Political Economy

I am starting to become quite cynical about the Bush Administration and crony capitalism. There may be no smoking gun, no e-mail chain to indict conspirators. The Bushies may break no laws. But, it is increasingly obvious that the War in…

Tariffs and price controls? Apparently, Latin America thinks it can stop the growing tide of inflation and end the riots on their streets by just imposing tariffs and imposing price controls. They better get ready for a blind date with…

I was reading Barron's 2008 Midyear 2008 Roundtable just yesterday when a comment by Marc Faber struck me. He said that Obama is "not going to be good for the market." He expects Barack Obama to win in November and for the investment…

From the Telegraph:Irish right to craic the whip over EU treatyBy Liam HalliganLast Updated: 1:38am BST 15/06/2008Against the advice of the major political parties and most of the media, Irish voters have rejected the Lisbon Treaty. Good…

The Lisbon Treaty, which was to give the European Union more say over matters in EU member states received a vote of no confidence from Ireland. The result was 52% against and 48% for. Just as with the EU constitution, there is great…

Argentina is on the brink again. Earlier today, I wrote about doubts regarding the country's official inflation statistics. The official statistics showed 9.1% inflation when many believe inflation is running 25% and more. Now, it…

As the Euro celebrates its tenth anniversary, Vaclav Klaus, the President of the Czech Republic, says:"The question is whether the eurozone countries and their citizens have cause to celebrate. The answer is uncertain, given the zone’s…

Amity Shlaes has a good column over at Bloomberg News. Her post today is about the likely rise in taxes we are going to see in 2009 and beyond. She admonishes the Democrats for being overly complex when it comes to taxes. She says:"The…

The FT reported today that Brazil, fattened by newly found oil reserves and a sky-high oil price, is getting into the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) game. They are ready to fund $200 billion toward this project and have built up the currency…

I am a Euroscpetic. I admire the political will of Europe's grand designers in creating the Euro, but I have always felt that harmonisation would be a painful process fraught with tension - especially during economic downturns. And so it is…