currency wars

by Michael Hudson, President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of…

The last post by Win Thin demonstrates that Emerging market countries that are doing the best in this difficult economic environment are feeling serious currency pressure. Brazil is looking for a way to deal with the volatility associated…

Here are some quick thoughts on what's happening in Ireland. The Irish situation is mostly about the collapse in the economy due to a huge run-up in private sector debts. This has been complicated by Iceland-style bailouts for an outsized…

A few years ago, Chris Dialynas and I wrote a piece which introduced the concept of “renegade economics”. It was derived from a Frank D. Graham’s 1943 essay titled, “Fundamentals of International Monetary Policy.” Graham, a Princeton…

There is nothing preventing the Federal Reserve from buying up any financial asset it so chooses with money it creates out of thin air. In fact, I seriously doubt that the vaunted bond market vigilantes would be able to cause US interest…

I am trying to make sense of the revaluation talk that surrounds the Sino-American trade relationship. Here are some thoughts on the issue.  Your comments are appreciated. In the 1920s, the United States was the Alpha Creditor…

Bill Gross is a bond guy. And in the bond world, the return of capital counts for a heck of a lot more than the return on capital. So, naturally, with debts being socialized from the private to the public sector, Gross has been asking…

The fall in the euro is not completely accidental. Indeed, many in the Eurozone see the decline as an opportunity instead of a sign of weakness. Nevertheless, it is not clear to me that the Greeks or the Spaniards will gain from the decline…

This is the title of a recent article in the French Les Echos. And this goes directly to my recent commentaries about competitive currency devaluations as a potential course of action going forward. It seems likely that the depreciation of…

In March I wrote an American version of this post which pointed to the bailout culture in America as a major reason I fear a depressionary relapse. American policy makers have shifted private losses onto the government's books while…