Politics

Down with the Eurozone - Nouriel Roubini - Project Syndicate For the last decade, the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain) were the eurozone's consumers of first and last resort, spending more than their income…

The country is now suffering a second round of economic and financial distress stemming from the collapse of its banking system in October 2008. That crisis caused a huge loss of savings not only for domestic citizens but also for…

This sounds like hearsay to me, but I wouldn’t be telling you about it if I didn’t believe it was credible.

As for Italy itself, the country runs a primary fiscal surplus. As George Soros has noted: “Italy is indebted, but it isn’t insolvent.” Its fiscal deficit to GDP ratio is 60% of the OECD average. It is less than the euro area average. Its…

Germans really are sceptical of the euro and many miss the days of the Deutsche Mark. I think Merkel is trying to make the case for why the German people have never been given a direct vote on any major euro area decision. No one wants…

This chart from Der Spiegel shows you that the ECB has been buying a lot of periphery bonds. But, no matter how much they have bought, their purchases are dwarfed by the absolute magnitude of bonds coming due next year in Italy, over 300…

The German Christian Democrats hold a party congress next weekend. There are a number of proposals that members are trying to get incorporate into the party position and platform. One such proposal is to give the national central banks…

European shares are rebounding after a two-day decline; dollar is mostly higher in G10. Italian politics remains front and center ahead of budget vote; UK outlook remains sluggish. With US calendar light, markets likely to focus on Fed…

Assuming that the Greek and Italian political situation stabilize, the focus may shift back to the Iberia. The risk is that the new Spanish government will report a larger budget deficit and weaker finances in general than the outgoing…

That’s what Philipp Rösler, the leader of the junior partner in Germany’s coalition government, is saying. Barry Eichengreen says that this kind of talk is counterproductive.