ECB

As I said in defense of the ECB last week, “central bankers always prefer to force elected officials to make the tough political choices that are the essence of fiscal policy.” The ECB wants this whole problem to be resolved by elected…

With the fundraiser week winding down, I am going to start making a few changes now. One thing we probably need is a synopsis of the past week’s posts in order to tie the week’s events together thematically. I will make this synopsis using…

Alarm signals have been going off over the last week, not only due to the surge in the yields on Spanish and Italian debt but also due to evidence that the infection (contagion) is now spreading to what was previously considered to be the…

By Claus Vistesen (see source of image at end of post) I have recently spent a few days in New York talking to clients as well as sneaking in a bit of marathon watching and a visit to the Guggenheim museum. Flying across the big pond…

Marshall Auerback was on Fox Business talking about the European sovereign debt crisis. He said he is very concerned not just about the national solvency problem in the euro zone but also about the debt deflationary policy remedies now…

The EZ crisis is approaching a tipping point beyond which market panic and slow government reaction threaten to create a generation-defining loss of jobs, savings, and pensions. This open letter to the president of the German central bank…

EuroStoxx 600 is off its lows but still down 0.4%, Asia shares mostly lower; dollar pares back gains. ECB backs a weekly limit of €20bln for SMP purchases; Malaysia reports robust Q3 growth. Looking at the four key drivers of dollar…

European economies are really breaking down and panic has set in. You see pointless proposals to lord over supposed fiscal free riders from Finland and unelected governments lacking in political legitimacy and taking unfavourable economic…

Former bank of England central banker and present Citigroup Chief Economist Willem Buiter spoke to Tom Keene this morning on Bloomberg Radio. His view is similar to mine, that Europe must act now to avoid a default. He believes we could…

This phrase 'lender of last resort' has been bandied around by people who, it seems to me, have no idea what lender of last resort actually means, to be perfectly honest. It is very clear from its origin that lender of last resort by a…