Economy News

from AIER

Established 1999

New England, USA

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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…

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    Chinese Currency Reform

    The Chinese government announced this weekend that they would move towards a greater degree of flexibility in the exchange rate. As stated by by the People’s Bank of China: “In view of the recent economic situation and financial market developments at home and abroad, and the balance of payments (BOP) situation in China, the People’s…

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    “Motionless Fed Likely to Provide No Cheer”

    “No news isn’t always good news. When Federal Reserve officials meet this week, almost two months will have passed since their last policy-setting conclave, the longest such stretch of the year. And it has been a pretty woeful period for financial markets. Since the Fed’s last meeting ended April 28, market volatility has surged, the…

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    Greenspan Warns of Fiscal Profligacy

    In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan warns of U.S. fiscal profligacy, in part fuelled by the current low borrowing costs of the government: “Despite the surge in federal debt to the public during the past 18 months—to $8.6 trillion from $5.5 trillion—inflation and long-term interest rates, the typical symptoms of…

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    Greek Government Junk Bonds

    The Greek crisis rolls on.  This week yields on Greek government bonds rose by almost 3/4 of a percentage point to 9.06 percent as Moody’s–a rating agency–downgraded its debt to junk bond status citing “substantial” risks in connection with the three-year Greek  program for economic reform. Furthermore, being downgraded to junk bond status also means…

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    “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…

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    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…

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    “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…