2012

For some time we have maintained that the economy, following the severe 2008 credit crisis, would grow at an exceeding slow and uneven pace, and this is the way it is playing out. This is unlike the garden-variety post-war inventory…

The devolution in Spain is particularly troubling. The new fiscal compact had just been signed last week, which includes somewhat more rigorous fiscal rule and enforcement, when Spain's PM Rajoy revealed that this year's deficit would come…

The US dollar is posting modest gains against most of the major and emerging market currencies to start what is likely to be among the most important weeks here in the first quarter, with numerous central banks meeting, first tier economic…

China cuts 2012 growth target to 7.5 percent, stability key | Reuters Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao cut his nation's growth target to 7.5 percent for 2012 to give the economy more room to slow down if…

The enduring global crisis is giving rise to fears that economic hard times will feed political extremism, as it did in the 1930s. This column suggests that the danger of political polarisation and extremism is greatest in countries with…

I caught this comment by Scott Fulwiler on a blog post a 3spoken: the notion that firms can spend and reduce net saving in order to increase net saving of the household sector--while theoretically true and true in an accounting…

This was the question put to the ECB's Klaus Masuch by one persistent Irish journalist. The answer from Masuch was a complete dodge, a non-answer, because everyone knows that the Irish government has heaped what rightfully should be…

Question for you: Which distinctly British asset class has offered the most attractive returns over the past decade? Central London property? Not even close, even if it has done rather well. UK farmland is the answer, having more than…

The financial plan is basically an asset grab. They want to load the whole economy down with debt. A consumer will come in and say, I’d like to take out a loan. They’ll say, how much do you earn? Everything over subsistence they’ll want as…

Spain unemployment claims increased 112,269 in February, with total registered unemployed reaching 4.7 mln and the pace of claims picking up. This comes after a pretty ugly Q4 jobless rate of 22.9%, and points to further deterioration…