June 28, 2021

The main ingredient of any safe pension system is a healthy and sturdy economy.

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Sir, I refer to Martin Wolf’s “ It is folly to make pensions safe by making them unaffordable ” FT, June 28. Wolf writes: “We also need true...
June 16, 2021

Spurn bank regulators' false promises.

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Sir, Martin Wolf makes a good case for “We should not throw liberal trade away for the wrong reasons and in the wrong way”, “ Spurn the fals...
June 12, 2021

Central banks and regulators cancelled the creative part of destruction.

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I refer to Martin Wolf’s comments on Philippe Aghion, Céline Antonin and Simon Bunel’s “The Power of Creative Destruction”, “ The innovation...
June 10, 2021

Bank regulators never considered the unexpected, like a pandemic

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Sir, Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau and Erna Solberg opine: “The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that the costs of prevention and early respo...
May 25, 2021

It’s sad when we need to remind regulators to prepare for the unexpected

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“The time to prepare for the next threat is now”, that’s how Bill Emmott ends his “ How to build global resilience after the pandemic ” FT, ...
May 16, 2021

Should the Louvre, a homage to inequality, have to be culturally cancelled?

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Sir, I refer to Ruchir Sharma’s “ The billionaire boom ” FT Weekend, May 15. In this case, as so often happens in articles about the wealthy...
May 11, 2021

The “Parable of talents” is currently quite inapplicable to any wealth tax.

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Sir, I refer to “ Why the toughest capitalists should root for a wealth tax ” Martin Sandbu, FT, May 10. Much of the current wealth is the d...
May 08, 2021

Will this tweet be ignored by FT?

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How much hubris is needed for regulators to impose risk weighted bank capital requirements, as if they know what the risks are? How much wis...
April 22, 2021

About Italy, there are serious questions that FT, and others, should not silence.

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Sir, I refer to “ Draghi plots €221bn rebuilding of Italy’s recession ravaged economy ” Miles Johnson and Sam Fleming, and to “ Europe’s fut...

No remittances without representation!

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Sir, you write “ Poor government plagues Central America”, “Central America needs a bold gesture from the US ”, FT April 22.Those migrants w...
March 24, 2021

If our pied-à-terre falls into the hands of a Climate Stability Board, we’re toast.

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Climate change dangers require: Spending fighting it, trying to hinder it  Spending adapting to it, to avoid its worst consequences Saving, ...
March 23, 2021

A new monetary order requires the old regulatory order.

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I refer to Chris Watling’s “ Now is the time to devise a new monetary order ” March 19. Sir, it is hard for me to understand how Watling, co...
March 08, 2021

Has Thatcherism run its course, or has Thatcherism been run off its course?

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Sir, Martin Wolf asks “once we accept that Thatcherism has run its course, what follows?” “ Sunak takes an axe to Thatcher’s low-tax ideolog...
March 03, 2021

Before aiming at any target, central banks must cure their shortsightedness

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Sir, I refer to Martin Wolf’s “ What central banks ought to target ” FT, March 3. With risk weighted bank capital requirements, the regulato...
February 23, 2021

Bank capital requirements or bank leverage allowances?

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Martin Wolf referring to Windows of Opportunity by David Sainsbury writes that growth is “exploiting new opportunities that generate endurin...
January 31, 2021

Basel Committee’s risk weighted bank capital requirements is fodder for our wishful thinking hopes.

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I refer to Tim Harford’s “ From forgeries to Covid-denial " On how we fool ourselves: Whether believing implausible statistics or falli...
January 28, 2021

Macroeconomic theory stands no chance while autocratic regulators distort the allocation of bank credit.

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Sir, in reference to Martin Sandbu’s “The revolutions under way in macroeconomics ”, January 28, I must ask: What macroeconomic theory stand...
January 27, 2021

What America (and much of the rest of the world) needs is to free itself from the clutches of statist/communist bank regulators.

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Sir, Martin Wolf, opines that “Joe Biden may be a last chance for US democracy” “ Competency is Biden’s best strategy ” January 27.  Oh, if ...
December 14, 2020

Restoring healthy economic growth requires, sine qua non, getting rid of the distortions in the allocation of bank credit.

