former Deputy Director of the Policy and Review, International Monetary Fund
Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute studying the international economy; former Chief Emerging-Market Economist at Solomon Smith Barney, he previously held several positions at the International Monetary Fund (1972-1996), including Deputy Director of its Policy and Review Department
Part 2: Stocks Rally on Greek Bailout Package Stock markets around the world are breathing a sign of relief, but has Europe’s financial crisis now been resolved or only postponed? In Brussels yesterday, a 2-hour meeting of Europe’s finance ministers turned into an 11-hour marathon. The result was a one-trillion dollar agreement, arrived at in time for this morning’s opening of stock markets in Asia.
Part 2: Stocks Rally on Greek Bailout Package Stock markets around the world are breathing a sign of relief, but has Europe’s financial crisis now been resolved or only postponed? In Brussels yesterday, a 2-hour meeting of Europe’s finance ministers turned into an 11-hour marathon. The result was a one-trillion dollar agreement, arrived at in time for this morning’s opening of stock markets in Asia.
Is the US Becoming a Banana Republic? Argentina, Indonesia, Russia and other so-called “emerging economies” have followed a pattern that’s all too clear to officials of the International Monetary Fund. Entrenched financial elites take too many risks during good times, and when times go bad they can’t pay their debts. But they’ve accumulated so much influence that governments can’t call them to account and the rest of the country suffers.
Is the US Becoming a Banana Republic? An article in the Atlantic magazine is drawing a lot of attention from Wall Street to Washington. It's about cozy relations between financial and political institutions that make the US look like Argentina, Russia, Indonesia and other “emerging markets.” A former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund says Democrats and Republicans have enabled “financial oligarchs” to accumulate too much political power, so much that they can resist the reforms needed for economic recovery. Is it time for the government to wake up to reality?
Is the US Leading the Way to a Global Recession? The International Monetary Fund says America's financial crisis is so bad it will damage the rest of the world -- except for the Middle East and Asia. This as finance ministers from the major industrialized countries have gathered in Washington to figure out what to do. Not everybody's as pessimistic as the IMF , but nobody doubts that there's trouble ahead. Is the global economy faced with another Great Depression? How worried should Americans be? What should be done, and will there be winners as well as losers, both at home and abroad?
The roofs above our heads What do our houses reveal about us – and what do they say about living in California?
The Voting is Over, but the Campaign Continues Women had a major impact on the midterm elections. So did $5 billion in campaign spending. Meantime, Democrats now lead the House while Republicans dominate the Senate, and the politics of division continues on Capitol Hill. We’ll hear how former House Speaker Newt Gingrich helped start an era of gridlock and perpetual campaigning.
Construction continues at new Inglewood stadium The most expensive sports stadium in US history is rising from a huge hole in the ground in the South Bay city of Inglewood. In just two years Inglewood will play host to both L.A. football teams, the Rams and the Chargers, and add a million square feet of retail, office space, a hotel, parks and even a lake! As the 70,000-seat stadium site takes shape, the city around it is anticipating big changes -- some welcome and some worrisome.