Some people believe that by imposing losses on investors and reducing the Cyprus banking system liabilities, the European powers have addressed the problems in Cyprus (if harshly). Others think that it was just an unjust tax on depositors. I have written about the sequence of events. Cyprus banks borrowed money and bought Greek government bonds. […]
Do you think that depositors in Cyprus are being taxed? That their money is being taken from them to go to the government in Cyprus or to Europe? Most analysis of the Cyprus bailout is wrong on this point. Cypriot banks are like all banks in one respect. They raise capital to buy assets that […]
After markets closed on Friday, it was announced that Cyprus worked out a deal with the European Central Bank, European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund (“the Troika”). Here is a typical article reporting on the story. Cyrpus has been in desperate need of a bailout, and was in discussions as early as June last […]
When writing about economics (as opposed to trading), one does not expect to be proven right within days of publishing something. Things can take years to play out. On Monday, February 25, we published What Drives the Price of Gold and Silver? In that article, I wrote: If there is a credible rumor that the […]
In the United States, there are once again TV commercials advertising Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) for residential real estate. Today, I saw one from Quicken Loans promoted with the tagline “why pay more in interest charges now just to know what rate you will have in 2018?” (they are offering a 7-year “teaser” rate and […]
There is an old erroneous view of fractional reserve banking. “Naturally, all fractionally reserved banks are de facto insolvent at all times…” The Acting Man blog is usually very good, but it published an article by Pater Tenebrarum containing this comment (http://www.acting-man.com/?p=6781). If there is a weakness in Austrian School thinking surely fractional reserve banking […]
I gave this talk at the Chicago Objectivist Society MiniCon Sep 4, 2011. Here is the full set of 9 videos on youtube for my presentation plus Q&A at the end, posted on this site to archive the links. Irredeemable currency vs gold – 1_9 introduction.wmv Irredeemable currency vs gold – 2_9 the origin of […]
