Public spending

This would be the annual interest on the USA public debt in 2021, according to the estimations made by the economist Veronique de Rugy. This number is nearly triple from…

When reflecting on the causes of the current economic and financial crisis, the huge upsurge in private debt is one of the most cited reasons. Some people insist on blaming the private sector for this. According to them, the sustainability of its behavior has been clearly put into question by the recent events. But, what lies behind this exorbitant private indebtedness? This article is focusing on the Spanish case, with some references to the United States.

Despite the insistence of the EU and IMF representatives, Greece is balking at privatizations plan supposed to bring some €50 billion until 2015. Though, this will help the country to…

This is the tax revenue expected by the USA this year, while interest payments on the publicly held debt will be about $200 billion. Contrary to the statements of the…

The last statistics are placing France between the OECD countries with higher number of civil servants. Despite of the decrease of their number in the last years, they are still…

While a resolution of the debt crisis currently facing the eurozone would be most welcome, it is not clear that the current discussion goes much beyond how to bailout member countries, and whether it should be the taxpayers of these countries, the German and French taxpayer or the holders of the debts of these countries, mainly German and French banks. Even if it is decided which solution to take, the underlying problem that caused the crisis in the first place remains. This is the one-size-fits-all eurozone monetary policy.

For the first time since 2002, the credit rating of Japan has been downgraded to AA-. By doing this, the Standard and Poor’s rating agency has placed Japan on the…

In Slovakia, the economic growth has been one of the strongest in the EU over the period 2004-2008 and it came with soaring tax revenues. This growth itself was the by-product of several important reforms, especially the tax reform. It was based on real investments, not on speculation on real estate markets or inflated construction sector. After the 2008 crisis, the relatively low Slovak debt of 35.4% GDP does not attract as much attention as countries around the Mediterranean Sea or Ireland.

This is the cumulated budget deficit of the OECD countries in 2010. On average, it represents 7.5 GDP points.

In the context of debt crisis in the European Union, the French public debt finally attracts the attention of the government. Is the situation still under control and is there…