There is a growing sense that the G-7 no longer is the right grouping for discussing today’s major international macroeconomic issues. It is hard to see, for example, how you can discuss "global reb…

That does not necessarily mean the Turkish lira is cheap. Right now, given Turkey’s almost US scale current account deficit (close to 5% of GDP), the lira probably is a bit overvalued. Turkey is go…

Please pick Kassebaum-Baker rather than Brownback. Kassebaum is sort of like the Christine Todd Whitman of Kansas politics; Brownback is more the Rick Santorum. I suspect that Brownback won’t get t…

The market seems to have concluded that there is no need to put any pressure on the US to reduce its large external deficits. The dollar is up, at least against the euro. So is the renminbi for th…

They truly are of fundamental importance to the US economy - particularly the agricultural economy of the Midwest.  George Friedman of Statfor asks a good question?  How effectively can a port functi…

It seems that George Friedman of Stratfor is right: it is hard to operate a port without a city.  The Port of New Orleans is open, but hardly operating at full capacity.   From the New York Times: Mo…

That, according to George Packer, is the Bush Administration’s current strategy for Iraq:“As a strategy, this amounts to muddling through the rest of the Bush Presidency, without being forced to admi…

That was yesterday’s headline.   Or, given the time differences, perhaps the headline from two days ago. Chinese second quarter growth picked up to 11% plus.  The only real surprise here was that the…