Maths versus magic
by“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” George Carlin. If investors were…
Should bank regulation be relaxed?
byLeading Federal Reserve policymaker Stanley Fischer has hit out at plans to unwind banking regulation, calling it a “terrible mistake.” President Donald Trump and…
The 2017 Stress Tests: Are US Banks Really in Good Shape?
by“… equally efficacious, and equally a hoax.” – Benjamin Disraeli, 1848[1] One of the highlights of the U.S. summer for Fed watchers is the annual ritual…
Ten Years On: Recession, Recovery and the Regulatory State
byWhat we now know to have been one of the worst economic and financial crises of the post-World War II period began about ten…
The fiscal benefits of free trade
byWestern governments have an overriding problem, and that is they have reached or exceeded the bounds of taxation, at a time when legally mandated…
Central Banks Are Hiding the True Price of Risk
byIf you invest your money, you will have to deal with numerous risks. For instance, if you buy a bond, you run the risk…
Assessing the long-term structural risk for China
byAfter falling to 6.4% in Q1 2009 the yearly growth rate of China’s real GDP climbed to 12.2% by Q1 2010. Afterwards the yearly…
Lord Liverpool and the Return to Gold
byMartin Hutchinson and Kevin Dowd* * Hutchinson (karlmagnus.aol.com) is the author of the Bear’s Lear column, http://www.tbwns.com/category/the-bears-lair/. Dowd (kevin.dowd@durham.ac.uk) is professor of finance and…
Can Switzerland Survive Today’s Assault on Cash and Sound Money?
byBy Marcia Christoff-Kurapovna “Switzerland will have the last word,” wrote Victor Hugo in the late 19th century. “It possesses one of the most perfect forms…
Benn Steil’s Project Syndicate op-ed, “The Marshall Plan and ‘America First'”
bySix months into Donald Trump’s presidency, the White House website still proudly proclaims his administration’s new “America First Foreign Policy.” No longer will the…