Now obviously freedom is not quantifiable in the same way as mass or distance or temperature. But if we are becoming more economically free, that is good news and we shall accordingly
China has apparently surpassed the United States as the largest market for Apple iPhones. UBS estimates that in the last quarter China took 36 percent of iPhone orders, compared to 24 percent
The major event out of Washington this week is Tuesday night when President Obama delivers his State of the Union address, an event that is treated with utmost seriousness by the dominant
Although auto loans are less than ten percent of what the mortgage market was when the housing market hit the fan, this is an important economic indicator in the new normal of
Seventy-five percent of the people support the bill, but the powerful banking and Wall Street cronies are opposed. And the Fed itself can be expected to move heaven and earth to stop
With the Republicans taking control of the Senate this month, and Mitch McConnell replacing Harry Reid, is Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill finally going to get a vote in the upper
New Year’s Eve seems to be a particularly dangerous time. Not just because of inebriated revelers on the roads over the holidays, or the nitwits who haven’t heard of Isaac Newton and
There is always another layer to government intervention to try to do something about the ill effects of the prior round of intervention. And then another round of intervention after that, until
“The price of celebrating Christmas with the family,” says Bloomberg — “food, drink, plane tickets, gas — have more than doubled since 1984, rising 30 percent faster than inflation…” On the other
In the December Freedom and Prosperity Letter I made the case for owning silver. And while that is a standing recommendation, it’s a good time to look to silver for more than
Even when OPEC members do reach agreements about production cuts, they usually only last long enough for the member country’s delegates to get home from the meeting before they start cheating on
The dollar value of home mortgage originations this year is coming in 39 percent lower than last year, so there’s pressure on loan officers and real estate agents to get deals done,
Swiss says no to new gold rules, India eases up on gold restrictions, and Black Friday fatigue. This week on the Podcast, it’s been a big week for Gold, with the Swiss
The rich traditions of the festive table and the family feast are one part of the Thanksgiving holiday. That’s the Prosperity part. The other part is the Freedom part, with its roots
It’s official now. Japan is in a recession. This is the third recession in Japan in the past four years, but the astonishing thing is that the mainstream economist all seemed to
Russia added 55 tons of gold to it central bank reserves in the third quarter. That’s the most of any nation. We seem to be on an unnecessary collision course, on a
Leadership elections will take place on Capitol Hill on Thursday and the Republicans prepare to take over the Senate in January. Here’s a digest, just a few of the questions popular blogger
Today, I am much more interested in the restoring the American dream than I am in the fate of the Red or the Blue team. To paraphrase Jim Quinn’s observation, how can
Demonstrators in Hungary took to the street to put an end to a proposed internet tax. Earlier this month the country’s economic minister proposed a per gigabyte tax on internet usage. It
I have been describing a huge subterranean flow of gold away from the West for quite some time, “subterranean” because it is largely unnoticed in the financial media and among policy makers.
High taxes aren’t just driving big American companies to pack up and move their domiciles to lower taxation jurisdictions, more Americans than ever are giving up their citizenship over punitive taxation.
Lebanon, regarded as geographically insulated from the Sunni uprising, looks like it could fall victim to the ISIS horror. The West is not capable of stopping ISIS. Indeed our invasions and incursions,
Fed chair Janet Yellen expressed her deep concern for the growing wealth disparity in the U.S, a gap that has been growing wider for several decades. Michael Shedlock at Mish’s Global Economic
A Bloomberg news story today explains why the United States in going to escape the effects of the global downturn. Too bad it’s wrong. Somebody should straighten up the analyst who thinks
Apparently now the Fed has added responsibility for stock prices to its employment and stable prices mandates. So they have been taking “accommodative” positions. Stimulus, stimulus, stimulus. Economist Robert Wenzel say it’s
It is impossible to know today how big the slowdown will become, and whether it will become a black hole of depression that swallows everything around it including a hoped-for recovery in
The class divide in America is showing up everywhere as Fed policies have enriched the Wall Street well-to-do at the expense of ordinary folks. Now we see the divide in restaurants, as
One of the big stories in the financial world is the resignation of Bill Gross, the manager of Pimco Total Return Fund – the biggest bond fund in the world. Gross will
As I have pointed out repeatedly, countries and people that cultivate honest precious metals currencies and become net acquirers become more significant in the affairs of mankind. Too bad our governing classes
Finance officials and central bankers from the G-20 nations wrapped up their meeting in Australia on Sunday. The members pledged to boost economic growth, and so they turned to the same old
In any showdown between gold and paper money, gold always wins. That fact is not always reflected in the day to day prices, and the stories that reflect this economic inevitability don’t
A story from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation warns Canadians against carrying too much cash in the United States. The report concludes with this advice: “As the Canadian government notes, there is no
The Minsk meeting seemed to produce nothing more than handshakes and photo ops. Even though the press was full of accounts of sanctions on Russia being cranked up and more NATO forces
The LA Times reported this weekend on the growing ranks of sidewalk vendors, laid-off professionals, war veterans, single mothers on America streets. Ten thousand of them, the paper reports, in LA County
President Obama will attend a NATO Summit in Wales this week, and will be joined by Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. There is always a risk of
The Pentagon plans to target the very jihadists that we have been arming, supporting and training in Syria, though just weeks ago President Obama asked for $500 million for Syrian rebels. That
Burger King is reported to be in talks to buy the Canadian coffee and donut company Tim Horton’s, which would allow Burger King to domicile itself for tax purposes in Canada. A
