malinvestment

I have enjoyed Edward Hugh and Claus Vistesen's posting here as well as on their own sites because they add a European angle to the commentary I think we lacked. But, they also have brought their considerable interest in demographics to…

A lot of people have asked me to write about the recently “leaked” CBRC report on dodgy local government debt.  Here is what the article in Monday’s Bloomberg had to say about it (and note especially that delicious second paragraph):…

Grantham argues that a disproportionate share of the US economy is devoted to financial services.

John Hussman is out with another good piece this week in which he deconstructs all of the short-termism and technical analysis dominating the talk of market followers in the US. He opens saying: Perhaps the best way to begin this week's…

"I have this to say to my fellow Germans in East Germany: The introduction of the social market economy offers you every chance, in fact, even a guarantee, that (the East German states of) Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,…

On Monday when I wrote Why Stimulus Is No Panacea, I mentioned that I had written two posts in the past entitled "It's the debt, stupid" (read them here and here). Just as the Clintonites of 1992 pointed to the economy as the…

I fully support deficit spending as a means to prevent a debt deflationary spiral in a deep downturn.  However, there are limits to what stimulus can actually do. Stimulus is no panacea for an unbalanced economy. In particular, when…

This is a question I have been struggling with since the sovereign debt crisis began.  So let me run a little of it by you.  This may be half-baked but I would love some comments. In a perfect world, we would have full employment…

Nassim Taleb speaks to the issue I have been addressing here for two years, namely that the problem with our financial system is debt.  There is too much of it. And all the stimulus in the world won't solve that problem.  The…

This fairly well sums up my view: hen our policy makers insist on defending reckless lenders with public resources, we have to recognize that this is not free money. When the government issues a paper liability for real value, that real…