Tuesday The enthusiasm with which our parliaments and their myriad departments produce regulations implies a belief that when a sufficient number have been enacted we will have a social and economic perfection. I am reminded of the saying ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ Yet they cannot cease their destructive impulses, for were they to do so, then it … [Read more...]
Bitcoin or Goats
Tuesday I listened to a speaker a few days ago explain that Gold was money because it was ‘the most marketable good’ (the preferred trading good in the marketplace). He then explained that silver was what was actually used as most people didn’t own Gold and it was too valuable for marketplace trades. If Menger’s theory that money is so by virtue of the fact that it … [Read more...]
There is Nothing Positive About Negative Interest
Monday From: https://monetary-metals.com/ Constantly falling interest rates are destructive. Those businesses that borrowed at the earlier rate are at a disadvantage to those businesses that borrowed later at a lower rate. As each new business is encouraged into existence by the incentive of lower interest loans, so the viability of the previous businesses is … [Read more...]
Central Banks
Sunday Central Banks are the equivalent of the Central Planning Committees of the old USSR and present-day China. They specialise in distorting markets such that sane investing is disincentivized and speculations leading to capital destruction are incentivized. Anger against central banks is rising, and spreading, and rightly so. But they operated with the … [Read more...]
The Day the Banks Don’t Open
Friday The day that the banks don’t open is the day that the jig is up. How far away is that? I just don’t know and no amount of noggin strain will produce that datum. It cannot be known. That said, I had dinner in Sydney last night with the legendary Keith Weiner. He is of the opinion that the strength of the US$ will see continued capital inflows into … [Read more...]