When warning signs flashed about Bernard Madoff's investment scheme, investigators' detective skills were laughable (The Guardian - U.K.)

How could so many smart, successful people have been so spectacularly gullible? Ever since Bernard Madoff was arrested in December, it has been a puzzle to figure out how Wall Street's $65bn (£44.5bn) crook got away with cooking the books for the best part of two decades.

One answer, according to newly disclosed legal documents, is that some of his closest associates blithely turned a blind eye to warning signs. And they allowed themselves to be bullied and harangued by the 70-year-old.

The Massachusetts' secretary of state, Bill Galvin, has filed fraud charges against Fairfield Greenwich, a hedge fund which was among the biggest "feeder funds" to Madoff's investment empire. Fairfield had $14bn under management, including about $7.2bn in a fund that was 95% dedicated to Madoff. (...)

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A peak at oil reserves (video) (The Economist - U.K.)

How much oil does the world have left?

According to BP, an oil company, the world has enough oil reserves to meet demand for the next four decades or so. Click to play, and listen to, our animated chart on the topic. (...)

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Gazprom warns on delays to key field (Financial Times - U.K.)

How much oil does the world have left?

Russia's Gazprom, the world's largest gas producer, warned on Tuesday it could delay the development of a flagship project crucial for future European supplies by one year in order to help cut spending by 15 per cent.
Gazprom's deputy chief executive, Alexander Ananenkov, said that the company could postpone the launch of the giant Bovanenkovo field until the third quarter of 2012 due to expectations global gas demand will remain depressed through to 2012. (...)

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(France24 - France)

The ABC of finance, just when you need it most. (...)

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(France24 - France)

The International Monetary Fund has increased its estimate of the cost of the global financial crisis, putting it at over 4 trillion dollars in writedowns on soured credit. Two-thirds of the losses originate in the United States. (...)

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(Discover Magazine - The Net)

1 No escape: As you file your taxes this month, you can take solace in knowing that the ritual dates back almost 5,000 years, to a time when Egyptians started paying taxes in goods and labor.

2 Collecting taxes became a lot easier after Egypt and Mesopotamia began using silver and gold bars as currency, around 2500 B.C.

3 Unfortunately, the invention of money also made theft a lot easier. Consequently, temples became the first banks because they were sturdy, frequently visited, and intimidating to would-be thieves. (...)

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Outrageous Fortune (Washington Post - U.S.)

By Deals Allan Sloan

To understand what Washington is actually up to, you have to watch what it does, not what it says. That's especially true when it comes to Washington's role in the ongoing bailout of Wall Street, part of its "let's hope this works" plan to revive the U.S. economy. While Washington is setting the populist mob on the individual American International Group employees who got a total of $165 million in bonuses this year, far larger amounts of money are being quietly handed to Wall Street through programs that generate barely a peep of protest. (...)

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Quantitative easing explained (Financial Times - U.K.)

As the world suffers its worst recession since the second world war, policy makers are searching for the best tools to limit the downturn. Central banks have rapidly lowered interest rates in order to reduce the cost of borrowing. The hope is to stimulate spending in the economy now. (...)

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