In an interview with newspaper Die Welt, a German economist argues that the ruble has the potential to become a currency of global significance and strengthen by about 20% by the end of 2016. Experts making forecasts for 2016 should take into account such currencies as the Russian ruble because the currency markets may soon face surprising developments, the newspaper wrote. [...]

Russian Finance Ministry said that Ukraine has missed the December 31 deadline to pay off its $3 billion debt to Russia and is currently in default. Ukraine has missed the December 31 deadline to pay off its $3 billion debt to Russia and is currently in default, Russian Finance Ministry said on Thursday. [...]

Activists who think that Ukraine’s 2016 budget screams death to the agricultural sector have brought a dead pig in a coffin to the Verkhovna Rada building in Kiev and held a mock funeral ceremony. The angry protesting farmers and their supporters demand to keep a simplified tax system and special VAT rules for the agricultural sector in 2016, something the announced budget lacks as Ukraine ha [...]

Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump predicts tough times ahead for the US economy. If something bad were to happen, better it happen during the Obama administration, than the next one, according to Trump. "Remember the word bubble? You heard it here first," Trump told a 1,200 crowd in Iowa on Saturday. [...]

Patrick Schmidt was unemployed and living in California when he bought an old school bus for $4,500 in March. He drove it to Vegas where he and his father renovated it into a home on wheels. They spent $9,000 to turn the bus into a house, before Patrick took it for a spin all the way to Florida, traveling through 30 states. [...]

The Ukrainian economy is set to contract 12 percent this year, while inflation is forecast to reach 50.8 percent, according to the World Bank. The main reasons for the slowing economy and rising inflation are the military conflict in Eastern Ukraine and a fall in trade with Russia. [...]

The American middle class is shrinking. For the first time in more than four decades, middle-income households have lost their majority status in the U.S., according to new findings, and are now outnumbered by their counterparts on opposite ends of the income spectrum. [...]

As a way to improve living standards and boosts its economy, the nation of Finland is moving closer towards offering all of its adult citizens a basic permanent income of approximately 800 euros per month. The monthly allotment would replace other existing social benefits, but is an idea long advocated for by progressive-minded social scientists and economists as a solution—counter-intuitive [...]

Russia is determined to file a lawsuit against Ukraine if Kiev does not repay its state debt to Moscow by December 20, the Russian Ministry of Finance has said, adding that the US has officially refused to give financial guarantees for Ukraine’s debt. “This week, we have received an official rejection from the US government to provide guarantees for Ukraine’s obligations. [...]

Remember those old ads showing a senior couple lounging on a warm beach, captioned “Let your money work for you”? Or the scene in Mary Poppins where young Michael is being advised to put his tuppence in the bank, so that it can compound into “all manner of private enterprise,” including “bonds, chattels, dividends, shares, shipyards, amalgamations . . . .”? [...]

About 565,000 people were homeless in the United States, according to a one-night federal survey. While this is a two percent drop from 2014, major cities like New York, Seattle and Los Angeles continue to battle rising homelessness. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress found that of the 565,000 homeless counted during a point [...]

The US investment bank predicts the ruble will be on the list of good performing currencies next year along with the US dollar and the Mexican peso, Bloomberg reports. Goldman Sachs recommends buying Russian and Mexican currencies over South Africa’s rand and Chile’s peso. [...]

The Russian economy and the financial sector are quite stable despite falling oil prices, a weaker ruble and sanction’s pressure, said Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit on Wednesday.   [...]

Overwhelmed by the city’s growing homeless population, which has increased by 12 percent in just two years, and facing an increase in complaints from neighborhoods about encampments, the Los Angeles City Council has declared a “shelter crisis.” The measure was adopted by the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday in a 14-0 vote. [...]

Another deep cry, followed by a shrug. The world is at war, at war, at war. But it only hurts them, the helpless ones, the anonymous poor, who absorb the bombs and bullets, who bury their children, who flee their broken countries. Sixty million people have been displaced by the current wars, the highest number of uprooted since World War II. But who cares? [...]

News headlines this week of epidemic drug abuse and mortality among Americans confirm what many observers have already noted – America is in bad, bad shape. But despite the media coverage, there was little commentary on the backdrop to the malaise. American society is collapsing because of an epic failure in the economy. [...]

Last week I compared the US – and by extension all economies based on the same model – to Semtex. My exploration of this analogy both ruffled feathers and raised questions. This week, I want to address five of the most common criticisms the article generated.   Have not read part one yet? CLICK HERE  to read it first.   Or CLICK HERE to proceed to the current article! [...]

The Middle East’s biggest economy, Saudi Arabia may run out of financial assets within the next five years if the government maintains its current policies, warns the International Monetary Fund. The conflicts have given rise to large numbers of displaced people and refugees, on a scale not seen since the early 1990s, according to the report. [...]

Anxiety is growing in the bond market as the US gets closer to a potentially catastrophic default if Congress does not raise the $18.1 trillion debt ceiling by November 3. Neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate have offered a bill which would allow Washington to escape disaster. [...]