The IMF gets radical
To some people’s surprise, the IMF under Christine Lagarde is pushing governments and stamping its authority on financial sector issues in ways that it has seldom done before. Following my prediction...
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Volcker, Lagarde, Rees-Mogg and the Ikon
Keynes as an Ikon Lord Rees-Mogg, former editor of The Times, London and doyen of British commentators, has called for a reform of the global financial system (GFS). Rees-Mogg quotes Paul Volcker, who...
View ArticleBanks that go bust
One of the lessons of FinCR (financial crisis and recession) is clear. We have to get better at stress-testing. That is, we have to understand better than we did what circumstances can push banks...
View ArticleCentral banks remain stuck in the trap
Mervyn King has mounted a defence of inflation targeting. Monetary policy, he claims, is part of the solution to the crisis, not part of the problem. This view was echoed by many official...
View ArticleWhy gold is back
In investment terms, we face a scenario that says neither bonds nor equities are likely to rise. The ‘uncertainty’ is greater than ever. And it is ‘uncertainty’ that drives people into gold, not...
View ArticleIt’s the system, stupid!
One very senior former policy-maker has written to express his broad agreement with the analysis in The Money Trap. He cites three sentences on page 33, which sum up my review of the performance of...
View ArticleChristine Lagarde gets it wrong
“The financial system can work if each of its members follow the right principles for their economy” M Lagarde has had a successful year at the Fund but this statement at the G20 meeting in...
View ArticleMight the US champion reform?
A few years ago, there was much excitement amongst monetary reformers when the governor of the People’s Bank of China made a speech championing reform. But China did not follow up that initiative –...
View ArticleWhen international monetary reform will be politically attractive
A common criticism of proposals for reform of the international monetary system is that they are not politically possible. Of course, there are other grounds on which they can be and are criticised –...
View ArticleG20 fails to act
People know we haven’t cracked the problem. Anaemic, faltering growth has brought a sense of greater security and well-being only to those in work or those with assets like shares and city property...
View Article‘The Money Trap’ now
The book argued that the crisis was the joint product of inflation targeting, irresponsible banking and a weak international monetary system. The book tried to show how these were inter-related:...
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