What I'm reading these days - 25-28 October

Random articles I've found interesting over the last week or so, posted in each section from the oldest to the newest. Mostly for my own reminder, but if you feel like commenting, I'm always up for an interesting discussion in the comments! I've added a star system to signify the articles I found more interesting than the average interesting needed to get on the page and/or articles I very much agree with.

Top Spot:
☆☆☆☆ Why Milk? (Didn't know lactose intolerant people were the norm.. another thank God for being European.. no latte macchiato in the morning would be a nightmare!)
☆☆☆☆ I’m a Mac. You’re a PC. There really are two types of people (Yes, indeed, they are)
☆☆☆☆ Inequality: Living in the Second Gilded Age (Soon to come to Europe as well, if it isn't already here)


On the Euro Crisis:
Germany
☆☆ The Germans Are Coming for Their Gold (Ummm... when the only non struggling economy in Europe starts looking at its gold reserves, one has to wonder...)
☆☆ Here’s the “massive cover-up” in Europe’s ridiculously large banking sector (After all, what could go wrong when your banks are several times the countries' GDP?)
German Hypocrisy on “Strengthening Europe” (However, public investment banks to sustain depressed local regions should be allowed... just call them structural funds management agencies already!)

Spain
Spain’s funding problems are over (or, are they?)
☆☆☆ Why should Germans support poorer Spanish regions if Catalans object? (Right, in general, but I still think they are under-estimating the centrifuge forces in Catalunya...)

UK
☆ Sir Mervyn King: no recovery until banks recapitalise (But then again, who would give money to RBS, given its track record?)


On the US Economy:
Would Inflation Help Cut Government Debt? (Reducing costs while raising inflation... no, eh?)
The Plot to Destroy America's Beer (Sadness... and something that could happen soon in Europe both for beers and wines)
☆☆☆ College Reunion (However, I suspect that applies to Italy, Spain and France as well)


World Economy and Economics in general:
☆☆☆ The Third Industrial Revolution Has Only Just Begun (I wonder if we will actually see and enjoy the results or it will fall on our kids...)
Gawd but the currency wars are boring (well, until you realize they can wipe away hundred of thousands of job in your country, i guess they can be...)
Regulation: Collateral damage (Damage? Hey, that's precisely the aim: for bank not to hyper-leverage and have some assets behind their games)
Ocean Power the Ignored Alternative (My guess is that it will join fuel cell and cold fusion, but one may always hope)
Does Taxing the Wealthy Hurt Growth? (I'd suspect, it depends on where you have the "wealthy" bar)
☆☆ Transcript of 1944 Bretton Woods Conference Found at Treasury (For the econo-historians that's seriously a gift from above, I guess)

Big Companies
The Intransparent Methods of an Internet Giant (Why is it, exactly, that people should expect a for profit company to act as a social non-profit organization?)
Why Apple doesn’t care about its competition (and that's why I haven't bought a single Apple product yet... I'm an ultra-geek, apparently)
Too Big To Handle (So true... and while you are at it, please divide commercial and investment banks once again, thank you very much)
Amazon Is a Black Hole Threatening To Devour Corporate America (Fact is, if you have immense volumes and you eliminate competitors, then you can rise prices and have those margins... it's called getting a monopoly, you know, investors might have a point)

Argentina
A pari passu upset? (How speculators will end up reaping tons of money from Argentina... Also, see here)


Politics:
China
Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader (and that's surprising... why? Every dictatorial power creates immensely rich people at the top, see the Russian Oligarchs that originated from the end of the Soviet regime...)

Germany
Judgment in Parallel (Not shocking at all, this is going on majorly in UK and France, but also in Italy and most European countries with a sufficiently high and locally dense Arab and middle-east community)

Iran
☆☆ Sanctions are pushing Iran towards nuclear talks, just not US sanctions (Are they at all? Or, at the very least, quickly enough? I seriously doubt it...)

Israel
Gazans fire mortar shell at South despite informal truce (Why, did they ever stop doing that? And would they have any restraint, now that islamists rule Egypt anyway?)

Russia
Another Pricey Watch Disappears in Russia (Amateurs... their great-fathers were able to have whole people disappear, both in pictures and for real...)

USA
Equipment disposal a daunting job for military (What a waste, I wouldn't mind a couple of tanks, if they have no better use for it...)
Moving Further to the Left (Oh, my, what a surprise...)


Miscellania:
☆☆ Stay Alive: Imagine Yourself Decades From Now (Maybe I should try to have an aged picture of myself to help with keeping my fitness regime...)
Rand’s Dystopian Masterpiece (Ok, I guess it is time I read Rand's books, after having postpone it for about a decade now)
Our Debt to Stalingrad (REALLY... so we are in debt to the first top mass murder in history, Stalin, to have stopped the second on the list? Interesting logics at work... I would say our debt to Normandy, if I'd have to pick one)
The Lowly Button Gets A Brilliant Upgrade (GENIUS!!!)
Paintballs may deflect an incoming asteroid (No Bruce Willis? No hyper cool shuttle dodging the debris  How uncool is that?)
Why air travel has become so expensive, annoying, and cramped (Definitely applies to Europe as well)