Putin's Imperial Rule Spurs Wave of Trash Protests Around Moscow

Thousands of residents of the Moscow suburbs have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest foul odors from overflowing trash dumps, in an unusual surge of anti-government activism that's set off alarm bells in the Kremlin.

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Czechs Send Russian Hacker Suspect to U.S., Snubbing Moscow

The Czech Republic has extradited to the U.S. Yevgeniy Nikulin, a Russian citizen accused of hacking LinkedIn and Dropbox.

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Joshua 6 Pounds Heavier Than Parker for Heavyweight Fight

Cardiff, Wales (AP) -- Anthony Joshua has weighed in six pounds (2.7 kilograms) heavier than Joseph Parker ahead of their world heavyweight unification title fight.

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China to Trial CDRs, Startup Listings to Lure Tech Firms Home

China will launch a pilot program aimed at luring innovative companies back to the mainland equity market, loosening listing rules for certain firms and offering its own form of depositary receipts.

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Hon Hai's Profit Beats Estimates Thanks to Demand for iPhone X

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. posted a quarterly profit that topped projections, thanks to solid demand for Apple Inc.'s flagship iPhone X.

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EU Resists Linking U.S. Metal-Tariffs Waiver to Revival of TTIP

The European Union distanced itself from the idea of reviving talks on a broad free-trade agreement with the U.S. as part of EU efforts to gain a permanent exemption from President Donald Trump's controversial import tariffs on steel and aluminum.

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Deutsche Bank Is Said to Name John Thain to Supervisory Board

John Thain, a former chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch, is expected to join Deutsche Bank AG's supervisory board in May, according to a person with knowledge of the German lender's plans.

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Amazon Severs Ties With Top Lobbying Firms in Washington

Amazon cut ties with Washington's biggest lobbying firm and brought on new advisers following passage of the tax overhaul bill last year and in the face of new challenges in the age of President Donald Trump.

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Identity Thieves Use French First Lady's Name to Seek Perks

Paris (AP) -- An aide to French first lady Brigitte Macron has filed a legal complaint over identity theft, after his accounts were apparently used to seek special Formula One tickets and other VIP treatment.

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Air France Cancels a Quarter of Flights Amid Strike Over Pay

Paris (AP) -- French airline Air France says a quarter of its flights have been cancelled due to a day-long strike over pay.

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Turkey Calls France Terrorism Host After Macron Meets Kurds

Turkey accused France of being a host for terrorism after President Emmanuel Macron met a delegation of Kurds from the Syrian Democratic Forces and praised their efforts in stabilizing areas in the northern parts of the country.

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Boom: Volcanic Wines Are Heating Up Around the Globe

Crisp, vibrant vintages bottled from grapes grown in volcanic soil are popping up in top restaurants. Here's what you need to know.

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Facebook's Former Employees Open Up About the Data Scandal

As insiders air their criticisms of the company, we get a first peek at the culture that led to the current crisis.

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Palestinians Launch Mass Protest Along Gaza Border With Israel

Thousands of Palestinians flocked Friday to a sit-in near Gaza's border with Israel, launching a six-week protest that Hamas organizers say will be peaceful and that Israel fears will become a mass attempt to breach its territory.

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Security High in Pakistan's Swat But Malala Visit Uncertain

Mingora, Pakistan (AP) -- A Pakistani women's activist says Malala Yousafzai, who is back in Pakistan for the first time since the Taliban shot her in 2012, is hoping to visit her Swat Valley hometown but that the trip depends on security clearances f

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Four Totally Bonkers Patek Philippe Watches Are Up for Auction

Sotheby's April 2 Hong Kong sale offers truly once-in-a-lifetime lots.

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Japan's Aso Pushes Back Against Trump on Bilateral Trade Deals

Japan's chief in economic talks with the U.S. doesn't want wrangling over metals tariffs to drag the economic and military allies into bilateral trade discussions.

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EPA Chief's $50-a-Night Rental Said to Raise White House Angst

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What Might Happen to Mexico If Nafta Gets Wiped Away

Since May 2017, when U.S. President Donald Trump gave notice that he wanted to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, there have been seven rounds of talks. The longer they go on, the more time Mexicans have to imagine what might happen if T

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Republicans consider ‘balanced-budget amendment’ after adding more than $1 trillion to the deficit

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) is expected to schedule a vote on a “balanced-budget amendment” not long after spearheading a tax law that dramatically drove up America's deficit. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News)

House Republicans are considering a vote on a “balanced-budget amendment,” a move that would proclaim their desire to eliminate the federal deficit even as they control a Congress that has added more than $1 trillion to it.

The plan is expected to have virtually no chance of passing, as it would require votes from Democrats in the Senate and ratification by three-fourths of the states. Republican lawmakers have pushed for the vote as a way to signal to constituents ahead of the midterm elections that they have tried to reduce the nation's deficit.

