Category Archives: Policy

Why Europe Can’t Afford a Greek Haircut

Posted on June 29, 2011 by macromon

If a picture is worth a thousand words, the following chart from the IMF encapsulates all the analysis one needs to understand why Mr. Trichet and the rest of the Eurozone bureaucracy are so adamant about not letting Greece restructure … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Bonds, Budget Deficit, Charts, Euro, PIIGS, Policy, Politics, Sovereign Debt, Sovereign Risk | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

10 Questions for Chairman Bernanke

Posted on April 26, 2011 by macromon

If we were attending the Fed’s historic press conference tomorrow,  here are the ten questions we would ask Chairman Bernanke: 1)  Do you think the new monetary policy tool of the Federal Reserve of paying interest on reserves (IOR) is … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget Deficit, Commodities, Credit, Crude Oil, Currency, Food Prices, Gold, Monetary Policy, Policy | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Inflation Cometh: The End of Cheap Chinese Goods

Posted on March 24, 2011 by macromon

We  posted yesterday about the end of Chimerica and have written several pieces on the rapid increase in Chinese manufacturing wages and end of the secular disinflation caused by the entry of the country’s labor force into the global economy.   … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Commodities, Employment, Policy | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Chart of the Day: QE2 and the Bernanke Curve?

Posted on March 17, 2011 by macromon

Sure there are fundamental reasons or a story for why commodity prices are moving higher, but let’s see what happens, especially to food and energy,  when if the Fed concludes quantitative easing and long-term yields spike.    Negative real interest rates … Continue reading →

Posted in Chart of the Day, Commodities, Crude Oil, Currency, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, Policy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

U.S. Macro in Two Simple Charts

Posted on March 11, 2011 by macromon

To understand the U.S. economy go no further than the following two charts.  In 2009 and 2010, public sector borrowing was more than 100 percent of total net domestic credit flows.  Federal government borrowing was 93 percent of these flows.   … Continue reading →

Posted in Credit, Economics, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, Policy, Sovereign Debt, State and Local Government | 4 Comments

The Global Economy’s Unstable Equilibrium

Posted on March 8, 2011 by macromon

We’ve put together this nice little graphic which reflects our view the global economy is in a very unstable equilibrium and list many of the issues and headwinds it faces.   Global economic growth, based on monetary or credit induced asset … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Charts, Economics, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Joseph Nye on Charlie Rose

Posted on March 1, 2011 by macromon

Excellent Charlie Rose interview with Joseph Nye, who talks about his new book, The Future of Power,  covering subjects such as the global power shift, technological change and the diffusion of power away from centralized governments,  China,  Egypt, and much … Continue reading →

Posted in Egypt, Geopolitical, Policy, Politics, Video | Tagged , | Leave a comment

History Shows Why Prognosticators Should Be Discounted

Posted on February 21, 2011 by macromon

(click here if chart is not observable) 1927-1933 Chart of Pompous Prognosticators 1.  “We will not have any more crashes in our time.” – John Maynard Keynes in 1927 2.  “I cannot help but raise a dissenting voice to statements … Continue reading →

Posted in Charts, Economics, General Interest, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

“Better Than Rubin” – 12 Things You Don’t Know About Tim Geithner

Posted on February 16, 2011 by macromon

Noam Scheiber’s piece in The New Republic, The Escape Artist: How Timothy Geithner survived, is a good read and very informative.  If you have a few minutes have a look.   Here are 12 points we found interesting about our … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Policy, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Global Pain of Rising Food Prices

Posted on February 15, 2011 by macromon

We found some excellent data from a March 2010 USDA report on cross-country food expenditures and to no surprise lower income countries are getting slammed by the recent price spike.  The table is fairly self-explanatory showing the proportion of expenditures … Continue reading →

Posted in Commodities, Economics, Geopolitical, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , | 3 Comments