Barry D. Wood
Washington writer Barry D. Wood for two decades was chief economics correspondent at Voice of America News, reporting from 25 G7/8, G20 summits. He is the Washington correspondent of RTHK, Hong Kong radio. Wood's earliest reporting included covering key events in South and southern Africa, among them the Portuguese withdrawal from Mozambique and Angola and the Soweto uprising in the mid-1970s. He is the author of the book Exploring New Europe, A Bicycle Journey, based his travels – by bicycle – through 14 countries of the former Soviet bloc after the fall of Russian communism. Read more of his work at econbarry.com. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07OIjoanVGg
Articles By This Author
Assessing Powell’s performance at the Fed
MIT professor Kristin Forbes says Jay Powell successfully dealt with four extraordinary events during his eight years heading the Federal Reserve. Fed independence, she said, was tested more than at any time in 50 years, US tariffs went to a 90-year high, a global pandemic was the worst in 100 years, and inflation, she told a Washington audience, spiked to a 40-year high.
What’s happening with gold?
In 2025, the price of gold soared 63%, from roughly $2,600 per ounce to $4,300 by the end of the year. That return far exceeded the gains from almost all stock market indexes.
The Chinese renminbi is unlikely to become globally dominant
On 29 April, outgoing Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell warned that political interference put at risk the central bank’s ability to pursue independent monetary policy, which he labeled as one of the reasons “why the US economy is the envy of the world”.
The USA is going broke
In the novel The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway’s character Mike Campbell is asked how he went bankrupt. He famously replies, “Two ways, slowly and then suddenly.” The United States today is in the “slowly” phase.
Mounting risks of recession
Even with the current ceasefire, does the US and Israel war against Iran portend recession?
June 16, 1976 – What it was like in Soweto on the first day
Implausibly, on the morning of 16 June 1976, I first heard there was trouble in Soweto from London.
The threat to SA’s biggest industry
Could South Africa lose its motor industry, its biggest manufacturer, and half a million jobs? Could SA repeat the sad experience of Australia, which lost its car industry a decade ago?
Welcome to Zimbabwe
Harare, Zimbabwe: Arriving at Harare’s renovated, ultra-modern airport, I paid for my tourist visa and stepped outside. There was a line of taxis, and I
Trump’s unprecedented assault on the rules-based economic order
In Budapest some time ago, I came upon a wall poster bearing the likenesses of potentates whose imperial rule collapsed in the aftermath of World
Because Jay Powell fought back, Fed independence is more secure
Jerome Powell’s eloquent defence of Federal Reserve independence, delivered in a two-minute YouTube video on January 11th, was an inspiring act of courage. The 72-year-old