Comment, analysis and other offerings from Monday’s FT,
Wolfgang Munchau: The Eastern crisis that could wreck the eurozone
In Hungary, almost every mortgage is a foreign currency mortgage, mostly denominated in Swiss francs. The choice of Swiss francs is plainly ludicrous – testimony to economic illiteracy.
Analysis: China’s dollar dilemma
Beijing faces critics at home – as well as abroad – over its entanglement with the US, writes the FT’s Geoff Dyer.
Paul De Grauwe: Flexibility gives way to rigidity’s virtues
In a debt deflation, the attempts of some to service their debts makes it more difficult for others to service their debts.
Christopher Caldwell on the troubles at Starbucks
The decision of Starbucks to begin marketing Via, its own brand of instant coffee, is a powerful symbol of something. However, it is hard to see how instant coffee could be the way out of the company’s problems.
Editorial comment: Quo vaditis raters?
Raters say investors must ultimately take responsibility for their judgments. Quite right, but that is no reason not to hold raters more responsible for theirs.
Lex on Goodwill in Asia
As the Asian reporting season begins in earnest, big impairments caused by tumbling markets and more pessimistic assumptions now look inevitable in a region where goodwill items across Asian (ex-Japan) balance sheets set a record high of $90bn.
Interactive graphics on Stanford’s political connections
The list of US politicians who have received campaign contributions from Sir Allen, reads like a who’s who of the great and the good. Prominent names include Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, John McCain and George W. Bush.