Forty centuries of learning nothing
“The co-authors began working on this book in 1974, just after the termination of President Nixon’s controls in the United States. Since that time,…
Animal spirits deflating
“The Fed insists on saving us from ‘everyday low prices’ – they call it deflation. I submit that in a world of technological wonder,…
Not at Davos and proud of it
“We know Carney is blagging us, he knows we know but he has to keep a straight face and essentially say – look chaps…
Rate expectations
“It is no longer a secret that stocks, like bonds, do poorly in an inflationary environment.” – Warren Buffett, ‘How inflation swindles the equity…
The Fright Before Christmas, revisited
“One good thing about Christmas shopping – it toughens you up for the January sales.” – Grace Kriley. We first published the following doggerel…
Life, but not as we know it
“We have the best government that money can buy.” – Mark Twain. It says a lot about the financial establishment that the most revelatory…
Where she stops nobody knows
“No warning can save people determined to grow suddenly rich.” – Lord Overstone. We have seen a confluence of events that suggests we may…
The four words that define western economic policy
“The goods and services traded on the semi-secretive website Silk Road since February 2011 with the virtual currency Bitcoins were so varied that the…
Taper (where?) party
“This took guts.” – Comment by Steven Ricchiuto of Mizuho Securities in response to the Federal Reserve’s surprise decision to refrain from “tapering” its…
King Carney fails to command the tides
“Sir, Martin Sandbu writes: “We should not worry about inflation – if we strip out volatile or policy-driven elements, it stands at 1.5%, according…