Category Archives: Economic fundamentals

Wolf Richter: Americans’ Economic Outlook Plunges

The latest poll of Americans’ economic outlook shows most expect things to get worse…and the survey was before the market rout started last Friday.

Picking Apart One of the Biggest Lies in American Politics: “Free Trade”

How the Founding Fathers and successful advancing economies steered clear of manufacturer-destroying “free trade”.

German Wage Repression: Getting to the Roots of the Eurozone Crisis

How Germany’s wage repression, a war against its own workers, has been exported to the rest of the Eurozone.

Wolf Richter: It Starts – Broad Retaliation Against China in Currency War

Struggling economies that compete with China are going to protect their exports against Chinese encroachment via currency depreciation.

Greece’s Missing Drivers of Growth

This post mines an issue we’ve discussed repeatedly, that the heavy dose of “reforms” imposed on Greece succeeded in lowering wage costs without providing the expected boost in exports.

Low Oil Prices Could Break The “Fragile Five” Producing Nations

Five countries, and not necessarily the ones you’d expect, are particularly vulnerable to protracted low oil prices.

The ALEC Rankings: Does Smaller Government Mean Higher Growth?

Demonstrating why Menzie Chinn stated, “The ALEC economic outlook ranking is, in my assessment, a manifestation of faith based economics.”

Michael Pettis: Do Markets Determine the Value of the RMB?

A thorough discussion of the background and implications of the so-far modest devaluation of the RMB.

Why Bernie Sanders Should Add a Job Guarantee to His Policy Agenda

Bernie has unapologetically rejected sclerotic visions of what is ‘politically possible’. And now he should add the Job Guarantee to his list of issues.

Does a Strong Dollar Hurt Emerging Markets?

Conventional wisdom has it that strengthening dollar hurts emerging markets via a sudden exodus of host money. A new study argues that real economy forces are a bigger driver, specifically lower commodity prices.

A Pragmatic Approach to External Debt: The Write-Down of Germany’s Debts in 1953

Greece’s crisis has invited comparisons to the 1953 London Debt Agreement, which ended a long period of German default on external debt. Unfortunately for Greece, the motivations driving the 1953 agreement are nearly entirely absent today.