[The Finance 202: Big business isn't championing tax cuts. That could hurt Republicans in the midterms]

The amendment emerges out of an agreement brokered in the fall between House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, a senior GOP aide said. In October, Ryan agreed to hold a vote on the amendment in exchange for conservative members' support for a procedural budget move that was then used to pass the tax reform overhaul, said the aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly about the negotiations.

In December, Republicans slashed the corporate tax rate and temporarily reduced taxes for individuals through the new tax law. The Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress's official scorekeeper, determined that the law will add more than $1 trillion to the nation's deficit over the next decade.

Earlier this month, Congress also approved a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill that increased funding for the military, infrastructure and programs to combat the opioid crisis, among other spending priorities. And Republicans are also considering votes for more tax cuts, which would further drive up the nation's deficit.

[Obamacare jacked up taxes on the 1 percent, gave $16 billion annually to poor]

A vote on the balanced budget amendment, first reported by Politico, may be held in early April.

Congressional Democrats were quick to rip into the GOP over the proposed amendment. “House Republicans bringing up a balanced-budget amendment now is shameless. They just exploded our debt and deficits with more than $1 trillion of tax breaks for millionaires and corporations,” Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, said in a statement. “Now they’re trying to use a balanced-budget amendment to force massive cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs millions of families rely on.”

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), a frequent critic of his party who is retiring at the end of this year, criticized the idea. "Instead of doing the real work, some will push this symbolic measure so they can feel good when they go home to face voters," Corker wrote on Twitter.

Republicans have not released details about the amendment, but previous versions have called for capping total spending at the median of previous years' revenue levels. The idea has had support from tea party conservatives, who swept to power in 2010, and other deficit hawks who say America's deficits are rising uncontrollably.

“There's all sorts of ways you could amend the Constitution, but the idea is a constitutional requirement that spending and revenue have to be in line,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a deficit-hawk organization.

Critics say the proposal would bind the federal government in the event of a crisis or economic downtown, making it impossible to cut taxes or raise spending to stimulate the economy in a recession.

“The economic problems with such an amendment are the most serious,” wrote Richard Kogan at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank. “By requiring a balanced budget every year, no matter the state of the economy, such an amendment would raise serious risks of tipping weak economies into recession and making recessions longer and deeper, causing very large job losses.”

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Walmart in Talks to Strengthen Ties to Health Insurer Humana

A deal between the two companies would be the latest sign of the disruptive pressure that the health and retail industries are facing as health care costs rise.

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‘It’s Factory North America,’ but Trump Could Hobble It

What the journey of a Union Pacific locomotive reveals about Trump’s plans for the North American economy.

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Russian Accused of Hacking U.S. Technology Firms Is Extradited

Yevgeniy A. Nikulin breached the networks of LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring, and may have compromised the information of more than 100 million people.

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Facebook Employees in an Uproar Over Executive’s Leaked Memo

The social network’s employees were abuzz on Friday over a 2016 memo from a top executive, in which the executive defended Facebook’s growth at any cost.

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Silicon Valley Warms to Trump After a Chilly Start

Even though Mr. Trump still takes potshots at Amazon, the industry’s relationship with the White House is shifting as tech companies find some common ground with the president.

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Court Dismisses Exxon’s Effort to Block Climate Investigation

A federal judge in New York called a lawsuit brought by Exxon Mobil against state attorneys general in New York and Massachusetts “implausible.”

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Coffee Drinkers Need Cancer Warning, Judge Rules, Giving Sellers the Jitters

A decision by a California judge could force Starbucks and other coffee companies to warn about acrylamide, a chemical that has been linked to cancer.

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‘Roseanne’ Is Here to Stay: ABC Renews Highly Rated Reboot

After more than 21 million people watched the revived sitcom’s debut, the network moved quickly to lock down a second season.

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Is Gibson, a Totem of Guitar Godhead, Headed for Chapter 11?

Times have changed, and the maker of the Les Paul and the Flying V is on the ropes. Can it sustain?

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Wealth Matters: Want to Keep Your Wine Collection Safe? Store It in a Bomb Shelter

In the realm of high-end wine collecting, storage is crucial. Owners want to know their wine is safe, and they want convenient access.

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Your Money: A Student Loan Fix for a Teacher, and Many Other Public Servants

The complexity of the public service loan forgiveness program has tripped up many teachers like Jed Shafer. An October Your Money column led to changes.

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Your Money Adviser: With New Tax Law, I.R.S. Urges Taxpayers to Review Withholdings

Given all the changes in the tax code, some people may have too much — or too little — withheld this year. “The message is, you probably want to check.”

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Going Cashless: My Journey Into the Future

So far in 2018, I have hardly touched paper money or metal coins. There are no grimy bills folded alongside my driver’s license, no quarters or pennies jangling in my pocket.

