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Browsing Category
Political Economy
Free trade is dead: victim of a poor economy
The World Trade Organization has called al any renewed discussions about expanding free trade. No one wants it now that the global economy is sick. Stephen Roach has been warning for months that this would be the likely result of global…
McCain campaign leaves secret e-mails on Blackberries sold off to public
Here's a little video that should teach you why you need to erase all data permanently before you sell or get rid of any computer, Blackberry or computing device.
Russia’s choice between a nuclear arsenal and a modernized infantry
In a world of limited resources where oil prices have plummeted, Russia's military is ever more stretched. Yesterday, I highlighted the implosion in the Russian economy, suggesting that many in Washington see Russia as a potential problem…
Irish government unveils plan to recapitalise banks
Today the Irish government has unveiled a 10 billion euro plan to recapitalise its outsized banking sector. I have posted a number of times about the depth of woes in Ireland including the high debt-to-gdp level, the crashing property…
Russia devalues currency again as foreign reserves plummet
Russia is one country that we do not want to see fall on hard times. It has great geo-strategic power, but a weak economy, declining oil output and revenues and increasingly autocratic rule? Now it is being roiled by the global financial…
Latest update on Bloomberg suit against Fed
Back in November, Bloomberg News was forced to sue the Federal Reserve to gain greater disclosure on how emergency loans were being made to financial institutions and on what collateral was being used. I have followed this story closely…
An Icelandic post-mortem
The Economist does a very good post-mortem on Iceland and its spectacular collapse with a number of lessons for other countries, especially those with oversized financial sectors like Ireland, Switzerland and the U.K. Below is a snippet…
Sweden: competitive auto bailouts begin with Saab and Volvo
Yesterday, I mentioned an article I caught in the German newspaper Die Welt which outlined the desire for VW and Daimler Benz to receive bailouts in response to the state aid being offered to American car makers. I warned that a competitve…
Volkswagen: if the American carmakers can get bailout funds, so can we
It seems that the bailouts are now turning into a "Beggar Thy Neighbor" policy of aid for specific sectors of the global economy. First, it was finance as the banks were savaged by massive writedowns to their property and derivative…
Illinois governor Blagojevich’s dumb press conference
This video is a good laugh given what we now know about the alleged criminal activity going on in Illinois Governor Blagojevich's office. Here is Blogojevich yesterday at a press conference. The man is smug and obnoxious. Now, he is going…