The first coins of Lydia were used to pay soldiers, not replace barter. This monetized silver. Empires need soldiers because war is the chief engine for economic development. Financing the unending wars bankrupts the citizens via military spending, inflation / debasement. Then the local currency collapses. by Jon Forrest Little on The Pickaxe: Part One: […]
Jon Forrest Little: Financial manipulation via precious-metals swapping paper
In the 12th century European bankers latched on to a scam familiar with gold & silver enthusiasts. What was the scam they invented? Paper manifestations of silver and gold…. by Jon Forrest Little on The Pickaxe: Bankers past and present devise creative schemes to manipulate finances. European governments in the 12th century engineered the concept […]
Europe Bails Out Its Failed States with “Common” (i.e., German) Bonds
The “European Project” was designed with something like the current crisis in mind. The adoption of a common currency was just the first, politically easiest, step in a process that would eventually – its architects hoped – culminate in something like the United States, where a bunch of different geographic and cultural entities are subordinate […]
From Buenos Aires To Nashville: The Emerging Market Crisis Spreads From Periphery To Core
This is the last emerging market crisis story for a while, promise. But one angle – exactly how a plunging currency in a far-off place affects supposedly stable markets like the US – is worth exploring because it’s happening right this minute. Let’s start with the choices facing an American or European investor who needs […]
Is China Part Of The “Emerging Market Crisis”?
Being huge, consequential and technologically advanced, China isn’t normally lumped into the “emerging” category with Brazil and Argentina. To most observers they’ve already left the kids table and are now seated with the developed-world adults. But that might be premature. A big part of China’s economic ascendance was purchased with borrowed money – including a […]
A Spiking Dollar = Emerging Market Chaos
The dollar collapse thesis – which ends with all fiat currencies achieving their intrinsic value of zero — doesn’t preclude some thrills and chills along the way, in which some currencies fall faster than others and wreak havoc on various parts of the global economy. This might be one of those times, as instability in […]
Russia Deploys Exotic New Weapon: A “Budget Surplus”
The price of oil is rising, which is obviously good news for those who sell it to the rest of us. Russia in particular seems to be enjoying the current trend, so much so that — if I’m understanding this correctly – Moscow is now receiving more in taxes than it’s spending. This is producing […]
Gold Versus Bitcoin: The Pro-Gold Argument Takes Shape
Sound money advocates who love the concept of cryptocurrencies but don’t want to abandon precious metals have been trying to clarify their thoughts of late. Risk Hedge just helped, with a comprehensive statement of the pro-gold position. The following is an excerpt. Read the full article here. All the Reasons Cryptocurrencies Will Never Replace Gold […]
Welcome To The Currency War, Part 23: Europe Will Devalue Or Dissolve
No rest for the wicked. With the shockwaves from Brexit and President Trump still reverberating around the world, the established order is bracing for more bad news. Next up is a December 4 Italian constitutional referendum that might end the reign of centrist prime minister Matteo Renzi and replace him with a bunch of anti-euro […]
How Stupid Do You Have To Be To Let This Happen?
Europe is the birthplace of Western civilization and the source of most of the trends and bodies of knowledge that define modernity. The average European speaks several languages versus sometimes less than one for Americans. They are, in short, a well-schooled people with vast accumulated wisdom. So how do we explain this: After World War […]
Welcome To The Currency War, Part 22: China Devaluation Watch
Not so long ago, a big Chinese currency devaluation seemed both inevitable and imminent. The story went like this: China had borrowed tens of trillions of dollars in response to the Great Recession and squandered much of it on uncompetitive factories and ghost cities. The companies and governments that own these worthless assets were about […]
Atlanta Fed Sees Far Weaker Than Expected Q1 GDP
Another Monday, another set of “surprisingly” bad economic numbers. A few representative headlines: China manufacturing prices decline for 18th straight month Oil prices fall 5% on bad China data, OPEC uncertainty Global factories parched for demand, need stimulus Junk bonds suffer a rare negative return in January US consumer spending softens, savings hit 3-year high […]
Welcome To The Currency War, Part 21: Japan Goes Negative; US To Return Fire In 2016
Well that didn’t take long. Two weeks of falling share prices and the European and Japanese central banks caved. First the ECB promised new stimulus — which the markets liked — and then the BoJ upped the ante with negative interest rates — which the markets loved. Here’s a quick summary from Bloomberg: Central Banks […]
Paris Attacks = President Marine Le Pen AND Massive Euro Devaluation
Earlier today, articles started appearing about the rise of France’s right wing, anti-immigration National Front party in recent polls. This wasn’t a surprise given the ascendancy of formerly fringe political movements in most European states. See, for instance, Portugal Is Potentially A Very Big Deal. Still, that a formerly (and not so long ago) neo-Nazi […]
Even Small, Well-Run Countries Can’t Escape The Currency War
The old saying “When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled” captures perfectly the dilemma of the world’s non-superpowers. From Brazil to Thailand to non-eurozone Europe, the currency war raging between the leading economies is creating collateral damage. Here’s Bloomberg on the war’s European theater: Europe’s Quiet Currency War Besets Nations Losing Inflation Grip From Stockholm, […]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 5
- Next Page »
