Japan Reflates
Amidst all this activity, the position of Japan is absolutely, well, pivotal. From the US point of view, a wealthy, confident and committed ally is a vital asset in what it is likely to be a long drawn out strategic game
Have a Golden Breakfast
Gold did not rise to these giddy heights by accident. A bull market of this scale requires widespread distrust of other financial assets, of the banking system, of capitalism itself
Killing Godzilla
Only right-wing nationalists, communists and neo-pagans dare propose the time-honoured method of regaining lost competitiveness
Armageddon Outta Here
The Greeks could do us all a favour by voting Trotskyite and neo-pagan and thus ending a saga that could go on for decades.
The Fish That Can Save Japan’s Economy
The bond market vigilantes appear to have gone as quiet as the sound of one hand clapping.
Erotic Investment: Snowball vs. Goldfinger
“Would you rather be the world’s best lover but have everyone think you’re the world’s worst? Or would you rather be the world’s worst…”
Sayonara to Hard Money: Here Comes Global QE
The Bank of Japan’s decision to adopt an inflation target and double its bond purchases completes the global flight to soft money.
Austerity Fatigue: LePen & Hash-ism
The road to fiscal hell is sometimes paved with the best intentions. As Europe’s politicians seek to win electorates round to brutal budget cuts, they would do well to look to the experience of Japan.
When PIIGS Beat BRICS
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. The biggest surprise for equity investors in 2011 was not the weakness of the crisis-ravaged European markets, but the carnage in the stock markets of the emerging economies.
The Retreat From Hard Money
Imagine the US economy shrinking by 30% over the past four years, the Chinese economy growing at 2%, not 10%. Imagine UK house prices down 60% and commodity prices sliding back to the levels of the mid-1970s.