Some members of Congress made risky bets with their own money that U.S. stocks or bonds would fall during the financial crisis, a Wall Street Journal analysis of congressional disclosures shows. Senators have criticized Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS – News) for profiting from the housing collapse. And Congress is considering legislation to curb Wall Street risk-taking, including the use... 

The world’s top central bankers began arriving in Australia for high-level talks as renewed fears about the strength of the global economic recovery gripped world share markets. Representatives from 24 central banks and monetary authorities, including the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank, landed in Sydney to meet tomorrow at an undisclosed location. Organised by the Bank for International... 

By Alan Beattie at ft.com Put a jaguar, a bear, a tiger and a panda together and you might get a good show but you won’t get a quiet life. The Bric grouping – Brazil, Russia, India and China – has become a shorthand for the rise of emerging markets in the global economy. And after a rather stellar decade, the Brics mainly had a good crisis from which they are now rapidly exiting. Goldman Sachs,... 

Japan Airlines today filed for bankruptcy in an attempt to reverse the fortunes of a once-revered corporate icon now saddled with billions of dollars of debt and a reputation for mismanagement and inefficiency. The airline’s board decided to place the company at the mercy of a state-led restructuring plan that will require it to shed almost 15,700 jobs and cut more than 30 unprofitable routes. ... 

HONG KONG — For the first time, Chinese investment in U.S. companies has eclipsed U.S. purchases of Chinese entities, a trend analysts say is fueled partly by depressed American assets. In 2009, Chinese buyers snapped up $3.9 billion of U.S. assets, nearly four times the level in 2008, says Dealogic, a data-tracking firm. By comparison, U.S. buyers plowed $3 billion into Chinese entities last year,... 

The US Federal Reserve is no longer able, in reality, to continue its multi-decade combat against the « barbarous relic » in order to guarantee the supremacy of the US currency at the centre of the international monetary system. For LEAP/E2020 the decade which has just begun will be clearly marked by a complete collapse of the Dollar (and the fall of most major international currencies) by gold. ... 

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services downgraded California, noting the state’s severe fiscal imbalance and the impending recurrence of a cash shortage if revenue and spending trajectories continue. California lawmakers and analysts have already challenged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal for the year starting July 1. The plan relies on billions of dollars in emergency... 

Google is releasing information about a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” on their corporate infrastructure that occurred last month. The attack originated in China and resulted in the “theft of intellectual property from Google.” In light of the attack Google is making sweeping changes to its Chinese operations. Google is releasing some information about these attacks to the public.... 

In late 2009, former Merrill Lynch economist, now with the Canadian firm, Gluskin Sheff, said the following:   “The credit collapse and the accompanying deflation and overcapacity are going to drive the economy and financial markets in 2010. We have said this repeatedly that this recession is really a depression because the (post-WW II) recessions were merely small backward steps in an inventory... 

While iconic American automakers General Motors and Chrysler were saved from the brink of disaster in 2009, others were not so lucky, succumbing to the fate of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.   American businesses, struggling with lower consumer demands and hard-to-get credit, attempted to cut costs in a myriad of ways last year – slashing jobs, cutting back hours, freezing...