I continue to wonder who Bank of Russia President Elvira Nabuillina works for. Seriously. On Friday, in response to solid growth in Russian economic statistics over the past few months, Nabuillina again raised interest rates 0.25%. She still adheres to idiotic IMF-style 'inflation targeting' dogma. Price inflation in Russia finally got off the roughly 2.5% … Continue reading Inflation Targeting Madness: Russia Raises Rates Again
Deplatforming Paves the Way for Cryptocurrency
The recent deplatforming of Sargon of Akkad by Patreon has a lot of people very nervous. I became worried we'd get to this state the first time they went after Gab for not allowing their app in the Google or Apple stores. It became obvious then that we would wind up here today. It starts … Continue reading Deplatforming Paves the Way for Cryptocurrency
Revisiting Turkey’s Debt Problem
It is increasingly clear the global economy is slowing down. And a few months ago the epicenter for that slowdown was Turkey. The Turkish Lira melted down as fears over its massive pile of corporate debt, most of it denominated in dollars, began selling off. And that had contagion effects into Europe since yield-starved banks … Continue reading Revisiting Turkey’s Debt Problem
Private Blog – To Brexit or Not to Brexit
I have a new 23 minute market report up on Patron for subscribers going over what's happening later today with respect to the vote of No-Confidence against Theresa May over her bungling Brexit. I also cover the happenings in gold, silver, the Dow and the USDX to give you a picture of where I think … Continue reading Private Blog – To Brexit or Not to Brexit
The End of France as We Know It?
When an event grabs headlines like the protests in France have I temper my reactions to it. I didn't give the Yellow Vest protests much thought at first wanting to see where they would lead. Protests like this and even bigger ones like Catalonian independence are invariably betrayed by the European political establishment. They become … Continue reading The End of France as We Know It?
Meet the New Merkel, Same as the Old Merkel
So Angela Merkel is out as leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In comes Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Merkel's close ally who won the party's support with a very narrow victory over more conservative Friedrich Merz. The goal , as always in Europe, was to maintain the status quo politically. Change needed to change nothing. Brexit negotiations … Continue reading Meet the New Merkel, Same as the Old Merkel
December Issue Gold Goats ‘n Guns Newsletter Released
"There is no civility, there is only politics"— Senator Palpatine, The Phantom Menace (Subscribe to the newsletter here)I've talked about breaches of trust before. Facebook is losing users because of their abuse. So will Google. But, a bigger breach of public trust is occurring politically that will have more more devastating effects on society. Leaders … Continue reading December Issue Gold Goats ‘n Guns Newsletter Released
OPEC Cuts Deep to Save Cartel
With oil prices in free fall and the dawning realization that Great Reflation trade of 2017 is over, OPEC needed to do something drastic to remind everyone how important they are. Moreover, with Qatar quitting the cartel last week it was then doubly necessary for OPEC to make the markets stand up and remember them. … Continue reading OPEC Cuts Deep to Save Cartel