Pinchas Landau writes about Israeli and Global economics, finance and politics
A year has passed since the initial cracks opened in the US debt markets and the term ‘subprime loans’ emerged into the wider public consciousness. Since then, a lot has happened – to put it very mildly – so let’s step back and try and see where we are, what we passed along the way, and where we’re heading. Throughout […]
» Read moreOn Wednesday the data for US inflation in January were published. The Consumer Price Index rose in January by 0.4% and the ‘core’ index, which strips out ‘volatile’ items such as food and energy, rose by 0.3%. In both cases, this was ‘more than expected’. Let’s gloss quickly over the issue of ‘more than expected’, meaning that the analysts whose […]
» Read moreBarack Obama is both the symbol and the messenger of the change underway in American – and, indeed, global – politics and society. This change, put most simply, is the swing to the left in socioeconomic policy that has already begun and that is likely to gather speed quickly, under the impact of the global downturn. In the narrow context […]
» Read moreThere is an enormous difference between ‘the end of the world’, and ‘the end of the world as we know it’. The former has never happened, at least in recorded history, although Noah apparently got pretty close. The latter happens with remarkable regularity, although most people tend to deny even the ex ante possibility, let alone the ex post fact. […]
» Read moreWill Asia decouple? Will Europe recouple? Can Canada uncouple? These are the kind of subjects that financial analysts are hot about currently. But don’t get excited – it’s not what your dirty mind is thinking. In fact, it’s about as far removed from sex as you can get. There’s no passion and certainly no emotion in any of it, although […]
» Read moreThis week, the shekel reached its highest value against the US dollar in almost ten years, at about 3.78 shekels to the dollar. The seemingly relentless rise of the Israeli currency was interrupted on Thursday afternoon, when Bank Hapoalim shocked the local market by announcing another massive write-off of securitised American loans that it had unwisely invested in (so-called subprime, […]
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