America’s Strange and Ineffectual Tax Regime

Loopholes often benefit the wealthy

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html

Corporate tax structure benefits large corporations vis-à-vis small business

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/business/dealbook/when-it-comes-to-tax-avoidance-donald-trumps-just-a-small-fry.html

The British Pound Tumbles to its Lowest Level Since 1985

Dramatic fall of the British Pound – A Hard Brexit Ahead?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-04/pound-tumbles-to-three-decade-low-as-angst-over-brexit-persists

Impact of the Falling Pound

http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2016/10/04/the-u-k-pound-winners-and-losers-at-a-glance/

European Banking Woes – Deutsche Bank in the Spotlight

A great graphic tool –

http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/GERMANY-DEUTSCHE%20BANK/010021XY4RX/index.html

What Should and Shouldn't Worry Us About Deutsche Bank by Mohamed A. El-Erian

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-10-03/what-should-and-shouldn-t-worry-us-about-deutsche-bank

2016 Nobel Prize in Medicine

Yoshinori Ohsumi awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Medicine

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/10/03/nobel-prize-in-medicine-awarded-to-japans-yoshinori-ohsumi/

“Japanese biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Medicine on Monday for discovering and elucidating a key mechanism in our body's defense system that involves degrading and recycling parts of cells. Known as autophagy, this process plays an important role in cancer, Alzheimer's, type 2 diabetes, birth defects from Zika virus and numerous other devastating diseases.

In making the announcement, the prize committee in Stockholm said the work involves a series of "brilliant experiments" in the 1990s involving baker's yeast that have helped explain how a cell, the smallest unit of life, adapts in response to stresses such as starvation and infection. In studying thousands of yeast mutants, Ohsumi identified 15 genes essential for autophagy. It turned out that virtually identical mechanisms exist in human cells as well.”

Global Economic Center of Gravity

Western US States might benefit from the reemergence of Asia-Pacific as the center of global economic activities:

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-09-30/asia-s-rise-keeps-pulling-americans-west

Economist Noah Smith notes:

“So it stands to reason that increasing economic ties with Asia, relative to Europe, would translate into a shift in population, investment and wealth from the East Coast and Midwest to the West. How far that process goes depends on whether current trends in Europe and East Asia continue. But with political paralysis in the European Union, and with China and Southeast Asia still having lots of catch-up growth to do, it seems like a good bet that California, Oregon and Washington will enjoy healthy economic tailwinds for years to come. The East Coast, meanwhile, will probably be nudged by geographic transitions to focus on industries less sensitive to trade-- health care, for example.”

International Affairs - Interesting Items

The Complicated Politics of Saudi Arabia and the Broader Middle East

In Saudi Arabia: Can It Really Change? By Nicolas Pelham

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/10/13/saudi-arabia-can-it-really-change/

Hungary might shakeup EU with a referendum vote on migrants

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/01/special-report-why-hungary-will-turn-the-eu-political-landscape/

Europe Needs Its Realist Past by Walter Russell Mead

http://www.wsj.com/articles/europe-needs-its-realist-past-1475261775

Theresa May and British Politics

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/10/welcome-to-the-age-of-may/

A Comedic Take on US Presidential Election

On a more serious note:

The Editorial Board of Washington Post has come out with an unprecedented non-endorsement:

The clear and present danger of Donald Trump
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-wrecking-ball-in-the-white-house-the-damage-trump-could-do-from-day-one/2016/09/30/1c69e9cc-85b5-11e6-a3ef-f35afb41797f_story.html

“IF YOU know that Donald Trump is ignorant, unprepared and bigoted, but are thinking of voting for him anyway because you doubt he could do much harm — this editorial is for you.

Your support of the Republican presidential nominee may be motivated by dislike of the Democratic alternative, disgust with the Washington establishment or a desire to send a message in favor of change. You may not approve of everything Mr. Trump has had to say about nuclear weapons, torture or mass deportations, but you doubt he could implement anything too radical. Congress, the courts, the Constitution — these would keep Mr. Trump in check, you think.

Well, think again. A President Trump could, unilaterally, change this country to its core. By remaking U.S. relations with other nations, he could fundamentally reshape the world, too.”