The IMF gold has serious geo-political ramifications in the background because of the nature of foreign exchange reserves, credit default swaps and gold.  Wikipedia:

South Korea and Japan are both home to large numbers of United States troops and neither are going to invite a nuclear attack.  The Kuomintang, which the US backed, retreated to Taiwan [...]

Well, it might appear that my smug headline in the post below may not have been so appropriate after all. At least I find the news from the FT today that Eurozone members, headed by France and Germany, are considering to set up an internal IMF type fund very significant.
(from the FT)
Germany and France are [...]

Earlier this day, I came across Moody’s Misery Index (link) which estimated the size of macroeconomic difficulties in European countries. In particular, European countries within and outside the Eurozone are likely to face stagnant GDP growth rates, high unemployment rates, deflationary pressures and a depressing fiscal outlook.
Moody’s Sovereign Misery Index
Source: FT Alphaville (link)
The most [...]

When a daisy chain of retrocessionaires exists, a single weak link can pose trouble for all. In assessing the soundness of their reinsurance protection, insurers must therefore apply a stress test to all participants in the chain, and must contemplate a catastrophe loss occurring during a very unfavorable economic environment. After all, you only find [...]

Watching, monitoring, and analysing the economy and her markets is as much about tracking discourses (and how they change) as it is about perusing data material on various leading and lagging indicators. And thus, as I am still knee deep into putting the last touch on my thesis [1] I thought that I might as [...]

“I don’t think the euro has weaknesses,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the Eurogroup and Prime Minister of Luxembourg. “I think the main problem and difficulty we have is to convince people that this was the right decision to be taken.”
Juncker’s comment from an interview during the Brussels Economic Forum 2008 demonstrates the unique problem [...]