Links 9 May 2018

Global Macro / Markets / Investing:

• Crypto’s Big Lie – Medium
• Bitcoin Sees Wall Street Warm to Trading Virtual Currency – NY Times
• Crypto Pioneers Head to Brooklyn to Reshape Finance – Bloomberg
• Private equity executives discover new backers – FT
• Buffett and Gates Are the Latest Bitcoin Critics, Halting $10,000 Push – Bloomberg
• Buffett bashes bitcoin as thriving on mystique, favors stocks – Reuters
• Warren Buffett’s Lieutenants Are Increasingly Running Berkshire – WSJ
• Bitcoin as Bad as ‘Trading Harvested Baby Brains’: Berkshire VC Munger – CNN
• Bill Gates says he would short bitcoin if there was an easy way to do it – MarketWatch
• How Futures Trading Changed Bitcoin Prices – FRBSF
• Oracle Is Rolling Out Blockchain Products – Bloomberg
• Bitcoin as Bad as ‘Trading Harvested Baby Brains’: Berkshire VC Munger – Bloomberg
• Apple Needs an 8.6% Rally to Reach $1 Trillion Milestone – Bloomberg
• Long lending boom will be a test of ‘shadow’ finance – FT
• As Cryptocurrencies Rise, Who Needs Banks? – HBR
• How Economists Became So Timid – The Chronicle of Higher Education
• Oil Prices Reach Highest Level Since 2014 Ahead of Iran Deadline – WSJ
• The Next Bond Crash: An ETF Story – ETF

Americas:

• Trump grows frustrated with Giuliani as Stormy drama rages on – Politico
• New York’s Attorney General, Resigns Amid Assault Accusations – NY Times
• Why Mueller Has to Expose Trump’s Crooked Business Empire – NY Mag
• Record Numbers of Women Running for Office May Not Mean Big Gains in Congress – Bloomberg
• Republican Regulator Who Blasted Dodd-Frank Rules to Step Down – WSJ
• The Unemployment Rate Is Meaningless. Here’s What You Should Look at Instead. – Slate
• NAFTA talks enter critical week with U.S. still pushing hard line – Reuters

Europe:

• Theresa May facing renewed turmoil over Brexit options – The Guardian
• Budget chief aims to restore France’s credibility in Europe – FT
• Germany’s budget is an accident waiting to happen – FT
• As Britain leaves, English on rise in EU – Politico
• What Europe’s Tough New Data Law Means for You, and the Internet – NY Times
• Greek Banks’ Clean Bill of Health Frees Bailout Funds – Bloomberg

Asia:

• China Is Quietly Setting Global Standards – Bloomberg
• China’s Biggest Tech Unicorns Stampede to Go Public – WSJ
• China Plans $47 Billion Fund to Boost Its Semiconductor Industry – WSJ
• China April Exports Climb, Imports Jump on Solid Global Demand – Bloomberg
• Why Can’t China Make Semiconductors? – Bloomberg
• Report: Chinese government is behind a decade of hacks on software companies – ArsTechnica

Trans-Tasman:

• “I could live off $40 a day” claims minister who spends $60 a day on stationary – Chaser
• Australia believes it could survive with Michaelia Cash being unemployed – Chaser
• Massive 1.5GW solar plant proposed for south-east Queensland – Renew Economy
• Peter Dutton’s power grabs may yet be his undoing – The Guardian
• Asbestos victim who can’t care for sick wife sues James Hardie in $6 million landmark trial – ABC
• Tony Abbott ‘out of sync’ with modern Australian values, says George Brandis – The Guardian
• The systemic mismanagement eroding our trust in the banking sector and ways to solve it – Medium
• ‘It’s all about vested interests’: untangling conspiracy, conservatism and climate scepticism – The Guardian
• Why Trump-style company tax cuts won’t achieve the same results in Australia – ABC
• Waste collection recycling crisis deepens amid Cleanaway stand-off – ABC
• Former Liberal leader decries ‘mother’ of all political budgets – ABC
• Morrison to offer $10 tax cut for low-income earners in federal budget – ABC
• Young, pregnant and homeless: Hobart’s rental market at breaking point – ABC
• Dumpster diving in full swing as cost of living pinches Queenslanders looking for a meal – ABC
• Whatever Tuesday’s budget holds, it’s sure to be fudged – The SMH
• Pre-Budget fiscal snapshot: What do the Govt’s books look like? – Interest.co.nz
• NZ Royal Commission would be ‘big mistake’ says Westpac NZ CEO – Interest.co.nz