Hefaistos

Russian Debt and the Euro

I agree, moral hazard protection shouldn't be inflicted on nations. People suffer enough as it is in these countries. The main perpetrators are incompetent bankers in Austria, Sweden, The Netherlands. They never understood what systemic risks they took, in their overzealous expansion into the East. It is those managers that should be punished. Send them further east, to Gulag.

Stocks Churning, Commodities and Currencies Burning

Why has the dollar again been strengthening in the latest time? Interest rates are zero, which gives really no incentive whatsoever to hold dollars. Apparently, we again see a flight to safety. Prospects are also lousy for the dollar, due to the stimulation packages due out, increasing the deficits in the balance of payments, increasing the risk of inflation. All of this should really bring the dollar down, instead we see the reverse. Supposedly we face another period of stress in the financial system, with redemptions, etc.