The Dollar Is Dying
2020-08-11
Insulting the Captive Audience. This week, while perusing the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet figures, we came across a rather curious note. We don’t know how long the Fed’s had this note posted to its website. But we can’t recall ever seeing it.
What You Will Find When You Follow the Money
2020-08-17
Lockdown Disaster. It has been a rough go for California Governor Gavin Newsom. Late last week it was revealed that the state Department of Public Health had tickled the poodle on its COVID-19 record keeping. Somehow the bureaucrats in Sacramento under-counted new corona-virus cases by as many as 300,000.
Janet Yellen: Too Dumb To Stop
2020-12-10
Autographing Funny Money. The United States Secretary of the Treasury bears a shameful job duty. They must place their autograph on the face of the Federal Reserve’s legal tender notes. Here, for the whole world to witness, the Treasury Secretary provides signature endorsement; their personal ratification of unconstitutional money.
Silver “Scarcifies” – Precious Metals Supply and Demand
2020-07-31
The action on 27 July was not. Notice the big drop in the basis starting around midnight (London time). It falls from over 7% to under 2%.
The Costs of Coronavirus Lockdowns
2020-12-11
Throughout the next weeks, we will regularly feature statistics showing some of the costs of the prevailing lockdown politics. This article is an introduction to this new series. All over Europe, life has come to a halt again. As a second wave of Coronavirus infections has arrived, social and economic life has largely once more, as was already the case in spring when COVID-19 first spread across the world.
Deflation: Friend or Foe?
2020-12-20
Deflation is the most feared economic phenomenon of our time. The reason behind this a priori irrational fear (why should we be afraid of prices going down?) is the Great Depression.
A Future Hunger Pandemic
2020-12-29
The coronavirus has dominated all of our lives in recent months. Radical paths were taken by politicians in the form of lockdowns to contain the pandemic. But we should recognize that even if the coronavirus is a (major) challenge for us, we always have to keep a holistic view of world events.
New Opportunities 2021: Fiscal policy for the recovery
2021-01-24
This GIS 2021 Outlook series focuses on the opportunities that stem from the upheaval of the past year. Coronavirus vaccine distribution has begun, most probably marking the beginning of the end of the global health crisis. A receding pandemic will leave behind intertwined economic and fiscal challenges for countries around the world.