Economy

The ratings agency Moody's issued the following statement earlier today in connection with its ratings review of the German banking sector. The outlook for Germany's banking system remains negative, says Moody's Investors Service in a new…

University of Chicago Professor Raghuram Rajan, one of the few mainstream economists to predict the financial crisis, has written a very good article at Project Syndicate questioning central bank monetary policy. His main point is that…

According to a questionnaire given by the leftist German party "Die Linke", German pensioners have seen a significant erosion of their purchasing power over the last twelve years. Average pension payments this year after deducting all…

In Europe, Spain is expected to formally apply for a Troika bailout in November. Despite the Rajoy's government's denials that it has not sought a bailout, Rajoy and his ministers have never specifically said that they refused to consider a…

Here's a great chart from Goldman Sachs that I spied as a result of a tweet by finance blogger Conor Sen who is someone to follow on Twitter. It shows the divergence in US household debt-to-income ratios and debt servicing costs as interest…

The following is the rationale for the ratings action Standard and Poor's took earlier today in downgrading the sovereign debt ratings of Spain Overview     -- The deepening economic recession is limiting the Spanish government's policy…

The Financial Times is reporting that Portugal is likely to need an extension of the three-year bailout plan it received in 2010. This is a disaster for the euro zone and I am writing this post to explain why. The most pressing issue is…

The banks are slowly admitting losses, but Bloomberg's summary is of a slow recognition. Even so, writedowns have left the banks stranded: unable to make loans. Up until now, it appears, the banks and the government were able to carry the…

By Michael Pettis I recently “debated” twice with senior Chinese officials on the future prospects for China. In both cases they made the argument that Chinese growth rates were going to rise in the next few years and that the current deep…

Here's a brief, late Friday post to follow up on the jobs number. If you look at recoveries from past recessions in the United States, what you usually see is a fall in the year-over-year unemployment rate as the economy gathers steam. And…