No sooner does the Canadian penny gets axed, do the establishment chimps start flinging dung at the critics of this move. In the latest from the National Post, anyone criticizing the government’s decision to drop the penny is casually labeled
Fiat
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Denarius
History repeats itself, so the scholars say. But according to Mark Twain it just rhymes. Literary quips and hair-splitting aside, I’ve found that one of the most valuable things anyone can do to advance their knowledge and understanding of the
And the Global Liquidity Binge Continues
Forget Fed chairman Bernanke and his central planning cronies “considering additional asset purchases,” the unsettling truth is right before your eyes (charts via Bianco Research at The Big Picture): Here are some comparative charts (note the first is scaled in
Is Quantitative Easing 3 Coming in U.S.?
Within the past few months, many financial commentators and pundits have speculated that the Federal Reserve could soon announce a renewed push at “quantitative easing.” These prediction usually go hand in hand whenever there is an upcoming Federal Open Market
Banking Jargon 101
In case you’ve been living under a rock recently, you would have noticed that another major announcement from the world’s monetary authorities was released a couple days ago.[ref]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-30/fed-five-central-banks-lower-interest-rate-on-dollar-swaps.html[/ref]Â Markets everywhere rallied as investors gleefully piled in to just about every
Fed, BoC, and Other Central Banks Ready To Save Europe
It was only a matter of time: (Reuters) – The world’s major central banks acted jointly on Wednesday to provide cheaper dollar funding to European banks facing a credit crunch as the euro zone’s debt crisis drove EU ministers to
Soros Calls for More ECB Intervention
Color me a shade of unsurprised blue. Financial heavy weight and big government buddy George Soros is out with another plan to save the EU. Rather than rely on the forced but subtle nationalization of undercapitalized banks by euro governments,
Gold Confiscation in Tough Times
In the land of central banking where large financial institutions buddy up with government bureaucrats for their fill of private profits and socialized losses, here is just another outcome of an unsustainable fractional reserve banking system: [youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6_sJdTbTQM] Since Gerald
A Twisted QE3
The Federal Reserve announced yesterday that they will engage in a policy called “the twist” – meaning they will sell some of their short-term US treasury holdings in exchange for long-term US treasuries. This is said to be neutral to
The Definition of Insanity
Just a few hours ago, the European Central Bank announced “in coordination with the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank, to conduct three US dollar liquidity-providing operations with a maturity of
40 Years of Fiat Currency – Is Gold as ‘Cheap’ as it was in 1971?
Originally Published on http://greshams-law.com/ Monday was the 40th anniversary of the irredeemable fiat dollar. Unlike the preceding 39 anniversaries, this one was actually noticed! Here, I present several charts that show the changes to the Fed’s balance sheet since 1971.
CNBC, Clueless in Economics
This morning before heading out to work I managed to watch a panel discussion on CNBC. Jim Grant of Grant’s Interest Rate Monitor was a guest for about 15 minutes. Now I usually watch CNBC strictly for entertainment purposes, that
Can Precious Metals Save Your Portfolio?
With the recent market turmoil, investors of all types are increasingly turning to an asset class that has been out of favour for decades; precious metals. Gold in particular is attracting serious attention. In recent months we’ve seen Bill Gross
Savers vs. Speculators
Here is a great short documentary by financial analyst Max Keiser on how most western economies were, and still are, geared towards low interests rates and speculation by the policies of their central banks. I don’t think Keiser thinks of
Competing Currencies: The Gold Standard of Monetary Systems
Discussions regarding monetary policy and currencies in particular will often include some talk of abandoning fiat currencies in favour of commodity backed units of wealth. While the defunct Confederate States of America attempted to back their confederate currency with cotton
Paper vs. Gold
Gold versus Paper Most people take it for granted that the world will never return to the gold standard. The gold standard, they say, is as obsolete as the horse and buggy. The system of government-issued fiat money provides the
The Fiat Money End Game – to Infinity and Beyond
Jim Sinclair has a slogan “QE to infinity.” That’s “Quantitative Easing to infinity.” That’s inflation to infinity. That’s the case for gold and silver in a nutshell. I think he’s right. I’d like to explain why I think he’s right,
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