Economy

A lot of Chinese SOEs are involved in a very wide variety of business activities, and are especially fond of activities in which cheap capital is the comparative advantage, or in which there is political advantage to be gained. That makes…

Even if the debt ceiling showdown ends without default, there will be more shutdown attempts when the federal budget comes up for review in the fall. Get ready for more gridlock – and a US sovereign debt ratings downgrade.

What follows is simply a follow-up note to my earlier (Elephant in The Euro Room) piece on Italy. The decision by S&P to put Italian sovereign debt on negative outlook, and the subsequent announcement by Moody’s that it was considering…

My hope is that, despite slowing in Europe and China, the global economy will have enough pop to get the US through its experiment with expansionary fiscal contraction. But this is just a hope.

The uptick in US data is a nice relief given the fact that Europe’s manufacturing sector slowed to an 18-moth low. Overall, the US manufacturing sector is growing, but at a slower pace than last year. The data do not point to a pronounced…

Jon Stewart gives his opinion on Mark Halperin’s calling the President a Dick.

As a result of the two great wars in the 20th century, the UK’s national debt soared such that by the end of World War II, public net debt was well over 200% of GDP.

In this week’s Big Interview, Barton Biggs has a lot to say. What stands out and what the WSJ has stressed is his support for public works programs.

Last week I showed you one way to look at the jobs crisis in graphical form. Here’s another from Calculated Risk.

Evangelos Venizelos is dispatched to consider how to prevent the government from sacking tens of thousands of workers in order to prevent the Greek from defaulting on its debt. He suggests that California’s previous IOU issuance is a model…