Until August 15, 1971, wealth was tallied in units of a real and natural thing – gold. It measured out the world’s other real things – its resources and its output. Its main advantage was that it couldn’t be diddled. That turned the authorities against it; they couldn’t make more of it.
[Read more...]Zombies Born of Government Spending
August 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Zombie, zombie in the night
Making cities burn so bright
What immortal hand could frame
Thy fearful symmetry?
Yes, dear reader, the mobs are getting angry. Here’s the story from Germany:
Far-left extremists are specifically targeting German luxury cars, symbols of the country’s wealth and power, bringing the total number of vehicles torched in the German capital this year to at least 138, more than double the figure for all of 2010.
[Read more...]Things Get Curiouser and Curiouser
May 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As if it were not strange enough! Microsoft bought a phone company with no phones for $8.5 billion. Then, the public bid up the price of another Internet company, LinkedIn, to the point where buyers were paying more than $20 for every dollar of revenue that came the company’s way. As for profits, they capitalized each one at more than 700 times. At this rate, an investor wouldn’t earn his money back until 2,711AD.
[Read more...]The Successful Failure of US Money Printing
May 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Dow down again – 25 points. Gold up again, $7. And oil still below $100.
Inflation worries up, in other words.
Economy down.
And now it’s official. QE2 is a FLOP! See below…
To hear the papers tell it, US stocks are being weighed down by troubles in Europe. Here’s the report from The New York Times:
[Read more...]Gold is Up, But Still a Ways Off Its True Peak
May 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Gold has shown more resilience this week. At last check, it’s still higher than it’s been anytime up until… hmm, let’s check the chart… two weeks ago.
Still, the known big buyers and sellers of the yellow metal are making for an interesting trading environment currently.
[Read more...]An Unstable Economy Wobbling Atop Unsound Money
April 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
It’s a clumsy old thing, that all-knowing, all-seeing government. No matter how hard it (says it) tries to “fix” the problems of the world, to the extent that the state intervenes, things only seem to get worse.
Let’s start with the economy…
This week we heard from Chairman Bernanke about how his “on sound footing” recovery (somehow, remarkably, standing atop unsound money) is beginning to falter. The recovery, says he, is now “moderate,” requiring the Fed to maintain their historically low interest rates for “an extended period.” More unsound money, in other words…designed to build a surer foundation on which to erect that ever-illusive recovery.
[Read more...]The Unthinkable Removal of Quantitative Easing
April 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
“The purpose of Newspeak,” George Orwell, wrote in his novel 1984, “was not only to provide a medium of expression for the worldview and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc [Orwell’s name for the ruling regime in 1984], but to make all other modes of thought impossible.”
[Read more...]The Coincidental Rise of Oil and the Monetary Base
April 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
“High oil prices start to apply the brake on drivers,” says a headline in The Financial Times.
As predicted, the feds’ easy money policies are turning into hard times for the middle and lower classes. Oil prices have gone up with the Fed’s balance sheet. For every dollar the Fed added, the price of oil ticked up too.
[Read more...]
Losing Faith in the “Power” of Central Bankers
Global equity markets are sinking again today, as the euro zone credit crisis deepens.
According to the rumor mill, a default by the Greek government is not merely inevitable, it is imminent. As a result, the cowboys up in Germany and France are circling the wagons.
“Germany may be getting ready to give up on Greece,” Bloomberg News reports, “as the credit markets signal growing concern about the smaller nation’s ability to repay investors. Yields on Greek two-year notes rose above 60 percent today for the first time…
[Read more...]