Great Depression

By Marc Chandler A disproportionate amount of mind share has been devoted to the financial aspects of the crisis. Investors and policy makers alike may be distracted by this over-emphasis and thus leaving them vulnerable to other aspects…

Hugh Hendry is back writing after a long hiatus. His latest commentary to investors makes for good reading. His thesis: we are in a world of debt deflation for which there are no policy remedies; the Fed is fighting an uphill battle and it…

Ever since the U.S. financial crisis in 2008 there have been many comparisons to Japan and their "lost decade." Most comparisons mark the start of each financial crisis as the end of 1989 for Japan and 2007 for the U.S. We believe each…

Topic of the Day: Ireland Ireland's austerity measures show us how not to do it | Business | The Guardian BBC News - Irish economy contracts by 1.2% Stat of the Day: Ireland now fifth for highest government default probabilities…

By L. Randall Wray Deficit hawks raise three objections to persistent federal government budget deficits: a) they pose a solvency risk that could force to government default on its debt; b) they pose an inflation, or even a hyperinflation,…

"I have this to say to my fellow Germans in East Germany: The introduction of the social market economy offers you every chance, in fact, even a guarantee, that (the East German states of) Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,…

During the Great Depression, immigrants were often seen as a problem more than a solution because of high unemployment. Between 1929 and 1939, an estimated 500,000 Mexicans voluntarily or involuntarily emigrated from the US back to Mexico.…

German daily Die Zeit published comments from an interview with famed US hedge fund investor George Soros who was sharply critical of German economic policy.  Soros claimed that Germany was "isolated" in its austere…

By Rob Parenteau and Marshall Auerback on how global ‘fiscal austerity’ benefits bankers and wealthy, well-connected political insiders, while screwing the rest of us. Marshall Auerback is a market analyst and commentator. Rob Parenteau,…

This comes from the blog News from 1930 on financial news from this day in… 1930 (I don’t what they plan to do after New Year’s Day): Bankers Trust of Philadelphia closed after heavy withdrawals; had 135,000 depositors, total deposits…