As seen in the latest issue of Master Investor Magazine It’s hard to believe that the year is almost half way over. There is definitely an acceleration in time as you get older; I feel my life careening towards its ultimate destination – but then I am cheered by the realisation that I have a…
At first it was about the return on capital and now it is about the return on labour. One at a time, the main incentives that keep a market-based economy oiled are being wrecked. Central banks have already eliminated interest rates, discouraging saving; now governments want to introduce a universal basic income, which will discourage…
The financial crisis of 2007-2009 should be renamed the financial crisis of 2007-(?) when it comes to the Eurozone. Eight years after the peak of the crisis, the region is still drowning in debt, plagued by deflation, hobbled by a weak banking sector (headed by a big, fat central bank), and submerged in weak economic…
The mountain glowers down upon the city. A brooding presence, you cannot escape it: Mount Ararat. It’s the place where Noah’s Ark came to rest when the Great Flood subsided. Or so I was taught in primary school. But this mountain, although the symbol of Armenia, is located in another country, on the other side…
Global gyrations During the last decade we have played witness to massive capital movements around the world. Money has flowed from developed countries towards emerging markets, just to flow back in the opposite direction at a later date. While lifting barriers to capital movement has helped intensify global trade and accelerate the development process of…
Over the last week much ink has been spent in trying to pinpoint the Fed’s next policy moves from a meticulous analysis of April’s FOMC Minutes. But such a precision exercise seems redundant now because, only one week after the Minutes were released, the FED has already cast doubt over everything. Policymakers have been tweaking…
The Australian economy has been hit hard by a global decline in the demand for commodities, a fierce currency war between major central banks, and the false prospects of interest rate hikes in the US. Reflecting these deteriorating conditions, the Aussie declined from 1.10 against the US dollar in 2011 to 0.70 in 2015. But,…
As seen in the lastest issue of Master Investor Magazine Turkey is now a key regional player with a dynamic economy but it sits on intersecting geopolitical fault lines. An ancient rivalry could trigger an earthquake. Writing in The Spectator recently, Charles Moore, that veteran commentator and author of the magisterial authorised biography of Margaret…
…Corruption is Endemic! One thing we have learned this week: when you are making small-talk with Her Majesty about weighty issues like global corruption, it’s best not to make bland generalising assertions like: Nigeria and Afghanistan are fantastically corrupt. Much better to make the assertion at one remove by quoting a trusted third party. So:…
As seen in the lastest issue of Master Investor Magazine I’m writing this on American Airlines flight from LAX to London; and the amazing thing is, I will be sending it by email from the plane to the Editor of this magazine in about an hour or so. There has been internet on US domestic…
