Political Economy

The global economy, now supported in the main only by the overextended U.S. consumer, finds itself at stall speed, susceptible to any number of potential exogenous shocks. Ultimately, the economic malaise created by this confluence of…

by Michael Hudson, President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of…

Because of US and European pressure Beijing may allow much faster appreciation of the renminbi than it likes over the next year, but this will almost certainly be accompanied with policies that reduce the adverse employment impact. In my…

By Kevin Brekke A news item warranting special mention went largely unremarked on in the media last week. On Monday, Sept. 27, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it had “submitted for publication in the…

by David Galland, Managing Director, Casey Research It's important to recognize what's actually going on with the price of gold, which has broken into new record territory again today – to $1,331 as I write. It is not that there has been a…

Frederick Sheehan is the author of Panderer to Power: The Untold Story of How Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession (McGraw-Hill, 2009). "I assure this committee that, if I am confirmed, I…

Here is a good segment I did this past Friday on BNN founding anchor Howard Green's "Headline" show. The other guest was Philip Coggan, capital markets editor at the Economist in London. Here's what we had to say. Record low…

In a synchronized global economic downturn, the temptation for policy makers is to view economic growth as a zero-sum game and to take policies that, while favourable to domestic constituents, end up 'stealing' growth from elsewhere. The…

Japan's Finance Minister Noda has indicated that he will take advantage of the upcoming G7 and IMF meeting to explain its Sept 15 intervention. While US Fed and Treasury and the ECB did not comment on the intervention, several others did,…

No big surprise from Brazil’s decision to boost the IOF tax on fixed income foreign investment to 4% from 2% previously. This is a pretty strong statement from the authorities that 1.70 is the line in the sand, and if USD/BRL continues to…