credit

“Who is afraid of currency wars?” asks Gavyn Davies in the FT. I have known Gavyn for 25 years and have to confess that he is way out of my league intellectually. He is one of the smartest people I have ever met and, thankfully, also one of…

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of the Telegraph had an interesting post out yesterday on demographic trends in China. He writes that the working-age population in China is now shrinking as China ages quickly, in part due to the one-child policy.…

The key to Spain's turning the corner as 2013 begins is the housing market. This takes on increasing importance given the reprieve in crisis interest rates. House prices are still falling and the economy is contracting despite the…

In China, I have argued many times, high growth is no longer compatible with a strengthening balance sheet. If China is growing at a rate that approaches or exceeds five or six percent, it is probably a safe bet that debt is rising faster…

This morning, the Spanish government initiated its bond auction process this year. The auctions were a success with the yield on 10-year government bonds falling to 4.95%, below 5% for the first time since March 2012.

I just wanted to follow up on Randy Wray's last post to look at this Trillion Dollar Coin idea from an investing perspective. I believe the coin would be bullish for Treasuries because it lowers average Treasury duration and alters private…

The Platinum coin has been all over the blogosphere as well as the media. Some have been arguing it will cause hyperinflation. How can issuing a coin to be held at the Fed to allow the Treasury to spend up to budgeted amount lead to…

A good article in the Spanish-language Actibva reviews what to expect from the Spanish government regarding debt and deficits in 2013. I can't speak to the predictive ability here but the article is good at a minimum for its highlighting of…

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…

Yves Smith has an interesting post out asking whether student loans are going the way of subprime, potentially triggering another financial crisis if the US goes into recession. I think it's a good question to ask in light of my last weekly…