Does a cashless society promote more trade and prosperity? We’d argue it promotes tyranny.
May 2nd, 2012 | Dan Denning | 9 comments | ContinuedFeatured
Commentary on the top news stories of the day by your Daily Reckoning editors in Melbourne, Australia. Still haven’t subscribed to the Daily Reckoning? What are you waiting for… sign up here, it’s free!
A chronological listing of articles is below.
Gleichschaltung
The homogenisation of money has led to a kind of debasement in the culture down to the lowest common denominator. But in terms of politics, it turns out the Nazis were way ahead of us on this homogenisation of political thinking. They called it gleichschaltung.
May 1st, 2012 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued
The Real Growth in Gas Energy
The real growth stories in Australia are energy stories. And one of the most successful energy stories to date is natural gas.
May 1st, 2012 | Dan Denning | 0 comments | Continued
Another Quick Fix For Credit Junkies
You can sometimes hear the desperation in the voices of credit addicts. When you need a hit, you need a hit. The people who make a living off perpetually expanding credit bubbles need a hit. The credit hit is what keeps financial asset markets expanding.
April 30th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 8 comments | Continued
How to Use Preference Shares to Become an Absolutist Investor
Yesterday we mentioned dividend paying shares and a strategy to get the most out of them. Today, we have a similar idea – preference shares. Specifically, step up preference shares.
April 27th, 2012 | Nickolai Hubble | 1 comment | Continued
The Fallback Investment Strategy Your Retirement Needs
Luckily for us, we’ve been asked for an fallback investment strategy and not the way to generate enormous returns during miserable economic times.
April 26th, 2012 | Nickolai Hubble | 0 comments | Continued
The Backlash Against Conformity – When The Financial Becomes Political
You’ve had defaults, bankruptcies, flash crashes and more. But when it comes to show-stopping drama and social upheaval, nothing can match politics. And that’s what scares us at night these days.
April 24th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
A Bankrupt Idea Whose Time Has Gone
The unsustainable trend we have in mind today is the idea that you can get something for nothing. That idea is the backbone of modern politics. It’s the dirty little secret of the financial system upon which modern economies are based. And it’s an idea whose time has come and gone.
April 23rd, 2012 | Dan Denning | 10 comments | Continued
The Tell-tale Signs of China’s Phony Growth Economy
The question for Aussie investors, is when will the music stop in China? When does economic reality set in and force the country to respond to the true underlying signals of supply and demand?
April 20th, 2012 | Greg Canavan | 6 comments | Continued
The Market Continues to Believe
When you really think about it (as we do quite often) this market makes no sense. Bulls give the less than convincing argument that you must invest because the Fed is printing that much money you’d be mad not to. But when we look at the actual data, we’re not convinced of this argument.
April 20th, 2012 | Greg Canavan | 1 comment | Continued
How The Belief in Australian Property Will Go With the Generational Wind
If there is one belief that has endured in Australia beyond a generation it is a belief in Australian property. We’re not all singing from the same hymn sheet, but whatever way it happens – hindsight will prove Aussie property vintage 2012 to be a bad investment.
April 19th, 2012 | Greg Canavan | 22 comments | Continued
A Lesson on Spanish Bonds from The House of Rothschild
All eyes will be onSpain tonight as it prepares to auction between €1.5 and €2 billion in two- and 10-year bonds.
April 19th, 2012 | Greg Canavan | 0 comments | Continued
When Government Bonds Go On Life Support
Five years ago, if someone told you that a small but successful government bond auction was a sign of relief in the market, you would have concluded the market was in tatters. Government bond auctions are not supposed to be newsworthy. But my oh my, how things have changed.
April 18th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
As the Commodity Bull Slows
Everything evolves. Even the commodity story. Take this week’s production figures from BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
April 18th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 0 comments | Continued
Chinese Communism and the Human Cost of the Cultural Revolution
China’s furious two decades of growth are too wild and powerful for the Politburo and the Communist Party to channel and contain. But it wouldn’t be the first time a small group of elite technocrats placed too much faith in their own ability to manage a complex system.
April 18th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
