Global Market Commentary, Analysis and Investments
America has lagged behind much of the world in terms of digital wallets. Elsewhere, people routinely use phones instead of credit cards. There are several reasons for this.
Partly, it is because North America saw mobile phones so early. When other regions finally rolled out mobile phones, infrastructures were more modern. The larger reason, however, is that there is so much at stake.
[Read more...]My favorite way to own silver is the Sprott Physical Silver Trust (NYSE:PSLV). This is a product of the Eric Sprott group, of Toronto.
Units of this trust were trading well above $20 a few months ago. But today, even after silver’s January rally, the units are trading below $15. That’s a 25% decline, which is in sync with the drop in the price of silver.
[Read more...]Dow down slightly yesterday. Oil falling further below $100. And gold still going up.
What is most interesting is the movement in the price of gold. It seems to be heading up again — almost no matter what else is happening.
So, let’s look at what might be going on…
If investors sensed a recovery…they would expect banks to lend more freely…people to shop more freely…and prices to rise.
[Read more...]What the market giveth, the state rises to taketh away.
One of the more striking features of this whole modern spectacle must surely be the stark contrast between the state and the free markets that exist stubbornly, gloriously, in spite of its best efforts. Wherever evidence presents itself, it appears to do so with the sole purpose of expressing this juxtaposition in ever-higher relief.
[Read more...]We got a chuckle out of Thomas Friedman. Maybe he would be good as a brick mason. Or maybe a baker. Shame he got caught up in journalism. He has no talent for it.
In a recent column he tells us that “Average is over.” Typically, it makes no sense. What Friedman seems to mean is that an average person can’t expect to do very well in today’s America. He says average guys are being replaced by robots and Chinese people.
[Read more...]There’s a Mexican restaurant I like (I’m not saying where it is) that seems to thrive in good times and bad. It never has a shortage of servers, cooks and people to bus the tables, even when there are only a few customer cars out front. Actually, it is hard to tell the workers from the customers, and extended family seems to appear from nowhere, people of all ages, sometimes eating, sometimes just visiting and sometimes going back and forth to the kitchen.
[Read more...]Baltimore…best bet for investors?
We drove back into town on Sunday night. People moped around in front of bars. Groups walked uptown from the stadium, their shoulders down, the chins dragging. The city was dark…and unhappy.
There was no joy in Baltimore on Sunday night. Baltimore is a sports town. The Ravens — the only team we know named after a poem — had lost. They would not be going to the Super Bowl.
[Read more...]First up, a quick public service announcement for our International Reckoners:
If you’re planning a vacation to the United States of America in the foreseeable future, you would do well to refrain from employing any confusing colloquialisms in your social media updates prior to departure.
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A Crisis in Worthwhile Opinions of Capitalism
The Financial Times has continued its series on ‘Capitalism in Crisis’ much longer than we expected. Longer than seems decent, actually. The crisis will be over before the series ends.
Each of the Davos-list celebrities to write on the subject basically ‘talks his own book.’ The politicians tell us that they can fix what is wrong with capitalism. The regulators want more regulations; do-gooders urge us to rely more on good works. The economists have their economic solutions. The entrepreneurs put their faith in can-do hustlers.
[Read more...]