Ideas and analysis on money, markets and the world around us.
According to a story in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, the US Federal Reserve is considering buying long-term Treasury and mortgage bonds in return for deposits held at the Fed. There has been no comment from the Fed…
Read the articleIn a recent article in Fortune, Warren Buffett reiterated his well-known view on money. Far less celebrated, however, is the discerning view of his father, Howard Buffett, expounded in a brilliant speech in 1948 while…
Read the articleSons often rebel against their fathers, but what accounts for the difference between Howard Buffett’s view of gold, and that of his son – the famed investor Warren Buffett? While the latter is famous for his disparaging…
Read the articleRecently there have been reports that if Greece defaults on the new bail-out package, creditors will be entitled to seize her gold. Whether or not this is true, it raises one big question: given the severe financial and…
Read the articleLast Monday night, before the US markets opened after President’s Day, bailout terms for Greece were announced. The detail is secondary to assessing whether or not it will work, or whether only a little time has been…
Read the articleIn the past, insurance companies and pension funds have been keen to advertise the benefit of compounding arithmetic for savings. Over the last 30 or 40 years the rate has been lifted by inflation, but to understand the…
Read the articleMainstream economists seem to have a problem understanding prices. They might draw supply and demand curves and talk about elasticity. They are sure to have been taught the quantity theory of money. These are merely…
Read the articleEvery once in a while a bubble forms in a market. Bubbles can occur in any market, whether stocks, commodities, real estate or as we know from history, even tulip bulbs. Market bubbles are, as the name implies,…
Read the articleThe consolidation of gold’s bull phase from October 2008 to the peak last September was a classic three-leg correction: an initial slide, rally, and final sell-off. Silver followed a similar but more violent pattern.…
Read the articleThe Fed in its press release announced that it expected interest rates to “warrant exceptionally low levels for the Federal Funds Rate at least through late 2014.” The fact that the central banks governing the two most…
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