Links 30 November 2017

Global Macro / Markets / Investing:

• Musk: I Am Not Bitcoin’s Satoshi Nakamoto – Bloomberg
• Soros Sons to Back New Hedge Fund From Ex-Soros Manager – Bloomberg
• What to Worry About in This Surreal Bull Market – Bloomberg
• Million-Barrel Oil Hedging Surge Signals Shale Boom Here to Stay – Bloomberg
• Vanguard Founder Jack Bogle Says ‘Avoid Bitcoin Like the Plague’ – Bloomberg
• Why Economists Love Property Taxes and You Don’t – Bloomberg
• Oil Prices Chase $60 After a Year of Surging Demand – WSJ
• Bitcoin Hits $10,000 as Sharp Rise Drowns Out Skeptics – WSJ
• The global offshore system means we can’t trust basic economic figures – Quartz
• Bitcoin Mania Sweeps Into Manhattan as Crypto Event Packed Solid – Bloomberg
• How exactly did we arrive at this bitcoin phenomenon? – Recode
• Pressured for profit, oil majors bet big on shale technology – Reuters

Americas:

• Senate Budget Panel Advances GOP Tax Bill on Party-Line Vote – Bloomberg
• Millions Pay the Obamacare Penalty Instead of Buying Insurance. Who Are They? – NY Times
• Retail Jobs Don’t Need to Be Bad. Here’s Proof. – NY Times
• What the Tax Bill Would Look Like for 25,000 Middle-Class Families – NY Times
• America is in crisis. The Republican tax plan will make that worse – The Guardian
• Can Tax Reform Generate 0.4% Additional Growth? – CRFB
• On Trade, Trump Puts Corporate America First – NY Times
• Home Prices Jump as Supply Shortage Squeezes Buyers – WSJ
• The Fed May Be Smart to Skip a Rate Hike in December – Bloomberg
• By 2040, two-thirds of Americans will be represented by 30 percent of the Senate – Washington Post

Europe:

• Britain and the EU agree Brexit divorce bill – The Telegraph
• The fat cats have got their claws into our universities, and will eat them up – The Guardian
• BoE says banks may be underestimating fintech threat – Reuters
• House prices and the UK economy – VOX
• Colleague names Putin’s daughter, then withdraws comments – Reuters
• Barclays at the Back of the Class in U.K. Stress Tests – WSJ
• Disentangling the UK productivity problem – Mainly Macro
• Rising household debt and stagnant pay major threats to UK, says OECD – The Guardian
• London’s Startups Stress Out Over Brexit—and Ping Pong – Bloomberg

Asia:

• How China’s Going to Try to Control Its Massive Housing Bubble – Bloomberg
• North Korea Launches ICBM Near Japan, Ending Two-Month Lull – Bloomberg
• Hong Kong’s Sizzling Stock Rally Is Now at Beijing’s Mercy – Bloomberg
• Blah, Blah, Blah in Japan? Listen Carefully – Bloomberg
• Mass evictions in freezing Beijing winter sparks public outrage but little official remorse – Washington Post

Trans-Tasman:

• Victoria becomes the first Australian state to legalise assisted dying – ABC
• Senate passes same sex marriage bill – The SMH
• Poorer Australians bear the brunt of rising housing costs – ABC
• Another Staffer Has Left Michaelia Cash’s Office In The Wake Of The AWU Raid Leak Scandal – BuzzFeed
• Labor senator Sam Dastyari warned wealthy Chinese donor Huang Xiangmo his phone was bugged – Canberra Times
• ‘Clear failure of leadership’: Coalition tensions boiling over as Nationals MP attacks Malcolm Turnbull – The SMH
• Consumer watchdog ‘ordered’ NBN to halt HFC rollout – New Daily
• Turnbull’s leadership on same-sex marriage a ‘failure’, Nationals MP says – ABC
• Australia is a world leader in internet usage and bad internet policies, so Australians want better policies – Boing Boing
• Australia still embraces multiculturalism but fracture lines are deepening – The Guardian
• An industry in need to help: marriage slides to an all-time low – The SMH
• Hobart is now the second most expensive city to rent a home – Real Estate.com
• University students dropping out in record numbers, Federal Government says – Radio Australia
• Students working yet struggling to afford textbooks, report finds – The Guardian
• ‘We are not concerned it is about to fall off the edge’ – Interest.co.nz
• Government clamps down on foreign buyers of farm land – Interest.co.nz