Last Updated: Nov 19th, 2009 - 11:07:39 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 Thought for the Day The Leaders of the Free World have had a great shindig. Strutting their stuff on the world stage and promising to reform the financial world with our grandchildren's money. This means that the bankers are being bailed out to the same extent. Thus we are now converting capitalism into socialism. Bankers get to make huge amounts of money during the boom years and when things go bust they are bailed out and supported by the politicians because their bank is "too big to fail". Does this mean that the bankers are in control of the politicians? Rather than the politicians being in charge of the bankers? Is the privately owned US Federal Reserve using the politicians as a front for their money making schemes? Sounds like a good plot for a conspiracy theory! With our current system of paper money the politicians and bankers can continue to enjoy a privileged life while deferring payments for a future generation. Meanwhile our economists, almost all of whom are paid by banks or governments, continue to explain how the whole system may be rescued and continue on as usual. Nowhere do our economists try to offer any explanation about why they did not see it coming. Their computer models showed business as usual and no indication of the current recession - and certainly no indication of the depth and extent of it. Do economists only produce results that reinforce what governments and banks (their employers) want to hear? Apr 9, 2009, 12:33 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 The Quiet Coup Simon Johnson, a professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, was the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund during 2007 and 2008. He blogs about the financial crisis at baselinescenario.com, along with James Kwak, who also contributed to this essay. It is not easy to get an independent view of the financial turmoil in the world today so this essay is most interesting and most important. His conclusions are stark. [ Visit Website ] Apr 8, 2009, 13:26 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 Swiss Slide Into Deflation Signals Next Chapter of Crisis Ambrose is on the money yet again. The world is in big trouble and yet some people think we are coming out of the "recession/depression". Our experiment with world wide paper money is now failing. Apr 6, 2009, 10:15 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 There Will Be (Hyper)Inflation This article is probably the best "short" explanation of inflation I have read so far. Parliament held an inquiry into the cause of inflation, amongst other things, two years ago. If our politicians understood this article there would have been no need for an inquiry. When we set out to inflate our money supply we are on the well trodden path to the big bust or to hyperinflation. Given human nature, there is no other possibility. [ Visit Website ] Apr 3, 2009, 16:05 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 Would Cleansing Banks' Balance Sheets Kick-start the US Economy? Frank Shostak explains what the problem is and why the world governments are going to have huge problems in bringing our economies into balance. " . . . wealth generators must be allowed to move forward as soon as possible. Only wealth generators can lay the foundation for the expansion of the pool of real savings and hence lending. Wealth generators, however, cannot work efficiently in an environment of government controls, and money and credit created out of thin air." [ Visit Website ] Apr 2, 2009, 13:17 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 Chris Powell On Fox News 3/31/2009 An interesting snippet from Fox News. This current money crisis is causing a lot of people to ask awkward questions. Interesting that the Fox News interviewer realises that the value of all the gold in Fort Knox is LESS than the payment by the government to AIG to keep them going. And the big question goes unanswered - Is the gold really there or has some been "swapped" away? There is some confusion with the sound system for the first 2:25 minutes of this video clip. [ Visit Website ] Apr 2, 2009, 10:01 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 Unmasking the Fed Money is becoming more important these days as it becomes harder to get. What is money and how does it work? This is a TV program giving the history of money and explaining why we are having so much trouble with our current paper version. [ Visit Website ] Apr 2, 2009, 09:37 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 Embracing Creative Destruction This is how society progresses and how businesses provide you with better goods and services - if you want them. Government agencies try to stop this process. Apr 1, 2009, 21:40 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 China, Argentina to Conduct Trade in Chinese Currency China is on the move. This century belongs to China and we may see the renminbi replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency. Apr 1, 2009, 12:20 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 Mints Coin it as Consumers Scramble For Gold A few years ago I was a lone voice in the wilderness rabbiting on about paper money and REAL Economics. The world is now catching up. Newspaper reports and stories about the world of paper money and how gold money retains its value are now starting to change behaviour. People probably do not understand exactly what is going on but they are starting to get the feel that there is building demand for REAL Money in the form of gold. Momentum is building and soon the mania will start. REAL Economics is so much fun. PS There is five times more gold above ground than there is silver. REAL Economics (and ordinary economics) would suggest that silver is more valuable than gold! Apr 1, 2009, 12:06 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 Debt is Not The Only Problem How do we pay the interest? Our government has gone from a surplus of $3 billion to a deficit of $8 billion. No-one seems to have noticed much or made any comment. How much will we need to borrow for this recession and how long will it take to pay back? Can we afford the interest? [ Visit Website ] Mar 31, 2009, 11:30 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 The End of Bretton Woods II is Near Is the problem China, not the dollar? Mar 31, 2009, 11:23 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 Wheelbarrow Time? The Economist discusses the possibility of Hyper-inflation. Mar 31, 2009, 10:47 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 Is There Any Gold Inside Fort Knox, the World's Most Secure Vault? For a few years now I have been talking about the problems that arise when using a paper based money system. The main one being that none of the paper money systems of the past have survived into the present. The current world wide system of paper money looks to be in trouble and this is now making the headlines around the world. If we decided to return to a gold standard, it would be nice to actually have some gold. Some US Congressmen are interested in how much is still in Fort Knox. Shades of Goldfinger here?!?!? Mar 30, 2009, 12:50 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 9 April 2009 Quote for the Week "Capitalism will never fail because socialism will always be there to bail it out." Ralph Nader Mar 9, 2009, 10:49