Interview with Dr. Markus Krall: When it comes to identifying and evaluating the key vulnerabilities and inherent risks of the banking and financial system, there are few who have the insights and practical experience that is required to truly understand the scale of the issue and its investing implications. This is precisely why Claudio Grass turned to Dr. Markus Krall, who graciously agreed to share his thoughts and observations, as well as his outlook on the future of the financial...
Read More »Claudio Grass – Sound Money & Human Liberty Are Inextricably Linked
SBTV speaks with Claudio Grass, an independent precious metals adviser based in Switzerland. A proponent of sound money and the Austrian School of Economics, Claudio shares his convictions on why human liberty and sound money are inextricably linked. Discussed in this interview: 02:39 Relationship between liberty and sound money 06:51 Keynesian view of money 09:58 Similarities between Austrian School and Keynesian economics? 14:00 Geopolitical issues clouding the near future 18:08...
Read More »ECB: running out of runway – Part II
Knock-on effects Overall, under Mr. Draghi’s watch, the ECB’s balance sheet has ballooned to a previously unimaginable scale and aggressive policies like the extensive QE program and negative rates have encouraged the accumulation of debt and heavily distorted market mechanisms. Scores of “zombie” companies, that would have otherwise died off without the artificial life support of cheap credit, are now plaguing most...
Read More »ECB: running out of runway – Part II
Knock-on effects Overall, under Mr. Draghi’s watch, the ECB’s balance sheet has ballooned to a previously unimaginable scale and aggressive policies like the extensive QE program and negative rates have encouraged the accumulation of debt and heavily distorted market mechanisms. Scores of “zombie” companies, that would have otherwise died off without the artificial life support of cheap credit, are now plaguing most major economies. The encouragement and purposeful incentivization of...
Read More »ECB: running out of runway – Part I
At the end of January, only a month after the official end of the QE program of the European Central Bank (ECB), its President Mario Draghi told the European Parliament’s committee that the central bank could resume its bond purchasing, in a questionable effort to assuage concerns over the impact of the policy change. As Europe’s economy flashes increasingly bright warning signs, doubts are multiplying over the...
Read More »ECB: running out of runway – Part I
At the end of January, only a month after the official end of the QE program of the European Central Bank (ECB), its President Mario Draghi told the European Parliament’s committee that the central bank could resume its bond purchasing, in a questionable effort to assuage concerns over the impact of the policy change. As Europe’s economy flashes increasingly bright warning signs, doubts are multiplying over the sustainability of the ECB’s plans, the efficacy of its measures and its...
Read More »China: Harbinger of Global Economic Decline
The latest numbers released by China’s statistics bureau fueled widespread concerns about the outlook of the global economy, as the Asian superpower reported its slowest growth rate since 1990. The figures showed a 6.6% growth for 2018, confirming the view that the growth engine of the world economy is running out of steam. Deep-seeded vulnerabilities, far beyond the trade war China’s weakening growth has been widely...
Read More »China: Harbinger of global economic decline
The latest numbers released by China’s statistics bureau fueled widespread concerns about the outlook of the global economy, as the Asian superpower reported its slowest growth rate since 1990. The figures showed a 6.6% growth for 2018, confirming the view that the growth engine of the world economy is running out of steam. Deep-seeded vulnerabilities, far beyond the trade war China’s weakening growth has been widely attributed to the country’s trade frictions with the United States. To...
Read More »Crypto-crash: An optimistic post-mortem – Part II
Blatant security deficits and rampant fraud Over the last year, news of crypto hacks and heists became so prevalent that the new breaches were hardly worthy of reporting anymore. Among the headliners, however, was the Coincheck case, the Japanese exchange that lost over $530 million worth of the NEM cryptocurrency, as was Zaif, another exchange also from Japan, that saw $60 million worth of digital currencies vanish. Bancor, an Israeli-Swiss decentralized exchange lost $23 million to a...
Read More »Crypto-crash: An optimistic post-mortem – Part I
2018 was an Annus Horribilis for the entire crypto industry. Believers and crypto enthusiasts, swept up by the rally of 2017, found themselves on the wrong side of a crashing market. On the right side where the early critics, who were once accused of cynicism and a lack of imagination for calling the crypto market a bubble, and were finally vindicated. As the media eventually turned on the sector and gleefully reported on its demise, investor sentiment soured and soon anyone who’d ever...
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