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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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China Syndrome: A Wilting Economy, Financial ‘Long-Covid’, a Collapsing Property Sector — and the Spectre of Deflation Hovering Nearby
The global economy is supported by four pillars; two are wobbly, reports Wim Romeijn, and one is being rebuilt. The first in a series of four CFI.co investigations… The world’s major economies are facing up to an era beset by
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Inverted Yield Curves and Central Bankers Pull Focus to the Tetons as BRICS Founders
Another day, another financial event — the 46th US Federal Reserve Summer Symposium — for Wim Romeijn to ponder… As BRICS leaders discuss ways to challenge US hegemony and overthrow the mighty dollar as the global reserve currency, the minders
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South Africa Looks on While Brazil and India Face Off China and Russia
Johannesburg BRICS Summit (22-24 August 2023) Is the Johannesburg summit anything more than just a chatgroup meeting for importers and exporters? Wim Romeijn reports. A champion of moderation, and its own interests, India seems determined to thwart plans by Russia
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