In the decades after the Civil War, federal taxes and spending in the US were about one-sixth or one-seventh as high as they are now as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). But that doesn’t really mean government was only one-sixth or one-seventh as big as it is now. For one thing, the US government gave away hundreds of ...

Bloomberg European Central Bank President Mario Draghi stepped up his call for a euro-area fund to make sure countries don’t drift apart in future crises. “We need an additional fiscal instrument to maintain convergence during large shocks, without having to overburden monetary policy,” he said at a European Union event in Florence, Italy. “Its aim would be to provide an ...

Bloomberg Several Mexican banks experienced large cash withdrawals in recent weeks after possible cyber attackers infiltrated some financial institutions, triggering unauthorised money transfers, the central bank said in an interview with Bloomberg. Banco de Mexico has zeroed in on five financial institutions whose external connection to the central bank’s electronic payment system was compromised, Lorenza Martinez, the central bank’s head ...