Gold has big year in 2020 and outlook for this year robust. Learn about monetary expansion and gold future prices.Read More

The gold futures price reached US$1,767/ounce this week before retreating, which was the second time it has surpassed US$1,760 in the past two months, marking some of gold's highest levels in several years.Read More

India world's second most trusted nation, says survey … Moving up the ranks, India has emerged as the second most trusted country in the world in terms of faith reposed on its institutions even as globally trust levels have fallen, says a survey. As the world's rich and powerful gather in the Swiss resort of Davos, a study by public relations firm Edelman has found that general level...Read More

European economic storm is casting dark clouds over Davos … Slow growth and low inflation seem to have become the established condition, at least for advanced Western economies … This year's World Economic Forum is witness to a kind of capitulation, or sense of resignation. – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Times are tough, even for top servants of the system.Free-Market A...Read More

The winter brings the heat in Ukraine … The fighting in Ukraine has returned to an intensity not seen since last summer, and the government claims Russian weapons are once again streaming across the border to support the rebels. So it is a curious moment for the European Union's top foreign policy official to bring up the prospect of normalizing relations with Russian President Vladimir...Read More

Fed Officials Reassess U.S. Outlook Amid Global Weakness … Federal Reserve officials are starting to reassess their outlook for the economy as global weakness and disappointing data on American consumer spending test their resolve to raise interest rates this year. San Francisco Fed President John Williams last week said he will trim his U.S. estimate because of slower growth abroad. Atlanta...Read More

Is marijuana really as dangerous as heroin and LSD? Finally, a welcome legal review … A federal judge has done what Congress and the Obama administration have failed to do — open a discussion on whether marijuana should continue to be listed as a Schedule 1 drug, a classification that is supposed to be used only for the most dangerous, addictive drugs, such as heroin and LSD. It should...Read More

Central bank prophet fears QE warfare pushing world financial system out of control … Former BIS chief economist warns that QE in Europe is doomed to failure and may draw the region into deeper difficulties … The warnings come just as the European Central Bank prepares a blitz of bond purchases at a crucial meeting on Thursday. – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Let's roll...Read More

The Fix is In: Why Gold Price Manipulation is Now a Global Effort … A lot of people think about gold as a percentage of total reserves. So countries have reserves. What percentage of your reserves consist of gold? For example, a lot of people are surprised to learn that the United States has 70 percent of its reserves in gold. China has about 1 percent of its reserves in gold. So people look...Read More

Middle class decline looms over final years of Obama presidency … Barack Obama enters the final two years of his presidency with a blemish on his legacy that looks impossible to erase: the decline of the middle class he has promised to rescue. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: Barack must try harder.Free-Market Analysis: The West's economic system, we know now, regularly strips peopl...Read More

With the world growing increasingly warmer, experts have estimated that we are actually due to gain a great deal of farmland, even if the crop yield that that land could see may actually decrease. However, finding this land so that it can quickly be put to use remains a challenge. Now, two new global maps may provide some help in the search for fresh farmland. – Nature World NewsDominant Soc...Read More

European Economy … No More Excuses for Draghi … For months, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has hinted that he's ready to announce a full-blown program of quantitative easing. [Now] the EU Court of Justice's advocate general cleared away a possible legal obstacle. With prices in the euro area now falling, any further delay would be inexcusable. The euro zone has go...Read More

Big business will undoubtedly be the subject of much soul-searching at Davos 2015 … Loss of public trust in established forms of business has got a great deal worse since the onset of the financial crisis. Is there a solution? – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Take care of the customer to regain trust in business.Free-Market Analysis: This article features a mainstream newspaper rep...Read More

World deflationary forces have swept away Switzerland's defences … A month ago the Swiss authorities were still claiming that their currency floor was crucial to prevent a deflation trap. They were right … The Swiss National Bank has lost control. It is the latest in a list of venerable central banks to be overwhelmed by deflationary forces and global economic disorder. – UK...Read More

Colombia is 8th best country for retiring: Forbes … US economy magazine Forbes has placed Colombia 8th in a list of 25 global destinations for foreign retirees. Colombia was bettered only by Ecuador in the South America region. The influential US publication recommended 25 countries to retire to based off the annual International Living "World's Best Retirement Destination for 2015&...Read More

Much more than digital cash … The rise and fall of the crypto-currency is good news for authors at least … BITCOIN may well be the world's worst-performing currency. In 2014 it lost more than half of its value against the dollar, beating even Ukraine's hryvnia and the Russian rouble. But measured by the number of new books it has inspired, bitcoin is top of the pile. Nearly 200...Read More

Inflation Doesn't Hurt So Much, Does It? … There might be better ways to generate more inflation. The first would be for the Fed to stop paying interest on reserves. As things stand, when banks hold reserve accounts at the Fed — which we normally call "cash" — they get paid 0.25 percent annual interest. As insignificant as it might seem, that provides an incentive f...Read More

Even Britain may be falling prey to Europe's deflationary vortex … On the face of it, Britain is much better placed to weather deflationary threats than the eurozone … Rejoice! UK inflation has fallen to its lowest level in nearly 15 years, and is heading lower still – down close to zero, according to some forecasts. That's a good thing according to the Chancellor, George...Read More

2015 forecast: What's in store for the global real estate sector? Foreign ownership restrictions relaxed, increasing interest from international investors, property industries going mobile – these are just some of the developments that are on the cards for frontier real estate markets in 2015. As 2014 draws to a close, global property portal Lamudi looked at five key trends to watch out...Read More

America's Going to Lose the Oil Price War … The financial debacle that has befallen Russia as the price of Brent crude dropped 50 percent in the last four months has overshadowed the one that potentially awaits the U.S. shale industry in 2015. It's time to heed it, because Saudi Arabia and other major Middle Eastern oil producers are unlikely to blink and cut output, and the price is...Read More

Monsanto earnings fall 34% after a year of global protests … Company that has come under fire for its genetically modified seeds said its earnings fell 34% in its first fiscal quarter … Monsanto its earnings fell 34% in its first fiscal quarter, as South American farmers cut back on planting corn, reducing demand for the company's biotech-enhanced seeds. – GuardianDominant So...Read More

Teaching Economics After the Crash … At universities from Glasgow to Kolkata, economics students are fighting their tutors over how to teach the subject in the wake of the crash. The Guardian's senior economics commentator, Aditya Chakrabortty, reports from the frontline of this most unusual and important academic war. – 9/11 Forum/UK from BBC Radio 4Dominant Social Theme: Economic...Read More