Europe

Six months ago, it was virtually assured that as part of his daily out at the West, Philippines' president Duterte would accuse then-president Obama of being a "son of a bitch (or whore)." Now, a similar dynamic is playing out between Turkish president Erdogan and Angela Merkel, and/or the German (and Dutch) people, whom he now accuses on an almost daily basis of being Nazis, as a result of the escalating diplomatic spat between Turkey and Europe.

By Shant Movsesian and Raj Dhall MSTA,

This week has not been one to savor for USD bulls, with the FOMC rate hike accompanied by a statement which failed to generate the fresh wave of hawkish sentiment markets had positioned for. We saw some hesitancy ahead of the Fed announcement Wednesday evening, with Fed chair Yellen’s familiar cautiousness reining in UST yields to a modest degree. The subsequent pull back has also been relatively modest with the 2yr shedding 5bps on the week as a whole; both 5yr and 10yr off the highs by some 10bps.

Jean-Claude Juncker: “In Europe, the choice is to eat what’s on the table or not come to the table at all.”

Wrong!!! Jean-Creep Druncker!

The pleasantries, lack of handshake between Trump and Merkel notwithstanding, are officially over.

One day after Trump returned to his favorite medium to slam Germany for abusing NATO's funding scheme, and US defense spending generosity, accusing Germany of owing "vast sums" of money to both NATO and the US, Germany has struck back. As a reminder, this is what Trump tweeted on Saturday morning:

Authored by MN Gordon via Acting-Man.com,

Onward vs. Upward

Something both unwanted and unexpected has tormented western economies in the 21st century.  Gross domestic product (GDP) has moderated onward while government debt has spiked upward.  Orthodox economists continue to be flummoxed by what has transpired.