Tuesday A market is composed of free people interacting with one another in the exchange of goods and/or services. The degree of prosperity created is directly proportional to the degree of freedom. Complete freedom means that all are free to act in their own self-interest in order to achieve an outcome that is optimum for the concerned parties in the prevailing … [Read more...]
The Disconnect
Saturday The disconnect between the real market, including amongst other things, the design, manufacture, marketing and exchange of goods and services, and the stock exchange, has never been greater. Were the ramifications not so disastrous, the divergent trajectories of the two would be amusing. The stock market continues to soar, because the Fed creates billions … [Read more...]
Australian Employment
Thursday I pulled this graph out of an article that expressed concerns about the downtrend in Australian jobs. The graph shows job ads and, understandably, it has proven a reliable indicator for future employment trends.The article didn’t mention the cause of the drop. The Liberal Party dropped a vote-winning Prime Minister in a palace coup and elevated a left-wing … [Read more...]
Gold Standard 2020
Monday Reader’s question: “We heard some credible-sounding guy on YouTube today predicting that the U.S. will be back on the Gold Standard in 2020. Do you think he’s drawing a rather long bow? If he’s right, even if it’s later than 2020, what do you think would happen to the silver price?” D.R. P.B.’s answer (with some further reflections added): How does he know … [Read more...]
Stock Market Reality Show
Sunday Kanye West has bought stocks which beat the market by 40{781366457d9c05ca9285c5eb3e04ac75968647e24436986cab65f74e6f4b3aad} over the last year. How do I know? It’s on the front page of Yahoo Finance today. That struck me as reducing the serious business of investing in productive enterprises in order to obtain a return to the level of a television Reality … [Read more...]