Ireland’s recent Quarterly National Household Survey may be evidence that happiness and economic hardship are not always mutually exclusive. The survey demonstrates that despite the deepening recession, record unemployment, and falling living standards; as many as four out of five Irish respondents answered to be happy all or most of the time. This brings to mind other countries’ growing interest in quantifying populations’ overall wellbeing.

Global markets stand on the precipice of another plunge into the now familiar territory of red and recession, though this time there won’t be the prospect of government stimulus spending to soften the blow.

The US Federal Reserve Board should destroy the government bonds it holds to resolve the impasse over the debt ceiling. This maverick move could allow the government to generate the demand needed to push the economy back toward full employment, without creating a major debt burden for future generations.

The food crisis of 2008 was never resolved; it was merely put on hold by a global financial meltdown.

The arrest and subsequent resignation of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn won’t just impact the Euro sovereign debt crisis, but the wider international monetary order as well.

October 29th, 2010 (Geopoliticalmonitor.com) - The Franco-German axis is attempting to rewrite parts of the Lisbon Treaty in an effort to avoid another Greek-style sovereign debt crisis.

A historic round of cost-cutting measures has been announced by the British government in an effort to shore up investor confidence and avoid another Greek-style sovereign debt crisis.

The recent passage of a US law that allows for the executive branch to enact trade sanctions on China for currency manipulation stands as a clear sign that the Obama administration is getting serious about the value of the yuan.

Softness in the Greek economy edged out several predictions when it was announced that it had contracted at the alarming rate of 1.8 percent in the second quarter.

Grim figures out of the housing market in the United States emerged yesterday. According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes dropped 27.2 percent in July to reach their lowest level in ten years.