Whenever a country which has had large current account deficits for a long time suffers a fall in the value of its currency in response to this imbalance, huge losses are incurred either for the creditor nation or the debtor nation. Usually it is the debtor nation which suffers as the fall in the value of their currency increases the debt burden
At least usually, The Economist is regarded as a free market oriented publication. Yet in a story about “China’s collapsing health care” which unfortunately is not online in its August 21 issue it blasts the “communist” leaders of China for being too free market oriented when it comes to health care and urges them to increase government spending
The US Current account deficit reached a new record high of $166,2 billion or 5,7% of GDP in the second quarter this year. Except for maybe Australia this is the by far highest in the industrialized world. In fact many other rich countries like Japan, Germany and Sweden are recording record surpluses. This record deficit reflects a combination of
In a June 17 column Larry Kudlow predicted second quarter growth of 6%. It now appears to have been more like 3%. Of course, no one can predict the future so one should perhaps not be too hard on him , but this miss is particularly interesting since he in a column last November derided those who believed that the strong third quarter number last
Well, everyone is relieved now after today´s inflation report. Sure, the CPI rose 0,6% over the last month and 3,1% over the last year, both the highest number for years, but this number seem irrelevant. The core index rose only 0,2% m/m and 1,7% y/y so inflation is “really” under control so the Fed will now most likely only raise interest rates
The Economist certainly do not have a Austrian outlook on monetary issues, as they detest deflation just as much as other non-Austrians , but their latest article about the extraordinarily loose monetary policies of the United States, and to a lesser extent also other western countries is quite interesting. They note that it is bizarre to have a
Scroll down to the table that shows current account and federal deficits as a percentage of GDP. http://money.cnn.com/2004/06/17/markets/gross/index.htm
If you doubt that the spirit of Keynes lives at the Heritage Foundation, read Brian M. Riedl’s paean to 80s-era deficits. (Does the “M” stand for Maynard?)
One of the myths Americans live by is that they rejected monarchy when the British left involuntarily in the late 18th century. Had a Martian been visiting the United States recently, he never would have believed it. Witnessing the state funeral and worshipful wall-to-wall cable-television coverage, our Martian would have sworn that Ronald Reagan
Yesterday the Federal Reserve, seemingly appropriately exactly 5 years since the peak of the tech stock bubble came out with its quarterly flow of funds report . In the section on debt levels we can see that several psychological “landmarks” for debt levels were reached during the fourth quarter of 2004. For example for the first time did:
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.
