Credit Writedowns

A lot has been made of so-called Abenomics after comments in Japan about forcing the central bank to set and defend a 2% inflation target. Getting a consolidated government balance sheet from a fiscal and monetary agent working hand-in-hand…

I hope to be commenting on some of these links over the next few days. Today and tomorrow,  will be in transit and won't be able to post. But afterwards I will have a lot to say, especially on Japan. Best, Edward   Housing The echo…

According to the Financial Times, the Australian mining group Fortescue has moved into expansion mode on the back of robust iron-ore prices that are now at an eight-month high. The reason for the rebound is the reflation efforts of the…

Until just recently, Germany was more indebted than Spain. The country was the first, along with France, to breach the Maastricht Treaty's 3% hurdle for annual deficits in 2005, prompting a change in the rules. And Germany has also been in…

As the New Year begins, there are four events that are creating significant headwinds for the US economy. There has been a lot of talk about the fiscal cliff in the press but behind this is the debate over the US debt ceiling, which will be…

The weekly post on Monday was on the new Japanese LDP Prime Minister Abe's threat to strip the Bank of Japan of its independence as a central bank. The thrust of his threat goes to  the integration of monetary and fiscal policy to create a…

This article from the New York Times gets it totally wrong: The Tea Party might not be over, but it is increasingly clear that the election last month significantly weakened the once-surging movement, which nearly captured control of the…

On Christmas Eve, the Wall Street Journal had two interesting articles on the credit situation in the U.S., one from the banks' perspective and one from the households' perspective. In general, the data were positive but I believe the…

Happy Boxing Day! These are the links from the past few days. I will have more to say about individual stories sometime later today. I hope you are enjoying the holiday season. Edward P.S. - I don't agree with the thrust of all of these…

Greetings to you all on Christmas Eve. I think the big deal today is not America or Europe, but Japan. The incoming Japanese Prime Minister is threatening to strip the Bank of Japan, the central bank, of its independence. What Mr. Abe said…