Political Economy

Part 1 below is background and analysis   Part 2 is where Hendry and Stiglitz talk bailout with the Spanish Ambassador to the UK. Sparks do fly.

The EU is working feverishly to solve the Greek sovereign debt crisis. Yesterday, in an article in the German-language Financial Times Deutschland, CDU/CSU Bundestag Fraktionschef Michael Meister (the equivalent of Nancy Pelosi in America)…

Marc Chandler had some good comments on the Greek debt crisis this morning. The main issues, he believes, are contagion and uncertainty, especially as it pertains to sovereign debt infecting the private sector and vice versa. He said:…

In my view, there is little chance the Germans are going to allow the EU to ride to the rescue of the Greeks. All of the bailout chatter does not really consider the domestic political constraints in Germany. First, a bit of quick…

The money line comes right at the end.

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“We shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” --John Winthrop Joe Biden is buying none of this America-as-an-empire-in-terminal-decline meme.  The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne caught up with the Vice…

Paul Volcker is testifying before the Senate Banking Committee today on financial regulatory reform. Recently, the Obama introduced reform proposals inspired by Volcker and now being dubbed The Volcker Rule. The Wall Street Journal has…

It was always naïve to believe that a crisis so deep and profound was going to go away with a whimper; however, an increase of more than 50% in global equity prices can be very seductive, and nine months of virtually uninterrupted gains…

If you are interested in politics, then this is a definite must see theater. It will give you a much greater appreciation of the personalities and positions. Better audio kicks in after a minute or so. The whole thing runs 66 minutes.…