The U.S. dollar has been the world’s reserve currency since World War II.
In March, China (and then Russia) openly attacked the greenback, calling for the dollar to be replaced as the world’s reserve currency. This call by China is particularly disturbing since China holds more U.S. debt than any other country—about $1.3 trillion—and the further [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘What Can't be Paid’
October 18, 2009
The Dollar’s Demise
March 15, 2009
The Snowball Effect
Anyone who’s ever skied in the mountains has some appreciation for the dangers of avalanche. Everyone knows that one little snowball can sometimes release an avalanche of pent-up energy whose magnitude can be sudden, astonishing and dangerous.
February 10, 2009
Moral Bankruptcy Causes Economic Collapse
When a nation’s monetary system is based on mere promises to pay (paper and digital debt instruments) rather than payments (actual production; gold and silver coin), irrational consequences and a virtual “insanity” inevitably follow.
December 23, 2008
We Don’t Need and Won’t Get Credit. We Need Reindustrialization.
The December 4th New York Times reported in “Employers cut 533K jobs in Nov., most in 34 years” that,
“Skittish employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years, catapulting the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, dramatic proof the country is careening deeper into recession. ‘These numbers are shocking,’ said economist Joel [...]
November 8, 2008
Signs of the Times
On Thursday, November 6th The New York Times published the four articles which, in sum, offer a snapshot of where our economy is, and where it’s heading. Excerpts from those articles and my comments follow:
October 26, 2008
There’s No Shortage of Gold bullion Coins and the Price of Gold is RISING!
I’ll bet the title of this article sounds absolutely nutty to anyone who follows the gold market. As any “gold bug” can tell you, the price of gold is down from a high of $1,024 earlier this year to a current price of $734 per ounce. Similarly, there’ve been virtually no silver bullion coins for [...]
October 13, 2008
Prepare to Celebrate! There’s a (Bank) Holiday in your Future
About four months ago, I realized that the total American debt (owed by federal, state & local governments, plus that privately owed in the form of mortgages, auto loans and credit cards, etc.) was at least $75 trillion. As I’ve written repeatedly, I divided that $75 trillion debt by the total U.S. population (300 million) [...]
August 16, 2008
Economic Guides for Confusing Times
On August 6th, Dan Denning wrote:
“Just as all asset classes moved up in a simultaneous bull market from 2003 to 2007, we now have the possibility of all asset classes—equities, property, bonds, and commodities—moving down in a simultaneous bear market. It could be protracted, global, and unavoidable.”
August 1, 2008
Banking Bankruptcy A.D. 2008
According to John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics (shadowstats.com), by comparing the overall ratio of “borrowed” to “non-borrowed” bank reserves, we can learn a lot about the health of the U.S. banking industry. The “nonborrowed bank reserves” are the available reserve funds that are owned by the banks, themselves. On the other hand, the “borrowed bank [...]
July 26, 2008
“Mean-Reversion”—or Bust!
In his recent article, “The Global Economy is at the Point of Maximum Danger,” English commentator Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote:
“The world’s two biggest financial institutions have had a heart attack. The global currency system is breaking down. The policy doctrines that got us into this mess are bankrupt. No world leader seems able to discern [...]
