Death of the Petrodollar
The petrodollar has kept the U.S. dollar stronger than it would have been but it appears that Obama is in the process of throwing the petrodollar under the bus.
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Why China’s Insatiable Appetite For Coal Has Likely Peaked
A recent report from Greenpeace found that China’s coal consumption declined in the first half of this year and new Chinese government data suggests that the country’s coal imports have dropped.
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Property Rights and Property Taxes—and Countries That Don’t Have Them
This reminds me of the story of an an old sharecropper who was given the deed to a house free and clear with no mortgage. He said he didn’t want it. Instead he wanted a mortgage. When asked why he said once his brother had the deed to a house and the bank had the mortgage
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U.S. Press Freedom Declines According to Report
For the fourth year in a row, Finland ranked No.1 in press freedom, as ranked in the 2014 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders. While Finland set the gold-standard for press freedom, close runners-up for a second-straight year included the Netherlands and Norway.
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You’d Better Hope The U.S. Government Likes What You Do For A Living
It seems like almost daily we are hearing of more and more government encroachment on our freedom and liberty, whether it is the IRS targeting certain groups or NSA evesdropping on private conversations or even passing around “captured” pictures but today we are going to look at the practices of the Department of Justice (DOJ). In this article Leif Simon of “The Offshore Living Letter” takes a look at “Operation Choke Point”.
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Why The Debate Over Energy Storage Utterly Misses The Point
Many technologies have been tested in the field or been fully installed, but their real-world applications have created constant questions around a number of fixed themes: the three-points concern cost, technology, and potential environmental impact, as well as the need for specific regulation and end-of-life management.
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QE Ending Or Just Getting Started?
While the Federal Reserve has laid out specific plans to end their quantitative easing (QE) program, a new season of QE may be getting ready to kick-off across the pond. From Reuters:
The euro fell broadly on Wednesday, hitting a 19-month low against the Swiss franc, as speculation that the European Central Bank (ECB) will resort to quantitative easing was fueled by yet more bad news from the eurozone…ECB chief Mario Draghi fueled speculation that monetary policy would be further loosened in the eurozone over the weekend by saying the central bank would use “all the available instruments” to deal with the threat of deflation at the U.S. Federal Reserve’s annual conference in Jackson Hole. Developments on Wednesday only worsened the picture for the eurozone: data showed German consumer morale fell for the first time in 1-1/2 years, while Italy’s economy minister said the country must cut its growth forecast.
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Argentina Coming Apart at the Seams… Again
As you’ve probably heard Argentina has defaulted on it’s Sovereign debt. This is the second time in 12 years that Argentina is defaulting. Of course the Kirchner Government is trying to blame the U.S. for their troubles by saying that it is our fault…
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GNP vs. GDP
Once upon a time, Gross National Product (GNP) meant the goods and services that a country produced. But as our economy shifted more toward government and away from the free market, more of the total economy came under the control of the government. So the government changed the definition.
Central Bank Smackdown
The opening riposte came from the Bank for International Settlements, the “bank for central banks.” In their annual report, released this week, they talked about “euphoric” financial markets that have become detached from reality. They clearly – clearly in central banker-speak, that is – fingered the culprit as the ultra-low monetary policies being pursued around the world. These are creating capital markets that are “extraordinarily buoyant.”
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