As an intro to a five-nation summit in South Africa, China and Brazil this week announced an agreement to swap their currencies to support trade between themselves if necessary in some future crisis. What does this actually mean, and why…
Emerging economies group is not a threat to the U.S.
The BRICS countries are having their summit in South Africa this week, and the early news raises questions for some. China and Brazil announced an agreement to swap their currencies, if needed, in case of some global crisis, to facilitate…
Water use rife with ‘trickle-down’ effects
In my grade school in Chandler, Minn., 50 years ago, we did not study economics or hydrology, but we understood inklings of both. “Flush twice, Edgerton has a water shortage!” we joked to each other in the bathroom. We knew…
Ignoring Cyprus would be a mistake
Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck may have been right to worry that “some damned fool thing in the Balkans” might trigger a Europewide war, but could some busted banks in Cyprus really trigger a global financial crisis? Or, to paraphrase…