Yearly Archives: 2013

The Secret to Picking Winners in ‘Submerging Markets’

"With investors already on edge as global markets came unglued last week, China picked a fine time to engineer a credit crunch. Drowned out in the noise about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s tapering talk last week was the fact that half a world away, China’s banking system was caught up in a cash squeeze. Short-term lending rates tripled as the financial system essentially froze. It was frighteningly reminiscent of the 2008 financial crisis in the U.S. Hedge fund managers and economists have long warned of a potential bursting of China’s debt-fueled real estate bubble, a replay of our own subprime crisis. Could this be the beginning?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Secret to Picking Winners in ‘Submerging Markets’

Who Says the Market Cannot Supply Its Own Money?

"I just arrived back from lecturing at the week-long Free State Project’s Tenth Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival, a huge gathering of libertarians of all stripes from all over the U.S. in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire. Many of the vendors accepted an array of payments media. I was particularly struck by the sign on one stall which read: 'Bitcoin, silver coins, Shire Silver, ammo and even Federal Reserve notes accepted.' I was also delighted to discover that privately minted gold and silver money were circulating at the festival in the form of the aforementioned Shire Silver. These were widely accepted as media of exchange by vendors and paid out in change." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWho Says the Market Cannot Supply Its Own Money?

Private Fee-For-Service Medical Practice Now Accepts Bitcoin

"Whether coming to us for treatment of a new sore throat, for immunizations before a business trip to India, for the complex care of a parent who’s homebound with a stroke, or for something more sensitive like addiction to opiates, we offer a highly confidential and discreet experience at our offices in the heart of downtown San Francisco. But one important part of the confidentiality puzzle is payment. So My Doctor Medical Group is now pleased to announce that we accept payment for medical services in Bitcoin, the virtual currency that offers heightened security and enhanced privacy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPrivate Fee-For-Service Medical Practice Now Accepts Bitcoin

EMC raises $5.5bn via corporate bonds to fund share buybacks

"The sharp shift in Treasury yield rates over the past few weeks means time is of the essence for those companies looking to undertake a capital return program and fund it with bonds. The rate rise increases the cost of funding and limits the ability to take advantage of an arbitrage between the current lower cost of issuing debt versus paying dividends on shares they could otherwise buy back with the fund raising. 'There is the obvious arbitrage there,' said one head of debt capital markets at a Wall Street bank. 'Why pay a dividend in the 3% to 5% range, when you can issue bonds at 2% or less and buy back those shares?'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEMC raises $5.5bn via corporate bonds to fund share buybacks

Euro Pacific Capital Global Investor Newsletter – June 2013

"The central premise of Abenomics seems to be that the Bank of Japan could succeed in pushing inflation up to 2% without raising the rates on long-term debt. To do this, one would have to assume that bond investors would accept negative interest rates, even while a falling yen was eating away at principle. Such an outcome is not consistent with demonstrable human behavior. If the investors didn't play ball, it was assumed that the Bank of Japan could step up their quantitative easing and buy the bonds that investors were rationally selling. But the BoJ is already buying 70% of the new government debt." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEuro Pacific Capital Global Investor Newsletter – June 2013

Get Out of Muni Bond ETFs Now

"The biggest exchange-traded fund tracking the $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal market is selling at its deepest discount ever to the value of its assets. The $3.5 billion iShares S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Fund, known as MUB, touched $100.42 (the net asset value is 105.3). This is the lowest since April 2011 according to, data compiled by Bloomberg. The move reflects yields on benchmark 10-year local debt climbing as high as 2.68 percent , the most since October 2011. The plunge follows investors pulling $1.86 billion out of U.S. muni mutual funds from Jan. 1 through June 19, Lipper US fund Flows data show." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGet Out of Muni Bond ETFs Now

Marijuana Stocks: How to Legally Invest in the Ultimate Cash Crop

"In short, we just don't know enough about these businesses yet to make a low-risk investment. Does this mean you shouldn't look into Medbox or Cannabis Science? Not necessarily. But investors would need to treat the position as money taken to the casino -- speculative and expendable. As time goes on, and politicians continue to be influenced by the more than 70 percent of our nation's population who believe pot should be legal for medical purposes, the marijuana industry will be seen more and more as a "legitimate" business. For opportunistic investors, there will be some incredible investing opportunities. For now, though, just chill, dude." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarijuana Stocks: How to Legally Invest in the Ultimate Cash Crop

National Lawyers Guild Report Supports Further Marijuana Legalization Initiatives

"As the nation waits for a response from the White House, the NLG joins other organizations and individuals in calling for the end to marijuana prohibition. 'Marijuana legalization will create new jobs, generate millions of dollars in tax revenue, and allow law enforcement to focus on serious crimes,' said Brian Vicente, NLG member and one of the primary authors of Colorado’s legalization amendment. 'It would be a travesty if the Obama administration used its power to impose marijuana prohibition upon a state whose people have declared, through the democratic process, that they want it to end.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNational Lawyers Guild Report Supports Further Marijuana Legalization Initiatives

U.S. Conference of Mayors asks Obama for flexibility on marijuana

"The United States Conference of Mayors unanimously passed a historic, bipartisan resolution calling on the Obama administration to stop interfering with state and local efforts to deal with the problems caused by marijuana prohibition. 'This resolution will amplify the voices of local officials and voters who are sick and tired of President Obama’s administration doing the exact opposite of what candidate Obama said he was going to do, which was respect state marijuana laws,' a spokesperson for drug reform advocacy group Marijuana Majority said. The resolution, co-sponsored by mayors from 18 cities, lays out a long list of grievances against marijuana prohibition." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Conference of Mayors asks Obama for flexibility on marijuana

Feds, Anaheim Try to Seize $1.5M Building . . . With No Charges Against the Owner

"Anaheim small business owner Tony Jalali faces the loss of his office building, which is worth $1.5 million, even though he has committed no crime. The city of Anaheim is colluding with federal prosecutors to do an end-run around state laws to take away Jalali’s building because he rented space to medical marijuana dispensaries, even though they operated legally under California law. Jalali is fighting back. Represented by the Institute for Justice, he is challenging the constitutionality of the taking of his land to put an end to the civil forfeiture in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Santa Ana, Calif." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeds, Anaheim Try to Seize $1.5M Building . . . With No Charges Against the Owner