Curious Capitalist

Huffington: Financial Crisis or Empathy Crisis?

Last night at a cocktail party I attended in Davos, the queen of new media, Arianna Huffington, did a surprising thing. She asked people to unplug from their Blackberries and—gasp—slow down. Multi-tasking is ubiquitous at …

Is U.S. Manufacturing Really Back?

Is America in the middle of a manufacturing job revival? The latest numbers would make it seem so. The U.S. has added more net manufacturing jobs since the start of 2010 than the rest of the G7 nations put together, with only two …

Why Europe’s Back Door Bailouts Won’t Work

Watching the euro zone crisis is like watching a dysfunctional family come together at the holidays. They gather with the best of intentions and the highest of hopes, yet every meal or touch football game in the backyard presents …

Why Europe Needs New Leadership

The Italians have a new word for their new leadership: Government Sachs. It’s a nod to the new crew of technocrats with shocking similar resumes – academic stints in economics in the US, bureaucratic jobs in the EU, time at Goldman Sachs – who are taking over in Europe. The technocrats now running Italy, Greece and the ECB certainly know …

The Only Way to Get China to Act


I wish there were a class called China 101 that every member of Congress had to attend. This would be the first lesson: if you really want the Chinese to do something, never pressure them about it in public. Loss of face is anathema in the Middle Kingdom. Which is why when the U.S. Senate passed a bill hinting at tariffs on Chinese …

Obama’s Jobs Plan: Will it be Enough to Revive the Economy?

President Obama’s jobs plan, which he outlined Thursday night in a televised speech to the nation, is more ambitious than many people might have predicted. It’s a $447 billion package including lots of tax cuts and some serious infrastructure spending, on things like rehabbing schools and rebuilding America’s decaying transport …

Is this the end of the Mancession?

After the financial crisis, it looked like men were toast, at least in the job market. Between December of 2007 and June of 2009, 70 percent of the jobs lost in this country were lost by men. No wonder, given that the recession disproportionately hit areas like finance, manufacturing and construction – areas that employ many more men …

The S & P Goes Bearish On the U.S.

Is this the first domino in the next global financial crisis? It’s possible. Today the S & P revised its long-term credit rating outlook for the U.S. from “stable” to “negative.” The immediate result has been a flight from risky assets and anything linked to optimistic views on global growth – gold and Treasuries are up, …

Larry Summers: No Regrets on Deregulation

I spent this past weekend up in Bretton Woods at the INET conference, a shin dig put on by the George Soros funded Institution for New Economic Thinking, which is a group dedicated to figuring out new and better ways to run the global economy. You may have seen the outrage over the conference on Fox News and in the Wall Street …

U.S. Debt: The Biggest Trouble Is Yet To Come

Last week’s budget wrangles in Washington remind me of reality TV. You watch it like you watch a train wreck. While Republicans and Democrats have (temporarily) avoided shutting down the federal government, you almost wish they wouldn’t have. At least then, they would have been forced to confront the economic consequences of …

Why Bahrain Could Shake World Markets

The conflict in Bahrain may seem small compared to Libya – the country produces only 40,000 barrels of crude oil a day, a tiny fraction of world supply, and it economy is miniscule. But the religious nature of the unrest in the country has some potentially major implications for the world economy. “If the current Sunni regime is …

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