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Restoring healthy economic growth requires, sine qua non, getting rid of the distortions in the allocation of bank credit.Sir, Martin Wolf w...
December 09, 2020

What would the Milton Friedman of 50 years ago, have thought of the Martin Wolf of today?

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Sir, I refer to Martin Wolf ‘s “ Friedman was wrong on the corporation ” December 9. Wolf writes that among his contributions to the ebook M...
December 07, 2020

Thou shall not sell carbon emission indulgences

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Sir you write: “Polluters can purchase “carbon credits” to mitigate the effects of their activities. This allows them to continue with their...
December 06, 2020

Could the Basel Committee learn enough from puzzles and poker so as to correct their misinformation?

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Sir, I refer to Tim Harford’s “ What puzzles and poker can teach us about misinformation ” FT Weekend December 5. When deciding on what’s mo...
December 01, 2020

The need for debt to equity conversions is an inescapable reality

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Sir, Martin Wolf writes: “It will be crucial to deal with debt overhangs. As the OECD stresses, converting debt into equity will be an impor...
November 30, 2020

12 years since, and yet the true cause of the 2008 crisis shall seemingly not be told

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Sir, John Flint a former Before chief executive of HSBC writes: “Before 2008, regulators’ approach to conduct risk in banking was what they ...
November 24, 2020

FT you have the manpower to analyze how risk weighted bank capital requirements distort the allocation of bank credit.

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Sir, Megan Greene writes: “Stubbornly low interest rates have failed to generate significant aggregate demand. That suggests the world has b...
November 09, 2020

By not asking all the questions that need to be asked, journalists also fail society.

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Sir, Henry Manisty writes “financial journalism plays a vital role in upholding the integrity of financial markets”, “ EU regulators have fo...
October 17, 2020

The most dangerous underlying condition of the US, is that like so many other nations, it has been hit by the Polarization Pandemic.

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Hannah Kuchler writing about her FT lunch with Atul Gawande on the battle to beat Covid-19 , writes: “The US is polarised over its prioriti...
October 16, 2020

Risk taking is the oxygen of all development. God make us daring

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Sir, I refer to Arvind Subramanian’s “Developing economies must not succumb to export pessimism” October 16. In October 2007 at the High-lev...
October 15, 2020

Let’s be very wary of Big Tech and Governments forming Big Brother Joint Ventures

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Marietje Schaake holds that “regulators should be able to assess all sectors for harms done to democracy, using specified skill sets… Empowe...
October 14, 2020

Though meteorologists announce rain, regulators allow banks to operate as if the sun shines.

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Sir, Tommy Stubbington writes: “A coronavirus-linked credit rating downgrade by Fitch prompted speculation that Rome was headed for ‘junk’ t...
September 30, 2020

Where would the City of London be if in the 19th Century it had been placed under the thumb of a Basel Committee?

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Sir, I refer to your “ The City must not be forgotten in Brexit talks ” September 29. In view of the City’s real existential problem, I find...
September 15, 2020

Thou shall not sell environmental crimes indulgences

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Sir, albeit a bit late, I refer to David Sheppard’s Big Read “ Carbon trading: the ‘one-way’ bet for hedge funds ” FT August 23.In his Encyc...
August 15, 2020

Inflation has already returned

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Sir, I refer to your editorial “ The economy is too weak for inflation to return ” August 14, 2020. No! The inflation has alrea...
June 12, 2020

The privileged subsidizing of sovereign debt that apparently shall not be named

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Sir, let us suppose that as credit risks, banks perceived Martin Wolf and me as equally risky or equally safe. We would then, for the same ...
May 30, 2020

Free markets were set up to go bad, because of bad bank regulations.

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John Thornhill writes: “The global financial crisis of 2008 exploded the ideology that markets always deliver the goods” “ Three game-chang...
May 27, 2020

The doom loop between government and banks was created by regulators.

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Sir, I refer to Martin Arnold’s “ Soaring public debt poised to heap pressure on eurozone, ECB warns ” May 27 For the risk weighted bank c...
April 01, 2020

Does Martin Wolf’s “The tragedy of two failing superpowers” conform with FT’s beautiful motto of “without favour”?

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Wolf opines about Donald Trump in terms of “a malevolent incompetent” and for this looks for the support of that totally unbiased Jeffrey S...