Economy News

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Established 1999

New England, USA

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Sound Banking

  • •

    “Volcker Rule Attacked as Lawmakers Seek Fund Loophole”

    “Senate negotiators will probably offer changes today to the financial overhaul bill to soften the Volcker rule by allowing banks to sponsor hedge funds and invest their own money, within limits, alongside that of clients. The compromise, designed to win the support of at least three Republican senators, comes as lawmakers struggle to reach agreement…

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    “U.S. Stocks Flit Between Gains and Losses Ahead of Fed”

    “Stocks wavered early Wednesday as investors awaited word from the Federal Reserve on its latest interest-rate decision and the outlook for the U.S. economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which entered Wednesday’s trading on a two-day losing streak, posted a small gain just after the open but recently retreated to trade 11 points lower at…

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    The Housing Boom and Bust

    “Now, in The Housing Boom and Bust (Basic Books), Sowell contemplates the greatest expansion of government power in a generation, which was itself occasioned by the greatest economic crisis in as long. A quick but thorough guide to the causes of the crises, Sowell’s book shows how government policies led to a huge increase in…

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    “Fed Watch: Europe Debt Crisis May Lead to More Cautious FOMC”

    “Federal Reserve officials could express more caution about the U.S. economy’s recovery after their meeting this week, giving them additional reason to keep short-term interest rates close to zero for a while. The three meetings of the Fed’s policy-setting body so far this year have all ended with the U.S. central bank giving a gradually…

  • •

    “China May Have Dug a Financial Hole”

    “In late 2008, with the financial crisis rippling through the global economy, China’s leaders embarked on a two-year, $586 billion spending program to try to stave off a recession and keep the Chinese economy growing. Unlike in the United States — where President Obama’s large stimulus plan became the subject of protracted congressional wrangling and…

  • •

    A Spanish Banking Crisis in the Making

    Spain was hit hard by the financial crisis. Like the U.S. and the UK, Spain experienced high capital inflows and rapidly rising housing prices in the years leading up to the crisis. And like the U.S. and the UK it is now stuck with a struggling banking sector and bloated public finances. Spanish banks have…

  • •

    “The Folly of Currency Pegs”

    “The current flap over the sustainability of Greece’s membership in the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is reminiscent, in many ways, of the events leading up to the collapse of the Bretton Woods system—another ultimately untenable currency regime—which was put into place after World War II and terminated by the break of the dollar’s…

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    European Weakness Is Fuelling U.S. Profligacy

    The European debt crisis has demonstrated the painful costs of fiscal profligacy and short-sighted Keynesian stimulus. In the words of financial historian Niall Ferguson, “there is no such thing as a Keynesian free lunch,” warning that a “greek crisis” could come to America. Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson says the European crisis should be…

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    “Monetarism Defiant” – Anna Schwartz on the Fed

    “Anna Schwartz must be the oldest active revolutionary on earth. Born in 1915 in New York, she can still be found nearly every day at her office in the National Bureau of Economic Research on Fifth Avenue, where she has been tirelessly gathering data since 1941. And as her experience proves, data can transform the…

  • •

    Chile Starts Monetary Tightening

    Chile has rebounded strongly from the global recession, in spite of the devastating earth quake that hit early in 2010. In response to the financial crisis, the monetary authorities cut its key lending rate from 8.25 per cent in September 2008 all the way down to 0.5 percent in July 2009 where it has stayed…

  • •

    “Volcker Rule Attacked as Lawmakers Seek Fund Loophole”

    “Senate negotiators will probably offer changes today to the financial overhaul bill to soften the Volcker rule by allowing banks to sponsor hedge funds and invest their own money, within limits, alongside that of clients. The compromise, designed to win the support of at least three Republican senators, comes as lawmakers struggle to reach agreement…

  • •

    “U.S. Stocks Flit Between Gains and Losses Ahead of Fed”

    “Stocks wavered early Wednesday as investors awaited word from the Federal Reserve on its latest interest-rate decision and the outlook for the U.S. economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which entered Wednesday’s trading on a two-day losing streak, posted a small gain just after the open but recently retreated to trade 11 points lower at…

  • •

    The Housing Boom and Bust

    “Now, in The Housing Boom and Bust (Basic Books), Sowell contemplates the greatest expansion of government power in a generation, which was itself occasioned by the greatest economic crisis in as long. A quick but thorough guide to the causes of the crises, Sowell’s book shows how government policies led to a huge increase in…

  • •

    “Fed Watch: Europe Debt Crisis May Lead to More Cautious FOMC”

    “Federal Reserve officials could express more caution about the U.S. economy’s recovery after their meeting this week, giving them additional reason to keep short-term interest rates close to zero for a while. The three meetings of the Fed’s policy-setting body so far this year have all ended with the U.S. central bank giving a gradually…

  • •

    “China May Have Dug a Financial Hole”

    “In late 2008, with the financial crisis rippling through the global economy, China’s leaders embarked on a two-year, $586 billion spending program to try to stave off a recession and keep the Chinese economy growing. Unlike in the United States — where President Obama’s large stimulus plan became the subject of protracted congressional wrangling and…

  • •

    A Spanish Banking Crisis in the Making

    Spain was hit hard by the financial crisis. Like the U.S. and the UK, Spain experienced high capital inflows and rapidly rising housing prices in the years leading up to the crisis. And like the U.S. and the UK it is now stuck with a struggling banking sector and bloated public finances. Spanish banks have…

  • •

    “The Folly of Currency Pegs”

    “The current flap over the sustainability of Greece’s membership in the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is reminiscent, in many ways, of the events leading up to the collapse of the Bretton Woods system—another ultimately untenable currency regime—which was put into place after World War II and terminated by the break of the dollar’s…

  • •

    European Weakness Is Fuelling U.S. Profligacy

    The European debt crisis has demonstrated the painful costs of fiscal profligacy and short-sighted Keynesian stimulus. In the words of financial historian Niall Ferguson, “there is no such thing as a Keynesian free lunch,” warning that a “greek crisis” could come to America. Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson says the European crisis should be…

  • •

    “Monetarism Defiant” – Anna Schwartz on the Fed

    “Anna Schwartz must be the oldest active revolutionary on earth. Born in 1915 in New York, she can still be found nearly every day at her office in the National Bureau of Economic Research on Fifth Avenue, where she has been tirelessly gathering data since 1941. And as her experience proves, data can transform the…

  • •

    Chile Starts Monetary Tightening

    Chile has rebounded strongly from the global recession, in spite of the devastating earth quake that hit early in 2010. In response to the financial crisis, the monetary authorities cut its key lending rate from 8.25 per cent in September 2008 all the way down to 0.5 percent in July 2009 where it has stayed…