The top of today's reading list has a 2014 outlook for a global expansion ........ and the tenth article (actually video) is either humorous or cynical, you be the judge.  The bonus (11th article) maintains that everything is manipulated in the markets and presents data to support the case.

• 2014 Outlook: The Emergence of a Global Expansion (Loomis Sayles, Advisor Perspectives)

• LEAKED Confession: Cesspool Of Greek-German Corruption (Wolf Richter, Testosterone Pit)

• "Security Arc" forms amidst Mideast terror (Sharmine Narwan, alakhbar) Hat tips to Chuck Spinney and Roger Erickson.

Many observers are correct in noting that the Middle East is undergoing yet another seismic shift - that the Russian-brokered destruction of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, a US-Iranian rapprochement, the diminished strategic value of Saudi Arabia and Israel, and a US withdrawal from Afghanistan will all contribute to changing regional dynamics considerably.

• The Economic Hokum of 'Secular Stagnation' (John B. Taylor, The Wall Street Journal)

• US Home Prices (Priced in Gold) Hat tip to John O'Donnell. See also GEI Precious Metals Dow Priced in Gold - Curiosity or Actionable Information?.

• Delay and Pray Is the European Union's Specialty (Jonathan Weil, Bloomberg) See also Cliff Wachtel GEI Analysis of the EU banking union agreement.

• Bodily maps of emotions (Lauri Nummenmaaa, Enrico Glereana, Riitta Harib and Jari K. Hietanend, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 27 November 2013) Hat tip to Flowing Data. Read this. The diagrams will show you why you feel as you do.

• Carmen Reinhart, Kenneth Rogoff: Recovery from Financial Crises: Evidence from 100 Episodes (GEI News) If you missed this go back and read it now.

• Do bigger governments lead to happier people? (Dylan Matthews, The Washington Post) Happiness is related to the extent to which people can avoid feeling like commodities.

• Gold Caps Biggest Annual Rout Since ’81 as Investors Lose Faith (Phoebe Sedgman and Debarati Roy, Bloomberg)

• Billionaire threatens charity donations if Pope continues support for the poor (David Phillips, Las Vegas Democrat Examiner) Hat tip to Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism.

BONUS

• RBS Pays $600 Million for Manpulating Interest Rates - But Big Banks Are Manipulating EVERY Market to the Tune of Trillions of Dollars (Washington's Blog) Washington's Blog has contributed to Global Economic Intersection. This provides well documented references to endemic fraud in currency, commodity and derivative markets. The following graph from a Bloomberg article (originally from the book The Gold Cartel by Dimitri Speck) shows the the minute-by-minute averages for daily trading over a 10-years period.