Global Market Commentary, Analysis and Investments
“The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense,â€? fellow Baltimorean Tom Clancy once said. The biggest headline in the world today reads like a chapter straight from one of his spy novels:
“U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan,� trumpets The New York Times this morning.
[Read more...]Not long ago, several Outstanding Investments subscribers invited me for a sit-down chat. I told them that I love to talk with readers, but I can only chat general themes. I CANNOT offer personal investment advice in the context of a small group.
That is, when it comes to specific recommendations, I only do that in the pages of my newsletters. Everyone was OK with the ground rules. So after juggling our schedules, we wound up in the beautiful oak-paneled lobby of the old Summit Inn, south of Pittsburgh near Uniontown. It's right alongside historic US Highway 40 – the road carved by British colonists from the East Coast into the Western frontier.
[Read more...]What do gold mines in South Africa and Alaska have in common with tar sand operations in Canada? And what do these kinds of operations have in common with a gigantic deep-water drilling vessel in the Gulf of Mexico? What major systems do they have in common?
The fancy name is ‘fluid control.’ The more common name is ‘pumps.’
[Read more...]I was as surprised, as many were, to see that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) actually declined in April, dropping to 2.2% inflation from March’s 2.3% inflation.
My family seemed to be endlessly delighted that inflation seems to be going is down, which is because I have been yammering about how inflation in prices going up will always be the result of a money supply that goes up, and I have been saying it for so long that they are sick, sick, sick of hearing that inflation is prices will follow inflation in the money supply, they are sick, sick, sick of hearing my voice telling them that ruinous inflation in prices will always follow ruinous inflations in the money supply, and they are happy, happy, happy that I am wrong!
[Read more...]The big news, of course, is that “Private-sector scientists led by Craig Venter have developed the first living cell controlled by synthetic DNA.” This is, I think you will agree with me and the rest of the world, completely amazing!
They have actually taken a synthetic chromosome that they cooked up and transplanted it into a recipient cell, and thus created a new, different organism! A new form of life made from materials you probably have around the house!
[Read more...]Greece seems to be on everyone’s mind, probably because Greece is just the first to suffer from the governmental stupidity of bankrupting themselves trying to borrow themselves into prosperity, which is just a microcosm of the whole stinking EU area, which has similarly been ruined by socialist morons doing the Exact Same Thing (EST), thanks to that laughable leftist idiot Trichet, head of the European Central Bank, creating all the money that made such profligacy possible, and somebody ought to volunteer to go over there and slap the hell out of him and all his nasty little half-witted buddies until they get some smarts.
[Read more...]Let’s say, for the sake of argument, you’re sitting on about $2.4 trillion in assets. And let’s say that to pay the bills, you need only about a quarter of that – $600 billion – in ready cash.
What do you do with the rest?
As you might guess, this is not a hypothetical question. $2.4 trillion is what China holds in foreign exchange reserves. And it needs only about a quarter of that to handle three months of imports and short-term external debt.
[Read more...]Willie Shakespeare may have summed it up best when, borrowing the voice of King Richard III, he penned “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”
History is replete with examples of how, but for the proverbial horse, kingdoms have been lost.
My reference point is an accident that will almost certainly lead to tragic miscalculations and havoc down the road. And, I might add, an exceptional opportunity for the patient and attentive investor.
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Combating Annuities With Gold, Silver and Oil
People are always writing me and asking questions, which can usually be divided into one of two categories. The first category is the one that I call “Is there something wrong with you that you sound/look/appear so stupid/ugly/weird?� (Answer: “Probably�), and the other, smaller category is the one I call “Other.�
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