2011

All US government obligations are substantially identical promises to repay a specific amount of the currency unit of account backed by nothing but taxing authority. So, Treasury bonds don’t ‘fund’ anything. If the Treasury were allowed to…

BBC News - Russia bleeds cash as investors pull out Five months ago the Russian stock market was among the world's top performer, peaking after a steady rise in share prices that had lasted since early…

Amazon Kindle Fire Just Hijacked Android tags: Amazon android tablets…

Asia and European session dominated by safe haven flows; Fitch & S&P both downgrade New Zealand. Germany’s upper house and Austria vote on EFSF measures; we still feel EFSF 2.0 is still not enough. Brazil’s budget and inflation…

The public has been seeing their (per-capita) "slice of the pie" contract now for six months, and no amount of well spun "sluggish growth" can alter their view of a shrinking reality.

More broadly, the recovery from the March tragedy appears to be running out of steam. Retail sales which surged in the April-June period fell in both July and August and deflation appears to be threatening again. The year-over-year pace of…

Associated Press - Ala. police to enforce parts of immigration law tags: immigration…

Central European borrowers loaded up on cheap Swiss franc and euro loans (mainly from Austria and Switzerland) in the lead up to the credit crisis because of higher nominal rates in central Europe. When the crisis hit, these loans became…

Dollar is paring back its overnight gains as Germany ratifies changes to EFSF; European banks higher. Ratification of the EFSF sets the tone for a shift in the political agenda; Q2 US GDP expected higher. Brazil’s August wholesale IGP-M…