What Am I Reading?

What Am I Reading?

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- Wolfgang Munchau has a hard-hitting metaphorical diatribe on Weidmann, Merkel, Draghi and the German public (your usual players). You have to read this to believe it

" It should be clear by now what game Mr Weidmann is playing. He is sabotaging the euro through the most effective means he has at his disposal – by reinforcing people’s innate fears about the common currency. He cannot outvote the governing council of the ECB. He is in a minority of one. He also knows that he cannot overturn the ECB’s policy through the legal route. Anybody who decided to drag Mario Draghi in front of the European Court of Justice would lose. Mr Weidmann no longer has any pull over Angela Merkel, the German chancellor he once advised.

But make no mistake: he is very effective in encouraging a creeping euroscepticism among Germans. In doing so, he may well succeed in undermining the chance of the euro’s survival because euroscepticism limits the German government’s political room for manoeuvre."

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- Ed Luce has a kind of confusing indictment on the current state of politics in the US and the outlook for the economy in terms of productivity, competitiveness and the coming "energy boom" (Really?)

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- John Taylor has a blog blurb on the impact of negative regulatory policy contributing to the dampened recovery of the US economy. In fact, he compares it to the early 80's and cites data of federal workers in regulatory activities. What's funny is that he states, "While correlation does not prove causation..." and then proceeds to forget all about it!

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Brad DeLong has a take down of a ridiculous (yes ridiculous!) article in the WSJ by Taylor and the high-priest of regulation Phil Gramm regarding the QE3 impact. You think what bothers Krugman is that they claim the impending required contraction to today's expansionary monetary policy is a downside?? 

Nope. It's that they rolled out Mr. "Mental Recession" to validate such claims.

The absurd part (and there are many) is the refusal to acknowledge that no matter who owns the treasuries, the stock remains the same. Then again, Phil Gramm isn't exactly world famous for calling a recession when he sees one. 

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Here's an interesting read on the WSJ's reporting, the "fat-finger" error and of course (where would we be without this!), the price of oil. 

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