World's Top Central Bankers (Bernanke Isn't One)

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 9/30/2011 09:00:00 AM
In my never-ending quest to bring you, dear readers, the finest in political-economic commentary on what's out there--and believe me there is much--I've trawled through a multitude of sources. Riffing on others' blog posts is common in the blogosphere, but I like to think mine is...wider-ranging. Some sources that have occasionally yielded interesting finds are financial industry magazines. Prior to Super Lehman Brothers, there seemed to be a veritable proliferation of Euromoney wannabes. But just as that epochal collapse signalled the demise of many purebred investment banks, so did it augur the end of many industry rags....
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When Cash & Hate Collide: Frayed US-Pakistan Ties

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 9/29/2011 12:14:00 PM
OK, so I had to think of a hackneyed title to describe an even stranger relationship. In general public consciousness--especially that of America--Pakistan emerged on the world stage in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. If not wholly supportive of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan back then, it was at least tolerant of its existence. By throwing wads of cash ("foreign aid") to curry Pakistan's favour, then-leader Pervez Musharraf famously switched allegiances to become a global warrior on terror--though his country's ultimate loyalty has remained in question. Since then, Pakistan has encountered several upheavals--the return of...
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Explaining Fainting Factory Workers in Cambodia

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 9/28/2011 09:41:00 AM
It is a regrettable fact that, since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, we have yet to fully understand the consequences of young women entering the labour force in large numbers all at once. Certainly, the social consequences of this movement have for a long time provided fodder for contemporary writings about the onset of modernity. For instance, recall William Blake's search for the New Jerusalem when confronted with the "dark Satanic mills" of England during his time. All the same, economists like Paul Krugman tend to explain away the existence of sweatshops in a predictable way: What is the alternative to dull, hazardous...
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The IMF, (Hypocritical) Dispensers of Bad Advice

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 9/27/2011 11:14:00 AM
Just so you know, I've regularly been receiving (print!) newsletters from the Bretton Woods Project whose most famous campaign was "Fifty Years is Enough" concerning the aforementioned IMF and World Bank outlasting their usefulness. Though I sometimes think BWP can be a little overcritical and tends to overestimate the influence these institutions exert, perhaps it's rather timely to consider whether dismantling the IMF in particular is overdue. I needn't go over my longstanding objections concerning the misappropriation of emergency funds meant for balance of payments crises going towards bailouts of troubled European peripheral...
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QE3 'Treason': Tales of Print & Hang Bernanke

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 9/24/2011 07:52:00 PM
Hangman, hangman, hold it a little whileI think I see my friends coming, riding a many mileFriends, you get some silver? Did you get a little gold?What did you bring me, my dear friends?Keep me from the Gallows PoleCall me shallow--I don't mind--but I was rather amused by Texas Governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's idea of charging Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke with treason should he further realize his well-known money-printing advocacy. To many dollar holders, it probably isn't an issue whether this contemptible character who's debased the currency and hence their wealth should be executed....
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Margin: Explaining USD/CNY Strength in Foul Times

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 9/23/2011 09:28:00 AM
So various markets around the world are showing signs of recurring stress akin to that experienced at the onset of global financial crisis in 2008/09. Then, as now, the dollar is experiencing (some) appreciation. What is behind this seemingly inexplicable phenomenon of the terminally sick man of North America's currency performing (ever-so-slightly) better?An explanation that works for me is that of bets being placed on higher growth areas of the world being unwound because of trouble at home. That is, shoring up liquidity is not such a bad idea when you predict that bad times will roll. And so it is that we observe a sell-off...
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Joe Nye, Unreal Ideas About PRC Hegemony Guy

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 9/21/2011 02:30:00 PM
It is easy to find fancy pants academics who, living in ivory towers most of their lives, are rather disconnected from reality. While this distance may in some cases provide for unique thinking, in other cases it simply breeds ridiculous assertions that any person with common sense can easily dismiss out of hand. In the above chart we have recent Gallup poll results indicating that a majority of Americans already believe that China has surpassed theirs as the world's leading economic power. To be strictly factually correct, perception lags reality--the United States remains the world's largest economy. Still, it would help...
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Drill Baby Drill: Gas, Guns, Greeks & Turks in Cyprus

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,,, at 9/20/2011 01:54:00 PM
Territorial disputes are usually magnified when energy or mining resources are at stake. In Asia, we have endless international rows over (supposedly) energy-rich islands in the South China Sea. Despite no major finds having been exploited to date, there is always the potential which keeps neighbours at loggerheads as each signals "keep off" to other interested parties.Now, consider the even more convoluted story of Cyprus. Turkey invaded the island in 1974 when Greece's then-military leaders mounted a coup on the disputed island. To make a very long story short, this attempt did nothing but flare up military tensions between...
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Why the US Shouldn't 'Abandon' Taiwan

