Politics

Summary: The German elections were a resounding victory for German chancellor Angela Merkel. Nevertheless, she must still broker an agreement for a coalition government and this will change the politics of Germany and Europe. Below are my…

US President Barack Obama is in his second term in office. And because he cannot run for office again, his decision-making is bound to be different this term than it was in the first term. We are now seeing that in Syria, regarding the NSA…

Realizing that the Larry Summers nomination as the next Fed chairman was going to face some tough opposition in Congress, the president decided to pick someone else. Of course the next obvious candidate is Janet Yellen. There could be…

Abenomics has been very successful in goosing the Japanese economy thus far. However, the question remains whether this success will be short-lived or durable. I believe it is likely to be short-lived because of the policy constraints that…

The capital outflow from the emerging markets is proving as destabilizing as the previous inflows. Pundits can talk about currency wars all they want, but the real issue is the ability to cope with volatile capital flows, which is the…

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…

The center-left could unseat Merkel, but its sectarian tendencies make it unlikely. The SPD and Greens have refused to consider the Linke (Left) party as a coalition member. The Left's agenda, which is anti-NATO and anti-EU, is…

Osborne's behaviour both angers and frightens me. He is playing brinkmanship with the UK economy to achieve political ends. Nothing he does makes much sense from an economic point of view - which is why the flagship Help to Buy scheme has…

The serious debate has not been about whether or not China’s collapse is imminent. The disagreement was whether or not investment misallocation and the repression of household income growth were fundamental to the Chinese growth model. The…

Janet Yellen is imminently qualified for the Fed Chair position. I think it makes no tactical or strategic political sense to pass her over for a male candidate - because it would rightly be considered a 'passing over' and need serious…