Alexander Hamilton

July 31, 2014

Argentina's (Long) Default History

With Argentina again defaulting on her sovereign debt, she is violating the sanctity of contracts and lessened her borrowing ability at home and globally.

July 4, 2014

Celebrating Economic Independence

Yes, the United States declared independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776 and won the American Revolutionary War. But still, we were not truly independent. George Washington’s Secretary of […]

January 11, 2014

Happy Birthday to a Great Father (of our economy)

When you sing happy birthday to Alexander Hamilton today, please just think of an upward sloping (logarithmic) economic growth line:   Today, 257–or maybe 259–years ago […]

November 2, 2011

Default Deja Vu

Between its independence in 1829 and 2006, Greece has had 5 defaults or debt reschedulings that occupied a total of 50.6 years.  Described by Rogoff and […]

October 28, 2011

Euro Deal Primer

To understand euro zone bailout plans, just think BBB. Bonds, Banks, Bailout The Bonds: If you own Greek debt, then you would be asked to accept […]

October 25, 2011

Greece and Argentina

Nobody wants Greece to become Argentina. It all began with what scholars Rogoff and Reinhart called the lending boom of the 1990s. Enjoying the influx of […]

October 22, 2011

A Surprising Deficit Worry

Who do you think is the biggest holder of U.S. government debt? The U.S. government. Whenever Social Security collects more payroll tax money than it needs, […]