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Browsing Category
Political Economy
Obama’s stimulus bill is a tough sell so far
Update 07 Mar 2009: I am re-posting this in light of increasing evidence that Obama's stimulus bill was in fact too small. Paul Krugman has a good post today called "One-sided debate," which reminds us he made that argument but was…
Russia cuts Europe off completely from its gas
The Ukraine-Russia row over natural gas has escalated to a new high. Now, state-owned Gazprom has completely cut off supplies to Europe through the Ukrainian transit route. It still remains unclear what the ultimate aim of the Russians…
Russia: playing chicken with Ukraine over natural gas
As an article in my links yesterday suggested, for many in the west, Russia's behavior of late has lurched toward the unpredictable, volatile and aggressive. After Russia's moves against Georgia in South Ossetia, wariness in the west has…
Will federal largesse be countered by state and local cutbacks?
There has been a general outcry for economic stimulus on the part of the North American, U.K. and Eurozone federal governments to counteract the fall in private sector consumption. In the U.S. and the U.K. in particular, this message is…
A quick note on corporate bankruptcy and bailouts
Bankruptcy is a necessary part of a free market. I certainly believe this to be so. Rick Newman, who writes the blog "Flow Chart" over at U.S. News, is putting forward the provocative idea that failure is exactly what we needed more of in…
GMAC: Loosening credit standards in the teeth of recession
It may sound counter-intuitive to loosen credit standards when we are on the cusp of major job losses and bankruptcies. But, this is exactly what the newly minted bank GMAC is going to do with its free money from the TARP (Troubled Asset…
Global instability must be contained in 2009
I want to make a brief statement about analysis, prognostications and this global recession. When I began this site nine months ago, my focus was clearly on the downside scenario. Now, while I did believe policy makers were underestimating…
Latvia as the new Argentina redux
Has Paul Krugman been reading my stuff? He is certainly thinking like me regarding emerging market risk. He has a post today talking about Latvia as the new Argentina.
Madoff as a signal to go for “regulation heavy”
On a recent Bloomberg Radio with Tom Keene broadcast, Harvey Pitt and Arthur Levitt, two former SEC Chairman were guests. Levitt made the suggestion that hedge funds had once been given the choice of "regulation-light" or…
Kuwait: A harbinger of Mideast deficits to come
With oil prices having plummeted, one should expect Middle Eastern oil exporters' budgets to implode. What were budget surpluses will quickly turn to deficits, stoking civil unrest amongst the burgeoning masses. Very high population growth…