The string of terror attacks and the gradual amping up of authoritarianism of the Erdogan regime may've been perceived as Turkey's main problems, but in truth, their woes are economic first and foremost. Do bear with me.

The Turkish economy has registered a 1.8% slump for the 3rd quarter of last year, and the forecasts are even grimmer for the ( Read more... )

During his campaign, the president-elect was warning that a stronger dollar would diminish the competitiveness of US companies. But his election victory became a catalyst for an even stronger dollar. Partly because of his plans for expensive stimulus measures and state protectionism (here's the place where libertarians cringe).

Ironically, a ( Read more... )

Have you noticed how much information and claims there have recently been about Russia's plans to issue state bonds worth $ 3bn? Lots of Russian officials have made statements on the issue in recent days: from the president's speaker to the vice prime minister, to the minister of finance. All of this has created the impression that we're talking of ( Read more... )

Yes, we can state it as fact at this point: the global economy is in a period of persistent economic weakness. While until a year ago that was just a pessimistic hypothesis that could be proven wrong under certain circumstances and through adequate actions by the world leaders, today we're talking of a trend. But the main concerns are not about the ( Read more... )

The Finnish parliament is currently discussing if the country should quit the euro. This should probably happen some time at the beginning of next year. While a decision for leaving the Eurozone is unlikely, the debate on the issue itself shows that Finland does have a problem with the European currency.

The question will be discussed after a civic ( Read more... )

Since nobody else has started one, this is an open thread about the terrorist attack in France. This reminds me of the Mumbai attack a few years ago in scale and organization, which makes me wonder who did it. Usually these movements claim responsibility fairly soon after it, but none of the Al-Qaeda spinoffs nor Daesh have yet stepped up and said ( Read more... )

IMF warns of new financial crisis if interest rates rise Fund says governments in emerging markets should prepare now for a new credit crunch because of a 10-year corporate borrowing binge

In other words, when the approaching new global financial disaster strikes, don't blame us as we warned you (even though we encouraged its creation over the last ( Read more... )

This spring the euro dropped to a 12-year low, and recently the slump against the dollar was nearing 15% compared to the beginning of the year. At this background, the decision of the People's Bank of China to depreciate the Yuan by nearly 2% a couple of weeks ago shouldn't be such a big shock. And yet, that move did send ripples across the finance ( Read more... )

Gotta love those nice banks (who, of course, being corporations, are people - and the best people of all sorts of people). The taxpayers bailed them out during the financial crisis because they were too-nice-to-fail, and yet, after having the bulk of that money to give huge bonuses to themselves for a job well done, they then turn around and do ( Read more... )

So, seems like the Treasury is now tinkering with the idea of replacing Hamilton's face with that of a woman of historical importance for America, thus revamping the 10 dollar bill. And the debate is only just beginning.


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