Political Economy

Facing a potential breakdown in its banking system, the German government has decided to offer a blanket guarantee to private savings deposits (see comments below from German blogger egghat about this distinction), much as Ireland and…

The NBC News anchor apparently has a sense of humor. I found this video on Brian Williams mimicking Sarah Palin via the Huffington Post. Maybe Brian was miffed because Palin decided to talk to Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson but left him…

Politico is reporting that the Democrats are on track to potentially reach a super-majority of sixty seats in the U.S. Senate. Sixty is a very important number in the Senate because it neuters any attempt by the opposing party to block…

Yesterday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to warn him that California was suffering a liquidity problem and needed federal assistance in order to avoid insolvency. Below is the text of…

It sure seems like California is insolvent. Just today we heard that Arnold Schwarzenegger contacted Hank Paulson to let him know that the State is having liquidity problems (see pdf) and needs help. California ranks as the world's 9th…

The deed is done. Despite huge voter disquiet about the terms of the bailout package, Congress has passed the bill and it awaits the U.S. President's signature. The house vote was 263 to 171, with a huge number of Congress members moving…

Below is a link to the Library of Congress (LOC) website and a few links to the Senate Banking Committee site which have the details on the 'Economic Stabilization' Bill which passed the Senate by a vote of 74-25.The Bill, called H.R.1424…

Below is an article I wrote that appears in this morning's Guardian Newspaper in the UK. The crux of the article is that European politicians need to realise that their banks are not immune from the crisis that has hit the United States and…

The Senate has now passed the bailout bill Economic Patriot Act that the Bush Administration had a heavy hand in crafting. This bill, while better than nothing, is unlikely to alleviate for long the acute problems the financial markets are…

Hansruedi Ramsauer is one of the foremost German-language finance bloggers, writing over at the Swiss site Zeitenwende. In a recent post, he draws attention to the dire state of Swiss banking and calls on Swiss politicians to act now to…