By Brandon Smith If an economic system collapses in the woods and no one is paying attention, are there any consequences outside the woods? Well, yes, of course. As with most situations financial and global, however, consequences are not usually taken very seriously until they have spawned a vast bog of sewage we all have to then … Continue reading
By Andrew Torchia DUBAI (Reuters) — Saudi Arabia announced a string of reforms to its stock market that could attract billions of dollars of fresh foreign money and smooth sales of state assets as the kingdom grapples with damage to its finances caused by low oil prices. When Riyadh opened its bourse to direct foreign investment last … Continue reading
By Eric Simmons President Nicolás Maduro has implemented measures such as shortened workday, increased federal holidays and scheduled blackouts in an attempt to reduce energy consumption across the country amidst a nationwide energy crisis brought on by severe drought. However, the energy crisis is only a microcosm of the Venezuelan economy and regardless of oil’s recovery, the … Continue reading
By David Haggith, The Great Recession Blog The question begs for conspiracy theories to satisfy it, but one might more aptly say that central banks beg for conspiracy theories to explain them, since they operate in the shadows while being given charge of all the financial systems of all the world’s greatest economies. Central bankers have the unchaperoned power … Continue reading
Members of the Saudi royal family appear to be preparing to go into exile as they are selling as much oil as possible in order to move their petrodollars out of the country. The declining oil price doesn’t matter. Clear signals are coming from the U.S. that the days of the incumbent clans are numbered. In … Continue reading
By Pedro GarcĂa Otero, PanAm Post Following the publication of Sabrina Martin’s article in Panampost, “Looting on the Rise as Venezuela Runs Out of Food, Electricity,” several readers have been asking how Venezuela — a country that in the 60s and 70s was regarded as a future Australia — got so bad. Hundreds of reasons help to answer this question, especially in … Continue reading
By Pepe Escobar Major turbulence seems to be the name of the game in 2016. Yet the current turbulence may be interpreted as the calm before the next, devastating geopolitical/financial storm. Let’s review the current state of play via the dilemmas afflicting the House of Saud, the EU and BRICS members Russia, Brazil and China. … Continue reading
By Brandon Smith It’s been about 15 years now since passenger airliners struck the World Trade Center towers on 9/11, and we are still suffering the consequences of that day, though perhaps not in the ways many Americans might believe. The 9/11 attacks were billed by the Bush Administration as a “wake-up call” for the U.S., … Continue reading
By Alasdair Macleod Saudi Arabia has been in the news recently for several interconnected reasons. Underlying it all is a spendthrift country that is rapidly becoming insolvent. While the House of Saud remains strongly resistant to change, a mixture of reality and power-play is likely to dominate domestic politics in the coming years, following the ascendancy … Continue reading
By Kira Munk At a recent business forum hosted in Beijing, Nigeria secured $6 billion USD worth of investments from the Chinese government. An unfortunate by-product of these plans is that short-term economic gains are being sought out at the expense of long-term parity that could contribute to the stability of the relationship. With a weakening … Continue reading