Conservative Economics

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Subject: Mercantilist Ideology

A kind of economic theory.

Mercantilism is an economic theory that holds the prosperity of a nation is dependent upon its supply of capital, and that the global volume of international trade is “unchangeable.” Economic assets or capital, are represented by bullion (gold, silver, and trade value) held by the state, which is best increased through a positive balance of trade with other nations (exports minus imports) and assumes wealth and monetary assets are identical. Mercantilism suggests that the ruling government should advance these goals by playing a protectionist role in the economy; by encouraging exports and discouraging imports, notably through the use of tariffs and subsidies. [Wikipedia: 2009]

International finance

Who chooses the global reserve currency?

An alternate

Who determines the ‘world reserve currency’? Central bankers? IMF officials? College professors?

The answer is ‘none of the above’. In an open, global economy, the world reserve currency is determined by the judgment of millions of importers and exporters in many countries.

The world reserve currency is decided by consensus and the personal decisions of exporters as to what currency they will accept for their goods.

On this basis, it’s too early to count the dollar out.

Good and bad banks

Bank stress tests: aftermath and consequences

tarred and feathered

In May 2009, the Obama administration divided some of America’s largest banks into ‘good banks’ and ‘bad banks’.

This broke a long-standing practice of protecting the reputation of the US banking system. The Obama government seized TARP funds as an instrument of political power.

Banks, large and small, are now eager to escape the trap of taking TARP funds, which will require them to raise $74.6 billion, either by selling equities on the market, or from profits.

Q1 2006

Trade deficit continues to support bonds

Foreign Purchases of US Fixed Income Securities

In Q1 2006, the excess of US imports over exports continued to provide dollars to the rest of the world, which were invested in the US bond market.

Although foreign central banks reduced flows into US treasuries and agencies after the high point of 2004, the shortfall has been more than covered by flows into bonds from foreign private sources. The driving force behind foreign purchases of US bonds is not so much related to interest rates as to worldwide neo-mercantilist impulses to favor exporters.

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Featured articles on inside pages

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Stock buybacks, refusing to die, live on

In Q1 2009, stock buybacks came back, driving up equity prices and sparking a rally by dominating a thin market. These equity repurchases were financed from depreciation and bond issues. More ...

Securities Analysis

Managing complexity

Modern capital markets have become so complex that security analysis methods of the 1930s are no longer adequate. Complexity goes beyond financial data to collateral issues such as operations, foreign and domestic taxation, and structural risks. More ...

US Politics

President Obama and the Lincoln Bible

The Crash of 2008 put Barack Obama in the Oval Office and was the culmination of two secular financial trends. Americans now have an untested, inexperienced leader, with strange radical friends and a leftist deficit spending agenda. More ...

US equities

Sarbanes-Oxley and the shortage of equities

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, by discouraging companies to go public, will exacerbate the shortage of equities, with a negative effect on the US stock market, although this was not the intent of its authors. Poorly drafted, ill-conceived, and unfair this law does little to protect investors.
More ...

US Bonds

The collapse of the dollar and US bonds?

The extreme spending of the Obama government, combined with irresponsible bank lending policies promoted by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, portend rising interest rates, the collapse of the bond market, and the end of dollar supremacy. More ...

World Economy

What Is ‘International Liquidity’?

It used to be that the term 'international liquidity' meant the relative amount of resources available to a nation's monetary authorities that could be used to settle a balance of payments deficit. In the days of the gold standard, this would mean access to gold that could be used to redeem a nation's currency held by foreigners. More ...

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2011-04-18 16:01