Economy

Since I did the numbers for the US, I thought I would do the numbers for Germany too. Below are the bilateral trade figures for Germany in 2010, first ranked by deficit with country and then by surplus with country. Germany has a deficit…

Below is the list of the largest trade partners of the United States as compiled by the US Census Bureau. The United States has a bilateral trade deficit with 12 of the 15. So I have ranked them according to trade deficit, with China in…

We forgot to post this yesterday. The macro issues raised by GM in their September sales conference call. All are direct quotes from GM management.

This is going to be a relatively long post. But I think it’s important. I have been meaning to update my thinking about the “Fake Recovery” which I heralded in early 2009 as the economy in the US began to turn. My view is that without…

Despite the economic problems, it is clear that President Hoover felt that the government’s budget still needed to be balanced. He implored Congress to work with him in order to cut spending to meet this objective.

Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded Italy's government bond ratings to A2 with a negative outlook from Aa2, while affirming its short-term ratings at Prime-1. The rating action concludes the review for downgrade initiated by…

The bottom line is this: Forget about Meredith Whitney. State and municipal governments are carrying a load in operating and pension costs that cannot be sustained through downturns in a secular bear market as the US population ages. These…

A little more than a year ago, many investors were worried about the US state and local government finances. There were genuine concerns that what was happening in Greece could very well be the future of numerous US local governments. Yet…

An excerpt from "The World In Depression" by Charles P. Kindleberger

All of the major sub-indices from new orders to production to employment recorded an acceleration in growth. This is a good report in the face of weakening macro fundamentals globally. However, the US manufacturing sector is very close to…