Those were Robert Rubin’s words to describe the US current account deficit.   They apply equally well to the amount of dollars the world’s central banks lent to the US in 2006.   Press coverage of th…

Like many with strong opinions, I sometimes criticize (politely, I hope) press coverage of topics that I follow closely.  For example, I have long thought that coverage of China’s consumption boom sh…

Last week Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveled to Mexico City, Tepoztlan, and Toluca to view their premier anti-poverty program, named Oportunidades. Bloomberg is launching a similar conditional cash-t…

A sage commenter once suggested that this blog should be titled follow the money – since it has focused, more than anything else, on trying to understand how the US finances its large current account…

Americans are good at outsourcing.   The strong dollar policy has been outsourced to China and a few other large emerging economies.  According to no one less than Alan Greenspan, outsourcing the str…