While monetary policy has an important role to play in combating economic downturns, central banks have assumed an outsized importance at the expense of other policy options, writes Dr. Michael Ivanovitch in a commentary for CNBC, arguing that central bankers need to […]
Author: Erik Sass
British business confidence going down the tubes
Political chaos is rarely good for business, and the febrile atmosphere prevailing in Parliament as the UK prepares to (maybe) exit the EU on October 31 is no exception. With massive uncertainty hanging over the country about Brexit, including what form it will […]
Trump takes the keys back from California on auto standards
By Mike Palicz, Americans for Tax Reform President Obama’s special waiver allowing California to set and enforce its own greenhouse-gas regulations for cars beyond federal standards has been a complete disaster. California’s waiver from the federal fuel economy rules, the so-called Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, kneecaps […]
Feds are overreaching on water rules (again)
The Federal government appears to be cracking down on agricultural water use as well as alleged pollution from ordinary agricultural activities, making it harder for farmers to cultivate or irrigate their land — and it also seems the feds are overreaching with the new […]
Kremlins In the System: Russia is betting big on AI
A few years after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that whoever leads in artificial intelligence will “dominate the world,” Russia appears to be making a bid to do just that, with the creation of a formidable research apparatus drawing on leading technical experts from […]
U.S.-Japan trade deal is a good start, at best
The U.S. and Japan signed a new trade deal on September 25, which certainly counts as good news in today’s fraught trade and diplomatic environment, more often characterized by tariffs and spurious reasoning. However the first phase of the U.S.-Japan deal is at […]
Reaching UK climate targets will cost up to £20B per year
The UK has set itself the goal of achieving “net zero emissions” by the year 2050 — and that will require some serious new spending, according to a government report cited by The Guardian. The report, authored by analysts at Vivid Economics, […]
EU leaders giving up on possibility of Brexit deal
They always said it was the sensible one — no more! The UK’s whacky spin round the political bend continues, with all all manner of unprecedented nonsense threatening to undermine its unwritten constitution, and the continued volatility is causing its interlocutors in Brussels to […]
UK needs to keep its sugar tax to save lives
The Big Nudge, er, a sugar tax on sweetened drinks is a recent arrival in the UK, but the country needs to resist opposition to the tax in order to combat obesity and diabetes, argues Nina Renshaw in The Telegraph, noting that it […]
Eastern Europe, Central Asia need harm reduction strategies to fight HIV, Hep C
Eastern Europe and Central Asia have lagged behind Western Europe and elsewhere in adopting harm reduction strategies to combat diseases spread by intravenous drug users who share dirty needles, with predictably unfortunate results. It’s time for governments in both regions to implement harm reduction strategies […]