Yves here. I know some readers have begged to differ, but Very Serious People are not described in the same terms as pop culture icons. Thus, as Bill Black points out, the “rock star” branding of Varoufakis is a way to depict him as a colorful, entertaining lightweight.
Read more...Given how many QE-induced distortions we have in the economy, I’m not certain the spike in inventories (in isolation) is as telling a symptom as it was last time around. But most analysts took note of how much of last quarter’s GDP figures reflected both a big increase in inventories and a negative GDP deflator, and they expect the next quarter or two to be less robust.
Read more...Just as sumer is icumen in, so to are budget fights. And that means another opportunity to talk up the platinum coin as a way around budgetary tactics designed to inflict austerity on ordinary Americans.
Read more...Growth versus “groaf” had become a favorite topic of the NC commentariat. This article sets forth some of the ways for differentiating between them, using China as an example.
Read more...After a collapse of negotiations over whether and how to resolve Syriza’s demands for a new deal with the Eurozone with the insistence of its counterparties that the new government adhere to the terms of its existing deal, technical discussions are set to resume Friday. The drop-dead date is Monday, since any extension or modification of the current so-called bailout needs to happen by February 28, when it expires. The lead time is necessary because the Germany Bundestag and the Finnish Parliament must approve any new or extended deal. But what is the real state of play?
Read more...Yves here. I sometimes run posts from orthodox economic sites as exercise in critical thinking, or to remind readers of what passes for research in economics, since economic work is treated with undue reverence in policy circles.
Here, the issue at hand is why people who have well paid jobs take a while to land another one, of course assuming that they manage to land well. The analysis by the author is not bad, save its rather frightening level of abstraction. But take a good look at his summary of conventional assumptions about how job-finding and wage-setting for the unemployed is supposed to work.
Read more...Bill Black shreds HSBC’s efforts to use the “I’m the CEO and I know nothing” defense for its helping clients cheat on taxes on a mass scale.
Read more...#BlackstoneEvicts is one of the messaging vehicles for a loosely-organized groups of protestors in Spain and the US who oppose private equity kingpin Blackstone’s aggressive evictions and rental abuses.
Read more...The front page of The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, February 10 proclaimed “Oil-Price Rebound Predicted” according to the IEA (International Energy Agency).
Not true.
Read more...Bizarrely, there were leaks and news reports of progress all day on the meeting of Eurogroup ministers on a bailout memorandum. But just before 6:30 PM, the Greece government announced that any discussion of a bailout memo was off.
Read more...Helmer’s deep dives into Ukraine’s corruption are a cross between Graham Greene underworldliness with a contemporary veneer of financial wheeling and dealing, plus lots of think tank laundered influence peddling. For those not up on the dramatis personae in Ukraine, Igor (also spelled Ihor) Kolomoisky is one of the wealthiest men in Ukraine.
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