The news that two tanker ships were attacked in the Gulf of Oman last week shocked the world. Oil prices immediately spiked 4% in the aftermath of the attacks, as the possibility of further attacks on commercial shipping in that area could have drastic effects on the ability of oil producers to get their products […]
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Most of us expect that the contents of our emails will be safe from prying eyes. Yes, we may realize that the government is trying to swoop them up and archive them, but we expect our email providers not to browse through our emails. But that may not always be the case. Recent news reports […]
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While the gold standard may have offered unprecedented monetary stability to the world, for much of history most countries in the world were actually on silver standards. China was a silver standard country for most of its history, as as were Spain and its colonies, the United States, and most continental European countries. And a […]
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If you’re saving and investing, it’s probably for a reason. For most people that means saving for retirement. And that requires a long time horizon and a great deal of discipline. It also leads to a great deal of uncertainty, as the 30-40 years or more of saving and investing will almost necessarily mean that […]
Continue ReadingMake no mistake about it. The underlying purpose of this legislation is a cash grab. More people paying more fees regardless of any actual benefit to them. Under the guise of helping more Americans achieve their dream of retirement, Congress is looking to pass new legislation to make changes to the retirement system. That means […]
Continue ReadingConfidence in the absolute efficacy of Fed intervention breeds complacency, which is the essential backdrop of stock market crashes. Crashes don’t arise from a skittish herd, they arise from a complacent herd. So far the herd has been religiously buying the dip. But as with any herd, that behavior can flip in an instant. Once […]
Continue ReadingThe global monetary regime has collapsed three times over the past 100 years, in 1914, 1939, and 1971. They seem to happen about every 30 to 40 years on average. It’s now been over 40 years since the last collapse, so we’re due. With Russia and China continuing to build up their gold reserves, it’s clear that the […]
Continue ReadingIn all, long-term investors are risking roughly a 60% decline to try to capture a 0% rate of return over the coming decade in the stock market, one of the worst risk-to-reward setups in history. If this doesn’t make you want to give up investing in stocks, it’s hard to say what will. After over […]
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While India may be one of the world’s largest holders of gold, with Indian citizens holding an estimated 24,000 tonnes of gold, other countries are catching up. China is one of those, with an increasingly affluent middle class looking for ways to protect its wealth. While stories abound of Chinese looking to store their wealth […]
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The Soviet Union did a lot of copying of other countries’ military designs over the years. Whether it was outright copies of the B-29 Superfortress (Tupolev Tu-4) and the DC-3 (Lisunov Li-2), or the striking similarity of the Soviet space shuttle to US space shuttles, the Soviets borrowed from anyone they could. That extended to […]
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