Credit Writedowns

By Marshall Auerback There appears to be an emerging consensus that the euro will survive, especially now that Mario Draghi has apparently grasped the nettle and persuaded his colleagues that the ECB is prepared to initiate unlimited…

The Kindle Fire was a master stroke by Amazon to entrench it's content and shopping platform in consumer households, especially because Apple's premium pricing left the door open for Amazon to fill a void at a lower price point as the…

The lead article in today's links is from Seumas Milne in the Guardian on George Osborne's failure to deliver on his promises as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer. If you recall, the platform that Osborne championed was one of voluntary cuts…

Editor's note: the price plateaus mentioned in this article are all in nominal terms. When using inflation-adjusted prices, prices have still risen dramatically, though less dramatically. By Marin Katusa, Chief Energy Investment Strategist…

Editor's note: Moody's issued the following press statement yesterday relating to its downgrade of the European Union's ratings outlook. Moody's Investors Service has today changed to negative from stable its outlook on the Aaa long-term…

I want to highlight the end of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech at Jackson Hole yesterday because he reiterated something he has been saying for a while now - that the Fed will do more but it won't be able to save the day by itself. I…

By Sober Look Economists continue to insist that there is no connection between Fed's monetary expansion and increases in commodity prices, particularly agricultural products globally (discussed here). Here is a typical comment:  If it is…

The big news today is based on a report by Bild, a German tabloid, which reported that Jens Weidmann, the head of Germany's central bank, offered to resign on multiple occasions due to his opposition to the ECB's plans to monetize euro zone…

By Sober Look Canada continues to face rising consumer debt levels. Since the post on Canadian housing risks (here), we've gotten a number of comments that Canada's housing is not overpriced (for example if measured in terms of gold). And…

The following is an excerpt of an article written for the Dallas Fed this month by William R. White, a well-known Canadian economist who served as Chief Economist for the Bank of International Settlements until 2008 and was also one of the…