Confidence and ruin amongst the PIIGS
Guest Post by The World Complex.
For today’s installment we’ll take a look at the debt:gold ratio for the PIIGS countries to see who puts the IG in PIIGS (perhaps you’ve already guessed).
I am using the same methodology used in these postings. The data come from the World Gold Council, the World Bank (albeit indirectly, for instance here), and here.
We’ll start off with a look at the biggest of them–Italy.
Continue reading
China to rule the next Bretton Woods?
Looking beyond the recent bull move in equities, here is some insight on currency issues by Philip Coggan via Bloomberg. Give China a few years, and they will probably shape the new currency regime.
When the world economy heads into crisis, the international currency system often breaks down. This occurs either because debtors can’t meet their obligations, or because creditors fear they are not being repaid in sound money. The first condition exists today in the euro zone; the second is likely to emerge in the China-U.S. relationship.
So how might these conditions change the system? Much discussion concerns whether the U.S. dollar will be replaced as the global reserve currency by the Chinese yuan or whether it will simply be one of a number of reserve currencies that includes the euro, yuan and yen. (Full reading here)
What about the War on Unemployment?
El Erian on that Jobs report. From the Washington Post.
The first Friday of every month, you will find me among those eagerly waiting for the release of the latest government data on jobs. Such eagerness, however, should not be confused with joyfulness. While the numbers have markedly improved over the past year, too much of the commentary has been overly partial and, sometimes, dangerously misleading — a situation that is likely to grow worse in the run-up to the November elections.
My problem is not with what the data reveal about the economy’s performance. The consensus on this has been correct: After massive destruction, the United States has been generating jobs at a healthier rate, albeit one that is still too anemic given the huge employment shortfalls caused by the 2008-09 global financial crisis. The pace of job creation is certainly picking up but, as yet, is insufficient to overcome our unemployment crisis. (Full article here)
Latest comments