The Biggest Cause of the Next Recession? Wary Consumers
The big question at the International Monetary Fund’s annual gabfest last week was why global economic growth is chronically slow and what can be done to shift into a higher gear. I.M.F. and World Bank economists have many ways to…
Markets Fear the End Game for Greece as IMF Gives Ukraine a Free Pass
Until a few days ago, the Greek and Ukrainian debt crises looked like twins: Two sovereigns with immense debts, creditors at their throats, looming deadlines, and deep fiscal and economic problems. One of the biggest guns among the creditors is…
Saving Ukraine: Why the IMF’s Bailout May not Work
Could last week’s ceasefire in Ukraine, announced in Minsk Thursday after 17 hours of negotiation, have been any more dramatic? The German and French leaders, who presided in the Belarus capital, leapt into 11th hour action when Washington disclosed it…
Ukraine Starts Its March to Free-Market Capitalism
Ukraine watchers, to say nothing of Ukrainians, had better fasten their seatbelts. The passage of a former Soviet republic to free-market capitalism is about to begin. None of the players involved in this transition — the Poroshenko government in Kiev,…
Thomas Friedman, supreme toady: Also, shameless!
Shame on the Times and other media for falsely spinning Ukraine events. We now await the inevitable U.S. betrayal Months of discontent in Kiev and the western portion of Ukraine combust into an explosion of provocation and response, unwarranted violence,…
The 3-Speed Global Economy Puts US in 2nd Gear
When the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank gather for theirspring meetings in Washington this week, there will be no pressing euro crisis to address, and that is more than one could say a year ago. But we could be…
Japan’s Huge Stimulus Plan: A Bold Roll of the Dice
Young Japanese of 23 has never known anything but a wheezy, punked-out, slump-shouldered Japan—a country that has been in and out of recession and deflation since its famous bubble burst in 1990. Now this is supposed to change—big time. Analysts…
Sex, BRICS, and PIGS at the IMF
Dominique Strauss–Kahn’s stunning resignation as director of the International Monetary Fund provides Asians and other emerging nations with their best chance yet to break precedent and claim leadership of the IMF. The question is whether these countries are ready to…
The Deficit: Congress Fiddles as America Loses Ground
The recent news from Germany is encouraging for Europe—and sobering for the U.S. Beating all forecasts, unemployment has plunged to its lowest level in nearly 20 years. Business and consumer confidence is hitting records. It is getting hard to flinch…
Recent Comments