fbpx

reform

The Solution Is To Stop Being Backward

By |2020-03-20T18:59:07-04:00March 20th, 2020|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

I knew long before they came out that it was going to be a shitshow, pardon my French. You don’t screw up that badly and let the worst global monetary crisis in four generations happen on your watch with it having been any other way. So, when the FOMC transcripts for 2008 finally came out early in 2014, I knew [...]

Xi Jinping’s Pretty Consistent Message

By |2018-12-18T16:38:03-05:00December 18th, 2018|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

It seems many were disappointed by the speech delivered by Xi Jinping. China’s supreme leader spoke at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing today on the 40th anniversary of his country’s first embrace of economic reform. Commentators had been expecting Xi to use the occasion to recommit to liberalization, further opening China to free market forces. Some others, [...]

Not Political Risk For China, But Unwelcome Reality

By |2017-09-26T16:43:42-04:00September 26th, 2017|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

China’s Communist Party concluded the Third Plenum of its 18th Congress in November 2013. It was the much-discussed reform mandate that many in the West took to mean another positive step toward neo-liberal reform. At its center was supposed to be a greater role for markets particularly in the central task of resource allocation. In some places, the Party’s General [...]

Where Do We Begin? Define What It Means To Be A Bank

By |2017-01-19T16:05:42-05:00January 19th, 2017|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

It may sound overly basic, but the times being what they are there is a very well deserved need to be elementary about certain things again. That starts with banks and really defining what is and is not one. When money was money, banking was a very simple procedure, though not quite so stylized and rudimentary as it is often [...]

Where Do We Begin? No More Targets

By |2016-11-02T18:11:42-04:00November 2nd, 2016|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

In the seventeenth episode of the second season of the Comedy Central cartoon South Park, the show introduces one of its longest lasting memes that has survived despite the first airing being nearly twenty years ago, and all the vulgarity and seemingly gratuitous violence in between. Titled Gnomes, we find one of the main character’s underpants (seriously) being stolen by [...]

Where Do We Begin? Thinking Seriously About Convertibilty

By |2016-11-01T18:39:55-04:00November 1st, 2016|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Throughout Milton Friedman’s (and Anna Schwartz) seminal book A Monetary History he tries to make the case that suspension of convertibility would have alleviated much of the suffering of the Great Depression. It had in the past worked in that sort of capacity, choking off the suffering of systemic runs just enough so that emotion could die down and cooler [...]

China’s Stock Bubble Complication

By |2015-07-02T10:26:57-04:00July 2nd, 2015|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

The Shanghai Composite Index for shares on China’s somewhat stock market peaked on June 12, a Friday before a weekend in which every major analyst and China-watcher expected the PBOC to unleash rate cuts. It wasn’t a very good week in terms of economic data for China, which is likely why the call-to-action for the PBOC was nearly universal. For [...]

The Lesson In China: Don’t Go Bubble In the First Place

By |2015-06-17T12:28:12-04:00June 17th, 2015|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

There can be no mistaking that Chinese stocks are in a bubble. Since November 21, the Shanghai SSE Composite index has risen more than 100%. Going back to July 22, the gain is nearly 145%. Those dates are not random coincidence, as they mark specific points of PBOC activity. The stock bubble in China is certainly a monetary affair, but [...]

Go to Top