Temin, P. & Vines, D. (2014) “Why Keynes is Important Today“, Institute for New Economic Thinking, 28 October.   Macroeconomists have been notably unhelpful in explaining and recommending policies since the global financial crisis of 2008. How could this have happened? Since John Maynard Keynes created macroeconomics in the 1930s, the field has grown to be half of all introductory courses in economics and has become well represented and respected …Read More

Durden, D. (2014) “The Scariest Number Revealed Today: $1.114 Trillion In Eurozone Bad Debt“, ΘZeroHedge, 26 October.   As we previously reported, the ECB’s latest stress test was once again patently flawed from the start. Why? Because as we noted earlier, in its most draconian, “adverse” scenario, the ECB simply refused to contemplate the possibility of deflation. And here’s why. Buried deep in the report, on page 75 of 178, …Read More

Durden, T. (2014) “Remember Europe’s “austerity”, or rather as we dubbed it, fauxterity?“, ΘZeroHedge Blog, 24 October.   Of course, how could you forget: after all everything that is wrong with Europe is blamed not on government corruption and the complete lack of reform, enabled so gloriously by Goldman’s custodian of Europe’s money printer who would do “whatever it takes” to mask Europe’s sad reality that without reform the continent …Read More

Wolff, B. G. (2014) “Europe’s fiscal wormhole – with all of the rules pointing toward recession, how can Europe boost recovery?“, Project Syndicate, 24 October.   Τhe International Monetary Fund now estimates a 30% risk of deflation in the eurozone, and growth figures within the monetary union continue to disappoint. But policymakers seem trapped in a cat’s cradle of economic, political, and legal constraints that is preventing effective action. The …Read More

Smith, Y. (2014) “Ilargi: 40% of Eurozone Banks Are In Bad Shape“, Naked Capitalism Blog, 23 October.   Yves here. While investors remain fixed on how much more the Fed and the ECB will pump into financial assets via QE, Eurozone banks lumber on in their walking wounded state. Deflationary pressures and lousy growth grind down weak and even once-good borrowers. And it’s not as if the banks who lent …Read More

The Economist Explains: “Why the German economy is in a rut“, The Economist, 21 October 2014.   In the second quarter of this year the German economy shrank by 0.2%. Economists expect it to contract again in the third quarter, meaning that the economy will technically be in recession. Some believe that the economy will not grow until the middle of next year. This performance has taken some people by …Read More

Dixon, H. (2014) “A New Euro Crisis?“, Reuters Breaking Views, 20 October.   The markets are right to worry about the euro zone, the epicentre of last week’s fright. Its three big economies -Germany, France and Italy- are, in their own ways, stuck. There is, in theory, a grand bargain that might shift the malaise. This would involve deep structural reform by Berlin as well as Paris and Rome; quantitative …Read More

Durden, T. (2014) “The ECB Changes Its Mind Which Bonds It Will Monetize, Then It Changes It Again“, ΘZeroHedge, 20 October.   To get a sense of just how chaotic, unprepared, confused and in a word, clueless the ECB is about just its “private QE”, aka purchases of ABS, which should begin in the “next few days” (but certainly don’t hold your breath) – let alone the monetization of public …Read More