Negative Interest Rates – Are There Any Positives?
The more you look at negative interest rates, the harder it is to find anything to like.
Read more...Category Archives: Economic fundamentals
Senators Try to Scuttle Syngenta/ChemChina Merger, in a Harbinger for U.S. Posture Toward Chinese Investment
This is a big week for the future of American industry. Chinese Premier Xi Jinping will meet one-on-one with President Obama on the sidelines of a summit in Washington. The Chinese will apparently use the meeting to make a new offer on a bilateral investment treaty that would pave the way for more foreign direct […]
Read more...Good Booms, Bad Booms: Why Only Some Credit Booms End in a Crisis
Credit booms are not rare and usually precede financial crises. However, some end in a crisis while others do not. This column argues that credit booms start with an increase in productivity, which subsequently falls much faster during ‘bad booms’. When this decline is severe enough, it changes the informational regime in credit markets, leading to a drying up of credit. A crisis may be the result of an exhausted credit boom and not necessarily of a negative productivity shock.
Read more...Wolf Richter: World Trade Collapses in Dollars, Languishes in Volume
A rout in world trade that started in June 2014 shows no sign of getting better.
Read more...Bill Black: Democrats Need to Give Up Being Deficit Hawks Even When it Feels Good Politically
Why do Democrats act like Republican wannabes with deficit scaremongering? Let us count the reasons: Wall Street, Pete Peterson, hatred of the poor…
Read more...Don Quijones: Brexit Meltdown at the Bank of England
The current and former governors of the Bank of England are singing from very different hymnals on the subject of Brexit.
Read more...Michael Pettis: Trump and the Re-Emergence of the Jacksonians
Why Trump represents a recurring set of grievances in American politics, and elites are making a mistake in dismissing them.
Read more...Misunderstanding the Great Recession
How many of the textbook explanations of the Great Depression were proven wrong, yet despite that, were misapplied to the Great Recession.
Read more...Michael Hudson and Chris Hedges: The Real World Cost of Turning Classical Economics Upside Down
Classical economics recognized the costs of rent extraction, excessive borrowing, and encouraging speculation over commerce. Ideologues have turned those lessons on their head.
Read more...Robert Reich: 5 Reasons Why Trump’s and Cruz’s Tax Plans are Huge Giveaways to the Rich
Trump’s tax plan reveals that his economic populism is three-card Monte.
Read more...Assuming Away Unemployment and Trade Deficits from the TPP
It should come as no surprise that the Peterson Institute has managed to model the impact of the TPP so that it does not increase unemployment.
Read more...The Oil and Gas Fire Sale: How Bad Will Losses to Banks and Investors Be?
Energy-bust inflicted to banks and other lenders has only just begun to bite.
Read more...Michael Hudson on Debt Deflation, the Rentier Economy, and the Coming Financial Cold War
Michael Hudson speaks with Justin Ritchie on his favorite topics, such as debt deflation, austerity, classical economists on rentiers, and the coming financial cold war.
Read more...The Refugee Crisis: A European Call for Action
A proposal for how to overcome the lack of consensus in Europe over the refugee crisis.
Read more...Reducing Carbon Emissions Won’t Halt Economic Growth
The big obstacle to reducing carbon emissions isn’t economic costs, but inertia and the impact on powerfully placed special interests.
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