…Calmly observing the changing world

Despite the thoroughly German ECB being disinterested in bailing out Greece, and the German people overwhelmingly opposed to the same, the German government itself is vowing to help in smaller ways (like buying up newly issued Greek debt so interest rates on Greek bonds don’t spiral out of control).  Not all German officials feel the [...]

Nassim Nicholas Taleb is known for many things, but mostly he is known for pointing out just how stupid it is to try to predict the future.  The future is full of so many unknowns at every level that predictions are just bound to be worthless.
And if your prediction happens to come true anyway, Taleb will [...]

In a surprise move today, the Federal Reserve raised the somewhat low-profile discount rate from 0.50% to 0.75%. Supposedly, they are backing away from “emergency” operations and things are slowly getting back to “normal”.
In the great scheme of things, this doesn’t sound like much, but rate cycles are long term events and while we shouldn’t [...]

As surely as the dollar seems doomed to decline in status, one might assume that the Euro would be preparing to take its place. And while some in Europe would love for this to happen, the problem with the Euro is simply that it’s impossible to set a European-wide policy that works for the various [...]

Towering over the desert-city landscape in Dubai, you can now find the world’s tallest building . At more than 1000 feet taller than its nearest rival, “Dubai Tower” as it was thought to be named before today, represents – well… it depends who  you ask.
A little known secret is that if you build it, they [...]

When we are children, we conceive of banks as places to safely deposit money. If, by chance, you grew up watching It’s A Wonderful Life every Christmas, you probably have the idea that money deposited in banks is loaned out into your community:

If modern banking truly worked this way, you would understand that when people [...]

Sometimes our modern age can feel so anchorless  that we long for something real to rid ourselves of the detached feeling. Often, the more our jobs deal with the abstract, the more we crave the concrete in our private lives. Neel Kashkari ran the infamous TARP program in Washington, DC. He didn’t ask for the [...]

We’ve been watching Greece teeter on the brink for what now seems like an eternity. In another trend, we’ve been watching Fitch attempt to get tough with its ratings, in an effort to brand itself as the good rating agency.
Both trends continued today, as Fitch downgraded Greece’s debt rating to BBB+. The Hellenic Republic now [...]

Just Say No – To Minarets
The Swiss people have passed a ban on all minaret (a Moslem tower from which prayers are sung) construction within the country – despite the Swiss government’s active campaign against the ban. Unsurprisingly, worldwide criticism quickly flooded European media outlets. Presumably, tolerance should be extended to everyone – except to [...]

Senior precious metals analyst John Nadler has recently and repeatedly said that gold is not in a bull market:
We will repeat that which should be obvious, in case you have doubts about where this writer stands: Gold is NOT in a bull market. The dollar is in a bear market.
Kitco
No word on why he thinks [...]