money

The Bank of England has cut interest rates to 3%, a 1 1/2 point cut. Just weeks ago, the BoE Governor Mervyn King was writing to the Government explaining how they had let inflation run out of control. However, with the economy tanking,…

The U.S. Federal Reserve is tasked with watching inflation while keeping the economy growing. This dual mandate is a juggling act no mortal could manage successfully for long. The result has been a Fed which has largely erred on the side…

This morning, the markets are looking wonderful. All the Asian markets were up with the Nikkei (Japan), Kospi (S. Korea) and Hang Seng (Hong Kong) up 10%+. The European markets were way up right out of the gate. And despite bad GDP…

This morning in an e-mail exchange with Marshall Auerback, I questioned why the U.S. Dollar was rising so precipitously. I do understand much of this has to do with a need to refinance dollar-denominated borrowing by international…

Credit markets continue to return to less extreme levels. While we are nowhere near where we were before the onset of the Lehman-induced panic, we are well off the panic levels of the worst of the crisis.The Times of London is reporting…

The Federal Reserve and its fellow central banks are pulling out all the stops to make sure the panic phase of this crisis is well and truly over. These kinds of moves are already having results as Libor and Euribor (the rate at whch banks…

I caught a story in the Wall Street Journal today about Paul Volcker's impact on the Obama campaign that bears passing on (hat tip Barry Ritholtz). One reason people have become more comfortable with Obama over time is because his economic…

Last week, I wrote a cheeky little post called "The Panic is over," in which I argued that the Panic phase of this crisis would ebb and the more chronic problems of excessive debt, leverage and recession would move center stage. Of course,…

So, I am back in the saddle after a great weekend in Palm Beach. And three days almost entirely away from Newspapers, Televisions, Telephones, and Computers is a very good thing to clear the head. (Although I did happen to catch Sarah…

The United States had been living beyond its means for a very long time before the credit crisis finally hit. The truth of the matter is that U.S. monetary and fiscal policy rewarded risk-taking and leverage at the expense of prudence and…