Month: December 2010
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China Fiddles with the Yuan while the US Dollar Burns
It might seem to long time readers that we have something of a Chinese fetish, what with all the articles devoted to goings on in that corner of the world. The truth is, with the Soviet Union gone kaput and the Japanese economy not clicking on all cylinders, China becomes the primary competitor to the…
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What’s the Reserve Currency on Saturn?
Has NASA discovered a bacterial race of arsenic-guzzling microbes on one of Saturn’s moons and, more importantly, are they in need of government stimulus or bailout? Speculation ran amok in the blogosphere this past Wednesday about a “cryptic” NASA memo telling everyone about an upcoming press conference. Without going into the boring, conspiratorial details, bloggers…
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The Problem with Communism and Inflation
The US government may have a difficult time convincing China to import many of our products but it seems the communists have inadvertently decided to access one of our biggest economic headaches – inflation. Food prices are rising, to be precise. That’s right, Chairman Mao, welcome to good old inflationary times, American style. The thing…
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Delivering the US Government from Debt – Not
The title of this post is something of a misnomer because the American Monetary Association can see no plausible way that the US government will ever be able to extricate itself from the current mountain of debt, with more being added to the pile very day, sort of like a confetti machine blowing a constant…
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Forex Market: Where the World Comes to Trade Currency
Did you know that you too can play the exciting game of international currency trade on a little multi-trillion dollar daily volume market called the Forex (Foreign Exchange) market? With nothing more than an Internet connection and as little as $50, you can log onto your currency trading account and stand elbow to elbow at…
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The European Union: A Case Study for Failure
We’re pretty sure we’re watching the death throes of the European Union played out just in time for Christmas as banana republic wannabes like Greece, Ireland, and Spain appear to be taking this grand currency experiment to the mat for a debt-laden choke hold. In the beginning, the euro looked like a lean, mean, fighting…
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Fed Chairman Bernanke Backs Into the Future
By all accounts, Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke is something of an expert on the era of the Great Depression. Actually, he seems to be a bit obsessed with the whole thing, especially when it comes to matters of deflation. Famously earning the name Helicopter Ben because he swore he would toss money out of…
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The US Debt Clock Makes Us Queasy
The folks over at a website called USDebtClock.org have put together a chilling visual reminder of the quicksand we are in the process of building our financial house upon. It’s called the US Debt Clock. We decided to put together a list of some of the scarier numbers we found there, though the counters are…
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Inflating Away Debt Doesn't Work in the Real World
This fanciful notion held by some commentators, and apparently deeply believed by some economists, that the United States can simply inflate away the debt will be permanently maimed by an insurmountable obstacle – it doesn't work. The problem with inflating away the debt is the very nature of the way the Federal Reserve operates. All…
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The World: "No deal, Mr. Obama."
It appears that Mr. Obama's recent trip to Asia was a lesson in getting used to rejection. The grand plan was to return home with two hefty victories in hand: a free trade agreement with South Korea and a unified approach among allies to spur global economic activity and shake the world out of the…