June 26, 2017

To restore real accountability in finance we must start with the bank regulators

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Sir, Jonathan Ford writes: “Since the financial crisis, bank shareholders have borne pretty much the whole cost of cleaning up the reputati...
June 24, 2017

If Venezuela’s social compact shared out all oil revenues directly to citizens, it would better resist lower oil prices

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Sir, with respect to the possibilities of lower oil prices you write: “The real dangers… lie in emerging markets that rely heavily on oil e...
June 21, 2017

Should/will the holders of Venezuela’s “Hunger Bonds” have priority over the hungry?

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Sir, John Dizard, in reference to the current financial difficulties of the state of Illinois points out that Judge Joan Lefkow of the Fede...

President Trump, remember Einstein’s “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it”

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Sir, Martin Wolf, in these moments of so much radical uncertainty, recommends Donald Trump to follow one don’t-rock-the-boat strategy. “ Ja...

A revenue neutral carbon tax helps face climate change, inequality, structural unemployment (UBI) and promotes growth

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Sir, Ed Crooks reports that “Eleven leading international companies… have joined a campaign backing a revenue-neutral carbon tax in the US,...
June 20, 2017

So now European small businesses are being exploited like "subprime" buyers of houses were

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Sir, Robert Smith writes: “‘It’s not quite 2006, but it does feel a bit like we’ve heard this script before’” “ Europe looks to repackage b...
June 19, 2017

Brexit should not be a humiliating capitulation process, so as to fit the remainders’ wish to say, “I told you so!”

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Sir, Carl Bildt writes “The essential and unavoidable fact is that Britain will not be in the room when EU summits are called on all the di...

Much current radical uncertainty is the result of radical statism and of radical bank regulatory idiocy

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Sir, I refer to Wolfgang Münchau’s “ Welcome to the age of radical uncertainty ” June 19. He writes: “The victory of capitalism over co...
June 17, 2017

Risk weighted capital requirements for banks, the mother of all wishful thinking, of all desirability bias?

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I refer to Tim Harford’s discussion about desirability bias and wishful thinking. “ Be careful what you wish for in politics ” June 17 ...
June 16, 2017

Children, no matter what the redistributors promise, you cannot redistribute the future before it’s been created

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Sir, Martin Wolf writes: “A case can be made for borrowing for high-quality investment, especially when real interest rates are so low… But...
June 15, 2017

Basel rules favor building “safe” basements for children to live with parents over financing “risky” job creation

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Sir, Chris Watling writes “High house prices contribute to one of society’s great divides: that is between the haves and the have nots; bet...
June 14, 2017

FT, you are so utterly blind to the systemic risks intrusive bank regulations create.

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Sir, with respect to the “ US Treasury’s report on financial regulation reform ” of June 14 you write: “The report does not propose doing a...
June 11, 2017

In terms of creating systemic risks for our banking system, current regulators are the undisputable champions

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Sir, former banker and banking lawyer Martin Lowy writes: “Dodd-Frank and Basel III capital rules have made banks and their holding compani...
June 10, 2017

Venezuelan creditors, what if from now on oil belongs in equal parts to the citizens and not to the government?

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I refer to Jonathan Wheatley’s and Robin Wigglesworth’s “ Venezuela’s Russian debt tangle heightens risk of default ” June 10. Sir, had...
June 07, 2017

Feeble regulatory minds, seeing risks in what’s perceived risky, doom our banks to die trapped in the last safe-haven

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Sir, Robin Wigglesworth quotes Paul Singer of Elliott Management with: “Given groupthink and the determination of policymakers to do ‘whate...

Martin Wolf, if we are to save our pied-a-terre, that will not happen by pitting clean Obama against dirty Trump

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Sir, I refer to Martin Wolf’s “ Trump’s bad judgment on Paris ” June 7.  Wolf writes: “Above all, the earth is not just an arena. It is...
June 06, 2017

Should financing gas chambers in Auschwitz be right if the risk premiums are right?

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Sir, Steve Johnson quotes Claudia Calich, the emerging markets debt manager at M&G Investments: “with a lot of the countries [EM bond f...
June 05, 2017

World Bank, once again, the Basel bank regulations’ implicit risk aversion, attempts against any development.

