2013

This is going to be a quick hit. But I thought I should put this out there now that the Platinum Coin idea has been rejected, something that makes this downside scenario more likely. The idea here is that we are in an interregnum period…

In China, I have argued many times, high growth is no longer compatible with a strengthening balance sheet. If China is growing at a rate that approaches or exceeds five or six percent, it is probably a safe bet that debt is rising faster…

The latest opinion polls in Germany show Angela Merkel at her most popular. But her governing coalition partner FDP will almost certainly miss the 5% hurdle in Germany's general election, leaving the political landscape very uncertain.

The Dutch press is reporting that Willem Buiter, the Dutch-born Chief Economist of Citigroup, believes that we are going to witness a slew of writedowns in the Netherlands unless the Dutch can right the economy and stop the fall in house…

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) believes that eurozone banks still have much work to do to strengthen their capital. They warn that many of the entities currently are still below a capital ratio of 5% of…

The IMF has told Portugal that the draconian austerity budget it has passed for 2013 will not be enough a nd has asked for more austerity. Portugal needs to make up a 4 billion euro gap and to do so the IMF wants to see cuts to government…

Back in October of last year the Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said that his government's goal is to be able to complete the three-year Troika bailout on time and resume normal operation late in 2013. Now that Ireland has regained…

The Terrifying Danger of the Trillion Dollar Coin "The bottom line is that the Trillion Dollar Coin removes profit the financial system makes on the interest payments to holders of  the Treasuries - this reduces the cost to government (and…

As we face another brutal fight over the federal debt ceiling at a time when the economy still remains fragile, the stock market is oddly complacent. Even if the debt ceiling crisis is resolved, the result would be some combination of…

The November US trade deficit widened sharply and this will likely prompt economists to cut estimates of Q4 GDP. The first estimate is to be released at the end of the month. The pace of growth had appeared to be about half the pace of…