Macro chatter: Obama yuan rap video still says it all

Need to know:
While the US is off for Memorial Day, Spain is bailing out its third-largest bank.

Spain plans to provide Bankia with $24 billion in what would be the largest bank bailout in Spanish history. The figure is twice as much as Spain has spent addressing banking weaknesses triggered by the collapse of a Spanish housing bubble.

The bailout is bigger than what had been expected.

Want to know:
There aren’t a lot of people who would walk away from $75 million. Apple’s Tim Cook did.

Cook plans to forgo an estimated $75 million in dividend payments from his Apple stock.

Being the highest-paid American CEO last year surely took some of the edge off. Cook made $378 million in 2011.

Dull but important:
Greeks don’t like being told they should pay their taxes.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde learned this lesson well on Facebook this weekend. Angry commenters flooded Lagarde’s Facebook page after she told the Guardian Greeks should help themselves out by paying their taxes.

Greece is owed billions in unpaid taxes its tax collection systems have been widely criticized, particularly as the country’s financial troubles have grown. 

Just because:
Each spring, the US Treasury releases a foreign exchange report that says China isn’t manipulating its currency to give itself an unfair trading advantage.

This year was no different, but since it’s probably the last one while Timmy G.’s in charge, it seems like the perfect time to dig up Next Media Animation’s stellar rap explanation of the Chinese currency situation.

It’s far more entertaining than the Treasury report.

Strange but true:
Facebook may have an answer for investors wondering how it plans to monetize mobile: literally.

Facebook has poached a few iPhone and iPad engineers from Apple and is working on building its very own smartphone, which could be released as early as next year.

There’s been talk of a potential Facebook phone for the past couple of years, but one Facebook employee told The New York Times Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has become increasingly worried his social network could become just another app for other mobile platforms.

Facebook has been working on a phone it calls “Buffy.” Here’s to hoping it’s working on a vampire slaying app as well.