What I'm reading these days - 7-11 December

Top Spot:
☆☆☆☆ Europe clings to scorched-earth ideology as depression deepens (Of course an English newspaper, but so true)
☆☆☆☆ Politics have burst the Monti bubble (quote of choice: "But as useless and comic as Mr Berlusconi may have been during his last term in office, his diagnosis of Italy’s problems since he left has been spot-on."... Finalncial times, baby, a newspaper who hates mr. B. with a passion...)
☆☆☆☆ Capitalism and the Kids (Yes, kids have an economic cost, yes FAMILIES with kids should be hugely helped.. but that means incentivize stable FAMILIES, not single motherhood)


On the Euro Crisis:
☆ Competitive and external Imbalances in the Euro area (interesting paper)
State Costs of the 2008 Icelandic Financial Collapse (Technically not Euro, but an interesting case close to home)
Iceland: Coming in from the cold (“Iceland zigged when all the conventional wisdom was that it should zag”)
☆☆☆ Notes from the continent where good times are always just around the corner (and the corner is actually an infinite circle, apparently)
☆☆ She's German. He's Greek. It's Christmas. (Funny, in a sad way)
Bleeding Europe (bleeding masses, rather, not everyone...)

France
☆☆ Critics savage Depardieu's new role as tax exile (well, what did they expect? And I should visit this Nechin, which is probably the place with the highest earnings/population ratio on the planet by now, considering teh other residents)
In France's Welfare State Status Quo, Are We Seeing America's Future? (Not only in France, most of Europe actually and we cannot pay for it for much longer. Then what?)

Greece
Greece joins cool circle (if that's being cool...)
Greece’s two-stage default (Again... and a third one to come soon, I'd guess)

Italy
Italy Trumps Greece (and we are again in the news!)
☆☆ Why Italy Will Become the Primary Source of Angst for the Euro Crisis (Yes, probably, on th eother hand we cannot stop having elections just because the markets get nervous)
Suddenly Mario Monti Is No Longer A Hero (Well, he never was, except for banks and speculators...)
Arrivederci, Monti (and good riddance! In fact, i hope it will be a good byw rather than an au revoir)

The Netherlands
Shrinking Dutch economy in worse shape than thought (welcome to the club!)


On the US Economy:
November Employment Report: 146,000 Jobs, 7.7% Unemployment Rate (I still find ludicruous they do not consider people who aren't looking for job anymore. They should really use the prime age participation rate as a serious measure, or you risk saying things like...)
The employment emergency is over (which is downright ridicolous)
☆ Stanford MBA price tag hits $185K: Highest in the world (well, if one then goes on earning that or, most probably, ten times that in a year after graduating, it kinda makes sense)


World Economy and Economics in general:
The next productivity revolution: The ‘industrial internet’ (I'm a bit skeptical, truly)
Is science funding encouraging conformity? (I've always thought so, but then only private funding leads to generally useful, but with little economic return ideas being neglected)
☆ Join the fight against unpaid internships (All too true, richer kids have an mmense advantage if internships are unpaid... on the other hand, if paid, I'd guess there'd be much much less available on the market)
☆☆ The Most Depressing Slide I've Ever Created (Yes, having kids is important, who would had guessed?)
HSBC to Pay $1.92 Billion to Settle Charges of Money Laundering (Which is actually just about a month of profits... they got away with little)
Losing for tax purposes, a diagram (As if transfer pricing was anything new...)

HFT
Risk and Reward in High Frequency Trading (how I hate HTF traders...)

Robots and jobs (An interesting subject that started a worldwide debate this week)
☆☆☆ Robots, capital-biased technological change and inequality (A good summary of the discussion)
☆☆ Rise of the Robots
The robot economy and the new rentier class (which robots-making factory can I invest in?)
Technology and Wages, the Analytics  (where are nowadays Fords,who notoriously quipped along teh line of "of course I pay well my employees, or who would buy my cars?")

China
China’s wealth gap widens (isn't it always so in communist countries, see the Russian oligarchs?)
☆ Move Over, Michigan, China Is The World's Next Rust Belt (Maybe, which would be interesting in a country of more than a billion people)
Carson Block Goes Short Unafraid as Chinese Gangsters Chase (Gangser tactics and hopacity, great mix...)
☆☆☆ China’s banking Weapons of Mass Ponzi problem pops up again (...but then again, it might be the only way for them...)

Congo
☆☆ Gertler Earns Billions as Mine Deals Fail to Enrich Congo (Now, I'm no antisemite and I'm pro-Israel, but this guy isn't helping the stereotypes... he really seems, both by behaviour and looks, out of a german cartoon from the 30s...)

Germany
Germany faces multibillion-Euro grid bill (Oh, the huge waste... and who will pay the bill? And how will react the energy intensive german industries when the bill will skyrocket?)

India
A question of identity (How about applying it to voting?)

Japan
☆ Japan, bringing you recession since Q2 (question, which applies to Europe and US as well, is: who the heck should buy the products needed to get out of teh recession if middle class has been squashed all around the planet?)

Russia
The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia's Mortality Crisis (PLEASE, stop drinking yourself to death! The world needs more Russian girls, not less!)


Politics:
☆☆ Gigantic Map Reveals The Modern Pirate Hot Spots That Terrify Shippers Around The World (back to the XVIII century!)

Israel
America, Israel, Gaza, the World (And yet, they helped the Muslim Brotherhood to seize Egypt and a number of thugs control of Lybia... and who's ruling Tunisia?)

Pakistan
Four major Al Qaeda commanders killed in Pakistani tribal areas (Good news!)


Miscellania:
Google's Lost Social Network (never used google reader as social network, but it's still my tool of choice for RSS feeds)
Shock jocks and other media stories from Down Under (They called, the nurse committed suicide, they will never face a judge... and it was not even the first time...)
Yet another study suggests sperm numbers are falling in rich countries (I suppose we deserve to go extincted)
Giving New Life to Vultures to Restore a Human Ritual of Death (Strong stories and even stronges pictures, but very interesting)