money

India Pledges Rupee Action as Currency Nears Fresh Low

"On Tuesday, traders were rattled after Subbarao said the central bank would return to a pro-growth monetary stance only once the currency stabilised. Separately, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the government was looking into liberalising foreign direct investment rules, attracting funds from non-resident Indians and clamping down on the import of non-essential items such as electronics. 'There's no rocket science in manufacturing basic electronic hardware ... So we can manufacture electronic hardware goods here,' he told a news conference in New Delhi." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin suitcase eats your pocket change, spits out digital currency

"A hacker called Garbage was milling around outside of the Rio convention center showing off the invention to fellow Bitcoin enthusiasts. 'Most people know about Bitcoin, but they don't have it,' he said, hailing from Kalamazoo, Michigan with his group TwoSixNine, which built the device for around $250 using a Raspberry Pi microcomputer and a portable 4G modem. It takes in your spare change through a metal coin slot, checks the current exchange rate on Bitcoin trading post Mt. Gox, and prints out a QR code on receipt paper, which contains the cryptographic hash you can use to redeem your digital gold nugget." Continue reading →

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Should You Trust Your Instincts on Gold?

"I have yet to see anyone present any logical economic premise that concludes that our country will not eventually see a currency collapse. Instead, I see several clues that reinforce my concerns. Throughout history thousands of currencies have collapsed, but precious metals have held their value. It should come as no surprise to learn that over the last few years China, Russia, and many central banks have been stockpiling gold. Germany and Venezuela quietly announced earlier this year that they are repatriating their gold stores overseas—not coincidentally mostly from the US—back to their shores." Continue reading →

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No One Saw This Coming…

"Last fall, I sat in a cozy living room on the outskirts of Tallinn, Estonia, drinking coffee, eating freshly baked pastries and listening to a former parliament member for the Soviet Union tell me about a phone call he had recently received from inside Russia’s central bank. The bank officials wanted input on how to build a reserve currency, one backed by the plentitude of hard assets Russia owns. What he told me – easily the most-stunning bit of information I gathered on that research trip – has stuck with me. 'Russia,' he announced, 'is using oil, gas and minerals as the new tools of war instead of military tools. This will be the beginning of a currency cold war.'" Continue reading →

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David Galland: Answers from a Monetary Master

"Mr. Bernanke will get to visit his ideal world of 2% price inflation, but it will only be a whistle stop. The price inflation that lies ahead will be at least as bad as what happened in the 1970s episode, when the annual inflation rate approached 15%. The money that's already been printed so far may be enough to produce such a 1970s-size problem. Making matters worse is that the devices for paring down the amount of cash that you need for the sake of convenience—such as credit cards, ATMs and online banks—are now far more widely available and cheaper to use than they were in the 1970s." Continue reading →

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Local traders unmoved by SEC Bitcoin warning

"'The short answer is that financial scams are everywhere and it pays to be cautious about any investment and ensure that you understand it and trust those operating it, before giving them your dollars or your Bitcoins,' said Tulsa Bitcoin trader Ryan Underwood. 'This question of where to place confidence is not a Bitcoin-specific issue but a problem with all investments that make future promises in exchange for taking investor money in the present,' Underwood said. 'The SEC did not protect investors from Madoff despite numerous whistle-blowers coming forward in advance. Only their own diligence could have protected them.'" Continue reading →

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Illinois man pays $150,000 legal settlement in truck full of quarters

"A man in Williamson County, Illinois pulled a truckload of bags of quarters up to a law office on Wednesday, delivering his share of a court-ordered payment in a wrongful death suit. When asked why he was paying the $150,000 in quarters, Roger Herrin told WSIL-TV, 'Because I couldn’t do it in pennies.' In 2001, Herrin’s 15-year-old son was killed in a car accident when an uninsured truck driver ran a stop sign. The three other passengers in the car were injured. Immediately afterward, the families of the injured victims began to squabble with Herrin over the settlement, he said." Continue reading →

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Jeffrey Tucker on a Bitcoin Standard, The Hard Money Crowd, and Once-and-Future Conferences

"Shownotes for Episode 28 - Ponzis, Malware, and the Hashing Cartel: ASIC’s or Botnets? What’s the Long Term Solution to our Medium Term Problems? Why isn’t it simple to be a miner? Jeffrey Tucker and I talk about a Bitcoin Standard, The Hard Money Crowd, and Once-and-Future Conferences; Can Validation Nodes Be The Solution to Centralization? How do I Get Paid in Bitcoins?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJeffrey Tucker on a Bitcoin Standard, The Hard Money Crowd, and Once-and-Future Conferences

What is the Money Supply?

"Money supply growth has been crashing. Near the start of the year, three month annualized money growth was around 11.2%. It is now at 2.2%. I use the Fed's money supply measure M2 (non-seasonally adjusted) to calculate the growth. If the slowdown in growth continues, it suggests that the Fed manipulated economy will slow once again and that the stock market is likely to once again crash." Continue reading →

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