the Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone Black and Arduino, small computers which are increasingly being used by hobbyists and businesses to connect sensors, switches and relays across what is becoming known as the Internet of Everything. What is remarkable about the C.H.I.P., however, is its price point, roughly a quarter of its competitors, marking a major step in the mass production of these tools.  That has investors scrambling to jump on the bandwagon, with nearly 18,000 people contributing over USD 900,000 within just a few days of the launch of the initial kickstarter campaign, which had a target of just USD 50,000.   Regardless of the projects success, it also has enormous implications for the insurance industry. The dwindling cost of connectivity is likely to accelerate the rate at which new devices connect to the internet. This hyper-connectivity will generate enormous volumes of data, which will allow businesses and insurers to generate far more granular insights into their business requirements and the risks that they face.   At the same time, a rapid increase in the number of devices connected to the internet will create new vectors for cyber-attack, generating significant volumes of highly sensitive data while also potentially creating new hazards as hackers will be able to directly interact with a range of new devices, from fridges to shipping manifests and safety sensors. As a recent report by the ESADE Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics and Zurich Insurance Group illustrates, the global governance framework in place to manage these risks is woefully inadequate, so businesses will need to develop their own robust risk management frameworks to build resilience against attacks. Another benefit of this cheap technology is that it makes internet access more affordable for people on a low income. The C.H.I.P., for example, is being offered in a USD 35 mobile handset.  This kind of connectivity is a vital tool for delivering financial services and the protection of micro-insurance to a greater number people on low incomes around the world.