«It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it.» Aristotle In today’s world, it is obvious that the competition of ideas is under serious threat and with it, the much-needed discussions on how to deal with certain topics or try to understand the world we live …
Category: Thoughts
Merger mania: Consolidation in the gold mining sector
Late last year, Barrick Gold, the world’s largest gold miner in terms of reserves, made headlines when it announced its acquisition of Randgold Resources, in an $18bn mega-merger that marked a key moment for the mining industry. In January, United States gold giant Newmont and principal rival of Barrick, made public its own plans to …
ECB: running out of runway – Part I
At the end of January, only a month after the official end of the QE program of the European Central Bank (ECB), its President Mario Draghi told the European Parliament’s committee that the central bank could resume its bond purchasing, in a questionable effort to assuage concerns over the impact of the policy change. As …
Crypto-crash: An optimistic post-mortem – Part II
Blatant security deficits and rampant fraud Over the last year, news of crypto hacks and heists became so prevalent that the new breaches were hardly worthy of reporting anymore. Among the headliners, however, was the Coincheck case, the Japanese exchange that lost over $530 million worth of the NEM cryptocurrency, as was Zaif, another exchange …
Yellow Vests: Shockwaves felt across the continent
When the first demonstrations on the streets of Paris were reported seven weeks ago, nobody could have foreseen the endurance, the tenacity and the viral effect of the Yellow Vests movement. After all, the French are known to protest and to strike, it’s part and parcel of their culture. However, by the time this article …
War is the Health of the State
I wrote this article in 2015 – however, I believe it is still relevant, more than ever. For liberty, Claudio Produced and published by Global Gold. The Misfortune of Being Born Into a State In an essay titled “The State”, Randolph Bourne, an American writer, made a distinction between a country and a state …
Money: How its past predicts its future – The denationalization of money!
What is money, where does it come from and more importantly where does it go? At first glance, it might appear inexplicable and bizarre that our governments and our rulers have managed to keep their stronghold over the monetary system for 2000 years, especially when one thinks about the countless ways in which they abused …
The Great War Christmas Truce: ‘They Were Positively Human’
“Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and only the very best for 2019! I hope you will enjoy reading this article, written by Hunter Derensis, which reminded me immediately of what Ayn Rand said about man: “ “Man – every man – is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; …
Venezuela: when fiat money reaches its intrinsic value
Over the last years, Venezuela has become a modern poster child for the failure of socialism and with good reason. It offers an abundance of lessons and stern warnings for many western nations, but it also provides a very insightful and relevant reminder for individual investors too. Economic, social and human costs Within the space …
Lew Rockwell wins the prestigious Roland Baader Prize in Hamburg
A little while ago, I had the pleasure to step in as an Ambassador for the Mises Institute and receive the Roland Baader Prize on behalf of Lew Rockwell, as he unfortunately wasn’t able to travel to Germany due to health issues. He received this prestigious prize for his life-time achievements from the Institute for …