Hyperinflation! The Libertarian Fantasy That Never Occurs … While it is probably true that no one has ever gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the public, it is also true that many who try to turn a profit from stupidity often become the victims of their own nonsense. As we have discussed previously, the fear industry that has grown up since 2008 – mainly centered on the gol...Read More
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty (Book Review) … Review by Bill Gates …. The book goes back in history to talk about economic growth during Roman times. The problem with this is that before 800AD, the economy everywhere was based on sustenance farming. So the fact that various Roman government structures were more or less inclusive did not affect growth....Read More
Mark Carney to the bankers: the joke is on you now … In the long run, "heads-I-win-tails-you-lose finance" catches up to you. That was the message Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney delivered to an audience of finance majors at Western University's Richard Ivey School of Business today. In other words: "don't you kids try to play that game." It's in the banks...Read More
What Saved the Dow? Sensible Economic Policies … As of the closing bell on Tuesday, the Dow was trading at 14,254—well above the previous all-time peak of 14,198, which the market reached on October 11, 2007. With investors increasingly optimistic about the economy, nearly four hundred issues on the New York Stock Exchange hit new highs. Sticklers will point out that, after accounting...Read More
Celebrations are in order on the poorest continent. Never in the half-century since it won independence from the colonial powers has Africa been in such good shape. Its economy is flourishing. Most countries are at peace. Ever fewer children bear arms and record numbers go to school. Mobile phones are as ubiquitous as they are in India and, in the worst-affected countries, HIV infections have fall...Read More
Western political economy since the Industrial Revolution has been a vibrant world of rapid growth and development, at least for countries in the industrial "core." But it has also been a world of continuing and sometimes enormous fluctuations in economic activity. Business cycles — expansions and contractions across most sectors of an economy — have come to be taken as a fac...Read More
Mark Carney to the bankers: the joke is on you now … In the long run, "heads-I-win-tails-you-lose finance" catches up to you. That was the message Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney delivered to an audience of finance majors at Western University's Richard Ivey School of Business today. In other words: "don't you kids try to play that game." It's in the banks...Read More
What Saved the Dow? Sensible Economic Policies … As of the closing bell on Tuesday, the Dow was trading at 14,254—well above the previous all-time peak of 14,198, which the market reached on October 11, 2007. With investors increasingly optimistic about the economy, nearly four hundred issues on the New York Stock Exchange hit new highs. Sticklers will point out that, after accounting...Read More
Celebrations are in order on the poorest continent. Never in the half-century since it won independence from the colonial powers has Africa been in such good shape. Its economy is flourishing. Most countries are at peace. Ever fewer children bear arms and record numbers go to school. Mobile phones are as ubiquitous as they are in India and, in the worst-affected countries, HIV infections have fall...Read More
Western political economy since the Industrial Revolution has been a vibrant world of rapid growth and development, at least for countries in the industrial "core." But it has also been a world of continuing and sometimes enormous fluctuations in economic activity. Business cycles — expansions and contractions across most sectors of an economy — have come to be taken as a fac...Read More
Mexico to audit its gold holdings at the Bank of England … The Mexican Government Audit Office has issued an official statement, criticizing the Bank of Mexico for not auditing the gold it has supposedly bought and stored at the Bank of England. The auditors ask the Central Bank of Mexico to "make a physical inspection with the counterparty that has the gold under its custody, in order...Read More
Great Rotation a myth but stocks still a top pick … Don't hold your breath waiting for that Great Rotation out of global bonds and into stocks. Even so, go into stocks anyway if you are big enough and tough enough to survive the inevitable volatility … It also makes intuitive sense given the likelihood of lousy inflation-adjusted returns, even losses, in bonds. The only problem is...Read More
Europe Union Agrees on Plan to Limit Bankers' Bonuses … The move, part of a package of banking regulations known as Basel III that is aimed at reducing the danger of big bank failures, was hailed Thursday by some European lawmakers. 'We've achieved the most comprehensive banking reform in the European Union,' said Othmar Karas, an Austrian member of the European Parliament wh...Read More
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's breathing problems worsen, has severe new infection … "The president has been receiving high-impact chemotherapy, along with other complementary treatments … The 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public nor heard from in almost three months since undergoing the operation in Cuba. It was his chemotherapy: fourth surgery since t...Read More
Mexico to audit its gold holdings at the Bank of England … The Mexican Government Audit Office has issued an official statement, criticizing the Bank of Mexico for not auditing the gold it has supposedly bought and stored at the Bank of England. The auditors ask the Central Bank of Mexico to "make a physical inspection with the counterparty that has the gold under its custody, in order...Read More
Great Rotation a myth but stocks still a top pick … Don't hold your breath waiting for that Great Rotation out of global bonds and into stocks. Even so, go into stocks anyway if you are big enough and tough enough to survive the inevitable volatility … It also makes intuitive sense given the likelihood of lousy inflation-adjusted returns, even losses, in bonds. The only problem is...Read More
Europe Union Agrees on Plan to Limit Bankers' Bonuses … The move, part of a package of banking regulations known as Basel III that is aimed at reducing the danger of big bank failures, was hailed Thursday by some European lawmakers. 'We've achieved the most comprehensive banking reform in the European Union,' said Othmar Karas, an Austrian member of the European Parliament wh...Read More
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's breathing problems worsen, has severe new infection … "The president has been receiving high-impact chemotherapy, along with other complementary treatments … The 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public nor heard from in almost three months since undergoing the operation in Cuba. It was his chemotherapy: fourth surgery since t...Read More
The black swan sequester … Since the housing market imploded six years ago, we've been suffering from black swan fever. When Nicholas Taleb penned his passionate polemic about the inability of financial markets to allow for unanticipated and rare events ("black swans"), he did us all a great service in highlighting the narrow-mindedness that can have dire consequences. Then the...Read More
GRAY MATTER: This Story Stinks … In the beginning, the technology gods created the Internet and saw that it was good. Here, at last, was a public sphere with unlimited potential for reasoned debate and the thoughtful exchange of ideas, an enlightening conversational bridge across the many geographic, social, cultural, ideological and economic boundaries that ordinarily separate us in life, a...Read More