Category Archives: Fiscal Policy

Euro Fracture: “Matters are turning serious” in Italy

Posted on October 31, 2011 by macromon

It you’re looking for some Euro gloom, go no further than Ambrose Evans-Pritchard’s latest, Italy, Europe, and Red Brigade terror.   He writes that Italy risks an outbreak of terrorism if the labor market reform is rushed as the EU … Continue reading →

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

Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund May Help Eurozone

Posted on October 24, 2011 by macromon

This may the rabbit the Euros pull out of the hat.  Sovereign wealth funds to compliment EFSF.  Our sense Lagarde is working on something. (click here if video is not observable)

Posted in Euro, Fiscal Policy, Sovereign Debt, Sovereign Risk | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Italians Protest Austerity

Posted on October 9, 2011 by macromon

(click here if video is not observable)

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

Short-term Tricks for a Long-term Structural Crisis

Posted on October 4, 2011 by macromon

Good interview with Jeffrey Sachs on CNBC today.  He nails it 1:26  into the interview: We are fighting a long-term structural crisis with short-term tricks, like stimulus and temporary tax cuts. It’s not working…. The solution is actually to pull … Continue reading →

Posted in Earnings, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, Quotes | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Spiegel: Obama “like a doctor caught prescribing performance-enhancing drugs”

Posted on October 3, 2011 by macromon

Go no further than the Der Spiegel piece, Why Europe Is Right and Obama Is Wrong, to understand the fundamental differences between American and German thinking on fiscal and monetary stimulus. Michael Sauga, the author, writes, American economists, central bankers and fiscal … Continue reading →

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

QE and the “Crowding Out” of the Bond Market Vigilante

Posted on September 29, 2011 by macromon

We’ve updated our chart of the sources of financing of the U.S. budget deficit from the Fed’s Flow of Funds data released on September 16th.   The chart illustrates how the Fed and foreign central banks have been indirectly fully … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Bonds, Budget Deficit, Charts, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, Sovereign Debt | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Austerians Rising

Posted on September 28, 2011 by macromon

Interesting chart from the Economist.  Note the Brits are  much less supportive of spending cuts as they are actually experiencing the pain of an austerity program.  In other countries austerity is more of a concept than a reality. The Economist … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget Deficit, Charts, Fiscal Policy, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Takin’ It to the Greek Streets

Posted on September 21, 2011 by macromon

The future of Euro is going to be determined by the Greek street in the next few weeks and how they react to the new austerity measures.   G-Pap has his work cut out convincing the population the pain is … Continue reading →

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

Holders of Sovereign Debt

Posted on September 20, 2011 by macromon

Here’s a great chart just released by the International Monetary Fund.   Note that almost half — 47 percent —  of the US$14.7 trillion U.S. federal government debt is held by the Federal Reserve and the government itself, such as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bonds, Fiscal Policy, PIIGS, Sovereign Debt, Sovereign Risk | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

The Current State of the Market in a Sea of Volatility

Posted on September 13, 2011 by macromon

The picture below really captures the volatility of the current market and how traders must remain detached like the Coast Guard cutter closely monitoring how the ship (market) is listing.  When too many are standing on one side of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Euro, Fiscal Policy, Global Stock Performance, Monetary Policy, PIIGS, Sovereign Debt, Sovereign Risk | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments