“Can a democracy be a dictatorship at the same time?” an op-ed asked in this morning’s Times Of India in response to the draconian efforts the Maharashtra state had taken to boost voter turnout.
October 21st, 2009 | Addison Wiggin | 3 comments | ContinuedArchive for Addison Wiggin
Editorial director of The Daily Reckoning, Addison Wiggin is also the author, with Bill Bonner, of the international bestseller Financial Reckoning Day and a frequent guest on national US radio and television programs. Look for the sequel to Financial Reckoning Day, Empire of Debt (John Wiley & Sons) in October, 2005.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi: Newcomers to the Global Finance and Trade
Still, our friend Peter Cooper recalls a time in his own family history when Dubai was nothing but a backwater of the British Empire, a port full of smugglers, nomads and thieves.
October 14th, 2009 | Addison Wiggin | 6 comments | Continued
Financial Difficulties Facing Social Security and Medicare Pose Serious Challenges
When Social Security was founded, the typical US worker at age 65 could expect to live another 11.9 years. But if today’s official projections are right, by the year 2040 the typical 65-year-old worker can expect to live at least another 19.2 years.
August 12th, 2009 | Addison Wiggin | 2 comments | Continued
The Failed Intervention: A Morality Play in Three Parts
LS (Unwitting Speculator #1) is closing on a house the following day. Mere hours stand between her and the single biggest financial transaction of her young life. Can those stalwart pessimists (Renters #1, #2 and #3) lash her to the mast in time to save her from the Siren’s tantalizing tune? We shall see, dear reader… below…
April 20th, 2009 | Addison Wiggin | 0 comments | Continued
A Dollar Crash Will Have Disastrous Implications for Global Financial Markets
The dollar’s slump is of great and immediate concern because, while the dollar has been slipping only gradually in the recent past, the rate of decline has picked up momentum. A dollar crash will have disastrous implications for global financial markets. At the end of 2001, the euro was worth $ 0.8915, but it has been on a steady upward march since then…
May 23rd, 2008 | Addison Wiggin | 5 comments | Continued
Three Scenarios That Could Cause a Sudden Drop in the U.S. Dollar’s Value
1. Foreign countries drop their U.S. dollar reserves. We depend on foreign investment in our currency to bolster its value or, at least, to slow down its fall. When that thinly held balance changes, our dollar loses its spending power. At a November 2007 meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s 13-member cartel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…
April 23rd, 2008 | Addison Wiggin | 5 comments | Continued
How the U.S. Trade Deficit Affects You: Living in the age of the declining U.S. dollar
Most people can relate to the realities of how jobs and profits shift, and why. The idea that higher-wage manufacturing jobs are being lost and replaced by lower-wage retail jobs, for example, is a reality that working people understand. They get it. The same is not always true when we talk about trade deficits. Like [...]
June 29th, 2007 | Addison Wiggin | 0 comments | Continued
U.S. Housing Market a Victim of Poor Federal Reserve Policy
The global economy is changing, and the US dollar is on the front lines of change. When we take a look at history, we see how past events have affected everything. The Black Death created a devastating labour shortage throughout Europe for decades. Christopher Columbus’s voyages turned trade upside down for hundreds of years.
The Industrial [...]
Cerberus Buys Chrysler At A $30B Discount
Cerberus Capital is buying Chrysler back from the Germans for $7.4 billion. After spending $37 billion to buy the American carmaker, then billions more trying to keep it afloat, Daimler gets to keep all of Chrysler’s debts. (At least, they get to write them off against activities at Mercedes and other going business concerns.) The [...]
May 15th, 2007 | Addison Wiggin | 0 comments | Continued
The Fall of the U.S. Dollar ~ A Dismal History
History has shown that money – not counterfeit, but official money printed by the government – has been known to lose value and become virtually worthless. Examples include Russian rubles from pre-Revolution days, 50-million marks from 1920s Germany, and Cuban pesos from pre-Castro days. In all of these cases, jarring political and economic change destroyed [...]
December 6th, 2006 | Addison Wiggin | 0 comments | Continued