The Federal Reserve, as have all the world’s central banks, has proven that it will happily create as astonishingly much cash and credit as is necessary to completely save the bond market, save the stock market, save the housing market, save the banks, save the government and save everything from everything.  How wonderful! Therefore, I have decided, after thinking about it all day, that it must be temporarily safe to venture out of the Top Secret Mogambo Bunker (TSMB) into a scary world where every economic metric is at an extreme overvaluation, and doom and destruction loom over every moment.  … Continue reading →

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There’s lots of scuttlebutt in the mainstream press – and beyond – about how bank secrecy is dead. But to paraphrase Mark Twain, “The rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.” To be sure, there’s an element of truth to this assertion. Thanks to laws like the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), for instance, every non-US financial institution in the world must now identify their US clients. And once they do, they must share details of those clients’ transactions with the IRS. So, it’s safe to say that if you’re a US citizen, offshore bank secrecy no longer exists … Continue reading →

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Things turn very frivolous around this time of year. Barf-inducing parties by pop culture schlock merchants selling their wares are a nightly transgression, the hacks duly reporting the shenanigans of doped-up rappers the next day as once upon a time they detailed the haut monde. London isn’t much better. Last week, at the British Fashion Awards, a designer by the name of Jonathan Anderson said that he was “honored to be on the same stage as Karl Lagerfeld,” a bum-clenching announcement for its unremitting vapidity. Lagerfeld is a preening, self-important freak whose trademark is rudeness and that other giveaway of … Continue reading →

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If you were looking for a needle in a haystack, simple logic would tell you that the smaller the haystack the likelier you are to find the needle. Except for the government. Since Edward Snowden revealed the federal government’s unlawful and unconstitutional use of federal statutes to justify spying on all in America all the time, including the members of Congress who unwittingly wrote and passed the statutes, I have been arguing that the Fourth Amendment prohibits all domestic spying, except that which has been authorized by a search warrant issued by a judge. The same amendment also requires that … Continue reading →

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Ever been told to mind your p’s and q’s? Unless you were working a mechanical printing press at the time, chances are you were fairly subtly being told to mind your manners. But what exactly are your p’s and q’s? The short answer is that no one really knows. But just because we don’t have a definitive answer doesn’t mean that we don’t have any answers at all. In fact, there are a number of competing theories as to what the original p’s and q’s might have been, some of which are a lot more convincing than others. THE BASIC … Continue reading →

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Despite gold at near 6 year lows, global demand for physical bullion remains very high. This is clearly seen in the recent demand data from the U.S. Mint and other mints. It is also seen in demand data from GFMS and the World Gold Council which shows very robust demand from Germany, India and of course, China. There is also the very high official demand from central banks and, in particular, the Russian central bank and the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Today came news that China’s gold reserves rose by another 21 tonnes in November, the biggest bout of … Continue reading →

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A paper written by Zachary Feinstein discussing the economic consequences of blowing up the Death Star has been making the rounds on social media. While I’m a fan of using Star Wars to teach economics, Feinstein makes a very basic economic mistake in his focus on the Death Star’s destruction. The paper actually starts out strong. Feinstein notes that, “Economics and finance, much like the Force as explained by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, is ‘created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.’” Unfortunately, the author shifts from looking at the organic economy … Continue reading →

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If the American Dream depends on skyrocketing debt built on a weakening foundation of stagnant productivity and income, then it is indeed over. Despite a ceaseless propaganda campaign declaring all is well with the U.S. economy, the Status Quo is fragile–and voters know it. Not only do they know the economy–and their financial security–is one crisis away from meltdown, they’re also fed up with all the official gerrymandering of data to make the economy appear healthy. The Economy Is Better — Why Don’t Voters Believe It? The American Dream–characterized by plentiful jobs offering living wages, security and opportunities to get … Continue reading →

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(via NinjaEconomics) Here’s a map to help you identify the countries. Note well that tiny little country in the middle of the map, with no natural resources that doesn’t get involved in foreign wars and other people’s affairs, but has a staggering per person wealth of $567.000 Reprinted with permission from Economic Policy Journal.

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Following on from our first list of words you don’t know, we present another 25. Learn one a day and impress your friends! Words 25 – 21 25. Girn – To bare your teeth in anger and sadness 24. Yerd – To beat with a stick. 23. Dendrofilous – Loving trees enough to live in them. 22. Wamfle – To walk around with flapping clothes. 21. Ribazuba – Ivory from a walrus. Words 20 – 16 20. Franch – To eat greedily. 19. Nazzard – A lowly or weak person. 18. Cachinnate – To laugh noisily. 17. Sesamoid – Having … Continue reading →

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Last week, the United States Labor Department reported that the nonfarm payrolls rose 211,000 last month. This data suggest that the Federal Reserve will definitely increase interest rates next week during its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Not so fast, says Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital. Speaking in an interview with Yahoo! Finance, Schiff explained that the numbers are a mirage, false and a work of fiction. With slowing consumer spending, tepid growth in the services industry and a contracting in manufacturing, Schiff says there is no way the jobs picture can be as rosy as the federal … Continue reading →

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Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, has backed a “hate-speech spell-checker” that would nudge ordinary web users away from unwelcome forms of expression on social media. Writing in the New York Times, Schmidt said that it was important to use the web’s power of connectivity to “bring out the best in people.” While he acknowledged the positives of the Internet, such as its role as a platform for the “raw reality of oppressed people and their real needs,” he added that the web is “also allowing some of our worst traits – such as envy, oppression, and hate – to come into full … Continue reading →

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Accuracy in Media’s Cliff Kincaid yesterday called on the U.S. Congress to impeach President Obama on the grounds that “he is currently mentally incompetent due to excessive use of marijuana when he was younger.”
In an article titled, “Is our Stoner P…