China’s New Silk Road Challenges the West

The Silk Road, that ancient and mystical trade route that brought Asian silks and spices all the way to Europe, has long been the subject of story and song. But now, a new initiative by the Chinese government aims to revive the Silk Road’s storied route in a bid for...

Artificial Intelligence Changes the Finance Game

As far back as 1990, financial experts were predicting that in the not too distant future, investment and money management would be aided by sophisticated computer technologies. Flash forward a couple of decades, and that future is here. Robotics experts predict that...

The Digital Revolution: A New World in 2025?

Computers that move at the speed of the human brain. A world where every human being can know anything, anywhere, any time. Data streaming through a trillion sensors to connect the whole world. Though these things sound like part of a science fiction movie about the...

Will Robots Steal Your Job?

The Second Machine Age has arrived. Tech experts now predict that by 2025, robots will have reached the level of human intelligence – and they’re poised to claim at least a third of the jobs done by humans. Economists and job seekers have been worrying about the...

How Does the Fed Manage Inflation?

Cycles of inflation and its opposite number deflation have been part of the American financial landscape for well over a century. While some of these cycles are affected by outside events such as wartime, what many consumers don’t know is that our very own central...

Inflation Rate Models Make a Difference

Inflation is a word that strikes dread into the hearts of American consumers, who know that when it’s headed their way, their hard earned dollars will buy less. But different models of measuring inflation can make a big difference in how scary those numbers can be....

What’s Behind the World’s Debt Crisis?

On one spring day in late April 2014, the world’s debt clock checked in at a staggering $60, 656, 668, 640,014. That number changes by the minute, as do the totals for interest accrued – over $1,000 every minute. The world is deep in debt – and becoming more indebted...

The Wizard of Oz: An Economic Fairy Tale?

And all along, you thought The Wizard of Oz was a delightful children’s adventure, brought to life on the big screen in that famous movie starring Judy Garland. But in the years since the movie put the beloved L Frank Baum story into the cultural fabric of American...

Do Currency Wars Drive World Economies?

The major powers may rattle sabers and troops and weapons may move in places all around the globe, but there’s another, quieter kind of war that has the power to make or break economies. Global “currency wars” like the one we’re In right now affect rates of exchange,...

The US: World’s #1 Tax Haven?

The phrase “tax haven: conjures up images of shady money being squirreled away in chilly Swiss banks or sunny tropical ones –a way for businesses and people to hide their dealings from the authorities at home. Switzerland and the Cayman Islands top the list of the...