Foreign Policy Blogs

Global Markets

Federal Reserve Foreign Currency Dilemma

Federal Reserve Foreign Currency Dilemma

The Fed is already printing trillions of U.S. dollars, now plans to start injecting foreign currency swaps into the equation, too, according to minutes recently released from its March meeting.

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Making Government Bailouts Profitable

Making Government Bailouts Profitable

    I don’t care what anyone says about them.  Purely from the perspective of a Market participant, these guys are thinking with their helicopter-caps on, and fully engaged. What do I mean..??   Simply this: President Obama and the ‘brain trust’ in his cabinet have outlined plans for what I believe to be a simply […]

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Men's Underwear Sales as Economic Metric

Men's Underwear Sales as Economic Metric

                Here’s an odd, but interesting piece from HuffPo:  ‘As chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan was known for using quirky, proletariat metrics to judge the temperature of the economy. The most famous of these, as recounted by NPR’s Robert Krulwich in January 2008, were the sales […]

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21st Century Capitalism

21st Century Capitalism

            21st Century Capitalism By Robert L. Heilbroner (W.W. Norton & Co., 1994) “It is my hope that some grasp of what the twenty-first century holds in store for capitalism may enable us to avoid at least some of the pain we might otherwise have to endure,” writes the eminent […]

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Bestsellers List. . .

Bestsellers List. . .

Capitalism vs. Capitalism By MICHEL ALBERT (4Walls 8Windows, 1993) Very relevant to restructuring of the Global financial architecture and regulatory framework debate that will be driving the discussions at the upcoming G-20 Summit.  I first read this back in the early 90’s but it has seen a revival in the context of current global economic crisis.  It examines the two prevailing […]

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G-20 Leaders Reach Consensus on Re-Building Global Economy

G-20 Leaders Reach Consensus on Re-Building Global Economy

The 2009 G-20 summit is in full swing in London and, by all appearances, it seems to be producing a number of interesting results to confront the Global financial crisis. For instance, British PM Gordon Brown announced that world leaders attending the summit in London Thursday laid out a raft of measures in a G-20 communique […]

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G-20 Primer: What's on the Agenda in London..??

G-20 Primer: What's on the Agenda in London..??

The 2009 G-20 summit, began today in London, running through Friday, April 3d.  The overall objective will seek to reach consensus among Leaders of member nations on how to confront the Global economic crisis.  The agenda, to say the least, is full. However, there are divergent proposals and solutions, and still many challenges that must first be confronted. This […]

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Ownership: Who Really Controls America..??

Ownership: Who Really Controls America..??

In the spirit of April Fools Day, a prescient George Carlin spoof of who really controls things in America. His insight is eerily relevant to the Wingnuttery of today’s debate about the fundamental character of our nation.

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Resentment Mounts Against Laissez-Faire Capitalism as G-20 Summit Nears

Resentment Mounts Against Laissez-Faire Capitalism as G-20 Summit Nears

As G-20 Summit nears in London next week, anger and resentment aimed at Western, or ‘Laisse-Faire’ capitalism, rises among public in member nations.

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Is NAFTA a litmus test for Obama trade policy?

Is NAFTA a litmus test for Obama trade policy?

    Let’s peel our eyes off of today’s Dow Jones Average for just a few minutes… March has marked a rather curious point in US-Mexican relations, causing many to raise a speculative eyebrow toward our new direction in international trade policy. Is President Obama beginning to draw a dangerously protectionist “line-in-the-sand” in an attempt […]

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Understanding The U.S.-Mexico Illegal Drug Trade

Understanding The U.S.-Mexico Illegal Drug Trade

MEXICO CITY — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, in its struggle against illegal drug cartels waging heinously violent campaigns at the U.S. border, and admitted America’s demand for illegal narcotics and the gun supply coming from U.S. arms makers were partly to blame for the problem.

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Mohamed El-Erian on the New Global Economy

Mohamed El-Erian on the New Global Economy

Foreign Policy magazines interviews Mohamed El-Erian, Co-CEO & Co-Chief Invesment Officer of PIMCO — an international invesment management firm. Mr. El-Erian’s is also one of the world’s most respected investment managers & economic analysts. His commentary is widely followed quoted on Wall Street. He shares his insights on the realignment of the global economy and why we aren’t prepared to handle it without significant risks of both market accidents and policy mistakes.

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China: Replace the Greenback as Global Currency Standard

China: Replace the Greenback as Global Currency Standard

China called for the creation of a new currency to eventually replace the dollar as the world’s standard, proposing a sweeping overhaul of global finance that reflects developing nations’ growing unhappiness with the U.S. role in the world economy.

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The Ascent of Money

The Ascent of Money

    The Ascent of Money By Niall Ferguson (Penguin Press, 2008)   For both the financial history enthusiast and the newcomer to the global financial markets alike, Prof. Niall Ferguson offers an excellent survey of the development of money in his latest of financially themed books. Ferguson, regarded as one of Britain’s most noted […]

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What happens when Uncle Sam wants his money back?

What happens when Uncle Sam wants his money back?

Question: What happens when an 80% shareholder of a company decides that the $165 million in bonuses contracted to employees prior to the purchase of shares are an abuse of the over $170 billion given in taxpayer bailout? Answer: American International Group CEO, Edward Liddy, asks bonus recipients who received $100,000 or more to return […]

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