Not only has a big chunk of the eligible population not saved for its retirement, the government, which promised to do their saving for them, hasn’t saved the money either. We have
A New York Times piece by Robert Schiller this weekend called, “The Mystery of Lofty Stock Market Elevations” is a search for a rationale for today’s high market valuation. Schiller’s explanation for
Back in January, in my predictions for 2014, I wrote that Hillary’s campaign had already hit the ground and that “she will have to represent change from the past and distance herself
Currently 75 percent of Russian-Chinese trade settles in terms of U.S. dollars. That is in the process of changing. Neither country wants to be held in international financial limbo or find its
It is one thing and inexcusable to not fully realize the costs of the burdens that they impose on the people, but some politicians have taken this indifference to a new and
President Obama has created a bit of a stir by observing in an interview with “The Economist” magazine that “Russia doesn’t make anything.” I can’t fault the accuracy of Obama’s observation about
A story in the weekend edition of the “Wall Street Journal” purportedly described the performance of gold prices used the word “goldbug” no less than three times. Nobody uses the term stock
In the ten years from 2003 to 2013 the inflation-adjusted net worth for the median U.S. household has fallen a staggering 36 percent. It has happened because of bad policy choices –
The kind of prudence that is normally prized in investing is a drag and of no value in a bubble economy – until the bubble comes to its fated ending. Economist and
We’ve had 68 months of the Fed’s ferocious money-printing and zero-interest rate policies now. And after all that time, economists are falling all over themselves to cut their forecasts for growth in
It is perhaps ironic that the World Gold Council’s report on the first six month of the year was issued on the very day, Monday, that gold suffered its biggest decline in
The AP reported that last year the government made about $100 billion in payments to people who were not entitled to them, a practice that by the government’s own admission has amounted
The question about impeaching Obama should be, “Impeach him for what?” The real grounds for impeaching Obama should be his arming of al Qaeda affiliates in place like Libya and Syria. That’s
France’s finance minister and some of France’s business leaders have fired a big barrage at the dollar, questioning the necessity of its use in petroleum and other global trade.The dissatisfaction with the
What were some of the top performing global financial investments of the first half of 2014? Actually gold. And silver. Alert the press. They seem to somehow have missed the news. But
Beside the refugees camps for children at our southern border is there anything else that makes American look like a third world country? Well, there is Detroit. Detroit has begun cutting municipal
During the Cold War, with Germany divided and the East under Soviet dominion, it made sense for Germany to keep some of its gold stored in the U.S. Now, with the Cold War
The Financial Times reports this weekend that a survey of central banks shows that a majority of them will be moving to cut their exposure to long-term debt instruments. The survey of
The Financial Times writes, “Central banks’ actions aimed at stimulating economies, including quantitative easing, have deliberately sought to push investors into riskier assets, and share prices have risen sharply since 2009 –
They aren’t scrambling into rooftop helicopters yet, but the U. S. has begun evacuating personnel from its Baghdad embassy. That embassy has a larger staff than any other embassy in the world,
This week President Obama implemented an executive decision that caps certain student loan repayments. The president crowed that his move would “help open the doors of opportunity for all.” And what, exactly
President Obama expands a program aimed at capping interest payments on student loan holders, a Singapore man won a $2,166,766 eBay bid to lunch privately with Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett and Russia takes steps to de-dollarize its international trade.
An 11-year-old girl with a cupcake stand ran afoul of the regulatory authorities in Illinois. One lawmaker tried to come to her rescue with a measure to exempt kids with lemonade stands from
Almost a quarter of families in the U.S. report having struggled in the past twelve months to afford food for their families. In places like Asia and areas of the former Soviet
Although fighting continues in several areas, there is some reason for hope that Poroshenko is willing to do what must be done to avoid chaos. Before we emit a collective sigh of
During the Cold War, Mad Magazine ran a popular cartoon strip called Spy vs. Spy, in which one of two competing spies blew himself up at the end, often the cause of
The Fed trimmed its money printing by another $10 billion a month, down to $45 billion a month. We’ll hear about existing home sales, which have been lower seven out of the last
I have been hearing about strained conditions at VA hospitals for years. That’s what happens when 2 ½ million people are marched off to foreign wars. And the resources to take care
In America, the “new normal” means few jobs, less economic security, less home ownership, full-time jobs turning to part-time jobs, and the steady erosion of the American dream. Now President Xi of
The Fed has printed about $3.2 trillion since 2008.  Phoenix Capital Research has provided some dramatic examples of what the Fed could have done with all that money. For instance, it could have bought every
The week ahead is characterized by public talks by Fed Officials. Fed Head Janet Yellen provides testimony to the Joint Economic Committee and the Senate Budget Committee. Some 30,000 people attended Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders
Bad economic news is greeted with enthusiasm. The IRS gave more than $1 million to employees who have not paid their own income taxes. Since gold prices topped out at $1,900 per
The two-day Fed Open Market Committee meeting takes place this week with its tapering decision and interest rate policy statement due Wednesday. President Obama heads home from his Asian Pivot tour. The
Home sales figures reported this week. What’s the Fed fallout? Obama admin officials met privately with hedge and mutual fund managers to warn of additional Russian sanctions. Cronyism? Or insider trading? Filthy,
Tax Freedom Day approaches – that’s when Americans have collectively earned enough to pay off their total tax bill for the year. Everything before that goes to Uncle Sam. Are you one
Topics: For four years Greece has been shut out of the bond markets. Suddenly this week, Greece is able to sell $4.2 billion of five year notes carrying a 4.75 percent coupon.
Today’s topics: Doesn’t it matter if U.S. NATO ally Turkey tried to deceive Americans into fighting a war for its own reasons? Dick Cheney is complaining about isolationism in the Republican party.
