It can be argued that the world has reach the sorry state it’s in today largely because academics, politicians and “distinguished experts” or “recognized authorities” did not have the humility to admit their own mistakes, or to at least recognize the limits of their knowledge. Of course, this is far from a new affliction in our societies and political systems. Hubris was one among the most terrible sins that the ancient Greeks warned against and there have been too many narcissists...
Read More »Parity hysterics: What it means and what it doesn’t
Part I of II, by Claudio Grass, Hünenberg See, Switzerland There’s been a flurry of articles, news stories and headlines lately over the developments in the FOREX market, specifically over the moves of the EUR/USD currency pair. As headwinds on all levels, economic, geopolitical and social, got a lot worse in recent months for the Eurozone, the news-breaking, headline-dominating “parity” event finally came about, with the euro even breaking below parity on July 13, and it seems to...
Read More »Missing the forest for the tree
Over the second half of January, we witnessed a fresh wave of volatility in equity markets, culminating in a pullback that caused widespread concern and endless headlines in the mainstream financial press. There was speculation of a full blown correction, other “experts” disagreed and predicted that central bankers would never allow that to happen, while others still tried to account for the market’s moves by using the same explanations we’ve been hearing throughout the covid crisis...
Read More »“Settled science”: The rallying cry back to the dark ages
Increasingly over the past decade, but infinitely more so over the last year, we’ve been hearing politicians, mainstream media and all kinds of experts urging, and often sternly demanding, citizens, voters and taxpayers to “follow the science”. This demand usually accompanies various new policies, regulations and mandates. Very often, those tend to have passed into law with very little public debate and most of the time, they require some type of sacrifice on the part of the...
Read More »An unexpected blow to the ECB – Part II
The corona effect Although the German court ruling had nothing to do with this latest wave of easing and money printing triggered by the coronavirus crisis, the timing of it puts the present situation in a different perspective. This crisis has served as a “judgment day” of sorts. It revealed the countless failures, the incompetence and the disarray at the very core of most institutions, not just in Europe, but globally. The more decentralized nations did fare relatively better...
Read More »“More of the same” at the ECB increases gold’s appeal
“The intellectual leaders of the peoples have produced and propagated the fallacies which are on the point of destroying liberty and Western civilization.” Ludwig von Mises, Planned Chaos It took multiple meetings and over 50 hours of official negotiations for EU leaders to reach an agreement on the appointments for the top jobs of the EU and the ECB, but in mid-July the results finally came in. The ECB was particularly in focus, as bad news keeps piling up for the Eurozone economy and...
Read More »“More of the same” at the ECB increases gold’s appeal
“The intellectual leaders of the peoples have produced and propagated the fallacies which are on the point of destroying liberty and Western civilization.” Ludwig von Mises, Planned Chaos It took multiple meetings and over 50 hours of official negotiations for EU leaders to reach an agreement on the appointments for the top jobs of the EU and the ECB, but in mid-July the results finally came in. The ECB was particularly in focus, as bad news keeps piling up for the...
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