Category Archives: Fiscal Policy

Euro Crisis: Lorenzo Bini Smaghi

Posted on April 19, 2012 by macromon

Lorenzo Bini Smagi,  former Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, nails it, You call it austerity, i would call it putting your house in order. You can’t grow especially if you have a deficit which is … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Budget Deficit, Eurozone Sovereign Spreads, Fiscal Policy, PIIGS, Sovereign Debt | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Government Gross Financing Needs

Posted on April 19, 2012 by macromon

The latest data from the IMF’s Fiscal Monitor.  Read it and gulp!  Then fire up the printing presses. Click on the tables to enlarge and for better resolution. (click here if tables are not observable)

Posted in Black Swan Watch, BRICs, Budget Deficit, Fiscal Policy, Sovereign Debt, Sovereign Risk | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Fiscal Health of Nations: General Govt Balance

Posted on April 17, 2012 by macromon

The IMF is out with their Fiscal Monitor today.  Great stats.  Here is a comparison of the fiscal health of the world’s economies. Contrast Norway and Saudi (both oil exporters) with, say,  the U.S. and Japan.  Italy doesn’t look so … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Budget Deficit, Economics, Eurozone Sovereign Spreads, Fiscal Policy, Sovereign Debt, Sovereign Risk | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Real Pain in Spain

Posted on March 29, 2012 by macromon

Youth unemployment (<25 years) running at 50 percent!   The stuff the “clash of generations” is made of.  It’s starting to feel the world is about three sparks away. (click here if video is observable)

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Euro, Eurozone Sovereign Spreads, Fiscal Policy, PIIGS | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Game Change: Bakken Shale Production 1985-2010

Posted on March 18, 2012 by macromon

We have this sense that the global economic tectonic plates are shifting before our very eyes.  America, the land of cheap energy and the new efficient production frontier? Here’s Reuters last week, America’s steel industry, for decades a symbol of … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, China, Commodities, Crude Oil, Energy, Fiscal Policy, Geopolitical | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

G20 moves closer to bigger eurozone bailout fund

Posted on February 26, 2012 by macromon

(click here if video is not observable)

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Euro, Fiscal Policy, Sovereign Debt, Sovereign Risk | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Spain facing fine over manipulating deficit data

Posted on February 14, 2012 by macromon

We’re shocked, shocked to find out that governments manipulate their economic data.   Not! (click here if video is not observable)

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Euro, Fiscal Policy, PIIGS, Sovereign Debt, Sovereign Risk | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Fareed Zakaria’s GPS: Krugman and Rogoff

Posted on January 17, 2012 by macromon

Great exchange between Krugman and Rogoff on Fareed’s GPS yesterday.   Here’s the money rumble: FAREED ZAKARIA:  Paul, you had a column and a really striking graph, where you point out that if you’d asked yourself what has the market told … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Economics, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, Whales | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

France and Germany push financial transaction tax

Posted on January 9, 2012 by macromon

(click here if video is not observable)

Posted in Economics, Equities, Fiscal Policy | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Flight to Quality Funding of the U.S. Budget Deficit

Posted on December 13, 2011 by macromon

As we suspected in our last update in September, the flight to quality funding of the U.S. budget deficit would replace the end of QE2 and almost 100 percent indirect financing of the deficit by the Federal Reserve.  Looking at … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Bonds, Budget Deficit, Fiscal Policy | Tagged , | 1 Comment