populism

Last night on CBS’ 60 Minutes, President Obama attacked Wall Street as “fat cats,” saying he was not elected merely for their sake. Obviously, the President is now keenly aware of how his political capital is being lost due to the bailout…

This comes via Reuters: China's announcement on Thursday it would slap punitive tariffs on a type of electrical steel used in transformers is likely to hurt exports from leading U.S. producers AK Steel and ATI Allegheny Ludlum. The…

The US Department of Agriculture highlights how the United States in the last decade, despite increased aggregate wealth, slid back significantly in terms of food insecurity as measure of poverty. With everyone now focused on the…

An article in the National Post suggests General Motors may look to divert some of its bailout money to Europe in the wake of a chill in German government support for subsidies. Talk of using taxpayer money to benefit workers in other…

The Canadian daily National Post has a good piece out today that highlights how the ‘Buy American’ provision is being seen in Canada.  Many see it as an affront that America could and would favor domestic firms over those of its…

I have been reading press accounts of the GM decision to back out of the Opel/Vauxhall sale to the Magna/Sberbank consortium from various countries. There are a lot of different perspectives on this event in the U.S., Belgium, Spain,…

The title of this post is somewhat misleading – designed to be provocative to get you to read what I have to say. Indeed, I am going to defend Goldman Sach’s right to pay what it likes to its employees. But, I am also going to defend your…

In what looks to be a central line of attack in the quest to re-balance the global economy, the Treasury Department has ratcheted up the rhetoric against China’s currency peg. The Treasury’s semiannual report to Congress slammed the Chinese…

I have to admit to hyping the debate now swirling about protectionism. I believe that tariffs are not a very good solution to a trade problem as they are likely to result in retaliation and/or escalation. Moreover, they end up protecting…

I have been very interested in the concept of legal tender of late because of the revelation this summer that the State of California was issuing I.O.U.’s to honour its debts instead of paying in U.S. Dollars, which are legal tender and…