nationalism

This will be a bronze level post. Everyone is talking about the Dutch Freedom Party these days. Geert Wilders, the head of the Freedom Party, is a bit like Marine Le Pen in terms of his appeal: anti-immigrant, nationalist and right wing. He…

That Weidmann now wishes to publicly claim he is concerned about risk associated with the Bundesbank's Target2 credit does not simply mean that this is a truth that has now been "acknowledged". I would guess that the sober Bundesbank…

The enduring global crisis is giving rise to fears that economic hard times will feed political extremism, as it did in the 1930s. This column suggests that the danger of political polarisation and extremism is greatest in countries with…

On Tuesday night, I spoke to Amanda Lang and Kevin O'Leary about Greece. The question was whether they were going to default and leave the euro zone. My response is that the euro zone is not ready politically for a default and so I think…

My takeaway here is that people are desperate and they are willing to support any party that has a solution to their economic plight, irrespective of whether that party is considered extreme.

I am not particularly shocked or worried about the cancelled European finance ministers meeting. I still think this bailout gets done because Europe and the markets are not prepared for a disorderly default and politicians cannot risk the…

Last April I said that unless we see a multi-year recovery economy in which the nagging debt and default issues are entirely removed, economic nationalism will return with a vengeance. And that means political conflict in which the…

Since the possibility of further social tensions leading to nationalism is something on my radar screen, I thought I would post these videos from Euronews. In a good economy, these issues are nothing to get concerned about. But in a bad…

The myth that Greeks are lazy and Germans are industrious and that this has some significance in the sovereign debt crisis is everywhere one turns. It is false. The issues for Greece are not about working longer hours but are ones of…

A unilateral exit would be a devastating event for Italy and the euro zone. Inflation would be high but bank and national solvency issues would recede. If the exit were done under these nationalistic pre-conditions of redomination, most of…