government

"Not all government debt is created equal. We have bad deficits and good deficits. Good deficits are used to fund investments that will have a positive rate of return, properly determined. Those contribute to GDP."

There is much about the US fiscal melodrama that is a farce. Unlike other debt crises, this one is totally self-inflicted. It is a crisis of choice not necessity. The misconstructions have been repeated so many times that they have taken on…

While data is difficult to come by, there are signs that the sharp drop in consumer confidence since the federal government shutdown (see post) is translating into weaker consumer spending.

As the US government shutdown continues, the risk of default grows. Below are some thoughts on why this has played out as it has and what the outcome may be.

The US dollar is narrowly mixed against major and emerging market currencies. Comments by House Speaker Boehner that he will form a majority bloc to avoid a default by the Federal government is being understood two ways.

It isn't yet clear how long the US government shutdown will last or what impact the shutdown will have. Nor is it clear that the US will escape a debt default down the road. Therefore, at this time all that reigns is uncertainty.

Yet again, the U.S. debt ceiling is going to become a political football that could threaten the U.S. and global economy. While I don't think the U.S. will default on its debt these recurring manufactured crises make the U.S. extremely…

This is my tech links post that I am putting up outside the paywall and free for non-registered users. The only tech links in today's post are on the NSA.The impetus for this post was the revelation that the NSA can get access to data in…

By Frances Coppola In my post on the anatomy of a bank run, I suggested that the rule should be "provide central bank liquidity support to everything, taxpayer support to nothing". This is because in a bank run/liquidity crisis, it isn't…

Argentina's official economic growth surprised analysts with a 7.8% year over year jump in May. But can the growth numbers be trusted?