One reason Congress is broken? Negative ads cripple even the winners.

By David B. McLennan – These ads matter — but not in the ways that the candidates and their campaign consultants hope they do. When the negative barrage of ads is over, the winner will likely emerge with an approval rating well under 50 percent.

Majority of winning candidates take office without the majority support of the citizens they represent. They can no longer legitimately cite the “will of the people” in proposing legislation — because they are not in a position of strength when it comes to public support. Elected officials now often have little or no honeymoon period – even with the voters who supported them. more> http://tinyurl.com/l6vox44

Is China’s Bubble the Next Financial Crisis?

By Mark Whitehouse – The Chinese credit boom has rapidly turned the country into one of the developing world’s most indebted, according to a new report (pdf) from London’s Centre for Economic Policy Research.

Such credit-fueled growth can’t be sustained for long without causing major distortions and setting the country up for a fall.

The stimulus is already running into diminishing returns. Over the five years through 2013, government and private debt grew by about 3 yuan for each added yuan of economic activity, a level of credit intensity that the U.S. exceeded only in the years leading up to the 2008 crisis. more> http://tinyurl.com/k5985du

Big Banks Face Another Round of U.S. Charges

By Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg – With evidence mounting that a number of foreign and American banks colluded to alter the price of foreign currencies, the largest and least regulated financial market, prosecutors are aiming to file charges against at least one bank by the end of the year.

Yet the breadth of the suspected wrongdoing in the currency inquiry — Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays and UBS are among the dozen or so banks under investigation — might distinguish it from the piecemeal nature of the crisis-era investigations. more> http://tinyurl.com/msouwc6

Here Comes the Internet of Money

Bloomberg – Money and payment systems, the underpinnings of all financial activity, are still traditional in one respect: They rely on central third parties — banks — to record and vouch for transactions.

Digital currencies dispense with this. They create a decentralized record — a “distributed ledger” — which allows buyers and sellers to interact directly. more> http://tinyurl.com/mx4unrg

The Rise And Fall And Rise And Fall Of King Dollar, Part 2

BOOK REVIEW

Wealth of Nations, Author: Adam Smith.

Money, Gold, and History, Author: Lewis E. Lehrman.

The Economic Consequences of the Peace, Author: John Maynard Keynes.

By Ralph Benko – The mechanics of the reserve currency system preempt these funds’ ready availability for “the maintenance of industry.”

The mechanics of the dollar as a reserve asset, therefore, finance bigger government while insidiously preempting productivity, jobs, and equitable prosperity.

As Steve Forbes pithily puts it, “You’ve got to get the money right.” 

Time to lift the reserve currency curse. Time to fix the dollar. more> http://tinyurl.com/men5vk7

Related>

• The Rise And Fall And Rise And Fall Of King Dollar
• The Demonization Of American Capitalism, Jonathan Adelman, Forbes