Shinzo Abe was first elected prime minister of Japan in September 2006. He showed commitment to fiscal policy reforms, including a balanced budget, but failed to improve the economy. With a popularity rating below 30 percent, he was forced to resign in 2007, having served for less than a year. Between 2007 and 2012, the [...]
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Treasury bonds reach 2 percent interest
The current debate regarding the U.S. economy revolves around the recent hike in interest rates as represented by the 10-year Treasury bond rate. This rate had spent most of the last four years dancing below 1.85 percent, which is considered very low by historical standards. Suddenly, this rate has risen to over 2 percent since [...]
The trillion dollar coin and you
In the United States, the president must get the approval of Congress to raise the public debt limit every time government spending reaches the imposed limit. If Congress and the president do not reach an agreement, the credit rating agencies then consider the government to be in default. Thus, if the debt ceiling is not [...]
U.S. income distribution and education
A question that puzzles many people in the United States is how companies can make good profits while the American economy is virtually in a slump. This question is relevant because it has significant bearing on rising income inequality and the changing role of education and skills, which has been a hot issue for those [...]
Why gas prices continue to rise
The driving season in the United States, which seasonally pushes gasoline prices higher, is long behind us, but the average national price for gasoline on Oct. 1 in this country was $3.80, which is the highest on record for this time of year. It also seems that there is no important drop in this price [...]
QE3: More effective than QE1 and QE2?
Quantitative easing is an emergency monetary policy used during recessions. The Federal Reserve plans to buy $40 billion every month in mortgage-backed securities in the open-ended QE3 until the labor market improves significantly. QE3 is the third round of buying long-term bonds that the Fed will be using to target unemployment, which is a very [...]
Once again Greece tries to exit
Shawkat Hammoudeh Greece has been a hot topic recently, and it needs a detailed plan on how it can orderly exit the eurozone. The plan includes elements that should minimize the risk to Europe and the global and American financial systems if a thoughtful exit is considered. The plan contains these rules to govern [...]
GCC markets more dangerous
Shawkat Hammoudeh Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) classifies the world’s stock markets into frontier, emerging and developed markets, depending on the depth and breadth of those markets. The Gulf Cooperation Council countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are classified as frontier markets. Many of these markets do [...]
Steps for exiting the Eurozone
Shawkat Hammoudeh My correspondences with my European co-authors during the last two months have concentrated on whether Greece, Portugal and Spain should stay within the Eurozone or overthrow the euro regime for good. My European correspondents have underscored the major change that has taken place in Europeans’ preferences toward shifting away from the euro [...]
European recession may spread
Shawkat Hammoudeh Fears of a developing sovereign debt crisis in Europe started in late 2009, but the situation became particularly tense in early 2010. Crisis Europe included eurozone members (Greece, Ireland and Portugal) and also some European Union countries from outside the eurozone. In the EU, particularly in countries where sovereign debts have increased [...]
U.S. solution to debt not feasible
Shawkat Hammoudeh The United States suffered from a financial crisis in 2008 that spread to the real economy and became a global crisis. Research has shown that economies that suffer a recession brought out by a financial crisis will have a lengthier period to get out of the slump and longer time for the ensuing [...]
Jordan and Morocco: not the best match for GCC
Shawkat Hammoudeh Jordan and Morocco are strong political allies of the Gulf Cooperation Council and have benefited economically from this strong mutual relationship. Any additional benefits of joining formally an enlarged GCC bloc by such candidates are not expected to be large. These countries expediently pass the political test, but there are other economic countries [...]
Arab unification: the final goal
Shawkat Hammoudeh Contributing Professor op-ed@thetriangle.org It will take several years before the Arab revolutions successfully build free and democratic societies. The ultimate post-revolutions stage will be the gradual unification of those societies in larger and more respectful states. The revolutionary tide will go into multiple phases and this is just the start of Phase I. [...]
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