New York’s Wealthiest Cut Losses as Manhattan Real Estate Falters - WSJ

New York’s Wealthiest Cut Losses as Manhattan Real Estate Falters - WSJ





...Manhattan condo builders paid record prices for land and built increasingly tall towers, leaving the city with a huge pool of expensive supply. “People started doing these developments with pricing expectations that were insane,” said New York developer Ian Bruce Eichner.

Now many of those developers are cutting prices and offering incentives such as paying buyers’ transfer taxes, says Stephen Kliegerman, president of Halstead Development Marketing.

Greenspan Says Look to Sweden to Solve U.S. Benefit Funding - Bloomberg

Greenspan Says Look to Sweden to Solve U.S. Benefit Funding - Bloomberg



...The Nordic nation “is a perfect example of a country that had the problem we had in the U.S. today, and they solved it,” Greenspan said via video link with an event in London. “It’s not the deficits, it’s the issue of not funding increased expenditures.”



...The Scandinavian nation has a reputation for providing expensive cradle-to-grave social welfare, but in the 1990s the country moved over from a defined benefit to a defined contribution system.



...While the U.S. and many other industrialized countries are struggling with large unfunded pension programs, Sweden’s is constructed to be a self-correcting, pay-as-you-go-system designed to remain in balance permanently.

The Academic Junk Science Scandal Continues to Unfold | Mauldin Economics

The Academic Junk Science Scandal Continues to Unfold | Mauldin Economics

One of the most important developments of the past decade is the emergence of evidence that many—if not most—published academic studies are worthless, or worse.

This phenomenon is called the reproducibility or replication crisis. I think it should have been labeled the “academic science scam.”

Newly revealed 5th century mosaics a kaleidoscope of Jewish and secular imagery | The Times of Israel

Newly revealed 5th century mosaics a kaleidoscope of Jewish and secular imagery | The Times of Israel

Future of shopping - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail

Future of shopping - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail

The Dred Scott of Climate Change?

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/juliana-climate-change-case-intergenerational-justice-by-robert-dugger-1-2018-11?utm_source=Project+Syndicate+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8154a24117-sunday_newsletter_18_11_2018&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_73bad5b7d8-8154a24117-93854061

Trump administration attorneys insist that the case is “nonjusticiable,” meaning that the courts are not the proper venue to resolve the issues in Juliana; even if this was not the case, they continue, the plaintiffs lack standing to sue. The US federal courts from the district level up to the Supreme Court – all of which have already ruled that the case should go to trial – clearly disagree.

There are parallels between Juliana v. United States and the Supreme Court’s infamous decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford.

China unveils plans for pollution-eating 'Forest City' - CNN Style

China unveils plans for pollution-eating 'Forest City' - CNN Style

The Euro’s Demise Will Happen Sooner Than Many People Expect - Barron's

The Euro’s Demise Will Happen Sooner Than Many People Expect - Barron's



...Yet, Europe’s troubles never really abated. By 2015, the euro zone was again engulfed in crisis, with the focus primarily on Greece, whose banking system was in peril. Only then did the ECB undertake an expansive asset-buying program of its own, spending about 80 billion euros ($90 billion) per month. The ECB’s campaign (which is ending this year) infused the European economy with a total of €2.5 trillion over three years, and drove interest rates down to a negative 0.4%.



...Many hope that the current standoff will be resolved by an expansive budgetary policy that is in effect throughout the euro zone. Even if Germany and its satellites agree to implement such a policy, however, which is doubtful, it will have to be on a scale that is likely to cause an inflationary burst, currency destabilization, capital flight, and a dramatic increase in long-term interest rates.



...The most plausible solution to the latest impasse appears to be “Italexit”—Italy’s secession from the euro zone. 

Europe’s Hottest Building Market Needs Workers to Come Home - Bloomberg

Europe’s Hottest Building Market Needs Workers to Come Home - Bloomberg

Updated Predictions About the Biological Singularity | Mauldin Economics

Updated Predictions About the Biological Singularity | Mauldin Economics



...the drugs being tested in these trials are not the basis of my guarded optimism. Rather, I’m encouraged because leading universities are opening up to the idea that anti-aging therapies can solve our healthcare and budget crises.


Superior therapies are, in fact, forthcoming. Here are my updated predictions:

At least one geroprotective drug (possibly two or even three) that vastly outperforms rapamycin will emerge in the next two years. Because it will treat several pediatric orphan indications, it will breeze through the regulatory process.
The first age-reversing drug to market will be approved for a single indication but will prevent or cure a plethora of age-related diseases. Finally, all the diseases that plague humans in their old age will be recognized as symptoms of a single root disease with specific molecular mechanisms that can be reversed.
Within a few more years, complete rejuvenation of damaged organs or limbs will enter clinical trials either in the US, Israel, or Japan. This biotechnology, like the geroprotector I’ve already mentioned, will exploit our genomes’ latent embryonic pathways to restore youthful adult health.

Abbas Is Haunted by a 40-Year-Old Peace Plan - Bloomberg

Abbas Is Haunted by a 40-Year-Old Peace Plan - Bloomberg

How Bill Gates Aims to Save $233 Billion by Reinventing the Toilet - Bloomberg

How Bill Gates Aims to Save $233 Billion by Reinventing the Toilet - Bloomberg