Economics

Saving Cyprus Means Nobody’s Bank Accounts Safe as Europe Breaks Taboo

"The island nation’s rescue sets precedents for the euro zone that may stick in the memory of depositors and bondholders alike as investors debate who will next fall victim to the debt crisis. Senior Cypriot bank bond holders will take losses and uninsured depositors will be largely wiped out. The message that stakeholders of all stripes can be coerced into helping a cash-strapped nation may make investors more skittish they’ll be targeted if Slovenia, Italy, Spain or even Greece again is next in line to need help. The risk is that bank runs and bond market selloffs become more likely the moment a country applies for a new rescue." Continue reading →

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Why the Government Is Desperately Trying to Inflate a New Housing Bubble

"Many people claim the Federal government and Federal Reserve are trying to inflate a new housing bubble to trigger a new 'wealth effect,' i.e. people seeing their home equity rising once again will feel encouraged to borrow and blow money like they did in 2001-2008. But if we look at current income (down) and debt levels (still high), there is little hope for a renewed wealth effect from housing. That leaves us with this conclusion: The Federal government and Federal Reserve are trying to inflate another housing bubble to save the 'too big to fail' banks from a richly deserved day of reckoning." Continue reading →

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There Will Be No Economic Recovery. Prepare Yourself Accordingly.

"Everything you need to know that the media is not telling you... Stefan Molyneux, host of Freedomain Radio - and winner of the 2012 Liberty Inspiration Award - breaks down the unspoken facts about the end of freedom, opportunity and trade in the modern United States. There will be no economic recovery, prepare yourself accordingly." Continue reading →

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Feinstein’s Assault Weapons Bill: Dead on Arrival

"Feinstein is not just a liberal. She is a California liberal. She is a feminist California liberal. That is, she does not have a lick of political sense. Her bill is creating the biggest wave of gun buying we have seen in my lifetime. Across the nation, there is massive demand to buy guns. Every time Feinstein opens her mouth, another American who never thought of buying a gun heads for Walmart to buy a shotgun or some other weapon. Feinstein is the gun industry’s manna from heaven. Like manna in the wilderness, she keeps coming back every day." Continue reading →

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The Retirement Crisis That Must Not Be Mentioned

"A theme that is little explored in the Western mainstream press is that retirement has all but collapsed for many in the middle classes. We have in the past called this condition 'dreamtime' – for it was built on central banking initiatives and fostered by central banking super-money printing. The idea was that the stock market was going to go up and up – and people would be able to take retirement based on their own investment initiatives. In Europe, state-fostered retirement provided a slightly different model. But the main issue in both the US and Europe was that an entity larger than the individual was going to manage the realities of retirement." Continue reading →

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Harry Browne: The Coming Devaluation (Sept. 3, 1970)

"Taped Sept 3, 1970, this insightful economic conversation remains relevant today. Note Mr. Browne predicts that, 'as an act of economic desperation,' our government will have to 'renege on their promise to foreign governments to pay one ounce of gold for every $35 turned in at the Treasury.' On August 15, 1971, the Nixon Administration did so." Continue reading →

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Robert Wenzel: An Examination of Key Factors in the Collapse of the Soviet Union

"The Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture, sponsored by James M. Rodney, presented at the Austrian Economics Research Conference. Recorded 21 March 2013 at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Includes an introduction by Joseph T. Salerno." Continue reading →

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Cyprus vs Bankocracy: ‘Mattress better place to keep cash than banks’

"Thousands of Cypriots are celebrating, after the country's Parliament gave a resounding no vote to the EU-IMF bailout package. The move could have seen the government take up to 10% of people's savings, from private bank accounts - as a precondition to securing the much needed 10 billion euro loan. Now that it's been rejected, the ailing Eurozone member will have to work out another plan to avoid bankruptcy." Continue reading →

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