Central banks are loading up on gold ... This has been a great year for gold. The precious metal is up 19%, and recently crossed $1,300 per ounce for the first time in 15 months before pulling back into the $1,265 area. - Yahoo, Business InsiderYesterday, we wrote about two simple, powerful factors boosting gold.First, the equity "bull" market is at least seven years old now and can't be counted...Read More
Global corruption costs trillions in bribes, lost growth ... Public sector corruption siphons $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion annually from the global economy in bribes and costs far more in stunted economic growth, lost tax revenues and sustained poverty, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. – ReutersThe IMF has just announced that doing away with corruption worldwide is "criti...Read More
Republicans Pray Trump Will ‘Evolve’ on Foreign Policy ... Donald Trump may eventually find some common ground with Congress on economics, but there's less hope for unity between the Republicans and their presumptive presidential nominee when it comes to foreign policy. Some senior party figures hope Trump's views will "evolve" to the point where the party can feel comfortable defend...Read More
Central banks are loading up on gold ... This has been a great year for gold. The precious metal is up 19%, and recently crossed $1,300 per ounce for the first time in 15 months before pulling back into the $1,265 area. - Yahoo, Business InsiderYesterday, we wrote about two simple, powerful factors boosting gold.First, the equity "bull" market is at least seven years old now and can't be counted...Read More
Global corruption costs trillions in bribes, lost growth ... Public sector corruption siphons $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion annually from the global economy in bribes and costs far more in stunted economic growth, lost tax revenues and sustained poverty, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. – ReutersThe IMF has just announced that doing away with corruption worldwide is "criti...Read More
Indian central bank governor says helicopter money no panacea ... Indian Central Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan said on Tuesday that he had doubts “helicopter money”, or free cash given directly to citizens to stimulate growth, would be successful if adopted by developed world policymakers. -ReutersRaghuram Rajan has come out against helicopter money and this is probably to be expected f...Read More
Why China Is Prone to Bubbles ... The only sure way for China to prevent new bubbles is to tighten credit, slow money growth and allow risk to price assets properly. If the government keeps stepping in to prevent falling prices and to bail out banks or other investors, the possibility of loss is discounted. The probability of an asset crunch like the ones Japan experienced in the 1990s and the...Read More
Bloomberg Singer Says Gold Rally Just Beginning as Goldman Sees Losses ... Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer said that gold's best quarter in 30 years is probably just the beginning of a rebound as global investors — including Stan Druckenmiller — weigh the ramifications of unprecedented monetary easing on inflation. "It makes a great deal of sense to own gold. Other investors...Read More
Indian central bank governor says helicopter money no panacea ... Indian Central Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan said on Tuesday that he had doubts “helicopter money”, or free cash given directly to citizens to stimulate growth, would be successful if adopted by developed world policymakers. -ReutersRaghuram Rajan has come out against helicopter money and this is probably to be expected f...Read More
Why China Is Prone to Bubbles ... The only sure way for China to prevent new bubbles is to tighten credit, slow money growth and allow risk to price assets properly. If the government keeps stepping in to prevent falling prices and to bail out banks or other investors, the possibility of loss is discounted. The probability of an asset crunch like the ones Japan experienced in the 1990s and the...Read More
Bloomberg Singer Says Gold Rally Just Beginning as Goldman Sees Losses ... Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer said that gold's best quarter in 30 years is probably just the beginning of a rebound as global investors — including Stan Druckenmiller — weigh the ramifications of unprecedented monetary easing on inflation. "It makes a great deal of sense to own gold. Other investors...Read More
Fault lines: GOP civil war deepens ... Donald Trump is poised to breeze through another round of primary contests this week — while the Republican Party splinters around him. Trump’s ascent to the top of the GOP, which was capped last week with Ted Cruz’s devastating loss in the Indiana primary, happened so fast that even the billionaire himself was surprised. And the whipsawed p...Read More
Fault lines: GOP civil war deepens ... Donald Trump is poised to breeze through another round of primary contests this week — while the Republican Party splinters around him. Trump’s ascent to the top of the GOP, which was capped last week with Ted Cruz’s devastating loss in the Indiana primary, happened so fast that even the billionaire himself was surprised. And the whipsawed p...Read More
Panama Papers source breaks silence over ‘scale of injustices’ ... Whistleblower says leak of 11.5m Mossack Fonseca files on offshore tax havens has triggered debate but not enough action. -UK GuardianWho is this anonymous person who believes his vast Panama Papers leak hasn't triggered enough "action?"Why does he want Western governments to try harder to prosecute those who have put a...Read More
Creator of online money Liberty Reserve gets 20 years in prison ... Before the virtual currency Bitcoin there was Liberty Reserve — and its founder just got sentenced to 20 years in prison. Arthur Budovsky, 42, ran an online digital money business out of Costa Rica called Liberty Reserve. The U.S. government contended that the whole thing was just a massive, $6 billion money laundering opera...Read More
Panama Papers source breaks silence over ‘scale of injustices’ ... Whistleblower says leak of 11.5m Mossack Fonseca files on offshore tax havens has triggered debate but not enough action. -UK GuardianWho is this anonymous person who believes his vast Panama Papers leak hasn't triggered enough "action?"Why does he want Western governments to try harder to prosecute those who have put a...Read More
Creator of online money Liberty Reserve gets 20 years in prison ... Before the virtual currency Bitcoin there was Liberty Reserve — and its founder just got sentenced to 20 years in prison. Arthur Budovsky, 42, ran an online digital money business out of Costa Rica called Liberty Reserve. The U.S. government contended that the whole thing was just a massive, $6 billion money laundering opera...Read More
Clinton email evidence so far doesn’t suggest intent to break law, officials say ... Prosecutors and FBI agents investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server have so far found scant evidence that the leading Democratic presidential candidate intended to break classification rules, though they are still probing the case aggressively with an eye on interviewing Clinton h...Read More
Republicans can drag democracy down with them ... US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump campaigns in South Bend, Indiana Donald Trump’s pending presidential nomination has confirmed what many have argued for years: The Republican Party is not well. - Bloomberg via Chicago TribuneMore and more, Donald Trump seems to us at least partially an extension of the Tea Party movement th...Read More