Politics

By Marc Chandler The Japanese nuclear accident has implications for Europe. The EU wants to have stress tests on members nuclear plants. The tests are not mandatory, but may be difficult to refuse. Switzerland has halted its nuclear…

This post is designed to be a quick hit but I wanted to put up a few thoughts on corporatism, stimulus and austerity. Consider it an extension of my post "Corporatism masquerading as Liberty". I intend to argue that corporatism is…

The Federal Reserve released the quarterly flow of funds report which allows one to see the debt levels outstanding in the U.S. economy. From the looks of it, deleveraging has not continued apace. UBS' Andy Lees writes: The Fed Z1 flow…

By Marc Chandler The government submits a budget. Their majority in one house allows it to be passed there. The opposition is trying to obstruct it and it is raising concern about the world's largest public debt. This is not the US, but…

This year's winner for Best Documentary is "Inside Job' by Charles Ferguson. In accepting his Oscar, Ferguson said: "Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by…

Let us start with honesty about budget deficits and government debt. There is no honest economic argument against running budget deficits when the economy is below full employment. While we can debate about which programs government ought…

The German strategy appears to be rudderless at the moment. It is not clear what concessions it can elicit in exchange for offering a "comprehensive" solution to the debt crisis. Getting rid of wage indexing,a constitution amendment to…

I was on the BBC this morning talking about the Obama FY 2012 budget proposal. Here's what I said and what I think about the proposal so far (If I get the video, I will post). This post will be more about the political tactics and…

By Win Thin The situation remains unsettled in Egypt.  As of this writing, President Mubarak pledged to stay on until his term ends in September, but delegated some authority to VP Suleiman.  Because of his strong connections to…

A corporation is a societal construct codified into legal existence to further the mutual interests of individuals. A corporation is "an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of the law," according to…