Greece Cornered as IMF and ECB Refuse to Relent
A flurry of stories this weekend confirms that Greece and its creditors remain hopelessly at odds. The inertial path is to a Greek default
Read more...Category Archives: Economic fundamentals
Bill Black: Krugman is Half Right
Paul Krugman’s latest column fingers some valid targets but lets way too many other equally deserving ones off.
Read more...“Why Syriza Will Blink”
Anatole Kaletsky has a cognent, forcefully argued new article at the Project Syndicate website, Why Syriza Will Blink, which independently comes to the conclusion we’ve reached, that the winning strategy for the creditors is to keep Greece in the sweatbox and use worsening economic and social conditions in Greece to crush domestic support for Syriza. Kaletsky goes further than we have, arguing that this is the course the Troika is taking, and the new coalition should have anticipated this as a likely strategy, since it’s the same one they used successfully against Cyprus two years ago.
Read more...Wolf Richter: Why the Heck Is the Trucking Business Slowing Down?
Trucking activity is a long-standing leading indicator of economic activity. It’s been flashing red in recent months.
Read more...Is the Push for Greater European Integration a Mistake?
The assumption among policy elites that more European integration will heal the union’s ills may be misguided.
Read more...Wolf Richter: How Soaring Housing Costs Impoverish a Whole Generation and Maul the Real Economy
Housing costs are beyond the reach of many middle class earners. And while that is no news, housing has been the engine of past recoveries. So inflated home prices are part of why the economy will stay mired in low growth.
Read more...Greece Authorizes €750 Million Payment to IMF Despite Failing to Get Concession Sought [Updated]
Today, Greece blinked. But one unconfirmed report suggests the government got some eyewash.
Read more...Greece Finally Threatens Default as Deal with Creditors Remains Remote
A Greek default looms, but what does that mean for Greece and its creditors?
Read more...Ilargi: Will Austerity Be the Straw that Breaks the EU AND the UK?
Cameron thinks he’s riding a major victory, and he will now be called upon to deliver on his election promises, which just so happen to include a deepening and acceleration of austerity measures.
Read more...Greece Says It Will Make IMF Payment Next Week As Stalemate Continues
Greece may succeed in avoiding a default next week, but it remains at loggerheads with its creditors.
Read more...The Foreclosure Crisis Caused a Great Migration in Miniature
Several commentators picked up on the relationship between the events in Baltimore and the dearth of economic opportunity that leads to a sense of hopelessness. But precious few added the component of the foreclosure crisis, a dislocating event that has few parallels in American history. A new paper in the American Sociological Review by Matthew Hall (Cornell), Kyle Crowder (University of Washington) and Amy Spring (Georgia State) puts numbers to this, and shows that we really had a small-scale version of the Great Migration, the shift of African-Americans from the rural south to the big cities of the north. This migration hollowed out and segregated African-American and Latino communities to an even greater degree than where they already were.
Read more...Wolf Richter: “Smart Money” Prepares to Profit from Bond Market Rout
“If I had an easy way and a non-risk way of shorting a whole lot of 20- or 30-year bonds, I’d do it,” said our favorite uncle Warren Buffett on CNBC. These kinds of bonds have been on a terrific bull run ever since Paul Volker, as Chairman of the Fed, cracked down on inflation. But now, even the avuncular face of capitalism would bet against them.
Read more...The Persecution and Assassination of the People of Greece as Performed by the Inmates of the Troika, Under the Direction of the Eurogroup
A new paper shreds the myths that justified the misguided application of austerity and wage-rate reduction policies in Greece and the Eurozone.
Read more...Wolf Richter: China Containerized Freight Index Plunges to Multi-Year Low, Shanghai-EU Rates Totally Collapse, US Rates Morose
Weak demand in the Eurozone; inventory build-up in the U.S., and free money meant carriers added more and more ships. How does the movie end?
Read more...Syriza Emulates Nixon Going to China in a Bad Way
It’s painful to watch the Greek ruling coalition unwittingly do the creditors’ work by wringing Greece dry of cash more aggressively than Pasok or New Democracy would have dared to.
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