An Essential Resource for Enlightened Minds Since 1972
Kings used to “clip” and “sweat” coins constantly to pad the government treasury. Coins would be called in and filed around the edges, with the resulting loose metal coined into new currency for the government to spend. This practice has gone the way of the buggy whip, with the Federal Reserve conjuring up billions from the ether with the ease of a keystroke.… read more
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In recent years, calling yourself a libertarian has become, at least in some circles, cool. Desperate media characters like comedian Bill Maher and radio host Alex Jones claim the “L” moniker from time to time in the midst of their nuttiness: leftist environmentalism by Maher, rightist conspiratorialism by Jones. Maher seems to think being a… read more
Read More CommentThe Cleveland Police Department took plenty of criticism when three girls that had been missing for a decade escaped captivity mere miles from their homes. Ariel Castro secretly held the girls hostage for years doing unspeakable things to them. In November 2001, a neighbor called the police when he heard screaming at the Castro home,… read more
Read More CommentYou are inspired by an idea. You want to share it with your friends. Why? Because it enhances your life, and you hope it will do the same for others. The idea in this case is big. It is human liberty itself, something very much under fire these days. In fact, it has been for… read more
Read More CommentPeople seem to do the craziest things when it comes to money. They chase stock market bubbles. They throw good money after bad investments, like a home that’s hopelessly underwater. They spend and spend while racking up crushing debt. They destroy their own businesses with dishonesty and deception. Given all of this, the idea that… read more
Read More CommentWalking away is not just for homeowners anymore. Now banks have joined in and are walking away, leaving thousands of homes vacant because they don’t want to be responsible for maintaining them. While housing bulls urge investors to buy up houses, banks that could control property ownership merely by foreclosing and paying the back taxes,… read more
Read More CommentHere we go again with the Earth Day/global warming nonsense. Monday was Earth Day, and this week is Earth Week, so a politically correct network like the NBC family, including CNBC, has turned its peacock green with the tagline “Green Is Universal.” Tell the folks in the upper Midwest that global warming will destroy the… read more
Read More CommentBack in 2010 the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), a government agency, sued 14 executives of failed credit union Wescorp seeking at least $1 billion from the defendants or their insurers. The giant credit union was seized by the government in March 2009 after incurring nearly $7 billion in losses, “largely because of bad investments… read more
Read More CommentIt was once incontrovertible: The mainstream press leans left-liberal. It’s been a proven fact that Republican presidents receive 20-30% less positive economic coverage from the nation’s newspapers. But times seem to have changed a bit. Now a new mainstream has emerged that leans right-conservative. It takes the form of Fox News, mainly, but there are… read more
Read More CommentThe voting machine that is the market deemed an ounce of gold to be worth $1,600 a few days ago and then, whoops, two days later, that same market, the collection of rational minds that trade in the metal, valued that same ounce to be worth less than $1,400. Keep in mind: These prices are… read more
Read More CommentChange is inevitable. Conditions are never frozen in time. As the clock and calendar move forward, people and organizations must adapt to different circumstances. Human thought and creativity is constantly exploring ways to make our lives better. The fruits of technology change our expectations and our demands. The market is spectacular at adapting to people’s… read more
Read More CommentStop the presses! Japan will make a bold attempt to stop falling prices. Making the yen worthless at a 2%-per-year clip is the promised land, according to the new Bank of Japan (BOJ) governor Haruhiko Kuroda. “This is monetary easing in an entirely new dimension,” Mr. Kuroda said following the bank’s decision. The Nikkei 225… read more
Read More CommentIf you’re looking for freedom, which state should you live in? Government oppression at the state level comes in various forms and levels. Since Galt’s Gulch doesn’t exist, people must prioritize the state intrusions they can live with. For those valuing freedom, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University is providing a new “Freedom in… read more
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There’s no way it could happen in the United States. That’s the conventional wisdom on this side of the pond about the ECB’s bailout of the banks in Cyprus. That caper looks as if it may take a chunk out of the hides of at least some bank depositors on the tiny Mediterranean island. So… read more
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“My inflation record is the best of any Federal Reserve chairman in the postwar period,” said the great bearded one, a bit annoyed, responding to a question by Sen. Bob Corker. “We are not engaged in a currency war.” Ben Bernanke told lawmakers to forget that helicopter stuff they’ve been hearing about him, he’s the… read more
