Political Economy

The US Treasury and the Congress appear to be intensifying pressure on the China to allow the yuan to appreciate.   Other officials may weigh in ahead of the G20 meeting (June 25-27). Congressional support is reportedly strong…

This is a post on demographics inspired by a conversation I had earlier today. Detroit was, in its heyday just after World War II, when the US auto industry was literally firing on all cylinders, the fourth largest in the U.S., Its…

What Happened To The GDII Meme? Early in 2009 I caught an article from the Canadian daily National Post about David Rosenberg and wrote up a post about it. Here's what the National Post wrote: Now, he predicts the carnage will…

Marc Chandler is the Global Head of Currency Strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman. The Russian despot Vladimir Lenin was a big fan of Frederick Taylor.   Taylor's time and motion studies revolutionized the work process by boosting…

I have been very hawkish on protectionist rhetoric in the past, going so far as to call it the major risk to continued economic growth. However, I was on BNN's Headline show at lunchtime yesterday with Stacy-Marie Ishmael of FT Alphaville.…

Hell, it seems, knows no fury like the financial markets being told you are about to become the next Greece. The poor Vice President of the election-winning Fidesz party, Lajos Kosa, had no idea what was in store for him when he calmly…

When was the last time an unsustainable economic situation was solved without a crisis?  Seriously, that's a question. I can't think of one.  The way I see it, politicians are always focused on the short-term and that invariably…

By Rob Parenteau and Marshall Auerback on how global ‘fiscal austerity’ benefits bankers and wealthy, well-connected political insiders, while screwing the rest of us. Marshall Auerback is a market analyst and commentator. Rob Parenteau,…

A post by Marc Chandler, Global Head of Currency Strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman. The G20 finance ministers and central bankers are meeting in South Korea to prepare for the summit in Toronto in a few weeks time.  There seem to be…

Max and Stacy talk about Twitter hashtag manipulation, elections in Reykjavik and the BP oil spill for some good fun.  Later in the episode I come on and ruin it with a little doom and gloom.  Take a look. OK, the BP stuff isn't…