2012

Today, Spanish newspapers confirmed that a number of regional governments on the verge of bankruptcy must follow Spanish banks in requesting aid from the central government. However, with Spanish central government itself facing record euro…

By Sober Look Further evidence of Argentina's crashing economy is now directly visible in the nation's GDP contraction. Reuters: - Argentina's economy contracted in May while industrial production slumped further in June, data…

Daily commentary Just a quick word here on three interlocking stories involving Spain and Germany that have come up via the US and European press. Right now, Spain is at the center of the European sovereign debt crisis. The spread…

Warning: This commentary is very DISTURBING - not for the faint of heart. Two days ago, a friend of mine told me via email about a comment on a blog post about whether MBA schools were incubating criminals that was truly disturbing. I…

Note: Before I begin today's summary, I should note that my schedule will be very spotty over the next three weeks as I am on a working vacation. That means I will not be at work but I will be posting to the blog from time to time. I also…

Below is the full text of the European' Commission's Memorandum of Understanding with Spain regarding the bailout of the Spanish banking sector released earlier today.

Right now the spread between Bunds and the Spanish ten-year is 609 basis points. The catalyst for the increase in Spanish spreads may be the news that the indebted Spanish regional government in Valencia is on the verge of seeking a bailout…

We first noticed the first signs that the economy was beginning to soften about three months ago. Now the evidence of a slowdown has become so overwhelming that it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that we are headed for a recession. We…

Two topics today: The first is Spain and the second is record high oil prices.

I want to highlight three articles on the issue of jobs and full employment because they give one a view of the employment issue from various angles. First is the brief history of unemployment in Britain covering data from 1855. What we see…