From a magnificent article by Philipp Bagus – Why Is There a Euro Crisis? Today’s banks are not free-market institutions. They live in a symbiosis with governments that they are financing. The banks’ survival depends on privileges and government interventions. Such an intervention explains the unusual stock gains. On Wednesday night, an […]
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PAUL: One year to go – Washington Times
Via PAUL: One year to go – Washington Times (and twitterer @tomjdalton): I firmly believe the American people are serious about cutting spending and fixing our debt crisis now. Those struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families while also trying to save for the future know we must […]
Read MoreDiscussing EU multilateral debt write-offs with Jeremy Vine
I was grateful to the BBC today for the opportunity to discuss my colleage Dr Anthony J Evans’ work for ESCP Europe on the potential for multi-lateral debt write offs between EU nations. You can find the interview here at about 1 hour 10 minutes and Anthony’s work is here. As I […]
Read MoreAccessible and insightful fiscal analysis with Ray Stevens
American musician Ray Stevens has produced this superb analysis of the Obama Budget Plan: I’m sure Ray has much to teach politicians and the public in the UK and Europe too, particularly about ethics and decency in the public finances. For more on that subject, see Jörg Guido Hülsmann’s brilliant book […]
Read MoreInflation and government borrowing
In his short article Inflation and You, Ludwig von Mises explains inflation itself, the social and economic effects of inflation, who inflation’s victims are, the futility of attempts to hedge against inflation, the moral and political effects of inflation and, finally, inflation and government borrowing. I thoroughly recommend the whole article, […]
Read MoreSpending – up. Borrowing – up. Debt interest – up.
Via National Statistics Online – Public Sector Finances, the trajectory of cumulative public borrowing this year more or less matches last year: See also Deficit plan under pressure as UK borrows £14bn more in June. Here’s the tragedy: while my constituents and people across the country are seeing real reductions in services […]
Read MoreAre government bonds a good investment?
Scanning the news this morning, I read that pension funds and insurance companies are to be encouraged to hold more “safe” government bonds. I’m fairly sure this is a dreadful idea. Government bonds amount to a promise to tax productive activity later. Unlike corporate bonds, they do not represent investment […]
Read MoreThe consequences of the impending national bankruptcies » The Cobden Centre
A fascinating perspective from Robert Thorpe at The Cobden Centre – The consequences of the impending national bankruptcies: The governments of Portugal and Ireland are waiting for Greece to default. If that happens then it will likely trigger the bankruptcy of several European banks*. This is the “Second Lehmann Brothers” the […]
Read MoreBailouts are a dead end but bilateral debt cancellation could transform the European crisis
Over on ConservativeHome, I introduce an interesting piece of work by Anthony J Evans and Terence Tse of ESCP Europe: Many will argue that Eurozone financial stability is in Britain’s interests and they are right. That’s why the Government should look carefully at a new report by two Associate Professors […]
Read MoreFive videos for a better-understood new year
Some of these videos are in a US context, but the concepts apply to the UK and Europe. (We’ll just have to raise the funds to have such things done in the UK…) On levels of debt: On the madness of QE and the current economic consensus: On the battle […]
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