Author

Edward Harrison 7783 posts 575 comments

Edward Harrison is a senior Editor at Bloomberg. He is also the founder of Credit Writedowns newsletter, a former career diplomat, investment banker and technology executive with over twenty five years of business experience. He speaks six languages and reads another five, skills he uses to provide a more global perspective. Edward holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.

Monetary System

Russia, sovereign debt defaults, and fiat currency

Edward Harrison Nov 4, 2009

I have said on a number of occasions that a sovereign nation that issues debt in its own fiat currency cannot default involuntarily. The case most people point to as a counterfactual is Russia in 1998. I mentioned Russia in a…

Political Economy

Trouble in Ireland as Fitch cuts debt two notches to AA- and deficits soar

Edward Harrison Nov 4, 2009

Fitch, the credit rating agency, has just downgraded the sovereign debt ratings for the Republic of Ireland from AA+ to AA-. That is two notches and is proof-positive that the ratings agencies are worried about the hole in Dublin’s…

Political Economy

The creeping power grab by the executive branch and Federal Reserve

Edward Harrison Nov 3, 2009

The power grab at the Federal Reserve is a topic I first broached back in February when the Federal Reserve was creating its alphabet soup of liquidity programs to pull us back from the brink of financial disaster. I was troubled about Fed…

News

GM board decides to keep European Opel unit

Edward Harrison Nov 3, 2009

The sale to Canadian auto parts maker Magna International and its partner, Russian lender Sberbank is off. With bankruptcy now behind it, General Motors now feels confident it can proceed with Opel under the GM umbrella. From the GM press…

Business

Buffett: Is Berkshire’s Burlington move all about coal?

Edward Harrison Nov 3, 2009

I had a feeling there was an energy component to the Berkshire Hathaway decision to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe. And now comes the evidence via coal, a major freight on BNSF’s tracks. But, there is a lot more to this acquisition than…

Economy

Nils Pratley: A tale of two banks at RBS and Lloyds

Edward Harrison Nov 3, 2009

Nils Pratley’s piece at the Guardian on RBS and Lloyds is very good. Two quotes sum up the situation quite well. First,regarding Lloyds, Pratley says: Royal Bank of Scotland's shares down almost 20% in two days; Lloyds's shares…

Economy

China is now on the same bubble path as Japan post-1987 crash

Edward Harrison Nov 3, 2009

This article by Peter Tasker, a well-regarded financial analyst in Asia, comes via the Financial Times (hat tip Marshall). He sees an enormous bubble forming in China – and parallels to Japan circa 1987: Emerging markets, it seems, have…

News

News from around the web: 2009-11-03

Edward Harrison Nov 3, 2009

I will be on Canada’s BNN TV at noonish talking about finance: Banks and Buffett. It will be a casual discussion with the moderators Howard Green and Andrea Mandel-Campbell and one other guest, Brian Milner of the Globe & Mail. Below…

Markets

Wood warns of correction, says “key variable in the West is government policy”

Edward Harrison Nov 3, 2009

Christopher Wood, the well-noted market strategist at CLSA and writer of the classic Japan crash warning book “The Bubble Economy,” is now warning of a market correction in the West. According to CNBC India, Wood believes that the…

Business

Buffett buys up Burlington Northern and does 50-1 split at Berkshire

Edward Harrison Nov 3, 2009

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has been making some very significant moves of late. Selling of Moody’s shares is one. But, the latest is sure to cause a stir amongst Buffett watchers because he is definitely making some…

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