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The US federal government’s financial accounts end each year on September 30th. Last week the Treasury Department reported the government’s financial position for the fiscal year ended 2016, and it does not look good. I will ignore for the moment the government’s negative net worth, which itself means that the federal government owes more thanRead more

Congressman Ron Paul says that “central bankers are intellectually bankrupt”. This is actually the title of an excellent op-ed article he wrote last week for London’s Financial Times in which he clearly explains that controlling interest rates is a form of price fixing.

In the April edition of The Casey Report, Doug Casey tackles the matter of gold price manipulation. He does this in an excellent article comparing gold’s bull market today with the one in the 1970s, which both he and I remember well given that we are about the same age and both were active participants in it.

July 11, 2011 – Discussions by policymakers to increase the US debt limit are in the eleventh hour.  Sadly, so far the circus of intense political posturing has avoided highlighting the real issue. It is not the debt capacity of the US government that is of primary importance, nor how much will be cut fromRead more

December 21, 2010 – Last week the British pound fell 3.0% against the US dollar.  Some say it was because of UK bank exposure to Spain, which Moody’s warned could be downgraded.  Others blamed the UK’s close economic link and heavy debt exposure to Ireland, which Moody’s did actually downgrade last week by 5-levels toRead more

So despite the fact the Fed will be purchasing $600 billion of US government debt instruments, T-bond and T-note yields are climbing, a clear sign that investors are rushing to sell their US government paper. Why? Because they know the purchasing power of the dollar is being debased by QE, and more importantly, will continue being debased.

November 16, 2010 – Earlier this month the Federal Reserve announced its latest round of quantitative easing, long ago dubbed QE, but it should be called by what it really is – money printing.  The Fed buys US government debt and turns it into currency.  The process is somewhat arcane, but very simple at itsRead more

Everyone should be taking note that the yield on the 10-year Treasury note this week climbed to a 9-month high. The T-note is sending a loud and clear message: interest rates are headed higher.

March 22, 2010 – Only a few decades ago, the United States was the world’s largest creditor nation.  American capital spanned the globe financing all types of investments in virtually every country.  But that dominance began to erode in the 1960s because growth in consumption in the United States was starting to outpace new production. Read more

February 26, 2010 – There have been numerous reports about the sharp decline in bank lending since the beginning of the financial crisis.  The Wall Street Journal, for example, on Wednesday reported in an article entitled “Lending Falls at Epic Pace” that last year’s decline in lending is the biggest since 1942.  It also providedRead more