by Claudio Grass, Hünenberg See, Switzerland The prolonged and repeated lockdowns, business closures and travel bans have caused widespread economic devastation and changed the way all of us live, work and interact with each other. These were the most obvious changes that the covid crisis brought with it, however, a lot more has been unfolding in the background. Governments in most advanced economies have grasped the opportunity of this crisis and all the fear and uncertainty that...
Read More »Precious metals outlook: This summer presents a rare entry point
by Claudio Grass, Hünenberg, Switzerland It’s been an intense few weeks for precious metals investors, with gold and silver suffering setbacks and somewhat increased volatility. This has caused some observers and mainstream analysts to jump to gloomy conclusions and proclaim that gold’s bull run is over. Instead, they’re betting everything on the “great recovery” from the covid crisis and on an apparently imminent roaring comeback of the world economy. However, when one takes a...
Read More »Monetary Climate Change and its implications for investors – Part II
Interview with Ronald-Peter Stöferle: Part II of II Claudio Grass (CG): Even before the pandemic, there was a clear trend towards the politicization of central banks and monetary policy. Over the last year, however, we saw this accelerate considerably, to the point where the supposed independence of the Fed or the ECB looks like a thing of the past. Should investors, savers and ordinary citizens be concerned about this development? Ronald Stöferle (RS): Yes, for several...
Read More »Monetary Climate Change and its implications for investors
Interview with Ronald-Peter Stöferle: Part I of II I’ve long been an avid and enthusiastic reader of the “In Gold We Trust” report (“IGWT”), as I believe countless other gold investors are, and I’ve always found great value in the insights, the analyses and all the astute commentary and elucidating charts it contains. However, I was particularly looking forward to this year’s IGWT report. So much had changed, so many shifts and shocks had taken place in 2020, that any...
Read More »Hot off the press – Geneva Summit
I was offered on June, 15th, to express some thoughts on Biden-Putin. Enjoy! [embedded content]
Read More »“Radical efforts seldom work if they are deprived of common sense” – Part II
Interview with Fernando del Pino Calvo-Sotelo: Part II of II Claudio Grass (CG): In your analyses and articles on the issues around the covid crisis, you have adopted a very rational and calm approach, focusing on evidence and scientific facts. Why do you think it is that so many people, both among the governing and the governed, have failed to use these logical tools in dealing with this pandemic? Why does emotion prevail over logic so often? Fernando del Pino (FdP): Pascal...
Read More »“Radical efforts seldom work if they are deprived of common sense”
Interview with Fernando del Pino Calvo-Sotelo: Part I of II Even from the early days of the covid crisis, most sensible observers were concerned that the risk of mass panic and of fear overtaking reason was going to be much higher and much more severe than the biological threat itself. As the weeks and months went on, those concerns were substantiated, as politicians and the media all over the world fueled the flames, bombarded the public with apocalyptic images and chose...
Read More »Inflation risk takes center stage – Part II of II
The hidden tax A lot of people might be aware of historical cases of hyperinflation, like that of Hungary and the Weimar Republic, or even contemporary ones, like that of Venezuela. And yet, these are taught or reported like extreme cases, very far removed from the daily experience of most modern Western citizens. They are presented as though this sort of thing “could never happen here” and very often, the mechanisms and the conscious choices that led to these...
Read More »Inflation risk takes center stage – Part II of II
The hidden tax A lot of people might be aware of historical cases of hyperinflation, like that of Hungary and the Weimar Republic, or even contemporary ones, like that of Venezuela. And yet, these are taught or reported like extreme cases, very far removed from the daily experience of most modern Western citizens. They are presented as though this sort of thing “could never happen here” and very often, the mechanisms and the conscious choices that led to these disasters are being...
Read More »Inflation risk takes center stage – Part I of II
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been seeing more and more mainstream headlines about inflation fears being on the rise, both in the US and in Europe. Central bankers on both sides of the Atlantic have been doing their best to assuage these concerns, promising that they have everything under control and that the situation will without a doubt normalize soon. Still, all these assurances have failed to convince the markets and many investors are starting to see the cracks in the...
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