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Tesla Says Crashed Vehicle Had Been on Autopilot Before Fatal Accident

More questions were raised about the safety of the company’s self-driving technology after a second fatal crash in which the Autopilot system had been engaged.

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Automakers Sought Looser Rules but May Get More Than They Bargained for

The Trump administration's likely rollback of emissions and fuel economy rules for cars could trigger a major legal showdown with California.

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Student Protesters Take Over Howard University Administration Building

Support for the sit-in grew when the university’s president confirmed that employees had been misappropriating financial aid funds for years.

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Baffled by Bitcoin? Here’s How Cryptocurrency Works.

From Bitcoin to Litecoin to Ethereum, we explain how cryptocurrency transactions work.

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Peter Munk, 90, Dies; Built World’s Biggest Gold Mining Company

After a notable failure in making stereo equipment, Mr. Munk turned to gold, originally striking it rich in Nevada.

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Built to Flood: Brutal Choice in Houston: Sell Home at a Loss or Face New Floods

A Texas suburb was intentionally flooded to save the city of Houston. We followed homeowners as they decided whether to cut their losses or rebuild.

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Andrew Balducci, Who Turned a Market Into a Food Mecca, Dies at 92

From his father’s pushcart, he and his family built Balducci’s into an emporium that dominated the specialty-foods business in New York for decades.

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Vocations: Fighting Disease Is a Battle Often Won With Spreadsheets

The job entails number crunching. “Most outbreak investigations are not hyper-dramatic like in the movie Contagion,” the New Jersey state epidemiologist says.

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Economic View: How to Think About Corporate Tax Cuts

Whether the corporate tax cut is successful depends less on how companies spend their windfall than on their investment behavior in the future, our columnist says.

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Trump, Lacking Leverage Over North Korea, Takes Aim at South Instead

By tying a trade deal with South Korea to progress in denuclearizing Pyongyang, President Trump is pressuring an ally hoping it will help him deal with a reclusive foe.

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Bits: The Self-Driving Car Industry’s Biggest Turning Point Yet

As Uber pulled back on testing after a fatal crash in Arizona, Waymo said it would order up to 20,000 electric vehicles for a self-driving car service.

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Strategies: Why a Bigger Dose of Market Panic Could Help

There’s been surprisingly little panic as the stock market has wobbled this year. A big drop could be healthy, a strategist says.

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Entrepreneurship: Finding the Right Corporate Message Isn’t Always Easy

A former Condé Nast executive wades into the tricky world of socially conscious marketing.

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The New Old Age: Many Americans Try Retirement, Then Change Their Minds

More and more older people have realized that not working just isn’t for them —and it’s not all economics.

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The Workologist: When Small Steps Can Change Your Life

Readers offer advice and reactions to a recent column on whether to make a late-career change: Is it better to find ways to reshape an existing job, even modestly, or to make a major move?

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The Getaway: Tools for Sleeping Well While Traveling

More and more apps are promising to help you catch some shut eye on the road.

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Succinct Summation of Week’s Events for 3.30.18

Succinct Summations for the week ending March 30th, 2018 Positives: 1. Wages and salaries gained 0.5%; Personal income rose 0.4% m/o/m, in line with expectations. 2. Same store sales rose 3.6% y/o/y, above the previous 3.2% increase. 3. Jobless claims fell from 229k to 215k, the lowest reading in 45 years. 4. Mortgage applications rose 4.8%, up…

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MiB: Serena Williams, Tennis Great

  This week, we have a bonus interview: a special online only edition of MIB for the 3 day weekend with perhaps the greatest tennis player of all time, Serena Williams. This interview took place on January 23, at the Inside ETF conference in Hollywood Florida. Her stats are off the charts: Williams has won 23…

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10 Friday AM Reads

My 3 day weekend morning train reads: • Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you (The Guardian) see also How a data mining giant got me wrong (Reuters) • Smart Beta Institute Warns Against Smart Beta (Institutional Investor) • Big box stores are dying. What do we do with all the bodies? (Popular Science) • Europe’s Booming,…

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1968 Lamborghini Miura

I am not a giant Lambo fan, but the Miura is uniquely beautiful AND important: it was the the first supercar with a rear mid-engined two-seat layout. The car has attracted famous owners, including Frank Sinatra. Miles Davis, and Eddie Van Halen (you can hear it revving on the song Panama). They originally sold for about…

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Bank Financing: The Disappearance of Interbank Lending

Bank Financing: The Disappearance of Interbank Lending Money and Banking, March 05, 2018       “The Panic of 2007-2008 was a run on the sale and repurchase market (the ‘repo’ market), which is a very large, short-term market that provides financing for a wide range of securitization activities and financial institutions.” Gary Gorton and Andrew…

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