Fearless commentary on finance, economics, politics and power

How two of the Euro’s principal designers initiated a process that led to what at least one of them, Wolfgang Schäuble, saw as a bad end

Biden taps the brakes on LNG expansion. A sop to environmentalists or a sign of things to come?

The Covid pandemic and the quantity and quality of labor available in the labor market (with an encouraging medieval precedent).

Each additional hour of sleep per week increases the probability of employment by 1.6 percentage points and weekly earnings by 3.4%.

Some concrete proposals for how to slip the yoke of neoliberalism and start building a fairer and more functional economy.

Trying to make sense of the US’ dangerously confused behavior in the Middle East.

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~

Why Trump looks set to win at the Supreme Court in his challenge to Colorado using the 14th Amendment to remove him from the ballot.

The impact is likely to be significant for a country that is already reeling from an economic crisis and whose government is in the process of unleashing yet another round of IMF-approved austerity. Almost exactly a month ago, Ecuador’s US-born and -raised, son-of-a-billionaire president, Daniel Noboa, announced his controversial decision to deliver outdated weapons of […]

Net-zero is staring to look like a big zero. Not at all good news to those who would like this planet to be hospitable in 100 years.

Tucker Carlson had a long talk with Vladimir Putin.

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~