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Sir, Shawn Donnan writes: “In an interview, Paul Romer, World Bank chief economist, said the long-term effect of weak investment on develop...
June 04, 2017

What causes more inequality, or feelings of poverty, some CEOs’ obscene high salaries, or some prices, like those of Viagra?

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Sir, I refer to David Crow’s “ Cost of Viagra increases 27% as Pfizer raises US drug prices ” June 3. I have no idea why but my doctor ...
June 03, 2017

So much needed is currently not even on politicians’ menus.

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Sir, Tim Harford, desperately writes: “It is curious that the Labour party that frets so much about taxing the rich is so careless about re...

If bank regulators in Brussels imply for instance an AAA credit rating for Greece, should Esma not also fine them?

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Sir, Nicholas Megaw and Chloe Cornish report that the European Securities and Markets Authority has fined Moody’s for “negligent breaches” ...
June 02, 2017

With the Venezuelan bonds purchase, has Goldman Sachs committed an act punishable under Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?

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Sir I refer to Robin Wigglesworth’s and Gideon Long’s “ Goldman hit by ‘hunger bond’ storm after Venezuela deal ” June 2. There are ple...

Since Brussels technocrats took EU members too much for granted, Brexit could perhaps turn into a better deal for UK.

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Sir, Martin Wolf in reference to Theresa May’s Brexit “No deal is better than a bad deal” asks, “Why, after all, would the EU offer better ...
June 01, 2017

To sell the Paris Climate Agreement as a real solution to our pied-a-terre’s environment problems, that’s a disgrace

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Sir, Pilita Clark writes: “Mr Trump has exposed the fragile nature of the Paris accord. Countries face no legal obligation to meet any emis...

So now Brussels's technocrats want to issue AAA rated securities backed with European subprime sovereigns? When will they ever learn?

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With “subprime sovereigns” I do not intent to classify any sovereign in a derogatory way. I use the term strictly with reference to the fac...
May 31, 2017

Martin Wolf, the western alliance is facing much more serious threats than Trump.

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Sir, if an American citizen would I have voted for Donald Trump? NO! though not for Hillary Clinton either. That said each day I now wake u...
May 29, 2017

When will the nonsensical talk about failures of the neoliberal system in the midst of runaway statism end?

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Sir, Rana Foroohar writes: “Many progressive economists believe that the failures of the neoliberal system itself (which have been chronicl...

Universal Basic Income panics redistribution profiteers. OECD’s model insists on these targeting better the poor.

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Sir, Chris Giles writes: “The modeling exercise by the OECD, the Paris-based organization of mainly rich nations that specializes in cross-...

Trump might have done Europeans a huge favor by reminding them they have to fight for their own future themselves

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Sir, today, May 29, is Memorial Day in the US. That is the day I walk down to the World War II Memorial in Washington , to try to thank tho...
May 27, 2017

Why should technocrats seemingly be exempt from U-turn requirements, even in the face of horrendous mistakes?

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Sir, Tim Harford writes: “For many government policies, it’s important to have an emergency stop to prevent bad ideas getting worse”, “ In ...
May 26, 2017

Require banks to hold capital against the unexpected, making sure those not able to manage perceived risks fail, fast

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Sir, Nobuchika Mori, commissioner of Japan’s Financial Services Agency writes: “Regulators have made the global financial system more resil...

It is truly incredible how many dare to ascertain things they can have no real idea of. Fake-opinions?

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Sir, Chris Giles refers to that Theresa May ended a conversation with a brusque: “You can have all the evidence in the world, but headteach...

Are taxes on petrol correctly used? Repatriation of what “cash”? End users/payers of infrastructure should be present

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Sir, Gillian Tett, discussing the financing of president Trump’s plan for infrastructure writes: “One sensible, overdue step would be to ra...
May 24, 2017

With current bank regulations a pervasive drop in economic dynamism should come as no surprise

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Sir, Sam Fleming writes: “The US has seen a pervasive drop in economic dynamism in every one of its states since the early 1990s as new bus...

Nations need unions that represent the unemployed and to get a small universal basic income going, before it's too late

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Sir, Anne-Sylvaine Chassany, interviewing Laurent Berger writes: “The leader of France’s largest trade union has warned Emmanuel Macron not...