Credit Writedowns

Miami, the great world city, is drowning while the powers that be look away | World news | The Observer UK wages can't rise unless we solve the productivity puzzle | Business | theguardian.com The Good, the Bad and the Ugly | Capital City…

Happy post-World Cup to you all. I missed my Friday catch-all post because I was out sick. So I am going to play catch-up today with a few thoughts on various topics. The BIS Let’s start with the BIS. In general, I defend the BIS view…

Thirty links today instead of twenty The Password Is Finally Dying. Here's Mine - WSJ Bank for International Settlements fears fresh Lehman crisis from worldwide debt surge - Telegraph Euro-Zone Industrial Production Slumped in…

Last week, I wrote a fairly comprehensive piece laying out some of the macro issues around the Fed and other central banks’ ultra-easy monetary policy. The gist of that piece was that, due to the political economy, monetary policy is now…

Today’s links will have a double allocation since I was unable to post yesterday. Block 1 Halifax: UK house prices show little sign of slowing down - Telegraph Chinese Buyers Scooped Up $22 Billion Worth of U.S. Homes In the Last Year…

By Marc Chandler The headline of the Financial Times today reads "Paris rails against the dollar's dominance."; It could have been written nearly any time in the past half century. After all it was a former French President Giscard…

We posted this in November, but are re--posting now because it is relevant. Hat tip goes to Barry Ritholtz who published it over at the Big Picture recently. Also see two previous posts on this site from November related to this one, based…

By Sober Look The yield spread between US treasuries and German government bonds hit a new high last week (see chart). Was this divergence in rates simply a response to the ECB action last month (see post) in combination with stronger jobs…

CIA employee’s quest to release information ‘destroyed my entire career’ - The Washington Post Why is Washington still protecting the secret political power of corporations? | Alexis Goldstein | Comment is free | theguardian.com…

After a promising first decade, the Eurozone faced a severe crisis. This column looks at the Eurozone’s short history through the lens of an evolutionary approach to forming new institutions. German dominance has allowed the euro to achieve…