Silver and Monetary Considerations
David Morgan, 07/31/08
Hyperinflation in Germany. Many of you are probably too young to appreciate the full impact of the hyperinflation in Germany after WW1. It was devastating. The the amount of paper that was equal to one silver dollar, or ¾ of one troy ounce...Read More >>

More Than a Helping Hand
James Turk,  07/29/08
One of the basic functions of a central bank is to act as the 'lender of last resort'. This facility is used to keep banks liquid during a period of distress. For example, if a bank is experiencing a run on deposits, it will borrow from the central bank..Read More >>

The Pin in the Monetary Hand Grenade
Bill Bonner, 07/31/08
Yesterday, George W. Bush signed the housing bill – in which up to $300 billion is to be spent bailing out naïve homeowners, caddish mortgage lenders and Wall Street geniuses. It is packaged as a reserve against catastrophe. If everything is...Read More >>

Curing US Inflation, Zimbabwe Style
Adrian Ash, 07/31/08
You'd be forgiven for thinking they planned it together last night. Four out of the top nine headlines on Yahoo's financial homepage today came straight from the press departments of the US authorities. Fed Extends Emergency Loan...Read More >>

Has Deleveraging Even Begun? (Not for the Fainthearted)
Yves Smith, 07/28/08
It no doubt seems absurd to question the idea that deleveraging in underway. We've had three heroic central bank interventions, starting in August 2007, to reverse seize-ups in the money markets. The asset backed commercial paper...Read More >>

Lies and Truth
Contributed by Friend R J Ralls, 07/29/08
There are people who are more comfortable with lies because the lies help protect them from the truth they fear. Then there are people who are more comfortable with the truth because if they know the truth they can use it to help protect...Read More >>

Freddie, Fannie `Fair Values' Hardly Look Fair
Weil, Bloomberg, 07/28/08
Forget everything you've read about how woefully undercapitalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are. The situation is much worse. Unlike other companies, the two government-chartered mortgage financiers publish quarterly fair-value balance...Read More >>

Too Big to Fail, or to Survive
Poole,  07/27/08
Critics of the Congressional housing package complain that we are now committing taxpayers to huge new outlays to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That view is wrong: Congressional inaction over the past 15 years had already...Read More >>

NAB Will Shock Wall Street
Gottliebsen, 07/25/08
The National Australia Bank's decision to write off 90 per cent of its US conduit loans will have dramatic repercussions around the world. Wall Street will be deeply shocked when they understand the repercussions of what NAB has done. It is...Read More >>

A GSE Perspective
Doug Noland, 07/25/08
...[W]ithout the GSEs as buyers eager to pay top dollar for mortgages and MBS – especially in the event of marketplace disruption – the hedge funds, Wall Street proprietary trading desks, and others would never have had the gumption...Read More >>

Fannie and Freddie: Playing with a Stacked Deck
Bonner,  07/21/08
As recently as February of this year, Russian officials cleared the way for two of its sovereign wealth funds, the Reserve Fund and National Wellbeing Fund, to invest in various foreign bonds, including those issued by the twin towers...Read More >>

Why No Outrage?
Grant, 07/19/08
Through history, outrageous financial behavior has been met with outrage. But today Wall Street's damaging recklessness has been met with near-silence, from a too-tolerant populace, argues James Grant "Raise less corn and more hell,"...Read More >>

Defining Inflation (One More Time)
Saville, (Brief Excerpt)  07/14/08
Owning gold is the most logical way for an investor to protect and grow his/her wealth at a time when inflation is ravaging the financial landscape. The global bear markets in equities and credit are perceived to be deflationary, but this...Read More >>

The Fannie and Freddie doomsday scenario
Katie Benner, 07/10/08
It's time to wonder what would happen if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed. Here's a scary, and relevant, question to ponder as the housing market continues to slide: What would it take for the government to step in and help Fannie...Read More >>

We're All Homeowners: Nationalization of Fannie,
Freddie Unavoidable   Task, 07/08/08
Fears about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac retreated somewhat Tuesday after their federal regulator, OFHEO Director James Lockhart, said new accounting rule changes should make "no difference in the risks of the two firms...Read More >>


Starbucks, the "Core," and Conventional Mortgages
Doug Noland,  07/04/08
At the end of the day – at the conclusion of the Credit boom - a finance and consumption-based economy is      left with enormous financial claims backed by woefully inadequate wealth creating assets. I’ll reiterate that we expect the...Read More >>

Increased government spending: always the proposed solution, never the right solution
Saville, 07/02/08 (Excerpt)
There is almost universal agreement that as the economy continues to deteriorate the government should "do something" to help, with "something" being increase its own borrowing/spending to make up for the reduction in the borrowing/spending...Read More >>

The Limited Shelf Life of Dollar Fruit
Bill Bonner, 07/02/08
Our old friend John Mauldin is sure we will “muddle through” somehow. “We always do,” he says. And it’s true; we muddle through most things. But a man does not muddle through a hanging; nor does an economy...Read More >>

Markets Calling Bernanke's Bluff
James Saft, Reuters, 07/02/08
A surging oil price and a falling dollar show financial markets are giving short shrift to tough talk from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about fighting inflation and supporting the U.S. currency. Caught between a fragile economy and...Read More >>

Coming Wave of Regulation and the Risk to the Dollar
Joseph Brusuelas,  07/02/08
...[I]t is imperative that in this election year that a discussion take place that ensures a carefully considered and thought-through regulatory regime. If this is not the case, the risk to the dollar is enormous. Over the past several months...Read More >>

Commodity Prices and Inflation: What's the Connection?
Frank Shostak, 07/01/08
The latest data show that the yearly rate of growth of the US consumer price index (CPI) climbed to 4.1% in May from 3.9% in the month before. Most economists and Federal Reserve policy makers attribute this to sharp increases in...Read More >>