Monthly Archives: February 2013

Just as confusing as the effects of the sequester itself is to figure out when it starts: Leaders in Washington know they are approaching the moment when the so-called sequester spending cuts are set to take effect — but they … Continue reading →

This morning Charles Bean, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, took the opportunity of the NGDP release for the last quarter of 2012 to ‘deride’ NGDP targeting. I don´t really recommend reading his speech because it is an ‘unlearning’ … Continue reading →

Either Bernanke has no discernment or he is ‘making fools’ of the nation´s lawmakers. The WSJ reports: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke laid out aggressive long-run markers for lawmakers consumed in budget battles with the White House. While Mr. Bernanke wants Congress to … Continue reading →

James Pethokoukis has this take: “During Ben Bernanke’s Senate testimony this morning, Republicans again lambasted the Fed chairman for worrying too little about the inflationary potential of his low interest rate/quantitative easing monetary policy. From the WSJ:” A testy exchange between … Continue reading →

Scott Sumner has done a post on “The British Miracle: exploding job growth during a recession. The endlessly perplexing British economy continues to post bizarre jobs numbers: The employment numbers continue to be surprisingly strong, with a rise of 154,000 to … Continue reading →

In effect that´s what Italy been saying to politicians for many decades. Not to stray too far into the past, over the last 32 years Italy is coming up with the 20th PM. On average that´s a new PM every … Continue reading →

This is about potential real output. In March 2012 I posted “Another ‘bitch’: potential output” and concluded: And the next chart gives up a “red light” indicating the possibility of “structural” problems being “brewed” by the complete absence of “cojones” … Continue reading →

There´s a good (long) story in Bloomberg on how Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is prodding Japan out of its lethargy: Putting the final touches to his latest book in October, retired Yale University professor Koichi Hamada received a phone call … Continue reading →

In The Atlantic Matt writes: “The 2% Mystery: Why Has QE3 Been Such a Bust”? The best way to figure out what the Fed wants is to listen. After all, it tells us what it thinks will happen with GDP, unemployment, … Continue reading →

Maybe that´s the case of Mr. Olli Rehn (from Finland), the EU’s economic affairs commissioner, who said in a statement: “The current situation can be summarised like this: we have disappointing hard data from the end of last year, some … Continue reading →