The Challenges for Iran’s Next President
Iran’s Guardian Council, the powerful vetting and oversight committee of the Islamic republic, announced Tuesday its list of eight approved candidates for... Read »
Excess German Savings, Not Thrift, Caused the European Crisis
One of the reasons that it is been so hard for a lot of analysts, even trained economists, to understand the imbalances that were at the root of the current crisis... Read »
Iceland’s Post-Crisis Economy: A Myth or a Miracle?
Icelandic voters recently ejected its post-Crisis government – a government that successfully avoided economic collapse when the odds were stacked against it.... Read »
America’s New Growing Energy Security
Yes, dear reader, the U.S. holds a new strategic energy weapon. The U.S. shale gale, or fracking revolution, has begun liberating not only “trapped” hydrocarbons... Read »
Making Investment Grade Is Only the Beginning for Turkey
It’s been a few months since I was in Istanbul and wrote about Turkey’s exciting cultural and economic transformation, and the country is still making headlines.... Read »
America’s New Energy Weapons
Last week I was in London attending the Platts Crude Oil Conference. In particular, much of the trip is geared toward energy and mineral issues, about which I write... Read »
Syria: Outside Patronage and a New Offensive for the Regime
The battle for the Syrian city of Al-Qusayr, which came under regime artillery fire May 19, is actually part of a larger battle for the highly coveted Homs governorate.... Read »
The Lesson from Japan
Japan’s stock market is on a roll, largely because expectations have dramatically changed this year about the underlying state of macro for the planet’s... Read »
Japan’s QE is Exporting Deflation
Japan’s effort at super QE is likely to export its deflation to trading partners. John Mauldin has a long a analysis of this in his current newsletter. Our... Read »
Fiscal Prioritisation: Lessons from Three Wars
Can we learn from previous instances of fiscal prioritisation? This column surveys the US Treasury’s response to three wars – the Revolutionary War, The War... Read »
Europe is in Recession Because ECB Wants It
I am traveling today, so only have time to complain about some themes I keep coming across when reading the press and speaking to people out in the real world. No... Read »
Abenomics and the Supply of Safe Assets
One of the big challenges facing the global economy is the shortage of safe assets. These are the highly liquid, information-insensitive assets that function as... Read »
It’s Not The End of OPEC…But Might As Well Be
If you could safely turn $8 dollars into $40, would you? What about turning $800 into $4,000? Same question, right? If you answered yes to those questions, which... Read »
U.S. Shale Gale vs. the Debt Leviathan
The wind was blowing so hard on the banks of the River Thames we had to replay it a few times to hear correctly. “The need for OPEC to…” We turned up the volume... Read »
A Japanese Recovery?
Japan’s new GDP numbers look a bit puzzling: Japan’s economy expanded the most in a year last quarter as consumer spending and export gains outweighed the weakest... Read »
Bangladeshi Garment Workers and the Perversion of Ethics
For the last few days the newspapers have been filled with stories about how western garment manufacturers will now insist on greater safety for the worker who make... Read »
What to Expect from Erdogan’s Washington Visit
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today heads off to Washington for a two-day visit that will find him and President Barack Obama covering several contentious... Read »
The Way to Star Trek Technology
Not long ago I was in Toronto for a couple of days for a conference on what people in the resource space call “Technology Metals.” These are critical elements... Read »
Time Travel in Euroland
Unfortunately, this is not news by now, but the president of the Euro group, Jeroen Dijsselbloem in an interview with CNBC yesterday dismissed the role that fiscal... Read »
Overhauling the World Oil Patch
John Wooden — the late, great UCLA basketball coach — once said, “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” With... Read »






