money

Y Combinator-backed Coinbase now selling over $1M Bitcoin per month

"Coinbase launched last year and aims to be 'the PayPal of Internet-only currency.' It helps merchants and consumers by providing a Bitcoin wallet and platform to make transactions easier, but the vast majority of its revenue comes from letting users buy and sell Bitcoins directly from Coinbase. It charges a one percent fee on top of each transaction. The company claims that it has seen huge growth in the past three months, after it started letting users buy and sell Bitcoin by connecting any U.S. bank account. The decentralized currency is currently trading at $22.66 per Bitcoin on Mt. Gox, the largest Bitcoin exchange." Continue reading →

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Investing In a World of Make Believe

"In recent years, a high degree of economic, financial, and political uncertainty has resulted in acute volatility in stocks, real estate, commodities and precious metals. I believe that another aggravating factor has been the increasing skepticism through which the investing public views government statistics and statements. To make prudent decisions, investors need to know key economic indicators such as economic growth, inflation rates, unemployment levels and the real cost and value of money. For the past 20 years or so, the key assumptions behind the calculation of these figures have been distorted in favor of government image." Continue reading →

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Depreciating Dollar Not Good For People, But Good for ‘the Economy’?

"All the nations are inflating, so that their exporters will not suffer from an appreciating currency. Central bankers regard appreciating currency as a disaster. They are mercantilists. Yet we know that, as individuals, to hold on to an appreciating currency is a great thing. Why is it a great thing for individuals to hold an appreciating currency, yet it is also a good policy for a central bank to expand the money supply, so as to decrease the international value of the currency? There seems to be something wrong here. There seems to be cognitive dissonance." Continue reading →

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Hollande warns on euro strength, denounces markets for currencies

"Francois Hollande has issued a clear warning that the current strength of the euro could damage the fragile economic recovery in Europe, calling for international action to stem currency distortions. 'The euro should not fluctuate according to the mood of the markets,' the French president told the European parliament in Strasbourg. 'A monetary zone must have an exchange rate policy. If not, it will be subjected to an exchange rate that does not reflect the real state of the economy.'" Continue reading →

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The Fed’s Asset-Inflation Machine

"Winners on stocks or land holdings should happily accept their gains as the best to be expected in a very unsettled financial environment. But they should also remember the 2000s, when so many people thought their newfound riches were real and cashed them in for yet more debt, such as home-equity loans. They later had a rude awakening. The 'wealth illusion' of asset inflation is seductive, which is why central banks in charge of a fiat currency and subject to no external disciplines so often drift in that direction. Politicians smile in satisfaction and powerful Washington lobbies cry for more. But an economy built on an illusion is hardly a sound structure." Continue reading →

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Jim Rogers: Short US Government Bonds ‘Right Now’

"With the Federal Reserve and now Bank of Japan printing massive amounts of money, billionaire investor Jim Rogers told CNBC's 'Closing Bell,' he is shorting U.S. government debt. 'It's all artificial what's going on right now,' Rogers said. 'The Federal Reserve is printing money as fast as they can. The Bank of Japan said 'we're going to print unlimited money.'' He called the Fed's monetary stimulus 'outrageous.' He also likes Russia for the first time in his career. Russia is changing but the market remains unloved. Rogers is buying the bonds, the currency and stocks." Continue reading →

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Jim Rogers Joins Bill Gross Warning on Treasuries

"Investor Jim Rogers joined Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund, in warning that a rout that sent Treasuries to their biggest loss last month in almost a year probably isn’t over. 'I’m short long-term government bonds,' betting the securities will fall, Rogers, the author of the book 'Street Smarts,' said yesterday on Bloomberg Radio. 'I plan to short more. That bull market, that’s a bubble.' In an interview with Bloomberg News on Oct. 28, 2009, he said Treasuries are the 'next bubble in the making' when yields on the 10-year note were 3.42 percent." Continue reading →

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Fed Has Bought More U.S. Gov’t Debt This Year Than Treasury Has Issued

"So far this calendar year, the Federal Reserve has bought up more U.S. government debt than the U.S. Treasury has issued. By the close of business on Wednesday, Feb. 6, according to the U.S. Treasury, the total federal debt had climbed to $16.4799 trillion—an increase of $47.2 billon for the calendar year. At the close of business on Jan. 2, the Federal Reserve had owned $1.661 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. By the close of business on Feb. 6, it owned $1.7172 trillion—an increase of $51.1 billion for the calendar year." Continue reading →

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Nearly Half Of American Families Live On The Edge Of Financial Ruin

"A sobering new report by the Corporation for Enterprise Development shows nearly half of U.S. households (132.1 million people) don't have enough savings to weather emergencies, or finance long-term needs like college tuition, health care and housing. According to the Assets & Opportunity Scorecard, these people wouldn't last three months if their income was suddenly depleted. More than 30 percent don't even have a savings account, and another 8 percent don't bank at all. Plenty of the middle class have joined the ranks of the 'working poor,' struggling right alongside families scraping by on food stamps and other forms of public assistance." Continue reading →

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How to Order a Pizza With Bitcoins

"The aptly, albeit somewhat unimaginatively, named Pizzaforcoins.com makes it possible for anyone to place a pizza order and pay for it using Bitcoins. To place an order, enter your name and address. The site then redirects you to an online order menu that has various options and their respective prices (in BTC). Once a selection is made, Pizzaforcoins verifies that the payment has been made and an order is placed within 10 minutes. Orders can currently only be placed with Domino's Pizza, but the site's fine print indicates that they'll soon be adding Pizza Hut and Papa John's into the mix." Continue reading →

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