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John Goedde, chairman of the Idaho Senate’s Education Committee, introduced legislation a couple weeks ago that would require every Idaho high school student to read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and pass a test on it to graduate from high school. Why Atlas Shrugged? Goedde told a colleague that reading the book made his son a… read more
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The topic of drones came up on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Advertising guru and pro-drone Donny Deutsch pushed back against a skeptical Joe Scarborough saying, “What’s the big deal? There was no due process at Waco.” It’s just a difference in technology, he said. “It’s a more advanced way of dealing with problems,” Deutsch contended with… read more
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We’ve been telling anyone who will listen that the Fed has gone where the central bank has never gone before. Pre-crisis, the Fed’s available resource looked like it always had in the postwar period. Nearly overnight, thanks to its magical money creating powers of buying debt with funds it created, the Fed’s balance sheet shot… read more
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Colleges are good at getting people enrolled. They get kids lined up with education loans. The money goes to pay exorbitant prices on textbooks. It pays for meal cards. Tuition is crazy high. Parents go along and shell out until their bank accounts are barren. What colleges are not good at is getting the kids… read more
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For his U.S. economic history class at UNLV, Murray Rothbard gave us the assignment to write a 10-page paper. The paper could be on anything we wanted it to be. However, we had to clear the topic with him. When I proposed writing about the Great Depression, Murray was thrilled and rattled off a number… read more
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You remember when Hostess declared bankruptcy last November? There were outcries that the iconic snack pastry would be gone forever. Speculators began to stockpile the tasty treats. As Zero Hedge documented, eBay featured the following items: For a price of $89.95, three boxes of SEALED Box of Hostess Chocodiles 3×10 Chocolate Twinkies For a price… read more
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World unemployment is on the verge of breaking new records. This trend will continue until 2017. That’s the news from the International Labour Organization (ILO) in their annual employment report. Currently, 2009 is the record year for world joblessness, at 198 million. In its 2012 Global Employment Trends report (source), the ILO believes unemployment numbers… read more
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In 2008, the American dream of homeownership turned into an incredible nightmare for millions. The government had been subsidizing this stuff for nearly a century, and it all turned to dust. As is typical, government has swung back the other way, seeking to discourage reckless borrowing on houses and to suppress mortgage rackets. This time,… read more
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AIG, the mega-insurer that was bailed out by the government in 2008, wants to sue the government. People’s automatic reaction: How terribly ungrateful! The government saved this company’s bacon and now they want to sue? Most people might have the reaction of Col. Nathan R. Jessup (played by Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men”):… read more
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The typical libertarian sees the world’s glass of water as half-empty. No wonder people avoid freedom lovers. While they tend to be smart and well-informed, they’re often socially inept, ill-tempered, underemployed, and overeducated. While they can explain the functions and evils of the Federal Reserve, their version of dress for success is a trip to… read more
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Less than 1% of the world’s gold is mined in India. The rest comes from somewhere else. Still, India can’t get enough. It is the largest consumer of gold in the world, buying nearly a third of production in recent years. Some estimates say that 10% of all gold is held in India. Indians save… read more
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What the home and mortgage market needs — and it will not recover until then — is a rebooting to current values. To do that, principal amounts must be reset. They need to be reset not by government force, but by letting the market work. Let bankrupt mortgage holders fail. The housing market has gone… read more
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Real estate, and the careers that depend upon it, is a boom-bust business in the age of inflation. The illusion of wealth is everywhere..until it is snatched away. That’s why it’s a great time for David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize winning “Glengarry Glen Ross” to make its third appearance on the Broadway stage. It’s a show… read more
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Gas in Vegas is a dollar cheaper a gallon than in the Golden State, or so a friend and recent LA transplant tells me. He went on to say the top tax rate in California is over 13%, while, of course, Nevada has no state income tax. Over dinner at Del Frisco’s, he explained how… read more
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An old banking buddy of mine has been out of work for a full year. I met up with him yesterday, and he told me the good news that he has finally found work. It’s not enjoyable. But it pays better than sitting at home. His time of unemployment had been doubly tough because his… read more
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