Political Economy

In the case of bailing out Wall Street – and thereby the wealthiest 1% of Americans – while saying there is no money for Social Security, Medicare or long-term public social spending and infrastructure investment, the beneficiaries are…

It was not difficult for an observer to understand Armageddon beckoned by 2006, as long as the observer listened to practitioners rather than theorists. The same is true today. Following are two groups of practitioner opinions: those from…

When one's strongest held beliefs are challenged, mostly those beliefs get stronger, regardless of the facts. That's the backfire effect.

Rather than adding stimulus with the aim of goosing demand to help the economy reach escape velocity, I would say that the central objective of economic policy is to help the economy reach full employment. Doing so will increase demand,…

I still believe the political price for a breakup is large but the chances of one are increasing because the policy decisions that governments and the EU are making cannot be maintained politically in the periphery or in the core. Unless we…

While I acknowledge the real fears that central bankers have about the impact of a restructuring, this political dithering is making matters considerably worse. Clearly, burden sharing is needed and that means bondholders will have to take…

The German court adds another element of uncertainty in the debt drama and may shape the particular outcome. There is some danger that parliament's prerogatives are defined to include the upper house as well and there Merkel does not enjoy…

Conan O'Brien was the commencement speaker at Dartmouth College on Sunday. Very cool. So how did Conan do? Apparently, he was hilarious. Take a look.

I feel the media in India has become quite complacent about the tawdry condition of free speech in India. All too often journalists can be warned off a seamy story by a tiny exercise of power or influence. All too often, the crooks are able…

Tepper says if the market falls a couple hundred points maybe they would reconsider. But the only result now might be more food and energy inflation.