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

Fools at the Fire … In the heat, in the still gloaming, we set up camp near a snowbank across from a glacier and a symphony of waterfalls. North Cascades National Park, a few hours' drive from Seattle, can always be counted on as a compress to the rest of the country's fever. Then, out of the park a few days later, down the valley to the arid east, it seems as if half of Washington S...Read More

Has the 'Libertarian Moment' Finally Arrived? … "Let's say Ron Paul is Nirvana," said Kennedy, the television personality and former MTV host, by way of explaining the sort of politician who excites libertarians like herself. "Like, the coolest, most amazing thing to come along in years, and the songs are nebulous but somehow meaningful, and the lead singer kills h...Read More

Medical Marijuana, Physicians, and State Law … As Massachusetts prepares to implement its new medical-marijuana law, agents of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have reportedly visited at least seven Massachusetts physicians at their homes or offices and told them they must either give up their DEA registration or sever formal ties with proposed medical-marijuana dispensaries...Read More

Charles Koch: How to Really Turn the Economy Around … For years, Washington politicians have said that our economy is turning the corner. They said it in 2011, in 2013 and again last week — every time they report a quarter with 4% economic growth. But each time, the economy has turned sluggish again. Like most Americans, I am deeply concerned about our weak economic recovery and its ef...Read More

Washington Post Worries That Global Warming Could Make Ebola Worse … In a wildly speculative Tuesday editorial, the Washington Post worried that global warming "could" make the spread of the Ebola virus worse as time goes on. In its August 5 Capitol Weather Gang blog post, the Post helpfully reported that Ebola is "out of control" and then goes on to wonder: "Could c...Read More

Twitter Africa: The Richest Region For Young Workers And Consumers … Africa does not have the wealth that has piled up on the North American and European continents over many centuries. But it does have something richer regions now lack: lots of young people. While other continents have aging populations, Africa is giving birth to a new generation of consumers and workers. Sub-Saharan Africa...Read More

A New Report Argues Inequality Is Causing Slower Growth. Here's Why It Matters … Is income inequality holding back the United States economy? A new report argues that it is, that an unequal distribution in incomes is making it harder for the nation to recover from the recession and achieve the kind of growth that was commonplace in decades past. The report is interesting not because it o...Read More

There's No Defense for Today's Income Inequality … Our political discourse today is riven by the issue of inequality. Some commentators embrace inequality as an inevitable byproduct of free markets. Others say inequality is greatly overstated. Both claims are harmful and deceptive … Americans simply do not have equal opportunities. This is more than an ethical or social issue:...Read More

Why We Should Remember Tonkin … Fifty years later, Americans still don't understand … Based on the writings of Le Duan, the Politburo's First-Secretary and the man truly running North Vietnam throughout the war, we can see that the party leader had no wish to confront a flood of U.S. ground troops … Beyond mourning for the millions dead, massive destruction, savage fighti...Read More

Clashes with Russia point to globalization's end … As the European Union and the United States ramp up their sanctions on Russia, President Vladimir Putin's plans for retaliation seem to include an attack on McDonald's. There could not be a more powerful symbol that geopolitics is increasingly undoing the globalization of the world economy … After 25 years of being bound to...Read More

Police files reveal 'endemic corruption' at the Met … Documents show how organised crime networks were able to infiltrate the force 'at will' … Scotland Yard holds an astonishing 260 crates of documents on police corruption in one corner of London alone – and very few of the rogue detectives have ever been successfully prosecuted. A review led by one of Britain...Read More

Yes, Stocks Could Drop 50% … After meandering higher for most of the year, the stock market is now sputtering. That's triggering chatter about a minor "correction," which many people believe is long overdue. And maybe that's what we're at the start of, a minor correction. Or maybe this is just a blip, and the brilliant and prudent Jeremy Grantham is right that we're...Read More

Government's poll shows Canadians want marijuana laws changed … More than two-thirds of Canadians want this country's marijuana laws to be softened, according to an opinion poll conducted for the federal government earlier this year. And while a small majority of the public believes companies should not be permitted to sell marijuana just as they sell alcohol and cigarettes, it's...Read More

Federal Reserve stays on cruise control … The U.S. economy is strengthening but the Federal Reserve remains in cruise control. The Fed decided to once again reduce its monthly bond purchases by $10 billion, as expected. The central bank has been gradually reducing, or tapering, its monthly bond purchases since January. It will now buy just $25 billion a month. That's down from a peak of...Read More

Why Voters Aren't Angrier About Economic Inequality … Why don't governments in democratic societies do more to combat income inequality? Scholars have grappled with this question for years. The median voter theory, a longstanding workhorse of political science, predicts that politicians hoping to get elected will seek to close a growing income gap to woo the big bulk of voters in the...Read More

Nomura Profit Slump Signals End of Abenomics … Nomura Holdings Inc. (8604)'s lowest profit in seven quarters signals the boost from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic stimulus policies for Japanese brokerages is over. Japan's largest securities firm yesterday posted a 70 percent drop in net income to 19.9 billion yen ($195 million) in the three months ended June, missing analys...Read More

The Federal Marijuana Ban Is Rooted in Myth and Xenophobia … The federal law that makes possession of marijuana a crime has its origins in legislation that was passed in an atmosphere of hysteria during the 1930s and that was firmly rooted in prejudices against Mexican immigrants and African-Americans, who were associated with marijuana use at the time. This racially freighted history lives...Read More

Heads or Tails? Either Way, You Might Beat a Stock Picker … Imagine a world where investors in the stock market have no skill whatsoever. The investors themselves don't understand this, however, and many truly believe that they are good at what they do. But in this thought experiment, there's no doubt about the underlying reasons for fund managers' success: When they turn in an o...Read More

Companies proclaim water the next oil in a rush to turn resources into profit … Mammoth companies are trying to collect water that all life needs and charge for it as they would for other natural resources … "Is now the time to buy water?" enquired the email that showed up in my inbox earlier this week. Its authors weren't worrying about my dehydration levels. Rather, the...Read More

Is the Fed fueling a giant stock market bubble? … Not only has the S&P 500 fully recovered from the financial crisis, it's a staggering 30% higher than the peaks of the Internet and housing bull markets. But is this really the case? With unemployment still above 6%, how could we find ourselves in the throes of yet another brewing catastrophe? Didn't investors and analysts learn...Read More