The Public and Its Problems

Mark Thoma submits: Nouriel Roubini is becoming increasingly hawkish about public debt:

The new head of European trade unions, Bernadette Segol, on Thursday said calls by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on southern Europeans to retire later were "short-sighted.""Ms Merkel's reaction is very short-sighted," Segol, 62, told AFP after her election at a four-day European Trade Union Congress (ETUC) in Athens."It is clear that things must change in the economies of the south but this cannot be done in one or two years," said Segol, who is French and previously headed a federation of European workers in banking and communication sectors.

DAVOS, Switzerland — British Prime Minister David Cameron wants nothing to do with a United States of Europe, an idea that’s gaining currency as the countries that use the euro struggle to fix their debt crisis. A day after he shook up Europe’s political landscape by offering citizens the prospect of a vote on whether to stay in the 27-country European Union, Cameron insisted Thursday he wants Britain to remain an integral part of the bloc but that more unification would not be the answer.

Drawing an analogy with the ill-fated Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) of the pre-eurozone era, Paul De Grauwe argues in a new CEPS Commentary that the creation of a sovereign debt default mechanism is a very bad decision that will make the eurozone more fragile by making financial crises an endemic feature. The full (short) paper is here, recommended.  Excerpt:

TORONTO – Liberal leadership contender Justin Trudeau told an Islamic conference Saturday that groups who attacked his decision to attend the gathering only work to divide Canadians. Trudeau told a crowd of thousands at the Reviving the Islamic Spirit conference in Toronto that his critics attempted to tap into “fears and prejudices” that sap the acceptance of others.

By Kevin Michael Grace Victoria Gold Corp (V.VIT) announced November 27 it had signed a binding terms sheet to sell its interest in the Big Springs Gold Property in Elko County, Nevada, for US$6 million to MRG Copper LLC, a US subsidiary of Big Springs Project Pty Ltd, which is concurrently being acquired by Kimberley Rare Earths Ltd. The transaction will close in February 2013, subject to completion of due diligence.

It's a sea of red in the US and European equity markets following the victory of president Obama and statements made by ECB president Mario Draghi. US equities are now down well over 2% and most of Europe was down between 1 and 2 %. Things would not be any different if Romney had won. Regardless of who won, the global headwinds would have been the same, and the global economy is in a recession already (it's not widely recognized yet, but it soon will be).