“The U.S. economy felt like a balloon in search of a needle” – Part II
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“The U.S. economy felt like a balloon in search of a needle” – Part II

Interview with Robert Mark: Claudio Grass (CG): In this surreal policy environment, how has the role and the investment process of the value investor evolved, especially over the last decade?  How can one still identify value in a world of subsidized binge borrowing, extreme indebtedness, and stock buybacks?  Robert Mark (RM): The…

“The U.S. economy felt like a balloon in search of a needle” – Part I
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“The U.S. economy felt like a balloon in search of a needle” – Part I

Interview with Robert Mark As we move deeper and deeper into this covid crisis, more and more people understand that there’s a lot more to fear besides the disease itself. As the economic impact and the full scale of the damage caused by the lockdowns and the shutdowns become undeniable,…

You cannot print your way to prosperity – Part II
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You cannot print your way to prosperity – Part II

Interview with Theodore Deden Claudio Grass (CG): Looking at the damage inflicted upon supply chains, production facilities and global trade in particular, how quickly could these operations snap back even if all COVID-related restrictions were lifted tomorrow? Do you think we’ll eventually get back to business as usual, or have…

You cannot print your way to prosperity – Part I
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You cannot print your way to prosperity – Part I

Interview with Theodore Deden There might be a lot of conflicting opinions and disagreement these days about the right way to get out of this current crisis and to rebuild our economy and our society. One the very few things we can all agree on, however, is that the challenges…

“Central banks, not elected governments, run the world”
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“Central banks, not elected governments, run the world”

Interview with Chris Powell  Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen many crucial and historic developments in the precious metals market. For long-term physical gold investors, who recognized the importance of the precious metal as a safe haven and as a hedge against systemic and monetary risks, the rally…

Gold doing what it does best – Part II
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Gold doing what it does best – Part II

Beyond economics  While the economic forces that drive this rush to precious metals are clearly understandable, there are other, deeper and less obvious factors that must also be taken into account. This “fear of uncertainty”, which pushes demand for gold higher as it has done so many times in the…

Gold doing what it does best – Part I
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Gold doing what it does best – Part I

Gold’s stellar performance throughout the pandemic and especially over the last weeks has managed to capture international headlines and dominate expert analyses and commentary. The media frenzy quickly intensified once the precious metal first broke the $2,000 ceiling in early August, a record that was widely covered by mainstream outlets,…

A blueprint for a European superstate
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A blueprint for a European superstate

The EU Pandemic Relief Deal After intense negotiations, long days and nights of clashes and a distinctly sour note underlying the entire summit, European Union leaders finally agreed on an unprecedented 1.82 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) budget and COVID recovery package. This agreement provided €750 billion in funding meant to counter…

Is the West repeating India’s mistakes? – Part II
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Is the West repeating India’s mistakes? – Part II

Interview with Jayant Bhandari Claudio Grass (CG): In such a vast and incredibly diverse country like India, can top-down measures and centralized policies like affirmative action or caste-based economic incentives effectively force social change and economic equality? Or can they be seen as merely symbolic moves, or perhaps just political…