Geostrategy Channel: Latest Posts
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Geostrategy
Are We Defending the Pakistan of our Dreams, or the Real Thing?
We’re told that we fight to protect Pakistan – but how many of its people want US help, or even share our views about the threat? “Analysis: Pakistan not apt to cooperate“, AP, 25 September 2009 — A confused mish-mash of views and information, although the headline is probably correct. “Anti-U.S. Wave Imperiling Efforts in Pakistan, Officials Say“, [...]
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Asia
The IMF Warns about Surplus Countries and Global Imbalances
As Beijing slowly unlocks from its 60th anniversary celebrations – the streets are still relatively empty but more and more people are going out, although my local Starbucks still hasn’t reopened, forcing me to go elsewhere for my hardcore caffeine fix – a lot is still going on in the rest of the world. Both [...]
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Geostrategy
Will Health Insurance Exchanges Work?
Most of the health care reform proposals being considered by congress include some form of health insurance exchanges. What are they and why are they needed? …The idea of an insurance exchange is relatively straightforward. If you work for a big company or, say, the federal government, every year you choose from among a set [...]
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Finance & Markets
Why Sheila Bair’s Remarks about Repos are Really, Really Important
While much is being made of Sheila Bair’s recent comments on haircuts to secured lenders, the Chair of the FDIC seems, to me, to be trying to expand the discussion of problem bank resolution in a constructive manner. Other regulators, so far, have shied away from real policy reforms that deal with too-big-to-fail in any [...]
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Geostrategy
Specifically, What Should Be Done For Jobs?
In his Saturday radio address, President Obama acknowledged the White House is exploring “additional options to promote job creation.” It’s about time. This is the worst job market in seventy years — including the longest duration of steep job losses. If anyone had any doubt that something far more dramatic must be done, listen to [...]
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Geostrategy
Fed Chest-Thumping for Beginners
I generally avoid writing about monetary policy, since every economics course I’ve taken since college has been a micro course, and besides Simon is a macroeconomist, among other things. But since just about everyone in my RSS feed has been linking to Tim Duy’s recent article on the Fed, I thought I would try to [...]
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Geostrategy
Update on our Government’s Deteriorating Solvency
Summary: Here are some ugly numbers for August from the Chief Actuary of the Social Security system. This is a follow-up to Beginning of the end of the Republic’s solvency. Soon come the first steps to a reformed regime – or a new regime. (14 August 2009). Contents Monthly cash flow in 2009 for the US Social Security Administration [...]
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Finance & Markets
Unblocking Corporate Governance Reform
From Project Syndicate: CAMBRIDGE – When they met earlier this month, G-20 finance ministers and central bankers called for global improvements in corporate governance. Such appeals are often heard, but powerful vested interests make it hard for governments to follow through. So, if serious reforms are to be implemented, strong and persistent public pressure will [...]
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Finance & Markets
Giving the SEC Teeth
The problems at the SEC were decades in the making. The agency is supposed to be an investor’s advocate, the chief law enforcement agency for the markets. But that has hardly been how they have been managed, funded and operated run in recent years. Essentially the largest prosecutor’s office in the country, the SEC has [...]
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Europe
Germany’s 2009 Bundestag Election: a Political Realignment in Progress?
by Manuel Alvarez-Rivera, Puerto Rico Voters in Germany gave a substantial plurality to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s right-of-center Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian counterpart, the Christian Social Union (CSU), in a general election held last Sunday to choose members of the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany’s bicameral legislature. Moreover, Chancellor Merkel – who [...]
