2010

Below is what happened in financial news yesterday as reported at Credit Writedowns and from other places across the web. Credit Writedowns Mervyn King: "Systemic Insolvency Is Now The Problem" I want to take you through…

I want to take you through how we got from the financial system's "systemic insolvency" to bailouts to record profits and bonuses again in the span of two years. From the WikiLeaks cables as published in the Guardian today…

Whether or not we are witnessing the end of the debate in Europe or simply another milestone on the way to The United States of Europe is a question for a dissertation, not a blog. In the meantime, these questions lead us to consider the…

Due to its size and importance, Germany has taken all of the criticism for enforcing a hard line on the austerity quid pro quo which allowed the euro zone bailouts to proceed. However, policy makers from a number of other countries share…

from the BBH Currency Strategy Team The European financial crisis is of historic proportions and it remains unresolved as the year draws to a close. The resolution remains elusive, but there seems to be a finite number of ways that the…

Here's a run down of the recent woes in Vietnam.  As you may recall, they are one of the few Asian emerging markets to be downgraded by the ratings agencies from Ba3 to B1 by Moody's - both junk ratings. Most of the other ratings in…

Here's a CNBC Asia video that tells the story of the rise of the smartphone as a phone and computing device. I have been on this story for sometime. My view is that, just as computers have become super cheap (they were expensive once. I…

by L. Randall Wray One of the things I really like about the President's compromise on the tax bill is a temporary payroll tax “holiday”—something I have long advocated along with others such as Jamie Galbraith and Warren Mosler. The…

While the Moody’s downgrade of Ireland isn’t any surprise, coming on the heels of S&P’s move last week from A+ to BBB+, the sheer magnitude of five notches warrants a mention.  We haven’t seen anything like this since the Asian…

I am always interested in stories about Yahoo! since I worked there during its Internet hey day. Unfortunately, the place is falling apart. The latest I have heard is of a 5% staff cut, combined with employee buyouts and the sunsetting of…