"The Year in Review"
Doug Noland, 12/31/2009
[2009] marked the full-fledged emergence of the Global Government Finance Bubble and attendant Global Reflation....[T]he massive expansion of non-productive U.S. Credit further weakened global confidence in the dollar. This year saw key...Read More >>

Bankers Get $4 Trillion Gift From Barney Frank
David Reilly, Commentary, 12/30/2009
To close out 2009, I decided to do something I bet no member of Congress has done -- actually read from cover to cover one of the pieces of sweeping legislation bouncing around Capitol Hill. Hunkering down by the fire, I snuggle...Read More >>

The Decade the World Tilted East
Niall Ferguson, 12/27/2009
I am trying to remember now where it was, and when it was, that it hit me. Was it during my first walk along the Bund in Shanghai in 2005? Was it amid the smog and dust of Chonqing, listening to a local Communist party official describe a vast...Read More >>

Is It All Just a Ponzi Scheme?
Eric Sprott and David Franklin, 12/2009 “Markets At A Glance”
In our May/June Markets at a Glance, “The Solution…is the Problem”, we discussed how much debt the US government would need to issue in order to balance the budget for fiscal 2009. We calculated they would need to sell $2.041 trillion in new...Read More >>

Hyperinflation Watch
James Turk, 12/23/2009
Contrary to common belief, hyperinflation does not arise from too much bank lending. The sole cause of hyperinflation is always too much government spending. The pattern is as follows. The government spends more money than it is...Read More >>

We're Screwed!
Phil Maymin, 12/31/2009 [Edition]
ShadowStats.com founder John Williams explains the risk of hyperinflation. Worst-case scenario? Rioting in the streets and devolution to a bartering system. [Your editor has always been reluctant to post a piece that presented...Read More >>

Trillions Of Troubles Ahead
Bert Dohmen, 12/18/2009
Not too long ago, a billion dollars in a governmental budget was a lot of money. Then we got into hundreds of billions. People understood that this was a lot, just because of all the zeros. Now, unfortunately, the number has become small...Read More >>

Crybaby Capitalists Get to Wipe Away Their Tears
Bill Fleckenstein, 12/15/2009
Now to turn to the outrage of the day, that being the big banks. I don't think anyone would argue that banks are overcapitalized, especially given the problems still to play out in the commercial and residential real-estate markets. Near as I can...Read More >>

Killing the Currency
Robert P. Murphy, 12/11/2009
How Barack Obama and Ben Bernanke are destroying the dollar — and perhaps ushering in the amero. First under the Bush Administration and even more so under President Obama, the federal government has been seizing power and...Read More >>

Former Managing Director of Goldman Sachs:
Accounting Fraud of the Too Big to Fails May Be Worse Than Enron Washington Blogspot posted 12/02/2009
Nomi Prins - former managing director of Goldman Sachs and head of the international analytics group at Bear Stearns in London - is saying the same thing that financial bloggers...Read More >>

Q3 2009 Flow of Funds
Doug Noland, 12/11/2009
Considering the degree of monetary and fiscal stimulus, the general financial and economic response continues to be disconcerting. There is as yet no indication that massive government pump-priming is fostering...Read More >>

The Inflation Threat Posed by Excess Bank Reserves
Steve Saville, [Excerpt] 12/10/2009
The US banking industry now has more than 1.1 trillion dollars of "excess reserves". By way of comparison, in August of 2008 the banking industry's excess reserves were almost zero. How do these reserves affect...Read More >>

My Big Fat Greek Deficit
Murray Dawes, 12/09/2009
…[I]s there anywhere else in the world where banks are borrowing money from their central bank at really low interest rates? Is there anywhere else where they're using that money to load up on long term government...Read More >>

Social Security Will Go Bust in 2010
Gary North, 12/08/2009
For the third time in my life, the Social Security System will go belly-up. The first time was in 1977 – well, almost. To head off the bust, Jimmy Carter got Congress to pass a major FICA tax increase – sorry...Read More >>

You, Ben, Are the Moral Hazard
Jim Bunning, 12/05/2009
Four years ago when you came before the Senate for confirmation to be Chairman of the Federal Reserve, I was the only Senator to vote against you. In fact, I was the only Senator to even raise serious concerns...Read More >>

Requiem for the Dollar
James Grant, 12/05/2009
Ben S. Bernanke doesn't know how lucky he is. Tongue-lashings from Bernie Sanders, the populist senator from Vermont, are one thing. The hangman's noose is another. Section 19 of this country's founding monetar...Read More >>

Malpass Spot-On
Doug Noland, 12/04/2009
Today’s non-farm payroll data provide fodder for those believing U.S. recovery is on track. I’ll stick with the view that a 10% unemployment rate after more than a year of extraordinary fiscal and monetary stimulus is...Read More >>