Political Economy

Just a quick note here - I was on Capital Account last night talking about what I expect to happen politically next year. I spelled out some of it in my last post on the US election and the Fiscal Cliff. But here is a more complete view…

The election is now over and it's time to think about what is to come. The most pressing political concern is the so-called fiscal cliff that has resulted from a budget deal Washington's politicians cobbled together to avoid default during…

Three years on, I remain absolutely convinced that deflation, driven primarily by consumers eager to repair their balance sheets, will be a powerful force for many years to come but, at the same time, I must admit that I see worrying signs…

The theme I highlighted in the daily post on Friday seems to be everywhere today, namely the United States of Europe and Britain's inability to go along with such a concept. Angela Merkel keeps telling us she wants "more Europe". And of…

This is probably one of the most upbeat posts I have written on Europe in quite a while. Originally, I intended to write this post as a short blurb discussing Angela Merkel's recent European proposals but there are a few loose threads I…

I was reading through an article at Reuters on the problem that public pension plans are having with shortfalls that can only be made up via increased tax revenue, increased investment returns, or decreased benefits. The Reuters article…

The following is the text of a speech Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered at a high-level seminar sponsored by the International Monetary Fund on Sunday. Thank you. It is a pleasure to be here. This morning I will first…

Jack Welch recently caused a ruckus by suggesting that the government was “cooking the books” with its economic data. Specifically, he tweeted the following last Friday after the employment situation report: "Unbelievable jobs…

The following is an excerpt of an article written exactly twenty years ago on 8 October 1992 by the late Wynne Godley, a British economist, who predicted disaster for Europe’s planned single currency. This is the single most cogent and…

By Marshall Auerback The real weak link now in the Eurozone is Spain, where the data is a disaster. It is Greece writ large. And this is before Madrid, under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, has submitted to a new ECB program of agreed…