After months of debate, denial and conflict, China finally announced a new policy on its controversial currency, the yuan (also known as the renminbi, or RMB). For the past two years, the yuan has (unofficially) been pegged to the U.S. dollar, sparking criticism from politicians in Washington, high-profile economists and China’s fellow …
This is a question everyone needs to be worried about. We can all recall the turmoil in global financial markets when Greece fell into a debt crisis. Well, that would look about as exciting as a sing-along with Barney if Spain experienced a similar meltdown. Spain is a much, much bigger economy, the world’s 9th-largest in fact, and the …
One of the great uncertainties facing the global economy heading into 2010 concerned exit strategies. At what point was it safe for governments to begin unwinding the massive stimulus programs implemented to fight off the Great Recession? We always knew this was going to be a tricky question. Cut back too soon and sink the global economy …
I was at the international airport in Madrid this past weekend, catching a flight to London, and made the mistake of buying a chicken sandwich on rye. I found myself in a line of about 15 people. What was the hold up? Not the sandwiches. They were already made and wrapped. But the café had only one, extremely harried employee on duty, …
Oh, the trials and tribulations of sitting on $2.5 trillion. That’s how much China holds in foreign currency reserves. And in this period of market turmoil and economic uncertainty, what would you do with it? I can’t figure out where to put my far more meager earnings. I couldn’t begin to guess where I’d invest …
These are the worst of times for the euro. Not only is the currency steadily sinking in value, but the Eurozone’s debt crisis has provided all kinds of new ammunition to critics of the monetary union to do some self-satisfied euro-bashing. The euro has even been blamed for causing, or at least exacerbating, the Eurozone’s crisis. One …
South Korean President Lee Myung Bak made big news by announcing a new slate of sanctions against North Korea, including the cessation of all trade between the two Koreas. The steps are in retaliation for the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in March, which more and more evidence shows was the result of a North Korean attack. …
One of the long-standing criticisms of the euro is that a monetary union cannot survive without political union. The United States can use one currency even though it consists of states with their own budgets, rights and economic conditions because, in the end, a national government is in place to solve crises, transfer funds and …
The crisis in Europe was sparked by the widespread belief among investors that Greece’s financial woes were just the tip of a much bigger debt iceberg in the Eurozone. The fear has been that other member nations – Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain, which, along with Greece, are called the PIIGS – were also buried in debt and could …
So I arrived in London this morning, to help out my colleagues with the escalating Europe debt crisis story, only to find out that in the mere 12 hours I was on a plane, not only has the entire face of the crisis changed, the entire continent has changed. After Europe’s leaders did everything they could to undermine investor confidence …
The debt crisis in Greece is sadly becoming a human tragedy. Not only have people perished in protests against government austerity measures, but the entire population is likely looking ahead to a protracted period of reduced economic opportunity and welfare. That should be enough to make all of us care about what’s going on in …
The hope after the European Union and the International Monetary Fund finalized a $146 billion bailout for heavily indebted Greece was that such a grand display of resolve would stop the contagion beginning to seize financial markets from rampaging through Europe, and from there, the rest of the world. Well, that hope now looks more like …
