Institutional Investor (December 17, 2013)
With the introduction of a new single supervisory mechanism, the European Central Bank (ECB) is positioned to play a integral role. “The coronation of the ECB as banking supervisor will make the central bank an even more powerful institution, along the lines of the Fed, which emerged from the crisis as the dominant U.S. financial regulator.”
Tags: Banking, Central bank, Crisis, ECB, eurozone, Fed, Financial regulator, Supervisory mechanism, U.S.
The Economist (October 26)
“The euro mess has morphed from an acute crisis into a chronic one.” In contrast with the progress made on sovereign debt, however, “the euro zone has made less headway than other places in reducing this private-debt burden…. If the euro zone’s recovery is to strengthen, this burden of private debt must be lightened. According to the IMF, private debt is a bigger drag on Europe’s growth than government debt.”
Tags: Burden, Crisis, Euro zone, Europe, Government, Growth, IMF, Private-debt, Progress, Recovery, Sovereign debt
Wall Street Journal (October 11)
The misleading “story you hear in Brussels, Berlin and Frankfurt” is that “Greece’s fiscal adjustment is on track and its economy is bottoming out.…. Europe’s politicians prefer the status quo of eternal, rolling bailouts because it serves their purposes. They never have to present their taxpayers with a bill for the Greek rescue. And while Greece’s economy never really recovers, it might avoid any new crisis.” The time has come for more realistic reckoning.
Tags: Bailouts, Crisis, Economy, Europe, Greece, Greek rescue, Politicians, Recovery, Status quo, Taxpayers
USA Today (September 12)
“Five years ago this weekend, the world economy was in uncharted waters and sinking rapidly. The bankruptcy of Lehman Bros. on Sept. 15, 2008, touched off a horrifying financial crisis…. Far too much hasn’t been done, or hasn’t changed, since those scary days when it seemed the world financial system was unraveling.” Though the consensus in favor of urgent reform has long since faded, reform is nevertheless urgently needed. Today, “the shoring up of the financial system is no better than a work in progress, and another severe crisis in the not-too-distant future is hardly out of the question.”
Wall Street Journal (September 11)
Five years ago Lehman Brothers fell, setting off the Great Recession. Since the financial crisis, there has been no genuine attempt to remake the financial system and “far from being tamed, the financial beast has gotten its mojo back—and is winning. The people have forgotten—and are losing.”
The Economist (August 24)
Since the U.S. Federal Reserve intimated that it would begin tapering its quantitative easing program in 2013, “there has been a great sucking of funds from emerging markets. Currencies and shares have tumbled, from Brazil to Indonesia, but one country has been particularly badly hit.” India is looking less like “an economic miracle” and more like a country teetering on the verge of a full-blown crisis. “The rupee has tumbled by 13% in three months. The stockmarket is down by a quarter in dollar terms. Borrowing rates are at levels last seen after Lehman Brothers’ demise. Bank shares have sunk.”
Tags: Banks, Brazil, Crisis, Currencies, Emerging markets, Fed, India, Indonesia, Lehman Brothers, Miracle, Quantitative easing, Rupee, Shares, Stockmarket, Tapering, U.S.
The Economist (July 20)
European leaders are beginning to address the youth unemployment crisis, but the measures they are introducing “suffer from the same flaws that have plagued the European Union’s response to the crisis over the past three years: a lack of boldness, an incomplete analysis of the problem and an excessive faith in copying German policies.” With nearly 8 million European youth not in work, education or training, the problem is massive and the proposed measures “not nearly enough.”
Tags: Analysis, Boldness, Crisis, Europe, German policies. Education, Leaders, Training, Youth unemployment
Forbes (March 23)
“Forget Cyprus. A much bigger story in the coming weeks and months will be in Japan, where one of the greatest economic experiments in the modern era is about to begin. A country where government debt even dwarfs those of Europe’s crisis-ridden nations, Japan will attempt to inflate its way out of a 23-year deflationary spiral.” While the consensus seems to be that an accomodative monetary policy may jump start Japan’s economy, some fear it will instead “lead to a hyperinflationary disaster.”
The Economist (January 7)
Hopes that Bashar Assad might step aside, making room for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria, evaporated after a defiant speech on January 6. The war has claimed an estimated 60,000 Syrian lives. With the opposition determined not to “negotiate a political solution to the crisis until Mr Assad is out of the picture, both sides are still trying for a military victory.” Mr Assad’s “speech provided no reason to believe the bloodshed will end soon.”
Tags: Bashar Assad, Crisis, Diplomacy, Military, Opposition, Solution, Syria
New York Times (December 7)
“The revolution in Egypt is in danger of being lost in a spasm of violence, power grabs and bad judgments…. It was Mr. Morsi’s dictatorial edict placing himself above the law last month that ignited this crisis.”
“The revolution in Egypt is in danger of being lost in a spasm of violence, power grabs and bad judgments…. It was Mr. Morsi’s dictatorial edict placing himself above the law last month that ignited this crisis.”
Tags: Crisis, Egypt, Morsi, Revolution, Violence
