Governments around the world are grappling with some of the toughest decisions faced in generations. In severe recession, they are collectively considering as much as $4,500bn (€3,600bn, £3,200bn) in stimulus investments.
Read the article: Smart ways to prepare for a world beyond recession
So how should we make a decision? The key is something called metacognition, or thinking about thinking. Because the mind is like a Swiss Army knife – it’s stuffed full of different mental tools, each of which is well-suited to a specific situation – it’s essential that we learn how to adjust our thought process to the task at hand.
Read the article: Decision time
In an unprecedented space collision, a commercial Iridium communications satellite and a defunct Russian satellite ran into each other Tuesday above northern Siberia, creating a cloud of wreckage, officials said today. The international space station does not appear to be threatened by the debris, they said, but it’s not yet clear whether it poses a risk to any other military or civilian satellites.
Read the article: U.S. and Russian satellites collide
Over the past two decades, the United States and China have developed a special relationship based on the safety of U.S. debt.
Read the article: Why China Needs US Debt
No one knows how bad things have become, though it is clear that tens of thousands have left, real estate prices have crashed and scores of Dubai’s major construction projects have been suspended or canceled. But with the government unwilling to provide data, rumors are bound to flourish, damaging confidence and further undermining the economy.
Read the article: Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down
Buying life experiences – such as going for vacations or going to the theatre – rather than material possessions leads to greater happiness for both the consumer and those around them, according to new study.
Read the article: Buying life experiences, not material possessions, boosts happiness
It’s more than a little local difficulty that Royal Bank of Scotland yesterday suffered the indignity of becoming a penny stock.
Read the article: Faith in banks
James Grimmelman compares Google to Sauron. I’m flabbergasted. I had always thought that Google was the Ringbearer and that Mordor was where Gates and Ballmer hung out. Was I misinformed? Or am I just confused? If it’s the latter, I have a decent excuse. After all, even though Google and Microsoft have very different public personae, it’s getting harder and harder to tell them apart as businesses. Both built their empires through the same strategy: gaining control of the economic chokepoint of the prevailing computing model of their day.
Read the article: Google’s Microsoft Complex
The Bank of England has cut interest rates to 1.5%, the lowest level in its 315-year history, as it continues efforts to aid an economic recovery. The half percentage point reduction brings interest rates below 2% for the first time since the Bank of England was founded in 1694. The Bank has now reduced rates four times from October’s 5% level.
Read the article: Interest rates hit all-time low
Adolf Merckle, one of the world’s richest men, committed suicide yesterday by throwing himself under a train, Bloomberg reports. Financial difficulties, and particularly great losses he suffered on Volkswagen stock, are being cited as the key reason he ended his life.
Read the article: How Porsche hacked the financial system and made a killing