03/10/10 - Competition for the IMF’s Gold?
On February 24, Reuters reported that the Reserve Bank of India was “set to be a buyer” of the 191.3 tonnes (6.74 million ounces) of gold the IMF is selling. Although the bank wouldn’t comment directly on the possibility, they did say, “We are closely looking at the gold market... gold is a safe bet.” 03/02/10 - What Does NOT Move Markets? Examining 8 Claims of Market Efficiency
If everyone says that shocks from outside the financial system -- so-called exogenous shocks -- can affect it for better or worse, they must be right. It just sounds so darned logical, right? Economists believe this trope to be true, mainly because they believe that investors are rational thinkers who re-evaluate their positions after every new bit of relevant information turns up. Beginning to sound slightly impossible? Well, yes. Read more. |
03/09/10 - Unlocking the Jobs Dilemma
Productive, private-sector jobs - the lifeblood of a sound economy - are under assault by politicians in the United States and Western Europe, who have unwittingly taken a number of steps that make future job losses a foregone conclusion. In the 1980s, as a Member of the UK Parliament and elected Chairman of the Conservative Small Business Committee, I led discussions on the issue of job creation. At that point, the British labor market was dealing with technological advances that threatened traditional industries and an influx of highly competitive Eastern European workers who drifted westward in the waning days of the Cold War. 11/04/09 - The Dethroning of the U.S. Dollar Will Happen Sooner Than You Think
By now virtually every investor has heard the argument that the U.S. dollar is slated to lose its status as the global reserve currency. And that's good - as far as it goes. What's bad is that many of these investors have yet to latch onto the fact that this could happen much sooner than many people realize and in a manner that will catch most by surprise. |
