Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) believed that a huge state “Leviathan” was necessary to prevent the otherwise inevitable conflicts between mankind. The temporary rejection by Belgium’s Wallonia region of the Canadian trade deal agreed by the entire remainder of the EU suggests that even when we have a truly spectacularly sized “Leviathan,” absorbing 48.2% of Europe’s GDP […]

Hillary Clinton is leading in the polls, but her election over Donald Trump is not yet certain. However, she is overwhelmingly favored by the pundit class, even the right-leaning of whom have developed an irrational distaste for Trump. It’s therefore worth looking at what the world will look like in 2024, after eight more years […]

The IMF last week released figures showing that word debt had reached $152 trillion, a record 225% of world GDP. Even though governments’ borrowing costs are ultra-low, budget deficits in the U.S. Britain and Japan are running at extraordinarily high levels, yet all the chatter is about ways to increase them rather than rein them […]

Some weeks ago, I wrote suggesting that the multi-polar world we are now entering might well be more peaceful than the unipolar world of the 1990s. I still believe that to be the case in the long run, but the problem is that we will need highly capable policymakers in the West to signal to […]

The Bank of Japan last week capped the yield on Japan Government Bonds at zero, thus allowing it to increase bond purchases beyond the current enormous amount if yields rise. Prime minister Shinzo Abe has begged Britain to minimize the effect of its “Brexit” from the European Union, and has begged the U.S. Congress to […]