Life, but not as we know it
“We have the best government that money can buy.” – Mark Twain. It says a lot about the financial establishment that the most revelatory…
Where she stops nobody knows
“No warning can save people determined to grow suddenly rich.” – Lord Overstone. We have seen a confluence of events that suggests we may…
The four words that define western economic policy
“The goods and services traded on the semi-secretive website Silk Road since February 2011 with the virtual currency Bitcoins were so varied that the…
Taper (where?) party
“This took guts.” – Comment by Steven Ricchiuto of Mizuho Securities in response to the Federal Reserve’s surprise decision to refrain from “tapering” its…
King Carney fails to command the tides
“Sir, Martin Sandbu writes: “We should not worry about inflation – if we strip out volatile or policy-driven elements, it stands at 1.5%, according…
Still waiting
“This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.” – The Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde. The…
Enter the Guv’nor
“Mark Carney, the new governor of the Bank of England, could hardly have timed his arrival better. Even before he launched his bid to…
Global warning
“No bubbles. Because it’s normal for large liquid asset classes to nearly double in value over less than a year and then drop 10%…
Losing the loser’s game
“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a…
The tulip harvest is in!
“When the cover of a major financial magazine features a cartoon of a bull leaping through the air on a pogo stick, it’s probably…