The world’s first central bank, beating even the Bank of England by 26 years, the Riksbank then copied the Old Lady by when it abandoned the Gold Standard in September 1931. But the Swedes chose to mimic Great Britain before anyone else…
August 19th, 2009 | Adrian Ash | 0 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "Great Depression"
Does This Mean You Should Sell Your Gold?
Even in the Great Depression gold and gold mining stocks rose in price. And the one and only sure thing is that the world monetary system is dangerously unstable. We’d hold gold until it settles down.
August 14th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 11 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
It Would Take About 19 Years to Erase Debt From Bubble Period
Now, along comes the Comstock crowd with roughly the same guess – two decades. They figure that the savings rate will go up to 10% and that the effect of taking that money out of the consumer economy will be to put the United States into a long, soft slump…
August 12th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Household Debt Represents Spending Taken From the Future
But you can’t take an infinite amount from future earnings. You reach a point when the future can’t handle it. As more and more future earnings are absorbed by past consumption, pretty soon there’s not enough left to live on. At some point, so much of earnings are devoted to paying the interest…
August 11th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
The FDIC Is in Trouble
As we all know, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) guarantees depositors that they’ll get their money back if a bank fails, at least up to a certain amount. To fund its operations, the FDIC collects small fees from the banks…
August 6th, 2009 | Bud Conrad | 4 comments | Continued
We Don’t Gamble on Stocks in a Depression
Sticking with the basics, what we notice is that stocks, bonds and commodities move in broad patterns that last for many years. Not to put too fine a point on it, but they go up and then they go down. Or vice versa. Just looking at the last 50 years, stocks were very expensive in 1966.
August 4th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Does Bernanke Really Not Understand His Fate?
Mr. Bernanke defended himself and the Fed against suggestions that he was too eager to aid large financial institutions last fall and winter, while sacrificing the interests of small businesses and everyday American citizens.
July 31st, 2009 | Byron King | 13 comments | Continued
Normally Small Businesses Lead the Economy Out of Recession
Part of the phenomenon can be explained merely by the severity of the downturn. If this were a recession it would be a bad one – worse than any since the Great Depression. Consumers have rediscovered thrift. Households are cutting back.
July 28th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
England Sinks Deeper into Depression in Decade of Pain
“Decade of pain predicted for public services,” was the headline on Friday’s Guardian from London. The reason for the decade of pain is the obvious one. Tax receipts are down – because of the depression. Governments are caught in a bind.
July 28th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Federal Reserve Predicted that U.S. Unemployment Rate Would Surpass 10%
That’s no big surprise. The true U.S. unemployment rate as at least 15% already when you factor in the long-term unemployed who are not carried on the “official” books.
Then the Fed made a shocking prediction.
July 24th, 2009 | Byron King | 0 comments | Continued
Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression
Let’s first set the record straight on Herbert Hoover’s fiscal policies. Contrary to what you have heard and read over the last year, Hoover behaved as a textbook Keynesian after the stock market crash. He immediately cut income tax rates by one percentage point…
July 16th, 2009 | Robert P. Murphy | 6 comments | Continued
Herbert Hoover Watched the Depression Unfold
Now that we’re living through the bust, on the other hand, many people are listening. That’s why it’s so important for economists of the Austrian School to redouble their efforts, whether in terms of writing, public speaking, media,…
July 15th, 2009 | Thomas E. Woods, Jr. | 0 comments | Continued
California and its Ailing Economy
And what about California? This week’s Economist magazine gives us a new measure for California’ budget deficit — $26 billion, up from the $24 billion last reported in this space. A widely published photo shows Arnold Schwarzenegger smoking a cigar…
July 14th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Dollar Declines as Gold Rises
The reason for the dollar’s decline and gold’s rise was given in the front-page headline of today’s Financial Times. China launched a “new dig” at the dollar, it says. As near as we could tell, China merely stated the obvious…
July 13th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
