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EUROPE
Viktor
Orbán, German policy on Iraq, and is Europe facing a lost decade?
Positive
de-escalation, status quo, negative escalation
EVERYONE VS GERMANY
French
economy minister says austerity measures sapping growth – Reuters
Austerity
measures being pursued by France and elsewhere in the euro zone are
quashing growth, French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg was quoted saying on
Saturday, renewing his attacks on policies he sees as negative for the economy.
Italy is asking the European Union to
exclude spending on infrastructure projects from the calculation of national
budget deficits, Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi was quoted as saying in
Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Deutsch-Rückhalte
and le malaise français – FT
Of all the
big economies in the euro area, France seems to be the only one where the
household debt problem is getting worse, even if it is still relatively
contained. Perhaps this is why politicians there are increasingly questioning
the merits of further tax increases and spending cuts.
DEPRESSION
A
European Lost Decade?
– Project
Syndicate
Europe's current economic predicament
sounds a lot like Japan’s in the 1990s, which culminated in
a “lost decade” of stagnant growth and deflation from which the country is
still working to recover. How can Europe avoid a similar fate?
“Is Europe going the same way as Japan? Yes,” Mr Stiglitz said in Lindau
at a meeting for Nobel Laureates and economics students. “The only way to
describe what is going on in some European countries is depression.”
A euro
breakup in 2010, 11 or 12 would have been disastrous for sure, but I'm
beginning to wonder if it would have been worse than what we've actually seen.
EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
Draghi
at Deflation Gulch
– Krugman
/ NYT
The
combination of the euro’s structure and the intransigence of the austerians
means that the situation remains very grim.
Be bold,
Mario – The
Economist
The
European Central Bank should learn from the success of unconventional policies
in America and Britain
Eurozone
inflation expectations – FT
ECB
Economists Find Benefits in ‘Fiscal Devaluation’ – WSJ
UNITED STATES
Fed’s
Plosser Warns Very-Easy Money Policy Increasingly Risky – WSJ
Why the
Fed Must Taper – of
two minds
As the
Federal deficit shrank, the Fed upped its bond-buying program (QE). As a
result, the Fed was buying more bonds than the Treasury was issuing.
Clowns
to the left of me, jokers to the right – Macro
Man
Yellen
cites labor market conditions index as reason to keep rates low, but the index
has improved and is near previous peaks
ASIA
After a bad
couple of centuries, China is itching to regain its place in
the world. How should America respond?