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Money, Munitions, Military Outlay, and EU’s Plight in War of ‘Catch-up’
There is no more enduring truth than that expressed by Roman statesman and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero: ‘The sinews of war are infinite money.’ The peace dividend, now exhausted, delivered European countries €4.2tn (£3.6tn) over the past 30 years —
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Binance Teeters as Regulators Close-in on Troubled Exchange
Crypto is having another ‘moment’. Wim Romeijn takes a look for CFI.co… Binance, the largest exchange for trading digital currency and its derivatives, is in distress. A dozen senior executives have left, and the company has fired 1,500 staff as
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Coal, Ja Bitte, Nuke, Nein Danke: Germany’s Other Sort of Nuclear ‘Disaster’ is Unfolding
Coal is a dirty source of fuel, and brown coal is the worst of the lot — yet, as Wim Romeijn reports, that’s what nuclear-shy Germans have opted for… Around the time Germany shuttered its last three nuclear power plants,
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Behind Schedule and Running Out of Ideas: Germany is On-Track for a Homegrown Infrastructure Crisis
A once-immaculate transport system is now underfunded and overstretched, reports Wim Romeijn. The trains in Germany no longer run on time. This is a big issue for a country that derives its national identity from punctuality, order, and Gründlichkeit —
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The Week That Was… 39
Wim Romeijn looks at the financial talking and turning points of the world over the past seven days. Carbon Emission Costs and Damages Pricing carbon emissions is not for the faint of heart, as a working paper released by the
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Accenture on Generative AI: Surfing the Next Wave of Digital Transformation
Artificial intelligence is here to stay, and, with suitable caution that should be a good thing, argues Bashar Kilani. Generative AI will define the next wave of digital transformation. Over recent decades, we have witnessed the “webification” of applications, followed
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The Week That Was… 38
Argentina: The $50-bn-Man Axel Kicillof, 51, is justifiably proud of his reign as finance tsar in the two successive administrations (2007-2015) of Peronist president Christina Fernández de Kirchner. He managed to slash the Argentina’s debt-to-GDP ratio from 166 percent to
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A Coup Remembered: 50 Years Later, Chile Still Split Over Pinochet Legacy
On this day fifty years ago, a pleasant pre-spring Tuesday, democracy fell to armed force in Chile. Absconded in La Moneda, probably one of the least gracious buildings erected by the Spanish in colonial times, the constitutional president of the
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The American Economy is Holding Strong — and Getting Greater Still
Wim Romeijn’s recent analysis indicates that shopping addiction is a primary driver of the American economy. However, other factors contribute significantly. Each spring, the tradition of garage sales sees American households showcasing their impulse purchases. Neighbors engage in a cycle
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On Freeters and Other Exotic Creatures in a Land of Plenty
The sustainability of Japan’s society is in doubt for various reasons, writes Wim Romeijn. China, Europe, and even the United States are all said to be at risk of “Japanification”: a protracted malaise of low growth, low inflation, low interest
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