News release: “The major interest reference rates (such as LIBOR, EURIBOR, and TIBOR) are widely used in the global financial system as benchmarks for a large volume and broad range of financial products and contracts. The cases of attempted market manipulation and false reporting of global reference rates, together with the post-crisis decline in liquidity… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: July 2014
“Black Boxes” in Passenger Vehicles: Policy Issues
CRS – “Black Boxes” in Passenger Vehicles: Policy Issues – Bill Canis, Specialist in Industrial Organization and Business; David Randall Peterman, Analyst in Transportation Policy July 21, 2014. “An event data recorder (EDR) is an electronic sensor installed in a motor vehicle that records certain technical information about a vehicle’s operational performance for a few seconds immediately prior to… Continue Reading
The Kurds and Possible Iraqi Kurdish Independence
CRS – The Kurds and Possible Iraqi Kurdish Independence. Jim Zanotti, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs; Kenneth Katzman, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs. July 15, 2014 (IN10105) “Approximately 30 million ethnic Kurds inhabit a largely mountainous region at the intersection of Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. In recent years, Kurdish populations have increasingly influenced regional developments, particularly given ongoing conflict… Continue Reading
U.S. Sanctions on Russia in Response to Events in Ukraine
CRS Report, July 18, 2014 (IN10048): “Many view Russia’s annexation of the Crimean region of Ukraine on March 18, 2014, and efforts to destabilize eastern and southern Ukraine as the culmination of long-standing Russian resentment of the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Russian leaders have claimed they have the right to protect Russian citizens and “compatriots” (those… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Large Partnerships, Managing for Results, SBA, Telecommunications
LARGE PARTNERSHIPS: Growing Population and Complexity Hinder Effective IRS Audits, GAO-14-746T: Published: Jul 22, 2014. Publicly Released: Jul 22, 2014. MANAGING FOR RESULTS: Enhanced Goal Leader Accountability and Collaboration Could Further Improve Agency Performance, GAO-14-639: Published: Jul 22, 2014. Publicly Released: Jul 22, 2014. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION: Office of Advocacy Needs to Improve Controls over Research, Regulatory, and Workforce Planning Activities, GAO-14-525: Published:… Continue Reading
Earth – an animated map of global wind and weather
a visualization of global weather conditions forecast by supercomputers updated every three hours ocean surface current estimates updated every five days ocean surface temperatures and anomaly from daily average (1981-2011) updated daily Author | Cameron Beccario@cambecc Free Version of Source | github.com/cambecc/earth Continue Reading
The Impact of Judicial Vacancies on Federal Trial Courts
Alicia Bannon – Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law: “In an earlier report, the Brennan Center analyzed national court data on vacancies and caseload in order to document the burden that judicial vacancies create. In this study we dig deeper, analyzing the experiences of 10 districts that currently have judicial vacancies… Continue Reading
Democratic House Staff Report on Fourth Anniversary of Dodd-Frank Act
Follow up to Report: Dodd-Frank Act Does Not End Too Big to Fail But Perpetuates It as Official Policy – today, the Democrat’s interpretation of the same subject – The Fourth Anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act of 2010, Democratic Staff Report Prepared for Democratic Members of the House Committee on Financial Services – The Honorable… Continue Reading
Subcommittee Finds “Basket Options” Misused To Dodge Billions In Taxes And Bypass Federal Leverage Limits
“Two global banks and more than a dozen hedge funds misused a complex financial structure to claim billions of dollars in unjustified tax savings and to avoid leverage limits that protect the financial system from risky debt, a Senate Subcommittee investigation has found. The improper use of this structured financial product, known as basket options, is… Continue Reading
Impact of Fed Tapering Announcements on Emerging Markets
“This paper analyzes market reactions to the 2013–14 Fed announcements relating to tapering of asset purchases and their relationship to macroeconomic fundamentals and country economic and financial structures. The study uses daily data on exchange rates, government bond yields, and stock prices for 21 emerging markets. It finds evidence of markets differentiating across countries around… Continue Reading
Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation Survey of Iraq and Afghanistan Active Duty Soldiers and Veterans
“This Visualizing Health Policy provides highlights from a survey that asked Iraq and Afghanistan active duty soldiers and veterans about whether their physical and emotional health is worse compared with before the wars, whether they personally know someone who has attempted or died by suicide, whether they experienced difficulty in transitioning back to civilian life,… Continue Reading
Central Bank Macroeconomic Forecasting during the Global Financial Crisis
The European Central Bank and Federal Reserve Bank of New York Experiences, July 2014 Number 680. Luci Alessi, Eric Ghysels, Luca Onorante, Richard Peach, and Simon Potter: “This paper documents macroeconomic forecasting during the global financial crisis by two key central banks: the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The paper is the result of a collaborative effort between the… Continue Reading
