They’re at it again. Moody’s is threatening to downgrade the US Federal government if it does not adopt fiscal austerity. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/07/us-usa-moodys-rating-idUSBRE8A61ZZ20121107 Moody’s as well as other credit ratings agencies already have the US on a negative watch. Yes, the same raters who happily gave Triple A ratings to the trashiest mortgages the world had ever … Read more
An early winter has descended on the northeast, ushered in by a 100 year storm that has left the coastal portions of much of the mid-atlantic and northeastern states reeling. Our quadrennial demonstration of the degree to which the entire country is divided and politically irreconcilable was once again upon us last night. Moving into … Read more
The election tomorrow is a minor diversion. The real show begins on Wednesday (or whenever the “winner” is finally declared). That’s when Pete Peterson will move into the White House and begin to dismantle Social Security and Medicare. The enemies of the social safety net have been softening up the electorate since the early 1980s, … Read more
Yves here. Media reports in the US stress how tightening sanctions against Iran, particularly on banks, are increasingly isolating Iran, leading its currency to fall sharply. This article describes a key break in the cordon, that of electricity exports. But Iran’s major source of foreign exchange, its official dollar oil-related payments, via Standard Chartered, were roughly … Read more
Whether it is in the U.S. presidential election campaign or as a result of the debt crisis in Europe, people on both sides of the Atlantic are debating the role of the state. Do we need more government or less of it? Do we want more public services provided by the state and funded with … Read more
Journalist Frederick Kaufman made a few waves last week with an article on water markets in Nature and a related interview in Wired. His cautionary story envisions a global water derivatives market that would allow speculators to rake in billions while poor farmers, priced out of the market, would be unable to irrigate their crops. … Read more
From National Journal, Governor Romney on FEMA: When asked about disaster relief and FEMA’s role in a debate in June of 2011, Romney said, “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further, and … Read more
We’re nearing election day and unfortunately we’ve got no choice. Whoever wins the election, Pete Peterson wins. He’s bought off both the Democrats and the Republicans. We’re going to get fiscal austerity no matter what. Both parties promise to cut social benefits, punch more holes in the safety net, and let Wall Street continue to … Read more
Since World War II, successive rounds of GATT/WTO negotiations have contributed to freer trade and prosperity globally, but the WTO has become too large and unwieldy to proceed, as shown by the impasse after 11 years of the Doha round of negotiations. A key trend in international trade during last decades has been regionalization. However, … Read more
We all breathed a sigh of relief when yesterday’s advance estimate of U.S. Q3 GDP showed the economy growing at an annual rate of 2 percent. In normal times, 2 percent would be a disappointment; it is a sign of how far we are from normal that we can only think how much worse it … Read more