the sphere of wine is so extensive, so esoteric, that most of us don't know where to begin, and walk the vine less traveled under the sneering gaze of wine snobs, embarrassed of our lack of knowledge. But the truth is, ignorance is only a place to begin. You don't need to be an expert to enjoy wine.

Back when the US Treasury announced the TARP, a common assumption was that the rise in the United States need to borrow need implied that the US would necessarily need to borrow more from the world’s central banks. After all, central banks have been the main purchasers — on net — of Treasuries over the past few years. Now there is a sense that the world’s central banks are necessary to finance not just the ...

The Fed’s balance sheet just surpassed 2 trillion dollars. It has grown by a trillion dollars over the course of the year. Literally. See “total factors supplying reserve balances” at the close of business on October 29. That growth was financed by Treasury bill issuance ($560b from the supplementary financing facility) and a large rise in banks deposits at the Fed ($405b). The stated foreign reserves of China’s central bank reached $1.9 trillion at the ...

"Газпром" сообщил, что конкурс на модернизацию его сайта выиграло ООО "Дизайн.ру", гендиректором которой является Артемий Лебедев. Это уже второй конкурс на создание сайта; первый "Газпром" объявлял в начале года, но признал его несостоявшимся. Тогда заявки подали 10 компаний, но ни одна из них не устроила "Газпром", рассказал Агентству газовой информации замначальника департамента по информационной политике "Газпрома" Игорь Волобуев. С Лебедевым связаться не удалось. Совсем недавно совет директоров "Газпрома" заслушал доклад менеджмента о том, как монополия ...

There is constant talk – too much, in my view – about whether sovereign funds will come to the rescue of western financial institutions. Qatar did put a large sum of money into Credit Suisse recently, but in general the Gulf funds are reeling from large losses on their existing portfolio even as they are facing increased domestic demands (see Mufson and Pan of the Washington Post and Steven Johnson of Reuters) . “Rescuing*” US ...

Many argue that sovereign wealth funds have been a stabilizing force in global markets. I keep wondering how anyone could possibly know. The majority of sovereign funds do not report data on the composition of their portfolios. The increase in their funds over the past couple of years under management doesn’t seem to have made the world a more stable place — though you can argue it would be even more unstable absent their stabilizing ...