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/18/2011 12:52:00 PM
Let us revisit one of our favourite themes--the existence of Taiwan as a quasi-republic and its meaning for the international relations of Asia [1, 2, 3] There's an interesting article by Nancy Bernkopf Tucker and Bonnie Glaser in the CSIS publication The Washington Quarterly that's been gaining attention. The authors argue that the United States' role in Taiwan should remain fairly substantial. This opinion, of course, goes against the fashionable assertion that the East Asia-Pacific is increasingly becoming a Chinese lake. Their argument is that instead of China being pleased with the US accommodating PRC demands that it...
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European Vanquished: Bra Wars, Italy & PRC Cash

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,,, at 9/16/2011 12:40:00 PM
Veni, vidi, vici - I came, saw, and conquered (Julius Caesar)We've gotten used to variations on the use of the term PIGS to denote troubled Eurozone economies Portugal, Italy (others substitute Ireland), Greece, and Spain. Further, we've gotten used to the notion of China being bandied about as the saviour of any of them during their time of need--though substantial PRC help has not materialized thus far. However, there is a more substantial link between how these economies got into trouble in the first place which does involve China. Better yet, we have previously covered it in much detail on this blog.I talk about the phasing...
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Facebook Friend Rogue Trader Who Lost UBS $2B

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/15/2011 01:11:00 PM
I've had a gallery of rogues in my consciousness these past few days. First you have the impending release of a salacious biography of Sarah Palin which appears to add unnecessarily tawdry flourishes to the life of a self-promoting American who the rest of the world would prefer to "refudiate" for good.More recently, though, I've been reacquainted with the ever-growing collection of rogue traders causing financial mayhem. The list of young men betting with house money who've subjected their financial institutions to enormous losses keeps growing: Nick Leeson (Barings), Yasuo Hamanaka (Sumitomo), Jerome Kerviel (SocGen), and...
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PRC Sets Out Its Conditions for 'Bailing Out' EU

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,,, at 9/14/2011 01:16:00 PM
This post is a quick follow-up on an earlier one I made concerning the rather incredulous suggestion that PRC sovereign wealth fund the China Investment Corporation (CIC) was seriously thinking about buying Italian debt. I thought it was a fairly frivolous thing to entertain such an idea, and the latest news doesn't do much to reduce my perception of how things stand.Ever since China joined the World Trade Organization on 11 November 2011--the PRC will soon commemorate its tenth year of membership--it has sought designation as a "market economy." In its accession, China was made to accept a 15-year period during which it would...
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Troubled West Failed to Heed Asian Crisis Lessons

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/14/2011 08:08:00 AM
American author Robert Fulghum catapulted himself into global fame in the Eighties via All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. This book illustrated core principles that he argued held in all walks of life that grown-ups often tried to rationalize away to avoid. Rummaging through the web for course material, I came across an Asian-financial crisis era work from 1998 (I figuratively blow dust off its virtual cover--fffffff) by IIE stalwart Morris Goldstein. As we are now being bombarded by news of crises arrived and impending in Western Europe and North America, let us pause and reflect on how the important lessons...
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EU Crisis: Did WSJ Help Slander BNP Paribas?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/13/2011 11:16:00 AM
I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours...but damned if it isn't another Murdoch media controversy on hand. Hot on the heels of the UK phone hacking scandal by the News of the World, we now move to a purportedly more respectable publication in the News Corporation stable, the Wall Street Journal. To wit, Nicolas Lecaussin of France's Institute for Economic and Fiscal Research today penned an op-ed in the WSJ concerning the trouble with French banks. Simply put, they have lent too much to troubled Southern European economies including Greece. (France is said to be the largest lender to Greece followed closely by Germany.)...
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The 'Real' IMF? China to Buy Italian Sovereigns

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 9/13/2011 10:47:00 AM
Rumours, gossip, innuendo in your window and out your window; such is the defining characteristic of modern debt crises. I suppose that when the US actually had money in its Treasury in the postwar period, it too elicited the expectation from others that it would bail out wayward countries. Now that the US has become the most wayward country in world history, the international community looks to China to fulfil the lender of last resort function in the community of nations.To be honest, I am not convinced that China has recently bought oodles of Greek and Portuguese debt in quantities that materially improve their financial situations according to various rumours. But nevermind little ol' me for the latest news is that (surprise!) China is going to buy lots of Italian sovereign debt. However, to not bore us to death this time, there is a twist...that admittedly makes no sense to me. You see, Italian officials are supposed to be courting the Chinese Investment Corporation (CIC)...
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