Bullshit Artists

Don’t Let the Fed Pick Your Pocket

"If you are one of those who believe that rates will rise when Ben Bernanke leaves office in January, think again. The new Federal Reserve chief, Janet Yellen, has no intention of boosting rates. She will certainly not be a friend to savers. During Yellen’s confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill, she acknowledged that seniors are hurt by low interest rates that are a matter of policy. However, the incoming Fed chief believes the greater good — the health of the U.S. economy — takes precedence over savers. This means that if you’re still relying on CDs and interest-bearing accounts to generate income, you’ll be slaughtered." Continue reading →

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Everyone Is Baffled By Alan Greenspan’s Comment About Bitcoin

"'You really have to stretch your imagination to infer what the intrinsic value of Bitcoin is. I haven't been able to do it. But if you ask me, 'Is this a bubble in Bitcoin?' 'Yeah, it's a bubble.' People are baffled by this remark. That's because Greenspan refused to call the housing bubble a bubble, and presided over the dot-com bubble despite seemingly having recognized it as such as far back as 1996, when he made his "irrational exuberance" speech." Continue reading →

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Ukraine protests increase risks of currency crisis

"Massive protests against Viktor Yanukovich hammered Ukraine's financial markets on Monday, increasing the risk of a currency crisis as the president tries to hold on until an election in early 2015. Ukraine's debt insurance costs jumped and currency traders increased bets on a devaluation after 350,000 people protested on Sunday against Yanukovich's decision to ditch a trade pact with the European Union. Central bank Governor Ihor Sorkin backed up foreign exchange intervention by vowing to do everything needed to uphold financial stability. In an online video message, he urged savers 'to be confident in the banking system' and not to withdraw their deposits." Continue reading →

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Central Banking: Sterile as the Grave

"Central banking is a modern religion, a technocratic one. The world's top men, the ones who control banking, want to present central banking as a science. Any sense of spontaneity, gaiety or eccentricity is to be drained from the process. What is left is a dutiful acknowledgement that those minding the money store are the best of the best – and chosen for their fealty to honesty and their honest resoluteness in the face of the temptations of corruption. A straight-shooter, fearless, well-meaning, earnest ... even a bit nebbish. That's how the central banker is basically presented to the world. You don't usually see them in relaxed environments. You hardly ever see them at barbecues." Continue reading →

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ECB Warning: More Directed History

"The idea that the ECB and the Fed are going to begin to quarrel or pursue separate policies is a ludicrous one. Yet we are being asked to believe it. These people never let a good crisis go to waste. Part of the point of the lingering EU credit crunch is to create a necessity for a deeper union, monetarily and politically. ECB pols have said as much. The goal of ECB bureaucrats is to further paste together the fraying EU and its even sicker euro currency. At this point, this policy is being pursued in direct defiance of EU citizens who have voted continuously, when they can, against a deeper union of any sort. There are no rogue central banks. Everyone has a part to play." Continue reading →

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Gold suffers worst November since 1978

"A price fall of such magnitude hasn't been seen in November since 1978, according to data from the World Gold Council, when prices plunged 20 percent. Spot gold rested at $1,252 an ounce on Friday and was headed for its biggest monthly drop since June. It has lost over a quarter of its value year-to-date, putting it on track to post its first annual loss in 13 years. Citi said this month that gold was about to enter 'phase two' of its bear market and its downside target for the metal is now $1,111 per ounce. Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, predicts a 'significant decline' in gold in 2014, with a fall of at least 15 percent." Continue reading →

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Australian central bank’s talk of intervention sends Aussie dollar down

"The overnight fall in the Australian dollar shows once again that just a few carefully targeted words from Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens have the power to move markets. While Mr Stevens did not say the Reserve Bank was about to intervene to pull the dollar down, his comment that the option was in the monetary policy 'toolkit' proves that words from the central bank governor can be timely bullets. The impact-laden comments show the RBA's frustration in its attempts to lower the dollar, despite 2.25 percentage points of cuts to the official cash rate since late 2011." Continue reading →

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Jeffrey Tucker: Has the Fed Met Its Match?

"'It is hard to imagine a world,' says the unimaginative study, 'where the main currency is based on an extremely complex code understood only by a few and controlled by even fewer, without accountability, arbitration, or recourse.' Blink, blink. This is the Fed talking here. Talk about complex. When the Fed governor speaks in Congress, he (soon she) speaks in such a blithering array of econ-babble that no one dare respond, for fear of seeming ignorant. It’s like the first day of an Intro to Physics class. The professor asks if there are questions, and everyone sits in terror. In a half-century of this nonsense, only Ron Paul ever really dared to ask serious questions of the Fed." Continue reading →

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Finally, the End of Keynesianism

"Are you a Keynesian? So many seem to be. Do you really believe that a properly functioning, mathematically literate approach to high finance can salvage what's left of the financial systems of the US, the West, the entire world? Top central bankers apparently don't. Just look at this article excerpt. They've retreated from the idea of tapering until 2014 and Peter Schiff was probably correct that they won't really taper at all because they can't. That should put an end to Keynesianism, though probably it won't. The technocratic meme of money control is the most cherished of all dominant social themes." Continue reading →

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Venezuelan Inflation Rate Tops 49 Percent

"Venezuela's Central Bank says prices have risen nearly 50 percent since last September as the country struggles to rein in a quickening rate of inflation and widespread shortages. The country's leftist government has spent heavily on social programs, rapidly increasing the amount of currency in circulation. It also tries to control prices while restricting access to bolivars at the official rate of exchange of 6.3 per dollar. That leads many to pay seven times as much for dollars on the black market. Officials say speculators are to blame for soaring prices and shortages. The inflation rate for 2012 was 20.1 percent." Continue reading →

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