The 2012 presidential campaign is gaining momentum. Both sides agree that the economy will be the central issue. Mitt Romney is promising to get unemployment down to 6 percent by the end of his first term and eventually to 4 percent. Barack Obama is hesitant to set a numerical target, having been burned doing that … Read more
Will Truthiness Destroy America? “The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity” — “The Second Coming”, William Butler Yeats Yeats’ lines aptly describe our current age of political mediocrity. As we consider our politicians, we can hardly say that they’re our best. And the worst of them are full of passionate … Read more
Lately, I have been thinking about exactly what it is that modern banking has evolved into. It is no longer about safety and security, instead focusing on speculation and trading. It has become impervious to the normal political process; it has consolidated to the point of being anti-competitive, with an enormous size advantage held by … Read more
The Financial Times has gone through the very useful exercise of creating a decision tree on what a Greek exit from the euro zone entails. I think the Europeans are now actively preparing for a Grexit because to not do so would be folly. But that doesn’t mean that they want Greece to be forced … Read more
Summary: A mark of successful people and nations is that they function well under stress. What’s the alternative? Magic! Here we look at some examples of the search for magical solutions seen in the US and Europe today. History suggests that the quality of a nation’s decision-making under stress has a large effect on its … Read more
What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man … Read more
By all accounts, EU member countries have for months been debating how to implement the minimum bank capital standards agreed under Basel III. Their arguments have unfolded as the EU works to complete its fourth Capital Requirements Directive (CRD4) and its Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR); (see Véron 2012). Three issues have been contentious: (i) whether … Read more
Summary: Yesterday’s post The end of the post-WWII world is not the end of the world discussed the large-scale processes at work now. Today we discuss the most astonishing — and seldom seen — aspect of these things. The problems of the many individual nations in crisis have received ample attention from experts. The two global dimensions of … Read more
From USA TODAY: Nouriel Roubini, co-founder of the economic strategy firm Roubini Global Economics in New York, is worried about the so-called fiscal cliff the United States is facing at year’s end. I caught up with Roubini to talk economics, Europe and that fiscal cliff. Our interview follows, edited for clarity and length. Q: Where … Read more
In recent days I have been think a lot, and reading a lot, about the implications of Greece’s recent election results. At the end of the day the only difference this whole process makes to the ultimate outcome may turn out to be one of timing. If Alexis Tsipras of the anti bailout, anti Troika, party Syriza … Read more