TAURUS
Donald Trump’s conflicts of interest
THE NEW Trump Tower in Worli, a buzzing district of Mumbai, looks like any building site but its marketing sells a dream. A golden structure soars to the sky alongside a picture of Donald Trump. He is—potential residents are assured—the gold standard around the globe, a dealmaker without peer who operates across the gateway cities of the world and the man who built the American dream. Until a few days ago the developer, Lodha, carried a message on its website: “Congratulations Mr President-elect”. But now that a storm has blown up over the possible conflicts of interest between the various operations of Mr Trump’s group and his new job, it has been deleted.
The self-embellished legend is of a global tycoon. In a kind of mirror image, outraged suspicion is mounting that the Trump Organisation could morph into a vast global network of cronyism. America has been treated to reports of multi-billion dollar projects across the planet, to photos of Mr Trump glad-handing businessmen and to images of exotic, Trump-branded buildings standing like monuments to the decay of American ethics. Paul Krugman, a left-of-centre economist, has suggested that the…Continue reading
American bankers look forward to a bonfire of financial rules
BEFORE the presidential election, Wall Street dreaded Donald Trump as a dangerous, unpredictable and disruptive, if improbable, president. Since his victory, fear has turned to hope. Stockmarkets are at record highs and shares in financial institutions have been among the best performers. Mr Trump, it turns out, looks to big finance like good news.
Partly this reflects Mr Trump’s change of tack. He campaigned as the leader of a rustbelt revolt against the besuited, pampered elites. As president-elect, he seems less of an outsider. Among the rumoured names he has been mulling as his choice for treasury secretary are Jamie Dimon, boss of JPMorgan Chase, and Steven Mnuchin, a 17-year veteran of Goldman Sachs. Wall Street’s access to the corridors of power seems likely to be unimpaired.
But the euphoria mostly reflects the finance industry’s excitement at one of the more achievable of Mr Trump’s campaign promises: to cut red tape. In a YouTube video this week outlining his priorities, he announced a new rule: for every new regulation, two old ones must be eliminated. No industry in America feels as browbeaten by regulators as does…Continue reading
BBVA, interesado en el banco argentino Patagonia
La operación, en la que también tiene interés el brasileño Itaú, podría alcanzar los 1.500 millones de dólares. Leer
El Gobierno quiere pactar con los agentes sociales el salario mínimo
Rajoy y Báñez han ofrecido un acuerdo plurianual sobre el SMI para una o dos legislaturas
Nadal: el Gobierno va a redactar una ley que adaptará el bono social a la sentencia del Supremo
El ministro de Energía ha dicho que el objetivo es «mantener el bono social eléctrico como hasta ahora». Leer
No todos se apuntan al Black Friday: las tiendas que pasan de las ofertas
Algunos comercios dicen que no pueden asumir bajadas de precios y otros, simplemente, se niegan a hacer rebajas prenavideñas
Ibercaja: «Nos interesa BMN pero, como todo, depende del precio»
Ibercaja está interesada en adquirir BMN. Así lo ha reconocido su consejero delegado, Víctor Iglesias, quien sin embargo ha condicionado esta operación de integración a que la misma no suponga una alta exigencia de capital a la entidad adquiriente. Leer