Category: United States

U.S. President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman must come together for a long awaited rendezvous in the desert…ideally the two leaders can employ some modern rules of dating in making the alliance work…

U.S. infrastructure is the never-ending problem that all administrations want to solve. Yet attempts to find a solution generally creates more questions and angst…

The French recently re-elected Emmanuel Macron for a second term as president. It is not clear that most French like Macron but we do know that a majority of French favored Macron over his 2nd round runoff opponent, Marine Le Pen. The election itself garnered more attention than many French probably could have expected. Portuguese, Spanish, and German leaders (Antonio Costa, Pedro Sanchez and Olaf Scholz respectively) thought it necessary to pen a letter in support of Macron. The Macron victory should not overshadow the economic realities underpinning the relative success of the Le Pen campaign.

To think many people predicted 2021 couldn’t get any worse than 2020. Little did they know that 2021 would bring delta, omicron, and inflation with a lot of messiness in-between. The result is 2022 will be volatile with a covid overhang and inflation coupled with aggressive interest rate hikes (by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other similar authorities across the globe) to combat the inflation – as a result, 2022 may present more distress than 2021. These are the markets distressed investors will, as a result, be watching in 2022.

Modi may have appeared brash in his approach and his words at COP26…but that cannot overshadow the hard truths raised by his speech…

France is “America’s oldest friend and Ally” with a relationship “built upon [..] shared commitment to the same values – democracy, human rights, the rule of law, security, and prosperity” according to the State Department. The debacle of last month regarding submarine sales by the U.S. to Australia and a subsequent voiding of a French contract with Australia raises questions about the French-American alliance. Yet an assessment of the other two options in Europe – the U.K. and Germany – suggests France and the U.S. are made for each other…

The focus of tax policy should be to create the ‘necessary’ revenue mixed with a manageable level of debt to cover the requisite spending for the country. That tax revenue will involve a balance between capital, labor, and consumption taxes. Mix in the targeted investment incentives and managed spending (better said than done) and maybe you can find a solution…

U.S. GDP has reached its pre-covid 19 level…should we be celebrating? The answer is yes. But the economy continues to provide mix signals to the market. And, as it continues to recover, there are five things to watch…

Africa, in the eyes of some political analysts, has been an after-thought for Washington these last four years. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing; it speaks to the political and economic stability that dominates most of the 54 countries on the continent. That said, Biden will encounter a few major issues that may not test bipartisanship but will surely require more than an after-thought approach…