I’ll just get this out of the way right at the beginning. The question in the title of this post refers to the end of the ongoing stock market correction and the answer is likely no. There are no sure things in this business so it isn’t an unequivocal no, but based on history, the odds favor more weakness. I know a lot of people liked that rally into the close on Friday and it was a nice way to end a wild week but it also shows that traders/investors are all too...
Read More »Weekly Market Pulse: Fear Makes A Comeback
Fear tends to manifest itself much more quickly than greed, so volatile markets tend to be on the downside. In up markets, volatility tends to gradually decline. Philip Roth Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful. Warren Buffett The new year hasn’t gotten off to a great start for growth stocks or any of the other speculative assets that have drawn so much attention over the last couple of years. Bitcoin is down 25% since the...
Read More »For The First Time Ever, The “1%” Own More Than Half The World’s Wealth: The Stunning Chart
Today Credit Suisse released its latest annual global wealth report, which traditionally lays out what has become the single biggest reason for the recent “anti-establishment” revulsion: an unprecedented concentration of wealth among a handful of people, as shown in Swiss bank’s infamous global wealth pyramid, an arrangement which as observed by the “shocking” political backlash of the past year, suggests that the lower...
Read More »Deepening Crisis In Hyper-inflationary Venezuela and Zimbabwe Show Why Physical Gold Is Ultimate Protection
Deepening Crisis In Hyper-inflationary Venezuela and Zimbabwe – Real inflation in Zimbabwe is 313 percent annually and 112 percent on a monthly basis – Venezuela’s new 100,000-bolivar note is worth less oday thehan USD 2.50 – Maduro announces plans to eliminate all physical cash – Gold rises in response to ongoing crises One Hundred Trillion Dollars Zimbabwe - Click to enlarge A military coup-de-grace in Zimbabwe...
Read More »If American Federalism Were Like Swiss Federalism, There Would Be 1,300 States
In a recent interview with Mises Weekends, Claudio Grass examined some of the advantages of the Swiss political system, and how highly decentralized politics can bring with it great economic prosperity, more political stability, and a greater respect for property rights. Since the Swiss political system of federalism is itself partially inspired by 19th-century American federalism, the average American can...
Read More »If American Federalism Were Like Swiss Federalism, There Would Be 1,300 States
Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute, In a recent interview with Mises Weekends, Claudio Grass examined some of the advantages of the Swiss political system, and how highly decentralized politics can bring with it great economic prosperity, more political stability, and a greater respect for property rights. Since the Swiss political system of federalism is itself partially inspired by 19th-century American federalism, the average American can usually imagine in...
Read More »Hard Assets In An Age Of Negative Interest Rates
Time is the soul of money, the long-view – its immortality. Hard assets are forever, even when destroyed by the cataclysms of history. It is the outlook that perpetuated the most competent and powerful aristocracies in continental Europe, well up through World War I and, in certain prominent cases, beyond; it is the mindset that has sustained the most fiscally serious democratic republic in the Western world, that of...
Read More »The Megacity Economy: How Seven Types Of Global Cities Stack Up
Back in 1950, close to 30% of the global population lived in cities. As Visual Capitalist's Jeff Desjardins notes, that has shifted dramatically, and by 2050, a whopping 70% of people will live in urban areas – some of which will be megacities housing tens of millions of people. This trend of urbanization has been a boon to global growth and the economy. In fact, it is estimated today by McKinsey that the 600 top urban centers contribute a whopping 60% to the world’s total...
Read More »How The Flash Crash Trader Was Scammed Out Of A $50 Million Fortune
The sad saga of Navinder Sarao, who on April 20, 2015 became the scapegoat for the May 2010 flash crash and was sentenced to up to 360 years in prison - he will find out later this year the actual length of his prison sentence - got its latest twist today thanks to a fascinating report how in addition to having lost his freedom, Nav also lost all of trading fortune, some $50 million of it. As Bloomberg's Liam Vaughn recounts, "it took Navinder Singh Sarao a long time to accept that he might...
Read More »Global Wealth Update: 0.7 percent Of Adults Control $116.6 Trillion In Wealth
Today Credit Suisse released its latest annual global wealth report, which traditionally lays out what is perhaps the biggest reason for the recent “anti-establishment” revulsion: an unprecedented concentration of wealth among a handful of people, as shown in its infamous global wealth pyramid, an arrangement which as observed by the “shocking” political backlash of the past few months suggests that the lower ‘levels’...
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