Investment/Trends

Bitcoin Mining’s Inevitable Cloud Future

"In early 2013 bitcoin mining saw the start of the application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) revolution. As design efficiency approaches Moore’s Law production capacity and operating efficiency will drive profit margins. The natural evolution of this will be large data centers that can take advantage of economies of scale. There are three potential options for optimizing the location of the cloud mining data center: establish a facility near the production site, near cheap power, or near talented personnel. The best decision depends on the businesses’ unique advantages over the competition and all models could provide a competitive edge." Continue reading →

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Jack Lew’s “Extraordinary Measures” on Debt Just “Cooking the Books”

"A little known story that got absolutely no coverage from the mainstream media surfaced last week about the reports from the Treasury Department’s Financial Management Service. The FMS reports both the Daily Treasury Statement and the Monthly Treasury Statement. According to these reports the federal deficit rose by $98 billion dollars in July, but somehow the federal government’s debt remained exactly the same at $16,699,396,000,000 for the whole month. It seems that Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew got a bit creative and magically decided to stop the addition of more debt from showing up in the reports. Wow, don’t we all wish we could do that?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJack Lew’s “Extraordinary Measures” on Debt Just “Cooking the Books”

Who Can Best Advise You?

"It is safe to suggest that your reading of this publication has a great deal to do with the possibility that the country in which you live is approaching that critical stage. Therefore, it may be in your interest to seek the counsel of those who, for whatever reason, have made a long-term study of historical patterns. It would also be beneficial to keep a close eye on those countries in the world that (as stated above) are on the same path of self-destruction as our own but happen to be further along in the pattern. For this reason, the woman pictured above, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, may be quite useful to you as an advisor." Continue reading →

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Interest-Rate Market Going Berserk

"It seems the more bond yields surge, the more the bond fund managers say it’s not a 'real' crisis because 'inflation is still anemic.' These are the same guys who are bleeding assets, losing you money, and who have utterly failed to foresee the carnage of the past few months. Bond yields are not rising solely because of higher inflation, the traditional cause of rising rates. Instead, it’s all about the flow of hot money! Too much hot money piled into the bond market over the past four and a half years, encouraged by reckless Fed policy. And now the same investors who dog-piled into bonds to piggyback on the Fed’s policy are getting crushed." Continue reading →

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Summers vs. Yellen: Tweedledumb vs. Tweedledee

"The media are doing their best to create interest in who will be Bernanke’s replacement: Lawrence Summers or Janet Yellen. Summers is a dove. The media have re-defined 'exit.' Any reference to an exit these days means merely a reduction of the rate of increase in the present rate of $85 billion a month. The FED is buying over $500 billion of the Treasury’s estimated annual deficit of $650 billion. It is buying almost $500 billion in Fannie-Freddie bonds. What happens to interest rates if the FED stops buying? What happens to Wall Street? What happens to the housing recovery? No one asks Yellen what she thinks would happen. No one asks Summers." Continue reading →

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Germany recognizes Bitcoin as a “private money,” subject to capital gains tax

"In response to a query by a member of parliament, the German Finance Ministry has declared that it accepts bitcoins as a 'unit of account.' The Ministry added that bitcoins are a sort of 'private money' and that mining bitcoins constitutes 'private money creation.' The Ministry also clarified that if a German taxpayer holds bitcoins for more than a year, then she is exempt from paying the 25 percent capital gains tax. Such a tax would ordinarily be paid after profiting from the sale of a stock, bond, or other security. A taxpayer would be expected to declare them as part of her assets and income as part of her annual tax return." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Bites: Germany recognizes digital currency as ‘private money’

"Bitcoin is slowly joining the big league of currencies. Germany has become the first country to accept the digital money - recognized in law and for tax purposes. Katie Pilbeam from RT's Venture Capital program explains." Continue reading →

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Jim Rogers: Why I’m shorting India

"Hedge fund manager Jim Rogers, who moved to Singapore in 2007 because he thought the centre of the world is shifting to Asia, says India is set to miss out on the Asian century. The chairman of Rogers Holdings says that if there is one country an individual must visit, it has to be India for its 'spectacular sensory feast, beautiful, food, colour and religions', but it is also the worst country to do business in. Rogers also slammed the Indian government’s recent curbs on gold imports, saying Indian citizens had no choice but to buy the metal because they had very little faith in investing in other sectors of its economy." Continue reading →

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Paulson’s out… But JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs Are in: Go Long Gold!

"Billionaire John Paulson, who lost over $700 million after April’s gold crash, has cut his holdings by half. As one of the last major institutional holders of gold ETFs, Paulson & Co.’s exit may signal the bottom in the gold market we’ve been waiting for. Two major institutional players also give us reason to be enthusiastic. JP Morgan is advising its customers to go long on gold 'with a four-five week time horizon,' citing further supply squeezing in South Africa and seasonal pickup in India. And Goldman Sachs recently increased its position in SPDR Gold Trust to 4.4 million shares… more than six times what it held at the end of March." Continue reading →

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Gold, Silver Product Demand Is ‘Very Strong:’ Royal Canadian Mint

"Demand for the Royal Canadian Mint's gold and silver bullion products remains 'very strong,' said an official from the mint on Wednesday. 'Year-to-date, after the second quarter, we've had record volume for silver Maple Leafs, the greatest we've had in the over 25 years that we've produced them. We've seen near-record volume, only second to 2000, year-to-date, for our gold Maple Leafs,' said Chris Carkner, managing director, sales, for bullion, refinery and exchange-traded products at the Royal Canadian Mint. Volatility in the precious metals markets helped demand, he added." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGold, Silver Product Demand Is ‘Very Strong:’ Royal Canadian Mint