…because its central bank could certainly use his special attention. Philip Aldrick (Telegraph, UK) has the details on the grilling that Sir Mervyn King (head of the UK’s central bank, [...]

American and British banks are not the only ones under the microscope regarding the LIBOR scandal (Telegraph, UK): The EU investigation into a “shocking” interest-rate rigging scandal in the world’s [...]

The Spanish government announced a new list of “austerity” measures today (Telegraph, UK – see from 8:11 to 9:30 AM). They include the usual (a Value Added Tax increase; public sector pay cuts), plus a reduction in unemployment benefi…

As Angela Merkel tries to hold off banking union by calling for a full-blown budget union, the German people express their opposition to any more EU integration (Bloomberg via Andrew Stuttaford): A directly elected EU president was rejected by 63 perce…

Two centuries ago this month, the United States of America completed a fourteen-year series of blunders by starting an unnecessary war that led to the destruction of the capital, embarrassing defeats in what is now the Midwest, a peace that solved none…

My favorite European politician (well, among the living) is on the news again (Guardian, UK): Italy was abuzz with speculation that Silvio Berlusconi is planning a comeback – and could return to lead the right into an early general election, perhaps …

The spasm of “relief” over the victory of the corporatist New Democrats in Sunday’s Greek election lasted less than a day, a sign that investors (a.k.a. “the markets” or “speculators”) are no longer as dumb as …

Over the weekend, Spain asked for a $125 billion loan to bailout its banks, including Bankia – which was created by the Spanish government specifically to avoid this sort of thing. Naturally, the EU quickly agreed to this on the hope markets woul…

The latest attempt to cobble together a plan to save Europe from itself has already been panned by one of the outer colonies (the one previously known as the Republic of Ireland). The grand Rube Goldberg scheme came from Olli Rehn, the EU Economic and …

The latest attempt to cobble together a plan to save Europe from itself has already been panned by one of the outer colonies (the one previously known as the Republic of Ireland). The grand Rube Goldberg scheme came from Olli Rehn, the EU Economic and …