Jeff Berwick is interviewed by Thomas Pochari on World Affairs Daily
Topics discussed:
- The unsustainability of the financial system
- The growing number of people learning Austrian economics
- Are the financial string pullers stupid or evil?
- The world changing power of the internet
- The booming Chilean eco... (more)
April 4 (Bloomberg) -- Betty Liu reports on Italian police finding one ton of gold in a car. She speaks on Bloomberg Television's "In The Loop. (Source: Bloomberg)
This week, while economists should have been closely considering the implications of the actual bankruptcy of Stockton, California, they instead heaped scorn on the perceived ideological bankruptcy of David Stockman. In other words, Stockman trumped Stockton.
Ronald Reagan’s former Budget Director contributed “Sundown in America” a multi-page opinion piece to the Sunday New York Times which loudly and eloquently described the illusions of our current economi... (more)
L: Doug, there is considerable disagreement over the significance of the Cyprus crisis. A lot of people are saying that it's just a flash in the pan; Cyprus is a small country, far off, and doesn't really matter. Other people are saying it's very significant. The European Central Bank took unprecedented steps. What do you think?
Doug: I think this could be the spark that ignites the keg of dynamite under the current financial system.... (more)
Once the public furor and shrill media coverage have died down it will become clear that events in Cyprus did not mark the death of democracy or the end of the euro but potentially the beginning of the end of deposit 'insurance'. If so, then three cheers to that. It may herald a return to honesty, transparency and responsibility in banking.
Let us start by looking at some of the facts of deposit banking: When you deposit money in a bank you forfeit ownership of money and gain owne... (more)
Alasdair talks to Marc Faber, publisher of the Gloom Boom & Doom (new.gloomboomdoom.com) Report. Marc discusses his 40 years of experience in capital markets and the lessons he has learned.
He looks at the underlying nature of the American economy and details the problems arising since 2007. Money printing -- along with the insidious effects of underrepo... (more)
Bitcoin hit an astonishing $147 per coin today on the MtGox exchange before easing back to $128 per coin. At $147 per coin the outstanding value of all Bitcoins was over $1.6 billion, currently it's just under $1.4 billion. Bitcoins have increased in value over fourfold in the past 30 days, making it by far the best performing currency in the world.
Yes, you can buy drugs with Bitcoin, it's called the free market. Jeff Berwick schools Fox News on the wonders of decentralized currencies. (Of course, most illegal drugs and guns are payed for with U.S. dollars, but hey, we just ignore that cuz 'Murica's number one.)
The dramatic recent events in Cyprus have highlighted the fundamental weakness in the European banking system and the extreme fragility of fractional reserve banking. Cypriot banks invested heavily in Greek sovereign debt, and last summer's Greek debt restructuring resulted in losses equivalent to more than 25 percent of Cyprus' GDP. These banks then took their bad investments to the government, demanding a bailout from an already beleaguered Cypriot treasury. The government of Cyprus then turne... (more)
Growing wealth inequality means that the wealthy have nowhere to hide and that events like those in Cyprus will happen in more countries around the world, including developed nations, said Marc Faber, the contrarian investor and publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report.
"It will happen everywhere in the world, in Western democracies," Faber said "Squaw... (more)
Gold is in a “bubble” after the best annual run in at least nine decades and will head into a so-called bear market as a stronger U.S. economy helps increase interest rates and cut bullion demand, Societe Generale SA said.
Investors are unlikely to raise gold holdings because inflation has remained low, signs that the economy is improving may spur the Federal Reserve to curb stimulus and the dollar has strengthened, the bank said today in a report. Bullion is down 4.6 ... (more)
After selling off an astounding 56% between October of 2007 and March 2009, the S&P 500 has staged a rally for the ages, surging 120% and recovering all of its lost ground too. This stunning turnaround certainly qualifies as one of the more memorable, and unusual, stock market rallies in history. The problem is that the rally has been underwritten by the Federal Reserve's unconventional monetary policies But for some reason, this belief has not weakened the celebration.
CEO of Euro Pacific Capital Peter Schiff's latest gold call. As gold posts its first back-to-back quarterly losses since 2001, is the metal ready for a comeback? With CNBC's Jackie DeAngelis and the Futures Now Traders, Rich Ilczyszyn at the CME and Anthony Grisanti at the Nymex.
In 1988, Paul Krugman stepped up to the plate and told us:
The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in "Metcalfe's law"--which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to th
Private business unceasingly gets a bum rap in major print. No matter the rise in living standards or technological advances brought about through market forces, there will always be some wiry, neurotic journalist bemoaning over social justice and demanding that capitalism kills. Socialism has proven itself to be impoverishing and murderous. Even Sweden, every liberal's favorite exemplar of successful welfarism, had to concede to free enterprise reforms in the 1990s to avoid economic catastr... (more)
