debt

A short story inspired by the German shortselling ban. Once upon a time there were four little pigs and the time came for them to leave home and seek their fortunes. Before they left, their mother told them "Whatever you do, do it the…

You hear the term "double dip recession" bandied about in the media a lot these days.  But there is no strict definition for what a double dip recession is or what it actually means to an economy. Have no fear; At the…

Greece fiddled its books and ran a deficit in good times and bad.  But, it is rubbish to paint all of the debtor nations in Euroland now in crisis with the same brush. There are huge differences I would like to point out. And I will…

From his latest "Breakfast with Dave" missive. Well, I think the turbulent global events of the past few weeks underscore the reason why I have maintained a cautious investment approach for the past year, notwithstanding the…

I am rushing so I will only point to the relevant pieces from Bloomberg. Perhaps the most significant thing for me will that the ECB will now be buyers of real assets (albeit that these bids will be sterilised). No. 1 from Bloomberg ...…

Presidents and Prime Ministers have to be careful with their choice of words. Especially in times of crisis and difficulty for their country. Former Mexican President José López Portillo will be remembered by history, not for his turbulent…

Below is a table of all the Eurozone debt and deficit figures for 2009.  The chart is in German from the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, but I think the country names are clear except Österreich, which is German for Austria. The…

According to a once famous statement by the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, a week can often be a long time in politics. But when it comes to financial market crises the situation often feels more like a line from the Dinah Washington…

Well, I don’t know how many other people have noticed, but the Hungarian forint tanked today. This is the one I had been waiting for, and expecting. And precisely why did it tank? It tanked because Viktor Orban, Hungary’s…

Yves talks about Greece and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe as well as her book "ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism". I saw this interview on Tuesday and thought it was very…