Part I of II, by Claudio Grass, Hünenberg See, Switzerland There’s been a flurry of articles, news stories and headlines lately over the developments in the FOREX market, specifically over the moves of the EUR/USD currency pair. As headwinds on all levels, economic, geopolitical and social, got a lot worse in recent months for the …
Tag: gold is money
A crack-up boom in the making
The great Ludwig von Mises first described the concept of a crack-up boom as part of the Austrian business cycle theory, based on real life events that to an unsuspecting bystander might have appeared unconnected, or perhaps even quite bizarre and counterintuitive. Indeed, such a bystander might think the same of today’s economy and would …
Gold: A use case for the modern era
Part I of II For decades, physical gold investors have had to contend with superficial, naive and wholly ahistorical “arguments” from the mainstream financial press, from economists and experts of all stripes, claiming that gold is nothing but a barbarous relic. To them, the yellow metal is akin to investment superstition. It has no yield, it …
Is gold too expensive?
Over the last couple of years we witnessed quite an extraordinary ride in gold prices. An impressive ascent until the last quarter of 2020 was followed by a pullback that scared many speculators away, which in turn transformed into a period of strength and then came another ebb… And recently, once again, we saw the …
Lessons from 2021: The rational way out
As we are all preparing to bid farewell to 2021, there is a general feeling that this year, much like its predecessor, will not be missed. To my mind, however, it is clear that even though the past 12 months didn’t really teach us anything new, they did help cement the lessons of 2020 and …
“We are witnessing the mother of all bubbles” – Part II
Interview with Fernando del Pino Calvo-Sotelo – Part II of II Claudio Grass (CG): We often refer to inflation as a “hidden tax” or a “silent thief”, due to the fact that most of the time, its effects are hardly noticed by the average household in real time. However, this time appears to be different. Food, electricity, …
Precious metals are and always have been the ultimate insurance
Interview with Robert Hartmann As we enter the second quarter of 2021, the year during which so many mainstream analysts and politicians have predicted we’ll see a miraculous recovery from the covid crisis, it is becoming increasingly clear that the damage inflicted by the lockdowns and the shutdowns is really very extensive an persistent. Of …
“There is no such thing as a free lunch, but the temptation to distribute one or to get one seems to be too strong”
Interview with Daniel Model: Part I of II During these absurd and uncertain times, it is easy to be consumed by the 24-hour news cycle, to be constantly distracted by the latest news and updates, and eventually to lose track of what really matters. We are indeed facing unprecedented challenges and we are witnessing a historic …
“Gold is Money, Everything Else Is Credit” – J.P. Morgan
Interview with Rafi Farber – Part I of II By now it is probably obvious, even to the most naive of mainstream narrative followers, that we are well past the point of no return on many fronts. Politics, on a national and global level, are never getting back to “normal”, the economy is already knee-deep …
“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 patriarch of value investing, Ben …