2011

Below are extracts of a paper formulated by Thomas Hoenig, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, to better regulate the US Financial sector. His overarching aim is to isolate core banking activities that are protected by…

In the case of bailing out Wall Street – and thereby the wealthiest 1% of Americans – while saying there is no money for Social Security, Medicare or long-term public social spending and infrastructure investment, the beneficiaries are…

It was not difficult for an observer to understand Armageddon beckoned by 2006, as long as the observer listened to practitioners rather than theorists. The same is true today. Following are two groups of practitioner opinions: those from…

When one's strongest held beliefs are challenged, mostly those beliefs get stronger, regardless of the facts. That's the backfire effect.

A video debate between Brad DeLong and Jim Grant on the necessity and efficacy of another round of quanttative easing

This is in line with the weak data we have seen out of the US in recent weeks. I expect Q2 growth estimates to continue to decline as the data come in.

The primary difference for Euroland to sovereign issuers is that the Euro can only be created by the ECB – it is the issuer of the currency. The governments of Ireland, Greece, Spain, Germany, etc. are the USERS of the currency. The…

Rather than adding stimulus with the aim of goosing demand to help the economy reach escape velocity, I would say that the central objective of economic policy is to help the economy reach full employment. Doing so will increase demand,…

Dollar, yen and Swiss franc are trading firmer; US data today to take back seat to Greek drama. Contagion spreading as Spain auction was weak, 10-year yield at record highs. EM to remain under pressure as spillover from Greece uncertainty…

Marshall Auerback and Rob Paenteau explain a method the Fed might use to target interest rates further out on the yield curve.