Economics

Egypt, Syria – it’s just the end of them

"Two years and 60,000 casualties into Syria's civil war, the foreign ministries of the West have nothing to show for their peacemaking efforts except a wad of airline and hotel receipts. Egypt is proceeding with grim inevitability towards financial exhaustion, and the government has just announced a three-pita-per-day bread ration. Most alarming is the emergence of a black market in Egyptian pounds, with a street rate February 10 of 6.95 pounds to the US dollar, against an official rate of 6.72. United States President Barack Obama has asked congress to renew Egypt's $1.8 billion in annual aid, but two-thirds of that is military assistance." Continue reading →

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Countries are using devaluation to gain an advantage – and Britain is one of the worst offenders

"At Wednesday’s Inflation Report press conference, Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, aired some apparently shocking numbers. Since the financial crisis began, not only had interest rates been reduced to close to zero, but the Bank of England’s balance sheet had been expanded by a factor of five. Expressed as a share of GDP, the increase has been greater than that of the US, greater than that of the European Central Bank, and greater than that of Japan. This is way beyond being an unprecedented degree of stimulus. These are completely uncharted waters we are in, and even Sir Mervyn seems to be getting worried by them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCountries are using devaluation to gain an advantage – and Britain is one of the worst offenders

The Ascent of Whatever-It-Takes Banking Is a Good Thing?

"We didn't realize the reaction to criticism that central bankers were rash and their strategic destabilizing would result in a worldwide movement of even MORE activist bankers. You've read it for yourselves now. A 'new breed' of banker is emerging that will grasp the true power of the printing press and pump harder. Yet it simply must be admitted that central bankers don't ever know how much money is too much. There are no tools that exist that can divine the future. If new and bolder central bankers are going to print even MORE money, the booms and busts shall be correspondingly larger. This would seem to be an illogical solution, but in truth, not so." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Ascent of Whatever-It-Takes Banking Is a Good Thing?

G20 will ignore G7 demands on currency wars

"The currency market was thrown into turmoil this week after the G7 - the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Italy - issued a joint statement stating that domestic economic policies must not be used to target currencies. The G20 draft merely sticks to previous G20 language on the need to avoid excessive foreign exchange volatility, the delegate said. Others have noted that the United States has created new money in a very similar way to the Bank of Japan, although Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke insisted the U.S. central bank was acting in line with the G7 statement, 'using domestic policy tools to advance domestic objectives'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingG20 will ignore G7 demands on currency wars

G20 will ignore G7 demands on currency wars

"The currency market was thrown into turmoil this week after the G7 - the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Italy - issued a joint statement stating that domestic economic policies must not be used to target currencies. The G20 draft merely sticks to previous G20 language on the need to avoid excessive foreign exchange volatility, the delegate said. Others have noted that the United States has created new money in a very similar way to the Bank of Japan, although Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke insisted the U.S. central bank was acting in line with the G7 statement, 'using domestic policy tools to advance domestic objectives'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingG20 will ignore G7 demands on currency wars

Murray Sabrin: Cuba, part two, the economy

"Castro’s dream for Cuba turned into a nightmare in the early 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the liberation of Eastern Europe. Cuba’s GDP plunged at least 35% in two years. The Cuban crisis caused its leaders to do some soul searching: how do they adhere to the goals of The Revolution without the subsidies that were masking the inherent flaws of its collectivist experiment. Without the infrastructure—economic, financial, legal, and social institutions to deliver the goods and services to the people–Cuba has slowly been transforming itself into a mixed economy a la the United States and the rest of the developed nations of the world." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMurray Sabrin: Cuba, part two, the economy

Central Bank Snuffs Out Vietnam’s Thriving Gold Market

"There is such a demand to hold gold in Vietnam that the public is now holding some 300 to 500 tons of gold, totaling U.S $30 billion. Recently, however, the Vietnamese central bank disallowed loans in gold. Now, it is preventing banks from paying interest to customers on their gold. Instead, it is forcing banks to charge customer to store their gold, and requiring banks to regularly report on their transactions with account holders. What’s happening is that the government wants to prevent citizens from using alternatives to its own quickly devaluing currency. This, way, the government can continue to steal purchasing power from its citizens through inflation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCentral Bank Snuffs Out Vietnam’s Thriving Gold Market

Vietnam attempts to address ‘long illness’ of public sector

"State-owned enterprises have racked up some $61 billion of debt which represents more than half of total public debt in Vietnam. Several of the SOEs have already collapsed in spectacular fashion, including shipping giants Vinashin — which ran up $4.4 billion of losses — and Vinalines, which has defaulted on payments of some $1.1 billion. Experts say the SOEs have become expert at hiding their debts, have incomprehensible strategies, hazardous investments in non-core sectors which are cunningly designed to circumvent government regulations. The top officials running the companies frequently flaunt lifestyles incompatible with their official remuneration." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVietnam attempts to address ‘long illness’ of public sector

Japan’s economic minister wants Nikkei to surge 17% to 13,000 by March

"Economic and fiscal policy minister Akira Amari said Saturday the government will step up economic recovery efforts so that the benchmark Nikkei index jumps an additional 17 percent to 13,000 points by the end of March. 'We want to continue taking (new) steps to help stock prices rise' further, Amari stressed, referring to the core policies of the Liberal Democratic Party administration — the promotion of bold monetary easing, fiscal spending and greater private sector investment." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJapan’s economic minister wants Nikkei to surge 17% to 13,000 by March