By Brandon Smith In my last article, I outlined the deliberately engineered trend toward the forced “harmonization” of national economies and monetary policies, as well as the ultimate end goal of globalists: a single world currency system controlled by the International Monetary Fund and, by extension, global governance, which internationalists sometimes refer to in their more … Continue reading
By Michael Snyder The 7th largest economy on the entire planet, Brazil, has been gripped by a horrifying recession, as has much of the rest of South America. But it isn’t just South America that is experiencing a very serious economic downturn. We have just learned that Japan (the third largest economy in the world) … Continue reading
By Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk According to the proposed budget submitted by the current ‘blue-blue’ government the Norwegian deficit will reach another record high in 2016. Mainland taxes are expected to bring in 1,008 billion NOKs, while expenditures are estimated at 1,215 billion NOKs. In other words, 2016 will be another year of record mainland deficit which … Continue reading
By Pepe Escobar Let’s start with some classic Russian politics. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov is drawing up Russia’s economic strategy for 2016, including the government budget. Siluanov – essentially a liberal, in favor of foreign investment – will present his proposals to the Kremlin by the end of this month. So far, nothing spectacular. But then, … Continue reading
By Mike Whitney After 6 full years of zero rates and extreme pump-priming that flushed more than $10 trillion dollars into global markets, the Federal Reserve decided that even the slightest uptick in its benchmark Fed Funds rate would trigger enough destructive volatility in emerging markets that it would be better to postpone the rate hike … Continue reading
By Ante Batovic As oil prices continue to go south and emerging markets remain in turmoil, Russia is struggling to keep its sanction-affected economy floating. For years, the Russian economy enjoyed stable growth rates supported by high commodity prices – oil and gas, in particular. Everything changed in 2014, when a combination of Western sanctions … Continue reading
By George Magnus Spurring frenetic speculation in the days before, the U.S. Federal Reserve left its policy rate unchanged at Thursday’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee in Washington. Markets still expect a rise in policy rates before the end of the year, which would herald a restrained tightening cycle through to the end … Continue reading
By Velina Tchakarova Much has been written and speculated over an emerging strategic alliance between Russia and China, which I gave the name ‘the Dragonbear’ in the geopolitics of the 21st century. Interpretations of the context of deepening bilateral relations range from very sceptic to very optimistic prognoses for the future. But what does the Dragonbear really aim to … Continue reading
By Charles Hugh Smith The risk-off tide is rising, and sand castles of QE will only hold the tide back for a brief period of apparent calm. A funny thing happened on the way to permanently expanding global markets: unintended consequences. Borrowing cheap, abundant U.S. dollars seemed like a good idea when the dollar was declining, … Continue reading
By George Magnus Financial instability in Asia and elsewhere has been attributed, partly, to China following the mishandling of a mini-devaluation of the yuan in early August and a failed attempt to prop up the flailing equity market. Yet the prevalent thinking now is that these developments reflect not only a structural slowdown in China’s economy … Continue reading