Blog

Sept 9, 2008 – There was a thought-provoking book published last year entitled The Black Swan. It provides an insightful perspective into seemingly improbable events (i.e., a ‘black swan ‘) and our thinking that surrounds them. The author, Nassim Nicholas Taleb contends that black swans underlie most everything within our world, but we invariably failRead more

Aug 26, 2008 – A friend recently wrote to me saying that value is what you are offered when you want to sell something. I disagree. What is offered is a price, which may be above, below or at fair value of the item being sold. For example, we all know that stocks sell atRead more

August 25, 2008 – In the last letter I questioned whether the US government is solvent. All the available financial evidence as well as some simple logic says that it is not. The inevitable result of insolvency is debt repudiation, so an article in The Wall Street Journal on August 22nd entitled “Washington Is QuietlyRead more

August 4, 2008 – In my article on January 7th, I analyzed the federal government’s financial position using its consolidated financial statements, dubbed the Fiscal Year 2007 Financial Report of the United States Government. That article was posted on FinancialSense.com and is still available at the following link: www.financialsense.com The picture I painted was notRead more

July 22, 2008 – I wrote the following article for “Information Line”, published by Michael Checkan and Glen Kirsch, the proprietors of Asset Strategies International, Inc. in Rockville, Maryland, www.assetstrategies.com. The first thing people usually consider when buying gold is its price, but unfortunately, they are grabbing the wrong end of the stick. Price isRead more

July 21, 2008 – I lived in South East Asia for most of the 1970’s, working in the branch offices there for one of the large New York City banks. I was a ‘line’ officer. This meant that I was not in the back-office, but instead, I dealt with the bank’s customers, which principally wereRead more

July 7, 2009 – The Commodity Research Bureau Continuing Commodity Index tracks the price of seventeen commodities. It made a new record this past week. It also surpassed 600 for the first time, ending the week at 611.51. So it is clear that the bull market in commodities is alive and well. But these newRead more

June 23, 2008 – As the inventor of digital gold currency (DGC), I am compelled to respond to the spate of recent articles that focused upon the dark-side of my invention. The initial article appeared last month in Canada’s Globe & Mail, which in turn sparked a mini-frenzy on the Internet. Now that this frenzyRead more

June 1, 2008 – In the early 1980s I began researching and experimenting to find a reliable and trustworthy guide to evaluate the precious metals. I came up with a working model in mid-1980s, which I call the Fear Index. It does two things. First, it clearly illustrates gold’s relative valuation in terms of aRead more

May 26, 2008 – What a week this has been! As the oil price soared and gasoline prices at the pump touched $4 per gallon, the search for scapegoats picked up momentum. Congress led the parade of misguided crazies. The House of Representatives says sky-high oil prices are OPEC’s fault. It overwhelmingly passed a billRead more