The Case for Singapore Rejoining Malaysia

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 5/31/2018 03:28:00 PM
Perhaps the only time Lee Kuan Yew cried in public was when Singapore left the Malayan Federation. Can things still work out? Our longtime contact Andy Mukherjee of Bloomberg View recently penned a thought-provoking op-ed on why it makes sense for Singapore to rejoin Malaysia. Recall that Singapore was kicked out in 1965 of what was then known as the Malay Federation. Refusing to accept "affirmative action" laws aimed at ensuring ethnic Malays would gain preferences especially over the economically dominant ethnic Chinese, Lee Kuan Yew felt no choice but to leave. However, to the end of his life, he never gave up on the...
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How OPEC Boosts US Oil Exports to Asia

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 5/28/2018 08:56:00 PM
Us Asians don't need Trump to force us to buy American oil. Fancy that. As it was in the beginning with cartels, so it shall be until their end. The trouble with these things is that they only work if compliance with production limits are observed by a clear majority of the producers. I must admit that while the recent OPEC/Russia effort has been quite impressive--if you told me oil prices would reach their current levels when they started, I'd have said you're mad--there are limits. The clear "antagonist" to these would-be petroleum oligopolists are the Yanks. Namely, the shale oil producers who have taken advantage of...
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Pope Francis, Do Speculators Go to Hell?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,,, at 5/18/2018 03:18:00 PM
You tell 'em, Pope Francis! Here are more of his thoughts on haute finance. Okay, so the question posed above is not definitively answered in a new papal bull on modern finance. Let's just say that certain kinds of speculative activity most likely raise your chances of eternal damnation. As a pope coming from Argentina--ground zero for IMF borrowings past and immediate future--the way financial markets impact the well-being of persons has long been on his mind. Earlier this year, an apostolic exhortation encouraged people to think about the true meaning of "security" which does not equate to "wealth": 67. The Gospel invites...
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EU Firms Main Targets of US Sanctions on Iran

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,,, at 5/12/2018 03:51:00 PM
I guess there are good reasons these folks don't dislike Europeans as much. One thing the Trump administration has delivered on, for better or worse, is pursuing "unisolationism." Ask the Europeans. Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change, criticizing Europeans for not contributing enough to NATO's defense, putting the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on the back-burner, and now reneging on a deal to obtain Iran's compliance on not enriching weapons-grade uranium (JCPOA)...the list goes on and on. The last is very interesting: isn't it meant to reimpose US sanctions on Iran? For all...
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To Lower US Drug Prices, Raise Them Abroad?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 5/12/2018 02:48:00 PM
Trump's new health plan: Make Foreigners Sicker Than Americans. With the exception of diehard Trump fans who would applaud anything he does [like bragging about grabbing women's private parts], his recently-released plan to reduce drug prices was met with mostly negative reviews by those who actually understand what it consists of [1, 2]. To non-Trump fans, this is as disappointing as it is predictable. Like American leaders before him, to be fair, Trump's plan doesn't involve making Big Pharma squirm. It neither drains the s wamp nor provides evidence that Trump alone can fix spiraling health care costs. Indeed, the relatively...
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A Geneva Showdown on the WTO's Future

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 5/08/2018 06:54:00 PM
The WTO's future is being decided right now at its Geneva headquarters as the US and China duke it out. The World Trade Organization has often been derided as an instrument for the world's most advanced nations to advance their interests at the expense of others. This is especially so for the United States, which has largely been responsible for setting up the world trade system as we know it. The election of Donald Trump has upended this narrative in a number of ways--so much so that some commentators question the institution's viability going forward absent American support. What will become of the WTO is especially important...
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Self-Humiliation & US-China Trade Talks

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 5/06/2018 05:55:00 PM
Their underlings got nothing unaccomplished during trade talks, unsurprisingly. During negotiations and bargaining, you are taught to never begin with your most generous offer, but rather your least generous one to "anchor" talks in your favor. In the recently-concluded US-China trade negotiations, the participants apparently took this lesson to heart. So much so that, well, it is almost impossible to see any common ground achievable that would accommodate their respective starting positions at the current time. Instead of working on plausible starting positions, they have effectively begun with fantasy-themed requests...
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Self-Humiliation & Exemption From US Steel Tariffs

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 5/01/2018 12:34:00 PM
VERs and evil empires...it feels oh so 1980s. The self-made deadline of the United States to make permanent 25% tariffs on steel and 10% on aluminum imports has come and gone with no small amount of confusion. That is, we are now in June 2018 with no better indication of who will be permanently hit with what. It's particularly true for EU countries, Canada and Mexico. While this phenomenon--uncertainty created by the Trump administration--is par for the course nowadays, it does create a lot of unease for America's trading partners that does not sit well with them. What is it Americans are asking for? At the moment, they...
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