Follow Us!
-
-
Videos
-
The Vulnerability of Private Wealth to Government Financial Stress
-
QEs, Currency Wars, the Trillion Dollar Platinum Coin and the Route to “Modern” Inflation
-
VIDEO - Texas Financial Market Roundtable 2012
-
Roadblocks to Recovery an Interview with Dr. Lacy Hunt
-
Frank Beck on Investing in Uncertain Times
-
The Vulnerability of Private Wealth to Government Financial Stress
Tag Archives: Reserve currency
Goodbye to the Robinson Crusoe Bond Market
With the U. S. economy having achieved lift-off momentum, the Federal Reserve has ended it epic and historic bond buy known as quantitative ease. The corollary reflex is that interest rates will return to our historic sense of normal, but that is not occurring. The Fed is not all-powerful and is losing pricing control to collective global forces. Continue reading
The Deflationary Trap and the Central Bank Game of Chess
Few who lived through the “runaway” inflation of the 1970s would have dreamed that someday inflation would be a desirable public policy? We have come to find out that it surely beats deflation. But how to achieve inflation has proven to be elusive. Continue reading
The Keynesian Dead End: A Watershed Moment
John Maynard Keynes had an idea that seemed good at the time (the 1930s): Governments can stimulate an economy with what he called “loan-expenditures” — that is, debt-financed spending. This past week, the UK is paying down its World War I debt, as if we needed a reminder. Debt doesn’t go away; it just accumulates, requiring additional taxes to pay the forever-interest meter and miring its own economy as well as their trading partners. Continue reading
The Evils of Serial Quantitative Ease and the “Welfare of Everyone”
Not since the days when Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer charged his friends for the privilege of painting his fence has the world gone quite so upside down and backwards as when the European Central Bank pushed market interest rates into negative territory. This means borrowers are being paid to borrow. This, in the mind of the Fed’s Chairwoman serves “the welfare of everyone” though it serves the welfare of no one. Continue reading
America’s Exorbitant Privilege is Skating on Thin Ice
The willingness of the rest of the world to hold a block of its assets denominated in the U.S. dollar means that U. S. asset prices are enhanced and the U. S. is able to sell a substantial portion of its government debt to foreign holders at cheaper interest rates. This is known to foreigners are U.S. “Exorbitant Privilege.” But that privilege is being squandered by short sighted U. S. policies and plans are underway to switch reserve currencies. Continue reading
Warren Buffet and the New Calculus of Gold
There has long been a disconnect between gold and institutional investors. The instincts of these managers of large sums are typically tied to the generation of cash flows to feed the monster — that is, the institution’s cash flow needs. … Continue reading
Posted in The Spellman Report
Tagged BRK.B, BRKA, Collateral fails, Debt crisis, Default hedge, Fiat money, financial crisis, GLD, Gold, Gold asset class, Gold bonds, Gold prices, Gold Standard, Inflation hedge, Money, Reserve currency, Scarce collateral, Store of value, Warren Buffett, Warren Buffett and gold
3 Comments
Preserving the Debt: The Helium Express
How much country debt is too much? This is an issue of relativity. In this case relativity depends on the income flows from which debt service can be paid. Whether the debt belongs to the consumer or the government, the … Continue reading
2012: Off to a Good Start; More to Come
Contact Beck Capital Investments In December, when my 2012 view became positive, I questioned whether I was misinterpreting the value of the LTRO and the Chinese reduction in their Bank Reserve Requirements, as I appeared to be alone in my … Continue reading
How Monetization Happens: Being at the Helm When the Ship Goes Down
The consequences of excess debt are now facing the leaders of Europe head on, and a monumental decision must be made whether explicitly or implicitly. Excess debt leads to a long chain of D words: Deleveraging in an attempt to … Continue reading
The Dumpster for Toxic Euro Sovereign Debt
Some might be wondering why the euro zone rescue focus turned to saving banks as opposed to saving governments. The reasons are illuminating. Consider the following: When a government has a debt bulge, the debt must be held as someone … Continue reading