Egypt's poor rely on Gameeya lending schemes

By Tom Lydon: According to a recent study by LIMRA, about half of the United States is not saving for retirement at all. The 49% who aren't contributing to any retirement plan need an investment strategy and discipline to help them. Can exchange traded funds help?"The findings from this survey were disturbing, given that people will increasingly need to rely on their personal savings to make ends meet in retirement," Matthew Drinkwater, associate managing director at LIMRA's retirement research division said.

Mary Anastasia O'Grady asks in yesterday's WSJ: "Will Cuba Be the Next Egypt?", here are the opening and ending paragraphs:

I recently visited one of Cairo's most desperate slums. Before I got to Egypt, I had never heard of the place, which is called Dar al-Salam. And I was only able to venture into it because I was accompanied by a member of an organized crime family.

After the numerous political turmoils in Egypt the county is on the verge of another precipice, this time an economic one. Both the Egypt’s government and its Western associates are hoping that the IMF will approve a $4.8 billion bailout plan for the country, reported Financial Times. If the first transaction is endorsed is would trigger a larger package of external capital, letting near $14.5 billion to roll into Egypt.   

Egypt's parliament voted by an overwhelming majority on Saturday to regulate organ transplants in a bid to curb illegal trafficking and tourism over the issue.The law bans commercial trade in organs as well as transplants between Egyptians and foreigners, except in cases of husband and wife.Operations in government hospitals are to be financed by the state.According to the United Nations, hundreds of poor Egyptians sell their kidneys and livers every year to buy food or pay off debts.

SAYEDA AISHA, Egypt — Um Salma’s tiny café is tucked in a maze of alleys in the Sayeda Aisha slum, home to the tomb of Aisha, the Prophet Mohamed’s youngest wife. Pushing through the café’s saloon-style doors, a haze of acrid hash smoke assaults the senses. Inside, a dozen-odd workers sitting on wooden stools cluster around water pipes.

A collapse of property schemes, commodity schemes, and other investments schemes in China is well underway. The Ponzi schemes all had one thing in common: they needed an ever-growing pool of suckers to pay the returns promised to investors. Well, the pool of greater fools finally ran out, and Shadow Bankers Vanished Leaving China Victims Seeing Scams