Category Archives: News/ Lessons

From today’s Open Europe news summary: In its latest financial stability report, released yesterday, the ECB warned of potential volatility and stress on global financial markets from the US Federal Reserve’s decision to taper. The ECB also warned that banks’ … Continue reading →

From today’s Open Europe news summary: Merkel’s CDU/CSU and SPD seal Grand Coalition agreement Following two months of negotiations, the CDU/CSU and SPD signed off on a coalition agreement early this morning. The Europe chapter of the agreement has not … Continue reading →

Re: Today’s Open Europe news summary: On Monday 2 December, Open Europe will host an event entitled, “Greece after the ‘double crisis’ – Can the feedback loop between sovereigns and banks be broken and can the economy return to sustainable … Continue reading →

Re: Draghi says ECB needs “safety net” against deflation, by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is worth reading not because he understands economics but because he does a good job of parroting the misinformed opinions of Europe’s monetary authorities.  AEP’s latest … Continue reading →

Our monetary czars lecture us to be unconcerned about their unprecedented expansions in base money and the money supply, since there has been little sign of inflation in the economy.  For the purposes of this essay, we will assume that … Continue reading →

Re: Steag starts coal-fired power plant I thought that Germany was going to lead the world to a new era of electricity generated by wind mills and solar panels instead of dirty old coal.  What happened? Of course, we know … Continue reading →

Re: Message from Yellen is full speed ahead on the stimulus Dear Sirs: If Ms. Yellen “does not believe that the trillions in stimulus money the Fed has injected into the financial system…had created a bubble…”, then why is she … Continue reading →

Hyperinflation is the complete breakdown in the demand for a currency, which means simply that no one wishes to hold it.  Everyone wants to get rid of that kind of money as fast as possible.  Prices, denominated in the hyper-inflated … Continue reading →

What the media calls a “currency war”, whereby nations engage in competitive currency devaluations in order to increase exports, is really “currency suicide”.  They engage in the fallacious belief that weakening one’s own currency will improve their products’ competitiveness in … Continue reading →

My wife and I lived in England from 1971 to 1975, when I was in the Air Force.  I was stationed at RAF Upper Heyford, just north of Oxford.  We lived in an apartment in Oxford.  About three or four … Continue reading →