“Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough.” -- Mario Draghi July 26th 2012 No quote better defines Mario Draghi's seven-plus years as the President of the European Central Bank than that quote. Draghi has thrown literally everything at the … Continue reading Super Mario Draghi’s Day of Reckoning Has Arrived
Monetary Policy
Private Blog: The Fed Blinked
There is a new Private Blog post up for Patrons focusing on the initial fallout of the Fed's dramatic reversal in its communications to the market. This week's report focuses on the monthly closes for gold, the Dow and what's happening across the European bond markets and how the Democrats' collective crazy is helping this … Continue reading Private Blog: The Fed Blinked
Inflation Targeting Madness: Russia Raises Rates Again
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
Is China’s Day of Reckoning Coming?
Lost in all of the geopolitical noise are some basic concepts of economics. It's no secret that China's economy has been built by their openly mercantilist economic policies. Mercantilism is, oddly enough, President Trump's dominant economic philosophy. It involves protection of domestic producers through high barriers to foreign investment and a cheap currency created through … Continue reading Is China’s Day of Reckoning Coming?
Is Putin Winning the War of Attrition with the U.S.?
The news that President Donald Trump offered to hold a meeting with his counterpart in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, has the political world in an uproar. Furiously keyboards are chattering away as laptop bombardiers are worried that perpetual war for perpetual empire will end if Trump and Putin see eye to eye on anything. From … Continue reading Is Putin Winning the War of Attrition with the U.S.?
Was Coinbase’s Bitcoin Cash Rollout a Designed Hit?
There's an excellent article over on Breitbart that looks at the details of Coinbase's surprise roll-out of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as a trading vehicle on their in-house exchange GDAX. It details the whole sordid mess and I would recommend anyone interested in the topic to read it for what it implies. To me, however, being … Continue reading Was Coinbase’s Bitcoin Cash Rollout a Designed Hit?
Bitcoin, Nuclear War and the “Real World Use” Argument
I received a comment this morning challenging my contention that Bitcoin should be thought of as a foundational asset for the crypto-based monetary system. With Bitcoin inching towards $10,000 arguments like this continue to be made by gold-bugs (of which I’m one) and hard-asset enthusiasts because they make fundamental errors in their analysis of Bitcoin. … Continue reading Bitcoin, Nuclear War and the “Real World Use” Argument