Summary: Can Obama make America like Zimbabwe? Or is this widespread warning a sign that we’ve become gullible fools? The easy acceptance of this preposterous warning suggests the latter. It’s sad that such a post is necessary. Worse, explaining these facts is unlikely to change the mind of many people believing this nonsense. This is …
Can Obama turn America into something like Zimbabwe? Read More »
Summary: The US economy continues to slow, albeit the rate of decay has slowed. But the net damage is severe and a recovery soon is imperative — or more “black swans” will appear. This is the third in a series of posts about the effects of basic automatic stabilizers on the economy during this recession. (1) Why …
I strongly recommend reading this: “A Tale of Two Depressions“, Barry Eichengreen and Kevin H. O’Rourke, 6 April 2009 Summary Often cited comparisons – which look only at the US – find that today’s crisis is milder than the Great Depression. In this column, two leading economic historians show that the world economy is now …
Strong recommendation to read: “A Tale of Two Depressions” Read More »
Mark Matthews is a Merrill Lynch strategist based in Hong Kong. Here is his analysis of the widespread reports about food riots in Asia. The following is excerpted from “Guanxi” (23 May 2008). Food scares are exaggerated, but good copy for media We noted on our European trip a high degree of concern over rising food prices …
“Food scares are exaggerated, but good copy for the media” Read More »
Kevin O’Rourke, Jakarta-based author of the Reformasi Weekly report on Indonesian politics, has generously provided a local perspective on the food situation in Indonesia. His detail-rich report reminds us of the complex social dynamics of other societies — even things that look so simple in a one-column article in the New York Times. So many …
