The gathering storm

Steven Pearlstein argues that The case for austerity isn’t dead yet, and that:

Two from Tim Duy. Here's the first: Really? One Basis Point?, by Tim Duy: Bloomberg has a story with an ominous opening paragraph:

Javier Andrés, Rafael Doménech, 5 April 2013Fiscal adjustment and structural reform are key parts of Eurozone bailout packages (or key features of government policy that aims to avoid such bailouts). This column argues that patience is the most prized virtue of policymakers implementing fiscal adjustment and structural reform.

In a recent note, Germany's Ifo Institute (Viewpoint No. 143 The eurozone’s banking union is deeply flawed February 15, 2013) thoroughly debunked the idea that the European Banking Union is a necessary or sufficient condition for addressing the problem of moral hazard, relating to the future bailouts.

An SEC action that appears likely to do considerable harm to companies and individuals in the US and abroad appears to have gone completely unnoticed, save for an important piece in The New Republic by Linda Khan.

Article written by Prieur du Plessis, editor of the Investment Postcards from Cape Town blog.Felix Zulauf, former head of asset management at UBS, warns that storm clouds are gathering over the markets. He discusses with John Authers, head of FT’s Lex, his grim outlook: that Europe faces a double dip, China is slowing, bonds look awful and an overheating commodities sector will be hurt badly. He was interviewed at the CFA Institute Annual Conference in Edinburgh.

The term "structural unemployment" gets bandied about a lot, but it isn't explained very clearly or very often. In a nice column for Project Syndicate, Brad DeLong explains what structural unemployment is, and how we know we're not facing it: