… a supporter of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. In my opinion, he’s another Wall Street hack devoid of any genuine knowledge of the global macro world in which he his sent to do battle on a daily basis. Last week’s decision to label Vietnam and Switzerland as “currency manipulators” is badly timed, badly chosen and badly misinformed. Why would you name Vietnam a currency manipulator when a large part of the Trump administration’s policy is directed toward relocating global supply chains away from China. In addition, labelling Vietnam a “currency manipulator “is an immoral and unconscionable act. Even Bob McNamara is spinning on his “rotisserie in hell.”
Posts Tagged ‘Switzerland’
Notes From Underground: Never Have Been and Never Will Be
December 21, 2020Notes From Underground: A Financial Repression Authority (FRA) Podcast With Peter Boockvar
February 12, 2017It is a great honor to feature another podcast with Peter Boockvar for The Financial Repression Authority. Peter is certainly one of the regular commentators that I watch with great interest whenever he is on Bloomberg, Fox Business or CNBC. I think we cover much of the global financial landscape. While it may run long, it is a lot easier than reading a 20,000-word blog post. Pour the scotch and give it a listen.
Notes From Underground: The Roar From Yellen Quieted the Bloviators
February 11, 2014The talking heads of financial visual media tried to create a circus around the new Fed Chair Yellen’s first official Congressional testimony. Yellen proved a worthy animal trainer and backed critics and supporters to their corners as she delivered very measured and COGENT responses to her inquisitors. The media was hoping for “red meat” but the Fed chair served up a vegetarian casserole full of nutritional value but nothing for the perpetrators of pabulum to sensationalize. It seems as though Yellen watched tape of Mario Draghi for she knew which Congressional posers needed long, drawn out answers so as devour their allowed five minutes of time. Well done Madam Chairman. This testimony of the Fed Chair, as mandated by Congress, has become about as relevant as the G-7 photo-op. If Congress has questions, put them in writing and establish a record of correspondence and thus a trail of responsibility to satisfy the dual mandate. It was reported that the House Republicans on the Finance Committee was to going to have a second hearing post Yellen’s testimony in which four invited guests would provide a rebuttal of the policy put forth by Yellen.
Notes From Underground: A Day of Disconnects In Global Markets, Or a Ball of Confusion
April 22, 2013First, I need to clear the air on an issue that is cited over and over, of which causes me great discomfort. In last Thursday’s Financial Times, Robert Pollin and Michael Ash, the two professors who sponsored graduate student Thomas Herndon of UMass-Amherst–and of recent fame for finding the flaws in Rogoff/Reinhart–published the article heard round the world: “Why Reinhart and Rogoff are wrong about austerity.” I am not disputing the results of their work but I am questioning a causal relationship that they note:
Notes From Underground: Exchange Controls Building a Stairway to Haven?
December 11, 2011There’s talk abound about the possibility of exchange controls. The ability to slow the inflow and outflow of funds is being discussed from Greece to Germany and Switzerland. It is no secret that many citizens in the peripheries are moving EUROS out of their domestic banks and into German, Swiss ans British domiciled entities. The German paper HANDELSBLATT had an article during the weekend suggesting that the SNB and Swiss government are readying a plan to undertake exchange controls and a true negative interest rate regime. The overly strong SWISS FRANC has placed a great deal of stress on the Swiss economy and the Swiss authorities want to head off any demand for FRANCS if the EURO were to fail.